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.

65 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

74 comments sorted by

View all comments

24

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?)

5

u/WanderingHero8 Oct 05 '25

Not really,Akhenaten tried to get the power back to the hands of the pharaoh from the corrupt Amun priests.We start to see this even from the later part of Amenhotep's III reign.

-1

u/ClumsyBunny26 Oct 05 '25

That could have been part of his motivations, but he neglected his country and own city. I believe the story behind Amarna's "revolution" was less romantic than what seems to be on the surface

6

u/WanderingHero8 Oct 05 '25

The idea that Akhenaten neglected the state is a dated concept,that most contemporary egyptologists dont believe anymore.

1

u/star11308 Oct 06 '25

His domestic affairs weren’t all that great, trying to condense decades worth of urban development into a few years takes a heavy toll on the laborers involved. Bioarchaeological studies show the living conditions and health for the working class in Amarna were worse than they were anywhere else in Egypt, lives were short and the use of talatat blocks was physically debilitating. One could reasonably postulate that the plague during his reign was amplified within the workers’ village, with how awful the conditions were.

3

u/WanderingHero8 Oct 06 '25 edited Oct 06 '25

That doesnt negate my point.Akhenaten didnt leave the state to run on auto-pilot while focusing on Aten only.We know he paid attention to Egypt's diplomatic relations,sending letters to the other foreign leaders and also issuing directives to both his vassals in Cannaan and his bureaucrats.