Ancient History

In 1972, thieves stole an eye belonging to a statue of the Pharaoh Amenhotep III. The eye was passed to an antiquities dealer in the United States, only to be auctioned off soon there after. It was purchased by a German antiques dealer, and then ended up in a museum in Switzerland. Dr. Zahi Hawass, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Council, has announced that the eye will be returned to Egypt with no stipulations attached.

Amenhotep III was a Pharaoh of the 18^th dynasty of ancient Egypt. He was known for his building achievements and his reign was said to be one of prosperity. He isn’t quite as famous today as his grandson, King Tut, but in his day he was seen as one of the greatest Pharaohs to rule the kingdom.

It seems that Amenhotep III gained the throne between the ages of 6 and 12. There is some debate as to who his regent was until he was old enough to rule on his own, but it was either his mother or the family of his chief wife, Tiy. It is thought that this Pharaoh ruled Egypt for nearly 40 years.

Amenhotep III was one of the first Pharaohs to “market” himself. Any time he and his entourage would do anything such as weddings, hunting parties, or religious rites, he would send out heralds with inscribed stone scarabs for all the kingdom to witness. A sort of early form of newspaper writing. He is also given credit for redesigning the temple at Karnak and for the building of the temple of Luxor.

Later in his life, Amenhotep III saw himself as the sun god Ra and several stamped seals have been found from his reign bearing inscriptions claiming to be “the gleaming Aten”. After his death, the kingdom fell to his son, Akhenaten, who would later become known as “the heretic king” due to his claiming that there was only one god to be worshipped; the Aten.

Alexander the Great was so named because of his military achievements. From the age of about 16 on, he rode into battle with his father on a horse that no other man could tame. When his father died in 336 BC, it was the army that named Alexander as king. In an effort to continue his father’s dream of conquest, the young king began a 13-year military campaign that is still seen as unequaled.

He began with conquering the surrounding city-states of Greece, including Thebes and Athens. However, soon afterward, the Thebans revolted and fought against the Macedonians as fiercely as they could. This cause Alexander and his troops to completely decimate the city and selling all Theban civilians into slavery.

Once he had secured his place as king of the Greeks, he moved on to the prize he really wanted. To conquer Persia and defeat it’s king, Darius III. In 333 BC, Alexander and his men met the Persian army led by Darius himself. In the ensuing battle, Darius was forced to flee, leaving his entire family behind. Though Alexander had taken the family as prisoners of war, he treated them with all the hospitality attributed to royalty.

It would be another 2 years before Alexander and Darius would meet at what would be called the Battle of Gaugamela. This was a place of Darius’ choosing, thinking that the area would be to his advantage. He had also managed to gather an army of about 100,000 men from all over the Persian Empire. In the end, Darius was again forced to flee. Though Alexander tried to chase him down, Darius managed to elude the Macedonian army. Before Alexander had a chance to face him in battle again, one of Darius’ generals killed the king and had himself proclaimed the new Persian ruler, Artaxerxes V.

By 329 BC, both Artaxerxes V and his successor had been killed by their own men, leaving Alexander to claim the title of King of Asia. From there, Alexander turned his attentions to India. He invited tribal leaders to fall before him, but most refused. Though he conquered many regions rather quickly, in 326 BC he faced a new opponent at the Battle of Hydaspes in the Punjab region of the continent.

The Indian military, and their king, Porus, fought valiantly. They employed elephants in their ranks, in hopes of scaring the horses of the Macedonians. However, after a battle which caused serious casualties on both sides, the Macedonians surrounded the Indian troops, who surrendered almost immediately.

Because Alexander had come to admire the Indian king, he spared his life and allowed him to continue ruling the region. Though Alexander wanted to move further into the Indian interior, his soldiers had had enough. They knew that the armies in those areas were even stronger than the one they had just faced. Plus, it had been years since they had been home and wanted to again see their families. Alexander finally ceded and turned for home.

Though there were a few minor scuffles along the way, this was to be Alexander’s last major battle. On a stop-over in Babylon, Alexander the Great died just before his 33^rd birthday. There is much speculation as to how the Macedonian king died, but death was the one battle that Alexander could not win.