AMENHOTEP III

(reigned c. 1390–1352 BC)

   Throne name Nebmare. Son of Thutmose IV of Dynasty 18 and Mutemwia. He may have succeeded as a child and reigned 32 years. His supremecy is known for its magnificence in construction and artworks. He maintained the Egyptian empire in Asia and was in communication with the many princes of the area, as shown in the Amarna letters. His chief queen commoner, Tiy, was the mother of his eventual heir, Akhenaten, as it appears that his eldest son, Thutmose, predeceased him. Amenhotep III married several foreign princesses fromMitanni and Babylon. He also had several daughters, notably Sitamun, whom he married. A proposed coregency between father and son is debatable, and most Egyptologists reject the notion. He was buried in tomb KV22 in the Valley of the Kings, and his body was recovered from theroyal cachein tomb KV35of Amenhotep II. His mortuary templeat Kom el-Hetan on the west bank opposite Thebesis largely in ruins but featured the Colossi of Memnon and inscriptions mentioning the Keftyu. It has been under excavation by a German expedition since 1998.

   See also Gilukhepa; Tadukhepa.