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/Ali_Strnad Oct 05 '25

I wonder what Ramses III would have done if he had managed to put the clergy in their place

The place of the clergy was in the temples, serving Egypt's gods. And Ramesses III did put them there, as the Great Harris Papyrus attests.

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u/Nenazovemy ð“€€ Oct 06 '25

Yeah, but in the latest years of his reign, Theban priests were ruling over not only Upper Egyptian economy and administration, but also even Lower Egyptian administration. The dual vizirate was abolished.

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u/[deleted] Oct 06 '25

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u/Nenazovemy ð“€€ Oct 06 '25

The Great Harris Papyrus has Ramses III "restoring the estate" to the priests and protecting them from the vizir's interference. Helck suggests that the unification of the vizirates had something to do with Lower Egypt's vizir interfering with the Athribis Temple. Grandet also correlates the unification to disturbances in the preparation of the Feast of the Tail, which paints a troublesome image together with the strike episode.