Homepage Timeline Maps A-Z index Learning

Amenhotep III (about 1388-1351/50 BC)

With a reign of some 39 years Amenhotep III is one of the most important kings of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The king built or rebuilt many temples in the country (Luxor, Memphis, Elkab, Armant). At Thebes he had a vast temple constructed to his own cult on the West Bank; the colossal statues (known as the Colossi of Memmon, before the entrance) are the most monumental elements still standing. He also built at Thebes a palace complex (Malqata) which was until the 1900s relatively well preserved. The king issued a number of scarabs with longer inscriptions describing events of his reign. His main wife was Tiy, who seems to have played an important part in the reign. She appears on monuments more often and more prominently than virtually any queen before her. There are several letters known from the Amarna correspondence, demonstrating the close diplomatic contact of the royal courts at this time.

Horus name: Kanakht Khaemmaat
Nebty name: Semenhepusegerehtawy
Golden Falcon name: Aakhepesh-husetiu
Prenomen: Nebmaatre
Nomen: Amenhotep

Burial place: Rock cut tomb in Thebes (West Valley 22)

Attestations in the Petrie Museum:

scarab UC 12264
scarab UC 12288 (Nebmaatre, beloved of Bastet)

shabti fragment
faience from Sinai

Further Attestations (selective, for fuller listings check the bibliography):

Temples and buildings at Thebes

Monuments and inscriptions elsewhere in Egypt

Temple and inscriptions in Nubia

The king and his officials (very selective)

links to:

the great wife Tiy | Amenhotep, son of Hapu

Bibliography:


 

Copyright © 2000 University College London. All rights reserved.