Ancient Egypt – The Golden Age
- dwworldhistory
- Nov 4
- 10 min read
DW | Ancient Egypt
16 – The Golden Age
Welcome to the DW World History Series. In the last episode we discussed Tuthmosis III and the Battle of Megiddo. The Napoleon of Egypt was succeeded by his son, Amenhotep II, who had to immediately deal with an uprising in the Levant. We explore the Golden Age of Ancient Egypt through the reigns of Amenhotep II, Tuthmosis IV, and Amenhotep III.
16.1 - Pharaoh Amenhotep II (1425-1400 BC)
The revolt after Tuthmosis III's death, in 1425 BC, 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 of 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 Canaan, 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.
16.2 - Pharaoh Tuthmosis IV (1400-1390 BC)
Not much is known from Amenhotep II's death to the rise of Tuthmosis IV. He was born to Amenhotep II and Queen Tio, but was not actually the crown prince. Some scholars speculate that Tuthmosis IV ousted his older brother and commissioned the Dream Stele in order to justify his unexpected kingship. The stele tells how the young prince Tuthmosis was out hunting in the desert when he fell asleep in the shadow of the Sphinx. The sun god Ra appeared to him in a dream and promised that he would be king if he cleared away the sand that had nearly buried the body of the Sphinx. The stele was placed between the two paws of the Sphinx upon its restoration.
Tuthmosis IV's rule, from 1400-1390 BC, was significant because he established peaceful relations with the Mitanni and married a Mitannian princess to seal the new alliance. Mitanni had been a rival of Egypt since the reign of Tuthmosis I. Now at the height of its power, the kingdom decided to join forces with Egypt to protect their mutual interests from the threat of Hittite domination.
Building Works at Karnak
Like most of the Tuthmoside kings, Tuthmosis IV built on a grand scale. He completed the Eastern Obelisk first started by Tuthmosis III, which at 105 ft, was the tallest obelisk ever erected in Egypt. It was intended, most unusually, as a single obelisk for the temple at Karnak, and not one of a pair. The obelisk was later transported to the grounds of the Circus Maximus in Rome by Emperor Constantius II in 357 A.D. and later re-erected by Pope Sixtus V in 1588 at the Piazza San Giovanni. It is currently known as the Lateran Obelisk, and is the tallest standing obelisk in the world.
Tuthmosis IV also built a unique chapel and peristyle hall against the back of the main Karnak Temple building. The chapel was intended for people 'who had no right of access' to the main Karnak temple. It was a 'place of the ear' for the god Amun to hear the prayer of the townspeople. This small alabaster chapel and peristyle hall have both been restored.
Tomb (KV43)
Tuthmosis IV was buried in the Valley of the Kings, in tomb (KV43). The entrance to (KV 43) lies in the south branch of the southeast wadi, high in the mountainside above and southeast of (KV 19). Similar in plan to (KV 35 - Amenhetep II), the first three corridors (B, C, D), the well chamber (E) and side chamber (Ea) followed a north-south axis. The side chamber (Ea) off the bottom of the shaft in the well chamber (E) was partly beneath a pillared chamber (F). At the latter chamber, the tomb axis turned ninety degrees to the left (east) and continued on a west-east axis to chamber (I), after which it again turned ninety degrees to the left, giving access to the burial chamber (J) and side chambers (Ja-Jd). The tomb was decorated with representations of the king with various deities in the well chamber (E) and in chamber (I).
Hieratic graffiti in chamber (I) inform us that the tomb was entered during regnal year 8 of Horemheb for a renewal of the burial. After the removal of the mummy of Tuthmosis IV to (KV 35) in Dynasty 21, the tomb was sealed with roughly-cut stones, covered by flood debris, and forgotten until its discovery by Carter in 1903.
16.3 – Pharaoh Amenhotep III (1390-1352 BC)
Tuthmosis IV was succeeded by his son, Amenhotep III, who ruled from 1390-1352 BC, during one of the most prosperous and stable periods in Egyptian history. The 18th Dynasty is considered the high-point of Ancient Egyptian civilization. Amenhotep III rules at the high-point of this dynasty, making this the pinnacle of Egyptian power; during a time that the Egyptologists call 'The Golden Age of Ancient Egypt'.
Amenhotep III's great-grandfather, Tuthmosis III, as noted in the previous episode, had laid the foundations of the Egyptian Empire by his campaigns into Syria, Nubia, and Libya. Hardly any military activity was called for under Amenhotep III during his 30 years of rule. Only Nubia required minor attention, which was handled by his son and Viceroy of Kush, Merymose.
Commemorative Scarabs
A striking characteristic of Amenhotep III's reign is a series of over 200 large commemorative stone scarabs that document the first 12 years of his reign. These scarabs should be considered the first 'telegrams' in history. These are stone carved beetles that announce key events on the bottom in hieroglyphs. About 100,000 were carved at a time and distributed throughout the kingdom, including Syria, Palestine, and Nubia.
The earliest one, of Year 2, is known as the marriage scarab and records his marriage to his non-royal wife, Queen Tiye. Although a commoner, Queen Tiye came from a prominent family. Her father was a military official and her brother was vizier of Lower Egypt under Amenhotep III.
Another set of scarabs, also of Year 2, records how Amenhotep III captured 56 head of wild cattle in a single day. This is known as 'The Wild Bull Hunt' scarab. On a third collection of scarabs, Tuthmosis III records how he killed 102 lions in the first ten years of reign. This lion hunt scarab is the most common and many have been found outside the boundaries of Egypt, where they obviously served as a type of imperial newspaper.
The Amarna Letters
Another type of correspondence at this time was the Amarna letters. These cuneiform tablets, written primarily in Akkadian, the regional language of diplomacy for this time period, consisted of over 300 diplomatic letters. These were to and from the heads of state from Egypt to Babylonia, Assyria, Syria, Canaan, Cyprus, Mitanni, and the Hittites. Begun by Amenhotep III, they would greatly increase during the reign of his successor, Akhenaten.
This archive contains a wealth of information about cultures, kingdoms, events, and individuals in a period from which few written sources survive. They also contain the first mention of a Near Eastern group known as the Habiru, which may be linked to the Hebrews. These letters document frequent requests by these rulers for gold and other numerous gifts from the Pharaoh. In one famous correspondence, Amenhotep III is quoted, by the Babylonian king Kadashman Enlil I, in firmly rejecting the latter's entreaty to marry one of the Pharaoh's daughters:
'From time immemorial, no daughter of the King of Egypt is given to anyone.'
The Portraits of the Pharaoh
The wealth of Egypt during this period came from international trade and the abundant supply of gold from the land of Kush and from the mines of the Wadi Hammamat. It was this great wealth and booming economy that led to such an outpouring of artistic talent in all aspects of the arts.
Amenhotep III has the distinction of having the most surviving statues of any Egyptian Pharaoh, with over 250 of his statues having been discovered. These statues span his entire life and provide a series of portraits covering the entire length of his reign.
Major examples of this artwork include the orange alabaster statue of Amenhotep III standing beside Sobek, the crocodile god; the wooden coffin of Tuya, the mother of Queen Tiye, which was gilded in gold; the colossal statue of Amenhotep III; the fine quartzite statue of Amenhotep III from the Luxor Temple; and the amazing green-stone portrait of Queen Tiye which was discovered in a temple in the Sinai by Finders Petrie, in 1904.
Architect Amenhotep, Son of Hapu
Amenhotep III's master architect, Amenhotep, son of Hapu, is one of the few architects to be known to us by name. Like the great 3rd Dynasty architect Imhotep, he was elevated to the status of a god in the later Ptolemaic period. There are several surviving statues of him as a scribe portraying him throughout his life.
Amenhotep was allowed to build his mortuary temple adjacent to that of the pharaoh. This honor was quite rare and indicated that Amenhotep was highly respected by the time of his death, despite the fact that he was a commoner and had only entered civil service in his late forties. Excavated around 1934, it measures 45 × 110 meters and is surrounded by three shrines. His first courtyard contained a 25 x 26 m water basin of considerable depth, which is fed by groundwater from the Nile. Twenty trees were planted in pits around the basin. The temple at the end of the courtyard was adorned with a pillared portico and the temple was slightly elevated on a terrace.
Amenhotep built extensively for the Pharaoh at the Temple of Karnak. He dismantled the Fourth Pylon of the Temple of Amun to build the Third Pylon and created a new entrance to this structure. He also started work on the Tenth Pylon and built a new temple to the goddess Ma'at.
Amenhotep III's Mortuary Temple
Amenhotep III's enormous mortuary temple on the west bank of the Nile was, in its day, the largest religious complex in Thebes. Unfortunately he chose to build it too close to the flood plain and less than 200 years later, it stood in ruins. Much of the masonry was stolen by the later pharaohs for their own building projects. All that remains now of this temple are the two imposing statues of the king.
At 18 meters high, these statues are known as the Colossi of Memnon. This is in fact a complete misnomer, arising from the classical recognition of the statues as the Ethiopian prince Memnon who fought at Troy. In 27 B.C., a large earthquake shattered the northern statue, collapsing it from the waist up and cracking the lower half. Following its rupture, the remaining lower half of this statue was then reputed to sing at dawn and dusk. The phenomenon was probably caused by the effect on the stone at the radical temperature changes at dawn and dusk. These sounds ceased after later repairs were carried out by the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus, around 196 A.D.
The Malkata Palace
In his later years, Amenhotep III moved permanently to Thebes. Normally the Pharaoh would have lived in Memphis, which had always been the administrative capital. Now, Thebes was gaining importance as a religious capital and future kings would spend their time in both places.
At Thebes, Amenhotep III built his residence, called the Malkata Palace, on the west bank of the Nile. Made of painted mud-brick, much of it has disappeared. At this same location, he dug a huge pleasure lake for his wife, Queen Tiye, so she could sail around on their barge. This boat was called the 'Aten Gleams'. The lake was over a mile long and a quarter-mile wide. The sun cult of Aten appears to have been growing toward the end of his reign, for it was also at this time that Amenhotep III took another name, 'the Dazzling Sun Disk of All Lands'. This worship of Aten would become radicalized by his son during the next reign and have drastic consequences for the priests of Amun.
The teeth of Amenhotep III were so bad, he may have been sedated during his last years and my not have been able to rule effectively. As a result, he established a co-regency with Crown Prince Tuthmosis before his death.
Tomb (WV22)
Amenhotep III was buried in the first tomb created in the West Valley of the Kings (WV22). In plan, it is very similar to the tomb of Thutmosis IV ( KV 43). It consisted of two corridors (B, D), separated by a stairwell (C), leading to a well chamber (E) with a shaft and side chamber (Ea), a pillared chamber (F) with side descent, a corridor (G), a stairwell (H), another chamber (I), and the burial chamber (J). The burial chamber had several side chambers leading off it (Ja-Je). The tomb was decorated with representations of the deceased with deities.
Sometime during the Third Intermediate Period, his mummy was moved to tomb (KV35) along with several other Pharaohs.
Queen Tiye would outlive Amenhotep III by at least 12 years. He would also leave behind a country that was at the very height of its power and influence. The resulting upheavals from his son, Akhenaten, would shake the very foundations of Egyptian belief and bring forth the question of whether a pharaoh was more powerful than the existing domestic order, as represented by the Amun priests and their numerous estates.
We receive the answer to that question in the next episode.
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