And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of
Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign
over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to
build the house of the LORD.
1 Kings 6:1
Depending on which chronology one uses it takes you back to either 1446 B.C. or 1450 B.C.
Amosis I
Led a successful rebellion of Upper Egypt (the south with its capital at Thebes) against the Hyksos. (Rulers still holding Lower Egypt in the north and of Semitic stock). Remember that a new Pharoah rose up in Egypt who knew not the Hebrews....could that be the rise of a new dynasty? It would explain why they hated the Hebrews who were also of Semetic stock.
Amenhotep I
Expanded the temple at karnak. His is the only royal mummy not unwrapped by archaeologists becasue of the style of his facemask.
Thutmosis I
Was the first king to be buried in the famous Valley of the Kings. Built fortresses along the southern border and exanded military conquests into Mesopotamia.
Thutmosis II
Ruled only a short while and was co-ruler with his half sister Hatshepsut. His mother was a lesser wife, not the queen wife.
Hatshepsut
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| Hatshepsut? |
Female Pharoah of Egypt who assumed full reign when her half brother, Thutmosis II, whom she was forced to marry, died. She was the daughter of Thutmosis I & his queen wife.
She had no children of her own. So could she have been the "princess" who found and raised Moses? Also, notice that the name "mosis" was popular at this time. This would explain why Moses was being groomed to be a Pharoah in the kings court. But Hatshepsut eventually had to end with another co-reign with the young son of Thutmosis II, Thutmosis III.
Thutmosis III
Known in Egyptology as the "Napoleon of ancient Egypt" for his conquests, especially throughout the Levant, Syria and into Anatolia (modern day Turkey). He was the son of Thutmosis II by a women not his wife (which was his co-ruling half sister hatshepsut).
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| Thutmosis III |
When Hatshepsut died Thutmosis III assumed the throne in full control. This could explain why when Moses heard that Pharoah had died (while hiding in Midian) that he was afraid to return to face Pharoah. The Pharoah that died would have been his adopted mother Hatshepsut. And with Thutmosis III reigning alone now, he would of been afraid to face him. Likely they would have been rivals in their youth training for the throne. Thutmosis III clearly would have considered Moses a threat to the throne.
Thutmosis III is the reign where the Egyptian book of the dead was completed-which took their paganism over into outright occultism & spiritualism.
Since Thutmosis III took their religion to new heights against the God of heaven & was the most powerful militarily of all the pharoahs, it would also seem likely that this would be the pharoah which God would challenge-both personally and their religion. Since God is no pansy-He would logically tackle the biggest boy on the block to make His case. There was no one bigger in Egyptian history than Thutmosis III.
Also since 1972, it has been known that his mummy isn't his. Thutmosis III would have been between his early 70's to mid 80's when he died. His mummy is around his early 40's. So the question is WHY? Could it be that his mummy was washed away in the Red Sea. Since the soul was believed to transmigrate from the pyramid, it is logical they put another in his place with the hopes that his soul would find its way to that soul then begin its ascent. Sort of like a place holder.
"The last day of the 3rd month of the 2nd season...
He mounted to heaven, he joined the sun:
the divine limbs mingled with him who begat him."
This would correspond to March 17, 1450 B.C.
Amenhotep II
Was the 2nd oldest son. He had been serving as a high priest for Lower Egypt in Memphis. So what happened to the oldest son? Young Amenhotep had been away crushing a revolt in Syria for his father. We know that he went around burning villages across Egypt in a fit of rage. Why? Could it be that when he returned home with the army, he found his father had died in the Red Sea, his older brother & heir to the throne dead, his own eldest son dead, the Hebrew slave labor gone, Egypt in shambles after the 10 plagues, a large part of the army gone in the Red Sea, some of his own people leaving with the slaves as the "mixed multitude", and his Egyptian gods humiliated. So he was likely burning the villages left behind by the Hebrews.
Thutmosis IV
Thutmosis IV was also not the 1st born. He was the 2nd born. He would later make up the dream stela to explain why. He claimed that their gods promised to make him pharoah instead if he removed the sand building up around the Sphinx. "Scholars" think that maybe he had his brother done away with so as to inherit the throne. But how about his older brother had died as a child in the palace of his grandfather during the 10 plagues......?
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| Dream Stela at the Sphinx |
Amenhotep III
Was the reign where Egyptian economic prosperity reached its peak. Had the Luxor temple built.
Akhenaten
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| Akhenaten & Nefertiti playing with their daughters |
Originally known as Amenhotep IV but changed his name to relfect his new religion.
It would be logical that something like the 10 plagues and the Exodus would have had a major impact on the psyche & religion of the nation. Enter Akhenaten.....
He began a new religion centered on ONE god. This god was represented by the sun disk, but the images carried warning not to worship the image or the sun-for the image was considered to be just a symbol for the new religion. This god above the sun was considered the only true god and thus all other religions and gods were banned. Akhenaten even built a new capital named Amarna for the religion. He also had a pillar with part of a quotation from the writings of Moses. Since the states of Palestine were technically tributaries of Egypt, it is easy for them to have had contact.
Obviously there would have been an internal simmering of resentment to the losing gods of Egypt that could have boiled over after a few decades when a leader was found for the movement. Could have been as simple as a tutor planting the seeds in the mind of a young pharoah with stories of the God of the Red Sea crossing. But who knows.....
So was this monotheistic "god" of Akhenaten the worship of the Hebrew God, or an attempt to worship Him, but not in the same way? Or was it just a totally pagan religion that happened to be monotheistic. We'll let you decide for yourself...
His famous queen was Nefertiti.
Smenkhkare & Neferneferuaten
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| Painted bust of Nefertiti discovered in Amarna in 1912 |
The theories as to who Smenkhkare was are all over the palce including a male, a female, a general, a legitimate hir, etc. Some are not sure if this pharoah actually ruled or not.
As for Neferneferuaten, there is confusion, but some believe it was Nefertiti ruling for a short while as a female pharoah after the death of her husband, Akhenaten.
Tutankhamun
His origianal name was Tutankhaten, reflecting his fathers new religion. But soon after assuming the throne he changed his name, and restored the old religion. The capital city of Akhenaten was closed and left to the desert sands of time. He was also known to the west as the young, short lived King Tut.
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| Mummy of King Tut on Tour |