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| King " Amenhotep III " of the New Kingdom in ancient Egypt |
In his fifth year Amenhotep III claimed a
victory over Cushite rebels, but the viceroy of Cush, the southern portion
of Nubia, probably actually led the troops.
The campaign may have led into the Butāna,
west of the ʿAṭbarah River, farther south than any previous Egyptian military
expedition had gone.
Several temples erected under Amenhotep
III in Upper Nubia between the Second and Third cataracts attest to
the importance of the region.
Peaceful relations prevailed with Asia,
where control of Egypt’s vassals was successfully maintained.
A commemorative scarab from the king’s
10th year announced the arrival in Egypt of the Mitannian princess Gilukhepa,
along with 317 women; thus, another diplomatic marriage helped maintain
friendly relations between Egypt and its former foe.
Another Mitannian princess was later
received into Amenhotep III’s harem, and during his final illness, the Hurrian goddess Ishtar of Nineveh was
sent to his aid.
At the expense of older bureaucratic families
and the principle of inheritance of office, military men acquired high posts in
the civil administration.
Most influential was the aged scribe and
commander of the elite troops, Amenhotep, son of Hapu, whose reputation as
a sage survived into the Ptolemaic period.
Amenhotep III sponsored building on a
colossal scale, especially in the Theban area.
At Karnak, he erected the huge
third pylon, and at Luxor, he dedicated a magnificent new temple
to Amon. The king’s own mortuary temple in western Thebes was
unrivaled in its size; little remains of it today, but its famous Colossi of
Memnon testify to its proportions.
He also built a huge harbor and palace
complex nearby.
Some colossal statues served as objects of
public veneration, before which men could appeal to the king’s ka, which
represented the transcendent aspect of kingship.
In Karnak, statues of Amenhotep, son
of Hapu, were placed to act as intermediaries between supplicants and the gods.
Among the highest-ranking officials at
Thebes were men of Lower Egyptian background, who constructed large tombs with
highly refined decoration.
An eclectic quality is visible
in the tombs, certain scenes of which were inspired by Old Kingdom reliefs.
The earliest preserved important New
Kingdom monuments from Memphis also date from this reign.
Antiquarianism is evidenced in Amenhotep
III’s celebration of his sed festivals (rituals of renewal celebrated
after 30 years of rule), which were performed at his Theban palace in
accordance, it was claimed, with ancient writings.
Tiy, whose role was much more prominent
than that of earlier queens, participated in these ceremonies.
Amenhotep III’s last years were spent in
ill health.
To judge from his mummy and less formal representations of him from Amarna, he was obese when, in his 38th regnal year, he died and was succeeded by his son Amenhotep IV (ruled 1353–36 BCE), the most controversial of all the kings of Egypt
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