Amenhotep probably became pharaoh when he was between the ages of 6 and 12. While it is likely that a
regent would have ruled until he came of age, none is attested in the surviving records. In Regnal Year 11, Amenhotep commanded the construction of an artificial lake at Tiye's hometown of Djakaru. He then celebrated a Festival of Opening the Lake in the third month of Inundation, day sixteen, and rowed the royal barge
Aten-tjehen on the lake. This event was commemorated on at least eleven commemorative scarabs. From other scarabs, Amenhotep is known to have killed either 102 or 110 lions in the first ten years of his reign.
Battle participation Amenhotep III is known to have participated in only one military campaign. In Regnal Year Five, he led a victorious campaign against a rebellion in Kush. At the time, Amenhotep would have been between 11 and 17 years old. This victory was commemorated by three rock-carved stelae found near
Aswan and
Saï in Nubia. The official account of Amenhotep's military victory emphasizes his martial prowess with the
hyperbole typical of the period.
Court of Amenhotep III There is a significant attestation for the court officials who served during Amenhotep's reign, primarily through the discovery of their tombs in the
Theban Necropolis. Among these court officials were the
viziers Ramose,
Amenhotep,
Aperel, and
Ptahmose. Other officials included the treasurers Ptahmose and Merire; the high stewards, Amenemhat Surer and
Amenhotep (Huy); and the Viceroy of Kush, Merimose.
Amenhotep, son of Hapu held many offices during the reign of Amenhotep the pharaoh, but is best known for receiving the right to build his mortuary temple behind that of the king. Amenhotep, son of Hapu, was deified after his death and was one of the few non-royals to be worshiped in such a manner.
Malkata Palace The palace of
Malkata was built in the 14th century BC and its ancient name was
Per-Hay, "House of Rejoicing". The Malakata palace was known as the
Tjehen-Aten or "the City of the dazzling Aten" or Sun Disk under Amenhotep III. . Built mostly out of mud-brick, it was Amenhotep's residence throughout most of the later part of his reign. Construction began around Regnal Year 11 and continued until the king moved to the palace permanently around Regnal Year 29. Once completed, it was the largest royal residence in Egypt.
Atenism Amenhotep III adopted the royal epithet "
Aten-Tjehen", which means "the Dazzling Sun Disk", in his 30th Regnal Year, showing his increased interest in the
Aten god and elevated it from a minor god to the solar disc by giving it royal patronage. Amenhotep III presumably wished to diminish the power of the Amun priesthood but not to the radical extent of his son,
Akhenaten. Amenhotep III did not promote the Aten as an exclusive god in his own reign and his main religious devotion was still towards
Amun-Ra, a combination of Thebes' deity
Amun and the northern Egyptian sun god
Ra in his reign...even if he did name "a royal boat as well as a Theban palace after Aten" (known as
Malkata) and named his youngest daughter by his great royal wife
Tiye with the name
Beketaten meaning 'Handmaid of
Aten'. A main reason the cult of Aten failed under Akhenaten was "due to its lack of afterlife beliefs. The traditional
Osirian cult offered an opportunity for Egyptians to access an idealised vision of one’s life on Earth after they had died in the Field of Reeds or
A’Aru. This was replaced with a continued existence in the present."
Sed festivals Amenhotep celebrated three
Sed festivals in Regnal Years 30, 34, and 37, each at Malkata palace in Western Thebes. A temple of Amun and festival hall were built especially for the celebrations. The Sed festival was a tradition that dated to the
Old Kingdom, consisting of a series of tests that demonstrated the pharaoh's fitness for continuing as ruler of Egypt. Based on indications left by Queen Tiye's steward Khenruef, the festival may have lasted two to eight months. Amenhotep wanted his Sed Festivals to be far more spectacular than those of the past. He appointed
Amenhotep, son of Hapu to plan the ceremony, potentially because he was one of the few courtiers still alive to have served at the last Sed Festival, held for Amenhotep II. In preparation for the first Sed Festival, Amenhotep, son of Hapu enlisted scribes to gather information from records and inscriptions, most found in ancient funerary temples, describing the appropriate rituals and costumes. Temples were built and statues erected up and down the Nile. Craftsmen and jewelers created ornaments commentating the event including jewelry, ornaments, and stelae. The scribe Nebmerutef coordinated every step of the event. He directed Amenhotep to use his mace to knock on the temple doors. Beside him, Amenhotep-Hapu mirrored his effort like a royal shadow. The king was followed by Queen Tiye and the royal daughters. When moving to another venue, the banner of the jackal god Wepwawet, "Opener of Ways" preceded the King. The king changed his costume at each major activity of the celebration. One of the major highlights of the festival was the king's dual coronation. He was enthroned separately for Upper and Lower Egypt. For Upper Egypt, Amenhotep wore the white crown but changed to the red crown for the Lower Egypt coronation. After the Sed festival, Amenhotep transcended from being a near-god to one divine. The king may have later traveled across Egypt following the festival, potentially reenacting the ceremony for different audiences. Few Egyptian kings lived long enough for their own celebration. Those who survived used the celebration as the affirmation of transition to divinity.
International relations Diplomatic correspondence from Amenhotep's reign are partially preserved in the
Amarna Letters, a collection of documents found near the city of
Amarna. The letters come from the rulers of
Assyria,
Mitanni,
Babylon,
Hatti, and other states, typically including requests by those rulers for gold and other gifts from Amenhotep. The letters cover the period from Year 30 of Amenhotep until at least the end of
Akhenaten's reign. In
Amarna Letter EA 4, Amenhotep is quoted by the Babylonian king
Kadashman-Enlil I in firmly rejecting the latter's entreaty to marry one of this pharaoh's daughters: Amenhotep's refusal to allow one of his daughters to be married to the Babylonian monarch may indeed have followed from Egyptian royal custom, which allowed a claim upon the throne through descent from a royal princess. It could also be viewed as a diplomatic stratagem to enhance Egypt's prestige, as Amenhotep himself married the daughters of several foreign rulers while refusing them his own daughters. The Amarna Letters also reference the exchange between Amenhotep and the Mitanni King Tushratta of the statue of a healing goddess,
Ishtar of
Nineveh, late in Amenhotep's reign. Scholars have generally assumed that the statue's sojourn to Egypt was requested by Amenhotep in order to cure him of his various ailments, which included painful abscesses in his teeth. However,
William L. Moran's analysis of
Amarna Letter EA 23, relating to the dispatch of the statue to Thebes, discounts this theory. The arrival of the statue is known to have coincided with Amenhotep's marriage with
Tadukhepa,
Tushratta's daughter, in the pharaoh's 36th year; letter EA 23's arrival in Egypt is dated to "regnal year 36, the fourth month of winter, day 1" of his reign. Furthermore, Tushratta never mentions in EA 23 that the statue's dispatch was meant to heal Amenhotep of his maladies. Instead, Tushratta writes in part: The likeliest explanation is that the statue was sent to Egypt "to shed her blessings on the wedding of Amenhotep and Tadukhepa, as she had been sent previously for Amenhotep and
Gilukhepa." Moran agrees that this explanation was more likely. Further, Moran argues that the contents of Amarna Letter EA 21 support this claim, wherein Tushratta asks the gods, including Ishtar, for their blessing of the marriage. In the 14th century BCE, the pharaoh sent an expedition to Cyprus to establish Egyptian control over the island, which was subsequently maintained for several centuries. During this time, the Egyptians established a number of settlements on the island, and they exported copper and other raw materials from Cyprus to Egypt in exchange for luxury goods and other commodities. However, the Egyptian presence on Cyprus was at times interrupted by incursions of other powers, including the Hittites and the Mycenaeans. == Succession ==