THE KINGDOMS IN ANCIENT EGYPT

DYNASTIES IN ANCIENT EGYPT

The end of Dynasty XVIII is unusual-beginning with Tutankhamen, three successive kings of the Amarna Period died leaving no children. Aye (1325-1321 BC), who had followed Akhenaten to el Amarna, succeeded Tutankhamen as king at about the age of 60. A. He married Ankhesenamen, Tutankhamen's widow. He also appropriated Tutankhamen's tomb in the West Valley, a spur of the Valley of the Kings. Tutankhamen chose the West Valley because his grandfather, Amenhotep III, was buried there, and he wanted to distance himself from his heretic father, Akhenaten. Aye's tomb-and sarcophagus-is like Tutankhamen's, probably anod to the latter's popularity. One wall has a painting of baboons as in Tutankhamen's tomb, probably made by the same artist. Ankhesenamen does not appear on the walls of Aye's tomb. Eventually his tomb, like so many others, was robbed. His successor, Horemheb (1321-1293 BC), also childless, was a law-and order pharaoh.He began his career as commander of the army under Amenhotep III, and his career probably foundered during the reign of Akhenaten. He was King's Deputy under Tutankhamen. He married Mutnedjemet, "Sweet Mother," perhaps Nefertiti's sister. Horemheb was a throwback to the centralizing tendency of the Egyptian past.

He counted his reign from the death of Amenhotep III, as though previous pharaohs never existed.Thus, the heretical period spanning from Akhenaten to Aye didn't "exist"-he was rewriting history. The names of Akhenaten, Tutankhamen, and Aye are simply missing from the kings lists. A minor king, Smenkare, also "disappears" from the record. Many new policies were instituted during Horemheb's reign. Priests were taken into the army to cement military-state relations.
He established two commanders of the army-one for the South and one for the North. Horemheb also instituted many building projects for his own glory. To build the ninth pylon-a huge gateway-at Karnak, he tore down Akhenaten's temples and reused the blocks as fill for the pylon. Ironically, he thus preserved Akhenaten's temples, though in altered form.

He usurped Tutankhamen's monuments. Everywhere he found Tutankhamen's name, he erased it and carved his own. Tutankhamen had erected a "restoration stela" at Karnak. The stela says that all across Egypt, the statues of the gods had been melted down, weeds were growing in the temples, and the military was no longer respected-Akhenaten had allowed the country to collapse. What did Tutankhamen really think of criticizing his own father's
reign? Horemheb, as soon as he became king, changed Tutankhamen's name on the stela to his own. Tutankhamen, under advice from Aye, had also inscribed the Luxor Colonnade with scenes of the most sacred religious festival of Opet. Once a year, the sacred statues of the gods at Karnak were taken to
nearby Luxor for a festival. Tutankhamen's inscription was a reminder of his respect for tradition. The names of Tutankhamen here, too, were replaced with Horemheb's. Everything of Tutankhamen's was wiped away. Horemheb's Saqquara tomb shows his military career during Tutankhamen's reign, including the Syrian and Libyan campaigns. When he became king, however, he sent sculptors to alter his image at Saqquara so that it displayed the royal cobra on his forehead. His real tomb in the Valley of the Kings (KV 57) was discovered by Theodore Davis in 1908. It contained wooden fgures, symbols of royal
power, similar to those found later in Tutankhamen's tomb. Horemheb was the traditionalist, recalling Egypt to her great past. Such was the end of Dynasty XVIII. Because Horemheb had no heirs, the question again arose: Who would be the next king of Egypt?

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