Dazzling Nebmaatre: Amenhotep III and the Age of Opulence—Part I
The long and glorious history of ancient Egypt gave the world an array of pharaohs whose qualities spanned the entire spectrum of human emotions and achievements: the builders, the warriors, the pious, the ruthless—even a monotheist—yet, few could match the zenith attained by Amenhotep III, the Magnificent.
The story of this peerless monarch began in peculiar fashion when his father, while still a young prince, had a stirring encounter with the Great Sphinx in a dream. The fascinating account, recorded on the Dream Stele located between the paws of the inscrutable creature provides a background to how he went on to assume the throne of Egypt, despite not being the designated Crown Prince. One day, weary after an exhilarating hunting trip, the prince, an offspring of Amenhotep II and Queen Tiaa decided to rest in the shade of the Sphinx, which was at the time engulfed by the desert sand up to its neck.
As he drifted into a deep slumber, Re-Harakhte the sun god embodied in the Sphinx appeared to him and made a request and a promise: “The world shall be thine in its length and in its breadth, as far as the light of the eye of the lord of the universe shines. The sand of the district in which I have my existence has covered me up. Promise me that thou wilt do what I wish in my heart; then shall I know whether thou art my son, my helper. Go forward: let me be united to thee.” The lad faithfully followed the divine orders and went on to become Menkheperure Thutmose IV, the fourth king of his name in the Eighteenth Dynasty.
