Amenhotep III - London, England, UK
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 51° 31.131 W 000° 07.573
30U E 699376 N 5711441
Amenhotep III ruled Egypt during prosperous times. He was the father of the infamous Akhenaton who abandoned the Egyptian traditional religion.
Waymark Code: WMDH0F
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/15/2012
Views: 9
This sculpture is located in the British Museum which does not charge an admission fee and DOES permit no-flash photography. The British Museum's website indicates that the piece is life-sized...but that is questionable...it seems larger. It depicts the Pharoah seated formally, feet and fingers aligned straight ahead. He wears a Pharoah's tradional head dress and a loin cloth...and appears to have a lsight smile.
The website (
visit link) adds:
"These statues were removed from their original location by Belzoni, and one of the statues bears his name crudely carved into the back of the foot.
Many of the statues in the collection were moved from their original locations by he Italian adventurer G.B. Belzoni. Around the turn of the century most European countries had representatives in Egypt attempting to remove as much as they could. The damage done to the monuments at this time is incalculable. Statues and Obelisks were shipped out in large numbers, and plasterwork and reliefs were removed from several tombs, with the Valley of the Kings being particularly badly affected. No one can visit the tomb of Amenhotep II without being saddened by the large areas of reliefs hacked out by French 'mining speculation'."
Another Museum webpage (
visit link) gives this biography:
"Amenhotep III was the son and successor of Thutmose IV. The supposed divine nature of his birth is represented in a series of reliefs inside the Luxor Temple.
He inherited a vast empire, stretching from Syria to the Fifth Cataract of the Nile in Sudan, maintained through trade and diplomacy. Several of his wives were foreign princesses, married for diplomatic reasons. His chief wife, Tiye, was from a wealthy non-royal family.
Amenhotep III's reign was a time of wealth and stability. His only recorded military campaign was early in his reign, against Nubia, perhaps securing the supply of gold to Egypt. He possibly undertook more building projects than even Ramesses II; they included the Serapeum at Saqqara, the Temple of Luxor and additions to the Temple of Karnak. He also had a palace and boating lake built at Malkata, and his mortuary temple on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes. There are probably more statues of this king than any other. He also subsidised glass, faience and jewellery workshops.
His tomb is located in the valley to the west of the Valley of the Kings. His body has not been identified with certainty, but may have been among those re-buried in the tomb of Amenhotep II. The body in question suffered from ill health and obesity in later life."
The placard at the site identifies the statue as Amenophis III...but Wikipedia (
visit link) indicates that this is an alternative rendering of the Pharoah's name.