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| Amenhotep I is a great king of ancient Egypt |
We mentioned above that “Ahmose” the first
had many children from his many wives, and the most fertile of them, as we
know, were his first wife and his sister, “Nefertari”; As she gave birth to him
at least six children, and they were the legitimate children from whom the heir
to the throne was elected, and the eldest of the children of “Ahmose” is
apparently Prince “Saba Eri”, and he bore all the titles that qualified him for
the throne, but his death was urgent and he In his youth, the heir to the
throne became his brother, Amenhotep.
When “Ahmose” the first met his death, his son “Amenhotep” the first was still young and had not reached the age of men to assume the throne himself, so “Nefertari” took the reins of power in her hand, and became the regent on the throne, as did her mother, “Aahhotep” with “Ahmose.” The first is as previously mentioned, and it is not surprising that we find this activity on the part of “Nefertari”; As we have come to know that she was a person of great activity during the reign of her first husband, “Ahmose”, and she is undoubtedly considered the second of the queens who - with their sacred and legitimate right - did not sit idle in their own backyard, but rather took upon themselves the burdens and tasks of the king, claiming equality for themselves. superiority - with their titles - over their husbands and children in ruling the country; We are not surprised if we see Queen Ahhotep, who had reached a very old age, now playing her role behind the scenes in tempting Nefertari to take the reins of affairs in her hands. To be the guardian of the throne of her young son, as she did before her with “Ahmose” the first. On her coffin, as previously mentioned.
Wars of Amenhotep I
It seems that the first campaign undertaken by
“Amenhotep” the first was against the country of “Kush”, as was previously said
about that when talking about the translation of “Ahmose” son of “Our Father”.
This naval officer says that he defeated the enemy and returned to Egypt
victoriously. As for Asia, we do not know that he waged wars there. However, it
is possible that this pharaoh tried throughout his reign to follow his father's
colonial policy. In fact, we find in an inscription dated to the second year of
the reign of Thutmose I that his state extended from Tempus (in upper Nubia) to
the Euphrates River, and we have nothing to doubt this statement, just as it is
not reasonable to The Egyptians have gone all this distance in the first year
of Thutmose's first reign. Indeed, that progress must be attributed to the
first reign of Amenhotep. And since the documents lack us to know the source of
this progress in the Egyptian conquests during the reign of each of these two
kings, it is very likely that the establishment of the empire is attributed to
the rule of “Amenhotep” the First, whose rule was relatively long.
As for the campaign that the pharaoh is said to have launched against the Lubyans (?), it was mentioned in the translation of the life of “Ahmose Bennekhbet”; Where he says: I accompanied again the late king of Upper Egypt and the sea, "Zeser Kare" (Amenhotep the First), and I brought him from the north of "Yamu" belonging to the fields of "Kahk" three hands. Professor Zita said that these Kahk fields are an unknown place, possibly in the northwest of Egypt. He also says: The “Yamu fields” may be one of the oases located in the Lubia desert. Mariut” and “Amun Oasis”, and they must have boldly attacked the western provinces of the delta, and the Pharaoh organized a campaign against them to commemorate his victory by making a small plaque of wood, on which we find the victorious king waving a sword in his hand at the enemy, who was lying on the ground at his feet.”
It seems that Amenhotep the First's military actions
stopped at this point. As we have no evidence of any other victories that he
may have achieved during his long reign, however, this did not prevent his
contemporaries from celebrating him as a victorious conquering pharaoh. As we
see him depicted on a small panel of wood preserved in the Louvre Museum, as he
happily beats the princes of foreign countries, as we see him in another
scene standing in his chariot ready to chase two enemies or mount them, and he
caught them while they were in a state of fainting. The scenes that reached us
from his era indicate that he was a skilled hunter. For example, we find him
seizing a lion by its tail, and he raised it in the blink of an eye into space
before killing it.
There is no doubt that the Egyptian country was in
need of a period of rest, and the disinclination to pursue wars in order to
heal from the wounds inflicted by the long period of wars that the country
suffered during the reign of his father and his predecessor with the Hyksos,
and whether Amenhotep wanted wars due to his inclination to them, or For
political reasons, the generation in which he lived benefited from his hatred
of wars, just as the previous generation benefited from his father’s love,
“Ahmose,” to launch a raid against the enemy and defeat him. It is not
surprising, then, that we see cities during the era of “Amenhotep” have
restored their normal life, and agriculture has grown in them. Trade
flourished. Which increased the wealth of Egypt and made it fully prepared to
carry out its next conquests at the hands of its brave pharaohs.
Amenhotep I and the great architecture
The love of huge buildings was not so widespread
during the reign of this pharaoh that it exhausted the state's finances. This
is because the economic situation had not reached a far level of prosperity,
yet we find many traces of this pharaoh throughout the country. In "Ibrim"
we find a document indicating that he had carved a cave in the mountains of
"Ibrim" in the country of Nubia and dedicated it to the goddess
"Sat", one of the gods of the waterfall.
And in “Karnak” a “gate” was found for him on the
southern side of the temple, and the following was inscribed on it: King
“Amenhotep” erected a great gate, twenty-two cubits across, at the double
facade of the temple, in memory of his father, “Amun”, the lord of “Thebes”.
From the “Ayan” stone (that is, from the white limestone extracted from the
“Tura” quarries). Likewise, the inscription refers to … the building of his
house (Amun), the foundation of his temple, and the erection of his southern
“gate”, which is twenty cubits high, of beautiful white stone.
And it came in a broken inscription in the tomb of a
sheriff called “I am” (and his tomb is located in “Sheikh Abd al-Qurna” on the
western side of Thebes), and he was the manager of works in “Karnak”, which
indicates some buildings that may have been “in Karnak” himself, erected by
this Pharaoh, and alabaster was brought to it from the “Hatnub” quarries
located near “Assiut.” The inscription says:
Its doors were
covered with copper work from one piece, and some of them were from “Al-Sam” (a
mixture of gold and silver). The staff is under my management.
Establishing a temple in Deir el-Bahari:
This pharaoh
erected a small temple in the place of the temple of “Deir el-Bahari”, but
“Senmut”, the architect of Queen “Hatshepsut”, removed it from its place to establish
the temple of the queen, and blocks were found there in the name of this
pharaoh, and his mother, “Ahmose-Nefertari”.
The builders
of the Temple of Hatshepsut used their daughters to build ramps to raise the huge
stones, and this discovery is of importance. It indicates that this place was
chosen for the establishment of temples, and also indicates that the kings of
this family did not tamper with the temples of their ancestors, even if they
were from their own family.
Amenhotep also
erected, on the occasion of the celebration of the “Sed” festival (the
thirtieth anniversary), a small temple at the northern end of the “Western
Thebes” necropolis, and here we find both the god “Hur” (the falcon) and the
Nubian god “Set” offering him a symbol of the eternity of years.
Funeral temple:
Likewise, he
built a funeral temple for himself to serve his soul, “Ka,” in the desert, at
the end of the southern part of the western Thebes cemetery. An industrial
plant, the remains of which still exist. A beautiful statue of this pharaoh was
found in this temple, and it is now in the Egyptian Museum. The image of the
pharaoh's royal mother, "Ahmose-Nefertari", was painted on its base.
And in “Al
Araba Al Madfuna,” this king erected a temple in honor of his father, “Ahmose”
the First. He also erected some buildings in “Al Kab,” and in “Kom Ombo
Temple,” he erected a sanctuary made of white stone extracted from “Tura,” and
in “Shatt al-Rajal,” which is a desert valley. Near the “Silsilah” mountain
between Luxor and Aswan, we see on the rocks an inscription of a construction
engineer called “Beniti”, indicating that he was working during the era of this
pharaoh, and the three pharaohs who succeeded him to cut stones, and in
“Silsilah” itself, we see a plate engraved in the rock with a picture of it
This pharaoh, as a gift from an employee called Peynamon, and this activity in
those quarries from which sandstone is extracted indicates that it was used
during the eighteenth dynasty for the first time in building temples in which limestone
from Tora was used in the past.
There are
several antiquities of this pharaoh “in the Cairo Museum” and in various
museums in Europe, but as usual, their source is not known. Because it reached
these museums through antiquities dealers or by stealth, the most important of
which are the following:
A beautiful head and a tughra, are part of a painting of an
individual called “Pafunamon” that was preserved in the Giza Museum.
Part of the "Mihrab".
An offering
table of black granite in the Berlin Museum.
Two vases were found in the “Berlin” Museum, marked one of them, size is eleven “hun”, that is: 317 cubic inches or 28.8 cubic inches for each
“hun”, and the second vase is in the “Louvre Museum”. As for the scarabs, they
were very numerous during the reign of “Amenhotep I.” There are a large number
of them with a special character, rough-made, and there are also some
square-shaped panels, and two cylinders, one of which bears the image of the
king standing, and in the Louvre Museum a scarab on which the king is seen
striking an enemy with a spear, followed by a hunting leopard.
Kars plate
This is about the effects of the king
himself, and what he did, as for his grandmother, “Aahhotep,” who survived for
a long time during the days of his rule. The reign of “Amenhotep” the First,
her grandson, was found in the cemetery of “Dra’ Abu al-Naga”, and it is now
preserved in the Egyptian Museum. And since this painting shows us what this
elderly grandmother was of greatness, and acknowledgment of the beautiful to
the loyal employee, and what he, in turn, should have been characterized in him
of the beautiful characteristics, we included it in its text, and here is the
translation:
The tenth
year, the first month of summer, the first day of the reign of His Majesty, the
King of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, “Zeser Kare”, the son of the sun, from his
body, “Amenhotep the First”, beloved “Osir”, the giver of life, a decree issued
by the mother of the king establishing a cemetery and funeral rites for the
property manager Kars.
The order of
the royal mother of the hereditary prince, bearer of the ring of the king of
Lower Egypt, the only Samir, the manager of the two houses of gold, the manager
of the two houses of silver, the great manager of the property of the royal
mother «Ahhotep», and the chamberlain called «Kars», the royal mother commanded
that a shrine be erected for you in the “buried cart And that all functions and
all the favors you have received be written down on it, and that your statue remains
in the temple among the followers of the Great God (i.e., to participate in the
feasts of the god), and that he endows (i.e.: the statues) an offering of meat,
and glorify and confirm their offering in writing, And it offers you a royal
offering, as the royal wife likes to present to the hereditary prince, the ring
bearer of Lower Egypt and the bailiff “Kars.”
Kar's praise:
The only
beloved, who lives in the body of “Sekhmet” (the queen), and who follows in the
footsteps of his princess; Therefore, he settled in her heart before people,
and he is one who truly lives in the heart of his mistress, and he is the one
who confides secrets to him, and who stands on his mistress's projects. And the
one whose speech goes beyond what is inside the palace, the one who finds
speech, the one who makes the difficult easy, the one whose life depends on his
words, the one who acknowledges him to her as the truth, the one who knows the
springs of the heart, the happy one who speaks in the presence of his mistress,
the one who is much feared in the house of the royal mother, the one who is
sober in adversity It is excellent to say, and he who conceals in himself the
conditions of the palace, and from his mouth is sealed on what he hears, the
prince who solves dilemmas, the director of the great house “Kars”, the
vigilant guide to the deeds of the royal mother, and the one who does not
prefer the night over the day, the “Kars”.
Appeal to readers of the epigraph:
He says: O
princes, writers, singers, followers, and men of the army, your local gods will
extend rule and revive you, and your jobs will be inherited by your children
after a long life, if you say an offering offered by the Pharaoh to “Amun” with
the two fine feathers, the Lord of life, the giver of love, the Lord of burial,
and whoever bestows Burial after old age, to give an offering of bread, cows,
geese, and everything beautiful and pure that is served at the table of the
Lord of all, to the director of the royal treasury, and the director of the
great house of the royal mother “Kars”; Because he is a man who was truthful
before the two lands, truly upright, innocent of oaths, custodian of justice,
protector of the miserable, deliverer of the unsalvageable, and who makes the
disputants come out of him rejoicing with what comes out of his mouth. Like a
god in his hour to listen to the conversation, and that he is in the heart of
his mistress in truth, and the one whose status is raised is the princess of
the lands, the manager of what has a breast, what has a horn and a hoof, the
manager of the great house “Kars” bin “Aqa”, and who was placed by the
housewife “Cha”.
The significance of this inscription
And from what
came on this plate, we understand that the elderly queen must have been in love
with the manager of her palace, and if you like, say: the manager of her own,
as it is now expressed, and that by ordering her to establish a grave for him
in the sacred “cemetery of Osiris” located in the holy country (the godmother),
she presented to him A pricey gift that every Egyptian aspired to, wanting to
have a luxurious shrine next to the great god of the dead, who resides in that
sacred country.
In fact, if
this “Kars” was true in half of what he told us, then he was truly worthy of
the best tomb that the elderly queen, his mistress, could raise his building in
the godmother. Which monarch of our time does not willingly and reassuringly
offer what rewards the services of a man who solves Dilemmas and makes the
difficult easy, and in addition to that, in addition to solving dilemmas, he
brings to himself that quality that only a few people can achieve, which is his
ability to print on his tongue, and seal it from what reaches his ears? But it
is possible that people like those who graduated from their school, Kars, were
endowed over Egypt three thousand four hundred years ago, and that they do not
graduate from that school yet.
And Queen
Aahhotep set an example in the treatment of her loyal servants, and thus she
presents the idea of our new world shortly before her death, in the life of her
grandson.
Death of
Amenhotep I
The first
“Amenhotep” died after ruling the country for more than twenty years, and “I”
the architect of architecture immortalized his death in the following words in
his inscriptions that he left us about the rule of this pharaoh; He says: “And
when His Majesty spent his life in happiness and years of peace, he was lifted
to heaven, joined the sun god, and went with him.”
Amenhotep I and his innovation in the burial
His mortuary temple was revealed in 1896
A.D. at the edge of the Western Desert in “the cemetery of Dra’ Abu al-Naga,”
but he has not yet ascertained the location of his grave, despite what Mr.
“Carter” presented strong proofs, 25 that it is the tomb that was revealed by
the Lord. Carnarvon” in 1914 AD, at a distance of 800 meters from the funeral
temple erected by this king; Mr. Weigel believes that his tomb is the one bearing
the number 39 at the southern end of the Valley of the Kings. Therefore, the
truth about his burial place is still vague for now, and in any case, despite
the claim that his successor, "Thutmose" the First, is the one who is
considered the first to establish burial customs in the "Valley of the
Kings", it must acquiesce that "Amenhotep the First" was The
first to design the idea of separating the mortuary temple from the tomb, and
thus he was able to obtain the secrecy of the grave because of its distance
from the danger that threatened the graves. The western side of Thebes, as
stated in Abbott's paper, and here is what was stated in it:
The eternal
horizon of King "Zeser Kare' bin Shams" "Amenhotep", which
is one hundred and twenty cubits deep in its great hall, as well as in its long
corridor, which is located in the north of the temple of "Amenhotep, owner
of the garden", and the mayor of the country, "Bizer" put his
report About him to the king “Kha Um Was” (Rameses IX) to the royal officer
“Nesu Amon”, to the scribe of the pharaoh, to the director of the house of the
sacred worshiper of the god “Amun Ra”, the king of the gods (i.e.: the queen),
and to the royal officer “Ra Nefer Kam Ba Asen”, and to the chamberlain The
king, and the great rulers, saying (in this report): “The thieves have stolen
it”—it was examined today, and the builders found it intact.
The first
thing to note here is that this tomb was strange in shape in relation to the
other tombs examined, and especially in its depth, which was one hundred and
twenty cubits; As there was no other cemetery dug in the face of these rocks
close to this depth; This is because all the deep tombs were excavated on the
other side of the rock in the Valley of the Kings, and in fact, the tomb of
this pharaoh is considered the first among the long-depth sect of tombs whose
model spread during the dynasty era from the eighteenth to the twentieth
dynasty.
Cult of Amenhotep I and Queen Nefertari
It is not
surprising that his tomb was great with this description because he was
considered a god revered by the Egyptians, and since his mother, Nefertari, had
come to represent “Isis” in the eyes of the people, he, in turn, represented
“Osir”, the protector of the necropolis, and he was like him in taking colors
Funeral deities, so we find him represented in black, followed by his son, Saba
Eri. In addition, his figure was crowded with other deities to decorate the
insides of coffins and to protect the mummies of his worshipers. This pharaoh
has a statue in the “Turin Museum” that represents him sitting on his throne in
the session of a king speaking to his subjects, or in the form of a god who
accepts the submission of his servants. In fact, the person feels that the
sculptor was feeling pleasure and pleasure in carving the proportions of this
pharaoh, and in bringing out this countenance that was marked by the grace and
calmness of the dreamer in his sleep, and the fact is that the worship of this
king remained for more than seven centuries until his coffin was moved, and it
was placed with the coffins of members of his family others in the place where
they remained hidden until thieves revealed them in our time. However, his body
had been moved several times prior to that, after his grave was stolen, of
course, so we know that his mummy has buried again during the reign of King
“Basebkhanu” the first after about sixty-five years had passed since that, and
it was moved again during the reign of King “Batram” the first, that is, Thirty
years after his second burial, and about a century later, we find the king’s
sarcophagus deposited in the tomb of Queen “Anhapi”, during the reign of King
“Si-Amun”, but after that, we do not show any history that remained in this
last chamber, and in any case it was not It must be moved again as we
mentioned; Where it was finally found in Deir el-Bahri, and then to the “Cairo
Museum”, then from here to the tomb of Saad, then to the house of the director
of the Antiquities Authority in the basement, then it was moved to the upper
floor, and then it was finally transferred to the museum.
Coffin and mummy of Amenhotep I
His coffin was
made in the image of a human body and painted white, with a face like the face
of his statue, and his eyes were studded and lined with kohl, which imbued the
whole body with an astonishing vitality, and the body was wrapped in orange-colored
linen, and was fixed in place with almost brown bands, and then covered Covered
with his face made of wood and reinforced fabric, and it was painted in the
same color as the outside of the coffin, and the mummy was decorated with
wreaths from head to foot, but they have withered now, and on these wreaths,
there was a wasp that must have been attracted by the smell of fragrant wreaths
at the time of burial, and it remained A prisoner by putting the cover on the
coffin, and the wasp continued to be preserved without any damage to the
embalmer's materials, and its transparent wings were preserved without any
rotting during these long centuries.
The mummy of
this pharaoh is still wrapped in its shroud, which has not yet been examined as
if his divine power in ancient times had remained its secret until now, so it
preserved his body, and he did not suffer any harm despite the fluctuations
that he passed through throughout these centuries, and his name remained among
the Egyptian people frequented their lips to this day, without anyone
understanding it, except for archaeologists; As his name remained in the Coptic
month of Pharmenoth, which means the feast of “Amenhotep”.
It seems that his second wife, Aahhotep,
did not play an important role in the history of his life. Because his mother
«Ahmose Nefertari» has covered her. Indeed, we find her name mentioned on
several antiquities, just as we find her represented on antiquities several
times with her husband, “Amenhotep the First.” She must be the king’s sister
from his father and mother. As she bore the title “hereditary princess” that
was given to her daughter “Ahmose”, otherwise she would not have preferred her
brother and husband “Thutmose” the second, who was from a mother from the
common people, as we will see later, and her sarcophagus was found in the Deir
el-Bahari cache, and it is now in the museum The Egyptian, as for the body, it
was not found, and “Amenhotep the First” died, and no mention of it followed,
which somewhat complicated the matter of inheriting the throne, as we will see.
Cult of Amenhotep I in the Deir el-Medina cemetery
The worship of
Pharaoh Amenhotep the First was considered the most important and longest
worship among the pharaohs who were sanctified by the Egyptian people after their
death. Because both his temple and his tomb were erected on this side, but the
most important thing is that if we examine these same monuments in detail, we
find that they are all attributed to the cemetery of “Deir al-Medina”, which
was called the past the cemetery of the servants of the shelter of honesty.
Recent research has indicated that this name denotes the workers of the royal
cemetery, and from that we know that the servants of the “place of honesty” are
the workers who were carving the tombs of the pharaohs in this spot, which is
now known as the “gates of the kings,” and these workers were, of course, from
a class Poor people of the country, and it was not likely that they were the
ones who performed the funeral rites for these kings, but rather they were in
the hands of the priests of the funeral temples concerned with that, but the
workers were in turn royal employees, so it is not surprising, then, that they
worship the kings and their chiefs after their death. The worship of Amenhotep the
First in particular was popular with them. Therefore, this Pharaoh became the
revelation that separates them in their petty quarrels.
Workers and Amenhotep I
In fact,
Amenhotep the First was the first to carve his tomb in the rocks of Thebes
hills, and he was the first to do good to the workers and find work for them in
the royal cemetery, and they were called the servants of the “place of
honesty.” ownership, not surprisingly; All the documents we have on this
subject date back to the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty, and this subject
was examined by Professor Cherni in a wonderful article, which is summarized as
follows:
- The worship of King “Amenhotep the First” was widespread among the workers in the Royal Thebes Cemetery, as evidenced by their funeral and civil monuments, and the reason for this is the close relationship that exists between their group and Amenhotep the First, who established their sect.
- In western Thebes, there were several forms of worshiping “Amenhotep the First” corresponding to his statues in different niches, and we know two of them in particular from the effects of the necropolis workers, and they are Amenhotep, the master of the city (i.e.: the city of workers), and Amenhotep is beloved Amun; It can be distinguished by the crown worn by each of the images of the pharaoh in these two cases.
- It was one of the pharaoh's niches in the village of the workers, and the statue of the pharaoh on various holidays was carried in the "Deir al-Medina" cemetery ceremony, and sometimes it was even carried to the "Valley of the Kings".
- The statue of “Amenhotep the First” was used to settle disputes between workers, through the revelation that the statue used to pronounce in the mihrab or during processions.
- The workers themselves used to do the work of priests to worship this pharaoh, and it was the workers in particular who carried the statue of the pharaoh in processions.
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