Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- PROLOGUE The Birthplace of Amenhotep III
- 1 An Heir Unapparent
- 2 The Making of an Heir Apparent
- 3 Thutmose IV and King's Son Amenhotep in Nubia
- 4 Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!
- 5 Establishing Divine Might and Divine Right
- 6 “The First Campaign of Victory”: Amenhotep III's River War
- 7 The Spoils of War
- 8 The King's First Two Wives
- 9 The Lost Years
- 10 Bringing Heaven to Earth to See the Living Gods: Building the King's Religious Monuments at Thebes
- 11 Per Hai (“The House of Rejoicing”) at Malkata
- 12 Beneath The Divine Falcon's Wings a New World Takes Shape
- 13 The First Jubilee Festival (Heb-Sed)
- 14 Raising Up Old Officials and Buying a New Bride
- 15 International Trade in Princesses and Other Goods
- 16 A Mixed Forecast: Dazzling Sun and Dark Clouds
- 17 The Last Hurrah
- 18 Whose Heaven Is It? The Reign of Akhenaten and Beyond
- EPILOGUE One God Left Standing
- Notes and References
- Glossary of Ancient Personal Names
- Bibliography
- Index
9 - The Lost Years
(Reign of Amenhotep III, Years 12–19, ca. 1380–1373 B.C.)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- PROLOGUE The Birthplace of Amenhotep III
- 1 An Heir Unapparent
- 2 The Making of an Heir Apparent
- 3 Thutmose IV and King's Son Amenhotep in Nubia
- 4 Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!
- 5 Establishing Divine Might and Divine Right
- 6 “The First Campaign of Victory”: Amenhotep III's River War
- 7 The Spoils of War
- 8 The King's First Two Wives
- 9 The Lost Years
- 10 Bringing Heaven to Earth to See the Living Gods: Building the King's Religious Monuments at Thebes
- 11 Per Hai (“The House of Rejoicing”) at Malkata
- 12 Beneath The Divine Falcon's Wings a New World Takes Shape
- 13 The First Jubilee Festival (Heb-Sed)
- 14 Raising Up Old Officials and Buying a New Bride
- 15 International Trade in Princesses and Other Goods
- 16 A Mixed Forecast: Dazzling Sun and Dark Clouds
- 17 The Last Hurrah
- 18 Whose Heaven Is It? The Reign of Akhenaten and Beyond
- EPILOGUE One God Left Standing
- Notes and References
- Glossary of Ancient Personal Names
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Year 20: Bridging the Gap in the Record
Suddenly, in Year 12, Amenhotep III's scribes stopped writing, or so it seems, because after more than a decade of chronicling the opening of quarries, the conquest of Nubia, bull hunts, lion hunts, marriages, in-laws, temple projects, sailboats, and even the construction of a “pleasure lake,” there are no dated records at all for eight years. Our king is not the only one with a gap in his record. His grandfather Amenhotep II, for example, had a similar one. Our Amenhotep, however, more than any king before him, had made a mission of memorializing his life in unusual detail beginning in his days as a prince. After ravaging the gold fields of Nubia, he had the funds to continue doing so on a grand scale. For him, this lull was completely out of character, and it suggests trouble.
Apparently residing in the north at this point, Amenhotep III broke his silence in Year 20, month 2 of Inundation by sending his messenger, Royal Scribe Khaemhet (TT 57; see also Chapters 10 and 16), south from Memphis to Karnak to announce the promotion of a man named Nebnufer to his father's post as keeper of the measurements of offerings at Karnak's granary. The story is carved onto Nebnufer's small, and rather crude, limestone statue, now in Brussels, in a very long text covering all four sides of his seat. It describes the installation ceremony and names the major officiants: First Prophet of Amun Meryptah (a royal half brother?), Second Prophet of Amun Anen (Queen Tiy's brother), Third Prophet of Amun Amenemhet (the son of Nefer, the previous Third Prophet), Fourth Prophet Simut (promoted to Second Prophet before the end of the reign; see also Chapters 13 and 16), and the steward Sebek-nakht.
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- Information
- Amenhotep IIIEgypt's Radiant Pharaoh, pp. 110 - 119Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012