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74-564: The Egyptian Queen Dakhamunzu , who could have been Meritaten or Nefertiti , but is most often identified as Ankhesenamun , asked Suppiluliuma I to send over a son during the late Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt because she had recently been widowed by the death of Nibhururia (possibly Akhenaten , but more likely Tutankhamun ), and had borne no heir. Her letter reads, My husband has died and I have no son. They say about you that you have many sons. You might give me one of your sons to become my husband. I would not wish to take one of my subjects as

148-403: A 100,000 years, and may our mistress grant both of us great joy. And let us act as friends. Is Šauška for me alone my god[dess], and for my brother not his god[dess]? The likeliest explanation is that the statue was sent to Egypt "to shed her blessings on the wedding of Amenhotep and Tadukhepa, as she had been sent previously for Amenhotep and Gilukhepa ." Moran agrees that this explanation

222-669: A city dedicated to his new deity, the Aten . Amenhotep built extensively at the temple of Karnak , including the Luxor temple with two pylons , a colonnade behind the new temple entrance, and a new temple to the goddess Ma'at . Amenhotep dismantled the Fourth Pylon of the Temple of Amun at Karnak to construct a new Third Pylon — and created a new entrance to this structure where he erected two rows of columns with open papyrus capitals down

296-442: A country that I love, and then return." Now I herewith send her, and she is on her way. Now, in the time, too, of my father,...[she] went to this country, and just as earlier she dwelt there and they honored her, may my brother now honor her 10 times more than before. May my brother honor her, [then] at [his] pleasure let her go so that she may come back. May Šauška (i.e., Ishtar ), the mistress of heaven, protect us, my brother and me,

370-629: A direct result of the Zannanza affair because both succumbed to a plague brought to Hattusa by the prisoners from Amqu. Initially, the name Dakhamunzu was believed to be a misreading of Sankhamun , a supposed version of Ankhesenamun , Tutankhamun 's widow. However, it has been demonstrated that Dakhamunzu is a Hittite rendering of the Egyptian title ta hemet nesu ( Egyptian : tꜣ ḥmt nswt , literally "the king's wife", probably pronounced contemporaneously as /taʔ ˈħiːmaʔ ʔənˈsiːʔəʔ/) instead of

444-468: A forensic examination of his mummy revealed worn and cavity-pitted teeth which must have inflicted constant pain. An examination of the mummy by the Australian anatomist Grafton Elliot Smith concluded that the pharaoh had died at between the age of 40 and 50. He was survived by at least one child, his successor Amenhotep IV. His wife Tiye is known to have outlived him by at least twelve years, as she

518-512: A husband... I am afraid. It was extraordinary that a consort from outside of Egypt would be sought, however, so Suppiluliuma was cautious. After sending an envoy to verify her claim, he obliged her. His son, Zannanza, was chosen and sent to Egypt to become the new pharaoh. This could have led to efforts to make Egypt part of the Hittite Empire. Zannanza never made it past the Egyptian border, though exactly what became of him and how he died

592-524: A more likely candidate for Nibhururiya, although Smenkhkare cannot be entirely ruled out due to their prenomen being missing. Comparison between the probable times of death for Akhenaten (after the vintaging of wine, i.e. at the end of September or the start of October) and Tutankhamun (in December, based on floral and faunal evidence from his tomb) with the account found in the Hittite annals (which places

666-611: A mysterious synonym for any of the queens discussed here, and is instead only a title. See below on this page. The episode in The Deeds of Suppiluliuma that features Dakhamunzu is often referred to as the Zannanza affair , after the name of a Hittite prince who was sent to Egypt to marry her. The Dakhamunzu episode should be seen against the background of Egypt's relations with the other major powers in Western Asia during

740-611: A nearly undamaged 6 feet (1.8 m)-high pink quartzite statue of the king wearing the Double Crown . It was mounted on a sled, and may have been a cult statue. Only the name of the god Amun had been hacked out wherever it appeared in the pharaoh's cartouche , clearly part of Akhenaten's campaign against the god of his father. One of Amenhotep's most popular epithets was Aten-tjehen which means "the Dazzling Sun Disk"; it appears in his titulary at Luxor temple and

814-541: A number of settlements on the island, and they exported copper and other raw materials from Cyprus to Egypt in exchange for luxury goods and other commodities. However, the Egyptian presence on Cyprus was at times interrupted by incursions of other powers, including the Hittites and the Mycenaeans. Thutmose, the eldest son of Amenhotep III with his wife Tiye, became Crown Prince, but died before his father. Amenhotep

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888-406: A period of unprecedented prosperity and splendour, when Egypt reached the peak of its artistic and international power, and as such he is considered one of ancient Egypt's greatest pharaohs. When he died in the 38th or 39th year of his reign he was succeeded by his son Amenhotep IV, who later changed his name to Akhenaten . Amenhotep was the son of Thutmose IV and his minor wife Mutemwiya . He

962-440: A possible co-regency between Nefertiti and Tutankhamun. In such a scenario, Tutankhamun may be identified as the unnamed pharaoh from Suppiluliuma's letter, supplanting Nefertiti on the Egyptian throne. Others, however, maintain that Nefertiti predeceased her husband and therefore identify Dakhamunzu/Akhenaten's female co-regent as Meritaten. In this scenario, Smenkhare may be identified as the new unnamed pharaoh, who would then be

1036-433: A series of tests that demonstrated the pharaoh's fitness for continuing as ruler of Egypt. Based on indications left by Queen Tiye's steward Khenruef, the festival may have lasted two to eight months. Amenhotep wanted his Sed Festivals to be far more spectacular than those of the past. He appointed Amenhotep, son of Hapu to plan the ceremony, potentially because he was one of the few courtiers still alive to have served at

1110-568: A small temple with a colonnade (dedicated to Thutmose III ) at Elephantine , a rock temple dedicated to Amun "Lord of the Ways" at Wadi es-Sebuam, and the temple of Horus of Miam at Aniba ...[as well as founding] additional temples at Kawa and Sesebi . His enormous mortuary temple on the west bank of the Nile was, in its day, the largest religious complex in Thebes , but the king built too close to

1184-486: A son, would I have written about my own and my country's shame to a foreign land? Thou didst not believe me and hast even spoke thus to me! He who was my husband has died. A son I have not! Never shall I take a servant of mine and make him my husband! I have written to no other country, only to thee have I written! They say thy sons are many: so give me one son of thine! To me he will be husband, but to Egypt he will be king. Suppiluliuma however remains suspicious and he tells

1258-613: Is Year 38, which appears on wine jar-label dockets from Malkata . He may have lived briefly into an unrecorded Year 39 and died before the wine harvest of that year. Reliefs from the wall of the temple of Soleb in Nubia and scenes from the Theban tomb of Kheruef , Steward of the King's Great Wife, Tiye, depict Amenhotep as a visibly weak and sick figure. Scientists believe that in his final years he suffered from arthritis and obesity. Further,

1332-486: Is attested only once, on a colossal limestone group of statues from Medinet Habu, and Beketaten only appears in Amarna . Amenhotep is also sometimes credited as the father of Smenkhkare or Tutankhamun , with varying proposals for their mothers, but these theories are not as accepted as his other, known children. In addition to Tiye, Amenhotep had several other wives . In Regnal Year 10, Amenhotep married Gilukhepa ,

1406-484: Is killed, possibly before he even reaches Egypt. As the annals make clear, the Hittites accuse the Egyptians for this murder: They spoke thus: "The people of Egypt killed Zannanza and brought word: ‘Zannanza died!’ And when [Suppiluliuma] heard of the slaying of Zannanza, he began to lament for Zannanza and to the gods he spoke thus: 'Oh gods! I did no evil, yet the people of Egypt did this to me, and they also attacked

1480-480: Is mentioned in several Amarna letters dated from her son's reign, as well as depicted at the royal dinner table in Akhenaten's years 9 and 12, in scenes from the tomb of Huya . Foreign leaders communicated their grief at the pharaoh's death, with Tushratta saying: When I heard that my brother Nimmureya had gone to his fate, on that day I sat down and wept. On that day I took no food, I took no water. Amenhotep

1554-415: Is of importance both for Egyptian chronology and for the reconstruction of events during the late Eighteenth Dynasty . However, in recent years it has been noted that Dahamunzu may be the Hittite phonetic rendition of the Egyptian ta hemet nesu , 'the king's wife', and thus is simply the equivalent of addressing her as the equivalent of 'queen'. If so, then Dahamanzu is not a proper name at all and thus not

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1628-483: Is unknown. His father accused the Egyptians of murdering him. The new king of Egypt, Ay , denied the murder, but acknowledged the death. Angry letters were passed between the two nations, but the matter ended inconclusively. Hittite forces subsequently attacked Egyptian settlements in Syria. Sick prisoners of war brought back to the Hittite Empire after these attacks caused a deadly epidemic that spread rapidly throughout

1702-650: The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties , where it lay until discovered by Victor Loret in 1898. For the 18th dynasty, the mummy shows an unusually heavy use of subcutaneous stuffing to make the mummy look more lifelike. The mummy has museum inventory number CG 61074. In April 2021, his mummy was moved from the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization , along with those of 17 other kings and 4 queens in an event termed

1776-454: The Pharaohs' Golden Parade . Amenhotep has the distinction of having the most surviving statues of any Egyptian pharaoh, with over 250 identified. These statues provide a series of portraits covering the entire length of his reign. When Amenhotep died, he left behind a country at the very height of its power and influence, commanding immense respect in the international world. However, it

1850-523: The floodplain , and less than two hundred years later it was reduced to ruins. Much of the masonry was purloined by Merneptah and later pharaohs for their own construction projects. All that remained standing was the gateway with the Colossi of Memnon — two massive stone statues depicting Amenhotep,18 m (59 ft) high. Amenhotep also built the Third Pylon at Karnak and erected 600 statues of

1924-480: The viziers Ramose , Amenhotep , Aperel , and Ptahmose . Other officials included the treasurers Ptahmose and Merire; the high stewards, Amenemhat Surer and Amenhotep (Huy) ; and the Viceroy of Kush, Merimose. Amenhotep, son of Hapu held many offices during the reign of Amenhotep the pharaoh, but is best known for receiving the right to build his mortuary temple behind that of the king. Amenhotep, son of Hapu,

1998-446: The "marriage scarabs," Amenhotep affirmed his divine power and the legitimacy of his wife. With Tiye, Amenhotep fathered at least two sons, Crown Prince Thutmose and Amenhotep IV (later called Akhenaten) . In addition, several daughters are frequently credited to the couple: Sitamun , Henuttaneb , Iset , Nebetah , and Beketaten . Most of the daughters appear frequently on statues and reliefs from Amenhotep's reign. However, Nebetah

2072-469: The Babylonian monarch may indeed have followed from Egyptian royal custom, which allowed a claim upon the throne through descent from a royal princess. It could also be viewed as a diplomatic stratagem to enhance Egypt's prestige, as Amenhotep himself married the daughters of several foreign rulers while refusing them his own daughters. The Amarna Letters also reference the exchange between Amenhotep and

2146-555: The Colossi of Memnon as well as from Tanis in the Delta. In 2014, two giant statues of Amenhotep toppled by an earthquake in 1200 BC were reconstructed from more than 200 fragments and re-erected at the northern gate of the king's funerary temple. One of the most stunning finds of royal statues dating to his reign was made as recently as 1989 in the courtyard of Amenhotep 's colonnade of the Temple of Luxor. The cache of statues included

2220-402: The Egyptian messenger: ...You keep asking me for a son of mine (as if it were my) duty. [H]e will in some way become a hostage, but [king] you will not make him! Nevertheless, after further negotiations with the Egyptian messenger and consultation of an earlier peace treaty between the Hittites and Egypt, Suppiluliuma agrees to send one of his sons to Egypt. But this prince, named Zannanza ,

2294-463: The Egyptian royal family is unprecedented; as Amenhotep III made clear in his correspondence with a foreign king, the gift of women in marriage was, for Egypt, a one-way trade: From time immemorial no daughter of the king of Egypt is given to anyone . Suppiluliuma is therefore surprised and suspicious, the annals report his reaction: Such a thing has never happened to me in my whole life! Intrigued, he sends his chamberlain to Egypt to investigate

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2368-600: The Hitties, further supporting evidence that 'Nibḫururiya' is referring to Tutankhamun. It is also assumed that the situation at the Egyptian court (i.e. the lack of male royal offspring) fits better with the period after Tutankhamun's death. In this case Dakhamunzu should be identified as Ankhesenamun, while the anonymous pharaoh from Suppiluliuma's draft letter can be identified as Ay , a servant Dakhamunzu did not want to marry. Alternative Egyptian and Hittite chronologies based on recorded astronomical phenomena make Akhenaten

2442-582: The Magnificent or Amenhotep the Great and Hellenized as Amenophis III , was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty . According to different authors following the "Low Chronology", he ruled Egypt from June 1386 to 1349 BC, or from June 1388 BC to December 1351 BC/1350 BC, after his father Thutmose IV died. Amenhotep was Thutmose's son by a minor wife, Mutemwiya . His reign was

2516-587: The Mitanni King Tushratta of the statue of a healing goddess, Ishtar of Nineveh , late in Amenhotep's reign. Scholars have generally assumed that the statue's sojourn to Egypt was requested by Amenhotep in order to cure him of his various ailments, which included painful abscesses in his teeth. However, William L. Moran 's analysis of Amarna Letter EA 23 , relating to the dispatch of the statue to Thebes, discounts this theory. The arrival of

2590-400: The Zannanza affair as further evidence for Nefertiti's continuing importance in the late-Amarna period. In this case it is believed that, in spite of her changed role at the Egyptian court, to the outside world she would have remained known as the king's wife . Supporters of this theory draw a parallel between the co-rule between Hatshepsut and Tuthmosis III earlier in the 18th dynasty, and

2664-483: The celebration as the affirmation of transition to divinity. Diplomatic correspondence from Amenhotep's reign are partially preserved in the Amarna Letters , a collection of documents found near the city of Amarna . The letters come from the rulers of Assyria , Mitanni , Babylon , Hatti , and other states, typically including requests by those rulers for gold and other gifts from Amenhotep. The letters cover

2738-764: The centre of this newly formed forecourt. The forecourt between the Third and Fourth Pylons, sometimes called an obelisk court, was also decorated with scenes of the sacred funerary barques of the deities Amun , Mut , and Khonsu . The king also started work on the Tenth Pylon at the Temple of Amun. Amenhotep's first recorded act as king — in his Years 1 and 2 — was to open new limestone quarries at Tura , just south of Cairo and at Dayr al-Barsha in Middle Egypt to undertake his great building projects. He virtually covered Nubia with new monuments: ...including

2812-482: The daughter of Shuttarna II of Mitanni . He later married Tadukhepa , daughter of Tushratta of Mitanni, in or around Regnal Year 36 of his reign. Other wives, whose names are unknown, included: a daughter of Kurigalzu , king of Babylon ; a daughter of Kadashman-Enlil , king of Babylon ; a daughter of Tarhundaradu , ruler of Arzawa ; and a daughter of the ruler of Ammia (modern-day Syria). Finally, he married at least two of his daughters, Sitamun and Iset, in

2886-568: The death of Nibhururiya occurs near the end of Suppiluliuma's life and therefore conventional Egyptian chronology favours Tutankhamun. Linguistic analysis has demonstrated that 'Nibḫururiya' is an accurate Hittite rendering of Tutankhamun's throne name Nebkheperure. In addition, the Amarna letters , which contain Diplomatic correspondence between Egypt and its neighbors, always refer to Akhenaten as 'Napḫurureya' (Hittite rendering of Akhenaten's throne name Neferkheperure) in letters received from

2960-560: The empire. As a result, Suppiluliuma I himself died from the epidemic. Dakhamunzu Dakhamunzu (properly Daḫamunzu ) is the name of an Egyptian queen known from the Hittite annals The Deeds of Suppiluliuma , which were composed by Suppiluliuma I 's son Mursili II . The identity of this queen has not yet been established with any degree of certainty and Dakhamunzu has variously been identified as either Nefertiti , Meritaten or Ankhesenamen . The identification of this queen

3034-412: The establishment of a long coregency between the two rulers and in favor of either no coregency or one of at most two years. Donald B. Redford , William J. Murnane , Alan Gardiner , and Lawrence Berman contest the view of any coregency whatsoever between Akhenaten and his father. Evidence against a coregency includes Amarna Letter EA 27 , which is dated to Regnal Year 2 of Amenhotep IV. The subject of

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3108-420: The event. He directed Amenhotep to use his mace to knock on the temple doors. Beside him, Amenhotep-Hapu mirrored his effort like a royal shadow. The king was followed by Queen Tiye and the royal daughters. When moving to another venue, the banner of the jackal god Wepwawet, "Opener of Ways" preceded the King. The king changed his costume at each major activity of the celebration. One of the major highlights of

3182-624: The festival was the king's dual coronation. He was enthroned separately for Upper and Lower Egypt. For Upper Egypt, Amenhotep wore the white crown but changed to the red crown for the Lower Egypt coronation. After the Sed festival, Amenhotep transcended from being a near-god to one divine. The king may have later traveled across Egypt following the festival, potentially reenacting the ceremony for different audiences. Few Egyptian kings lived long enough for their own celebration. Those who survived used

3256-538: The frontier of my country". This leads to recriminations on behalf of Suppiluliuma, who again attacks Amqu, drives the Egyptians from it, and returns with prisoners to Hattusa. Nothing is told of the eventual fate of Dakhamunzu, but the draft for a letter written by Suppiluliuma might shed more light on the matter. This letter is addressed to an unnamed pharaoh, generally considered Ay , written in response to an earlier letter from this pharaoh to Suppiluliuma. From this correspondence, it appears that this pharaoh came to

3330-461: The goddess Sekhmet in the Temple of Mut to the south. Some of the most magnificent statues of New Kingdom Egypt date to his reign "such as the two outstanding couchant rose granite lions originally set before the temple at Soleb in Nubia " as well as a large series of royal sculptures. Several black granite seated statues of Amenhotep wearing the nemes headress have come from excavations behind

3404-488: The identity of Dakhamunzu because besides his great royal wife Nefertiti, Meritaten seems to have held the title ta hemet nesu in relation to her father as well. In this case, the identity of Dakhamunzu is largely depended on the identity of Akhenaten's co-regent and successor . Those who see evidence for a gradually changing role for Nefertiti (from great royal wife, over co-regent to sole ruler after Akhenaten's death) will naturally identify Dakhamunzu as Nefertiti, and see

3478-642: The king moved to the palace permanently around Regnal Year 29. Once completed, it was the largest royal residence in Egypt. Amenhotep celebrated three Sed festivals in Regnal Years 30, 34, and 37, each at Malkata palace in Western Thebes. A temple of Amun and festival hall were built especially for the celebrations. The Sed festival was a tradition that dated to the Old Kingdom , consisting of

3552-472: The lake. This event was commemorated on at least eleven commemorative scarabs. From other scarabs, Amenhotep is known to have killed either 102 or 110 lions in the first ten years of his reign. Despite the martial prowess Amenhotep displayed during the hunt, he is known to have participated in only one military incident. In Regnal Year Five, he led a victorious campaign against a rebellion in Kush. This victory

3626-541: The last Sed Festival, held for Amenhotep II. In preparation for the first Sed Festival, Amenhotep, son of Hapu enlisted scribes to gather information from records and inscriptions, most found in ancient funerary temples, describing the appropriate rituals and costumes. Temples were built and statues erected up and down the Nile. Craftsmen and jewelers created ornaments commentating the event including jewelry, ornaments, and stelae. The scribe Nebmerutef coordinated every step of

3700-480: The last decade of his reign. Jar-label inscriptions from Regnal Year 30 indicate that Sitamun was elevated to the status of Great Royal Wife by that time. Although shunned by common Egyptians, incest was not uncommon among royalty. A sculpture restored by Amenhotep for his grandfather, Amenhotep II, shows Sitamun with a young prince beside her. This has led to theories that Sitamun was the mother of Smekhkare and/or Tutankhamun. Amenhotep probably became pharaoh when he

3774-566: The letter involves a complaint from the Mitannian king Tushratta, claiming that Amenhotep IV did not honor his father's promise to send Tushratta gold statues as part of the marriage arrangement between Tadukhepa , and Amenhotep III. This correspondence implies that if any coregency occurred between Amenhotep and Akhenaten, it lasted no more than a year. However in February 2014, Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announced that findings from

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3848-446: The matter. He orders him: Go and bring thou the true word back to me! Maybe they deceive me! Maybe (in fact) they do have a son of their lord! In the meantime, Suppiluliuma concludes the siege of Carchemish, then returns to his capital Hattusa for the winter. The following spring his chamberlain and a messenger from Egypt return to him, bringing a further letter of the queen: Why didst thou say “they deceive me” in that way? Had I

3922-463: The name of a queen. As a consequence Dakhamunzu has variously been identified as either Nefertiti , Meritaten or Ankhesenamun. Nibhururiya, the name of the recently deceased pharaoh as it is recorded in the annals, has been seen as a Hittite rendering of the prenomen of either Akhenaten (Neferkheperure) or Tutankhamun (Nebkheperure) and the flexibility of the chronology of the period admits both possibilities. The chronology of events requires that

3996-403: The period from Year 30 of Amenhotep until at least the end of Akhenaten 's reign. In Amarna Letter EA 4 , Amenhotep is quoted by the Babylonian king Kadashman-Enlil I in firmly rejecting the latter's entreaty to marry one of this pharaoh's daughters: From time immemorial, no daughter of the king of Egy[pt] is given to anyone. Amenhotep's refusal to allow one of his daughters to be married to

4070-543: The pharoah for a million years. Side view: A series of festival (ḥb) emblems together with a Sed (sd) emblem identifying the stela as one made for Amenhotep 's Sed Festival royal jubilee. Top and back view: These show malicious damage where the cartouche was chipped away. Cassirer suggests this was another example of Akhenaten's vandalism against Amun Other gods displayed on the stela, Re and Ma’at, showed no damage. The altered stela may then have been displayed by Akhenaten. Another striking characteristic of Amenhotep's reign

4144-573: The presence of this letter there suggests he cannot have been the recently deceased pharaoh from the annals. The recently proposed identification of an Egyptian official named Armaa, who appears in a Hittite document relating events from Mursili II's regnal years 7 and 9, as Horemheb in his function of viceroy and commander in Asia (i.e. before his ascent to the throne) would also rule out Tutankhamun as possible candidate for Nibhururiya. The identification of Nibhururiya as Akhenaten does however complicate

4218-480: The reception of Dakhamunzu's first letter in late autumn) also seems to favour the identification of Nibhururiya with Akhenaten. Further evidence to support this identification might come from one of the Amarna letters which seems to deal with the same military actions against Amqu that are reported in the Hittite annals. Since the Amarna archives seem to have been abandoned and closed by the end of Tutankhamun's reign,

4292-454: The region of Kadesh , which had only recently come under Hittite control. Suppiluliuma retaliated by simultaneously besieging Mitanni forces at Carchemish and sending forces into the Amqu region, at that time an Egyptian vassal state. At this point the annals inform us that: [The Egyptians] were afraid. And since, in addition, their lord Nibhururiya had died, therefore the queen of Egypt, who

4366-422: The second half of the 14th century BC, more specifically the three-cornered struggle for power between Egypt, Mitanni and the newly arising power of the Hittites under Suppiluliuma I. During the late-Amarna period and its immediate aftermath we are almost totally dependent on the Hittite records for information on these matters. While involved in war with Mitanni, the Hittites were attacked by Egyptian forces in

4440-431: The servant Dakhamunzu was unwilling to marry, although the identification of Smenkhkare as Zannanza is also suggested as a (more unlikely) possibility. In the event that Smenkhkare was Nibhururiya, Meritaten is again identified as Dakhamunzu. Amenhotep III Amenhotep III ( Ancient Egyptian : jmn-ḥtp(.w) Amānəḥūtpū , IPA: [ʔaˌmaːnəʔˈħutpu] ; " Amun is satisfied" ), also known as Amenhotep

4514-525: The statue is known to have coincided with Amenhotep's marriage with Tadukhepa , Tushratta 's daughter, in the pharaoh's 36th year; letter EA 23's arrival in Egypt is dated to "regnal year 36, the fourth month of winter, day 1" of his reign. Furthermore, Tushratta never mentions in EA 23 that the statue's dispatch was meant to heal Amenhotep of his maladies. Instead, Tushratta writes in part: ... Thus Šauška of Nineveh, mistress of all lands: "I wish to go to Egypt,

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4588-484: The throne of Egypt at some time before the murder of Zannanza, and that Suppiluliuma seems to have been unaware of this development at the Egyptian court at the time he sent his son there. This new pharaoh might be seen either as a servant to whom Dakhamunzu was married against her own wish or as supplanting her on the throne, depending on the identification of the individuals involved (see below). The deaths of both Suppiluliuma and his immediate successor Arnuwanda II are

4662-600: The tomb of Vizier Amenhotep-Huy gave "conclusive evidence" of a coregency that lasted at least eight years. In the tomb, the cartouches of the two pharaohs were carved side by side. However, this conclusion has since been called into question by other egyptologists, according to whom the inscription means only that construction on Amenhotep-Huy's tomb started during Amenhotep III's reign and ended under Akhenaten's, and Amenhotep-Huy thus simply wanted to pay his respects to both rulers, carving their names separately rather than simultaneously. Amenhotep's greatest attested regnal date

4736-411: Was Dakhamunzu, sent a messenger to [Suppiluliuma]. The annals then recount the message the Egyptian widow queen wrote to Suppiluliuma: My husband died. A son I have not. But to thee, they say, the sons are many. If thou wouldst give me one son of thine, he would become my husband. Never shall I pick out a servant of mine and make him my husband. I am afraid. Such an offer to marry a female member of

4810-491: Was a country wedded to age-old political and religious certainties under the Amun priesthood. The resulting upheavals from his son Akhenaten 's reforming zeal shook these old certainties to their foundations, and forced the momentous question whether a pharaoh was more powerful than his society as represented in the worship of Amun. Akhenaten even moved the capital away from Thebes, the center of Amun's worship, and built Amarna ,

4884-450: Was between the ages of 6 and 12. While it is likely that a regent would have ruled until he came of age, none is attested in the surviving records. In Regnal Year 11, Amenhotep commanded the construction of an artificial lake at Tiye's hometown of Djakaru. He then celebrated a Festival of Opening the Lake in the third month of Inundation, day sixteen, and rowed the royal barge Aten-tjehen on

4958-581: Was born probably around 1401 BC. Later in his life, Amenhotep commissioned the depiction of his divine birth to be displayed at Luxor Temple. Amenhotep claimed that his true father was the god Amun , who had taken the form of Thutmose IV to father a child with Mutemwiya. In Regnal Year 2, Amenhotep married Tiye , the daughter of Yuya and Thuya . Tiye was the Great Royal Wife throughout Amenhotep's reign. Many commemorative scarabs were commissioned and distributed during Amenhotep's reign. On

5032-809: Was buried in tomb WV22 in the Western Valley of the Valley of the Kings outside of Thebes. The tomb is the largest in the West Valley of the Kings and includes two side chambers for his Great Royal Wives, Tiye and Sitamun. However, it does not seem that either woman was buried there. During the reign of Smendes in the Third Intermediate Period , Amenhotep's mummy was later moved to the mummy cache in KV35 along with several other pharaohs of

5106-485: Was commemorated by three rock-carved stelae found near Aswan and Saï in Nubia. The official account of Amenhotep's military victory emphasizes his martial prowess with the hyperbole typical of the period. There is a significant attestation for the court officials who served during Amenhotep's reign, primarily through the discovery of their tombs in the Theban Necropolis . Among these court officials were

5180-574: Was deified after his death and was one of the few non-royals to be worshiped in such a manner. The palace of Malkata was built in the 14th century BC and its ancient name was Per -Hay , "House of Rejoicing". Originally, the palace was known as the Palace of the Dazzling Aten . Built mostly out of mud-brick, it was Amenhotep's residence throughout most of the later part of his reign. Construction began around Regnal Year 11 and continued until

5254-544: Was frequently used as the name for one of his palaces, and for the Year 11 royal barge, as well as for a company of Amenhotep's army. In 2021, excavations revealed a settlement near Amenhotep's mortuary temple, called the Dazzling Aten , believed to have been built by king to house craftsmen and labourers working on royal projects at Thebes, along with its own bakery and cemetery. A Sed Festival Stela of Amenhotep III

5328-460: Was more likely. Further, Moran argues that the contents of Amarna Letter EA 21 support this claim, wherein Tushratta asks the gods, including Ishtar, for their blessing of the marriage. In the 14th century BCE, the pharaoh sent an expedition to Cyprus to establish Egyptian control over the island, which was subsequently maintained for several centuries. During this time, the Egyptians established

5402-469: Was taken from Egypt to Europe by an art dealer. Once owned by Eric Cassirer, it is now believed to be in a private collection in the United States. The white alabaster stela is 10 × 9 cm (3.94 × 3.54 in), but only its upper half survived. Front view: The god Heh, representing the number one million, holds notched palm leaves signifying years and the cartouche of Amenhotep, symbolically raising

5476-444: Was ultimately succeeded by his second son, who ascended the throne as Amenhotep IV and later took the name Akhenaten. It has long been theorized that Amenhotep III shared a coregency with his son Amenhotep IV. Lawrence Berman has claimed that proponents of the coregency theory tended to be art historians, while historians remained unconvinced. Eric Cline , Nicholas Reeves , Peter Dorman , and other scholars argue strongly against

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