Thutmose III and Hatshepsut Pharaohs of Egypt: Their Lives and Afterlives, Aidan Dodson, c. 2025, The American University in Cairo Press

Thutmose III and Hatshepsut Pharaohs of Egypt: Their Lives and Afterlives, Aidan Dodson, c. 2025, The American University in Cairo Press (wow).

We will worry about naming the Egyptian periods, the dynasties, and "all" the pharaohs in order, later.

But here we start with Thutmose III and Hatshupset. 

Time period:

• 1500 BC -- 16th to 15th centuries BCE.

Thutmose III created the world's first navy. The British Navy can be traced back to the 16 century CE (3,000 years later), to Henry VIII. 

If one wants to pin dates on the Egyptian Navy, consider:

• Columbus discovers America, 1492 CE
• Egyptian navy, created by Thutmose III, can be traced back to  ~1492 BCE. Not quite, but close enough for the scaffolding.

Thutmose 1: parentage unknown.

The pharaohs from Thutmose I to King Tut can be followed.

Thutmose I: parentage unknown. The preceding king/queen had no heirs / no children.

So, we start with Thutmose I.

Thutmose with at least two wives had three sons and two daughters.

Thutmose I's son become king, Thutmose II, and co-rules  (?) with his sister.

Thutmose II has a son who becomes the next king, Thutmose III who co-rules with his aunt Hatshepsut, perhaps one, if not the "best," pharaoh of Egypt. 

So, we'll go back and to a thumbnail sketch of Thutmose I and Thutmose II later. 

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Geography -- Geopolitics

At this time.

Egypt:

• mouth of the Nile / the Nile delta
• and not much more.

The Nile delta: 

• wheat
• breadbasket of north Africa, Greece, and particularly Rome (if not yet, eventually)

threatened by:

• Hyksos: Canaan, from the north;
• Nubia: upper Nile, from the south.

riches:

• Canaan: cedar, Tyrian purple
• Syria, Iraq: Euphrates: name comes from "moving copper"; Iraq will become the most important source of copper;
• Nubia: gold

Egypt: fabulously rich --

• natural products from Canaan, copper from Babylon, gold from Nubia

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With That As Background

Let's begin with Thutmose III and his aunt Hatshesut