With the start of Thutmose III’s sole rule an extremely active phase of military, religious, political, and cultural activities began. His first campaign was also his most successful and was constantly used by him in royal inscriptions (e. g. Urk. IV 647,1-667,16; 767,1-16; 1234,5-1236,15). A coalition of Levantine princes, led by the prince of Kadesh, assembled on the plain of Jezreel and awaited Thutmose at the south pass around the Carmel mountains. Thutmose, however, marched through the pass of Aruna and, having left the pass unmolested, drew up his army on the plain, thus determining both the time and the place of the battle. The few Syrians who survived the battle fled to Megiddo. The Egyptian laughter must have been loud, as the city’s door was already closed, and the princes were pulled up its walls by their clothes, a motif which belongs in the realm of anecdotal history and literary decoration ( Urk. IV 658,4-12). This setback placed Megiddo in a dangerous situation, and, had the Egyptian troops not preferred to collect booty, they could have taken the city in a short space of time. The truly remarkable part of this narrative is that Thutmose conceded this loss of control (Urk. IV 658, 8-1). As a result, the city had to be besieged and was only taken seven months later.
In at least thirteen further campaigns in the Levant Thutmose III succeeded in making Egypt the mightiest state of the Near East and in acquiring enormous prestige. In his 33rd Year, during the eighth campaign, he managed to penetrate further to the north-east than any other Egyptian, with the possible exception of his grandfather Thutmose I. Thutmose and his wars became part of the culture of national memory and a motif in literary tales such as the history of the conquest of Joppa or the Papyrus Turin 1940 + 1941.
World History
