There was almost no war during the 38-year reign (ca. 1390-1352 B.C.) of Amenhotep III. He commissioned hundreds of statues for Sakhmet, the fearsome, lion-hearted Egyptian goddess of plague and war, more than for himself or all the other deities combined. Was his reason to appease Sakhmet in her capacity as the plague goddess? This lecture pulls together historical, art historical, sociological, and literary evidence supporting the likelihood that this period was one fraught with terrible disease, very possibly bubonic plague.