The remains of a beautiful temple at Sideruga, built by Amenophis III to or for Queen Tyi, have also been found and an inscription says Amenhotep “made his monuments for the great and mighty heiress, the mistress of all lands, Tyi.” A group of the king and Tyi is in the Summa collection and an inscription reads: “Amen’nekht, princess, prays with her mother before Amenhotep III, because he praises her beautiful face and honors her beauty.” A Usheti box in the Berlin Museum bears the name of Tyi and the monuments of her are numerous. She is by the colossi of her husband and appears with him in official scenes at Saleb. The figure sculptured in the tomb of Huy at Tel-el-Amarna, on a scarab, etc., is shown seated; her name alone appears in a quarry at the same place, after her husband’s death. And her parents are named as Yoman and Thuaa.
The additions made by Amenophis III to the long list of Egyptian temples are among the most noted. He built the oldest part of the Serapeum at Sakkarah, the temple of Amen-Ra at Karnak and also at Luxor a sanctuary with surrounding chambers, a pro-naos or hall with four columns, and another large court (which was evidently used afterwards as a place of worship by the early Christians), and a noble hypostycle court with four rows of lofty columns bearing the lotus capital. At the end nearest the sanctuary on either side are double rows of the same columns, then a huge pilon, and in front of all, a noble avenue of fourteen still more massive and lofty columns bearing the lotus-flower capital. This avenue with the usual pylon appears to have completed the Temple of Amenophis III. About 1600 B. C. is the date sometimes set for this work. An avenue of Sphinxes connected the two temples. The temple of Mut at Karnak was Amenophis’ special work. At el Kab there is also a beautiful little temple or chapel built by him containing various pictures of the king making offerings to the gods, etc. Other works might be named as well as the grand statues already referred to.
As devoted as was Amenophis III to the god Amen, on whose temples he lavished gifts and to whom he paid special honors, so antagonistic was his son and successor to the same deity. May it chance that as the mother taught and impressed upon the youthful minds of her children her own religious ideas, so the father especially in the case of this son, forced them to acts of worship to the many gods of Egypt which revolted them and in the end served only to drive them the further from the old faith. Such is the perversity of human nature that the very means taken to win assent to any proposition or principle are often those which have most influence in causing the pendulum of thought and opinion to swing to the opposite extreme.
It is said that the striking change in the physiognomy and ideal type of the upper classes in the latter part of the Eighteenth Dynasty points to strong foreign infusion. The bold, active faces of earlier times are replaced by sweetness and delicacy, a gentle smile and small, gracefully curved nose, this is characteristic of the time of Amenophis III.
The life of King Amenophis was an active one, less warlike than most of his predecessors, but leaving behind many memorials. It is possible that his long and doubtless exposing hunting expeditions may have had a bad effect upon him, for it was still in his prime probably that his life ended and his wife seems long to have survived him. His reign, however, covers a lengthy period, thirty-six years, but he, owing to his father’s early death, ascended the throne in youth. So, in the quaint and beautiful language of Scripture, Amenophis III “slept with his fathers,” and Amenophis IV reigned in his stead.
The tomb of Amenophis III, discovered by the French Expedition, is in the West Valley of the Tombs of the Kings. Here also his father and many other Egyptian sovereigns were buried. On the rocky walls are representations of the king and the gods, some of which were only partially completed. Amenophis III stands out an attractive personality among the long list of Egyptian kings. We cannot doubt that he was mourned by many, especially by the love of his youth and later years, Queen Tyi. Henceforth her life was bound up with that of her eldest son. She and Amenophis III had, some say two, some say four sons, and four or five daughters. The eldest son, who changed his name, was first called Amenophis IV and his next brother, Tahutmes, after the grandfather or other ancestor of that name. The daughters were Isis, Heot-mi-hib Satamon, of whom some memorials remain, and some say Beckaten, youngest and favorite, but who is elsewhere termed grand-daughter, rather than daughter, of Tyi.
That Queen Tyi was a faithful mother whose affectionate heart clung to her children as she had been a loving and devoted wife we cannot doubt. But her eldest son, the champion of her faith, the earnest disciple of her teachings, which had sunk into his heart and borne abundant fruit, must have been especially beloved. With him her after history is closely associated, and her influence is shown even more strongly than during the life of her husband and there is little question that to it is largely due the subsequent course of events. Amenophis III had deferred to her wishes and shown special marks of favor to her religious views, but her son accepted them with his whole heart and spent his life in trying to make them the religion of his native land.