Ancient Egypt - Pharaoh Amenhotep II
Updated: Feb 10, 2021
The Napoleon of Egypt was succeeded by his son, Amenhotep II, who had to
immediately deal with an uprising in the Levant. This revolt most likely included the Mediterranean sea ports causing Amenhotep II to advance the army by land. He moved into Northern Palestine and fought his way across the Orontes River in Syria.
The king was well known for his physical prowess and was said to have single handedly killed 7 rebel princes at Kadesh, which successfully ended his first Syrian campaign. From stele left by the king at the temples at Aswan and Amada, we learn that the 7 captured princes were sacrificed to Amun and then hung face down on the prow his ship. Six of them were subsequently hung on the enclosure wall of the tomb at Thebes, while the seventh was taken south to Nubia and hung on the walls of Napata,
'In order to cause to be seen the victorious might of his Majesty
forever and ever.' -Temple Stele of Amenhotep II
The king would continue to campaign in Palestine, but only as far as the Sea of Galilee. Since his father, Tuthmosis III, had devoted so much energy expanding Karnak, Amenhotep II's building projects were largely focused on enlarging small temples all over Egypt. He does have a granite stele at Karnak that shows him shooting arrows from a fast moving chariot.
Tomb (KV35)
Until the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922, Amenhotep II had the distinction of being the only Egyptian Pharaoh discovered in his own sarcophagus in his own tomb. This tomb, (KV35), was plundered before the end of the 20th Dynasty. KV 35 possessed several architectural innovations: a side chamber at the bottom of the well shaft and a corridor (G) between descent (F) and the burial chamber (J), which was rectangular with a floor on two levels. The form of the burial chamber established in this tomb continued in use until the 19th Dynasty.
When discovered in 1898, the tomb contained a cache of mummies which had been reburied by a 21st Dynasty High Priest to protect them from tomb robbers. This cache included the Pharaohs Tuthmosis IV, Amenhotep III, Seti II, Ramesses III, IV, and VI.
Amenhotep II had a mortuary temple constructed in the Theban necropolis, close to where the Ramesseum was later built, but it was destroyed in ancient times.
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