Thutmose ( egy, ḏḥwti-msi(.w)) was the eldest son of

Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until th ...

Amenhotep III Amenhotep III ( egy, jmn-ḥtp(.w), ''Amānəḥūtpū'' , "Amun is Satisfied"; Hellenized as Amenophis III), also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent or Amenhotep the Great, was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. According to different ...

and

Queen Tiye Tiye (c. 1398 BC – 1338 BC, also spelled Tye, Taia, Tiy and Tiyi) was the daughter of Yuya and Thuya. She became the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III. She was the mother of Akhenaten and grandmother of Tutankhamun. ...

, who lived during the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. His early death led to the reign of

Akhenaten Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Echnaton, Akhenaton, ( egy, ꜣḫ-n-jtn ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning "Effective for the Aten"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth D ...

, his younger brother—as the successor to the Egyptian throne—and the intrigues of the century leading up to

Ramesses II Ramesses II ( egy, rꜥ-ms-sw ''Rīʿa-məsī-sū'', , meaning "Ra is the one who bore him"; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was the third pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Along with Thutmose III he is often regarded a ...

, the start and ultimately the failure of

Atenism Atenism, the Aten religion, the Amarna religion, or the "Amarna heresy" was a religion and the religious changes associated with the ancient Egyptian Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh Akhenaten. The religion centered on the cult of the god Aten, depi ...

, the

Amarna letters The Amarna letters (; sometimes referred to as the Amarna correspondence or Amarna tablets, and cited with the abbreviation EA, for "El Amarna") are an archive, written on clay tablets, primarily consisting of diplomatic correspondence between ...

, and the changing roles of the kingdom's powers.

Life

Prince Thutmose served as a priest of

Ptah Ptah ( egy, ptḥ, reconstructed ; grc, Φθά; cop, ⲡⲧⲁϩ; Phoenician: 𐤐𐤕𐤇, romanized: ptḥ) is an ancient Egyptian deity, a creator god and patron deity of craftsmen and architects. In the triad of Memphis, he is the hu ...

in ancient

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

. His full royal titles were "''Crown Prince'', ''Overseer of the Priests of Upper and Lower Egypt'', ''High Priest of Ptah in Memphis'' and ''Sm-priest'' (of Ptah)." He is known from a relatively small number of objects. A small schist statuette in the

Louvre Museum The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

shows the prince as a

miller A miller is a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalent ...

and another small schist statue in Berlin depicts him as a mummy lying on a bier.Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson (2004), p.157 The miller statuette is inscribed on three sides with this text: : ''(right)''...the king's son the sem-priest Djhutmose''; (left) ''I am the servant of this noble god, his miller; ''(front)'' Incense for the Ennead of the western necropolis. Prince Thutmose is best remembered for the

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Gre ...

of his

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

, ''Ta-miu'' (she-cat), now in the

Cairo Museum The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum or the Cairo Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display a ...

.Arielle Kozloff & Betsy Bryan, "Royal and Divine Statuary," Egypt’s Dazzling Sun: Amenhotep III and his World, (Cleveland, 1992), p.425, fig.XIV.1 The cat sarcophagus of Prince Thutmose conclusively establishes that he was indeed the eldest son of Amenhotep III, since it provides his then current title of 'Crown Prince.' Thutmose is also attested by a total of 7 pairs of calcite and pottery vases in the Louvre. Prince Thutmose disappears from the public records and appears to have died some time during the third decade of Amenhotep III's kingship, fairly late. In his place, his younger brother

Amenhotep IV Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Echnaton, Akhenaton, ( egy, ꜣḫ-n-jtn ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning "Effective for the Aten"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dy ...

, later known as Akhenaten, succeeded to the throne.

References

{{authority control 14th-century BC Egyptian people 14th-century BC clergy Memphis High Priests of Ptah Princes of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt Children of Amenhotep III Heirs to the ancient Egyptian throne Heirs apparent who never acceded