Portrait of Pharaoh Amenhotep III

Egypt · 1391–1353 BCE

“Amenhotep the Magnificent” is pharaoh Amenhotep III’s epithet, and it says it all. In the 1300s BCE he ruled an empire that stretched from northern Syria to Sudan, an area roughly the size of Alaska, Texas, and Wisconsin combined. His 38-year rule was a period of political, economic, and cultural prosperity, and he commissioned numerous carved portraits of himself; these varied in height from 60 feet to a couple of inches. Amenhotep III has the distinction of having the most surviving statues of any Egyptian pharaoh, and they span his entire life. In this portrait, he wears the traditional striped royal headdress, topped by the double crown that represents his rule of Upper and Lower Egypt.