Interior of the Tomb of Thutmose III

Simple in form, muted in color, the art in the Tomb of Thutmose III (KV34) depicts the defeat of the serpent of chaos, Apep, a key episode of the Book of the Dead.

The stone sarcophagus in which Thutmose’s body was placed is still in place in the burial chamber, albeit damaged by tomb robbers in the Valley of the Kings.

Thutmose also continued his family’s tradition of extensive building projects. He commissioned over fifty temples and countless tombs for nobles.

Certain artistic trends started under Hatshepsut were only accelerated under Thutmose. He was the first to so completely embrace pillars in his designs and oversaw the building of the first basilica style structure.

The tomb of Thutmose III (KV34) in the Valley of the Kings is remarkable for its decoration, which illustrates the journey of the sun god through the 12 hours of the night in a style that mimics drawing on papyrus.

Thutmose was originally buried in a cartouche shaped sarcophagus, which still lies in his burial chamber. However, like many of the other royal mummies, he was eventually taken to the mummy cache at Deir el-Bahari.

Tombs built under his reign were the first to be completely painted instead of only painting the relief carvings. Even glass-making made significant progress in the introduction of core formation.

This technique uses a solid core with a rod support to allow the formation of molten glass around it. Once solid, the rod is removed and the core scraped away.