The recent discovery of the grave of Pharaoh Thutmose II in Luxor brings to light crucial information on the 18th Dynasty of Egypt that reigned for almost 350 years.
King Thutmose II was the 4th Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt and it is believed that he reigned for 13 years, 1493 to 1479 BCE, or just three years from around 1482 to 1479 BCE. He died at the age of 30.
Thutmose means “born of Thoth”. Thoth is the god of scribes and is considered the heart and tongue of Ra, god of the Sun. Thoth is one of the most important deities of ancient Egypt.
Thutmose II was the son of Thutmose I and a secondary wife, Mutnofret. His two older brothers, Wadjmose and Amenmose, died before ascending to their father’s throne. This made Thutmose II the only heir.
He lacked strength but possessed the cunning to recognize that marrying into true royalty would solidify his kingship. So he turned to Hatshepsut, his half-sister and cousin, the oldest daughter of Thutmose I, and his principal Queen, Ahmose.
Hatshepsut was a strong woman and her influence over Egypt secured Thutmose II’s leadership once he married her. Together, they had a daughter, Neferure. Thutmose II’s only heir was Thutmose III, born to Iset, a secondary wife.
There is little to say about the achievements of Pharaoh Thutmose II but that during his reign he managed to crush a rebellion in Kush by sending an army to Nubia and stop rebellions in the Levant.
His army also defeated a group of nomadic Shasu Bedouins in the Sinai Peninsula. However, Thutmose II did not lead these campaigns himself, the victories belonged to his generals. Nevertheless, he is credited with the results since they took place during his reign.
However, his son, Thutmose III, possessed the archetypal qualities of a great ruler. A brilliant general who never lost a battle, he also excelled as an administrator and statesman. He was an accomplished horseman, archer, athlete, and discriminating patron of the arts.
Thutmose III did not exhibit any signs of being a pompous, self-indulgent king but a sincere and fair-minded man. His impact on Egyptian culture was profound. He became a national hero, revered long after his time. His name was renowned for his military achievements, which brought great wealth to his kingdom.
Queen Hatshepsut takes the throne
While Pharaoh Thutmose II was not a strong ruler, his marriage to Queen Hatshepsut helped him maintain his throne. When Thutmose II died in 1479 BCE, he appointed Hatshepsut as regent to the young king, Thutmose III, who was still a child. Even at a young age, he officially ruled together with Hatshepsut. It was then that she declared herself pharaoh.
From the beginning of her rule, Hatshepsut dressed in men’s attire, assumed the responsibilities associated with the role and had herself depicted in male clothing. She undertook the duties and obligations of the male pharaohs who preceded her. In ancient Egypt, it was rare for a woman to become pharaoh. She was one of the few women to assume the role of pharaoh in the entire history of ancient Egypt.
Inter-family marriages were common in ancient Egypt. It has been suggested that Hatshepsut married her daughter Neferu-Ra to the young Thutmose III but there is no conclusive evidence of such a marriage.
To win the court and the people Hatsepsut re-created herself as the wife of Amun, the creator, and redeemer, the king of all the gods. In her inscriptions, she related how it was not Thutmose I who was her father but the god Amun himself.
As god Amun’s wife, she had learned all the rituals associated with the god and the language of the clergy. She had also inscribed an oracle which she claimed was given long before her birth in which Amun foretold that she would become pharaoh. She established herself as the daughter of the most popular god in Egypt and set about ruling her country and creating her legacy.
Hatshepsut as pharaoh
After establishing herself as pharaoh, Hatshepsut started major public works projects. According to historian Betsy Bryan, “As a ruler, Hatshepsut inaugurated building projects that far outstripped those of her predecessors,” such as the magnificent temple at Deir el-Bahri at Thebes.
When archaeologists excavated the temple in the 19th century, Egyptologist Ian Shaw writes, they found shrines dedicated to Hathor and Anubis. On the lowest terrace, they found a relief showing Hatshepsut as a sphinx victorious over her enemies. In reliefs carved at this site, Hatshepsut claims divine origin as the daughter of the god Amun and clearly states her right to rule Egypt legitimately. Historians Bob Brier and Hoyt Hobbs comment on her building projects writing:
“Hatshepsut proceeded to feminize Egypt. Her reign included no great military conquests; the art produced under her authority was soft and delicate; and she constructed one of the most elegant temples in Egypt against the cliffs outside the Valley of the Kings. Built beside the famous mortuary temple of Montuhotep I, Hatshepsut’s version elongated the original design to produce a different aesthetic.”
The Montuhotep temple had statues of her and wall scenes showing her birth as a divine event the god Amun, disguised as her father Thutmose I, impregnated her mother, indicating that the god had personally placed her on the throne.
Pharaoh Hatshepsut reigned for 22 years and was responsible for more building projects than any pharaoh in history except Ramesses II, also known as Ramesses the Great.
After the queen’s death
Hatshepsut died around the age of 50, balding, suffering from diabetes, and wearing black and red nail polish, according to anthropologist Meredith Small.
Thutmose III, who was technically co-ruler with Hatshepsut, succeeded the female pharaoh after her death. Although she was given a burial in the Valley of the Kings, her memory was not honored.
“Soon after her death in 1457 BCE, Hatshepsut’s monuments were attacked, her statues dragged down and smashed and her image and titles defaced,” writes Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley. She argues that this may have been an attempt by Thutmose III to gain credit for some of her successes. “By removing all obvious references to his co-ruler Tuthmosis could incorporate her reign into his own. He would then become Egypt’s greatest pharaoh.”
There is a belief that Hatshepsut’s corpse was hidden from Thutmose III and was given an Egyptian burial in secret for fear he would desecrate the dead body. Her body was never found. In 2007, however, researchers announced that Hatshepsut’s mummy had been identified in tomb KV 60 in the Valley of the Kings. A “CT scan of a single tooth in a box with Hatshepsut’s name on it perfectly matched a tooth socket in the mummy’s jaw,” writes Cornell University anthropologist Meredith Small in a Live Science article. She notes that she was around 50 when she died, balding, suffering from diabetes, wearing black and red nail polish, dying from an abscess following the removal of a tooth
Small writes that despite her health problems, and the post-mortem destruction of some of her images, history still remembers her as a successful ancient Egyptian ruler. “Hatshepsut’s image couldn’t be erased because even with the weight, the beard, and the nail polish, she was a ruler, and a grand one,” she writes. “In ancient Egypt, just like today, you simply can’t keep a good woman down.”
Egypt’s 18th dynasty
The 18th dynasty of Egypt in which Thutmose II, Hatshepsut, and Thutmose III were among the pharaohs marks the beginning of the New Kingdom, a period of approximately 350 years during which ancient Egypt reached its apogee of power.
The dynasty was founded by Ahmose II, the brother of Kamose, the last ruler of the 17th dynasty. The Second Intermediate Period ended with this dynasty, and the New Kingdom or the Egyptian Empire began.
It is considered one of ancient Egyptian history’s most prosperous and powerful periods. The dynasty witnessed a golden age of Egyptian culture and military might beginning with the rise of Ahmose I, who expelled the Hyksos invaders,
Amenhotep III started the first formal relations with foreign countries, of which some records were included in the el Amarna letters. Akhenaten, instigated the earliest verified expression of monotheism, although the actual origins of monotheism are the subject of continuing research. Scholars believe that Akhenaten’s devotion to his God Aten offended many in power, which contributed to the end of this dynasty
Pharaohs such as Queen Hatshepsut, Amenhotep III, and the “heretic pharaoh” Akhenaten ruled during this time, overseeing a steady expansion of the empire through war and diplomacy. The most widely known pharaoh in modern times is arguably Tutankhamun, whose tomb, containing vast treasures, was discovered in 1922 and exhibited in several museums worldwide.
There were major developments in Egypt’s society and culture during that period. There were changes and redefinition of kingship toward the king as an active military hero, the rise of Amun-Re and the Karnak Temple as religious and political institutions, innovations in private and royal funerary traditions and architecture, as well as the development of societal structures of power and patronage within the Egyptian elite.
The 18th Dynasty is acclaimed for its artistic accomplishments, notably the construction of grand temples such as Luxor and Karnak, and the evolution of the Amarna Period under Akhenaten.