Thutmose III Rises: Egypt's Golden Age Begins

A child inherited the throne of the most powerful empire on earth, and a woman ruled in his place for two decades. Thutmose III became pharaoh around 1479 BC upon the death of his father, Thutmose II, but he was far too young to govern. His stepmother and aunt, Hatshepsut, assumed the role of regent and within a few years declared herself pharaoh, adopting the full royal titulary and even the false beard of kingship in official representations. She ruled Egypt for approximately twenty-two years, one of the longest and most prosperous reigns of any pharaoh. Hatshepsut's regency-turned-reign was unprecedented but not entirely without precedent in Egyptian political culture. Queens had wielded power before, but none had claimed the title of pharaoh outright. Her legitimacy rested on a combination of royal blood, political skill, and the support of key officials, particularly the steward Senenmut, who oversaw her ambitious building program. Her mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri, carved into the cliffs of the Theban necropolis, remains one of Egypt's most stunning architectural achievements. When Hatshepsut died around 1458 BC, Thutmose III finally assumed sole power at roughly age 30 and immediately launched a military career that would earn him the title "Napoleon of Egypt." His first campaign, culminating in the Battle of Megiddo against a coalition of Canaanite and Syrian city-states, demonstrated the tactical brilliance he had presumably been developing during his long subordination. Over seventeen campaigns, he extended Egyptian control to the Euphrates River in the north and deep into Nubia in the south, creating the largest empire Egypt had ever known. Late in his reign, Thutmose ordered the erasure of Hatshepsut's name and image from many monuments, a campaign of damnatio memoriae whose motives remain debated. Some scholars see personal revenge for decades of sidelined authority. Others argue it was a pragmatic move to ensure an orderly succession for his own son. The defacement was thorough but incomplete, and modern archaeology has restored much of what Thutmose tried to erase, revealing Hatshepsut as one of ancient Egypt's most capable rulers.