The Administration of Horemheb

Horemheb was a significant military leader that provided him with the opportunity to take the throne. He re-established the Amun religion in response to the failure of the Amarna revolution. He carried out the construction of new temples, and tombs while deconstructing other pharaoh’s buildings, yet he also restored pharaoh’s tombs that had been robbed. With the downfall of the Amarna revolution Horemheb rebuilt the society through a strong military base, and well-established administration system. Surely, however, he often took credit and transformed various pharaohs’ edicts, and buildings claiming them as his own works, to what extent he established a constructive reformation during his reign is debated. Overall with frequent scrutiny of the intentions and motives behind Horemheb’s restoration of Egypt-referring a wide range of both second and primary sources to assess the reforms of Horemheb’s reign.
Horemheb rose to power during the reign of the Amarna predecessors, yet he blamed the deplorable state of Egypt on them, concomitantly attempting to remove all indication of their reigns-destroying everything related to the Aten heresy; “His majesty took counsel with his heart… expel evil and suppress lying”. The punishments that Horemheb demonstrated was not unusual for a pharaoh, he begun destroying Tutankhamen and Ay’s names replacing them with the title of his own name. Then he began the dismantlement and destruction of both temples and building sites that were built dedicated to the worship of Aten-including the city of Akhetaten. Temples at Karnak, Helipolis and Memphis were all deconstructed. Redford outlines the careful plan that Horhemheb’s crews were to abide by. Whether or not Horemheb was the pharaoh that ordered the desecration of the tombs, buildings and monuments for those pharaohs who were associated to the Amarna revolution cannot be definitely proven; conversely we are aware that Ay’s sarcophagus was destroyed concomitantly his name was