Aakheperure Amenhotep II (died 1400 BC) was the 7th Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1427 BC to 1400 BC.
Amenhotep II was the son of Thutmose III and a minor wife, Merytra. Amenhotep II may have been co-regent with his father before he ascended the throne. Not long after his coronation a portion of Syria rebelled against his rule. He set out and subdued the rebellious city and captured seven princes. The princes were hung upside down on the prow of his ship, a common punishment for rebel leader in Pharaonic Egypt. Upon reaching Thebes all but one of the princes were mounted on the city walls. The other was taken to the often rebellious territory of Nubia and hung on the city wall of Napata , as an example to any who dare rebel. Amenhotep II briefly led another campaign into Syria in 1418 BC.
Amenhotep II was not solely a warrior, but also a diplomat, who became the first Pharaoh to sign a peace treaty with the Mitanni. The Pharaoh also established cordial relations with Babylonians and Hittites in exchange for acknowledging Egypt as hegemon of the region. With peace secured, Amenhotep II set about various building projects. He commissioned a column to stand in the courtyard between the fourth and fifth pylons in the Temple of Karnak commemorating the agreement between him Artatama I and other Mitanni leaders. He also built a temple to Horemakhet near the Great Sphinx at Giza and expanded the Temple of Karnak.
Amenhotep II did not record the names of his queens, some Egyptologists theorize that he felt that women had become too powerful under titles such as God's Wife of Amun. They point to the fact that he participated in his fathers removal of Hatshepsut's name from her monument and the destruction of her image.
Like many Pharaohs, Amenhotep had a number of names. The most important of these were his praenomen, or regnal name, and his nomen, or birth name (which is Amenhotep), with its epithet. These names, in Egyptian hieroglyphs, can be seen above right. The technical transliteration of these names is 3-ḫprw-r ỉmn-ḥtp–ḥḳ3-ỉwnw. This is normally realised as Aakheperure Amenhotep-hekaiunu, meaning "The great forms of Ra, Amun is satisfied, ruler of Heliopolis".
Amenhotep's mummy was discovered in KV35 in the Valley of the Kings in his original sarcophagus.
See also: List of Pharaohs
