CHAPTER VII.

THOTHMES III.

Thothmes III. is generally regarded as the greatest of the kings of Egypt--the Alexander the Great of Egyptian history. The name Thothmes means "child of Thoth," and was a common name among the ancient Egyptians. On the pyramidion of the obelisk he is represented by a sphinx presenting gifts of water and wine to Tum, the setting sun, a solar deity worshipped at Heliopolis. On the hieroglyphic paintings at Karnak, the fact of the heliacal rising of Sothis, the dog-star, is stated to have taken place during this reign, from which it appears that Thothmes III. occupied the throne of Egypt about 1450 B.C. This is one of the few dates of Egyptian chronology that can be authenticated.

Thothmes III. belonged to the XVIIIth dynasty, which included some of the greatest of Egyptian monarchs. Among the kings of this dynasty were four that bore the name of Thothmes, and four the name of Amenophis, which means "peace of Amen." The monarchs of this dynasty were Thebans.

The father of Thothmes III. was a great warrior. He conquered the Canaanitish nations of Palestine, took Nineveh from the Rutennu, the confederate tribes of Syria, laid waste Mesopotamia, and introduced the war-chariots and horses into the army of Egypt.

Thothmes III., however, was even a greater warrior than his father; and during his long reign Egypt reached the climax of her greatness. His predecessors of the XVIIIth dynasty had extended the dominions of Egypt far into Asia and the interior of Africa. He was a king of great capacity and a warrior of considerable courage. The records of his campaigns are for the most part preserved on a sandstone wall surrounding the great temple of Karnak, built by Thothmes III. in honour of Amen-Ra. From these hieroglyphic inscriptions it appears that Thothmes' first great campaign was made in the twenty-second year of his reign, when an expedition was made into the land of Taneter, that is, Palestine. A full account of his marches and victories is given, together with a list of one hundred and nineteen conquered towns.

This monarch lived before the time of Joshua, and therefore the records of his conquests present us with the ancient Canaanite nomenclature of places in Palestine between the times of the patriarchs and the conquest of the land by the Israelites under Joshua. Thothmes set out with his army from Tanis, that is, Zoan; and after taking Gaza, he proceeded, by way of the plain of Sharon, to the more northern parts of Palestine. At the battle of Megiddo he overthrew the confederated troops of native princes; and in consequence of this signal victory the whole of Palestine was subdued. Crossing the Jordan near the Sea of Galilee, Thothmes pursued his march to Damascus, which he took by the sword; and then returning homewards by the Judean hills and the south country of Palestine, he returned to Egypt laden with the spoils of victory.

In the thirtieth year of his reign Thothmes lead an expedition against the Rutennu, the people of Northern Syria. In this campaign he attacked and captured Kadesh, a strong fortress in the valley of Orontes, and the capital town of the Rutennu. The king pushed his conquests into Mesopotamia, and occupied the strong fortress of Carchemish, on the banks of the Euphrates. He then led his conquering troops northwards to the sources of the Tigris and the Euphrates, so that the kings of Damascus, Nineveh, and Assur became his vassals, and paid tribute to Egypt.

Punt or Arabia was also subdued, and in Africa his conquests extended to Cush or Ethiopia. His fleet of ships sailed triumphantly over the waters of the Black Sea. Thus Thothmes ruled over lands extending from the mountains of Caucasus to the shores of the Indian Ocean, and from the Libyan Desert to the great river Tigris.

"Besides distinguishing himself as a warrior and as a record writer, Thothmes III. was one of the greatest of Egyptian builders and patrons of art. The great temple of Ammon at Thebes was the special object of his fostering care, and he began his career of builder and restorer by repairing the damages which his sister Hatasu had inflicted on that glorious edifice to gratify her dislike of her brother Thothmes II., and her father Thothmes I. Statues of Thothmes I. and his father Amenophis, which Hatasu had thrown down, were re-erected by Thothmes III. before the southern propylæa of the temple in the first year of his independent reign. The central sanctuary which Usertesen I. had built in common stone, was next replaced by the present granite edifice, under the directions of the young prince, who then proceeded to build in rear of the old temple a magnificent hall or pillared chamber of dimensions previously unknown in Egypt. This edifice was an oblong square one hundred and forty-three feet long by fifty-five feet wide, or nearly half as large again as the nave of Canterbury Cathedral. The whole of this apartment was roofed in with slabs of solid stone; two rows of circular pillars thirty feet in height supported the central part, dividing it into three avenues, while on each side of the pillars was a row of square piers, still further extending the width of the chamber, and breaking it up into five long vistas. In connection with this noble hall, on three sides of it, north, east, and south, Thothmes erected further chambers and corridors, one of the former situated towards the south containing the 'Great Table of Karnak.'

"Other erections of this distinguished monarch are the enclosure of the temple of the Sun at Heliopolis, and the obelisks belonging to the same building, which the irony of fate has now removed to Rome, England, and America; the temple of Ptah at Thebes; the small temple at Medinet Abou; a temple at Kneph, adorned with obelisks, at Elephantine, and a series of temples and monuments at Ombos, Esneh, Abydos, Coptos, Denderah, Eileithyia, Hermonthis and Memphis in Egypt; and at Amada, Corte, Talmis, Pselus, Semneh, and Koummeh in Nubia. Large remains still exist in the Koummeh and Semneh temples, where Thothmes worships Totun, the Nubian Kneph, in conjunction with Usertesen III., his own ancestor. There are also extensive ruins of his great buildings at Denderah, Ombos, and Napata. Altogether Thothmes III. is pronounced to have 'left more monuments than any other Pharaoh, excepting Rameses II.,' and though occasionally showing himself as a builder somewhat capricious and whimsical, yet still on the whole to have worked in 'a pure style,' and proved that he was 'not deficient in good taste.'

"There is reason to believe that the great constructions of this mighty monarch were, in part at least, the product of forced labours. Doubtless his eleven thousand captives were for the most part held in slavery, and compelled to employ their energies in helping towards the accomplishment of those grand works which his active mind was continually engaged in devising. We find among the monuments of his time a representation of the mode in which the services of these foreign bondsmen were made to subserve the glory of the Pharaoh who had carried them away captive. Some are seen kneading and cutting up the clay; others bear them water from a neighbouring pool; others again, with the assistance of a wooden mould, shape the clay into bricks, which are then taken and placed in long rows to dry; finally, when the bricks are sufficiently hard, the highest class of labourers proceed to build them into walls. All the work is performed under the eyes of taskmasters, armed with sticks, who address the labourers with the words: 'The stick is in my hand, be not idle.' Over the whole is an inscription which says: 'Here are to be seen the prisoners which have been carried away as living captives in very great numbers; they work at the building with active fingers; their overseers are in sight; they insist with vehemence' (on the others working), 'obeying the orders of the great skilled lord' (_i.e._, the head architect), 'who prescribes to them the works, and gives directions to the masters; they are rewarded with wine and all kinds of good dishes; they perform their service with a mind full of love for the king; they build for Thothmes Ra-men-khepr a Holy of Holies for the gods. May it be rewarded to him through a range of many years.'"[4]

"In person Thothmes III. does not appear to have been very remarkable. His countenance was thoroughly Egyptian, but not characterised by any strong individuality. The long, well-shaped, but somewhat delicate nose, almost in a line with the forehead, gives a slightly feminine appearance to the face, which is generally represented as beardless and moderately plump. The eye, prominent, and larger than that of the ordinary Egyptian, has a pensive but resolute expression, and is suggestive of mental force. The mouth is somewhat too full for beauty, but is resolute, like the eye, and less sensual than that of most Egyptians. There is an appearance of weakness about the chin, which is short, and retreats slightly, thus helping to give the entire countenance a womanish look. Altogether, the face has less of strength and determination than we should have expected, but is not wholly without indications of some of those qualities."[5]

Thothmes III. died after a long and prosperous reign of fifty-four years, and when he was probably about sixty years old, his father having died when he was only an infant.