Amenhotep iii (1391–1353 bc) was for thirty-eight years ‘the richest man on earth and commander in chief of the largest, best equipped army of its day’ (Introduction), and rightly merits the sobriquet of ‘Egypt's Sun King’ long before Louis xiv was France's equivalent (ad 1638–1715). Amenhotep's reign was, without doubt, the Eighteenth Dynasty's high watermark and the ‘Golden Age’ of Egyptian civilisation in art and architecture. This was radiantly expressed in the remarkable exhibition, Egypt's Dazzling Sun. Amenhotep III and His World, co-curated by Arielle Kozloff and Betsy Bryan in 1992, shown first at the Cleveland Museum of Art, then the Kimball Art Museum and, finally, in the Grand Palais, Paris. (Curiously, the splendid major catalogue (Kozloff et al Reference Kozloff, Bryan and Berman1992) is not listed here in the bibliography, being only cited as ‘EDS’ in the list of abbreviations for contributors to it.) That exhibition revealed the incredible world of Amenhotep iii and Kozloff, who has published widely on the pharaoh, now presents the man himself, his life and the many issues confronted in his reign. It is a trick of fate that, for all Amenhotep's magnificence and innovation, he is today overshadowed by his son Akhenaten and his grandson Tutankhamen, respectively noted for their championing of monotheism (the Aten), and the virtually intact tomb discovered in 1922.

For the majority of Egyptologists Amenhotep iii is the favourite, about whom new information is constantly appearing – Japanese excavations by Waseda University continue in his much-damaged tomb in the Western Valley of the Kings (KV 22) and remarkable finds of sculpture are appearing in the current extensive excavations by H Sourouzian behind the Colossi of Memnon (his mortuary/memorial temple) at Kom el-Hatttan.

The book is probably the closest to a true biography of this great pharaoh that can possibly be achieved, subject to any major new evidence that may appear from the current excavations mentioned above. Kozloff takes the view that Amenhotep was born during the reign of Amenhotep ii, c 1412 bc, while his father, later Tuthmosis iv, was still a prince, and that he then rose to high office when his father became pharaoh. He possibly had as many as seventeen siblings or half-siblings. From his earliest years, for which there is not very much evidence, Kozloff then follows Amenhotep through his life, especially as seen in the context of his known contemporaries, principally Amenhotep-son-of-Hapu, the master architect represented in many statues in youth and old age (a splendid photograph of some of those statues as found at Karnak is on p 201), and Ramose, his vizier, who served also for a short while under Amenhotep iv (Akhenaten), with a splendid Theban tomb (TT 55). The Great Royal Wife Queen Tiy appears in several of these tombs and those of other notable courtiers, and was obviously from her early marriage the mainstay of the reign. The evidence is marshalled from immense statues (the Colossi of Memnon), superb portrait pieces, inscriptions, large historical account scarabs, etc, down to the smallest fragments from Amenhotep's royal palace at Malkata at Thebes, itself also currently under excavation.

After a useful Introduction and Preface setting out the broad background to the period, the book is divided into eighteen very readable and cogent chapters that illuminate this amazing period in ancient Egyptian history – the pharaoh, his officials and the contemporary scene are brought to life in both an interesting and a scholarly account that can hardly be exceeded. The clarity of Kozloff's writing makes Amenhotep iii and his Egypt accessible at all levels in a text not interrupted by numerous footnotes. Rather, the latter are well served by notes and references arranged under chapter heads. There is a useful glossary of ancient names and an excellent bibliography. The full index is an admirable key to the book, although with an unfortunate blip on p 338 where the turnover continuing head reads Amenemhet iii (a 12th Dynasty pharaoh) instead of Amenhotep.

This book is definitely a major contribution to the literature of Egypt's apogee in the New Kingdom's Eighteenth Dynasty.