Amenemhat III

Found in: History of Israel

Amenemhat III, alt. Amenemhet III, (c. 1860 BC-1814 BC) was a pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from ca.1860 BC to ca.1814 BC, the latest known date being found in a papyrus dated to Regnal Year 46, I Akhet 22 of his rule. He is regarded as the greatest monarch of the Middle Kingdom. He may have had a long coregency (of 20 years) with his father, Sesostris III.Kim S. B. Ryholt, The Political Situation in Egypt During the Second Intermediate Period, C. 1800-1550 B.C., Museum Tusculanum Press 1997, pp.211f.

Towards the end of his reign he instituted a coregency with his successor Amenemhet IV, as recorded in a now damaged rock inscription at Konosso in Nubia, which equates Year 1 of Amenemhet IV to either Year 46, 47 or 48 of his reign.Kim S. B. Ryholt, The Political Situation in Egypt During the Second Intermediate Period, C. 1800-1550 B.C., Museum Tusculanum Press 1997, p.212 His daughter, Sobekneferu, later succeeded Amenemhat IV, as the last ruler of the 12th Dynasty. Amenemhat III's throne name, Nimaatre, means "Belonging to the Justice of Re."

He built a first pyramid at Dahshur (the so-called "Black Pyramid") but there were building problems and this was abandoned.Miroslav Verner, ''The Pyramids: The Mystery, Culture, and Science of Egypt's Great Monuments, Grove Press 2002, p.427 Around Year 15 of his reign the king decided to build a new pyramid at Hawara.Ivan Van Sertima, Egypt Revisited, Transaction Publishers 1989, p.109 The pyramid at Dahshur was used as burial ground for several royal women.

His mortuary temple at Hawara (near the Fayum), is accompanied by a pyramid and was known to Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus as the "Labyrinth."Miroslav Verner, The Pyramids: The Mystery, Culture, and Science of Egypt's Great Monuments'', Grove Press 2002, p.428 Strabo praised it as a wonder of the world. The king's pyramid at Hawara contained some of the most complex security features of any found in Egypt and is perhaps the only one to come close to the sort of tricks Hollywood associates with such structures. Nevertheless, the king's burial was robbed in antiquity. His daughter, Neferuptah, was buried in a separate pyramid (discovered in 1956) 2km southwest of the king's.Nagib Farag, Zaky Iskander, The Discovery of Neferwpta, 1971, p.103

The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus is thought to have been originally composed during Amenemhat's time.Marshall Clagett, Ancient Egyptian Science: A Source Book, 1989, p.113

Other names:

Ammenemes

Lamares, Ameres (According to Manetho)

Moeris

References

W. Grajetzki, The Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt: History, Archaeology and Society'', Duckworth, London 2006 ISBN 0-7156-3435-6, 58-61