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Thutmose III was one of the most powerful and successful pharaohs of the New Kingdom, often referred to as the "Napoleon of Egypt" due to his military conquests and expansion of the Egyptian Empire. While he was not an "expert" on regeneration or the Book of the Dead in the sense of being a scholar or author of these texts, his reign is deeply connected to their development and prominence, particularly the funerary text known as the Amduat.
Here's a breakdown of his connection:
1. The Amduat and Thutmose III's Tomb:
The Amduat (meaning "That Which Is In the Afterworld" or "Book of the Hidden Chamber") is a crucial ancient Egyptian funerary text that describes the journey of the sun god
Ra through the 12 hours of the night in the Duat (underworld), from sunset (symbolizing death) to sunrise (symbolizing rebirth). The text also outlines the journey the deceased pharaoh would take to achieve regeneration and become one with Ra.
Thutmose III's tomb (KV34) in the Valley of the Kings contains the earliest complete depiction of the Amduat. This makes his tomb an incredibly significant source for understanding this vital funerary text. The walls of his burial chamber are covered with its illustrations and hieroglyphic text, providing a "manual" for the deceased king's journey through the underworld.
The Amduat describes the topography of the underworld, names its inhabitants (both benevolent and malevolent), and provides spells and incantations to overcome dangers and secure assistance for the deceased. This knowledge was essential for the pharaoh to achieve successful regeneration.
2. Connection to the "Book of the Dead":
The term "Book of the Dead" is a modern designation for a collection of magical and funerary spells that evolved from earlier texts like the Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts.
The "Book of the
Dead" became widely used during the New Kingdom, which was the period of Thutmose III's reign (18th Dynasty).
Significantly, the famous Spell 125, which describes the "Weighing of the Heart" ritual judgment in the Hall of Two Truths, is first recorded during the reigns of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, around 1475 BCE. This highlights that key components of what we now call the "Book of the Dead" were in active development and use during his time.
While Thutmose III himself wasn't a scribe or a religious scholar in the modern sense, as a pharaoh, his eternal journey through the Duat was paramount. The texts found in his tomb, like the Amduat, served the purpose of ensuring his successful regeneration and transformation into an akh (a blessed spirit) in the afterlife, much like the spells in the broader "Book of the Dead" were intended to do for individuals.
In summary:
Thutmose III was not an "expert" in the modern academic sense on the Book of the Dead or regeneration. However, as a powerful pharaoh of the New Kingdom, his tomb provides the earliest complete version of the Amduat, a foundational text for understanding the journey of regeneration in the Egyptian afterlife. Furthermore, his reign coincided with the development and widespread use of many spells that would later form the collection known as the "Book of the Dead," including the crucial "Weighing of the Heart" spell. His tomb stands as a testament to the centrality of these beliefs in royal funerary practices during his era.
Bust
of Thutmose III, Karnak National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Cairo
MUMMY
Thutmose III's mummy was discovered in the Deir el-Bahri Cache above the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut in 1881. He was interred along with those of other 18th and 19th Dynasty leaders Ahmose I, Amenhotep I, Thutmose I, Thutmose II, Ramesses I, Seti I, Ramesses II and Ramesses IX, as well as the 21st Dynasty pharaohs Pinedjem I, Pinedjem II and Siamun.
While it is popularly thought that his mummy originally was unwrapped by Gaston Maspero in 1886, it was in fact first unwrapped by Émile Brugsch, the Egyptologist who supervised the evacuation of the mummies from the Deir el-Bahri Cache in 1881. It was unwrapped soon after its arrival in the Boulak Museum while Maspero was away in France, and the Director General of the Egyptian Antiquities Service ordered the mummy re-wrapped. So when it was "officially" unwrapped by Maspero in 1886, he almost certainly knew it was in relatively poor condition.
The mummy had been damaged extensively in antiquity by tomb robbers and its wrappings subsequently cut into and torn by the Rassul family, who had rediscovered the tomb and its contents only a few years before. Maspero's description of the body provides an idea as to the severity of the damage:
His mummy was not securely hidden away, for towards the close of the 20th dynasty it was torn out of the coffin by robbers, who stripped it and rifled it of the jewels with which it was covered, injuring it in their haste to carry away the spoil. It was subsequently re-interred, and has remained undisturbed until the present day; but before re-burial some renovation of the wrappings was necessary, and as portions of the body had become loose, the restorers, in order to give the mummy the necessary firmness, compressed it between four oar-shaped slips of wood, painted white, and placed, three inside the wrappings and one outside, under the bands which confined the winding-sheet.
Of the face, which was undamaged, Maspero says the following:
Happily the face, which had been plastered over with pitch at the time of embalming, did not suffer at all from this rough treatment, and appeared intact when the protecting mask was removed. Its appearance does not answer to our ideal of the conqueror. His statues, though not representing him as a type of manly beauty, yet give him refined, intelligent features, but a comparison with the mummy shows that the artists have idealised their model. The forehead is abnormally low, the eyes deeply sunk, the jaw heavy, the lips thick, and the cheek-bones extremely prominent; the whole recalling the physiognomy of Thûtmosis II, though with a greater show of energy.
Maspero was so disheartened at the state of the mummy and the prospect that all of the other mummies were similarly damaged (as it turned out, few were in so poor a state) that he would not unwrap another for several years.
Unlike many other examples from the Deir el-Bahri Cache, the wooden mummiform coffin that contained the body was original to the pharaoh, though any gilding or decoration it might have had had been hacked off in antiquity.
In his examination of the mummy, the anatomist Grafton Elliot Smith stated the height of Thutmose III's mummy to be 1.615 m (5 ft 3.58 in), but the mummy was missing its feet, so Thutmose III was undoubtedly taller than the figure given by Smith. It resided in the Royal Mummies Hall of the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, catalog number CG 61068, until April 2021 when the mummy was moved to National Museum of Egyptian Civilization along with those of 17 other kings and four queens in the Pharaohs' Golden Parade.
Thutmose III (variously also spelt Tuthmosis or Thothmes), sometimes called Thutmose the Great, (1479–1425 BC) was the fifth pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of
Egypt. He is regarded as one of the greatest warriors, military commanders, and military strategists of all time; as Egypt's preeminent warrior pharaoh and conqueror; and as a dominant figure in the New Kingdom period.
Officially, Thutmose III ruled Egypt from his coronation on 28 April 1479 BC at the age of two until his death on 11 March 1425 BC. But for the first 22 years of his reign, he was coregent with his stepmother and aunt, Hatshepsut, who was named the pharaoh. He became sole ruler after Hatshepsut's death in 1458.
Thutmose III conducted between 17 and 20 military campaigns, all victorious, which brought ancient Egypt's empire to its zenith. They are detailed in the inscriptions known as the Annals of Thutmose III. He also created the ancient Egyptian navy, the first navy in the ancient world. Historian Richard A. Gabriel called him the "Napoleon of Egypt".
Two years before his own death, and after the death of his firstborn son and heir Amenemhat, Thutmose III appointed a later son, Amenhotep II, as junior co-regent and successor-in-waiting.
HIS NAME
Thutmose's two main names transliterate as mn-ḫpr-rꜥ ḏḥwtj-ms. The first name is usually transcribed as Menkheperre and means "the Established One of the Manifestation of Ra". The second name is transliterated as Thutmose or Tuthmosis and means "Born of Thoth" or "Thoth is born." Manetho in his Aegyptiaca (History of Egypt) written in Greek and paraphrased by Eusebius called him Miphrês (Μίφρης) and Misphragmuthôsis (Μισφραγμούθωσις).
DATES AND LENGTH OF REIGN
Thutmose III reigned from 1479 BC to 1425 BC according to the Low Chronology of Ancient Egypt. This has been the conventional Egyptian chronology in academic circles since the 1960s, though in some circles the older dates 1504 BC to 1450 BC are preferred from the High Chronology of Egypt. These dates, just as all the dates of the Eighteenth Dynasty, are open to dispute because of uncertainty about the circumstances surrounding the recording of a Heliacal Rise of Sothis in the reign of Amenhotep I. A papyrus from Amenhotep I's reign records this astronomical observation which theoretically could be used to perfectly correlate the Egyptian chronology with the modern calendar; however, to do this the latitude where the observation was taken must also be known. This document has no note of the place of observation, but it can safely be assumed that it was taken in either a Delta city, such as Memphis or Heliopolis, or in Thebes. These two latitudes give dates 20 years apart, the High and Low chronologies, respectively.
YEAR 54
The length of Thutmose III's reign is known to the day thanks to findings in the tomb of the military commander Amenemheb-Mahu. Amenemheb-Mahu records Thutmose III's death to his master's 54th regnal year, on the 30th day of the third month of Peret. The day of Thutmose III's accession is known to be I Shemu day four, and astronomical observations can be used to establish the exact dates of the beginning and end of the king's reign (assuming the low chronology) from 28 April 1479 BC to 11 March 1425 BC respectively.
MONUMENTS
Thutmose III, a great builder, constructed more than 50 temples. Some are now lost, recorded only in written records.Thutmose's architects and artisans followed traditional relief styles for most of his reign. But after his 42nd year he is depicted wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt and a šndyt-kilt, an unprecedented style. Architecturally, his use of pillars was unprecedented. He built Egypt's only known set of heraldic pillars, two large columns standing alone instead of being part of a set supporting the roof. His jubilee hall was arguably the earliest known building created in the basilica style. Thutmose's artisans achieved new heights of skill in painting, and tombs from his reign were the earliest to be entirely painted instead of painted reliefs. It appears that Thutmose's artisans learned glass-making skills, developed in the early 18th Dynasty, to create drinking vessels by the core-formed method. He also commissioned the building of many tombs for nobles, which were made with greater craftsmanship than ever before. His reign saw stylistic changes in the sculpture, paintings and reliefs associated with construction, much of it beginning during the reign of Hatshepsut.
KARNAK
Thutmose dedicated far more attention to Karnak than any other site. In the Iput-isut, the temple proper in the center, he rebuilt the hypostyle hall of his grandfather Thutmose I, dismantled the red chapel of Hatshepsut, built Pylon VI, a shrine for the bark of Amun in its place, and built an antechamber in front of it, the ceiling of which was supported by his heraldic pillars. He built a temenos wall around the central chapel containing smaller chapels, along with workshops and storerooms. East of the main sanctuary, he built a jubilee hall in which to celebrate his Sed festival. The main hall was built in basilica style with rows of pillars supporting the ceiling on each side of the aisle. The central two rows were higher than the others to create windows where the ceiling was split. Two of the smaller rooms in this temple contained the reliefs of the survey of the plants and animals of Canaan which he took in his third campaign.
East of the Iput-Isut, he erected another temple to Aten, where he was depicted as being supported by Amun. It was inside this temple that Thutmose planned on erecting his tekhen waty, or "unique obelisk."[75] The tekhen waty was designed to stand alone instead as part of a pair and is the tallest obelisk ever successfully cut. It was not, however, erected until Thutmose IV raised it 35 years later. It was later moved to Rome by Emperor Constantius II and is now known as the Lateran Obelisk.
In 390 AD, Christian Roman Emperor Theodosius I re-erected another obelisk from the Temple of Karnak in the Hippodrome of Constantinople, now known as the Obelisk of Theodosius.
Thutmose also undertook building projects to the south of the main temple between the sanctuary of Amun and the temple of Mut. Immediately to the south of the main temple, he built the seventh pylon on the north–south road which entered the temple between the fourth and fifth pylons. It was built for use during his jubilee and was covered with scenes of defeated enemies. He set royal colossi on both sides of the pylon and put two more obelisks on the south face in front of the gateway. The eastern obelisk's base remains in place, but the western obelisk was transported to the Hippodrome in Constantinople. Farther south along the road, he put up Pylon VIII, which Hatshepsut had begun. East of the road, he dug a sacred lake of 250 by 400 feet and placed another alabaster bark shrine near it. He commissioned royal artists to depict his extensive collections of fauna and flora in the Botanical garden of Thutmosis III.
DEATH AND BURIAL
According to Peter Der Manuelian, a statement in the tomb biography of the official Amenemheb establishes that Thutmose III died in Year 54, III Peret day 30 of his reign after ruling Egypt for "53 years, 10 months and 26 days" (Urk. 180.15). Thutmose III died one month and four days before the start of his 54th regnal year. When the co-regencies with Hatshepsut and Amenhotep II are deducted, he ruled as sole pharaoh for just over 30 years.
Thutmose's tomb (KV34) was discovered by Victor Loret in 1898 in the Valley of the Kings. Its plan is typical of 18th Dynasty tombs, with a sharp turn at the vestibule preceding the burial chamber. Two stairways and two corridors provide access to the vestibule, which is preceded by a quadrangular shaft or "well".
A complete version of Amduat, an important New Kingdom funerary text, is in the vestibule, making it the first tomb where the complete text was found. The burial chamber, supported by two pillars, is oval-shaped and its ceiling decorated with stars, symbolizing the cave of the deity Sokar. In the middle lies a large red quartzite sarcophagus in the shape of a cartouche. On the two pillars in the middle of the chamber are passages from the Litanies of Re celebrating the later sun deity, who was identified with the pharaoh at this time. On the other pillar is a unique image depicting Thutmosis III being suckled by the goddess Isis in the guise of the tree.
The wall decorations are executed in a simple "diagrammatic" way, imitating the manner of the cursive script of a funerary papyrus rather than the more lavish wall decorations typical of most other royal tombs. The colouring is similarly muted, executed in simple black figures accompanied by text on a cream background with highlights in red and pink. The decorations depict the pharaoh aiding the deities in defeating Apep, the serpent of chaos, thereby helping to ensure the daily rebirth of the sun as well as the pharaoh's own resurrection.
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NOTABLE KINGS
Djoser
Khufu
Khafre
Ahmose
Amenhotp I
Thutmose I, II, III
Ramesses I, II III, VI, VIII, IX, X, XI
Amenhotep II
Akhenaten
Tutankamun
Seti I & II
Alexander the Great
Ptolemy I Soter I
Ptolemy IV Philopator
Ptolemy VI Philometor
Ptolemy IX Soter II
NOTABLE QUEENS
Arsinoe II
Cleopatra I, II
Hatshepsut
Sobekneferu
(Neferusobek)
Nefertiti,
beautiful ancient Egyptian queen, architect of the sun cult
Cleopatra
VII
last queen of Egypt
Amina, queen for 34 years in Nigeria
Candace,
Ethiopian Empress, fearsome fighter who resisted Alexander the
Great
Semiramis,
female ruler Assyrian empire.
REFERENCE
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