Fascinating, reading about King Solomon whom I believe to be Amenhotep III, considering Immanuel Velikovsky's writing where he intelligently suggests that 500 years were added to the conventional Egyptian timeline, which is another discussion for another day. However, with this in mind, the dates roughly match for the construction of the First Temple in Jerusalem, Egyptian controlled territoty at that time.
"He was a member of the Thutmosid family that had ruled Egypt for almost 150 years since the reign of Thutmose I."
Biblical King David being Thutmose III, hence King Solomon was not King David's son but his great great grandson, it may have been easily condensed over time. The letters D and T are interchangeable so are the V and U, thus TUT becomes DVD or David.
Thutmose III aka King David was successful military leader with many victories, that were attributed to King David in the OT, who has reestablished the Egyptian empire frontiers to the original borders set by Ahmose I, "the founder of the Eighteenth dynasty. He was a member of the Theban royal house," where Amun worship originates, "the son of pharaoh Seqenenre Tao and brother of the last pharaoh of the Seventeenth dynasty, King Kamose. During the reign of his father or grandfather, Thebes rebelled against the Hyksos,"
Hyksos were probably the descendants of the Hittites who have helped Ahmose I predecessors to take over the throne of first the Lower then all of Egypt in the 12th dynasty with Abraham aka Amenemhat I coming to power, as a retribution for hundreds of years of raids on his Semitic people by the Egyptians, read my other article for details, so the Hyksos got kicked out as "the rulers of Lower Egypt. When he was seven years old, his father was killed, and he was about ten when his brother died of unknown causes, after reigning only three years.
Ahmose I assumed the throne after the death of his brother, and upon coronation became known as Neb-Pehty-Re (The Lord of Strength is Re). The name Ahmose is a combination of the divine name 'Ah' (see Iah) and the combining form '-mose'.", ms/mose means 'born of'.
As far as 'Ah/Iah' interprétation, I think it is reference to "the iahw, the shining light -- the light that manifests as life itself, suggested by the phrase the great eye in the heart of the reeds, the hidden intelligence that makes things grow. The cryptic phrase is echoed directly across the entranceway (of the pyramid of Unis) on the east wall, reversed in a mirroring sequence of the words: there iahw, the shining light, is in the heart of the eye, ib ir, rather than in the eye of the heart." ~ p.43 Hieroglyphs as Nature, THE SILVER EYE, Unlocking the Pyramid Texts by Susan Brind Morrow (btw, susan is Egyptian for blue lotus of the Nile which symbolizes the birth of first light and the universe.
Anyway, back to our King Solomon. "Amenhotep III was the father of two sons with his Great Royal Wife Tiye." OK, let's pause here for a moment to take a closer look.
Queen Tiye was the daughter of Grand Vizier Yuya, who was the Biblical Joseph with multicolored coat, the reference to his connection to the Royal Egyptian line in the House of Israel started by Abraham / Amenemhat I.
"Egyptologists have suggested that Tiye's father, Yuya, was of foreign origin due to the features of his mummy and the many different spellings of his name, which might imply it was a non-Egyptian name in origin. Some suggest that the queen's strong political and unconventional religious views might have been due not just to a strong character, but to foreign descent."
Yuya/Joseph, "Yuya (sometimes Iouiya, also known as Yaa, Ya, Yiya, Yayi, Yu, Yuyu, Yaya, Yiay, Yia, and Yuy) (most likely Egyptian way of saying YHWH or Yahweh "I am that I am" as his Canaanite God, the ancient Egyptians included the name of person's god in their name) was a powerful Egyptian courtier during the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt (circa 1390 BC). He was married to Tjuyu, an Egyptian noblewoman associated with the royal family, who held high offices in the governmental and religious hierarchies. Their daughter, Tiye, became the Great Royal Wife of Amenhotep III."
Biblical King Solomon had long reign, full harem, many wives and children, and was prolific builder during the times of peace and prosperity:
"Consort
Tiye
Gilukhepa
Tadukhepa
Sitamun
Iset
Nebetnehat?
Children
Akhenaten
Thutmose
Sitamun
Iset
Henuttaneb
Nebetah
Smenkhkare?
"The Younger Lady"
Beketaten (?)"
"Tiye was married to Amenhotep III by the second year of his reign. He had been born of a secondary wife of his father and needed a stronger tie to the royal lineage. He appears to have been crowned while still a child, perhaps between the ages of six to twelve. They had at least seven, possibly more children:
Sitamun – The eldest daughter, who was elevated to the position of Great Royal Wife around year 30 of her father's reign.
Isis – Also elevated to the position of Great Royal Wife.
Henuttaneb – Not known to have been elevated to Queenship, though her name does appear in a Cartouche at least once.
Nebetah – Sometimes thought to have been renamed Baketaten during her brother's reign.
Crown Prince Thutmose – Crown Prince and High Priest of Ptah, pre-deceasing his father.
Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten – Succeeded his father as pharaoh, husband of Queen Nefertiti, father of Ankhesenamun, who married Tutankhamun.
Smenkhkare – traditionally seen as one of Akhenaten's immediate successors, today some Egyptologists such as Aidan Dodson believe he was the immediate predecessor of Neferneferuaten and a junior co-regent of Akhenaten who did not have an independent reign. Sometimes identified with the mummy from KV55, and therefore Tutankhamun's father.
The Younger Lady from KV35 – A daughter of Amenhotep III and Tiye, mother of Tutankhamun and sister-wife of KV55. Presumably one of the already-known daughters of Amenhotep III and Tiye.
- Baketaten – Sometimes thought to be Queen Tiye's daughter, usually based on a stelae with Baketaten seated next to Tiye at dinner with Akhenaten and Nefertiti."
"Amenhotep III elevated two of his four daughters—Sitamun and Isis—to the office of "great royal wife" during the last decade of his reign. Evidence that Sitamun already was promoted to this office by Year 30 of his reign, is known from jar-label inscriptions uncovered from the royal palace at Malkata. 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. The goddess Hathor herself was related to Ra as first the mother and later wife and daughter of the god when he rose to prominence in the pantheon of the Ancient Egyptian religion.
Amenhotep III is known to have married several foreign women:
- Gilukhepa, the daughter of Shuttarna II of Mitanni, in the tenth year of his reign.
- Tadukhepa, the daughter of his ally Tushratta of Mitanni, Around Year 36 of his reign.
- A daughter of Kurigalzu, king of Babylon.
- A daughter of Kadashman-Enlil, king of Babylon.
- A daughter of Tarhundaradu, ruler of Arzawa.
- A daughter of the ruler of Ammia (in modern Syria)."
"Another striking characteristic of Amenhotep III's reign is the series of over 200 large commemorative stone scarabs that have been discovered over a large geographic area ranging from Syria (Ras Shamra) through to Soleb in Nubia.
Their lengthy inscribed texts extol the accomplishments of the pharaoh. For instance, 123 of these commemorative scarabs record the large number of lions (either 102 or 110 depending on the reading) that Amenhotep III killed "with his own arrows" from his first regnal year up to his tenth year.
Similarly, five other scarabs state that the foreign princess who would become a wife to him, Gilukhepa, arrived in Egypt with a retinue of 317 women. She was the first of many such princesses who would enter the pharaoh's household."
"His reign was a period of unprecedented prosperity and artistic splendour, when Egypt reached the peak of its artistic and international power. When he died in the 38th or 39th year of his reign, his son initially ruled as Amenhotep IV, but then changed his own royal name to Akhenaten." (Who was the heretic king and Biblical Moses.)
"Amenhotep appears to have been crowned while still a child, perhaps between the ages of 6 and 12. It is likely that a regent acted for him if he was made pharaoh at that early age. He married Tiye two years later and she lived twelve years after his death. His lengthy reign was a period of unprecedented prosperity and artistic splendour, when Egypt reached the peak of her artistic and international power. Proof of this is shown by the diplomatic correspondence from the rulers of Assyria, Mitanni, Babylon, and Hatti which is preserved in the archive of Amarna Letters; these letters document frequent requests by these rulers for gold and numerous other gifts from the pharaoh. The letters cover the period from Year 30 of Amenhotep III until at least the end of Akhenaten's reign. In one famous correspondence—Amarna letter EA 4—Amenhotep III is quoted by the Babylonian king Kadashman-Enlil I in firmly rejecting the latter's entreaty to marry one of this pharaoh's daughters:
“From time immemorial, no daughter of the king of Egypt is given to anyone.”
Amenhotep III's refusal to allow one of his daughters to be married to the Babylonian monarch may indeed be connected with Egyptian traditional royal practices that could provide a claim upon the throne through marriage to a royal princess, or, it could be viewed as a shrewd attempt on his part to enhance Egypt's prestige over those of her neighbours in the international world."
The pharaoh's reign was relatively peaceful and uneventful. The only recorded military activity by the king is commemorated by three rock-carved stelae from his fifth year found near Aswan and Saï (island) in Nubia. The official account of Amenhotep III's military victory emphasizes his martial prowess with the typical hyperbole used by all pharaohs."
"When Amenhotep III died, he left behind a country that was at the very height of its power and influence, commanding immense respect in the international world; however, he also bequeathed an Egypt that was wedded to its traditional political and religious certainties under the Amun priesthood.
The resulting upheavals from his son Akhenaten's reforming zeal would shake these old certainties to their very foundations and bring forth the central question of whether a pharaoh was more powerful than the existing domestic order as represented by the Amun priests and their numerous temple estates. Akhenaten even moved the capital away from the city of Thebes in an effort to break the influence of that powerful temple and assert his own preferred choice of deities, the Aten. Akhenaten moved the Egyptian capital to the site known today as Amarna (though originally known as Akhetaten, 'Horizon of Aten'), and eventually suppressed the worship of Amun."
"Perhaps the most famous official of the king was Amenhotep, son of Hapu. He never had high titles but was later worshipped as god and main architect of some of the king's temples."