Amenhotep II

Statue of pharaoh Amenhotep II of the 18th dynasty of Egypt making an offering from the Temple of Amun at Thebes.

Amenhotep II (1453-1419 BC) was a pharaoh of Egypt's so called New Kingdom, the son and sucessor of the famous warrior-king Tutmosis III.

Amenhotep II was notorious for being a great sportsman. He was very athletic (at 1.80 m tall, he was also quite tall for an ancient Egyptian), and had a great love for horses (he was given control of all royal stables even as a child). He was also an extraordinary archer, and it is said that he could shoot copper targets with his arrows while driving a chariot at full speed, with the reigns tied around his waist. This feat was so well known and admired that it is even found portrayed on some Egyptian artwork of that time.

Amenhotep II is also considered to have been one of the most cruel and bloodthirtsy pharaohs of all times. He actively participated in battle, sought to fight in hand-to-hand combat and led the Egyptian troops into battle himself "with howls of rage".

Whereas his father, Tutmosis III, prefered to show mercy to defeated chieftains, princes and kings, Amenhotep was completely different; when he defeated the Syrians during his military campaigns in the 7th and 9th year of his reign, he personally beheaded 7 captured chiefs and hung their bodies from the front of his ship, and then sailed back to Egypt with the corpses as trophies. Then, when he arrived, he had six of the bodies hung from the temple walls at Thebes, and sent the seventh one to Nubia to be exhibited there, as a warning to any potential rebels, and a humiliation to the defeated enemies.

Amenhotep II had several wives but did not allow any of them to have any political power; instead, he named his own mother Great Royal Wife (the equivalent of the queen or empress in ancient Egypt). This has led many to believe that Amenhotep did not trust women and even that he was a mysoginist, but the truth is, his father Tutmosis III had been kept from his rightful throne by a woman for a long time, and it is likely that Amenhotep was simply trying to prevent the same from occuring to him.

He was succeeded by his son Tutmosis IV.