Thutmose III
Thutmose III, sometimes called Thutmose the Great, 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.
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 written in Greek and paraphrased by Eusebius called him Miphrês and Misphragmuthôsis.Family
Thutmose III was the son of Thutmose II by a secondary wife, Iset. His father's Great Royal Wife was Hatshepsut. Her daughter, Neferure, was Thutmose's half-sister.When Thutmose II died, Thutmose III was too young to rule. Hatshepsut became his regent and ultimately declared herself pharaoh, while never denying kingship to Thutmose III. As a result, Thutmose III was relegated to junior coregent, while Hatshepsut became senior coregent. During his childhood, Hatshepsut ruled Egypt in practice and name, achieving prosperity and success. While Thutmose is depicted as the first on surviving monuments, both were assigned the usual royal names and insignia.
When Thutmose III reached a suitable age and demonstrated his capacity, Hatshepsut appointed him to head her armies, and at her death in 1458, he was ready to rule.
Some Egyptologists speculate that Thutmose married his half-sister, Neferure, but there is no conclusive evidence. Neferure may have been the mother of Thutmose's firstborn son, Amenemhat, or alternatively his mother might have been the Great Royal Wife Satiah. Amenemhat predeceased his father.
Surviving records attest to several other wives of Thutmose. He is known to have at least three foreign wives, Menhet, Menwi and Merti, who were buried together. At least one other wife, Nebtu, is known from a pillar in Thutmose's tomb. Following the death of Satiah, a woman named Merytre-Hatshepsut became the Great Royal Wife. She was the mother of several of his children, including the future king Amenhotep II and another son, Menkheperre, and at least four daughters: Nebetiunet, Meritamen C and D and Iset.
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 from 28 April 1479 BC to 11 March 1425 BC respectively.Military campaigns
Thutmose III conducted at least 16 campaigns in 20 years. American Egyptologist James Breasted referred to him as "the Napoleon of Egypt" for his conquests and expansionism. He is recorded to have captured 350 cities during his rule and conquered much of the Near East from the Euphrates to Nubia. He was the first pharaoh after Thutmose I to cross the Euphrates, doing so during his campaign against Mitanni. His campaign records were inscribed onto the walls of the temple of Amun at Karnak. He transformed Egypt into an international superpower, an empire stretching from the Asian regions of Syria in the North, to Upper Nubia in the south.Much is known about Thutmose III as a warrior and ruler, through the writings of his royal scribe and army commander Thanuny. The pharaoh was able to conquer so many lands because of revolutionary developments in military technology. The Hyksos may have brought advanced weaponry, such as horse-drawn chariots, around 1650 BC, which the Egyptians adopted in the process of driving them out. Thutmose III encountered little resistance from neighbouring kingdoms, allowing him to expand his realm easily. His army also portaged boats over dry land.
Campaign 1: Battle of Megiddo
When Hatshepsut died on the 10th day of the sixth month of Thutmose III's 21st year, according to a stela from Armant, the king of Kadesh advanced his army to Megiddo. Thutmose III mustered his own army and marched from Egypt, passing through the border fortress of Tjaru on the 25th day of the eighth month. The army moved through the coastal plain as far as Jamnia, then turned inland, reaching Yehem, a small city near Megiddo, in the middle of the ninth month of the same year.The ensuing Battle of Megiddo was likely the largest battle of Thutmose's 17 campaigns. A ridge of mountains jutting inland from Mount Carmel stood between Thutmose and Megiddo and he had three attack routes to choose from. The northern and southern routes around the mountain were judged by his generals to be safest, but Thutmose called them cowards and took the dangerous route through the Aruna mountain pass, which he said was only wide enough for single-file "horse after horse and man after man." Such a pass does exist, although it is not as narrow as Thutmose claims. The army emerged on the plain of Esdraelon, brilliantly cutting between the rear of the Canaanite forces and Megiddo city. According to Thutmose III's Hall of Annals in the Temple of Amun at Karnak, the battle occurred on "Year 23, I Shemu 21, the exact day of the feast of the new moon", a lunar date. This date corresponds to 9 May 1457 BC, based on Thutmose III's accession in 1479 BC. In the battle, Thutmose routed the Canaanite forces, but allowed many to escape into Megiddo while his troops stopped to plunder. Thutmose was forced to besiege the city, and finally took it after a siege of seven or eight months.
The size of the two forces is difficult to determine. Most scholars believe that the Egyptian army was more numerous. Redford uses the time to march the army through the pass estimate the Egyptian numbers, and the number of sheep and goats captured in the battle to estimate the Canaanite force, concluding both armies were around 10,000 men.
This campaign drastically changed the political situation in the ancient Near East. By taking Megiddo, Thutmose gained control of all of northern Canaan, forcing the Syrian princes to send tribute and noble hostages to Egypt. Beyond the Euphrates, the Assyrian, Babylonian and Hittite kings honored Thutmose with gifts, which he claimed as "tribute" on the walls of Karnak. The only notable absence was Mitanni, which would bear the brunt of subsequent Egyptian campaigns into Western Asia.