| Amenhotep I the Pious | |
|---|---|
| |
| Pharaoh of Egypt | |
| Reign | 12 June 1545 - 28 January 1524 |
| Predecessor | Ahmose II |
| Successor | Thutmose I |
| Born | January 22, 1559 Waset, Egypt |
| Died | January 28, 1524 (aged 35) |
| Spouse | Ahmose-Meritamun I, Sitkamose II |
| Issue | Amenemhat (died young), Ahmose |
| Full name | |
| Horus Name: Kawaftau Nebty Name: Aaneru Golden Horus Name: Wahrenput Praenomen: Djoserkara Nomen: Amenhotep | |
| House | Ahmose |
| Dynasty | Ahmosid - Thutmosid |
| Father | Ahmose II |
| Mother | Ahmose-Nefertari |
| Religion | Kemetism |
Amenhotep I or Amenophis I (/əˈmɛnoʊfɪs/ from Ancient Greek Ἀμένωφις), was the second Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. His reign is dated from 1545 to 1524 BC.
He was a son of Ahmose II and Ahmose-Nefertari but had an elder brother, Ahmose-ankh, and was not expected to inherit the throne. However, sometime in the eight years between Ahmose II's 17th regnal year and his death, his heir apparent died and Amenhotep became crown prince. He then acceded to the throne and ruled for about 21 years.
Although his reign is poorly documented, it is possible to piece together a basic history from available evidence. He inherited the kingdom formed by his father's military conquests and maintained dominance over Nubia and the Nile Delta but probably did not attempt to maintain Egyptian power in the Levant. He continued the rebuilding of temples in Upper Egypt and revolutionized mortuary complex design by separating his tomb from his mortuary temple, setting a trend in royal funerary monuments which would persist throughout the New Kingdom. After his death, he was deified as a patron god of Setmaat-Nefernesu.
Family[]
Amenhotep I was the son of Ahmose II and Ahmose-Nefertari. His elder brother, the crown prince Ahmose-ankh, died before him, thus clearing the way for his ascension to the throne. Amenhotep probably came to power while he was still young himself, and his mother, Ahmose-Nefertari, appears to have been regent for him for at least a short time. The evidence for this regency is that both he and his mother are credited with founding a settlement for workers in the Theban Necropolis at Setmaat-Nefernesu. Amenhotep took his older sister, Ahmose-Meritamon, as his Great Royal Wife. Another wife's name, Sitkamose, is attested on a nineteenth dynasty stele.
Beyond this, the relationships between Amenhotep I and other possible family members are unclear. Ahhotep II is usually called his wife and sister, despite an alternative theory that she was his grandmother. He is thought to have had one son by Ahhotep II, Amenemhat, who died while still very young. This remains the consensus, although there are arguments against that relationship as well. With no living heirs, Amenhotep was succeeded by Thutmose I, who he married to his "sister", Ahmose. Since Ahmose IIs never given the title "King's Daughter" in any inscription, some scholars doubt whether she was a sibling of Amenhotep I, Thutmose I was also his cousin through his father Ahmose-Sapair who was the brother to Ahmose II.
Foreign policy[]
Amenhotep I's Horus and Two Ladies names, "Bull who conquers the lands" and "He who inspires great terror," are generally interpreted to mean that Amenhotep I intended to dominate the surrounding nations. Two tomb texts indicate that he led campaigns into Nubia. According to the tomb texts of Ahmose, son of Ebana, Amenhotep later sought to expand Egypt's border southward into Nubia and he led an invasion force which defeated the Nubian army. The tomb biography of Ahmose Pen-Nekhebet says he also fought in a campaign in Kush, however it is quite possible that it refers to the same campaign as Ahmose, son of Ebana. Amenhotep built a temple at Zai, showing that he had established Egyptian settlements almost as far as the Third Cataract.
A single reference in the tomb of Ahmose Pen-Nekhebet indicates another campaign in Iamu in the land of Kehek. Unfortunately, the location of Kehek is unknown. It was long believed that Kehek was a reference to the Libyan tribe, Qeheq, and thus it was postulated that invaders from Libya took advantage of the death of Ahmose to move into the western Nile Delta. Unfortunately for this theory, the Qeheq people only appeared in later times, and Kehek's identity remains unknown. Nubia is a possibility, since Amenhotep did campaign there, and the western desert and the oases have also been suggested, since these seem to have fallen under Egyptian control once again.
Egypt had lost the western desert and the oases during the Second Intermediate Period, and during the revolt against the Hyksos, Kamose I thought it necessary to garrison them. It is uncertain when they were fully retaken, but on one stele, the title "Prince-Governor of the oases" was used, which means that Amenhotep's reign forms the terminus ante quem for the return of Egyptian rule.
There are no recorded campaigns in Syro-Palestine during Amenhotep I's reign. However, according to the Tombos Stela of his successor, Thutmose I, when Thutmose led a campaign into Asia all the way to the Euphrates, he found no one who fought against him. If Thutmose did not lead a campaign which has not been recorded into Asia before this recorded one, it would mean that the preceding pharaoh would have had to pacify Syria instead, which would indicate a possible Asiatic campaign of Amenhotep I. Two references to the Levant potentially written during his reign might be contemporary witnesses to such a campaign. One of the candidates for Amenhotep's tomb contains a reference to Qedmi, which is somewhere in Canaan or the Transjordan, and Amenemhet's tomb contains a hostile reference to Mitanni. However, neither of these references necessarily refer to campaigning, nor do they even necessarily date to Amenhotep's reign. The location of Amenhotep's tomb is not certain, and Amenemhet lived to serve under multiple kings who are known to have attacked Mitanni. Records from Amenhotep's reign are simply altogether too scant and too vague to reach a conclusion about any Syrian campaign.
Cultural and intellectual developments[]
Large numbers of statues of Amenhotep have been found, but they are mostly from the Ramesside period and relate to his continuing funerary cult, made for his posthumous funerary cult. This makes study of the art of his reign difficult. Based upon his few authentic statues, it appears that Amenhotep continued the practice of copying Middle Kingdom styles. Art in the early 18th dynasty was particularly similar to that of the early Middle Kingdom, and the statues produced by Amenhotep I clearly copied those of Mentuhotep II and Senusret I. The two types are so similar that modern Egyptologists have had trouble telling the two apart.
It was probably Amenhotep I who founded the artisans village at Setmaat-Nefernesu, whose inhabitants were responsible for much of the art which filled the tombs in the Theban Necropolis for the following generations of New Kingdom rulers and nobles. The earliest name found there is that of Thutmose I, however Amenhotep was clearly an important figure to the city's workmen since he and his mother were both its patron deities.
Amenhotep's reign saw literary developments. The Book of What is in the Underworld ('the Egyptian Book of the Dead'), an important funerary text used in the New Kingdom, is believed to have reached its final form during Amenhotep's reign, since it first appears in the decoration of the tomb of his successor Thutmose I. The Ebers papyrus, which is the main source for information on ancient Egyptian medicine, also seems to date to this time (the mention of the Heliacal rise of Sothis by which the early New Kingdom chronology is usually calculated was found on the back of this document).
It appears that during Amenhotep I's reign the first water clock was invented. Amenhotep's court astronomer Amenemheb took credit for creating this device in his tomb biography, although the oldest surviving mechanism dates to the reign of Amenhotep III. This invention was of great benefit for timekeeping, because the Egyptian hour was not a fixed amount of time, but was measured as 1/12 of the night. When the nights were shorter in the summer, these waterclocks could be adjusted to measure the shorter hours accurately.
Building projects[]
Amenhotep began or continued a number of building projects at temple sites in Upper Egypt but most of the structures he built were later dismantled or obliterated by his successors. From written sources it is known that he commissioned the architect Ineni to expand the Temple of Ipetisut. Ineni's tomb biography indicates that he created a 20-cubit gate of limestone on the south side of Ipetisut. He constructed a sacred barque chapel of Amun out of alabaster and a copy of the White Chapel of Senusret III. Sculpted material from these structures has been recovered from the fill of Amenhotep III's third pylon allowing some of these structures to be rebuilt at Ipetisut. Amenhotep also built structures at Ipetisut for his Sed festival, a festival by which a pharaoh's strength and vigour was renewed after reigning 30 years, but it seems likely that he died before he could use them. A temple was constructed in Nubia at Zai, and he built temple structures in Upper Egypt at Elephantine, Nubt, Abydos, and the Temple of Nekhbet. As far as is known Amenhotep did not build anything of significance in Lower Egypt, like his father.
Mortuary complex[]
Amenhotep I was the first king of Egypt to separate his mortuary temple from his tomb, probably in an attempt to keep his tomb safe from robbers. This temple was sited at the north end of Djeserdjeseru. Djeserdjeseru appears to have had some sort of funerary significance for Amenhotep, since Theban Tomb 358, the tomb of his queen Ahmose-Meritamon, was also found nearby. Amenhotep's mortuary temple was largely demolished to make way for the lower terrace of the mortuary temple constructed approximately 50 years later by Queen Hatshepsut, and only a few bricks inscribed with Amenhotep's name remain. The royal statues inside of the temple were moved to the nearby funerary temple of Mentuhotep II.
Tomb and burial[]
The original location of Amenhotep's tomb has not been securely identified. A report on the security of royal tombs in the Theban Necropolis commissioned during the troubled reign of Ramesses IX noted that it was then intact, but its location was not specified. Two sites for Amenhotep I's tomb have been proposed, one high up in the Valley of the Kings, KV39 and the other at Amuntaher, Tomb ANB. Excavations at KV 39 suggest it was used or reused to store the Djeserdjeseru Cache, which included the king's well-preserved mummy, before its final reburial. However, Tomb ANB is considered the more likely possibility, because it contains objects bearing his name and the names of some family members.
Succession and legacy[]
Amenhotep I is thought to have had only one child, a son who died in infancy, although some sources indicate he had no children. Amenhotep I was succeeded by Thutmose I, a senior military figure. The two were related by blood as Thutmose I was a son of Amenhotep I's uncle Ahmose Sipairi. Amenhotep appointed Thutmose I as coregent before his own death as Thutmose I's name appears next to Amenhotep's on a divine barque found by archeologists in the fill of the third pylon at Ipetisut.