Pharaoh Amenhotep III

Amenhotep III ruled during the prosperous Eighteenth Dynasty, when Egypt benefited from wealth, international trade, and relative stability. His court sponsored monumental construction and exceptionally refined sculpture, jewelry, and temple decoration.

He built a vast mortuary temple on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes, although little of it survives intact. Its entrance was guarded by the two enormous seated statues now called the Colossi of Memnon.

Amenhotep III was the father of Amenhotep IV, who later adopted the name Akhenaten and promoted the worship of Aten. Tutankhamun belonged to the following generation and is generally identified as Akhenaten's son, making Amenhotep III his grandfather.

Tiye was Amenhotep III's Great Royal Wife and appears prominently beside him in royal monuments. Diplomatic records and surviving inscriptions indicate that she retained unusual political importance during both his reign and the early reign of Akhenaten.