He is the grandfather of the famed boy-pharoah
Tutankhamun and his reign was a period of unprecedented
prosperity and artistic splendour, when Egypt reached the
peak of her artistic and international power.
We know much about that particular prosperity
and artistic splendour, so let’s take a look at another
aspect of the pharaohs’ prosperity and splendour.
if I may.....
Their idea of marriage.
But don’t be too judgemental too soon,
after all when the Greeks conquered Egypt in 332 B.C.E.,
Egyptian women were allowed more rights and privileges than
Greek women, who were forced to live under the less equal
Greek system.
In Egypt at the time, the disparities between
people's legal rights were based on differences in social
class (sound familiar?) and not on gender.
Legal and economic rights were afforded to both men and
women.
Now, Egyptian pharaohs were allowed to take
many wives, and in Amenhotep III’s case, this led
to some interesting conjugalities.
He
is reputed to have taken over
300 wives in his 50 year lifespan.
He paid dowries for all of them, and supported them
all.
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To give you an idea of what this support
encompassed …..
Just one of his wives, Gilukhepa, arrived
in Egypt with no fewer than 317 women in her personal entourage!
I wouldn't be surprised if her agency sent through a technical
and backstage rider before agreeing to the deal.
It should be noted that Egypt's theological
paradigm encouraged a male pharaoh to accept royal women
from several different generations as wives to strengthen
the chances of his offspring succeeding him.
It was also not unusual for pharoahs to
marry their own sisters, mothers and even daughters to strengthen
their off-springs claim to the throne.
Amenhotep III married two of his own daughters,
but I suspect that with over 300 wives, the chances are
that he probably didn’t know or recognise all his
children.
If you think that’s gross, the goddess
Hathor herself was related to Ra – The Sun God - as
all of his mother, daughter and wife.
Go figure.
