Lasting is the Manifestation of Ra

We are back today to one of my favourite museums to look at one of my favourite kings: a greywacke (a variety of sandstone) statue of Thutmose III, the 6th king of the 18th dynasty of the New Kingdom seen in the Luxor Museum.

The first part of Thutmose III's reign was shared with his aunt and co-regent Hatshepsut. He appears to have been in charge of the military and already led a few campaigns during this time. More military campaigns followed once he assumed power on his own. Over 20 years he led around 17 campaigns, both to the south and the north of Egypt. He recorded the account of his campaigns on the walls of the Temple of Amun in Karnak.

Looking at the statue, the king is standing with his left foot forward and is holding symbols of authority. He is wearing the Nemes head-dress with the protecting Uraeus and the royal beard. He is also wearing a kilt, and a belt with his throne name in a cartouche:

Men Kheper Ra - Lasting is the Manifestation of Ra.

 

The statue was was found in the Karnak Cachette in 1904 by Georges Legrain. The Karnak Cachette is the largest ever find of statues dating from Early Dynastic to the Greco-Roman period. Thousands of statues were brought up from as deep as 15 meters or more with water having to be pumped out from the excavation pits every morning.

For some interesting details of the discovery and pictures of the excavation check out this:

https://www.ifao.egnet.net/bases/cachette/docs/Cachette_Leaflet_english.pdf

Also you may want to check out our previous post about a different statue of Thutmose III: https://bit.ly/2XMuGJE

 

 

 

The back of the kings' statue with his Horus name: Ka nakht kha em Waset -
The strong bull arising in Thebes

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