Not since the Fourth Dynasty a thousand years before was there an Egyptian dynasty as memorable as the Eighteenth. And whereas the Fourth Dynasty is remembered chiefly for its great building projects, most notably the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Eighteenth Dynasty is most famous for its colorful leaders: Hatshepsut (hah-CHEP-sut), the woman who ruled as king; Thutmose (TUT-moze) III, the great conqueror; and Akhenaton (ock-NAH-ton), who tried and failed to change the entire Egyptian religion. As with the Fourth Kingdom, there were great building projects, most notably in the Valley of the Kings. There were also developments in the visual arts that indicated a revolution in Egyptian thought.
Ahmose, after he drove out the Hyksos, led a number of other military expeditions and colonized Kush—that is, he made it a part of Egypt. His son Amenhotep I (ah-min-HOE-tep) continued with this colonial expansion. Amenhotep also became the first king to have himself buried in a hidden tomb. Like many a pharaoh before him, his memorial included a temple with a small pyramid called a pyramidon; Amenhotep, however, was buried somewhere else in hopes of protecting his
Tomb from grave robbers. Thutmose I, his successor, selected a burial site near Thebes in what came to be known as the Valley of Kings. Over the succeeding centuries, some sixty-two pharaohs, mostly from the Eighteenth and Nineteenth dynasties, would be buried there.
Hatshepsut claimed the throne after her husband's death, claiming that she had been personally selected for the role by the god Amon. Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.
Thutmose's son, Thutmose II, married a princess named Hatshep-sut. When Thutmose II died, Thut-mose III, his son by another wife, was supposed to take the throne. But Hat-shepsut claimed that she had been personally selected by the supreme god Amon to take the Egyptian throne. She managed to bring legitimacy on herself by claiming a connection with the gods.
But Hatshepsut had to fight more of an uphill battle than others who tried to take power in Egypt, because she was a woman. Therefore she was often portrayed as a man,
Complete with a ceremonial beard, and sculpture showed her leading troops into battle although no evidence exists that this actually happened. She did, however, initiate foreign trade with the nation of Punt, in the area of modern-day Somalia, and had a number of structures built in her honor. Among the latter was an obelisk (OBB-uh-lisk; a tall, pointed column) in the city of Karnak (CAR-nack) near Thebes, which became the site of many Eighteenth and Nineteenth dynasty monuments.
Hatshepsut ruled from about 1473 to 1458 b. c., and after she died, Thutmose III paid her back for keeping him out of power for so long: he removed her pictures and nameplates from any of her monuments. Then he went off to war. Thutmose has been called “the Napoleon of Egypt,” a reference to the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), who conquered most of Europe during his reign. Under the leadership of Thutmose, Egypt fought a major battle against rebel forces in Palestine. It extended its reach throughout most of the Sinai Penin-
Sula and the region of what would become Israel. To the south, its borders went farther up the Nile than ever, taking in most of the Nubians' kingdom. Ancient Egypt under Thutmose was as large as it would ever be. Thutmose would be remembered as the first of many great conquerors in world history. Others would include Cyrus the Great and Alexander the Great.
But Thutmose did not only use war as a means of influencing foreign countries: he also made use of diplomacy—that is, skillful negotiations with leaders of other nations. His successors likewise conducted diplomatic activities, an important development because Egypt was fast becoming one of several powers (including the Assyrians and the Hittites) competing for control of the region. A valuable record of ancient Egyptian diplomacy exists in the form of the Amarna Letters, some 400 exchanges between the court of Amenhotep III (reigned 1382-1344 b. c.) and leaders of Mesopotamia and surrounding regions. Egyptian kings also used marriage as a form of diplomacy: they had many wives, but could always afford to take on more. An easy way to develop ties with another country was to marry one of its princesses. Several pharaohs did this, thus establishing links, for instance, with the Mitanni people of southwest Asia.
World History
