Discovered by Victor Loret February 12th, 1898, the tomb of King Tuthmosis III (also known as Thutmose or his throne name Men-kheper-re) was no exception to the unfortunate trend of ransacked tombs located in the Valley of the Kings. Tuthmosis III’s tomb is marked as KV 34 in the Valley of the Kings, containing several rooms with various grave goods and inscriptions, although his body’s final resting place was in the royal cache at Deir el-Bahari (Reeves, 1990). Most commonly known for being oppressed by his aunt and stepmother, Hatshepsut, in his first 21 years under rule, he was able to maintain a reign of 32 years after her passing (Pleskow, 1983). Coined for being one of the greatest Ancient Egyptian pharaohs and soldiers, Tuthmosis III led 17 years of successful campaigns (Cottrell, 1961), ruling one of largest empires Egypt has ever seen from 1479-c.1426 (Reeves, 1990). Although his body was found elsewhere, King Tuthmosis’ tomb presented a variety of grave goods and insight into the period to which he ruled the Ancient Egyptian Empire.
Son of Tuthmosis II and wife Iset, Thutmose III was next in line to become king after the death of his father. Unfortunately for Thutmose III, at the time of his father’s death he was too young to rule, leaving his stepmother and aunt Hatshepsut ultimately in power (Pleskow, 1983). Declaring herself king, Hatshepsut pushed Thutmose III to the sidelines for the next 21 years until her death. It was no surprise that Thutmose III’s oppression would cause extreme hatred for his stepmother/aunt, seeing to the immediate obliteration of her existence shortly after her death (Pleskow, 1983). As a way of demonstrating his right to power, Thutmose III defaced all evidence of Hatshepsut, smashing her statues and any inscriptions including her name. He went as far as to even build walls around two of Hatshepsut’s great obelisks, hiding her name from the rest of the humanity (Pleskow, 1983). With his oppression fueling his motivation to demonstrate his right to power, Thutmose III went ahead and led 17 years of successful campaigns, conquering from North Syria to the south of Nubia (Hayes, 1966). This expansion of the Ancient Egyptian Empire gave way to a steady growth in wealth and his success as a soldier has led to Thutmose III to be coined the “Napoleon of Ancient Egypt” (Cottrell, 1961).
KV 34, Reeves (1990)
He went as far as to even build walls around two of Hatshepsut’s great obelisks, hiding her name from the rest of the humanity (Pleskow, 1983). With his oppression fueling his motivation to demonstrate his right to power, Thutmose III went ahead and led 17 years of successful campaigns, conquering from North Syria to the south of Nubia (Hayes, 1966). This expansion of the Ancient Egyptian Empire gave way to a steady growth in wealth and his success as a soldier has led to Thutmose III to be coined the “Napoleon of Ancient Egypt” (Cottrell, 1961).