Egypt’s Golden Age • 1

Egypt’s Golden Age

Powerful Pharaoh’s and the Choices that Shaped Egypt

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A ncient Egypt has fascinated the minds of millions

throughout history as we’ve come to learn about how the

ancient Egyptians lived and what they believed in. Our

movies are filled with archaeologists searching for lost

tombs and hidden treasures, finding mummies and being

haunted by curses. What fascinates us the most are the

lives of the Pharaoh’s, the vast lands they controlled and

the many great cities they built and left behind. The ques-

tion puzzling archaeologists and historians alike in modern

days is; how did Egypt fall from power, was it caused by

some catastrophe or was it due to the choices of the phar-

aohs? The choices of the pharaohs directly affected and

shaped Egypt and it’s economy through war, famine and

religion.

Positive Action

The pharaoh who had quite possibly the most positive

influence in Egypt’s Golden Age was Thutmose III, who

reigned from 1479-1426 BCE during the eighteenth dynas-

ty. He was a great statesman, highly skilled hunter and

warrior and never tired of boasting of his achievements,

records of which still exist today. His war campaigns

brought the Egyptian empire to the height of its strength

by conquering all of Syria, crossing the river Euphrates to

fight and ultimately defeat the Mitannians, and then cross-

ing over the Nile into the Sudan and claiming many territo-

ries there (Dorman and Drower, “Thutmose III”). In a war

campaign, the pharaoh brought home much “booty and

tribute from the king's conquests enabled him to carry out

an extensive building program and to establish new feasts

and special offerings. He built more than fifty temples—

some attested only by written sources—not only in Egypt

but also in Nubia and Palestine (Redford, “Thutmose III”,

Oxford Encyclopedia).” After the death of his wife Hat-

shepsut, he became and even more formidable opponent

on the battlefield and began a fierce set of campaigns

against the Nubian and Levantine powers to be.

Negative Action

Amenhotep IV began his reign 1353-1336 BCE during the

eighteenth dynasty in ancient Egypt and quickly became

one of Egypt’s most controversial rulers. Also known as

the heretical king, he quickly began to make big changes in

Ancient Egypt that had many negative effects on the na-

tion as a whole. Even more famous than his decisions for

his empire, Amenhotep IV was married to the very beauti-

ful Nefertiti and his son who succeeded him was the boy

king Tutankhamen. The moment Amenhotep IV came into

power he began to make, “sweeping changes in the

spheres of religion, architecture and art (Dorman,

“Akhenaton”).” He found that he did not like the god

Amon and decided to create a temple dedicated to the

god Aton, or the sun god, and changed the human form

2 • Egypt’s Golden Age

into simply a sun disc. From this he chose to change

his name from Amenhotep, which had the name of

the god Amon he disliked, to Akhenaton after the god

of the sun Aton and required all of Egypt to pray to

this one god, instead of the many they did for centu-

ries.

Controversy

Religion is not the only thing Akhenaton decided to

change; he made drastic changes to the design of art

and architecture, elongating the faces and depicting

the men with large hips and round bellies. Another

great change was the personal touches that Akhena-

ton and his wife Nefertiti put in their tombs, depic-

tions of them playing with and kissing their children

on the mouth. This kind of private look into the lives

of the pharaohs had never been depicted in any oth-

er lifetime of previous pharaohs. It was also consid-

ered controversial, for the ancient Egyptians believed

that the pharaohs were God’s on Earth and yet here

they are acting like normal men.

Probably one of the most controversial things Akhe-

naton did besides changing his name, religion, art and

architecture, was to move the nations capital north

around 200 miles of Thebes to a new capital that he

built and called after himself-Akhetaton (Dorman,

“Akhenaton”). All of the aristocracy, builders, paint-

ers, sculptors, priests and so forth all had to pack up

their lives and move to this new city with the pharaoh

and his family. This caused much havoc as thousands

had to abandon their homes, tombs they were build-

ing, farms and lives in Thebes. Akhenaton ignored

the plight and needs of the people in the distant

lands Egypt controlled, including the needs of his own

people. Egypt’s riches, prosperity and lands began to

fall apart and to struggle with famine and neglect

from the disinterest of a pharaoh that was far away

from his people.

After the death of Akhenaton, the people of this new

capital abandoned the city, religion and lifestyle that

was previously adopted during his lifetime. Much had

changed in the ancient Egyptian landscape that

“when Akenhaten died, he left his country in a bad

state. His experiment at Amarna was over. His reli-

gious extremism had left his dynasty, country and

empire staring disaster in the face” (“Egypt’s Golden

Empire,” PBS.org). So unpopular and controversial

were the decisions of this heretic king, the people of

ancient Egypt sought destroy all references to Akhe-

naton including both his monuments and any and all

cartouches depicting his name or his actions. His son

Tutankhamen’s reign was very short and shrouded in

mystery, for there isn’t much known about him and

his reign other than the fact that he came to power

very young and also died very young. What he’s more

famous for are for the many riches that were found

in his tomb in the late 1800s, which was found intact

and hadn’t been robbed. His father’s memory was all

but erased and his reign was short, filled with a time

where ancient Egyptians were busy eradicating every-

thing his father Akhenaton believed and did.

However, just because his great grandfather made

good choices for the people of Egypt, Akhenaton

chose to go his own way and in doing so he brought

much confusion and ruin to Egypt. The drastic chang-

es in both the religion and in the location of the capi-

tal removed people from the whole of both their be-

liefs and from their family homes and tombs. These

types of changes were the type of changes that sit at

the fundamental core of most people; their religion

and their families home were at the very core of most

ancient Egyptians.

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Egypt’s Golden Age • 3

What We Choose

The choices of Thutmose III were in the interest of

Egypt’s economy, wealth, food and lands, he fought to

expand ancient Egypt and to bring home many riches to

his nation. His experience in both war and in matters of

state benefited Egypt and brought the nation into a time

of prosperity. Through his war campaigns, Thutmose III

was able to bring back many riches from his conquered

foreign nations. Three generations of Pharaohs saw pros-

perity through the reigns of this great family until the

infamous reign of Amenhotep IV or more commonly

known as Akhenaton. In the reign of Akhenaton, Egypt’s

golden age saw a sharp change and one that was not only

unpopular- but also one that changed ancient Egypt’s

entire belief system.

The choices of the ancient pharaohs directly affected the

ancient Egyptians, whether the land would prosper or

falter was all in their hands. Under the reign of Thutmose

III the land was full of riches due to the many war cam-

paigns by a skilled warrior pharaoh who conquered foes

and brought those lands and riches into the ancient em-

pire. He was a skilled statesman and took care to build up

the empire that he had received and pass that greatness

onto his own children. However, just because his great

grandfather made good choices for the people of Egypt,

Akhenaton chose to go his own way and in doing so he

brought much confusion and ruin to Egypt. The drastic

changes in both the religion and in the location of the

capital removed people from the whole of both their

beliefs and from their family homes and tombs. These

types of changes were the type of changes that sit at the

fundamental core of most people; their religion and their

families home were at the very core of most ancient

Egyptians.

Economics of a Nation

The economics of a nation are greatly affected by the

choices of their leaders, which can be done for good or

for bad based on the care and instructions of those in

power. When work is done with the welfare of the peo-

ple of the nation in mind, many great things can befell a

nation and they can prosper and grow. On the other

hand, when a leader is selfish and makes too many dras-

tic changes for his or her own good, it can have negative

effects on not only the people of the nation but on its

economy and standing with other nations. Akhenaton

chose to do as he pleased and it had very negative effects

on the people of ancient Egypt as well as the ancient

economy. A lesson can be learned here that the fate of a

nation can depend on the choices of one person and if

they choose selfishly without regard to their people, ter-

rible things can happen.

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Nubian_Monuments_from_Abu_Simbel_to_Philae/Abu_Simbel_temples/Abu_Simbel_temples-Ancient_Egypt-Egypt.jpg

Works Cited

Dorman, Peter F. “Akhenaton” Encyclopedia Britannica, 19

Jan 2013.http://www.britannica.com.byui.idm.oclc.org/

EBchecked/topic/11544/Akhenaton

Drower, Margaret. “Thutmose III.” Encyclopedia Britannica,

19 Jan 2013.http://www.britannica.com.byui.idm.oclc.org/

EBchecked/topic/594493/Thutmose-III

“Egypt’s Golden Empire: New Kingdom, Tutankhamen,”

PBS.org. 19 Jan 2013. http://www.pbs.org/empires/egypt/

newkingdom/tutankhamen.html

Redford, Donald B. “Thutmose III.” Oxford Encyclopedia, 16

Feb 20123, Oxford University Press, 2001.