“On becoming king, Amenhotep [II] stressed not only his physical prowess but also his
credentials as a military ruler. He was determined to prove himself a worthy heir and
successor of his father, the great warrior pharaoh. Following in Thutmose III’s footsteps,
he led two major campaigns in the Near East. The purpose of the first was to extend and
consolidate Egypt’s imperial possessions by securing the allegiance of various unaligned
chiefs and quelling a revolt in Takhsy (modern Syria). The unfortunate rebels should
have learned from recent history: Egypt was not about to be humbled on such an
important stage. Amenhotep’s army easily prevailed against the enemy and meted out a
predictably gruesome fate to the ringleaders. The seven defeated chiefs of Takhsy were
rounded up and taken back to Egypt, suspended head-down from the masts of the royal
flagship. On arrival in Thebes, in a final act of humiliation, six of the rebels were hung up
on the walls of Ipetsut, as an offering to the Egyptian gods and a warning to would-be
insurgents. The body of the seventh chief was carried all the way to Napata, in upper
Nubia, the southernmost outpost of the Egyptian Empire, to be similarly displayed. As it
swung, rotting and stinking in the desert sun, the corpse served as a powerful and grim
reminder to the local population of the price of rebellion.” Wilkinson, T. A. H. (2010). The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt. New York: Random House., pp. 178-179.