Sesostris

Legendary pharaoh who first conceived of digging a navigable canal from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean but was deterred.

Chapter I (The Six Days of Creation)

• Verse 9: Let the waters be gathered together — Cited for first conceiving of digging a canal from the Red Sea but being deterred

  "Pliny records that Sesostris, king of Egypt, first conceived of digging a navigable channel from the Red Sea"