il another year had gone by. Then, in the thirty-third
year of his reign, he marched through Kadesh, fought his way to
Carchemish, defeated the forces that opposed him there and crossed over
the Euphrates into the territory of the king of Mitanni. He set up a
tablet by the side of that of Tethmosis I. and turned southward,
following the river as far as Niy. Here he stayed to hunt a herd of 120
elephants, and then, marching westwards, received the tribute of
Naharina and gifts from the Hittites in Asia Minor and from the king of
Babylon. In all he fought seventeen campaigns in Syria until the spirit
of revolt was entirely crushed in a second capture of Kadesh. The wars
in Libya and Ethiopia were of less moment. In the intervals of war
Tethmosis III. proved to be a wonderfully efficient administrator, with
his eye on every corner of his dominions. The Syrian expeditions
occupied six months in most of his best years, but the remaining time
was spent in activity at home, repressing robbery and injustice,
rebuilding and adorning temples with the labour of his captives and the
plunder and tribute of conquered cities, or designing with his own hand
the gorgeous sacred vessels of the sanctuary of Ammon. In his later
years some expeditions took place into Nubia. Tethmosis died in the
fifty-fourth year of his reign. His mummy, found in the _cachette_ at
Deir el Bahri, is said to be that of a very old man. He was the greatest
Pharaoh in the New Empire, if not in all Egyptian history.

Amenophis III.

Tethmosis III. was succeeded by his son Amenophis II., whom he had
associated on the throne at the end of his reign. One of the first acts
of the new king was to lead an army into Syria, where revolt was again
rife; he reached and perhaps crossed the Euphrates and returned home to
Thebes with seven captive kings of Tikhsi and much spoil. The kings he
sacrificed to Ammon and hanged six bodies on the walls, while the
seventh was carried south to Napata and there exposed as a terror to the
Ethiopians. Amenophis reigned twenty-six years and left his throne to
his son Tethmosis IV., who is best remembered by a granite tablet
recording his clearance of the Great Sphinx. He also warred in northern
Syria and in Cush. His son Amenophis III., c. 1400 B.C., was a mighty
builder, especially at Thebes, where his reign marks a new epoch in the
history of the great temples, Luxor being his creation, while avenues of
rams, pylons, &c., were adde