Thutmose III

Menkheperre Thutmose III (also written as Tuthmosis III or Thothmes III; called Manahpi(r)ya in the Amarna letters) (d. 1425 BC), was the sixth Pharaoh of Egypt in the Eighteenth Dynasty, and is regarded as the greatest of Egypt's pharaohs. He ruled from 1479 BC to 1425 BC, according to the Middle Chronology of Ancient Egypt. Older publications in the 1960's and 1970's have suggested that he ruled Egypt from 1504 BC to 1450 BC but this was based partly on the outdated and unsustainable view of a 35 Year reign for Thutmose IV. However, it is known that Manetho gives Thutmose IV a reign of only 9 Years and 8 Months in his Epitome while this king's Highest dated Year is only his Year 8. Finally, Thutmose IV's monuments are comparatively small and minor compared to those of his son Amenhotep III, who enjoyed a reign of 38 Years. Hence, Egyptologists today ascribe Thutmose IV a reign of only c.10 Years and have dated Thutmose III's accession at 1479 BC instead.

Thutmose was very short, barely five feet (1.5m) tall, a fact not known to later historians until the discovery of his mummy in 1881.

Thutmose III was the son of Pharaoh Thutmose II and Isis, a minor wife. When Thutmose II died in 1479 BC, the child Thutmose III became king--in theory. However, he shared power from the beginning of his reign with Hatshepsut, his father's wife, who acted as regent and eventually as the dominant co-ruler and real ruler of Egypt. For approximately 22 Years Thutmose III had little power over the empire while Hatshepsut assumed the formal titulary of kingship complete with a royal prenomen--Maatkare. He married Hatshepsut's youngest daughter, Meritre, with whom he had a son named Amenhotep II. With the death of Hatshepsut, Thutmose III then effectively ruled Egypt on his own for 32 Years until his death in 1425 BC (some sources list his death ranging from 1430 BC to 1425 BC).

Upon his accession to the throne on I Shemu day 4., Thutmose took the prenomen Menkheperre, which is represented in the Amarna letters as Manahpi(r)ya. His praenomen and nomen in Egyptian hieroglyphs can be seen to the right. These are technically transliterated as mn-ḫpr-r dḥwty-ms, which is usually realised to Menkheperre Djehutymes, meaning "Establisher of the form of Ra, Thoth bore him". Due to the influence of Greek transcriptions, Djehutymes is rendered as Thutmose, Thutmoses, or Thutmosis.

Thutmose's military campaigns

Widely considered a military genius by historians, he was an active expansionist ruler, sometimes referred to as the Napoleon of Egypt, because he was recorded to have captured 350 cities during his rule, conquering much of the Near East, from the Euphrates to Nubia. He was the first Pharaoh to cross the Euphrates, during his campaign against Mitanni. His campaign records are recorded in Urkunden IV

Thutmose III made a total of seventeen known military campaigns. His most famous campaign was his first when he decisively defeated a large Canaanite coalition under the King of Kadesh at the Battle of Megiddo in his Year 23. According to Thutmose III's Hall of Annals in the Temple of Amun at Karnak, the battle occurred on "Year 23, I Shemu ^* 21, the exact day of the feast of the new moon"(Urk. IV, 657.2)--a lunar date. This date corresponds to May 9, 1457 BC based on Thutmose III's accession in 1479 BC. After victory in battle, he conquered Megiddo after a siege of 7 or 8 Months (see Siege of Megiddo). Thutmose III is consistently regarded as one of Egypt's greatest Warrior Pharaohs and he changed his country into an internationally respected Superpower in the Ancient World. He was also a prolific builder of Temples throughout Egypt.

Controversy about relationship with Hatshepsut

Until recently, a general theory has been that after the death of her husband Thutmose II, Hatshepsut 'usurped' the throne from Thutmose III. Although Thutmose III was a co-regent during this time, early historians have speculated that Thutmose III never forgave his step-mother for denying him access to the throne for the first 2 decades of his reign. However, this theory has in recent times been reviewed, as questions arise why Hatshepsut would have allowed a resentful heir to control armies, which it is known he did. This view is further supported by the fact that no strong evidence has been found to show Thutmose III was actively seeking to reclaim his throne. Added to this is the fact that the monuments of Hatshepsut were not damaged until at least twenty years after her death, and often much later. Some vandalisation is suspeced to have been by the 'heretic king', Akhenaten (expanded upon below).

After her death, many of Hatshepsut's monuments and depictions were subsequently defaced or destroyed, including those in her famous mortuary temple complex at Deir el-Bahri. These have traditionally been interpreted to be evidence of acts of damnatio memoriae (condemning a person by erasing him or her from recorded existence) by Thutmose III. However, recent research by scholars such as that of Charles Nims and Peter Dorman have re-examined these erasures and found that the acts which could be dated occurred after the forty-second year of Thutmose's reign. This casts serious doubt upon the popular theory that Thutmose III ordered their destruction in a fit of vengeful rage shortly after his accession. Rather, it is more widely accepted today that Thutmose III may have simply decided to erase the memory of Hatshepsut's from the historical records because under Egypt's deeply conservative and hierarchical political system, only men were supposed to rule the state while women were expected to remain loyal to their husbands and nourish their households. Indeed, prior to Hatshepsut's reign only two other female Egyptian Pharaohs were known to exist: Nitocris and Sobekneferu. Unlike Hatshepsut however, both these queens enjoyed a very brief reign.

Of interest on this topic is the recent discovery of nine golden cartouches bearing the names of both Hatshepsut and Thutmose III near the obelisk at Hatshepsut's temple in Luxor. Further study may shed additional light on the question of their relationship and the eventual attempt to erase Hatshepsut from the historical record.

Death and burial

Thutmose III's tomb in the Valley of the Kings (KV34) is the first one in which Egyptologists find the complete Amduat, an important New Kingdom funerary text. According to a book by the American Egyptologist Peter Der Manuelian, a statement in the Tomb Biography of an official named Amenemheb establishes that Thutmose III died on Year 54, III Peret day 30 of his reign after ruling Egypt for 53 Years 10 Months and 26 Days.(Urk. 180.15) Thutmose III died 1 Month and 4 days shy of the start of his 55th Regnal Year.

During the reign of Pinedjem I in the 21st Dynasty, Thutmose's body was moved with several others to the Deir el-Bahri Cache. His was the first unwrapped when the mummies were unearthed in 1881. His mummy was in poor condition (damage was done in antiquity). He now rests in the Cairo Museum.

External links

1425 BC deaths | Pharaohs of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt

Thutmose's military campaigns

Controversy about relationship with Hatshepsut

Death and burial

See also

Further reading

External links

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Thutmose III

Thutmose's military campaigns

Controversy about relationship with Hatshepsut

Death and burial

See also

Further reading

External links