Editing Thutmose III (section)

==Military campaigns==
{{further|Djehuty (general)|The Taking of Joppa}}

Thutmose III conducted at least 16 campaigns in 20 years.<ref name="AEL">{{cite book |last1=Lichtheim |first1=Miriam |author-link=Miriam Lichtheim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hHKxDwAAQBAJ&q=%2C+Thutmose+III+conducted+at+least+++campaigns+in+20+years.&pg=PA340 |title=Ancient Egyptian Literature |date=2019 |publisher=Univ of California Press |isbn=9780520305847 |page=340 |language=en |access-date=22 October 2019}}</ref> American Egyptologist [[James Breasted]] referred to him as  "the [[Napoleon]] of Egypt" for his conquests and expansionism.<ref name=":0"/><ref>[[James Henry Breasted|J.H. Breasted]], Ancient Times: A History of the Early World; An Introduction to the Study of Ancient History and the Career of Early Man. Outlines of European History 1. Boston: Ginn and Company, 1914, p. 85</ref> He is recorded to have captured 350 cities during his rule and conquered much of the [[Near East]] from the [[Euphrates]] to [[Nubia]]. He was the first pharaoh after [[Thutmose I]] to cross the Euphrates, doing so during his campaign against [[Mitanni]]. His campaign records were inscribed onto the walls of the temple of [[Amun]] at [[Karnak]] (transcribed in [[Urkunden der 18. Dynastie|Urkunden IV]]). He transformed [[Egypt]] into an international superpower, an empire stretching from the Asian regions of Syria in the North, to Upper Nubia in the south.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | url= https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thutmose-III | title=Thutmose|encyclopedia=Britannica| date=October 2024}}</ref>

Much is known about Thutmose III as a warrior and ruler, through the writings of his royal scribe and army commander Thanuny. The pharoah was able to conquer so many lands because of revolutionary developments in military technology. The [[Hyksos]] may have brought advanced weaponry, such as horse-drawn chariots, around 1650 BC, which the Egyptians adopted in the process of driving them out. Thutmose III encountered little resistance from neighbouring kingdoms, allowing him to expand his realm easily. His army also portaged boats over dry land.<ref>{{Cite journal|title= The Euphrates Campaign of Tuthmosis III |last= Faulkner |first= R. O. |journal= The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology |year= 1946 |volume= 32 |pages= 39–42|doi= 10.1177/030751334603200105 }}</ref>

===Campaign 1: Battle of Megiddo===
{{Main|Battle of Megiddo (15th century BC)}}
[[File:Thutmose III at Karnak.jpg|thumb|Thutmose III smiting his enemies. Relief on the seventh pylon in [[Karnak]]]]
When Hatshepsut died on the 10th day of the sixth month of Thutmose III's 21st year, according to a stela from [[Armant, Egypt|Armant]], the king of [[Kadesh (Syria)|Kadesh]] advanced his army to [[Tel Megiddo|Megiddo]].<ref>Redford, Donald B. ''Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times.'' p. 156. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ, 1992.</ref> Thutmose III mustered his own army and marched from Egypt, passing through the border fortress of [[Tjaru]] (Sile) on the 25th day of the eighth month. The army moved through the coastal plain as far as [[Yavne|Jamnia]], then turned inland, reaching Yehem, a small city near Megiddo, in the middle of the ninth month of the same year.<ref name="Steindorff 53">Steindorff, George; and Seele, Keith. When Egypt Ruled the East. p. 53. University of Chicago, 1942.</ref>

The ensuing [[Battle of Megiddo (15th century BC)|Battle of Megiddo]] was likely the largest battle of Thutmose's 17 campaigns. A ridge of mountains jutting inland from [[Mount Carmel]] stood between Thutmose and Megiddo and he had three attack routes to choose from.<ref name="Redford 157">Redford, Donald B. ''Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times.'' p. 157. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ, 1992.</ref> The northern and southern routes around the mountain were judged by his generals to be safest, but Thutmose (as he boasted in an inscription) called them cowards and took the dangerous route through the [[Wadi Ara|Aruna]] mountain pass,<ref name="Steindorff 54">Steindorff, George; and Seele, Keith. When Egypt Ruled the East. p. 54. University of Chicago, 1947.</ref> which he said was only wide enough for single-file "horse after horse and man after man."<ref name="Steindorff 53" /> Such a pass does exist, although it is not as narrow as Thutmose claims.<ref>Gardiner, Alan. ''Egypt of the Pharaohs.'' p. 192 Oxford University Press, 1964</ref> The army emerged on the plain of Esdraelon, brilliantly cutting between the rear of the Canaanite forces and Megiddo city.<ref name="Redford 157"/> According to Thutmose III's Hall of Annals in the Temple of Amun at Karnak, the battle occurred on "Year 23, I Shemu [day] 21, the exact day of the feast of the new moon",<ref>[[Urkunden der 18. Dynastie]] 657.2</ref> a lunar date. This date corresponds to 9 May 1457&nbsp;BC, based on Thutmose III's accession in 1479&nbsp;BC. In the battle, Thutmose routed the Canaanite forces,<ref name="Steindorff 54"/><ref name="Redford 157"/> but allowed many to escape into Megiddo while his troops stopped to plunder.<ref name="Steindorff 55">Steindorff, George; and Seele, Keith. ''When Egypt Ruled the East.'' p. 55. University of Chicago, 1942.</ref> Thutmose was forced to besiege the city, and finally took it after a siege of seven or eight months.<ref name="Steindorff 55" />

The size of the two forces is difficult to determine. Most scholars believe that the Egyptian army was more numerous.{{Citation needed|date=December 2017}} Redford uses the time to march the army through the pass estimate the Egyptian numbers, and the number of sheep and goats captured in the battle to estimate the Canaanite force, concluding both armies were around 10,000 men.<ref>{{harvnb|Redford|2003|p=197}}.</ref> 

This campaign drastically changed the political situation in the ancient Near East. By taking Megiddo, Thutmose gained control of all of northern [[Canaan]], forcing the Syrian princes to send tribute and noble hostages to Egypt.<ref name="Steindorff 56">Steindorff, George; and Seele, Keith. ''When Egypt Ruled the East.'' p. 56. University of Chicago, 1942.</ref> Beyond the Euphrates, the [[Assyria]]n, [[Kassites|Babylonian]] and [[Hittites|Hittite]] kings honored Thutmose with gifts, which he claimed as "tribute" on the walls of Karnak.<ref>Gardiner, Alan. ''Egypt of the Pharaohs.'' p. 193 Oxford University Press, 1964</ref> The only notable absence was [[Mitanni]], which would bear the brunt of subsequent Egyptian campaigns into [[Western Asia]].

===Campaigns 2-4: Tours of Canaan and Syria===
[[File:Lateran obelisk 2013-2.jpg|thumb|upright|Thutmose's ''tekhen waty'', today standing in Rome as the [[Lateran Obelisk|Lateran obelisk]]. The move from Egypt to Rome was initiated by [[Constantine the Great]] (Roman Emperor, 324–337) in 326, though he died before it could be shipped out of Alexandria. His son, the Emperor [[Constantius II]] completed the transfer in 357. An account of the shipment was written by contemporary historian [[Ammianus Marcellinus]].]]
Thutmose's second, third, and fourth campaigns appear to have been nothing more than tours of [[Syria]] and [[Canaan]] to collect tribute.<ref name="Grimal 214"/> Traditionally, the material directly after the text of the first campaign has been considered to be the second campaign.<ref name="Redford War 53">{{harvnb|Redford|2003|p=53}}.</ref> This text records tribute from the area which the Egyptians called [[Retjenu]] (roughly equivalent to Canaan) and it was also at this time that Assyria paid a second "tribute" to Thutmose III.<ref>Breasted, James Henry. ''Ancient Records of Egypt,'' Vol. II p. 191. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1906.</ref> It is probable that these texts come from Thutmose's 40th year or later and thus have nothing to do with the second campaign at all. If so, no records of this campaign have been found.<ref name="Redford War 53"/> Thutmose's third campaign was not considered significant enough to appear in his otherwise extensive Annals at Karnak. A survey was made of the animals and plants he found in Canaan, which was illustrated on the walls of a special room at Karnak.<ref>Breasted, James Henry. ''Ancient Records of Egypt,'' Vol. II p. 192. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1906.</ref> This survey is dated to Thutmose's 25th year.<ref>{{harvnb|Redford|2003|p=213}}.</ref> No record remains of Thutmose's fourth campaign,<ref>Breasted, James Henry. ''Ancient Records of Egypt,'' Vol. II p. 193. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1906.</ref> but at some point a fort was built in lower Lebanon and timber was cut for construction of a processional barque, and this probably fits best during this time frame.<ref>{{harvnb|Redford|2003|p=214}}.</ref>

===Campaigns 5-7: Conquest of Syria===
The fifth, sixth and seventh campaigns of Thutmose III were directed against the [[Phoenicia]]n cities in [[Syria]] and against [[Kadesh (Syria)|Kadesh]] on the [[Orontes River|Orontes]]. In Thutmose's 29th year, he began his fifth campaign, where he first took an unknown city (the name falls in a [[lacuna (manuscripts)|lacuna]]) which had been garrisoned by [[Tunip]].<ref>Breasted, James Henry. ''Ancient Records of Egypt, Vol. II'' p. 195. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1906.</ref> He then moved inland and took the city and territory around Ardata;<ref name="Redford War 217">{{harvnb|Redford|2003|p=217}}</ref> the town was pillaged and its wheatfields burned. Unlike previous plundering raids, Thutmose III garrisoned [[Djahy]], a name which probably refers to southern Syria.<ref name="Grimal 214">Grimal, Nicolas. ''A History of Ancient Egypt.'' p. 214. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988.</ref> This would have permitted him to ship supplies and troops between Syria and Egypt, and some have supposed that Thutmose's sixth campaign, in his thirtieth year, commenced with naval transport of troops directly to [[Byblos]], bypassing [[Canaan]].<ref name="Redford War 217"/> After the troops arrived in Syria, they proceeded into the Jordan River valley and moved north, pillaging Kadesh's lands.<ref name="Redford War 218">{{harvnb|Redford|2003|p=218}}.</ref> Turning west again, Thutmose took [[Simyra]] and quelled a rebellion in Ardata, which apparently had rebelled again.<ref name="Grimal 215">Grimal, Nicolas. ''A History of Ancient Egypt.'' p. 215. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988.</ref> To stop such rebellions, Thutmose began taking hostages from the cities in Syria. The policy of these cities was driven by their nobles, aligned to Mitanni and typically consisting of a king and a small number of foreign Maryannu. Thutmose III found that taking hostages from these noble families largely ensured their loyalty.<ref name="Redford War 218"/> Syria rebelled again in Thutmose's 31st year and he returned for his seventh campaign, taking the port city of Ullaza<ref name="Redford War 218"/> and the smaller Phoenician ports,<ref name="Grimal 215"/> and imposing more measures to prevent rebellion.<ref name="Redford War 218"/> By taking away the grain stores of Syria to his recently conquered harbors for support of his occupying troops and administrators,<ref name="Redford War 218"/> he left the famished cities of Syria without the means to fund further rebellions.<ref name="Redford War 219">{{harvnb|Redford|2003|p=219}}.</ref>

{{multiple image
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| image1 = Syrians bringing presents in the tomb of Rekhmire (actual).jpg
| image2 = Syrians bringing presents in the tomb of Rekhmire.jpg
| footer = Depiction of Syrians bringing presents to Tuthmosis III, in the tomb of [[Rekhmire]], {{Circa|1400 BC}} (actual painting and interpretational drawing). They are labeled "Chiefs of [[Retjenu]]".<ref>"The foreigners of the fourth register, with long hairstyles and calf-length fringed robes, are labeled Chiefs of Retjenu, the ancient name tor the Syrian region. Like the Nubians, they come with animals, in this case horses, an elephant, and a bear; they also offer weapons and vessels most likely filled with precious substance." in {{cite book |last1=Hawass |first1=Zahi A. |last2=Vannini |first2=Sandro |title=The lost tombs of Thebes: life in paradise |date=2009 |publisher=Thames & Hudson |page=120 |isbn=9780500051597 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YjZZAAAAYAAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Zakrzewski |first1=Sonia |last2=Shortland |first2=Andrew |last3=Rowland |first3=Joanne |title=Science in the Study of Ancient Egypt |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-39195-1 |page=268 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w6pACwAAQBAJ&pg=PA268 |language=en}}</ref>
}}

===Campaign 8: Attack on Mitanni===
After Thutmose III had taken control of the Syrian cities, the obvious target for his eighth campaign was the state of [[Mitanni]], a [[Hurrians|Hurrian]] country with an [[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryan]] ruling class. However, to reach Mitanni, he had to cross the Euphrates River. He sailed directly to [[Byblos]]<ref name="Redford War 226">{{harvnb|Redford|2003|p=226}}.</ref> and made boats which he took with him over land on what appeared to otherwise be just another tour of Syria,<ref name="Grimal 215"/> and he proceeded with the usual raiding and pillaging as he moved north through the lands he had already taken.<ref name="Redford War 225">{{harvnb|Redford|2003|p=225}}.</ref> He continued north through the territory belonging to the still unconquered cities of [[Aleppo]] and [[Carchemish]] and quickly crossed the Euphrates in his boats, taking the Mitannian king entirely by surprise.<ref name="Redford War 225"/> It appears that Mitanni was not expecting an invasion, so they had no army of any kind ready to defend against Thutmose, although their ships on the Euphrates did try to defend against the Egyptian crossing.<ref name="Redford War 226"/> Thutmose III then went freely from city to city and pillaged them while the nobles hid in caves, or at least this is the typically propagandistic way Egyptian records chose to record it. During this period of no opposition, Thutmose put up a second [[stele]] commemorating his crossing of the Euphrates next to the stele his grandfather, Thutmose I, had put up several decades earlier. A [[militia]] was raised to fight the invaders, but it fared very poorly.<ref name="Redford War 225"/> Thutmose III then returned to Syria by way of Niy, where he records that he engaged in an [[elephant]] hunt.<ref name="Grimal 216">Grimal, Nicolas. ''A History of Ancient Egypt.'' p. 216. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988.</ref> He collected tribute from foreign powers and returned to Egypt in victory.<ref name="Redford War 226"/>
[[File:Thutmose III holding the statue of Min-MBA Lyon E501-IMG 0196.jpg|thumb|Thutmose III holding the statue of Min-MBA Lyon E501-IMG 0196]]

===Campaigns 9-16: Tours of Syria===
[[File:Diadem with two gazelle heads MET 26.8.99 EGDP013732.jpg|thumb|Crown of Thutmose III's Asiatic Princesses [[Menhet, Menwi and Merti]].]]
Thutmose III returned to Syria for his ninth campaign in his 34th year, but this appears to have been just a raid of the area called [[Nuhašše|Nukhashshe]], a region populated by semi-nomadic people.<ref name="Redford War 81">{{harvnb|Redford|2003|p=81}}.</ref> The plunder recorded is minimal, so it was probably just a minor raid.<ref name="Redford War 83">{{harvnb|Redford|2003|p=83}}.</ref> Records from his 10th campaign indicate much more fighting. By Thutmose's 35th year, the king of Mitanni had raised a large army and engaged the Egyptians around [[Aleppo]]. As usual for any Egyptian king, Thutmose boasted a total crushing victory, but this statement is suspect due to the very small amount of plunder taken.<ref name="Redford War 229">{{harvnb|Redford|2003|p=229}}.</ref> Thutmose's annals at Karnak indicate he only took a total of 10 prisoners of war.<ref name="Redford War 84">{{harvnb|Redford|2003|p=84}}.</ref> He may have fought the Mitannians to a stalemate,<ref name="Redford War 229"/> yet he did receive tribute from the Hittites after that campaign, which seems to indicate the outcome of the battle was in Thutmose's favor.<ref name="Grimal 216"/>

The details about his next two campaigns are unknown.<ref name="Grimal 216"/> His 11th is presumed to have happened in his 36th regnal year and his 12th is presumed to have happened in his 37th year since his 13th is mentioned at Karnak as happening in his 38th regnal year.<ref name="Redford War 87">{{harvnb|Redford|2003|p=87}}.</ref> Part of the tribute list for his 12th campaign remains immediately before his 13th begins, and the contents recorded, specifically wild game and certain minerals of uncertain identification, might indicate that it took place on the steppe around Nukhashshe, but this remains mere speculation.<ref name="Redford War 234">{{harvnb|Redford|2003|p=234}}.</ref>

In Year 38, Thutmose III conducted his 13th military campaign returning to [[Nuhašše]] for a very minor campaign.<ref name="Redford War 87"/>

His 14th campaign, waged during his 39th year, was against the [[Shasu]]. The location of this campaign is impossible to determine since the Shasu were nomads who could have lived anywhere from Lebanon to the [[Transjordan (region)|Transjordan]] to [[Edom]].<ref name="Redford War 92">{{harvnb|Redford|2003|p=92}}.</ref> After this campaign, the numbers given by Thutmose's scribes to his campaigns all fall in lacunae, so they can only be counted by date.

In his 40th year, tribute was collected from foreign powers, but it is unknown if this was considered a campaign (i.e. if the king went with it or if it was led by an official).<ref name="Redford War 235">{{harvnb|Redford|2003|p=235}}.</ref>

Only the tribute list remains from Thutmose's next campaign,<ref name="Redford War 94">{{harvnb|Redford|2003|p=94}}.</ref> and nothing may be deduced about it except that it was probably another raid to the frontiers around Niy.<ref name="Redford War 238">{{harvnb|Redford|2003|p=238}}.</ref>

His final Asian campaign is better documented. Sometime before Thutmose's 42nd year, Mitanni apparently began spreading revolt among all the major cities in Syria. Thutmose moved his troops by land up the coastal road and put down rebellions in the [[Tell 'Arqa|Arka]] plain ("Arkantu" in Thutmose's chronicle) and moved on Tunip.<ref name="Redford War 238"/> After taking Tunip, his attention turned to [[Kadesh (Syria)|Kadesh]] again. He engaged and destroyed three surrounding Mitannian garrisons and returned to Egypt in victory.<ref name="Redford War 240">{{harvnb|Redford|2003|p=240}}.</ref> His victory in this final campaign was neither complete nor permanent since he did not take Kadesh,<ref name="Redford War 240"/> and Tunip could not have remained aligned to him for very long, certainly not beyond his own death.<ref name="Redford War 239">{{harvnb|Redford|2003|p=239}}.</ref> This victory however, must have had quite an impact, for the next tribute lists include Adana, a Cilician city.<ref>{{Cite book |title= A History of Ancient Egypt |last= Grimal|first= Nicolas|publisher= Wiley-Blackwell (1994) |year= 1994 |pages=216}}</ref>
[[File:Wide-necked jar and lid naming Thutmose III MET 21K CAT30 32R2.jpg|thumb|Jar, wide-necked, krateriskos, inscribed for Thutmose III]]

===Campaign 17: Nubian campaign===
In Year 50, Thutmose III waged his last military campaign. He attacked Nubia, but only went so far as the fourth cataract of the Nile. Although no king of Egypt had ever penetrated so far with an army, previous kings' campaigns had spread Egyptian culture that far already, and the earliest Egyptian document found at [[Gebel Barkal]] dates from three years ''before'' Thutmose's campaign.<ref name="Grimal 215"/>