Egypt: The Golden Empire
The Warrior Pharaohs
1. Describe the situation in Egypt in the year 1560BCE.
-end of 150 years of Hyksos rule
-country was divided
2. What motivated the Thebans to rebel against Hyksos rule?
-the Hysksos sent messages in secret to the Nubians asking them to band together to defeat the Thebans as a unified force
3. What finally ended the conflict?
--Ahmose beats them at the age of 20
-dismissed them from Egypt
4. Why is Ahmose’s victory to historically significant?
-re-unification of Egypt
-Egypt is back---beginning moment
-Credits Amon-Re for his victory
5. How did Hatshepsut transform the city of Thebes?
-obelisks—30 metres tall: single piece of granite
-defining monuments of New Kingdom
-temples-beautiful
6. Describe her career.
-husband died—stepson came to throne too young
-ruled as co-regent
-declared herself pharaoh
-ambitious? Or politically good for Egypt?
7. How did she try to legitimize her reign?
-dominated her entire reign
-stressed the fact that she was the doctor of a king
-dgt of Tuthmosis I
-put words into his mouth---claiming he had proclaimed her as his successor
-said she was the dgt of Amon
-depicted as a male pharaoh
-mortuary temple: lavish---amazing feat of architecture
-carved reliefs on temple propaganda
8. What motivated Hatshepsut to send the army to Punt?
-get the army out of Egypt
-lose war: she is to blame win a war: who needs a woman pharaoh
-get Tuthmosis out of town
-sets her apart as the pharaoh who can deliver the exotic
-opened up Egypt to the world.
9. Why was incense to important to Egyptians?
-incense in a temple---god/dess embodied the incense—you were smelling the aroma of a god/dess
10. How did Tuthmosis III try to remove Hatshepsut from history?
-prove her to be illegitimate ruler
-obelisks taken down
-has her name removed from every public record---chiselled off
-defaces her temple
-all evidence or her reign was removed
11. Describe his military exploits
-responds to threats on the borders—pushed the rulers of these towns out and took over their towns
-multiple campaigns over many years
-huge recruiting campaign to expand the size of the army
-20,000 soldiers
-scribes wrote it all down
-conquer Megido—conquer the whole area—the princes of the area were there.
-after an initial victory—plunder and army hesitates
-then they had to lay siege---starve them out for 7 months
Pharaohs of the Sun
1. What challenges did Amenhotep III face when he took the throne?
-protect the peace and prosperity.
-ruling the sprawling empire
2. How did he maintain his empire without resorting to war?
-diplomacy
-wrote letters to her rivals
-received tribute from smaller states to ensure good relations
-larger nations set up ambassadors to Egypt
3. What did Egypt have that the other kings in the Near East wanted?
-gold
4. How do royal marriages serve diplomatic purposes?
-makes the great kings of the near east “brothers”
-not a two way process: no Egyptian princesses was allowed to marry into a foreigner court because it would give them a potential claim to the throne.
5. How did Amenhotep III’s temple building project increase the power of the priest of Amon-Re?
-king of gods, donated wealth to the main temple and it grew richer and the priests grew more powerful
-priests get financial and political power
-rivals pharaoh’s power—high priest more powerful than pharaoh
6. What was a “news scarab” and how were they used?
-way of communicating direct with his subjects
-mass produced portable scarabs that are inscribed with his achievement
-rapid dispersion of information
7. How was the relationship between Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye unusual?
-commoner
-daughter of a chariot officer
-strong woman—near equal to pharaoh
8. Why did Amenhotep IV shift his religious allegiance to Aton?
-maybe to wrestle control from the high priests of Amon-Re at Karnak
9. What changes did he oversee in:
a. art?—natural realistic painting---odd depiction of royal family—celebration of ugliness
b. Religion?-closed the temples of Amon-Re and reomoved the priests
-worship one god---Aton and he would be the only priest of Aton
-later he began to persecute the followers of Amon-Re
-chiseled the name of Amon-Re everywhere
-became a religious fanaticism
10.What did his new name Akhenaton mean?
-one who is beneficial to the Aton
12. Why did he move the capital to Amarna?
-break with the past
-the site was pointed out to him by the Aton
-escaped influence of the high priests in Thebes
13. What role did Queen Nefretiti play in his reign?
-she conducted the ceremonies to Aton
-seems to have been the near equal—very prominent
14. What happened after his death in ca. 1536BCE?
-all work on the tombs in his city ceased
-the city emptied
-traditional forces returned to power
-moved back to Thebes
15. How was the young King Tut manipulated by the military and religious leaders?
-he was only 9 and the high ranking officials seized controlled
16. What immediate changes were made after Tutankamon began his reign?
-changed his name
-moved back to Thebes
-reinstated the worship of Amon-Re and restored the priests of Karnak
-return of the old order
-power of priests
-relegated the Aton as a minor god that no one spoke of
-when he was finally able to rule on his own at 19, he dies—may have been murdered
16. Was Akenaton a kook or a rebel with a just cause?
-both.