Thutmose III

Thutmose III
Tuthmosis III
Thutmosis III statue in Luxor Museum
Pharaoh
Reign	1479–1425 BC (Eighteenth Dynasty)
Predecessor	Hatshepsut (aunt & step-mother)
Successor	Amenhotep II (Son)
Royal titulary
Consort	Satiah, Hatshepsut-Meryetre, Nebtu, Menwi, Merti, Menhet, Nebsemi
Children	Amenemhat, Amenhotep II, Beketamun, Iset, Menkheperre, Meryetamun, Meryetamun, Nebetiunet, Nefertiri, Siamun
Father	Thutmose II
Mother	Iset
Born	1481 BC
Died	1425 BC (aged 56)
Burial	KV34
Monuments	Cleopatra's Needle

A fragment of a wall block.
The hieroglyphs 'Son of Ra' are over the cartouche of the birth-name of Thutmos III. 18th Dynasty. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London

Thutmose III (Thutmose means "Thoth is born") was the sixth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty.

Thutmose III was pharaoh in name for almost 54 years (24 April 1479 BC to 11 March 1425 BC) from the age of two and until his death at age fifty-six.

For the first 22 years of his reign, he was coregent with his stepmother and aunt, Hatshepsut. She was also pharaoh, and probably the actual ruler for the first part of his reign. During the final two years of his reign, he appointed his son and successor, Amenhotep II, as his junior co-regent. His firstborn son and heir to the throne, Amenemhat, died before Thutmose III.

As the sole ruler of the kingdom after the deaths of Thutmose II and Hatshepsut, he created the largest empire Egypt ever had. 17 campaigns were conducted. He conquered lands from the Niya Kingdom in northern Syria to the Fourth Cataract of the Nile in Nubia.

Whether the Egyptian empire covered even more areas is less specific. Earlier Egyptologists, most recently Ed. Meyer believed that Thutmose had also subjugated the islands of the Aegean Sea. This can no longer be upheld today. Conquest of Mesopotamia is unthinkable; whether tribute sent from Alashia Cyprus was more than occasional gifts

When Thutmose III died, he was buried in the Valley of the Kings. Other kings from this period in Egypt were also buried there.