His tomb in the Valley of the Kings proved to be a
treasure house of Egyptian history. The AM DUATprayers
are depicted on the walls in compelling reliefs. The burial
chamber of his tomb, found undisturbed, was used by
priests of later dynasties as a storehouse for other rescued
mummies of the New Kingdom (1550–1070 B.C.E.). This
tomb had an early styled entry stairwell, corridors,
antechambers, pillared halls, and a decorated sunken
burial chamber. Magazines and well shafts were included
in the design. One of Amenhotep II’s sons shared the
tomb.
See also MUMMY CACHES.
Amenhotep III (Nebma’atré)(d. 1353 B.C.E.) Ninth
pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty
The son of TUTHMOSIS IVand Queen MUTEMWIYA, Amen-
hotep III reigned from 1391 B.C.E. until his death. As a
young man, Amenhotep III married TIYE(1), the daughter
of Hurrian master of horse at THEBES. Together they ruled
an empire that extended from northern Sudan to the
Euphrates River. His mother, Mutemwiya, is believed by
some scholars to have been the daughter of ARTATAMA, the
MITANNIking, given to Egypt as part of Tuthmosis IV’s
treaties with that nation. Amenhotep III’s birth was
recorded in the temple in LUXOR, given divine intervention
and divine patronage. Tiye, whom he had married before
ascending the throne, bore him AKHENATEN(Amenhotep
IV), and princesses SITAMUN(2), BAKETAMUN,HENUTTANEB,
NEBETAH,ISET(3),and other children. Amenhotep III mar-
ried Iset and Sitamun when they came of age.
A vast series of commemorative scarabs issued by the
pharaoh provide a portrait of his first 12 years on the
throne. One SCARABmemorializes the arrival of GILUKIPA
(or Khirgipa), a Mitanni princess who came with an
entourage of more than 300 Mitannis to be his wife. Her
niece, TADUKHIPA, arrived at the end of Amenhotep’s reign
and possibly married Akhenaten. These Mitanni royal
women were sent to Egypt by King Shuttarna II, who was
their relative.
The addition of such women to AMENHOTEP III’s
harem led to the construction of a new palace to the
south of MEDINET HABU, on the western shore of the Nile
at THEBES, called MALKATA, or “the Place Where Things
Are Picked Up,” by modern Egyptians. This palace was
actually a miniature city with several royal compounds,
an artificial lake reportedly dug and filled within a matter
of weeks, and a harbor. Shrines and temples, as well as
bureaucratic offices, were part of the complexes.
Tributes and trade profits provided Amenhotep III
with unending wealth as he built many shrines and mon-
uments, many of which have not survived. Among these
monuments are the COLOSSI OF MEMNON, two gigantic
statues of Amenhotep III that were part of his mortuary
temple. The Greeks named the statues after Memnon, the
Tr ojan hero slain by Achilles. Strabo, the historian,
reported that the northern statue of Amenhotep III emit-
ted a soft bell-like sound at each dawn. In the early third
century B.C.E. the Roman emperor Septimius Severus
ordered repairs on the upper part of that statue, which
were performed crudely, and as a result the singing sound
stopped forever.
Amenhotep III celebrated three HEB-SEDS,normally
used to denote 30 years of rule. He constructed a palace,
Per-Hay, “the Mansion of Rejoicing,” for this event.
Queen Tiye and the massive bureaucracy of Egypt main-
tained foreign and domestic affairs, while Amenhotep
lolled in Malkata, and the military might of Egypt sup-
pressed any rebellions against the empire. The pharaoh
could spend his time building on the Nile and erecting
monuments in his honor at his leisure.
He was quite obese in his later years. His portraits,
already sculpted in the style that would blossom in the
’AMARNA PERIOD, depict him as having a snub nose, full
lips, and almond-shaped eyes. Troubled with severe
tooth decay, a dynastic period condition, Amenhotep
became ill. An ally, King TUSHRATTAof Babylon, sent
him a statue of Ishtar—the Babylonian goddess of heal-
ing—to restore his vigor and to demonstrate friendly
concern.
Amenhotep III’s tomb in the VALLEY OF THE KINGS,on
the western shore of Thebes, has three main corridors.
The tomb chamber has a pillared hall, and the various
chambers are all highly decorated. The red granite lid
used on the sarcophagus for the burial of Amenhotep III
was usurped by SETI I(1306–1290 B.C.E.) of the Nine-
teenth Dynasty. Amenhotep III’s mummy was discovered
in the tomb of AMENHOTEP II. Modern scholars, however,
do not believe that this embalmed body is truly Amen-
hotep III. There is considerable debate about the actual
identity of several recovered remains.Suggested Readings:Fletcher, J. Chronicle of a Pharaoh:
The Intimate Life of Amenhotep III.Oxford, U.K.: Oxford
University Press, 2000; O’Connor, D., and E. Cline, eds.
Amenhotep III, Perspectives on His Reign.Ann Arbor: Uni-
versity of Michigan Press, 1998.Amenhotep IV See AKHENATEN.Amenhotep, son of Hapu (Huy)(fl. 14th century
B.C.E.) Court official of the Eighteenth Dynasty
Arevered sage and scholar, he served in the reign of
AMENHOTEP III(r. 1391–1353 B.C.E.). Amenhotep, son of
Hapu, was one of only a few commoners to be deified in
ancient Egypt. Also called Huy, he was from the Delta
area of ATHRIBIS, born around 1460 B.C.E. He rose through
the ranks of government service, including the office of
scribe of the military, and then served as a commander,
and eventually as a general. Amenhotep also supervised
the building projects of Amenhotep III. When he diedAmenhotep, son of Hapu 31