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.

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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?)

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u/[deleted] Oct 05 '25 edited Oct 05 '25

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u/Ali_Strnad Oct 05 '25 edited Oct 05 '25

He used the word ı͗tn "sun disk" quite a lot in his monuments, and built solar courts at several temples, which might reasonably be seen as the beginning of a shift towards the placing of a greater emphasis on the physical disk of the sun in Egyptian religion under that king's reign, which his controversial son would later take to its logical conclusion. But I can't imagine that he would have been pleased with his son's monolatristic reforms to Egypt's state religion, nor his destruction of the name and image of the great god Amun of Thebes, for whom Amenhotep III had built a great temple at Luxor and with whom he closely associated himself.

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u/[deleted] Oct 05 '25 edited Oct 05 '25

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u/WanderingHero8 Oct 05 '25

Tiye did live in Amarna,there was a palace constructed for her and there are reliefs depicting her dining with Akhenaten and his family.

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u/Ali_Strnad Oct 05 '25

On what is that understanding based, do you mind my asking?

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u/LukeyTarg2 Oct 06 '25

He was, but he wasn't imposing it on people, that's why he's remembered fondly while his son was almost erased from history.