Tuthmosis IV 417next year he returned to the Phoenician coast to de-
feat rebels at a site listed as Araina. Prisoners, horses,
chariots, armor, gold, silver, jewelry, wild goats, and
wood were brought back to the Nile. He conducted
punitive campaigns also in his 36th and 37th regnal
years, and returned to Phoenicia in the 38th regnal year.
Cities near the Litany River were in revolt, and puni-
tive raids and battles subdued them. Cyprus and Syria
sent tributes, and Tuthmosis III replenished his local
garrisons.
During the following year Tuthmosis III conducted
campaigns against the BEDOUINSon Egypt’s northeastern
frontier. He resupplied Phoenician forts and defeated a
group called the Shasu. In his 40th and 41st regnal years,
he received tributes from Cyprus, Kush (the Egyptian
name for NUBIA, modern Sudan), and from the Syrians
and Hittites.
His last campaign was conducted in his 42nd regnal
year, when he was 70 years old. Tuthmosis III entered the
field yet another time against the city of Kadesh. He
marched to the Orontes River, where that city and Tunip
were well defended. Tunip leaders set out a mare to dis-
turb the Egyptian cavalry, but General Amenemhab
stalked the animal and slit its belly, making it unappeal-
ing to the Egyptian stallions and adding to the blood lust
of the horses in the battle.
During these campaigns, Tuthmosis III captured 119
cities from northern Palestine and Judaea and conquered
248 cities in northern Syria as far to the east as Chaboras.
These campaigns have earned him the title of the
“Napoleon of Egypt.”
Tuthmosis III’s Nubian Annals Recorded at KARNAK,
they recall Tuthmosis’s expedition through the first
cataract, where he cleared the ancient canal. Tuthmosis
took 17 towns and districts on this campaign. In another
record 115 towns and districts are named, and on yet
another list, recorded on a pylon in AMUN’s temple, the
names of 400 towns, districts, and regions are cited.Tuthmosis IV (Menkhepruré)(d. 1391 B.C.E.) Eighth
ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty, associated with the Great
Sphinx at Giza
He reigned from 1401 B.C.E. until his death. The son of
AMENHOTEP IIand Queen TEO, Tuthmosis IV saw military
duty at the naval station of PE-NEFERnear MEMPHISas a
prince. He also led an armed tour of Syria and Palestine
and received the title of “Conqueror of Syria” for his
efforts. Tuthmosis IV fought in Nubia as a young man
and proved himself courageous.
When he took the throne of Egypt he was faced with
rebellions in Syria and in the lands below the cataracts.
He was politically involved in the growing rivalry
between the emerging state of Hatti, the HITTITES, and the
MITANNIEmpire and sided with the Mitannis, a choice
that would plague the Nineteenth Dynasty. Tuthmosis IV
married a Mitanni princess to seal the alliance. When
Assyria threatened the Mitannis, Tuthmosis IV sent them
gold to help pay for their defense.
Peace brought Egypt prosperity, however, and Tuth-
mosis IV restored and embellished many buildings,
including an obelisk of TUTHMOSIS IIIat KARNAK. That
pillar had been lying on its side for three decades; Tuth-
mosis IV raised it and added an inscription at its base.
He erected as well a small mortuary temple and a station
for the bark of the god AMUN. As a prince, he had also
restored the Great SPHINXat GIZA, and a legend evolved
out of that event. Not the designated heir, Tuthmosis IV
rested beside the Great Sphinx while on a hunting trip.
He heard the Sphinx complain about its pitiful condi-
tion. Tuthmosis IV was told that if he restored the Great
Sphinx he would become pharaoh. He refurbished the
site and left a stela between the paws of the Great
Sphinx to commemorate the dream and the work
accomplished.
His wife was Queen MUTEMWIYA, considered by some
to have been a MITANNIprincess. His heir was AMENHOTEP
III. Tuthmosis IV died at an early age, wasted from some
illness, possibly dental infections. His tomb on Thebes’s
western shore was a great complex of underground pas-
sages, stairways, and chambers, and he had a yellow
quartzite sarcophagus. His burial chamber was not deco-
rated, but painted scenes were used in other rooms. The
mummy of a royal prince, standing erect against the wall,
was also discovered in the tomb. The burial hall was
designed with pillars and a sunken crypt with a granite
SARCOPHAGUS.Tuthmosis III, the “Napoleon of Egypt,” now in the Egyptian
Museum in Cairo.(S. M. Bunson.)