Under the reign of Pharaoh Hatshepsut, ancient Egypt observed a time of great prosperity
during the mid-15th century BC. Content with his position under the female Pharaoh,
her stepson and rightful heir to the throne, Thutmose the Third, spent his youth establishing
himself as a highly capable military tactician and commander. On Hatsheput’s passing, Thutmose
ascended the throne as the sole ruler of Egypt and went on to expand the empire to new limits!
Thutmose the Third, whose name means “born of the god Thoth” was born in 1481 BC to Pharaoh Thutmose
the Second and his lesser wife Iset. When his father died, then three year old Thutmose was considered too
young to rule, thus his aunt and stepmother Hatshepsut assumed the role of regent. Seven years
into her regency, Hatshepsut declared herself pharaoh and seized control of the empire. Thutmose
the Third was sent to accompany the army on early campaigns commissioned by Hatshepsut, a common
practice to prepare young heirs for command. Once Thutmose became of age, Hatshepsut appointed
him head of Egypt’s armies. Upon Hatshepsut’s death in 1458 BC, Thutmose the Third became the sixth
pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, and immediately began planning the restoration of Egyptian hegemony in
the surrounding regions. Following his stepmother’s death, the kings of the Levant rebelled, threatening
to either invade Egypt or turn their backs on the empire altogether. Thutmose, too skilled a commander
to allow this to happen, was uninterested in negotiating with the rebels. He personally
led an army to the city of Megiddo, located in modern-day Israel, better known by its Greek name,
Armageddon. Thutmose and his men laid siege to Megiddo for seven months, starving its residents
into submission and forcing them to surrender. The Battle of Megiddo is considered to be the first
battle in history that was recorded in a reliable manner. The pharaoh’s campaigns were documented by
scribes who traveled with the army and chronicled the events in a collection of inscriptions
referred to as the Annals of Thutmose the Third. A record of the spoils of war from the battle includes:
340 captives, 22,500 sheep, 2,238 horses, 929 cattle, 924 chariots, 502 bows, and 200 suits of armor.
The Megiddo campaign was a major political success, giving Egypt control over all of northern Canaan
and drastically improving the empire’s standing in the Near East. The Assyrian, Babylonian and Hittite
kings, among other rulers from surrounding regions, offered tributary gifts to the Egyptian pharaoh,
commemorating his great victory. The pharaoh commander repeatedly proved his might, with
successful campaigns in Nubia, in Phoenician ports, in the valuable trade center of Kadesh, and in the
kingdom of Mitanni. As a result, Thutmose the Third secured more territory than any other pharaoh, ultimately
controlling Egypt’s largest empire ever. Thutmose’s eighth campaign was in the kingdom of Mitanni,
a Hurrian speaking state with an Indo-Aryan ruling class. As a result, he became the first
pharaoh since his grandfather Thutmose the First to cross the Euphrates River. He commemorated the
crossing by placing a stele next to the one his grandfather had erected several decades earlier.
After encountering little resistance, Thutmose the Third returned to the Levant, where he collected
further tributes and engaged in an elephant hunt before heading back to Egypt victorious.
Thutmose's final campaign came in his 50th regnal year when he attacked Nubia,
taking his invading army further south than that of any previous pharaoh. Considered a military
genius by Egyptologists, Thutmose the Third went on to conduct a total of 17 major campaigns and captured
50 cities, conquering much of the Near East from the Euphrates to Nubia. The Egyptian armies heavily
plundered the cities they conquered, making their pharaoh the richest man in the world at the time.
The pharaoh often sent the sons of conquered rulers to Egypt to be educated at court,
hoping to acclimate them to Egyptian culture and gain their sympathies before sending them back
to rule as puppet kings. More is known about Thutmose the Third than most other Egyptian rulers,
largely thanks to his royal scribe, Thanuny, who wrote extensively about his reign and conquests.
A large part of the pharaoh’s success is attributed to the improvements in military
technology made several centuries earlier after the Hyksos invasion that conquered Egypt
using superior weaponry, such as horse-drawn chariots and sickle swords called Khopeshes.
The Egyptians learned to create and use these weapons for themselves, helping them dominate
their enemies. The pharaoh’s artists produced some of the finest work in ancient Egypt’s history,
including elaborate tombs decorated with intricate paintings in fine detail. Advancements in artistic
techniques and experimentation were also widespread under the warrior pharaoh’s reign.
Although glass-making was nothing new by then, it was perfected to a level that enabled crafters to
create glass drinking vessels. Statues were made in a more realistic style during this era, in
contrast to the traditional idealized style found during the Old Kingdom and Middle Kingdom periods.
Statues of Thutmose the Third depict a tall, handsome man in excellent physical shape and are considered to
be a realistic portrayal due to their consistency. There were also monuments of impressive scale,
such as large freestanding columns, pylons and obelisks at Karnak. The most famous of
these being the Lateran Obelisk, the largest Egyptian obelisk in the world. Future 4th
Century Roman Emperor Constantius the Second had the colossal obelisk shipped via the Nile
and through the Mediterranean to Rome, where it remains in front of the Lateran Palace to this day.
Thutmose the Third loved nature encouraging the creation of public parks and gardens as well as lakes and
ponds for the people’s leisure and enjoyment. The pharaoh himself had private gardens both
around his own palace and at Karnak. Thutmose commissioned a tomb for himself that was typical
of 18th Dynasty tombs, featuring two stairways and two corridors that provided access to a vestibule.
Inside is a complete version of an Amduat, an important New Kingdom funerary text that tells
the story of the Egyptian sun god Ra and his nightly journey through the underworld. It was
believed that the dead Pharaoh would take the same journey, ultimately reaching immortality by
becoming one with Ra. Thutmose the Third is commonly associated with defacing the monuments of his
stepmother and predecessor, Hatshepsut. After her death, many monuments and depictions built in her
honor were desecrated or destroyed, including those in her grand mortuary temple complex.
Some believe that Thutmose was trying to erase her memory out of spite for usurping the throne.
However, the vandalism didn’t begin until around the 46th year of Thutmose's reign,
when he was quite elderly. Any resentment from Thutmose towards Hatshepsut is weakly supported,
and it is unlikely that she would have made him head of her armies if there had been.
Recent theories suggest that the purpose of destroying Hatshepsut’s monuments was actually
to ensure a smooth succession for Thutmose’s son and heir, Amenhotep the Second. Any surviving relatives
of Hatshepsut would have had an equal or better claim to the throne but without evidence of her
reign, Amenhotep the Second could more easily defend his assertion of power. Whatever the reason,
the long-held idea that Thutmose attempted to erase Hatshepsut from history out of vengeance
is unfounded. Yet, the theory often persists as a dark stain on his otherwise impressive legacy.
Some Egyptologists liken Thutmose the Third to Napoleon Bonaparte, referring to him as “the
Napoleon of Egypt”. However, unlike Napoleon, Thutmose remained undefeated in battle
nd managed to maintain all the territories he conquered. Thutmose the Third died in 1425 BC,
after ruling Egypt for more than 53 years and became the third pharaoh to ever be buried in
the Valley of the Kings, located on the west bank of the Nile River near the city of Thebes.
The Valley of the Kings would eventually contain the mummies of over 60 New Kingdom pharaohs
from Egypt’s 18th, 19th, and 20th dynasties. Through immense bravery and unparalleled military genius,
Thutmose the Third transformed ancient Egypt into a powerful empire, both highly respected and feared
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