I noticed recently that when I aligned the third Amenhotep's year reign of 25 with his successor and namesakes year 1 that a number of curious dates begin to suggest that much of the fourth Amenhotep's reign may actually have run parallel to his father.
It is for me to believe that the head of mummy #61074 in the Cairo Egyptian Museum is actually that of the third Amenhotep than he probably was suffering from his teeth by his reign year 25 and with the early and probably recent death of crown prince Thutmosis the king took on his younger son Amenhotep and made him his co-regent.
Plague may have been raging in Egypt at this time and in year 27 the third Amenhotep buried a number of members of his family a plague sending the two kings to different desert palaces. By year 30 of the third Amenhotep's reign, the elder king deifies himself while at the same time his son is changing his name to Akhenaten.
The suggestion that Amenhotep was the Aten is valid with his son at Amarna, Akhenaten being the soul communicator to the god for his people. The kings year 37 Sed festival may have found the king in grave health unable to attend his own festival worse yet the king may have fallen ill when the guests were already on their way.
A change of venue may account for the unusual 12th year Sed festival of Akhenaten, the idea that Amenhotep's yr. 37 Sed festival and Akhenaten's yr. 12 Sed festivals are one and the same event. Amenhotep III dying in his son's regnal year 13 with Akhenaten dying a mere 4 years after his father. With such possibilities, it is no wonder the frustrations of chronology but mid 14th century is probably still good.
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