On The Trail Of The Mysterious Crown Prince Thutmose: The King Who Was Not To Be – Part I
Amenhotep IV, the youngest-known son of Pharaoh Nebmaatre Amenhotep III-heqa-Waset, ascended the throne at the height of Egypt’s golden age. The seeds for that efflorescent era of the Eighteenth Dynasty were sown under their great ancestor, Menkheperre Thutmose III, regarded in modern times as ‘the Napoleon of Egypt’. The junior Amenhotep was an unlikely successor, having been thrust into the spotlight owing to the untimely demise of his elder brother and designated Crown Prince, Thutmose, in the third and final decade of Amenhotep III’s stupendous reign.
Limestone relief of Crown Prince Thutmose standing behind his father, Amenhotep III, in the role of high priest. Saqqara. Neues Museum, Berlin. (Merja Attia)
Thutmose was certainly groomed from childhood to one day take over the reins of power when his father became one with the gods. A limestone relief from the Shrine of Apis at Saqqara, now at the Neues Museum, Berlin, shows the prince standing behind the pharaoh making offerings in the role of High Priest of Ptah at Memphis, known anciently as Men-nefer.
