[March 11] Thutmose III, pharaoh of Egypt

Parents: Thutmose II, pharaoh of Egypt, and Iset

House: 18th Dynasty 

Spouse: Satiah, Hatshepsut-Meryetre, Nebtu, Menwi, Menwi, Merti, and Menhet

Reign: 1479 – 1425 BCE

Predecessor: Hatshepsut

Summary: Thutmose III is famous for what he was incapable of stopping: namely his step-mother becoming queen in his stead. Thutmose's early rule was usurped by Hatshepsut, the great royal wife of his father, Pharaoh Thutmose II. While she ruled, he had no power though he remained the nominal pharaoh. During her reign, he was the head of her army. As military head, he was considered a military genius. He expanded Egypt's rule over much of the Near East, crossing the Euphrates at one point. He made Egypt into an international superpower of the time, spreading Egypt's domain from Syria to Nubia (Sudan). Much of the Middle East was in flux during this time, so his armies met little resistance. The king finally assumed his own rule until 1458 BCE and worked to secure his expansion projects.

After his initial conquests, Thutmose went on three expeditions to Palestine and Syria to collect tribute from the local kings. He returned three more times to defeat Phoenician outposts and a Syrian uprising. By his eighth campaign as pharaoh, he was pushing into Persian lands. His tours-of-duty were renown in history and he travelled as much as conquered. Few other Egyptian monarchs could claim such a knowledge of their extended realms. At the age of fifty, the king went personally on campaign in Nubia to the fifth cataract (waterfall) of the Nile. No other Egyptian monarch had travelled so far south. Within Egypt, his reign heralded an age of cultural expansion. The capital at Karnak was expanded and made more magnificent than ever before. The pharaoh died in his fifty-third regnal year leaving a large burial chamber in the Valley of the Kings. His mummy was discovered in 1881 and his tomb in 1898. 

Date of Death: 11 March 1425 BCE

Successor: Amenhotep II

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Elagabalus, emperor of Rome (222)
• Albert III, margrave of Brandenburg (1486)
• Moshoeshoe I, king of Lesotho (1870)