Thutmose III: The Military Biography of Egypt's Greatest Warrior King

by Richard A. Gabriel

In the course of his thirty-two-year reign over ancient Egypt, Thutmose III fought an impressive seventeen campaigns. He fought more battles over a longer period of time and experienced more victories than Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar did. Despite Thutmose III’s surprisingly illustrious record, his name does not command the same immediate recognition as these highly visible military leaders. In Thutmose III , Richard Gabriel deftly brings to life the character and ability of ancient Egypt’s warrior king and sheds light on Thutmose’s key contributions to Egyptian history. Considered the father of the Egyptian navy, Thutmose created the first combat navy in the ancient world and built an enormous shipyard near Memphis to construct troop, horse, and supply transports to support his campaigns in Syria and Iraq. He also reformed the army, establishing a reliable conscript base, creating a professional officer corps, equipping it with modern weapons, and integrating chariotry’s combat arm into new tactical doctrines. Politically, he introduced strategic principles of national security that guided Egyptian diplomatic, commercial, and military policies for half a millennium and created the Egyptian empire. Through these crowning achievements, Thutmose set into motion events that shaped and influenced the Levant and Egypt for the next four hundred years. His reign can be regarded as a watershed in the military and imperial history of the entire eastern Mediterranean.

Genres: History, Ancient History, Egypt, Nonfiction, Biography, Egyptology, Military History

252 pages, Hardcover

First published July 31, 2009

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a passing interest in Thutmose III, mainly because he has a pretty statue and I can be incredibly shallow, so I got this book to see if I could further my interest in one of Egypt's greatest but underrated pharaohs.

Well, the book was a disappointment.

The problem isn't that the book wasn't informative (which it was) or that it was biased to one view. But rather, what I wanted from a book about Thutmose III wasn't what Gabriel wanted to write about. As the full title of the book suggests, this is a military biography, and apart from the first chapter, focused entirely on Thutmose's military exploits.

Dubbed the "Napoleon of Ancient Egypt" and compared favourably to the likes of Alexander the Great, Thutmose III was one of the greatest warrior kings in Ancient Egyptian history – but Thutmose was far more than just a military leader. It would have been nice to have seen more than a few lines about Thutmose when he wasn't at war. But then, the book is pretty clear about its scope and I only have myself to blame for expecting more from it.

The book is also inaccurate in some places, and I disliked how Gabriel consistently labelled Hatshepsut as "Queen" when she ruled as a king. The tone came across as dry in places, and I found myself dozing off in places. It's unfortunate that this is the most accessible of the biographies about Thutmose III.

[Meru · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better books I've ever read of this sort, this book managed to be both very readable and pretty interesting, even to someone who doesn't have that much interest in Egypt. More books should be written like this, since they make otherwise inaccessible topics worth reading about.