culture kings

Amemophis III was the son of Thutmosis IV by Mutemya a princess, daughter of Artatama I Aryan King of Mitanni. Thutmosis IV, himself (son of Amenophis II), appears to have had an Asiatic mother (judging from his facial features). The reign of Thutmosis IV may,therefore,be considered to have marked the beginning of significant infusion of foreign blood into the hitherto genetically insular, incestuously inbreeding royal families of ancient Egypt (it was for ages customary for kings to marry their sisters, half-sisters, cousin or even their own daughters).

Amenophis III took as his queen consort Tiy (the mother of his successor the “mad” Akhenaton) a woman who was a commoner. Tiy’s father Yuaa is believed to have been an Asiatic educated and settled in Egypt. He held the honorary position of superintendent of Amun’s sacred cattle.

Queen Tiy and her father Yuaa wielded great influence in court and the extreme opulence, splendour and high culture of the court of Amenophis III certainly owed a lot to their luxurious Asiatic tastes.

Amenophis was fortunate to come to power at a time in which the power of the New Kingdom was at its zenith. There was peace. The troublesome Asiatics had ceased giving trouble (most of the princes of the Asiatics had been coming to Egypt for their education since the reign of Thutmosis III and had become highly Egyptianized). Amenophis had need for only one military campaign in his reign, which he conducted into Nubia with success. The rest of his reign was given up to self-indulgent oriental opulence,luxury,leisure and pleasure.

The king built a great palace on the Western bank of the Nile at Thebes. The art decoration of the palace reflected the tastes of Queen Tiy who, throughout her life, was patron of scholars, thinkers, and artists who championed a short-lived revolution in which ancient Egyptian art acquired a more naturalistic quality and style.

Amenophis’ new palace had vast apartments with walls decorated with paintings depicting scenes from nature and daily Egyptian life painted exquisitely in rich colors. Woven tapestries, beautiful vases in colored glass, porcelain, silver and gold adorned the apartments. Queen Tiy’s throne room is described as being 130 feet long and 40 feet wide (40 by 12 metres). The room was lavishly decorated with pillars of lotus-bud and papyri design reaching up to a skyblue ceiling with beautiful paintings of flocks of pigeons and golden ravens in flight. The floor was richly carpeted with beautiful paintings of Nile marsh and river scenery. It showed naturalistic portrayals of men hunting wild animals and fishing on waters of the Nile. The throne room had a pair of imposing and stately golden thrones over which rose brilliant pinions of the royal vulture.

A balcony was attached to the throne room decorated with natural green scenery and colourful exotic flowers. The extensive grounds of the palace had stately trees, shrubs and richly colored exotic flowering plants. The palace ground provided a breath taking dusk scenery of the distant Theban hills to the west and to the east a mile long artificial lake was constructed,surrounded by shade trees and blossoms of great variety.

It is said that Amenophis’ favorite evening past time was sailing on his purple and gold yacht, “Splendour of Aten,” on the sparkling water of the lake with his queen and children while young virgins sang like evening birds to the accompaniment of stringed harps, lyres, lutes and pipes.

Next to the king’s palace were luxury villas and beautiful gardens with pools which accommodated their guests on lavish state banquets organized by the Queen. The splendour of Amenophis’s state functions and banquets is said to be unsurpassed in all Egyptian history.

Queen Tiy had married the king when both were teenagers. She remained his soul-mate for life with her name customarily coupled with the king’s in official documents. The king,however, kept a massive harem. He married Gilu Khipa daughter of King Sutarna of Mitanni who arrived in Thebes with a train of over 300 ladies and attendants.

The king, in spite of his sumptuous lifestyle, was an athletic man who enjoyed outdoor life and is credited with 102 lions killed in hunting expeditions in the first ten years of his reign.

Amenophis III was a very active builder. The colossal baboon statues at Hermopolis are ascribed to him. The gallery of the sacred Apis bull at Saqqara is also credited to him. He erected 600 statues of Sekhmet the lion-goddess in the Temple of Mut south of Karnak and finally a massive mortuary temple for himself on the west bank of the Nile at Malkata. The temple was,however,later dismantled by Meneptah (1212-1202 B.C.) to provide material for his own temple (a sacrilege one would think!). Meneptah, however, spared the colossal statues which became known to the Greeks as Memnon (the Memnon was termed “vocal Memnon” by the Greeks from the moaning sound emanating from the statue in daylight expansion of cracks in the statue when heated in the afternoon sun).

Amenophis’s glorious reign was troubled by illness in its last six years.The king, in his old age, suffered a mysterious illness no doctor or magician could cure.