Amenhotep II
From Free net encyclopedia
Aakheperure Amenhotep II (d. 1401/1400 BC) was the seventh Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1427 BC to 1401 BC and is thought to have enjoyed a reign of 25 Years and 10 Months as a certain Misphragmouthosis according to Josephus' version of Manetho's Epitome. An inscription containing the king's prenomen was written on a wine jar from Amenhotep II's funerary temple at Thebes. It is dated to this king's highest known date--his Year 26--and names the Pharaoh's Vintner, Panehsy.
Contents |
Reign
Amenhotep II was the son of Thutmose III and a minor wife, Hatshepsut-Meryetre. Amenhotep was certainly the junior co-regent to his father for 2 Years and 4 Months according to contemporary historical records since his accession date was "IV Akhet day 1" as noted in the Semna stela of Usersatet, the serving King's son(ie: viceroy) of Kush under Amenhotep II, while Tuthmose III is recorded to have died on III Peret day 30 in the Tomb Biography of Amenemheb. Peter Der Manuelian in his 1987 book "Studies in the Reign of Amenophis II," gives this translation of the text in Usersatet's stela: "Year 23, IV Akhet [day] 1, the day of the Festival of the king's accession" (p.21). Amenhotep was faced with a major rebellion in Syria by the vassal state of Naharin in his Year 3 almost immediately after the death of his father and dispatched his Army to the Levant to suppress it. The king was well known for his physical prowess and is said to have singlehandedly killed 7 rebel Princes at Takhsy. After capturing Kadesh and thus successfully terminating his first Syrian campaign, the king ordered the bodies of the seven princes to be hung upside down on the prow of his ship--a common punishment for rebel leaders in Pharaonic Egypt. Upon reaching Thebes all but one of the princes were mounted on the city walls. The other was taken to the often rebellious territory of Nubia and hung on the city wall of Napata, as an example of the consequence of rising against Pharaoh and to demoralise any Nubian opponents of Egyptian authority there. Amenhotep II was evidently successful in his endeavour since no mention of any rebellion was recorded in Nubia under his reign--unlike the situation with his successor Thutmose IV. Amenhotep also embarked on his second and third Syrian campaigns in Year 7 and 9 of his reign. Both rebellions were caused by a revolt in the Syrian regions of the Egyptian Empire, which was likely instigated by Egypt's chief Near Eastern rival, Mitanni. The Year 9 battle occurred on the heights of Niy and resulted in Egypt's loss off control over the entire area between the rivers Orontes and Euphrates despite the recorded Egyptian pillaging in Retenu and the capture of 3,600 Apiru prisoners-of-war. After this campaign, no further conflicts developed between Mitanni and Egypt, and an informal peace was maintained between Amenhotep and the king of Mitanni. Thereafter, Amenhotep concentrated on domestic matters but maintained Egypt's imperial control over Canaan and Egypt's overall prosperity.
Image:Amenhotep cartouche with damage.jpg
Amenhotep was not solely a warrior, but also a diplomat who established cordial relations with Babylonians and Hittites in exchange for acknowledging Egyptian hegemony of the region. With peace secured, Amenhotep set about initiating various building projects. He commissioned a column to stand in the courtyard between the fourth and fifth pylons in the Temple of Karnak commemorating the agreement between him, Artatama I and other Mitanni leaders. He also built a temple to Horemakhet near the Great Sphinx at Giza and expanded the Temple of Karnak. Amenhotep also ordered the decoration of the Temple at Kalabsha and continued Thutmose III's construction projects at Amada in Nubia.
Amenhotep did not record the names of his queens; some Egyptologists theorise that he felt that women had become too powerful under titles such as God's Wife of Amun. They point to the fact that he participated in his father's removal of Hatshepsut's name from her monument and the destruction of her image.
Like many Pharaohs, Amenhotep had a number of names. The most important of these were his prenomen, or throne name, and his nomen, or birth name (which is Amenhotep), with its epithet. These names, in Egyptian hieroglyphs, can be seen above right. The technical transliteration of these names is ‘3-ḫprw-r‘ ỉmn-ḥtp–ḥḳ3-ỉwnw. This is normally realised as Aakheperure Amenhotep-hekaiunu, meaning "The great forms of Ra, Amun is satisfied, ruler of Heliopolis".
Tomb
Amenhotep's mummy was discovered in March 1898 by Victor Loret in his KV35 tomb in the Valley of the Kings within his original sarcophagus. He had a mortuary temple constructed at the edge of the cultivation in the Theban Necropolis, close to where the Ramesseum was later built, but it was destroyed in ancient times. Amenhotep II's KV35 tomb also proved to contain a mummy cache containing several New Kingdom Pharaohs including Tuthmose IV, Seti II, Ramesses III, Ramesses IV and Ramesses VI. They had been re-buried in Amenhotep II's tomb by the 21st Dynasty High Priest of Amun, Pinedjem II during Siamun's reign, to protect them from tomb robbers. The most detailed and balanced discussion on the chronology, events and impact of Amenhotep II's reign was published by Peter Der Manuelian, in a 1987 book on this king.
See also
- History of Ancient Egypt
- Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt Family Tree
- Digital Egypt for Universities
- Amenhotep II: 7th Pharaoh of Egypt's 18th Dynasty
References
- Nicolas Grimal, A History of Ancient Egypt, Blackwell Books: 1992, pp.218-220
- Peter der Manuelian, Studies in the Reign of Amenophis II, Hildesheimer Ägyptologische Beiträge(HÄB) Verlag: 1987
| Preceded by: Thutmose III | Pharaoh of Egypt Eighteenth Dynasty | Succeeded by: Thutmose IV |
es:Aajeperura-Amenhotep fi:Amenhotep II it:Amenhotep II lt:Amenchotepas II nl:Amenhotep II pl:Amenhotep II ru:Аменхотеп II sk:Amenhotep II. sv:Amenhotep II zh:阿蒙霍特普二世