home | travelogue | itinerary | photos | history | books | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Titulary
Amenhotep II ruled for about twenty-three years and continued the military campaigns of his father. As a prince under his father's tutelage, he was made commander of a naval base near Memphis. He fought several campaigns in Syria. Inscriptions tell of a battle in which he captured seven Syrian princes, had them executed, and hung their bodies from the walls of a temple in Thebes. He is well known as an athletic man, claiming skills as an archer, horseman, runner, and oarsman. These claims may have been real -- or they may have been a way of presenting a strong, effective king. Amenemhet II built monuments all over Egypt, including the obligatory additions and upgrades to the Temple of Amun at Karnak. He built a temple to Horemakhet in Giza and had monuments from the Delta to Nubia with his name. His son, Thutmose IV took the throne when Amenhotep II died at the age of 45. The mummy of Amenhotep II shows signs of some sort of disease, which most likely contributed to his early demise. The burial tomb of Amenhotep II, in the Valley of the Kings, is the only tomb where the pharaoh was found in his own sarcophagus when it was opened in 1898.. The tomb was looted in antiquity, of course, but it was not too damaged. Amenhotep II's mummy remained here until 1928 when it was removed to the Egyptian Museum. THe tomb was used as a cache for other royal mummies, including Thutmose IV, Amenhotep III, Merneptah, Seti II, Siptah, Setenakhte, Ramesses IV, Ramesses V and Ramesses VI. KV 35 is the deepest tomb in the valley at over 90 steps, which might explain why it was used for storage. The burial chamber is enormous and the passages included a deep pit to foil tomb robbers. It is thought that a 21st Dynasty high priest, Pinudjem, had the mummies stored here -- whether for safety, or while their tombs were renovated, it is not known. It is assumed that it was for their protection, since the tombs in the Valley of the Kings were commonly and disastrously looted. However, it should also be noted that many of the mummies were "rewrapped" and their jewels and gold removed "for safekeeping" by the same priests. Other tombs from his reign include the "Tomb of the Vines", built for the mayor of Thebes, Sennofer, in the Valley of the Nobles. Grapes and vines are painted on the ceiling, and the colorful decorations of the tomb are in better condition that most tombs in the area. It has been open since the Greco-Roman period. The tomb of Userhat, the Royal Scribe and tutor is also in the Valley of the Nobles. Some of the figures inside have been defaced by Christian hermits who took up residence in the tombs. In addition, the Alabaster Sphinx in Memphis may belong to him (or to Hatshepsut), based solely on the similarity of the face to other statues. HIs wife, Tiye, was the daughter of Yuya and Thuya -- who are best known from the contents of their tomb on display in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Her mummy is probably that of "The Elder Lady" found in KV35. It was moved there from KV55 where the funerary equipment bears her name. Amenhotep III built a temple in her honor in northern Sudan, where she was revered as an incarnation of Hathor. When Amenhotep III died, Tiye lived in Akhenaton. |
pharaohsAhmose monumentsTomb KV 35, Valley of the Kings |
|