Pharaohs Essay

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Pharaohs in the new kingdom, that untied Egypt all had a statement that they wanted to preserve for centuries- that they had expelled Egypt’s foreign invaders from their land and Unified a divided land .The pharaohs believed that they could not have achieved this without the help of the god Amun-Re, this was their ideology (the relationship between the god Amun and the pharaoh).The pharaohs of the 18th dynasty preserved this statement in building programs. Once a new pharaoh came into power, they commenced a program that defined all building activity during the pharaoh’s reign. Building projects were mainly implemented for Political and religious reasons (except for housing). Political and religious reasons for Building programs include: Ideology of Kingship, dedication of the Amun cult, honouring the cults of Egyptian gods, funerary monuments, and self-promotion of the pharaoh and protection of borders. Building programs remind present pharaohs and Egyptian people of past pharaohs triumphs and victories. Pharaohs used building programs to show loyalty and respect to the gods and goddess of Egypt. A few pharaohs in the 18th dynasty that greatly contributed to the building programs are Hatshepsut, Thutmose III and Thutmose IV.
Hatshepsut
During Hatshepsut’s reign she erected A Mortuary temple at Deir el- Bahri, at the head of the valley beneath the peak of the mountain. The temple was built into the rock face so that the building would look like it was growing from the rock. After the death of Hatshepsut the monument was purposely deconstructed by Thutmosis III and Akhenaten as a directed attack to Hatshepsut. Today the monument is semi-ruined state as a result from weathering. The temple has features such as entrance pylon, First ...

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...performing rituals before the god Amun.This building program was significant to the development to the cult of Amun through additions to the temple of Amun at Karnak. The temple was not the only contribution that Thutmose IV made to the cult of Amun; he also built a shrine for the barque of Amun and added a golden porch in front of the 4th pylon.
Thutmose IV other building projects include finishing the preexisting eastern obelisk that was dedicated to the cult of Amun, built at the temple of Karnak, by his grandfather Thutmose III. The unique obelisk is tallest obelisk ever built in Egypt, reaching 32 meters tall.
Thutmose used building programs to expand the cult of Amun through additions to Amun temple at Karnak. The king believed that, by recording his association with the god Amun on monuments that he was depicted as a god, rightfully ruling the lands of Egypt.

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