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Ahmose I

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See Amasis II for the 26th Dynasty pharaoh whose name sometimes appears as Ahmose II.
Ahmose I
Amosis in Manetho [1]
File:Ahmose-shabti-head.png
A shabti head bearing the likeness of pharaoh Ahmose I
Pharaoh
Reign1550 BC to 1525 BC (though disputed)
25 years in Manetho
PredecessorKamose
SuccessorAmenhotep I
Royal titulary
Horus name
O29L1G43

Aakheperu[2]
Nebty name
t
t		 A53F31tG43

Tutmesut[2]
Golden Horus
G5
S24
O34		 N17
N17

Tjestawy[2]
Nomen
G39N5
<
mn
iaH		 mss
>

Ahmose[2]
The Moon is Born
ConsortAhmose-Nefertari
God's Wife of Amun
FatherTao II Seqenenre
MotherAhhotep
Died1525 BC
BurialMummy found in Deir el-Bahri cache,
but was likely originally buried in Abydos
MonumentsTemple of Amun at Karnak,
Temple of Monthu at Armant
Dynasty18th Dynasty

Ahmose I (also known as Amosis I) was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the founder of the Eighteenth dynasty. During his reign he conquered the Hyksos and restored Theban rule over all of Egypt, and was also successful in reasserting Egyptian power in its formerly subject territories of Nubia and Canaan.[3] He then reorganized the administration of the country, reopened quarries, mines, and trade routes, and began massive construction projects like had not been done since the Middle Kingdom. This laid the foundations for the New Kingdom, under which Egyptian power reached its peak. His reign is usually dated to about 1550-1525 BC.

Ahmose was the son of king Tao II Seqenenre and brother of king Kamose, the last king of the Seventeenth dynasty. At the age of 10, Ahmose I (The Moon is Born) assumed the throne after the death of his brother, who died after reigning only three years.[4] Upon assuming the crown, he became known as Neb-pehty-re (The Lord of Strength is Re).

Family

Ahmose descended from the Theban Seventeenth Dynasty. His grandfather, Tao I and grandmother, Tetisheri, begat at least two children, Tao II and Ahhotep, who, according to the tradition of Egyptian kings, married and begat Kamose, Ahmose, and several sisters.[5] Ahmose I followed in the tradition of his father and married several of his sisters, making Ahmose-Nefertari his chief wife.[6] They had several children including daughters Meretamun B, Sitamun A, Siamun A, plus sons Ahmose-anhk, Amenhotep I, and Ramose A.[7] They may also have been the parents of Mutneferet A, who would become the wife of later successor Thutmose I. He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, who ruled as Amenhotep I.

Dates and length of reign

Ahmose's reign can be fairly accurately dated using the Heliacal rise of Sirius in his successor's reign, but because of disputes over where the observation was made from, he has been assigned a reign from 1570-1546, 1660-1537, and 1551-1527 by various sources.[8][9] Manetho gives Ahmose a reign of 25 Years and 4 Months.[10] This figure is supported by a Year 22 inscription from his reign at the stone quarries of Tura.[11] Examination of his mummy indicates that he died when he was about thirty five, which also supports a 25-year reign, if he came to the throne at the age of 10.[12]

Campaigns

The conflict between the Hyksos and the local kings of Thebes had started sometime during the reign of Seqenenra Taa, (likely Ahmose I's father) and would be concluded, after almost 30 years of intermittent conflict and war, under the reign of Ahmose I. Seqenenra Taa was quite possibly killed in a battle against the Hyksos (a fact that his battered mummy gruesomely attests), and his successor Kamose (likely Ahmose's elder brother) is known to have attacked and raided the lands around the Hyksos capital, Avaris.[13] Kamose evidently had a short reign (his highest attested regnal year is year 3), and was succeeded by Ahmose I. As Apepi's name is not attested on any monuments or objects south of Bubastis, it is thought that he already had been effectively confined to the delta region,[14], and he is thought to have died at around the same time as Kamose.

Ahmose ascended to the throne when he was still a child, and so his mother, Ahhotep, reigned as regent until he was of age. Judging by some of her rather unique descriptions of her regal roles while in power, including the general honourific "carer for Egypt", she effectively consolidated the Theban power base in the years prior to Ahmose assuming full control.

Ahmose began the reconquest of the Hyksos starting in the 11th year of his reign. According to the Kim Ryholt's analysis of the verso of the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, Ahmose had captured Heliopolis and Sile sometime around his 11th Regnal Year. This suggests that the Hyksos capital, Avaris was now besieged and would have fallen to Ahmose shortly after these events.[citation needed] Records of this campaign were discovered on the tomb walls of a soldier in it, Ahmose, son of Ebana. These records indicate that Ahmose I led three attacks against Avaris, the Hyksos capitol, but had to quell a small rebellion in Egypt. After this, In the fourth attack, he conquered the city.[15] He completely drove the Hyksos out by besieging Sharuhen in Gaza for three years, and conquering it by the 16th year of his reign.[16]

After defeating the Hyksos, Ahmose began campaigning in Syria and Nubia. His campaign in his 22nd year reached Djahy in Syria, and perhaps as far as the Euphrates. Details on this campaign are scarce because Ahmose, son of Ebana, who was part of Ahmose I's navy, did not travel on this land expedition. Ahmose I's campaigns in Nubia are better documented. After a first campaign, a Nubian named Aata quickly rebelled against Ahmose, but was crushed. After this, an anti-Theban Egyptian man named Tetian gathered many rebels in Nubia, but was also defeated. Ahmose reestablished Egyptian rule over Nubia and placed it under a new administrative centre established at Buhen.[17] When reestablishing the national government Ahmose appears to have rewarded various local princes who supported his cause and that of his dynastic predecessors. [18]

Art and monumental constructions

File:Ahmose.jpg
A stelae bearing the likeness of pharaoh Ahmose I

With the re-unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under Ahmose came a rededication to the arts and monumental construction. Ahmose reportedly devoted a tenth of all the productive output towards the service of the traditional gods,[19] reviving massive monumental constructions as well as the arts.

The art during of Ahmose I's reign harkened back the royal Theban style of the Middle Kingdom,[20] Stelae from this period were once more of the quality produced in the Middle Kingdom.[21] This reflects a perhaps natural conservative tendency to revive the fashion from the pre-Hyksos era. Despite this, it is interesting to note that only three statuary images of Ahmose I survive: a single shabti, presumably from his tomb (which has never been positively located), and two life-size statues, one of which resides in the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the other in the Khartoum Museum. [22]

File:JewelsAndWeaponsOfQueenAhomseNefertari.png
The jewels and ceremonial weaponry found in with the burial of Queen Ahhotep, including an axe whose blade depicts Ahmose I striking down a Hyksos soldier, and the golden flies awarded to the Queen for her supportive role against the Hyksos.

With the delta and Nubia under Egyptian control once more, Ahmose once again gained access to distant resources which were not present in Upper Egypt. He received gold and silver from Nubia, Lapis Lazuli from distant parts of central Asia, and cedar from Byblos.[23] In the Sinai, he reopened the Serabit el-Khadim turquoise mines.[24] Also, although the exact nature of the relationship is uncertain, at least some Minoan designs have been found on objects from this period, and Egypt considered the Aegean to be part of its empire.[25] Ahmose also reopened the Tura limestone quarries to provide stone for monuments.

Ahmose also resumed large construction projects like those before the second intermediate period. Ahmose began the building of temples, but he built mostly of brick and only in Upper Egypt and once in Buhen in Nubia. In Upper Egypt, he built at the temple of Amun at Karnak, and at the temple of Monthu at Armant.[26] He also built a cenotaph for his grandmother, Queen Tetisheri, at Abydos.[27]

He made Thebes, the capital of his ancestors the capital city for the whole of Egypt. This was also a strategic choice, as Thebes lays in the center of Egypt, and repelling any opposition would only entail at most traveling over half of the country to reach the land's boundaries.[28]

Pyramid

The remains of his pyramid in Abydos were discovered in 1899, and identified as his in 1902.[29] This pyramid and the related structures were resurveyed in 1993 by an expedition sponsored by the Pennsylvania-Yale-Institute of Fine Arts under the direction of Stephen Harvey.[30] This pyramid was the last pyramid ever built as part of a mortuary complex in Egypt. It has since lost its casing stones and the mound of sand upon which it was built collapsed, however when it stood, it was 52.5 m high with a relatively steep slope of about 60 degrees[30] (compare to the less acute 51 degrees of the Great Pyramid of Giza). The pyramid, or what remains of it, sits next to Ahmose's mortuary temple, which, although also in ruins, contains thousands of inscribed fragments showing pictures of archers, ships, dead asiatics, and the first known representation of horses in Egypt.[30] There is some dispute as to if Ahmose was buried here, or if it was a cenotaph. Most pyramids in Upper Egypt have no mortuary temple attached and no rooms in or under them, so they are believed to be monuments to the king, but not his tomb. Because Ahmose's pyramid has a mortuary temple, many believe it to be his actual tomb.[30] However, the pyramid is believed to have had no interior rooms, and has no rooms under it either, so other Egyptologists believe that it is in fact a cenotaph, and that Ahmose was buried in Dra' Abu el-Naga' with the rest of the late 17th and early 18th Dynasties.[31]

Mummy

The mummified head of Ahmose I

Ahmose I's mummy was discovered in the Deir el-Bahri Cache above the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, revealed in 1881. He was interred along with those of other 18th and 19th dynasty leaders Amenhotep I, Thutmose I, Thutmose II, Thutmose III, Ramesses I, Seti I, Ramesses II, and Ramesses IX, as well as the 21st dynasty pharaohs Pinedjem I, Pinedjem II, and Siamun.

The mummy was unwrapped by Gaston Maspero on June 9, 1886. His mummy was found within a coffin that bore his name in hieroglyphs, and on his bandages his name was again written in hieratic script. He had evidently been moved from his original burial place and was re-wrapped and placed within the cache at Deir el-Bahri during the reign of the 21st dynasty priest-king Pinedjum II, whose name also appeared on the mummy's wrappings. Around his neck had been placed a garland of delphinium flowers. The body bore signs of having been plundered by ancient grave-robbers, his head having been broken off from his body, and his nose smashed. [32]

The body was 1.63 m in height. Ahmose I had a small face with no defining features, though he had slightly prominent front teeth, which may have been an inherited family trait, a feature also seen in some female mummies of the same family and his descendant Thutmose II.

A short description of the mummy by Gaston Maspero sheds further light on familial resemblances:

...he was of medium height, as his body when mummified measured only 5 feet 6 inches in length, but the development of the neck and chest indicates extraordinary strength. The head is small in proportion to the bust, the forehead low and narrow, the cheek-bones project, and the hair is thick and wavy. The face exactly resembles that of Tiûâcrai [ Tao II Seqenenre ], and the likeness alone would proclaim the affinity, even if we were ignorant of the close relationship which united these two Pharaohs.[33]

Initial studies of the mummy were first thought to reveal a man in his 50s,[34] but subsequent examinations have shown that he was instead likely to have been in his mid-30s when he died.[35]

References

  1. ^ Sir Alan Gardiner Egypt of the Pharaohs, OUP, 1964
  2. ^ a b c d e Ahmose accessed July 19, 2006
  3. ^ Grimal, Nicholas. A History of Ancient Egypt. p.194. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988
  4. ^ Grimal, Nicholas. A History of Ancient Egypt. p.192. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988
  5. ^ Grimal, Nicholas. A History of Ancient Egypt. p.190. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988
  6. ^ Grimal, Nicholas. A History of Ancient Egypt. p.190. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988
  7. ^ Dodson, Aidan. And Hilton, Dyan. The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, p. 126. Thames & Hudson, 2004.
  8. ^ Grimal, Nicholas. A History of Ancient Egypt. p.193. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988
  9. ^ Helk, Wolfgang. Schwachstellen der Chronologie-Diskussion. pp.47-9. Göttinger Miszellen, Göttingen, 1983
  10. ^ Grimal, Nicholas. A History of Ancient Egypt. p.193. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988
  11. ^ Breasted, James Henry. Ancient Records of Egypt, Vol. II p. 12. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1906.
  12. ^ Grimal, Nicholas. A History of Ancient Egypt. p.193. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988
  13. ^ Shaw, Ian. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press, 2000. p199.
  14. ^ Grimal, Nicholas. A History of Ancient Egypt. p.192. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988
  15. ^ Breasted, James Henry. Ancient Records of Egypt, Vol. II p. 7-8. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1906.
  16. ^ Grimal, Nicholas. A History of Ancient Egypt. p.193. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988
  17. ^ Grimal, Nicholas. A History of Ancient Egypt. p.194. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988
  18. ^ Shaw, Ian. & Nicholson, Paul. The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, p.18. The British Museum Press, 1995.
  19. ^ Maspero, Gaston. History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 4 (of 12), Project Gutenberg EBook, Release Date: December 16, 2005. EBook #17324. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17324/17324.txt
  20. ^ Edna R. Russman et al. Eternal Egypt: Masterworks of Ancient Art from the British Museum. p. 210-211.
  21. ^ Grimal, Nicholas. A History of Ancient Egypt. p.200. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988
  22. ^ Edna R. Russman et al. Eternal Egypt: Masterworks of Ancient Art from the British Museum. p. 210-211.
  23. ^ Catalogue Gènèral 34001, Egyptian Museum, Cairo
  24. ^ Grimal, Nicholas. A History of Ancient Egypt. p.200. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988
  25. ^ Catalogue Gènèral 34001, Egyptian Museum, Cairo
  26. ^ Grimal, Nicholas. A History of Ancient Egypt. p.200. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988
  27. ^ Grimal, Nicholas. A History of Ancient Egypt. p.200. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988
  28. ^ Maspero, Gaston. History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 4 (of 12), Project Gutenberg EBook, Release Date: December 16, 2005. EBook #17324. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17324/17324.txt
  29. ^ Egyptian Pharaohs: Ahmose I accessed July 19, 2006
  30. ^ a b c d Ahmose Pyramid at Abydos accessed July 22, 2006
  31. ^ Grimal, Nicholas. A History of Ancient Egypt. p.200. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988
  32. ^ Smith, G Elliot. The Royal Mummies, p.15-17. Duckworth, 2000 (reprint).
  33. ^ Maspero, Gaston. History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 4 (of 12), Project Gutenberg EBook, Release Date: December 16, 2005. EBook #17324. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17324/17324.txt
  34. ^ Maspero, Gaston. History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 4 (of 12), Project Gutenberg EBook, Release Date: December 16, 2005. EBook #17324. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17324/17324.txt
  35. ^ Shaw, Ian. & Nicholson, Paul. The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, p.18. The British Museum Press, 1995.


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