Notes |
- From
http://www.neferchichi.com/tuthmosis3.html
at
Neferchichi's Tomb, Pharaohs
http://www.neferchichi.com/pharaohs.html
Tuthmosis III
Birth name: Tuthmosis ("Born of the God Thoth")
Throne name: Menkheperre ("Lasting is the Manifestation of Re")
Rule: 1504 - 1450 BC (5th king of the 18th dynasty, New Kingdom)
Noteworthy relatives: Tuthmosis II (father), Hatshepsut (step-mother),Amenhotep II (son), Tuthmosis I (grandfather)
Tuthmosis III was the son of Tuthmosis II and a harem girl. His fatherwas frail and sickly and died in his early thirties, so Tuthmosis IIIinherited the throne as a very young child. Because he was so young, hisstep-mother Queen Hatshepsut acted as his regent. A regent is a personwho rules for a child until the child is old enough to take over.
After about two years of "helping" him, Hatshepsut made a bold move. Shedeclared herself pharaoh- so she was now the king, not the queen! Thisput Tuthmosis III out of the picture, so we don't know much about how hespent his childhood, although he did join the army as a young man.
Tuthmosis III rightfully became pharaoh after Hatshepsut died in 1483 BC.Since her mummy has never been found, no one knows how she died, but manyspeculate that Tuthmosis III may have had a part in her death. He hatedher so much for swiping his position that he ordered her monumentsdestroyed, her statues smashed, and her name and image scratched outwherever it appeared. Ancient Egyptians had a strong belief in the powerof images. By destroying her statues and wiping out her name, he was botherasing the memory of her life and also canceling her existence in theafterlife!
Tuthmosis III went on to become one of the greatest warrior pharaohs ofEgyptian history. He reestablished an Egyptian presence in Nubia andextended Egypt's rule all the way up to the the fourth cataract of theNile. He led his army in wars against the Phoenicians and constantlyattacked the Syrians, every summer for 18 years! He was said to haveconquered 350 cities in the region, including Joppa, Kadesh, and Meggido.Conquered cities had to pay tribute ("protection" money), so there was alot of wealth coming in to Egypt, thanks to Tuthmosis III!
During the New Kingdom, royal tombs were built high in the cliffs ofUpper Egypt in a spot commonly called "The Valley of the Kings." Theintention was to make the tombs as inaccessible to grave robbers aspossible: Tuthmosis III's tomb entrance was halfway up the face of acliff! But it still was broken into and plundered.
Around 1000 BC, a group of priests gathered up all the royal mummies andstored them in two secret "mummy caches" (one near Deir el-Bahari, andthe other in the tomb of Amenhotep II) to keep them safe. These hiddenroyals were nowhere to be found for almost 2,000 years: in 1881, the 40mummies in the Deir el-Bahari location were found; then in 1898 the tombof Amenhotep II with its additional 16 mummies was discovered.
Tuthmosis III was in the 1881 cache. His body was identified by thescraps of linen bandaging that still clung to it. The mummy had beenbadly damaged long ago by robbers, and it was "repaired" by the ancientpriests by strapping four boat oars to the mummy's sides to keep itreinforced. It was laying in one of his original coffins, although thegold gilding had been stripped by tomb robbers.
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