Usksider mentioned that I might like to blog some of the campaigns of my favourite pharaoh Tuthmosis III.

What is so remarkable for me about this particular pharaoh is that he was never defeated in any battle!

In year 24 of his reign, (which is how the ancient Egyptians calculated time) the famous battle of Megiddo took place. The Annals of Tuthmosis III describes how the treasures of Megiddo were moved to Egypt after the defeat of the city and we are told that in year 25 of his reign the pharaoh built a botanical garden in Karnak temple to commemorate this campaign. Another of his famous battles was the Battle of Kadesh in year 29-32 of his reign.

Here is a picture of the Annals of Tuthmosis III at Karnak:

annals of tuthmosis III

Tuthmosis was remarkable in many ways. He was the first pharaoh to use sea-power to carry out his attacks and also to cross the Euphrates. His dedicated troops even carried boats across land in order to carry out these military campaigns.

To stop rebellions he had a rather different approach to simply attacking and killing the male population and taking the women and children as slaves. Instead Tuthmosis took male members of certain families hostage and taught them Egyptian culture and language in order to increase their loyalty to him. This meant that the rulers of the city states of Syria and Palestine became servants to Egypt.

Tuthmosis III was the first Egyptian pharaoh to take his army as far as he did, thus spreading Egyptian culture.

Also for the first time in Egyptian history, bows are listed among captured items. In the Annals of Tuthmosis we are told that in year 35, bows were taken as booty and these are believed to have come from Syria. In Northern Syria during one of his campaigns, he organised an elephant hunt in which he killed 120 elephants using the bow and arrow!

Tuthmosis III was definitely an archer pharaoh!

actor - tuthmosis III