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.