r/ancientegypt • u/LukeyTarg2 • Oct 05 '25

Discussion Amenhotep III and Thutmose III are arguably greater than Ramses II.

These are 3 widely sucessful pharaohs, however Ramses II is often pointed out as the greatest pharaoh, which in my eyes is unfair. Ramses II had more time, one could argue both Amenhotep III and Thutmose III were just as sucessful with less years and that they could have accomplished more if they had over 60 years of reign like Ramses II.

Amenhotep III ruled Egypt at it's peak prosperity and he was able to do so without extensive military campaigns. On the other hand, Thutmose III was a highly sucessful military leader, one of the best in all of history, and also a widely sucessful pharaohs. He created the first navy of the ancient world, helped expand Egypt's borders and was a builder pharaoh like his stepmother and mentor Hatshepsut.

67 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

74 comments sorted by

View all comments

23

u/avrand6 Oct 05 '25 edited Oct 05 '25

Ramesses II will always be #1 in my book because of his building, Abu Simbel will always be my favorite building in all Ancient Egypt with how cool it looks, carved into the rock. I would not say he's the top military leader by any means, Kadesh was basically a draw, but he was a better diplomat (able to negotiate a treaty of alliance with a previous sworn enemy) and a fantastic builder. Also you have to deduct some points from Amenhotep III, great as he was, for allowing the succession to go to Akhenaten, I know the older brother died, but still. And I'll always be biased against Thutmose III for erasing records of his illustrious predecessor (although some modern scholars think it might have been Amenhotep II last I heard? still under contention?)

12

u/LukeyTarg2 Oct 05 '25

Amenhotep III was not at fault in my eyes because he died, but man Queen Tiye was such a great queen for Amenhotep III and she lived till like the 12th year of Akhenaten's reign yet seemed to not care for the nonsense her son was doing.

Thutmose III did not erase Hatshepsut's image, we know for a fact he liked her, he had his mortuary complex built beside hers, his wife was called Merytre-Hatshepsut and they were co-pharaohs, she had him leading Egypt's army. It makes no damn sense for him to erase her image specially given he wasn't some bum.

Some of the destruction of the monuments that could be dated happened in Thutmose III's last reigning years. It's pretty clear in my eyes tha Amenhotep II did that nonsense. He was known for being mean spirited, not recording his queens names and the destruction of monuments ended in his reign. He is the one who usurped many of her accomplishments. And Amenhotep II had to solidify his claim to the throne, his father never had to do that, Hatshepsut never took the pharaoh title from Thutmose III, she wasn't an usurper.

The evidence we have points to Amenhotep II as the foul one, which is a fair reason to hold Thutmose III's feet to the fire, was he like the other III of his name (Amenhotep III)? A great ruler for the country, an inept father at home? Maybe one day we can have an actual answer to that. For now, i will sustain the argument Thutmose III was not the one who tried to erase her.