Introducing – Thutmose III

Thutmose III, whose name means “Thoth is born,” was the sixth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. For the first twenty-two years of Thutmose’s reign, he served as a co-regent alongside his stepmother and aunt, Hatshepsut, who had asserted herself as the Pharaoh through an internal coup.

Though Thutmose III was depicted first on surviving monuments, both rulers were assigned the usual royal names and insignia, with neither given any explicit precedence over the other. During this period, he served as the head of Hatshepsut’s armies.

Upon Hatshepsut’s death, Thutmose III ascended as the sole Pharaoh. During his reign, he established the largest empire Egypt had ever seen through no fewer than seventeen campaigns. His conquests stretched from Niya in North Syria to the Fourth Cataract of the Nile in Nubia, earning him the moniker of the “Napoleon of Ancient Egypt.”

Thutmose III officially ruled Egypt for almost fifty-four years, usually dated from April 24, 1479 BC to March 11, 1425 BC. However, this duration includes the twenty-two years he co-reigned with Hatshepsut. During the final two years of his reign, he appointed his son and successor, Amenhotep II, as his junior co-regent. His firstborn son and heir apparent, Amenemhat, predeceased him.

Upon Thutmose III’s death, he was interred in the Valley of the Kings, as was the custom for the kings of this period in Egypt.