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{{short description|Ninth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox pharaoh {{Infobox pharaoh
| Name=Amenhotep III | Name=Amenhotep III
|Image=England; London - The British Museum, Egypt Egyptian Sculpture ~ Colossal granite head of Amenhotep III (Room 4).2.JPG | Image=Colossal Amenhotep III British Museum.jpg
| Caption=Statue of Amenhotep III, ]
|Imagesize=250px
|Caption=Colossal statue of Amenhotep III
| NomenHiero=<hiero>i-mn:n-R4-HqA-R19</hiero> | NomenHiero=<hiero>i-mn:n-R4-HqA-R19</hiero>
| Nomen={{center|Imen hetepu heka waset<br>{{transliteration|egy|Imn ḥtp(.w) ḥḳꜣ wꜣst}}<br>"Amun is satisfied, ruler of Thebes"{{sfn|Leprohon|2013|pp=102-104}}}}
|Nomen=''Amenhotep Hekawaset''<br>Amun is Satisfied, Ruler of Thebes<ref> Amenhotep III</ref>
| PrenomenHiero=<hiero>ra-mAat-nb</hiero> | PrenomenHiero=<hiero>ra-mAat-nb</hiero>
| Prenomen={{center|Neb maat re<br>{{transliteration|egy|Nb mꜣˁt rˁ}}<br>"The possessor of the Maat of Re"{{sfn|Leprohon|2013|pp=102-104}}<br>The Lord of Truth is Re{{sfn|Clayton|1994|p=112}}}}
|Prenomen=''Nebmaatre''<br>The Lord of Truth is Re<ref>Clayton, Peter. Chronicle of the Pharaohs, Thames & Hudson Ltd., 1994. p.112</ref>
| HorusHiero=<hiero>E1:D40-m-N28-H6</hiero> | HorusHiero=<hiero>E1:D40-m-N28-H6</hiero>
| NebtyHiero=<hiero>s-mn:n:Y1-O4:p-Z2:w-s-W11:r-V28-a:N17:N17</hiero> | NebtyHiero=<hiero>s-mn:n:Y1-O4:p-Z2:w-s-W11:r-V28-a:N17:N17</hiero>
| GoldenHiero=<hiero>O29:a:F23-V28-A24-S22:t*G4-T14-Z3</hiero> | GoldenHiero=<hiero>O29:a:F23-V28-A24-S22:t*G4-T14-Z3</hiero>
| Golden={{center|Aa khepesh hui setjetiu<br>{{transliteration|egy|ˁꜣ-ḫpš ḥwi sṯtyw}}<br>"The great-of-strength one who has struck down the Asiatics"{{sfn|Leprohon|2013|pp=102-104}}}}
| Golden=''Aakhepesh-husetiu'' <br> Great of valour, smiting the Asiatics
| Nebty={{center|Semen hepu segereh tawy<br>{{transliteration|egy|smn hpw sgrḥ tꜣwy}}<br>"Who has established laws and pacified the Two Lands"{{sfn|Leprohon|2013|pp=102-104}}}}
| Nebty=''Semenhepusegerehtawy'' <br> One establishing laws, pacifying the two lands
| Horus=''Kanakht khaemmaat'' <br> The strong bull, appearing in truth | Horus={{center|Ka nakht kha em maat<br>{{transliteration|egy|Kꜣ nḫt ḫˁ m mꜣˁt}}<br>"The strong bull who has appeared in truth"{{sfn|Leprohon|2013|pp=102-104}}}}
| Reign=1391&ndash;1353 or <br>1388&ndash;1351 BC | Reign=1391–1353 or <br>1388–1351 BC
| Predecessor=] | Predecessor=]
| Successor=] | Successor=]
| Spouse=]<br>]<br>]<br>] | Spouse=]<br>]<br>]<br>]<br>]
| Children= ]<br>]<br>]<br>]<br>]<br> ]<br>]?<br>]<br> ]? | Children= ]<br>]<br>]<br>]<br>]<br>]<br>"]"<br>] (theorized)<br>] (theorized)
| Dynasty=] | Dynasty=]
| Father=] | Father=]
| Mother=] | Mother=]
| Died=1353 BC or 1351 BC | Died=1353 BC or 1351 BC
| Burial=] | Burial=]; Mummy found in the ] (Theban Necropolis)
| Monuments=], ], ] | Monuments=], ], ]
| Alt=Nibmu(`w)areya,<ref>], <cite>The Amarna Letters</cite>, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, (1992), EA 3, p.7</ref> Mimureya, Amenophis III | | Alt=Nibmu(`w)areya,{{sfn|Moran|1992|p=7}} Mimureya, Amenophis III
}} }}
'''Amenhotep III''' ({{langx|egy|jmn-ḥtp(.w)}} {{transliteration|egy|Amānəḥūtpū}}, {{IPA|sem|ʔaˌmaːnəʔˈħutpu|IPA}};<ref>Loprieno, Antonio (1995) ''Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction,'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,</ref><ref>Loprieno, Antonio (2001) "From Ancient Egyptian to Coptic" in Haspelmath, Martin et al. (eds.), ''Language Typology and Language Universals''</ref> "] is satisfied"<ref name="Ranke 1935 30">{{cite book |last1=Ranke |first1=Hermann |title=Die Ägyptischen Personennamen, Bd. 1: Verzeichnis der Namen |date=1935 |publisher=J.J. Augustin |location=Glückstadt | url= http://gizamedia.rc.fas.harvard.edu/images/MFA-images/Giza/GizaImage/full/library/ranke_personennamen_1.pdf| access-date= 25 July 2020 |page=30}}</ref>), also known as '''Amenhotep the Magnificent''' or '''Amenhotep the Great''' and ] as '''Amenophis III''', was the ninth ] of the ]. According to different authors following the "Low Chronology", he ruled ] from June 1386 to 1349 BC, or from June 1388 BC to December 1351 BC/1350 BC,{{sfn|Beckerath|1997|p=190}} after his father ] died. Amenhotep was Thutmose's son by a minor wife, ].{{sfn|Berman|1998|p=3}}


His reign was a period of unprecedented prosperity and splendour, when Egypt reached the peak of its artistic and international power, and as such he is considered one of ancient Egypt's greatest pharaohs.<ref>Silver, C. (2017). Pharaoh Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye. ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/pharaoh-amenhotep-iii-and-queen-tiye-120268</ref><ref>Team, E. (2023). King Amenhotep III. Egypt Tours Portal. https://www.egypttoursportal.com/en-us/blog/egyptian-pharaohs/king-amenhotep-iii/</ref><ref>Amenhotep III achieved unprecedented equality with his wife Tiye, recent study. (3 August 2022). EgyptToday. https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/4/118093/Amenhotep-III-achieved-unprecedented-equality-with-his-wife-Tiye-recent</ref>
'''Amenhotep III''' (Hellenized as Amenophis III; Egyptian '''Amāna-Ḥātpa'''; meaning ''] is Satisfied'') also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent was the ninth ] of the ]. According to different authors, he ruled ] from June 1386 to 1349 BC or June 1388 BC to December 1351 BC/1350 BC<ref>], <cite>Chronologie des Pharaonischen Ägypten</cite>. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz, (1997) p.190</ref> after his father ] died. Amenhotep III was the son of Thutmose by a minor wife ].<ref>O'Connor, David & Cline, Eric. <cite>Amenhotep III: Perspectives on His Reign</cite>, University of Michigan Press, 1998, p.3</ref>


His reign was a period of unprecedented prosperity and artistic splendour, when Egypt reached the peak of its artistic and international power. When he died (probably in the 39th year of his reign), his son initially ruled as Amenhotep IV, but later changed his own royal name to ]. When he died in the 38th or 39th year of his reign he was succeeded by his son Amenhotep IV, who later changed his name to ].


==Family== == Family and early life ==
]
The son of the future Thutmose IV (the son of ]) and a minor wife ], Amenhotep was born around 1388 BC.<ref>Fletcher (2000), p.10</ref> He was a member of the Thutmosid family that had ruled Egypt for almost 150 years since the reign of ].
Amenhotep was the son of Thutmose IV and his minor wife ]. He was born probably around 1401 BC.{{sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=10}} Later in his life, Amenhotep commissioned the depiction of his divine birth to be displayed at ] Temple. Amenhotep claimed that his true father was the god ], who had taken the form of Thutmose IV to father a child with Mutemwiya.{{sfn|Berman|1998|p=4}}{{sfn|Tyldesley|2006}}


In Regnal Year 2, Amenhotep married ], the daughter of ] and ]. Tiye was the ] throughout Amenhotep's reign. Many ] were commissioned and distributed during Amenhotep's reign. On the "marriage scarabs," Amenhotep affirmed his divine power and the legitimacy of his wife. With Tiye, Amenhotep fathered at least two sons, ] and ]. In addition, several daughters are frequently credited to the couple: ], ], ], ], and ].{{sfn|Berman|1998|p=7}} Most of the daughters appear frequently on statues and reliefs from Amenhotep's reign.{{sfn|Kozloff|Bryan|1992|loc=nos. 24, 57, 103 & 104}} However, Nebetah is attested only once, on a ] from Medinet Habu,{{sfn|Berman|1998|p=7}}{{sfn|Kozloff|Bryan|1992|loc=fig. II, 5}} and Beketaten only appears in ].<ref name="Davies">N. de G. Davies, The rock tombs of El-Amarna, Parts III and IV, 1905 (Reprinted 2004), The Egypt Exploration Society, {{ISBN|0-85698-160-5}}. Facsimile in Internet Archive: ]</ref>]" of Amenhotep, which affirm the divine power of the king and the legitimacy of his wife, Tiye. ], ].]]Amenhotep is also sometimes credited as the father of ] or ], with varying proposals for their mothers, but these theories are not as accepted as his other, known children.
Amenhotep III was the father of two sons with his ] ], a queen who could be considered as the ] of ]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schwarz-Bart |first1=Simone |last2=Schwarz-Bart |first2=André |year=2001 |title=In Praise of Black Women, Ancient African Queens: Volume 1 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |pages=52–61|lastauthoramp=yes |isbn=0-299-17250-3}}</ref> through her first son, ], who predeceased his father, and her second son, Amenhotep IV, later known as ], who ultimately succeeded Amenhotep III to the throne. Amenhotep III also may have been the father of a third child&mdash;called ], who later would succeed Akhenaten and briefly rule Egypt as pharaoh.


In addition to Tiye, Amenhotep ]. In Regnal Year 10, Amenhotep married ], the daughter of ] of ].{{sfn|Dodson|Hilton|2004|p=154}} He later married ], daughter of ] of Mitanni, in or around Regnal Year 36 of his reign.{{sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=156}}{{sfn|Grajetzki|2005}} Other wives, whose names are unknown, included: a daughter of ], king of ]; a daughter of ], king of ]; a daughter of ], ruler of ]; and a daughter of the ruler of Ammia (modern-day Syria).{{sfn|Grajetzki|2005}}
Amenhotep III and Tiye may also have had four daughters: ], ], Isis or ], and ].<ref name="O'Connor, David p.7">O'Connor, David & Cline, Eric., p.7</ref> They appear frequently on statues and reliefs during the reign of their father and also are represented by smaller objects—with the exception of Nebetah.<ref>Kozloff, Arielle. & Bryan, Betsy. <cite>Royal and Divine Statuary in Egypt’s Dazzling Sun: Amenhotep III and his World</cite>, (Cleveland, 1992), nos. 24, 57, 103 & 104</ref> Nebetah is attested only once in the known historical records on a colossal limestone group of statues from Medinet Habu.<ref>Kozloff & Bryan, fig. II, 5</ref> This huge sculpture, that is seven meters high, shows Amenhotep III and Tiye seated side by side, "with three of their daughters standing in front of the throne--Henuttaneb, the largest and best preserved, in the centre; Nebetah on the right; and another, whose name is destroyed, on the left."<ref name="O'Connor, David p.7"/>


Finally, he married at least two of his daughters, Sitamun and Iset, in the last decade of his reign. Jar-label inscriptions from Regnal Year 30 indicate that Sitamun was elevated to the status of Great Royal Wife by that time.{{sfn|Berman|1998|p=7}} Although shunned by common Egyptians, incest was not uncommon among royalty.{{sfn|Kozloff|2012|p=194}} A sculpture restored by Amenhotep for his grandfather, Amenhotep II, shows Sitamun with a young prince beside her.{{sfn|Kozloff|2012|p=194}} This has led to theories that Sitamun was the mother of Smekhkare and/or Tutankhamun.
]s on the left, (and Tiye's on the right). ]]


==Life and reign==
Amenhotep III elevated two of his four daughters—Sitamun and Isis—to the office of "great royal wife" during the last decade of his reign. Evidence that Sitamun already was promoted to this office by Year 30 of his reign, is known from jar-label inscriptions uncovered from the royal palace at ].<ref name="O'Connor, David p.7"/> It should be noted that Egypt's theological paradigm encouraged a male pharaoh to accept royal women from several different generations as wives to strengthen the chances of his offspring succeeding him.<ref>Troy, Lana. Patterns of Queenship in Ancient Egyptian Myth and History. University of Uppsala, Uppsala Studies in Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Civilizations 14, (1986), 103, 107, 111</ref> The goddess ] herself was related to ] as first the mother and later wife and daughter of the god when he rose to prominence in the ] of the ].<ref name="O'Connor, David p.7"/> Hence, Amenhotep III's marriage to his two daughters should not be considered unlikely based on contemporary views of marriage.
], Great Royal Wife of Amenhotep]]
Amenhotep probably became pharaoh when he was between the ages of 6 and 12. While it is likely that a ] would have ruled until he came of age, none is attested in the surviving records. In Regnal Year 11, Amenhotep commanded the construction of an artificial lake at Tiye's hometown of Djakaru. He then celebrated a Festival of Opening the Lake in the third month of Inundation, day sixteen, and rowed the royal barge ''Aten-tjehen'' on the lake. This event was commemorated on at least eleven commemorative scarabs.{{sfn|Kozloff|Bryan|1992|loc=no. 2}}


From other scarabs, Amenhotep is known to have killed either 102 or 110 lions in the first ten years of his reign.{{sfn|Berman|1998|p=13}}
Amenhotep III is known to have married several foreign women:
* ], the daughter of ] of ], in the tenth year of his reign.<ref>Dodson, Aidan & Hilton, Dyan <cite>The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt</cite>, Thames & Hudson (2004), p.155</ref>
* ], the daughter of his ally ] of Mitanni, Around Year 36 of his reign.<ref>Fletcher (2000), p.156</ref><ref name="WG"/>
* A daughter of ], king of ].<ref name="WG">Grajetzki, Ancient Egyptian Queens: A Hieroglyphic Dictionary, Golden House Publications, London, 2005, ISBN 978-0-9547218-9-3</ref>
* A daughter of ], king of ].<ref name="WG"/>
* A daughter of ], ruler of ].<ref name="WG"/>
* A daughter of the ruler of Ammia (in modern Syria).<ref name="WG"/>


Despite the martial prowess Amenhotep displayed during the hunt, he is known to have participated in only one military incident. In Regnal Year Five, he led a victorious campaign against a rebellion in Kush. This victory was commemorated by three rock-carved stelae found near ] and ] in Nubia. The official account of Amenhotep's military victory emphasizes his martial prowess with the ] typical of the period.<ref>Urk. IV 1665–66</ref>
==Life==
Amenhotep III has the distinction of having the most surviving statues of any Egyptian pharaoh, with over 250 of his statues having been discovered and identified. Since these statues span his entire life, they provide a series of portraits covering the entire length of his reign.


=== Court of Amenhotep III ===
Another striking characteristic of Amenhotep III's reign is the series of over 200 large ] that have been discovered over a large geographic area ranging from Syria (]) through to ] in Nubia.<ref>O'Connor, David & Cline, Eric., pp.11-12</ref> Their lengthy inscribed texts extol the accomplishments of the pharaoh. For instance, 123 of these commemorative scarabs record the large number of lions (either 102 or 110 depending on the reading) that Amenhotep III killed "with his own arrows" from his first regnal year up to his tenth year.<ref name="O'Connor, David p.13">O'Connor, David & Cline, Eric., p.13</ref> Similarly, five other scarabs state that the foreign princess who would become a wife to him, Gilukhepa, arrived in Egypt with a retinue of 317 women. She was the first of many such princesses who would enter the pharaoh's household.<ref name="O'Connor, David p.13"/>
There is a significant attestation for the court officials who served during Amenhotep's reign, primarily through the discovery of their tombs in the ]. Among these court officials were the ] ], ], ], and ]. Other officials included the treasurers Ptahmose and Merire; the high stewards, Amenemhat Surer and ]; and the Viceroy of Kush, Merimose.
]
Another eleven scarabs record the excavation of an artificial lake he had built for his Great Royal Wife, Queen Tiye, in his eleventh regnal year,


] held many offices during the reign of Amenhotep the pharaoh, but is best known for receiving the right to build his mortuary temple behind that of the king.{{sfn|Kozloff|2012|p=197}} Amenhotep, son of Hapu, was deified after his death and was one of the few non-royals to be worshiped in such a manner.{{sfn|Lichtheim|1980|p=104}}<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=myPvAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA29|title=The Divine Father: Religious and Philosophical Concepts of Divine Parenthood in Antiquity|date=6 February 2014|journal=Themes in Biblical Narrative: Jewish and Christian Traditions|publisher=]|isbn=978-90-04-26477-9|editor1-last=Albrecht|editor1-first=Felix|edition=E-book|location=Leiden; Boston|page=29|issn=1388-3909|access-date=30 May 2020|editor2-last=Feldmeier|editor2-first=Reinhard}}</ref>
{{quote| "''Regnal Year 11 under the Majesty of...Amenhotep (III), ruler of Thebes, given life, and the Great Royal Wife Tiye; may she live; her father's name was Yuya, her mother's name Tuya. His Majesty commanded the making of a lake for the great royal wife Tiye --may she live--in her town of Djakaru. (near ]). Its length is 3,700 (cubits) and its width is 700 (cubits). (His Majesty) celebrated the Festival of Opening the Lake in the third month of Inundation, day sixteen. His Majesty was rowed in the royal barge ''Aten-tjehen'' in it ."''<ref>Kozloff & Bryan, no.2</ref>}}


=== Malkata Palace ===
], ].]]
The palace of ] was built in the 14th century BC and its ancient name was '']-Hay'', "House of Rejoicing". Originally, the palace was known as ''the Palace of the Dazzling ]''. Built mostly out of mud-brick, it was Amenhotep's residence throughout most of the later part of his reign. Construction began around Regnal Year 11 and continued until the king moved to the palace permanently around Regnal Year 29. Once completed, it was the largest royal residence in Egypt.
Amenhotep appears to have been crowned while still a child, perhaps between the ages of 6 and 12. It is likely that a ] acted for him if he was made pharaoh at that early age. He married Tiye two years later and she lived twelve years after his death. His lengthy reign was a period of unprecedented prosperity and artistic splendour, when Egypt reached the peak of her artistic and international power. Proof of this is shown by the diplomatic correspondence from the rulers of ], ], ], and ] which is preserved in the archive of ]; these letters document frequent requests by these rulers for gold and numerous other gifts from the pharaoh. The letters cover the period from Year 30 of Amenhotep III until at least the end of ]'s reign. In one famous correspondence—Amarna letter '''EA 4'''--Amenhotep III is quoted by the Babylonian king ] in firmly rejecting the latter's entreaty to marry one of this pharaoh's daughters:


=== Sed festivals ===
{{cquote| "''From time immemorial, no daughter of the king of Egy is given to anyone."''<ref>William L. Moran, p.8</ref>}}
Amenhotep celebrated three ]s in Regnal Years 30, 34, and 37, each at Malkata palace in Western Thebes.{{sfn|Berman|1998|pp=16-17}} A temple of Amun and festival hall were built especially for the celebrations.{{sfn|Berman|1998|p=16}} The Sed festival was a tradition that dated to the ],{{sfn|Berman|1998|p=15}} consisting of a series of tests that demonstrated the pharaoh's fitness for continuing as ruler of Egypt. Based on indications left by Queen Tiye's steward Khenruef, the festival may have lasted two to eight months.{{sfn|Kozloff|2012|p=192}}


Amenhotep wanted his Sed Festivals to be far more spectacular than those of the past.{{sfn|Kozloff|2012|p=182}} He appointed ] to plan the ceremony, potentially because he was one of the few courtiers still alive to have served at the last Sed Festival, held for Amenhotep II.{{sfn|Kozloff|2012|p=182}} In preparation for the first Sed Festival, Amenhotep, son of Hapu enlisted scribes to gather information from records and inscriptions, most found in ancient funerary temples,{{sfn|Kozloff|2012|p=182}} describing the appropriate rituals and costumes.
Amenhotep III's refusal to allow one of his daughters to be married to the Babylonian monarch may indeed be connected with Egyptian traditional royal practices that could provide a claim upon the throne through marriage to a royal princess, or, it be viewed as a shrewd attempt on his part to enhance Egypt's prestige over those of her neighbours in the international world.{{Citation needed|date=May 2009}}


Temples were built and statues erected up and down the Nile. Craftsmen and jewelers created ornaments commentating the event including jewelry, ornaments, and stelae.{{sfn|Kozloff|2012|p=182}} The scribe Nebmerutef coordinated every step of the event.{{sfn|Kozloff|2012|p=189}} He directed Amenhotep to use his mace to knock on the temple doors. Beside him, Amenhotep-Hapu mirrored his effort like a royal shadow.{{sfn|Kozloff|2012|p=189}} The king was followed by Queen Tiye and the royal daughters. When moving to another venue, the banner of the jackal god Wepwawet, "Opener of Ways" preceded the King. The king changed his costume at each major activity of the celebration.{{sfn|Kozloff|2012|p=189}}
The pharaoh's reign was relatively peaceful and uneventful. The only recorded military activity by the king is commemorated by three rock-carved stelas from his fifth year found near ] and ] in Nubia. The official account of Amenhotep III's military victory emphasizes his martial prowess with the typical ] used by all pharaohs.
].]]


One of the major highlights of the festival was the king's dual coronation. He was enthroned separately for Upper and Lower Egypt. For Upper Egypt, Amenhotep wore the white crown but changed to the red crown for the Lower Egypt coronation.{{sfn|Kozloff|2012|p=190}}
{{cquote| "''Regnal Year 5, third month of Inundation, day 2. Appearance under the Majesty of Horus: Strong bull, appearing in truth; ]: Who establishes laws and pacifies the Two Lands;...King of Upper and Lower Egypt: Nebmaatra, heir of Ra; Son of Ra: , beloved of -Ra, King of the Gods, and Khnum, lord of the cataract, given life. One came to tell His Majesty, "The fallen one of vile Kush has plotted rebellion in his heart." His Majesty led on to victory; he completed it in his first campaign of victory. His Majesty reached them like the wing stroke of a falcon, like Menthu (war god of Thebes) in his transformation...Ikheny, the boaster in the midst of the army, did not know the lion that was before him. Nebmaatra was the fierce-eyed lion whose claws seized vile Kush, who trampled down all its chiefs in their valleys, they being cast down in their blood, one on top of the other."''<ref>Urk. IV 1665-66</ref>}}


After the Sed festival, Amenhotep transcended from being a near-god to one divine.{{sfn|Kozloff|2012|p=195}} The king may have later traveled across Egypt following the festival, potentially reenacting the ceremony for different audiences.{{sfn|Kozloff|2012|p=192}} Few Egyptian kings lived long enough for their own celebration. Those who survived used the celebration as the affirmation of transition to divinity.
Amenhotep III celebrated three Jubilee ]s, in his Year 30, Year 34, and Year 37 respectively at his ] summer palace in Western Thebes.<ref name="David O'Connor & Eric Cline, p.16">David O'Connor & Eric Cline, p.16</ref> The palace, called '']-Hay'' or "House of Rejoicing" in ancient times, comprised a temple of Amun and a festival hall built especially for this occasion.<ref name="David O'Connor & Eric Cline, p.16"/> One of the king's most popular epithets was ''Aten-tjehen'' which means "the Dazzling Sun Disk"; it appears in his titulary at Luxor temple and, more frequently, was used as the name for one of his palaces as well as the Year 11 royal barge, and denotes a company of men in Amenhotep's army.<ref>David O'Connor & Eric Cline, pp.3 & 14</ref>


=== International relations ===
===Proposed co-regency by Akhenaten===
]
], from ], now in the ]]]
Diplomatic correspondence from Amenhotep's reign are partially preserved in the ], a collection of documents found near the city of ]. The letters come from the rulers of ], ], ], ], and other states, typically including requests by those rulers for gold and other gifts from Amenhotep. The letters cover the period from Year 30 of Amenhotep until at least the end of ]'s reign. In ], Amenhotep is quoted by the Babylonian king ] in firmly rejecting the latter's entreaty to marry one of this pharaoh's daughters:
There is currently no conclusive evidence of a ] between Amenhotep III and his son, ]. A letter from the Amarna palace archives dated to Year 2—rather than Year 12—of Akhenaten's reign from the ]an king, Tushratta, (Amarna letter EA 27) preserves a complaint about the fact that Akhenaten did not honor his father's promise to forward Tushratta statues made of solid gold as part of a marriage dowry for sending his daughter, ], into the pharaoh's household.<ref>William L. Moran, translation, op. cit., pp.87-89</ref> This correspondence implies that if any co-regency occurred between Amenhotep III and Akhenaten, it lasted no more than a year.<ref>Nicholas Reeves, Akhenaten: Egypt's False Prophet, Thames & Hudson, 2000, pp.75-78</ref> Lawrence Berman observes in a 1998 biography of Amenhotep III that,


{{blockquote|From time immemorial, no daughter of the king of Egy is given to anyone.{{sfn|Moran|1992|p=8}}}}
: "It is significant that the proponents of the coregency theory have tended to be art historians , whereas historians ] and William Murnane] have largely remained unconvinced. Recognizing that the problem admits no easy solution, the present writer has gradually come to believe that it is unnecessary to propose a coregency to explain the production of art in the reign of Amenhotep III. Rather the perceived problems appear to derive from the interpretation of mortuary objects."<ref>Lawrence M. Berman, 'Overview of Amenhotep III and His Reign,' in Amenhotep III: Perspectives on his Reign, ed: David O'Connor & Eric Cline, p.23</ref>


Amenhotep's refusal to allow one of his daughters to be married to the Babylonian monarch may indeed have followed from Egyptian royal custom, which allowed a claim upon the throne through descent from a royal princess. It could also be viewed as a diplomatic stratagem to enhance Egypt's prestige, as Amenhotep himself married the daughters of several foreign rulers while refusing them his own daughters.
In February 2014, Egyptian Ministry for Antiquities announced what it called conclusive evidence that ] shared power with his father for at least 8 years, based on the evidence coming from the tomb of Vizier ].<ref>
Daily News Egypt. February 6, 2014</ref><ref> thehistoryblog.com</ref> The tomb is being studied by a multi-national team led by the ''Instituto de Estudios del Antiguo Egipto de Madrid'' and Dr Martin Valentin.


The Amarna Letters also reference the exchange between Amenhotep and the Mitanni King Tushratta of the statue of a healing goddess, ] of ], late in Amenhotep's reign. Scholars have generally assumed that the statue's sojourn to Egypt was requested by Amenhotep in order to cure him of his various ailments, which included painful abscesses in his teeth.{{sfn|Hayes|1973|p=346}} However, ]'s analysis of ], relating to the dispatch of the statue to Thebes, discounts this theory.
The theory of co-regency was first proposed by ] who excavated at Amarna, as well as by ].


The arrival of the statue is known to have coincided with Amenhotep's marriage with ], ]'s daughter, in the pharaoh's 36th year; letter EA 23's arrival in Egypt is dated to "regnal year 36, the fourth month of winter, day 1" of his reign.{{sfn|Aldred|1991|p=13}} Furthermore, Tushratta never mentions in EA 23 that the statue's dispatch was meant to heal Amenhotep of his maladies. Instead, Tushratta writes in part:
===Final years===
] palace. ]]]


{{blockquote|... Thus ] of Nineveh, mistress of all lands: "I wish to go to Egypt, a country that I love, and then return." Now I herewith send her, and she is on her way. Now, in the time, too, of my father,... went to this country, and just as earlier she dwelt there and they honored her, may my brother now honor her 10 times more than before. May my brother honor her, at pleasure let her go so that she may come back. May Šauška (i.e., ]), the mistress of heaven, protect us, my brother and me, a 100,000&nbsp;years, and may our mistress grant both of us great joy. And let us act as friends. Is Šauška for me alone my god, and for my brother not his god?{{sfn|Moran|1992|pp=61–62}}}}
Reliefs from the wall of the temple of Soleb in Nubia and scenes from the ] of ], Steward of the King's Great Wife, Tiye, depict Amenhotep as a visibly weak and sick figure.<ref>Grimal, p.225</ref> Scientists believe that in his final years he suffered from ] and became obese. It has generally been assumed by some scholars that Amenhotep requested and received from his father-in-law ] of ], a statue of ] of ]—a healing goddess—in order to cure him of his various ailments which included painful abscesses in his teeth.<ref>William Hayes, "Internal affairs from Thutmosis I to the death of Amenophis III," in CAH Pt 1, Vol 2, ''The Middle East and the Aegean Region, c.1800-1380 BC'', 1973, p.346</ref> A forensic examination of his mummy shows that he was probably in constant pain during his final years due to his worn, and cavity-pitted teeth. However, more recent analysis of Amarna letter '''EA 23''' by ], which recounts the dispatch of the statue of the goddess to Thebes, does not support this popular theory. The arrival of the statue is known to have coincided with Amenhotep III's marriage with ], ]'s daughter, in the pharaoh's 36th year; letter EA 23's arrival in Egypt is dated to "regnal year 36, the fourth month of winter, day 1" of his reign.<ref>Cyril Aldred, Akhenaten: King of Egypt, Thames & Hudson, 1991, pl.13</ref> Furthermore, Tushratta never mentions in EA 23 that the statue's dispatch was meant to heal Amenhotep from his maladies. Instead, Tushratta merely writes,


The likeliest explanation is that the statue was sent to Egypt "to shed her blessings on the wedding of Amenhotep and Tadukhepa, as she had been sent previously for Amenhotep and ]."{{sfn|Berman|1998|p=22}} Moran agrees that this explanation was more likely.{{sfn|Moran|1992|loc=p. 62 n. 2}} Further, Moran argues that the contents of Amarna Letter EA 21 support this claim, wherein Tushratta asks the gods, including Ishtar, for their blessing of the marriage.
: {{cquote|Say to Nimmureya (ie: Amenhotep III), the king of Egypt, my brother, my son-in-law, whom I love and who loves me: Thus Tušratta, the king of Mitanni, who loves you, your father-in-law. For me all goes well. For you may all go well. For your household for Tadu-Heba (ie: Tadukhepa), my daughter, your wife, who you love, may all go well. For your wives, for your sons, for your magnates, for your chariots, for your horses, for your troops, for your country, and for whatever else belongs to you, may all go very, very well.
{{sfn|Moran|1992|p=50}}


In the 14th century BCE, the pharaoh sent an expedition to Cyprus to establish Egyptian control over the island, which was subsequently maintained for several centuries. During this time, the Egyptians established a number of settlements on the island, and they exported copper and other raw materials from Cyprus to Egypt in exchange for luxury goods and other commodities.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cline |first=Eric |title=The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age |year=2012 |language=English}}</ref>{{verify source|date=July 2023}}
Thus ] of Nineveh, mistress of all lands: "I wish to go to Egypt, a country that I love, and then return." Now I herewith send her, and she is on her way. Now, in the time, too, of my father,... went to this country, and just as earlier she dwelt there and they honored her, may my brother now honor her 10 times more than before. May my brother honor her, (then) at (his) pleasure let her go so that she may come back. May Šauška (ie: ]), the mistress of heaven, protect us, my brother and me, a 100,000&nbsp;years, and may our mistress grant both of us great joy. And let us act as friends. Is Šauška for me alone my god(dess), and for my brother not his god(dess)?<ref>William L. Moran, translation, pp.61-62</ref>}}
<ref>{{Cite book |last=Muhly |first=D. |title=Egypt and Eastern Mediterranean in the Bronze Age, levant, Aegean, Cyprus and Egypt |year=1998 |language=English}}</ref>{{verify source|date=July 2023}} However, the Egyptian presence on Cyprus was at times interrupted by incursions of other powers, including the Hittites and the Mycenaeans.


== Succession ==
].]]
Thutmose, the eldest son of Amenhotep III with his wife Tiye, became Crown Prince,<ref name="Dodson JEA">{{cite journal|author=Aidan Dodson|year=1990|title=Crown Prince Djhutmose and the Royal Sons of the Eighteenth Dynasty|journal=Journal of Egyptian Archaeology|volume=76|pages=87–88|doi=10.1177/030751339007600107|s2cid=193951672}}</ref> but died before his father. Amenhotep was ultimately succeeded by his second son, who ascended the throne as Amenhotep IV and later took the name Akhenaten.
The likeliest explanation is that the statue was sent to Egypt "to shed her blessings on the wedding of Amenhotep III and Tadukhepa, as she had been sent previously for Amenhotep III and ]."<ref>David O'Connor & Eric Cline, p.22</ref> As Moran writes: "One explanation of the goddess' visit is that she was to heal the aged and ailing Egyptian king, but this explanation rests purely on analogy and finds no support in this letter... More likely, it seems, is a connection with the solemnities associated with the marriage of Tušratta's daughter; sf. the previous visit mentioned in lines 18f., perhaps on the occasion of the marriage of Kelu-Heba (i.e.: Gilukhepa)...and note, too, Šauška's role along with ], of making Tadu-Heba answer to the king's desires."<ref>William L. Moran, translation, p.62 n.2</ref>


=== Proposed coregency with Amenhotep IV / Akhenaten ===
The contents of Amarna letter ''EA21'' from Tushratta to his "brother" Amenhotep III strongly affirms this solution. In this correspondence, Tushratta explicitly states,
It has long been theorized that Amenhotep III shared a ] with his son Amenhotep IV. Lawrence Berman has claimed that proponents of the coregency theory tended to be art historians, while historians remained unconvinced.{{sfn|Berman|1998|p=23}}


], ], ], and other scholars argue strongly against the establishment of a long coregency between the two rulers and in favor of either no coregency or one of at most two years.{{sfn|Dorman|2009}} ], ], ], and Lawrence Berman contest the view of any coregency whatsoever between Akhenaten and his father.
: {{cquote|I have given...my daughter (Tadukhepa) to be the wife of my brother, whom I love. May Šimige and Šauška go before her. May they mr the image of my brother's desire. May my brother rejoice on t day. May Šimige and Šauška grant my brother a gre blessing, exquisi joy. ''May they bless him'' and may ''you'', my brother, li forever.<ref>William L. Moran, translation, p.50</ref>}}
]. The image was created during his reign.]]
Evidence against a coregency includes ], which is dated to Regnal Year 2 of Amenhotep IV. The subject of the letter involves a complaint from the ]an king Tushratta, claiming that Amenhotep IV did not honor his father's promise to send Tushratta gold statues as part of the marriage arrangement between ], and Amenhotep III.{{sfn|Moran|1992|pp=87–89}} This correspondence implies that if any coregency occurred between Amenhotep and Akhenaten, it lasted no more than a year.{{sfn|Reeves|2000|pp=75–78}}


However in February 2014, ] announced that findings from the tomb of Vizier ] gave "conclusive evidence" of a coregency that lasted at least eight years.<ref>
===Death===
Daily News Egypt. 6 February 2014</ref><ref> thehistoryblog.com</ref> In the tomb, the cartouches of the two pharaohs were carved side by side. However, this conclusion has since been called into question by other egyptologists, according to whom the inscription means only that construction on Amenhotep-Huy's tomb started during Amenhotep III's reign and ended under Akhenaten's, and Amenhotep-Huy thus simply wanted to pay his respects to both rulers, carving their names separately rather than simultaneously.
] in ], ]]]
] (1213 - 1203 a. C.) ].]]


==Later life==
Amenhotep III's highest attested regnal date is Year 38, which appears on wine jar-label dockets from ].<ref>Kozloff & Bryan, p.39, fig. II.4</ref> He may have lived briefly into an unrecorded Year 39, dying before the wine harvest of that year.<ref>Clayton, p.119</ref>
], from Dahamsha, now in the ]]]


===Health and death===
Amenhotep III was buried in the Western Valley of the ], in Tomb ]. Sometime during the ] his mummy was moved from this tomb and was placed in a side-chamber of ] along with several other pharaohs of the ] and ] where it lay until discovered by ] in 1898.
Amenhotep's greatest attested regnal date is Year 38, which appears on wine jar-label dockets from ].{{sfn|Kozloff|Bryan|1992|loc=p. 39, fig. II.4}} He may have lived briefly into an unrecorded Year 39 and died before the wine harvest of that year.{{sfn|Clayton|1994|p=119}} Reliefs from the wall of the temple of Soleb in Nubia and scenes from the ] of ], Steward of the King's Great Wife, Tiye, depict Amenhotep as a visibly weak and sick figure.{{sfn|Grimal|1992|p=225}} Scientists believe that in his final years he suffered from ] and obesity. Further, a forensic examination of his mummy revealed worn and cavity-pitted teeth which must have inflicted constant pain. An examination of the mummy by the Australian anatomist ] concluded that the pharaoh had died at between the age of 40 and 50.{{sfn|Smith|1912|p=50}}


An examination of his mummy by the Australian anatomist ] concluded that the pharaoh was aged between forty and fifty years old at death.<ref>Grafton Elliot Smith, The Royal Mummies, 1912, Cairo, p.50</ref> His chief wife, Tiye, is known to have outlived him for at least twelve years as she is mentioned in several Amarna letters dated from her son's reign as well as depicted at a dinner table with Akhenaten and his royal family in scenes from the tomb of ], which were made during Year 9 and Year 12 of her son's reign.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amarnaproject.com/pages/amarna_the_place/north_tombs/index.shtml|title=North Tombs at Amarna|accessdate=2009-05-18| archiveurl= http://web.archive.org/web/20090507102726/http://www.amarnaproject.com/pages/amarna_the_place/north_tombs/index.shtml| archivedate= 7 May 2009 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= no}}</ref><ref>David O'Connor & Eric Cline, p.23</ref> He was survived by at least one child, his successor Amenhotep IV. His wife Tiye is known to have outlived him by at least twelve years, as she is mentioned in several Amarna letters dated from her son's reign, as well as depicted at the royal dinner table in Akhenaten's years 9 and 12, in scenes from the tomb of ].<ref>{{cite web|title=North Tombs at Amarna|url=http://www.amarnaproject.com/pages/amarna_the_place/north_tombs/index.shtml|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090507102726/http://www.amarnaproject.com/pages/amarna_the_place/north_tombs/index.shtml|archive-date=7 May 2009 <!--DASHBot-->|access-date=18 May 2009}}</ref>{{sfn|Berman|1998|p=23}}


Foreign leaders communicated their grief at the pharaoh's death, with Tushratta saying: Foreign leaders communicated their grief at the pharaoh's death, with Tushratta saying:


{{cquote|When I heard that my brother Nimmureya had gone to his fate, on that day I sat down and wept. On that day I took no food, I took no water.<ref>Fletcher (2000), p.161</ref>}} {{blockquote|When I heard that my brother Nimmureya had gone to his fate, on that day I sat down and wept. On that day I took no food, I took no water.{{sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=161}}}}


===Burial and mummy===
].]]
]
When Amenhotep III died, he left behind a country that was at the very height of its power and influence, commanding immense respect in the international world; however, he also bequeathed an Egypt that was wedded to its traditional political and religious certainties under the Amun priesthood.<ref>Grimal, pp.223 & 225</ref>
Amenhotep was buried in tomb ] in the Western Valley of the ] outside of Thebes. The tomb is the largest in the West Valley of the Kings and includes two side chambers for his Great Royal Wives, Tiye and Sitamun. However, it does not seem that either woman was buried there. During the reign of Smendes in the ], Amenhotep's mummy was later moved to the mummy cache in ] along with several other pharaohs of the ] and ], where it lay until discovered by ] in 1898.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Amenhetep III {{!}} Theban Mapping Project|url=https://thebanmappingproject.com/tombs/kv-22-amenhetep-iii|access-date=19 December 2021|website=thebanmappingproject.com|language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Reeves|Wilkinson|1996|p=198}}


For the 18th dynasty, the mummy shows an unusually heavy use of subcutaneous stuffing to make the mummy look more lifelike.<ref name="Habicht" /> The mummy has museum inventory number CG 61074.<ref name="Habicht">{{cite journal |last1=Habicht |first1=M.E|last2=Bouwman |first2=A.S|last3=Rühli |first3=F.J |date=25 January 2016 |title=Identifications of ancient Egyptian royal mummies from the 18th Dynasty reconsidered |journal=Yearbook of Physical Anthropology |volume=159 |issue=S61 |pages=216–231 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.22909 |pmid=26808107|doi-access=free }}</ref>
The resulting upheavals from his son ]'s reforming zeal would shake these old certainties to their very foundations and bring forth the central question of whether a pharaoh was more powerful than the existing domestic order as represented by the Amun priests and their numerous temple estates. Akhenaten even moved the capital away from the city of Thebes in an effort to break the influence of that powerful temple and assert his own preferred choice of deities, the ]. Akhenaten moved the Egyptian capital to the site known today as ] (though originally known as Akhetaten, 'Horizon of Aten'), and eventually suppressed the worship of ].<ref>Fletcher (2000), p.162</ref>


]
==The Court==
In April 2021, his mummy was moved from the ] to the ], along with those of 17 other kings and 4 queens in an event termed the ].<ref name="Parisse">{{cite news |last=Parisse |first=Emmanuel |date=5 April 2021 |title=22 Ancient Pharaohs Have Been Carried Across Cairo in an Epic 'Golden Parade' |url=https://www.sciencealert.com/22-ancient-pharaohs-have-been-carried-across-cairo-in-an-epic-golden-parade |work=ScienceAlert |access-date=5 April 2021}}</ref>
There were many important individuals in the court of Amenhotep III. ] were ], ], ] and ]. They are known from a remarkable series of monuments, including the well known ] at Thebes. Treasurers were another Ptahmose and Merire. High stewards were Amenemhat Surer and ]. Viceroy of Kush was Merimose. He was a leading figure in the military campaigns of the king in Nubia. Perhaps the most famous official of the king was ]. He never had high titles but was later worshipped as god and main architect of some of the king's temples.<ref>Lichtheim (1980), p.104</ref> Priests of Amun under the king included the brother-in-law of the king ] and ]. Both were ''second prophet of Amun''.


==Monuments== ==Monuments and legacy==
]]] ]]]


]Amenhotep has the distinction of having the most surviving statues of any Egyptian pharaoh, with over 250 identified. These statues provide a series of portraits covering the entire length of his reign.
Amenhotep III built extensively at the temple of ] including the ] which consisted of two ]s, a colonnade behind the new temple entrance, and a new temple to the goddess ]. Amenhotep III dismantled the fourth pylon of the Temple of Amun at Karnak to construct a new pylon—the third pylon—and created a new entrance to this structure where he erected "two rows of columns with open papyrus capital" down the centre of this newly formed forecourt.<ref></ref> The forecourt between the third and fourth pylons of Egypt, sometimes called an ] court, was also decorated with scenes of the sacred ] of the deities ], ], and ] being carried in funerary boats.<ref></ref> The king also started work on the Tenth pylon at the Temple of Amun there. Amenhotep III's first recorded act as king—in his Years 1 and 2—was to open new ] ] at ], just south of Cairo and at ] in ] in order to herald his great building projects.<ref>Urk. IV, 1677-1678</ref> He oversaw construction of another temple to {{lang|egy|Ma'at}} at Luxor and virtually covered ] with numerous monuments.


When Amenhotep died, he left behind a country at the very height of its power and influence, commanding immense respect in the international world. However, it was a country wedded to age-old political and religious certainties under the Amun priesthood.{{sfn|Grimal|1992|pp=223, 225}}
<blockquote>"...including a small temple with a colonnade (dedicated to ]) at ], a rock temple dedicated to Amun 'Lord of the Ways' at Wadi es-Sebuam, and the temple of Horus of Miam at Aniba... additional temples at ] and Sesebi."<ref>Nicolas Grimal, A History of Ancient Egypt, Blackwell Books: 1992. p.223</ref>
</blockquote>


The resulting upheavals from his son ]'s reforming zeal shook these old certainties to their foundations, and forced the momentous question whether a pharaoh was more powerful than his society as represented in the worship of Amun. Akhenaten even moved the capital away from Thebes, the center of Amun's worship, and built ], a city dedicated to his new deity, the ].{{sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=162}}
]


Amenhotep built extensively at the temple of ], including the ] with two ], a colonnade behind the new temple entrance, and a new temple to the goddess ]. Amenhotep dismantled the Fourth Pylon of the Temple of Amun at Karnak to construct a new Third Pylon — and created a new entrance to this structure where he erected two rows of columns with open papyrus capitals down the centre of this newly formed forecourt.{{citation needed|date=March 2019}} The forecourt between the Third and Fourth Pylons, sometimes called an ] court, was also decorated with scenes of the sacred funerary ]s of the deities ], ], and ].<ref></ref> The king also started work on the Tenth Pylon at the Temple of Amun. Amenhotep's first recorded act as king — in his Years 1 and 2 — was to open new ] ] at ], just south of Cairo and at ] in ] to undertake his great building projects.<ref>Urk. IV, 1677–1678</ref> He virtually covered ] with new monuments:
His enormous ] on the west bank of the ] was, in its day, the largest religious complex in ], but unfortunately, the king chose to build it too close to the ] and less than two hundred years later, it stood in ruins. Much of the masonry was purloined by ] and later pharaohs for their own construction projects.<ref>Grimal, p.224</ref> The ]&mdash;two massive stone statues, eighteen meters high, of Amenhotep that stood at the gateway of his mortuary temple&mdash;are the only elements of the complex that remained standing. Amenhotep III also built the Third Pylon at Karnak and erected 600 statues of the goddess ] in the ], south of Karnak.<ref>Grimal, p.224 & 295</ref> Some of the most magnificent statues of New Kingdom Egypt date to his reign "such as the ]" as well as a large series of royal sculptures.<ref name="claytonp118">Clayton, p.118</ref> Several beautiful black granite seated statues of Amenhotep wearing the '']'' headress have come from excavations behind the Colossi of Memnon as well as from Tanis in the Delta.<ref name="claytonp118"/> In 2014, two giant statues of Amenhotep III that were toppled by an earthquake in the year 1,200 B.C. were re-erected from more than 200 fragments. The first one was completed in March that year, and the second in December.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2365114&CategoryId=13936 |title=Amenhotep III Statues Once More Stand Before Pharaoh’s Temple |work=Latin American Herald Tribute |date=December 15,2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-2873578/Colossal-statue-Amenhotep-III-unveiled-Egypt.html |title=Colossal statue of Amenhotep III unveiled in Egypt |agency= Agence France-Presse |newspaper=The Daily Mail |date=14 December 2014 }}</ref>


{{blockquote|...including a small temple with a colonnade (dedicated to ]) at ], a rock temple dedicated to Amun "Lord of the Ways" at Wadi es-Sebuam, and the temple of Horus of Miam at ]... additional temples at ] and ].{{sfn|Grimal|1992|p=223}}}}
One of the most stunning finds of royal statues dating to his reign was made as recently as 1989 in the courtyard of Amenhotep III's colonnade of the Temple of Luxor where a ] was found, including a {{convert|6|ft|m}}-high pink quartzite statue of the king wearing the ] found in near-perfect condition.<ref name="claytonp118"/> It was mounted on a sled, and may have been a cult statue.<ref name="claytonp118"/> The only damage it had sustained was that the name of the god ] had been hacked out wherever it appeared in the pharaoh's ], clearly done as part of the systematic effort to eliminate any mention of this god during the reign of his successor, Akhenaton.<ref name="claytonp118"/>


]
==Ancestry==

{{Ahnentafel top|width=100%}}
His enormous ] on the west bank of the ] was, in its day, the largest religious complex in ], but the king built too close to the ], and less than two hundred years later it was reduced to ruins. Much of the masonry was purloined by ] and later pharaohs for their own construction projects.{{sfn|Grimal|1992|p=224}} All that remained standing was the gateway with the ] — two massive stone statues depicting Amenhotep,{{convert|18|m|abbr=on}} high. Amenhotep also built the Third Pylon at Karnak and erected 600 statues of the goddess ] in the ] to the south.{{sfn|Grimal|1992|pp=224, 295}} Some of the most magnificent statues of New Kingdom Egypt date to his reign "such as the ]" as well as a large series of royal sculptures.{{sfn|Clayton|1994|p=118}} Several black granite seated statues of Amenhotep wearing the '']'' headress have come from excavations behind the Colossi of Memnon as well as from Tanis in the Delta.{{sfn|Clayton|1994|p=118}} In 2014, two giant statues of Amenhotep toppled by an earthquake in 1200 BC were reconstructed from more than 200 fragments and re-erected at the northern gate of the king's funerary temple.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2365114&CategoryId=13936 |title=Amenhotep III Statues Once More Stand Before Pharaoh's Temple |work=Latin American Herald Tribute |date=15 December 2014 |access-date=15 December 2014 |archive-date=25 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180825002931/http://laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2365114&CategoryId=13936 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
{{Ahnentafel-compact5
]
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One of the most stunning finds of royal statues dating to his reign was made as recently as 1989 in the courtyard of Amenhotep 's colonnade of the Temple of Luxor. The ] included a nearly undamaged {{convert|6|ft|m}}-high pink quartzite statue of the king wearing the ].{{sfn|Clayton|1994|p=118}} It was mounted on a sled, and may have been a cult statue.{{sfn|Clayton|1994|p=118}} Only the name of the god ] had been hacked out wherever it appeared in the pharaoh's ], clearly part of Akhenaten's campaign against the god of his father.{{sfn|Clayton|1994|p=118}}
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] (1213–1203 a.c.) ]|215x215px|left]]
]
One of Amenhotep's most popular epithets was ''Aten-tjehen'' which means "the Dazzling Sun Disk"; it appears in his titulary at Luxor temple and was frequently used as the name for one of his palaces, and for the Year 11 royal barge, as well as for a company of Amenhotep's army.{{sfn|Berman|1998|pp=3, 14}}

In 2021, excavations revealed a settlement near Amenhotep's mortuary temple, called the '']'', believed to have been built by king<ref>Simmons, Debra Adams, "", National Geographic, 12 April 2021 with images.</ref> to house craftsmen and labourers working on royal projects at Thebes, along with its own bakery and cemetery.

A '''Sed Festival Stela of Amenhotep III''' was taken from Egypt to Europe by an art dealer. Once owned by Eric Cassirer, it is now believed to be in a private collection in the United States.{{sfn|Cassirer|1952|p=128}} The white alabaster stela is 10 × 9&nbsp;cm (3.94 × 3.54 in), but only its upper half survived.{{sfn|Cassirer|1952|p=129}} ''Front view:'' The god Heh, representing the number one million, holds notched palm leaves signifying years and the cartouche of Amenhotep, symbolically raising the pharoah for a million years. ''Side view:'' A series of festival (ḥb) emblems together with a Sed (sd) emblem identifying the stela as one made for Amenhotep 's Sed Festival royal jubilee. ''Top and back view:'' These show malicious damage where the cartouche was chipped away. Cassirer suggests this was another example of Akhenaten's vandalism against Amun{{sfn|Cassirer|1952|p=130}} Other gods displayed on the stela, Re and Ma’at, showed no damage.{{sfn|Cassirer|1952|p=130}} The altered stela may then have been displayed by Akhenaten.

Another striking characteristic of Amenhotep's reign is the series of over 200 large ] that have been discovered over a large geographic area ranging from Syria (]) through to ] in Nubia.{{sfn|Berman|1998|pp=11–12}} Similarly, five other scarabs state that his wife Gilukhepa of Mitanni arrived in Egypt with a retinue of 317 women. She was the first of many such princesses who would enter the pharaoh's family.{{sfn|Berman|1998|p=13}}

==Ancestry and genetics==
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|16= 16. ]

|17= 17. ]
Genetic analysis has confirmed that Amenhotep III is the father of both the ], identified in the study as Akhenaten, and "The Younger Lady", sibling parents of his grandson, Tutankhamun.{{sfn|Hawass et al.|2010}} A more recent study, published in 2020, traced the family lineage via Y-chromosomes and mtDNA. Although only a partial profile was obtained, he shares his YDNA haplogroup, ], with his son and grandson, upholding the family tree outlined in the earlier study. However, the specific clade of R1b was not determined. The mitochondrial haplogroup of Amenhotep III was found to be ],{{sfn|Gad et al.|2020}} which is associated with migrations from the ] to ] and the spread of ].<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31267777/ |journal=Annals of Human Biology |volume=46 |issue=2 |date=2019 |title=Untangling Neolithic and Bronze Age mitochondrial lineages in South Asia |last1=Silva |first1=M. |doi=10.1080/03014460.2019.1623319 |pages=140–144|pmid=31267777 |s2cid=195787671 |quote=H2b is a minor branch. It contains several ancient samples from Russia, all basal to the rest of the branch, including one individual from the Yamnaya culture and one from the Late Bronze Age Srubnaya culture, both from the Pontic-Caspian Steppe region, and five other Bronze Age samples from east of the Volga river: three from Sintashta and two from Krasnoyarsk. Also in a basal position, there are three modern Russian samples (two from the Altai region) and one Danish sequence. Interestingly, while the vast majority (70%) of H2 modern sequences in our dataset are of European origin, H2b displays a strong South Asian component, with seven samples from Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. The newly published Sintashta and Middle Bronze Age Krasnoyarsk (Russian) sequences (Narasimhan et al.2018), together with the previously released Yamnaya and Srubnaya, span a period from 5 to 3.5 ka. These, plus the modern South Asian sequences, support our earlier suggestion that H2b was involved in movements east and southwards from the Pontic-Caspian region into South Asia, by documenting its progress eastwards across the Eurasian Steppe. The ] in the Ural Mountains, or a "Sintashta-derived" culture (such as the ]), is thought to have expanded eastwards into Central Asia 3.8 ka, reaching South Asia.|hdl=20.500.11820/cb51c121-196b-4cc8-914c-dfdae3bb7750 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=Science |volume=365 |issue=6457 |date=2019 |title=The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia |doi-access=free |last1=Narasimhan |first1=Vagheesh |pages=eaat7487 |doi=10.1126/science.aat7487|pmid=31488661 |pmc=6822619 }}</ref>
|19= 19. ]

}}</center>
In 2022, S.O.Y. Keita analysed 8 ] (STR) published data from studies by Hawass et al. 2010;2012<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hawass |first1=Zahi |last2=Gad |first2=Yehia Z. |last3=Ismail |first3=Somaia |last4=Khairat |first4=Rabab |last5=Fathalla |first5=Dina |last6=Hasan |first6=Naglaa |last7=Ahmed |first7=Amal |last8=Elleithy |first8=Hisham |last9=Ball |first9=Markus |last10=Gaballah |first10=Fawzi |last11=Wasef |first11=Sally |last12=Fateen |first12=Mohamed |last13=Amer |first13=Hany |last14=Gostner |first14=Paul |last15=Selim |first15=Ashraf |date=17 February 2010 |title=Ancestry and Pathology in King Tutankhamun's Family |doi-access=free |journal=JAMA |volume=303 |issue=7 |pages=638–647 |doi=10.1001/jama.2010.121 |pmid=20159872 |issn=0098-7484 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Hawass, Zahi|display-authors=etal|title=Revisiting the harem conspiracy and death of Ramesses III: anthropological, forensic, radiological, and genetic study |s2cid-access=free |journal=BMJ|date=2012|volume=345|issue=e8268|pages=e8268 |doi=10.1136/bmj.e8268|pmid=23247979|hdl=10072/62081|s2cid=206896841|hdl-access=free |url=https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/handle/10072/62081 |via=Griffith Research Online |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314194504/https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/handle/10072/62081 |archive-date= 14 March 2023 }}</ref> which sought to determine familial relations and research pathological features such as potential infectious diseases among the New Kingdom royal mummies, including ], Amenhotep III, and ]. Keita used the Popaffiliator algorithm which differentiates ]ns, ], and ]ns; he concluded that "a majority an affinity with 'Sub-Saharan' Africans in one affinity analysis". However, he emphasized the complexity of ethnic attributions, cautioning that the royal mummies may have had other affiliations obscured by the typological categories, and that different "data and ]s might give different results".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Keita |first1=S. O. Y. |title=Ideas about "Race" in Nile Valley Histories: A Consideration of "Racial" Paradigms in Recent Presentations on Nile Valley Africa, from "Black Pharaohs" to Mummy Genomest |url=https://egyptianexpedition.org/articles/ideas-about-race-in-nile-valley-histories-a-consideration-of-racial-paradigms-in-recent-presentations-on-nile-valley-africa-from-black-pharaohs/ |website=Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections|date=September 2022 }}</ref>
{{Ahnentafel bottom}}

According to historian William Stiebling and archaeologist Susan N. Helft, conflicting DNA analyses by different research teams have thusfar failed to establish consensus on the genetic makeup of the ancient Egyptians and their geographic origins.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jr |first1=William H. Stiebing |last2=Helft |first2=Susan N. |title=Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture |date=3 July 2023 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-000-88066-3 |pages=209–212|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AUm7EAAAQBAJ&q=Gourdine+keita |language=en}}</ref>

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Amenhotep III at BM.jpg|Granodiorite seated statue of Amenhotep at the ], from its left side.
File:Amenhotep III at BM 2.jpg|Granodiorite statue of Amenhotep at the ], Left of Statue above.
File:Granodiorie Amenhotep 2.jpg|Granodiorite Amenhotep (Left Statue) Close up, ]
File:Amenhotep's Bulls Tail.jpg|Bulls Tail (Left Statue), ]
File:Granodiorie Amenhotep's belt.jpg|Belt (Left Statue), ]
File:Granodiorie Amenhotep feet.jpg|Feet (Left Statue), ]
File:Granodiorie Amenhotep Inscriptions 1.jpg|Left Inscriptions (Left Statue), ]
File:Granodiorie Amenhotep Inscriptions 2.jpg|Right Inscriptions (Left Statue), ]
File:Red Amenhotep 1.jpg|Red Granite Statue, North East side, ]
File:Limestone Amenhotep.jpg|Limestone Amenhotep, ]
File:EA 6. Amenhotep III wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt, c. 1400 BCE. From Thebes, Egypt. British Museum.jpg|Amenhotep wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt, {{circa|1400 BCE}}. From Thebes, Egypt. British Museum. EA6
File:EA 7. Amenhotep III wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt, c. 1400 BCE. From Thebes, Egypt. British Museum.jpg|Amenhotep wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt, {{circa|1400 BCE}}. From Thebes, Egypt. British Museum. EA7
File:Darstellung des Menschen in der alteren griechischen Kunst 1899 (146110918).jpg|Drawing of Amenhotep III bust in the British Museum
File:AmenhotepIII-Peinture-Museedulouvre.jpg|Amenhotep III from KV 22 tomb of Amenhotep III ] N 521 A, Other inventory number: LP 2114
File:Xviii dinastia, rilievo di re amenhotep III, da tebe, 1370-1353 ac ca.jpg|Depiction of Amenhotep III in the ]
File:Figurine prosternée, Amenhotep III, GEM 189.jpg|A prostrate figurine of Amenhotep III found in Tutankhamun's tomb
</gallery>


==See also== ==See also==
{{commons category}} {{Commons category|Amenhotep III}}
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==Footnotes== ==Footnotes==
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==Bibliography== ==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}} {{refbegin}}
*{{cite book|last=Aldred|first=Cyril|title=Akhenaten: King of Egypt|publisher=Thames & Hudson|year=1991}} * {{cite book|last=Aldred|first=Cyril|title=Akhenaten: King of Egypt|publisher=Thames & Hudson|year=1991}}
* {{cite book |last=Allen |first=James P. |editor1-last=Brand |editor1-first=Peter James |editor2-last=Cooper |editor2-first=Louise |title=Causing His Name to Live: Studies in Egyptian Epigraphy and History in Memory of William J. Murnane |date=2009 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden; Boston |isbn=978-90-04-17644-7 |pages=9–20 |chapter-url=https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.memphis.edu/dist/4/463/files/2014/03/Allen-z82g3a.pdf |access-date=6 February 2024 |chapter=The Amarna Succession}}
*{{cite web|last=Allen|first=James P|url=http://cassian.memphis.edu/history/murnane/Allen.pdf|title=The Amarna Succession|accessdate=2014-02-01}}
*{{cite book|last=Beckerath|first=Jürgen von|title=Chronologie des Pharaonischen Ägypten|publisher=Philipp von Zabern, |location=Mainz|year=1997}} * {{cite book |last=Beckerath |first=Jürgen von |author-link=Jürgen von Beckerath |title=Chronologie des Pharaonischen Ägypten |publisher=Philipp von Zabern |location=Mainz |year=1997 |isbn=3-8053-2310-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Berman |first=Lawrence M. |editor-last=O'Connor |editor-first=David |editor2-last=Cline |editor2-first=Eric |title=Amenhotep III: Perspectives on His Reign |publisher=University of Michigan Press |location=Ann Arbor |year=1998 |edition=2001 |chapter=Overview of Amenhotep III and His Reign |url=https://archive.org/details/AmenhotepIIIPerspectivesOnHisReign_201905/page/n8/mode/1up |isbn=0-472-10742-9 |pages=1–25}}
*{{cite book|last=Clayton|first=Peter|title=Chronicle of the Pharaohs|publisher=Thames & Hudson Ltd.|year=1994}}
*{{cite book|last=O'Connor|first=David|author2=Cline, Eric|title=Amenhotep III: Perspectives on His Reign|publisher=University of Michigan Press|year=1998}} * {{cite book |last=Blankenberg-van Delden |first=C. |author-link=C. Blankenberg-van Delden |title=The Large Commemorative Scarabs of Amenhotep III |url=https://archive.org/details/largecommemorati0000blan |url-access=registration |location=Leiden |publisher=E.J. Brill |year=1969 |isbn=978-90-04-00474-0}}
* {{cite journal |last=Cassirer |first=Manfred |title=A ''hb-sd'' Stela of Amenophis III |journal=The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology |volume=38 |year=1952 |doi=10.2307/3855505 |pages=128–130|jstor=3855505 }}
*{{cite book|last=Dodson|first=Aidan|author2=Hilton, Dyan|title=The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt|publisher=Thames & Hudson|year=2004}}
* {{cite book|last=Fletcher|first=Joann|year=2000|title=Chronicle of a Pharaoh - The Intimate Life of Amenhotep III|publisher=Oxford University Press}} * {{cite book|last=Clayton|first=Peter|title=Chronicle of the Pharaohs|url=https://archive.org/details/chronicleofphara00clay|url-access=registration|publisher=Thames & Hudson Ltd.|year=1994|isbn=9780500050743 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Dodson |first1=Aidan |last2=Hilton |first2=Dylan |title=The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt |location=London |publisher=Thames & Hudson |year=2004 |isbn=0-500-05128-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/completeroyalfam0000dods_a3h8/page/154/mode/2up |url-access=registration}}
*{{cite book|last=Grimal|first=Nicolas|title=A History of Ancient Egypt|publisher=Blackwell Books|year=1992}}
* {{cite book |last=Dorman |first=Peter |editor1-last=Brand |editor1-first=Peter James |editor2-last=Cooper |editor2-first=Louise |title=Causing His Name to Live: Studies in Egyptian Epigraphy and History in Memory of William J. Murnane |date=2009 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden; Boston |isbn=978-90-04-17644-7 |pages=65–82 |chapter-url=https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/LongCoregency.pdf |access-date=6 February 2024 |chapter=The Long Coregency Revisited: Architectural and Iconographic Conundra in the Tomb of Kheruef}}
*{{cite journal|last=Hayes|first=William|title=Internal affairs from Thutmosis I to the death of Amenophis III|volume=Pt 1, Vol 2|journal=The Middle East and the Aegean Region, c.1800-1380 BC|year=1973}}
*{{cite book|last=Kozloff|first=Arielle|author2=Bryan, Betsy|title=Royal and Divine Statuary in Egypt’s Dazzling Sun: Amenhotep III and his World|location=Cleveland|year=1992}} * {{cite book|last=Fletcher|first=Joann|year=2000|title=Chronicle of a Pharaoh The Intimate Life of Amenhotep III|url=https://archive.org/details/chronicleofphara00flet|url-access=registration|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-521660-8 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Gad |first1=Yehia |last2=Ismail |first2=Somaia |last3=Fathalla |first3=Dina |last4=Khairat |first4=Rabab |last5=Fares |first5=Suzan |last6=Gad |first6=Ahmed Zakaria |last7=Saad |first7=Rama |last8=Moustafa |first8=Amal |last9=ElShahat |first9=Eslam |last10=Mandil |first10=Naglaa |last11=Fateen |first11=Mohamed |last12=Elleithy |first12=Hisham |last13=Wasef |first13=Sally |last14=Zink |first14=Albert |last15=Hawass |first15=Zahi |last16=Pusch |first16=Carsten |editor-last=Kamrin |editor-first=Janice |editor2-last=Bárta |editor2-first=Miroslav |editor3-last=Ikram |editor3-first=Salima |editor4-last=Lehner |editor4-first=Mark |editor5-last=Megahed |editor5-first=Mohamed |title=Guardian of Ancient Egypt: Essays in Honor of Zahi Hawass |date=2020 |publisher=Czech Institute of Egyptology |pages=497–518 |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353306320 |access-date=16 February 2022 |chapter=Maternal and Paternal Lineages in King Tutankhamun’s Family |isbn=978-80-7308-979-5 |ref={{sfnref|Gad et al.|2020}}}}
* {{cite book|first=Miriam|last=Lichtheim|title=Ancient Egyptian Literature: A Book of Readings: The Late Period|year=1980|publisher=University of California Press}}
*{{cite book|last=Moran|first=William L.|title=The Amarna Letters|location=Baltimore|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|year=1992}} * {{cite book|last=Grajetzki|first=Wolfram|title=Ancient Egyptian Queens: A Hieroglyphic Dictionary|publisher=Golden House Publications|location=London|year=2005|isbn=978-0-9547218-9-3}}
*{{cite book|last=Reeves|first=Nicholas|title=Akhenaten: Egypt's False Prophet|publisher=Thames & Hudson|year=2000}} * {{cite book|last=Grimal|first=Nicolas|title=A History of Ancient Egypt|publisher=Blackwell Books|year=1992}}
* {{cite journal|last=Hawass|first=Zahi|display-authors=etal|ref={{sfnref|Hawass et al.|2010}} |title=Ancestry and Pathology in King Tutankhamun's Family|journal=] |date=17 February 2010 |volume=303|issue=7|pages=638–647 |doi=10.1001/jama.2010.121|doi-access=free |pmid=20159872 |url=http://www.leben-in-luxor.de/docs/Hawass_Ancestry_and_Pathology_joc05008_638_647.pdf |access-date=18 March 2022}}
*{{cite journal|last=Troy|first=Lana|title=Patterns of Queenship in Ancient Egyptian Myth and History|publisher=University of Uppsala|location=Uppsala|journal=Studies in Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Civilizations|volume=14|year=1986}}
* {{cite journal|last=Hayes|first=William|title=Internal affairs from Thutmosis I to the death of Amenophis III|volume=Pt 1, Vol 2|journal=The Middle East and the Aegean Region, C. 1800–1380 BC|year=1973}}
* {{cite book|last1=Kozloff|first1=Arielle|last2=Bryan|first2=Betsy|title=Royal and Divine Statuary in Egypt's Dazzling Sun: Amenhotep III and his World|location=Cleveland|year=1992}}
* {{cite book |last=Kozloff |first=Arielle P. |title=Amenhotep III: Egypt's Radiant Pharaoh |url=https://archive.org/details/amenhotepiiiegyp0000kozl |url-access=registration |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-107-01196-0}}
* {{cite book|first=Ronald J. |last=Leprohon|title=The Great Name: Ancient Egyptian Royal Titulary|url=https://archive.org/details/LEPROHON2013TheGreatNameAncientEgyptianRoyalTitulary/page/n121/mode/2up|access-date=7 December 2021|date=2013|publisher=SBL Press|isbn=978-1-58983-736-2}}
* {{cite book|first=Miriam|last=Lichtheim|author-link=Miriam Lichtheim |title=Ancient Egyptian Literature: A Book of Readings: The Late Period|year=1980|publisher=University of California Press}}
* {{cite book |last=Moran |first=William L. |author-link=William L. Moran |title=The Amarna Letters |location=Baltimore |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |year=1992 |isbn=0-8018-4251-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/amarnaletters0000unse_c3q4/mode/2up |url-access=registration}}
* {{cite book|last1=O'Connor|first1=David|last2=Cline|first2=Eric|title=Amenhotep III: Perspectives on His Reign|publisher=University of Michigan Press|year=1998}}
* {{cite book|last1=O'Connor|first1=David|last2=Cline|first2=Eric H.|title=Amenhotep III: Perspectives on His Reign|publisher=University of Michigan Press|year=2001}}
* {{cite book|last=Reeves|first=Nicholas|title=Akhenaten: Egypt's False Prophet|publisher=Thames & Hudson|year=2000}}
* {{cite book |last1=Reeves |first1=Nicholas |last2=Wilkinson |first2=Richard H. |author-link2=Richard H. Wilkinson |title=The Complete Valley of the Kings: Tombs and Treasures of Egypt's Greatest Pharaohs |date=1996 |publisher=Thames and Hudson |location=London |isbn=0-500-05080-5 |edition=2000 |url=https://archive.org/details/TheCompleteValleyOfTheKingsTombsAndTreasuresOfEgyptsGreatestPharaohsC.N.ReevesRi/page/n198/mode/1up |access-date=6 February 2024}}
* {{cite book|last=Smith|first=Grafton Elliot|title=The Royal Mummies|location=Cairo|year=1912}}
* {{cite journal|last=Troy|first=Lana|title=Patterns of Queenship in Ancient Egyptian Myth and History|journal=Uppsala Studies in Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Civilizations|volume=14|year=1986}}
* {{cite book|last=Tyldesley|first=Joyce|title=Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt|publisher=Thames & Hudson|year=2006}}
{{refend}} {{refend}}


{{Amarna Period Navigator}}
{{Pharaohs}} {{Pharaohs}}
{{Tutankhamun|state=collapsed}}

{{Authority control}}


{{Persondata
| NAME =Amenhotep III
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =Amenophis III
| SHORT DESCRIPTION =Ninth ] of the ]
| DATE OF BIRTH =c. 1388 BC
| PLACE OF BIRTH =
| DATE OF DEATH =1353 or 1351 BC
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amenhotep Iii}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Amenhotep Iii}}
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Latest revision as of 21:40, 14 January 2025

Ninth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt

Amenhotep III
Nibmu(`w)areya, Mimureya, Amenophis III
Statue of Amenhotep III, British MuseumStatue of Amenhotep III, British Museum
Pharaoh
Reign1391–1353 or
1388–1351 BC
PredecessorThutmose IV
SuccessorAkhenaten
Royal titulary
Horus name
Ka nakht kha em maat
Kꜣ nḫt ḫˁ m mꜣˁt
"The strong bull who has appeared in truth"
G5
E1
D40
mN28H6
Nebty name
Semen hepu segereh tawy
smn hpw sgrḥ tꜣwy
"Who has established laws and pacified the Two Lands"
G16
smn
n
Y1
O4
p
Z2
w
sW11
r
V28a
N17
N17
Golden Horus
Aa khepesh hui setjetiu
ˁꜣ-ḫpš ḥwi sṯtyw
"The great-of-strength one who has struck down the Asiatics"
G8
O29
a
F23
V28A24S22
t G4
T14Z3
Prenomen  (Praenomen)
Neb maat re
Nb mꜣˁt rˁ
"The possessor of the Maat of Re"
The Lord of Truth is Re
M23L2
ramAatnb
Nomen
Imen hetepu heka waset
Imn ḥtp(.w) ḥḳꜣ wꜣst
"Amun is satisfied, ruler of Thebes"
G39N5
imn
n
R4HqAR19
ConsortTiye
Gilukhepa
Tadukhepa
Sitamun
Iset
ChildrenThutmose
Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten
Sitamun
Iset
Henuttaneb
Nebetah
"The Younger Lady"
Beketaten (theorized)
Smenkhkare (theorized)
FatherThutmose IV
MotherMutemwiya
Died1353 BC or 1351 BC
BurialWV22; Mummy found in the KV35 royal cache (Theban Necropolis)
MonumentsMalkata, Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III, Colossi of Memnon
Dynasty18th Dynasty

Amenhotep III (Ancient Egyptian: jmn-ḥtp(.w) Amānəḥūtpū, IPA: [ʔaˌmaːnəʔˈħutpu]; "Amun is satisfied"), also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent or Amenhotep the Great and Hellenized as Amenophis III, was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. According to different authors following the "Low Chronology", he ruled Egypt from June 1386 to 1349 BC, or from June 1388 BC to December 1351 BC/1350 BC, after his father Thutmose IV died. Amenhotep was Thutmose's son by a minor wife, Mutemwiya.

His reign was a period of unprecedented prosperity and splendour, when Egypt reached the peak of its artistic and international power, and as such he is considered one of ancient Egypt's greatest pharaohs.

When he died in the 38th or 39th year of his reign he was succeeded by his son Amenhotep IV, who later changed his name to Akhenaten.

Family and early life

Amenhotep and Tiye with one of their daughters

Amenhotep was the son of Thutmose IV and his minor wife Mutemwiya. He was born probably around 1401 BC. Later in his life, Amenhotep commissioned the depiction of his divine birth to be displayed at Luxor Temple. Amenhotep claimed that his true father was the god Amun, who had taken the form of Thutmose IV to father a child with Mutemwiya.

In Regnal Year 2, Amenhotep married Tiye, the daughter of Yuya and Thuya. Tiye was the Great Royal Wife throughout Amenhotep's reign. Many commemorative scarabs were commissioned and distributed during Amenhotep's reign. On the "marriage scarabs," Amenhotep affirmed his divine power and the legitimacy of his wife. With Tiye, Amenhotep fathered at least two sons, Crown Prince Thutmose and Amenhotep IV (later called Akhenaten). In addition, several daughters are frequently credited to the couple: Sitamun, Henuttaneb, Iset, Nebetah, and Beketaten. Most of the daughters appear frequently on statues and reliefs from Amenhotep's reign. However, Nebetah is attested only once, on a colossal limestone group of statues from Medinet Habu, and Beketaten only appears in Amarna.

One of the many commemorative "marriage scarabs" of Amenhotep, which affirm the divine power of the king and the legitimacy of his wife, Tiye. Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

Amenhotep is also sometimes credited as the father of Smenkhkare or Tutankhamun, with varying proposals for their mothers, but these theories are not as accepted as his other, known children.

In addition to Tiye, Amenhotep had several other wives. In Regnal Year 10, Amenhotep married Gilukhepa, the daughter of Shuttarna II of Mitanni. He later married Tadukhepa, daughter of Tushratta of Mitanni, in or around Regnal Year 36 of his reign. Other wives, whose names are unknown, included: a daughter of Kurigalzu, king of Babylon; a daughter of Kadashman-Enlil, king of Babylon; a daughter of Tarhundaradu, ruler of Arzawa; and a daughter of the ruler of Ammia (modern-day Syria).

Finally, he married at least two of his daughters, Sitamun and Iset, in the last decade of his reign. Jar-label inscriptions from Regnal Year 30 indicate that Sitamun was elevated to the status of Great Royal Wife by that time. Although shunned by common Egyptians, incest was not uncommon among royalty. A sculpture restored by Amenhotep for his grandfather, Amenhotep II, shows Sitamun with a young prince beside her. This has led to theories that Sitamun was the mother of Smekhkare and/or Tutankhamun.

Life and reign

Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye, Great Royal Wife of Amenhotep

Amenhotep probably became pharaoh when he was between the ages of 6 and 12. While it is likely that a regent would have ruled until he came of age, none is attested in the surviving records. In Regnal Year 11, Amenhotep commanded the construction of an artificial lake at Tiye's hometown of Djakaru. He then celebrated a Festival of Opening the Lake in the third month of Inundation, day sixteen, and rowed the royal barge Aten-tjehen on the lake. This event was commemorated on at least eleven commemorative scarabs.

From other scarabs, Amenhotep is known to have killed either 102 or 110 lions in the first ten years of his reign.

Despite the martial prowess Amenhotep displayed during the hunt, he is known to have participated in only one military incident. In Regnal Year Five, he led a victorious campaign against a rebellion in Kush. This victory was commemorated by three rock-carved stelae found near Aswan and Saï in Nubia. The official account of Amenhotep's military victory emphasizes his martial prowess with the hyperbole typical of the period.

Court of Amenhotep III

There is a significant attestation for the court officials who served during Amenhotep's reign, primarily through the discovery of their tombs in the Theban Necropolis. Among these court officials were the viziers Ramose, Amenhotep, Aperel, and Ptahmose. Other officials included the treasurers Ptahmose and Merire; the high stewards, Amenemhat Surer and Amenhotep (Huy); and the Viceroy of Kush, Merimose.

Amenhotep, son of Hapu held many offices during the reign of Amenhotep the pharaoh, but is best known for receiving the right to build his mortuary temple behind that of the king. Amenhotep, son of Hapu, was deified after his death and was one of the few non-royals to be worshiped in such a manner.

Malkata Palace

The palace of Malkata was built in the 14th century BC and its ancient name was Per-Hay, "House of Rejoicing". Originally, the palace was known as the Palace of the Dazzling Aten. Built mostly out of mud-brick, it was Amenhotep's residence throughout most of the later part of his reign. Construction began around Regnal Year 11 and continued until the king moved to the palace permanently around Regnal Year 29. Once completed, it was the largest royal residence in Egypt.

Sed festivals

Amenhotep celebrated three Sed festivals in Regnal Years 30, 34, and 37, each at Malkata palace in Western Thebes. A temple of Amun and festival hall were built especially for the celebrations. The Sed festival was a tradition that dated to the Old Kingdom, consisting of a series of tests that demonstrated the pharaoh's fitness for continuing as ruler of Egypt. Based on indications left by Queen Tiye's steward Khenruef, the festival may have lasted two to eight months.

Amenhotep wanted his Sed Festivals to be far more spectacular than those of the past. He appointed Amenhotep, son of Hapu to plan the ceremony, potentially because he was one of the few courtiers still alive to have served at the last Sed Festival, held for Amenhotep II. In preparation for the first Sed Festival, Amenhotep, son of Hapu enlisted scribes to gather information from records and inscriptions, most found in ancient funerary temples, describing the appropriate rituals and costumes.

Temples were built and statues erected up and down the Nile. Craftsmen and jewelers created ornaments commentating the event including jewelry, ornaments, and stelae. The scribe Nebmerutef coordinated every step of the event. He directed Amenhotep to use his mace to knock on the temple doors. Beside him, Amenhotep-Hapu mirrored his effort like a royal shadow. The king was followed by Queen Tiye and the royal daughters. When moving to another venue, the banner of the jackal god Wepwawet, "Opener of Ways" preceded the King. The king changed his costume at each major activity of the celebration.

One of the major highlights of the festival was the king's dual coronation. He was enthroned separately for Upper and Lower Egypt. For Upper Egypt, Amenhotep wore the white crown but changed to the red crown for the Lower Egypt coronation.

After the Sed festival, Amenhotep transcended from being a near-god to one divine. The king may have later traveled across Egypt following the festival, potentially reenacting the ceremony for different audiences. Few Egyptian kings lived long enough for their own celebration. Those who survived used the celebration as the affirmation of transition to divinity.

International relations

Amarna letter. Letter from Labayu (ruler of Shechem) to the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep III or his son Akhenaten. 14th century BCE. From Tell el-Amarna, Egypt.

Diplomatic correspondence from Amenhotep's reign are partially preserved in the Amarna Letters, a collection of documents found near the city of Amarna. The letters come from the rulers of Assyria, Mitanni, Babylon, Hatti, and other states, typically including requests by those rulers for gold and other gifts from Amenhotep. The letters cover the period from Year 30 of Amenhotep until at least the end of Akhenaten's reign. In Amarna Letter EA 4, Amenhotep is quoted by the Babylonian king Kadashman-Enlil I in firmly rejecting the latter's entreaty to marry one of this pharaoh's daughters:

From time immemorial, no daughter of the king of Egy is given to anyone.

Amenhotep's refusal to allow one of his daughters to be married to the Babylonian monarch may indeed have followed from Egyptian royal custom, which allowed a claim upon the throne through descent from a royal princess. It could also be viewed as a diplomatic stratagem to enhance Egypt's prestige, as Amenhotep himself married the daughters of several foreign rulers while refusing them his own daughters.

The Amarna Letters also reference the exchange between Amenhotep and the Mitanni King Tushratta of the statue of a healing goddess, Ishtar of Nineveh, late in Amenhotep's reign. Scholars have generally assumed that the statue's sojourn to Egypt was requested by Amenhotep in order to cure him of his various ailments, which included painful abscesses in his teeth. However, William L. Moran's analysis of Amarna Letter EA 23, relating to the dispatch of the statue to Thebes, discounts this theory.

The arrival of the statue is known to have coincided with Amenhotep's marriage with Tadukhepa, Tushratta's daughter, in the pharaoh's 36th year; letter EA 23's arrival in Egypt is dated to "regnal year 36, the fourth month of winter, day 1" of his reign. Furthermore, Tushratta never mentions in EA 23 that the statue's dispatch was meant to heal Amenhotep of his maladies. Instead, Tushratta writes in part:

... Thus Šauška of Nineveh, mistress of all lands: "I wish to go to Egypt, a country that I love, and then return." Now I herewith send her, and she is on her way. Now, in the time, too, of my father,... went to this country, and just as earlier she dwelt there and they honored her, may my brother now honor her 10 times more than before. May my brother honor her, at pleasure let her go so that she may come back. May Šauška (i.e., Ishtar), the mistress of heaven, protect us, my brother and me, a 100,000 years, and may our mistress grant both of us great joy. And let us act as friends. Is Šauška for me alone my god, and for my brother not his god?

The likeliest explanation is that the statue was sent to Egypt "to shed her blessings on the wedding of Amenhotep and Tadukhepa, as she had been sent previously for Amenhotep and Gilukhepa." Moran agrees that this explanation was more likely. Further, Moran argues that the contents of Amarna Letter EA 21 support this claim, wherein Tushratta asks the gods, including Ishtar, for their blessing of the marriage.

In the 14th century BCE, the pharaoh sent an expedition to Cyprus to establish Egyptian control over the island, which was subsequently maintained for several centuries. During this time, the Egyptians established a number of settlements on the island, and they exported copper and other raw materials from Cyprus to Egypt in exchange for luxury goods and other commodities. However, the Egyptian presence on Cyprus was at times interrupted by incursions of other powers, including the Hittites and the Mycenaeans.

Succession

Thutmose, the eldest son of Amenhotep III with his wife Tiye, became Crown Prince, but died before his father. Amenhotep was ultimately succeeded by his second son, who ascended the throne as Amenhotep IV and later took the name Akhenaten.

Proposed coregency with Amenhotep IV / Akhenaten

It has long been theorized that Amenhotep III shared a coregency with his son Amenhotep IV. Lawrence Berman has claimed that proponents of the coregency theory tended to be art historians, while historians remained unconvinced.

Eric Cline, Nicholas Reeves, Peter Dorman, and other scholars argue strongly against the establishment of a long coregency between the two rulers and in favor of either no coregency or one of at most two years. Donald B. Redford, William J. Murnane, Alan Gardiner, and Lawrence Berman contest the view of any coregency whatsoever between Akhenaten and his father.

A statue head of Amenhotep III collected by the Cleveland Museum of Art. The image was created during his reign.

Evidence against a coregency includes Amarna Letter EA 27, which is dated to Regnal Year 2 of Amenhotep IV. The subject of the letter involves a complaint from the Mitannian king Tushratta, claiming that Amenhotep IV did not honor his father's promise to send Tushratta gold statues as part of the marriage arrangement between Tadukhepa, and Amenhotep III. This correspondence implies that if any coregency occurred between Amenhotep and Akhenaten, it lasted no more than a year.

However in February 2014, Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announced that findings from the tomb of Vizier Amenhotep-Huy gave "conclusive evidence" of a coregency that lasted at least eight years. In the tomb, the cartouches of the two pharaohs were carved side by side. However, this conclusion has since been called into question by other egyptologists, according to whom the inscription means only that construction on Amenhotep-Huy's tomb started during Amenhotep III's reign and ended under Akhenaten's, and Amenhotep-Huy thus simply wanted to pay his respects to both rulers, carving their names separately rather than simultaneously.

Later life

Amenhotep and Sobek, from Dahamsha, now in the Luxor Museum

Health and death

Amenhotep's greatest attested regnal date is Year 38, which appears on wine jar-label dockets from Malkata. He may have lived briefly into an unrecorded Year 39 and died before the wine harvest of that year. Reliefs from the wall of the temple of Soleb in Nubia and scenes from the Theban tomb of Kheruef, Steward of the King's Great Wife, Tiye, depict Amenhotep as a visibly weak and sick figure. Scientists believe that in his final years he suffered from arthritis and obesity. Further, a forensic examination of his mummy revealed worn and cavity-pitted teeth which must have inflicted constant pain. An examination of the mummy by the Australian anatomist Grafton Elliot Smith concluded that the pharaoh had died at between the age of 40 and 50.

He was survived by at least one child, his successor Amenhotep IV. His wife Tiye is known to have outlived him by at least twelve years, as she is mentioned in several Amarna letters dated from her son's reign, as well as depicted at the royal dinner table in Akhenaten's years 9 and 12, in scenes from the tomb of Huya.

Foreign leaders communicated their grief at the pharaoh's death, with Tushratta saying:

When I heard that my brother Nimmureya had gone to his fate, on that day I sat down and wept. On that day I took no food, I took no water.

Burial and mummy

The mummy of Amenhotep III during unwrapping

Amenhotep was buried in tomb WV22 in the Western Valley of the Valley of the Kings outside of Thebes. The tomb is the largest in the West Valley of the Kings and includes two side chambers for his Great Royal Wives, Tiye and Sitamun. However, it does not seem that either woman was buried there. During the reign of Smendes in the Third Intermediate Period, Amenhotep's mummy was later moved to the mummy cache in KV35 along with several other pharaohs of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties, where it lay until discovered by Victor Loret in 1898.

For the 18th dynasty, the mummy shows an unusually heavy use of subcutaneous stuffing to make the mummy look more lifelike. The mummy has museum inventory number CG 61074.

Mummified head of Amenhotep III following unwrapping

In April 2021, his mummy was moved from the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, along with those of 17 other kings and 4 queens in an event termed the Pharaohs' Golden Parade.

Monuments and legacy

The northern Colossus of Memnon
Amenhotep, Luxor Museum

Amenhotep has the distinction of having the most surviving statues of any Egyptian pharaoh, with over 250 identified. These statues provide a series of portraits covering the entire length of his reign.

When Amenhotep died, he left behind a country at the very height of its power and influence, commanding immense respect in the international world. However, it was a country wedded to age-old political and religious certainties under the Amun priesthood.

The resulting upheavals from his son Akhenaten's reforming zeal shook these old certainties to their foundations, and forced the momentous question whether a pharaoh was more powerful than his society as represented in the worship of Amun. Akhenaten even moved the capital away from Thebes, the center of Amun's worship, and built Amarna, a city dedicated to his new deity, the Aten.

Amenhotep built extensively at the temple of Karnak, including the Luxor temple with two pylons, a colonnade behind the new temple entrance, and a new temple to the goddess Ma'at. Amenhotep dismantled the Fourth Pylon of the Temple of Amun at Karnak to construct a new Third Pylon — and created a new entrance to this structure where he erected two rows of columns with open papyrus capitals down the centre of this newly formed forecourt. The forecourt between the Third and Fourth Pylons, sometimes called an obelisk court, was also decorated with scenes of the sacred funerary barques of the deities Amun, Mut, and Khonsu. The king also started work on the Tenth Pylon at the Temple of Amun. Amenhotep's first recorded act as king — in his Years 1 and 2 — was to open new limestone quarries at Tura, just south of Cairo and at Dayr al-Barsha in Middle Egypt to undertake his great building projects. He virtually covered Nubia with new 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... additional temples at Kawa and Sesebi.

Luxor Temple of Amenhotep

His enormous mortuary temple on the west bank of the Nile was, in its day, the largest religious complex in Thebes, but the king built too close to the floodplain, and less than two hundred years later it was reduced to ruins. Much of the masonry was purloined by Merneptah and later pharaohs for their own construction projects. All that remained standing was the gateway with the Colossi of Memnon — two massive stone statues depicting Amenhotep,18 m (59 ft) high. Amenhotep also built the Third Pylon at Karnak and erected 600 statues of the goddess Sekhmet in the Temple of Mut to the south. Some of the most magnificent statues of New Kingdom Egypt date to his reign "such as the two outstanding couchant rose granite lions originally set before the temple at Soleb in Nubia" as well as a large series of royal sculptures. Several black granite seated statues of Amenhotep wearing the nemes headress have come from excavations behind the Colossi of Memnon as well as from Tanis in the Delta. In 2014, two giant statues of Amenhotep toppled by an earthquake in 1200 BC were reconstructed from more than 200 fragments and re-erected at the northern gate of the king's funerary temple.

Remains of Kom el-Hettan (mortuary temple of Amenhotep III)

One of the most stunning finds of royal statues dating to his reign was made as recently as 1989 in the courtyard of Amenhotep 's colonnade of the Temple of Luxor. The cache of statues included a nearly undamaged 6 feet (1.8 m)-high pink quartzite statue of the king wearing the Double Crown. It was mounted on a sled, and may have been a cult statue. Only the name of the god Amun had been hacked out wherever it appeared in the pharaoh's cartouche, clearly part of Akhenaten's campaign against the god of his father.

Obverse: The Stela of Amenhotep. back: raised by Merenptah (1213–1203 a.c.) Egyptian Museum
Hieroglyphs on the backpillar of Amenhotep 's statue. There are 2 places where Akhenaten erased the name Amun, later restored on a deeper surface. The British Museum, London

One of Amenhotep's most popular epithets was Aten-tjehen which means "the Dazzling Sun Disk"; it appears in his titulary at Luxor temple and was frequently used as the name for one of his palaces, and for the Year 11 royal barge, as well as for a company of Amenhotep's army.

In 2021, excavations revealed a settlement near Amenhotep's mortuary temple, called the Dazzling Aten, believed to have been built by king to house craftsmen and labourers working on royal projects at Thebes, along with its own bakery and cemetery.

A Sed Festival Stela of Amenhotep III was taken from Egypt to Europe by an art dealer. Once owned by Eric Cassirer, it is now believed to be in a private collection in the United States. The white alabaster stela is 10 × 9 cm (3.94 × 3.54 in), but only its upper half survived. Front view: The god Heh, representing the number one million, holds notched palm leaves signifying years and the cartouche of Amenhotep, symbolically raising the pharoah for a million years. Side view: A series of festival (ḥb) emblems together with a Sed (sd) emblem identifying the stela as one made for Amenhotep 's Sed Festival royal jubilee. Top and back view: These show malicious damage where the cartouche was chipped away. Cassirer suggests this was another example of Akhenaten's vandalism against Amun Other gods displayed on the stela, Re and Ma’at, showed no damage. The altered stela may then have been displayed by Akhenaten.

Another striking characteristic of Amenhotep's reign is the series of over 200 large commemorative stone scarabs that have been discovered over a large geographic area ranging from Syria (Ras Shamra) through to Soleb in Nubia. Similarly, five other scarabs state that his wife Gilukhepa of Mitanni arrived in Egypt with a retinue of 317 women. She was the first of many such princesses who would enter the pharaoh's family.

Ancestry and genetics

Ancestors of Amenhotep III
8. Thutmose III
4. Amenhotep II
9. Merytre Hatshepsut
2. Thutmose IV
5. Tiaa
1. Amenhotep III
3. Mutemwiya

Genetic analysis has confirmed that Amenhotep III is the father of both the KV55 mummy, identified in the study as Akhenaten, and "The Younger Lady", sibling parents of his grandson, Tutankhamun. A more recent study, published in 2020, traced the family lineage via Y-chromosomes and mtDNA. Although only a partial profile was obtained, he shares his YDNA haplogroup, R1b, with his son and grandson, upholding the family tree outlined in the earlier study. However, the specific clade of R1b was not determined. The mitochondrial haplogroup of Amenhotep III was found to be H2b, which is associated with migrations from the Pontic-Caspian steppe to South Asia and the spread of Indo-Iranian languages.

In 2022, S.O.Y. Keita analysed 8 Short Tandem loci (STR) published data from studies by Hawass et al. 2010;2012 which sought to determine familial relations and research pathological features such as potential infectious diseases among the New Kingdom royal mummies, including Tutankhamun, Amenhotep III, and Rameses III. Keita used the Popaffiliator algorithm which differentiates Eurasians, Sub-Saharan Africans, and East Asians; he concluded that "a majority an affinity with 'Sub-Saharan' Africans in one affinity analysis". However, he emphasized the complexity of ethnic attributions, cautioning that the royal mummies may have had other affiliations obscured by the typological categories, and that different "data and algorithms might give different results".

According to historian William Stiebling and archaeologist Susan N. Helft, conflicting DNA analyses by different research teams have thusfar failed to establish consensus on the genetic makeup of the ancient Egyptians and their geographic origins.

Gallery

  • Granodiorite seated statue of Amenhotep at the British Museum, from its left side. Granodiorite seated statue of Amenhotep at the British Museum, from its left side.
  • Granodiorite statue of Amenhotep at the British Museum, Left of Statue above. Granodiorite statue of Amenhotep at the British Museum, Left of Statue above.
  • Granodiorite Amenhotep (Left Statue) Close up, British Museum Granodiorite Amenhotep (Left Statue) Close up, British Museum
  • Bulls Tail (Left Statue), British Museum Bulls Tail (Left Statue), British Museum
  • Belt (Left Statue), British Museum Belt (Left Statue), British Museum
  • Feet (Left Statue), British Museum Feet (Left Statue), British Museum
  • Left Inscriptions (Left Statue), British Museum Left Inscriptions (Left Statue), British Museum
  • Right Inscriptions (Left Statue), British Museum Right Inscriptions (Left Statue), British Museum
  • Red Granite Statue, North East side, British Museum Red Granite Statue, North East side, British Museum
  • Limestone Amenhotep, British Museum Limestone Amenhotep, British Museum
  • Amenhotep wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt, c. 1400 BCE. From Thebes, Egypt. British Museum. EA6 Amenhotep wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt, c. 1400 BCE. From Thebes, Egypt. British Museum. EA6
  • Amenhotep wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt, c. 1400 BCE. From Thebes, Egypt. British Museum. EA7 Amenhotep wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt, c. 1400 BCE. From Thebes, Egypt. British Museum. EA7
  • Drawing of Amenhotep III bust in the British Museum Drawing of Amenhotep III bust in the British Museum
  • Amenhotep III from KV 22 tomb of Amenhotep III Louvre Museum N 521 A, Other inventory number: LP 2114 Amenhotep III from KV 22 tomb of Amenhotep III Louvre Museum N 521 A, Other inventory number: LP 2114
  • Depiction of Amenhotep III in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden Depiction of Amenhotep III in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden
  • A prostrate figurine of Amenhotep III found in Tutankhamun's tomb A prostrate figurine of Amenhotep III found in Tutankhamun's tomb

See also

Footnotes

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  3. Clayton 1994, p. 112.
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  13. Berman 1998, p. 4.
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  17. Kozloff & Bryan 1992, fig. II, 5.
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Bibliography

Pharaohs
Protodynastic to First Intermediate Period  (<3150–2040 BC)
Period
Dynasty
  • Pharaohs
    • male
    • female
  • uncertain
Protodynastic
(pre-3150 BC)
Lower
Upper
Early Dynastic
(3150–2686 BC)
I
II
Old Kingdom
(2686–2181 BC)
III
IV
V
VI
1 Intermediate
(2181–2040 BC)
VII/VIII
IX
X
Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period  (2040–1550 BC)
Period
Dynasty
  • Pharaohs
    • male
    • female
  • uncertain
Middle Kingdom
(2040–1802 BC)
XI
Nubia
XII
2 Intermediate
(1802–1550 BC)
XIII
XIV
XV
XVI
Abydos
XVII
New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period  (1550–664 BC)
Period
Dynasty
  • Pharaohs  (male
  • female)
  • uncertain
New Kingdom
(1550–1070 BC)
XVIII
XIX
XX
3 Intermediate
(1069–664 BC)
XXI
High Priests of Amun
XXII
XXIII
XXIV
XXV
Late to Roman Period (664 BC–313 AD)
Period
Dynasty
  • Pharaohs
    • male
    • female
  • uncertain
Late
(664–332 BC)
XXVI
XXVII
XXVIII
XXIX
XXX
XXXI
Hellenistic
(332–30 BC)
Argead
Ptolemaic
Roman
(30 BC–313 AD)
XXXIV
Dynastic genealogies
List of pharaohs
Tutankhamun
Family Mask on Tutankhamun's innermost coffin
Artifacts and
exhibitions
Tomb
Popular
culture
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