It was discovered on 24 September 1960, by Dutch astronomer couple Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden, on photographic plates taken by Dutch–American astronomer Tom Gehrels at the U.S Palomar Observatory, California, and assigned the provisional designation 4594 P-L.[8] It was later named after the Egyptian pharaoh Amenemhět III.
[3] Amenemhêt orbits the Sun in the central main-belt at a distance of 2.2–3.3 AU once every 4 years and 6 months (1,633 days).
[8] In the SMASS taxonomic scheme, Amenemhêt is classified as a common stony asteroid with a S-type spectrum.
), who built the Great Canal (Mer-Wer) and brought prosperity to the Faiyum Oasis by linking it with the Nile.
At the Hawara site in Faiyum, he built a mortuary temple, which the Greek historian Herodotus referred to as "labyrinth".