Amenhotep III - Ruler of a Peaceful Empire

The name of Amenhotep can be interpreted as "Amen is pleased" or "Amen is in Peace". In Greek, his name was called Amenophis or Amenofis.

With his Chief Queen Tiye, the pharaoh fathered two sons: Thutmose, who predeceased his father and his second son Akhenaten, who succeeded him to the throne.

Amenhotep III has the distinction of having the most surviving statues of any Egyptian pharaoh. Over 250 statues of the king have been discovered. Since these statues cover his entire life, they provide the most complete portraiture over time of any ancient Egyptian ruler.

He appears to have been crowned while still a child, the son of Thutmose IV, perhaps between the ages of 6 and 12. His lengthy reign was a period of great peace, prosperity, and artistic splendor, when Egypt reached the very heights of artistic and international power. He celebrated three Jubilee Festivals in his Year 30, Year 34 and Year 37.

Amenhotep III built extensively at the temple of Karnak, including at least two pylons, a colonnade behind the new entrance, and a new temple to the goddess Maat. He oversaw construction of another temple to her at Luxor and virtually covered Nubia with numerous monuments including a small temple with a colonnade (dedicated to Thutmose III) at Elephantine, a rock temple dedicated to Amun 'Lord of the Ways' at Wadi es-Sebuam, and the temple of Horus of Miam at Aniba.

His mortuary temple on the west bank of the Nile was, in its day, the largest religious complex in Thebes but, unfortunately, he chose to build too close to the floodplain and less than 200 years later, it stood in ruins. Much of the masonry was purloined by later pharaohs for their own construction projects. The Colossi of Memnon, two massive 18-meter stone statues of Amenhotep that stood at the gateway of his mortuary temple, are the only elements of the complex that remains standing.

The pharaoh was buried in the Western Valley of the Valley of the Kings, in Tomb WV22. A forensic examination of his mummy reveals that he suffered from horribly worn and cavity pitted teeth and was probably in constant pain during his final years.

Category: Ancient Egypt

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