Horemheb (about 1319-1292 BC)

Last king of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Horemheb is attested as 'generalissimo' under Tutankhamun. After the short reign of Ay he became king. The length of his reign is still under discussion. The king usurped many monuments of Tutankhamun, notably a series of royal decrees proclaiming the reinstallation of the old cults after the Amarna period. The persecution of the Amarna period kings seems to have started under Horemheb, who had the Aten temples dismantled, though the names of Akhenaten, Nefertiti and Tutankhamun seem not to have been systematically erased before the Nineteenth Dynasty. Little original building activity is attested for the reign. The main project in Thebes was the mortuary temple of the king, which was usurped from Ay. Additional buildings at the Amun temple at Karnak were erected using blocks from the Aten temples at Karnak.