Amenhotep 111 of the 18th Dynasty, his name means 'Amun is Satisfied', was also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent, He ruled over Egypt for almost 40 years, with his vast wealth brought into the country from his Grandfather Tutmosis 111, he built enormous temples and a palace on the West bank.
Amenhotep became king at around the age of 12 after the death of his father Tuthmosis IV, his mother Mutemwia acted as his regent. Early in his reign Amenhotep married for love, the Daughter of a Chariot Officer, who became Queen Tiy. Both Amenhotep's mother and wife join him at the side of his legs on the Colossi of Memnon, these two huge statues originally stood in front of Amenhotep's Mortuary Temple, which was originally the largest Mortuary Temple on the West Bank. The Temple was destroyed by the Nile Floods, an earthquake in 24 BC, and also other kings using his blocks to build their own temples.
Until the Aswan Dam was built to control the Nile floods, the Temple and Colossi were inundated with water every year. The Ancient Greeks gave Amenophis' colossi the name the Colossi of Memnon, as one of the statues would sing at dawn, which at that time was a phenomena, the Greeks thought it was the Goddess Eos crying for her son Agamemnon at Dawn, many people made a pilgrimage to the Colossi, the right foot is covered in graffitti.
Amenhotep also built his palace on the West Bank, the walls of the palace of Malkata, which now lies in ruins, was covered with delicate paintings of animals, flowers and the reed beds of the Nile, it was made of mud brick, which is why it didn't stand the test of time, the desert is littered with it's ruins, when it was completed, it was the largest royal residence in Egypt and was known as Per-Hay "House of Rejoicing'. The area where the Palace stood in the desert close to the Mortuary Temple of Medinet Habu is now known as Malkata, meaning the place where things are picked up in Arabic. The palace was built in the 14th century BC, once completed, it was the largest royal residence in Egypt, Both Amenhoteph's Palace and his Mortuary Temple were linked to the Nile and allowed direct access to the king's new temple at Luxor and the great state temple of Amun at Karnak on his barque 'Aten Sparkles. Amenhotep III described his Mortuary Temple complex as 'a fortress of eternity out of good white sandstone—worked with gold throughout. Its floors were purified with silver, all of its doorways were of electrum,' which is a mix of gold and silver.
When Amenhotep III died, he left behind a country that was at the very height of its power and influence, it was wealthy and stable, his son Akhenaten brought Egypt to the brink of Disaster with his policies and worship of the One God, the Aten. Akhenaten left Malkata Palace and went into the Desert and created a new capital city known as Akhetaten in English transliteration Akhetaten means 'Horizon of the Aten'. After Akhenaten's death his son Tutenhaten changed his name to Tutenkhamun and returned to Weset (luxor) and re-instated the worship of the God Amun Ra.
In 1970 the completion of the Aswan High Dam stopped the Nile's flooding of the Colossi and Mortuary Temple, but irrigation of the near agricultural fields have caused salt water damage instead, so a drainage system was built to minimize the quantity of damaging saltwater reaching the temple site. For over the the last twenty years archaeologists have worked on the land behind the Colossi of Memnon, these colossi seemed to be all that was left of Amenhotep's Mortuary Temple, but amazingly excavations have uncovered this giant head of Amenhotep, and the missing forearm of one of the colossi of Memnon, as well as fragments of the figure’s pleated kilt-like skirt and throne.
There have been many statues of the Goddess Sekhmet found on site, 730 so far, Sekhmet, goddess of transformation, and of solar feminine fire, compassionate healer, the fierce protector of the King is once again sitting imperious, observing the work around her.
A beautiful Alabaster statue of Amenhotep's Royal Wife Tiy, the Grandmother of Tutenkhamun has also been found by Archaeologists. This is Queen Tiy standing at the side of Amenhotep's leg on the Colossi of Memnon.
Part of the building work that Amenhotep created was the large Festival Hall of Luxor Temple which is surrounded by 64 papyrus columns, to be used for the celebrations of the Opet Festival each year just before the flood season when Egyptians eagerly anticipated the coming of Akhet, the flooding season. Meaning 'inundation,' Akhet was the all-important time when the Nile’s floodwaters replenished the land and restored Egypt’s fertility. This time of joyous renewal was also when ancient Egypt held one of its most spectacular and most mysterious festivals: the Feast of Opet. where both the King & Egypt were symbolically renewed. To the rear of the temple behind the Festival hall are Chapels, I walked through a doorway into a suite of rooms that represent the bedroom of Amun where the festival rituals took place, and here the pharaoh retired to the Birth Room, from which he would later emerge symbolically re-born and restored. The statues of the king’s ka were no longer on display because the ka was now believed to have taken residence in the pharaoh’s body. Reliefs in the birth room represent Amon choosing the Queen Mutemweje to give birth to his Divine son. He sent Thoth with the message to the queen and ordered Khnum to create an image of himself on his potter’s wheel. The fingers of the god Amun are shown to touch those of the queen She awoke because of the god’s scent and cried out with pleasure before his majesty. … She rejoiced at the sight of his beauty, and love of him suffused her body. …'How great is your power!'… Your dew permeates all my limbs,' and so the boy child Amenhotep was born into the world created by Amun and then crowned as the King. I realized the similarity of this sequence of events of this ancient Egyptian relief as it compares to our Christmas story of the angel coming to visit Mary to tell her that she will give birth to the son of God. As the Royal scribe Ani said; 'God reveals himself in millions of forms'
