Thutmose I

Pharaoh Infobox | Name=Thutmose I |

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Caption=Early 18th dynasty statue head, perhaps Thutmose I (British Museum)
NomenHiero= G26-F31-S29
Nomen="Thutmose"
Thoth is born
PrenomenHiero= N5:O29-L1-D28
Prenomen="Aakheperkare"
Great is the Soul of Re [Clayton, Peter. Chronicle of the Pharaohs, Thames and Hudson Ltd, paperback 2006, p.100]
Golden="Nefer Reneput Sankhibu"
Good of Years, Making Hearts to Live| GoldenHiero= F35-M4-M4-M4-S29-S34-F34:F34:F34
Nebty= "Kham neseret aa pehet"
Crowned with the royal serpent, Great of power
NebtyHiero= N28:D36-G17:N35-F20:D21*X1-I13-O29:F9*F9
Horus= "Kanekhet meri maat"
Mighty Bull, Beloved of Maat
HorusHiero= E1:D40-U6-C10
Reign=1505–1493 BC (disputed)
Predecessor= Amenhotep I
Successor= Thutmose II
Spouse= Queen Ahmose, Mutnofret
Children= Thutmose II, Hatshepsut, Amenmose, Wadjmose, Nefrubity
Dynasty=18th Dynasty
Father= Unknown
Mother= Senseneb
Died= 1492 BC
Burial= KV38, later KV20
Monuments= Pylons IV and V, two obelisks, and a hypostyle hall at Karnak

Thutmose I (sometimes read as "Thutmosis" or "Tuthmosis I") was the third Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt. He was given the throne after the death of the previous king Amenhotep I. During his reign, he campaigned deep into the Levant and Nubia, pushing the borders of Egypt even further than ever before. He also built many temples in Egypt and dug a tomb in the Valley of the Kings; he is the first king confirmed to have done this (though Amenhotep I may have preceded him). He was succeeded by his son Thutmose II, who in turn was succeeded by Thutmose II's sister, Hatshepsut. His reign is generally dated from 1506 to 1493 BCE.

Family

Thutmose's father was a unknown military man, his mother's name, Senseneb, was recorded, and she is believed to have been a commoner.Gardiner (1964) p.176] Queen Ahmose, his great wife, was probably the daughter of Ahmose I and the sister of Amenhotep I; however, she was never called "king's daughter," so some have expressed doubt and believe she was Thutmose's own sister.Bleiberg (2000) p.400] Assuming she was related to Amenhotep, it would appear at face value that she was married to him in order to guarantee succession, but this is known to be not the case for two reasons. First, Amenhotep's alabaster bark built at Karnak associates Amenhotep's name with Thutmose's name well before Amenhotep's death.Grimal (1988) p.203] Second, Thutmose's firstborn son with Ahmose, Amenmose, was apparently born long before Thutmose's coronation. He can be seen on a stela from Thutmose's fourth regnal year hunting near Memphis, and he became the "great army-commander of his father" sometime before his death, which was no later than Thutmose's own death in his 12th regnal year.Gardiner (1964) p.179] Thutmose had another son, Wadjmose, and two daughters, Hatshepsut and Nefrubity, by Ahmose. Wadjmose died before his father, and Nefrubity died at infant age.Steindorff (1942) p.36] Thutmose had one son remaining by another wife, Mutnofret. This son succeeded him as Thutmose II, whom Thutmose I married to his fully royally born daughter, Hatshepsut. It was later recorded by Hatshepsut that Thutmose willed the kingship to both Thutmose II and Hatshepsut, however, this was almost certainly propaganda by Hatshepsut's agents to legitimise her claim to the throne when she assumed power. [Erman (1894) p.43]

Dates and length of reign

A heliacal rising of Sothis was recorded in the reign of Thutmose's predecessor, Amenhotep I, which has been dated to 1517 BC, assuming the observation was made at either Heliopolis or Memphis.Grimal (1988) p.202] The year of Amenhotep's death and Thutmose's subsequent coronation can be accordingly derived, and is dated to 1506 BC by most modern scholars. However, if the observation were made at Thebes, as a minority of scholars promote, Thutmose would have been crowned in 1526 BC [Helk (1983) pp.47-9] Manetho records that Thutmose I's reign lasted 12 Years and 9 Months (or 13 Years) as a certain Mephres in his Epitome. [cite web | title = Manetho's Kings | url=http://www.myegyptology.net/file/id21.htm | accessdate = 2006-12-30 ] This data is supported by 2 dated inscriptions from Years 8 and 9 of his reign bearing his cartouche found inscribed on a stone block in Karnak. [Jürgen von Beckerath (1997), p.120] Accordingly, Thutmose is usually given a reign from 1506 BC to 1493 BC in the low chronology, but a minority of scholars would date him from 1526 BC to 1513 BC

Military achievements

Upon Thutmose's coronation, Nubia rebelled against Egyptian rule. According to the tomb autobiography of Ahmose, son of Ebana, Thutmose traveled down the Nile and fought in the battle, personally killing the Nubian king.Steindorff and Seele (1942) p.34] Upon victory, he had the Nubian king's body hung from the prow of his ship, before he returned to Thebes. After that campaign, he led a second expedition against Nubia in his third year in the course of which he ordered the canal at the first cataract--which had been built under Sesostris III of the 12th Dynasty--to be dredged in order to facilitate easier travel upstream from Egypt to Nubia. This would help to integrate Nubia into the Egyptian empire. This expedition is mentioned in two separate inscriptions by the king's son Thure: [Lorna Oakes, Pyramids, Temples and Tombs of Ancient Egypt, Hermes House, 2003. p.207] cquote| Year 3, first month of the third season, day 22, under the majesty of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Aakheperre who is given life. His Majesty commanded to dig this canal after he found it stopped up with stones [so that] no [ship sailed upon it] ; Year 3, first month of the third season, day 22. His Majesty sailed this canal in victory and in the power of his return from overthrowing the wretched Kush. [Oakes, op. cit., p.207]

In the second year of Thutmose's reign, the king cut a stele at Tombos, which records that he built a fortress at Tombos, near the third cataract, thus permanently extending the Egyptian military presence, which had previously stopped at Buhen, at the second cataract. [Breasted (1906) p.28] This indicates that he already fought a campaign in Syria; hence, his Syrian campaign may perhaps be placed in the beginning of his second regnal year.Steindorff and Seele (1942) p.35] This second campaign was the farthest north any Egyptian had ever campaigned. Although it has not been found in modern times, he apparently set up a stele when he crossed the Euphrates River. Shaw and Nicholson (1995) p.289] During this campaign, the Syrian princes declared alliegence to Thutmose. However, after he returned, they discontinued tribute and began fortifying against future incursions. Thutmose celebrated his victories with an elephant hunt in the area of Niy, near Apamea in Syria, and returned to Egypt with strange tales of the Euphrates, "that inverted water which flows upstream when it ought to be flowing downstream." The Euphrates was the first major river which the Egyptians had ever encountered which flowed from the north, which was downstream on the Nile, to the south, which was upstream on the Nile. Thus the river became known in Egypt as simply, "inverted water."

Thutmose had to face one more military threat, another rebellion by Nubia in his fourth year. His influence accordingly expanded even farther south, as an inscription dated to his reign has been found as far south as Kurgus, south of the fourth cataract. During his reign, he initiated a number of projects which effectively ended Nubian independence for the next 500 years. He enlarged a temple to Sesostris III and Khnum, opposite the Nile from Semna. [Erman (1894) p.503] There are also records of specific religious rites which the viceroy of El-Kab was to have performed in the temples in Nubia in proxy for the king. [Breasted (1906) p.25] Most effective of all his acts, however, he appointed a man called Turi to the position of viceroy of Cush, also known as the "King's Son of Cush." [Breasted (1906) p.27] With a civilian representative of the king permanently established in Nubia itself, Nubia did not dare to revolt nearly as often, and was easlily maintained by future kings.

Building projects

Thutmose I organized great building projects during his reign, including many temples and tombs, but his greatest projects were at the Temple of Karnak under the supervision of the architect Ineni.Breasted (1906) p.41] . Previous to Thutmose, Karnak probably consisted only of a long road to a central platform, with a number of shrines for the solar bark along the side of the road.Grimal (1988) p.300] Thutmose was the first king to drastically enlarge the temple. Thutmose had the fifth pylon built along the temple's main road, along with a wall to run around the inner sanctuary and two flagpoles to flank the gateway. Outside of this, he built a fourth pylon and another enclosure wall. Between pylons four and five, he had a hypostyle hall constructed, with columns made of cedar wood. This type of structure was common in ancient Egyptian temples, and supposedly represents a papyrus marsh, an Egyptian symbol of creation. [Shaw (2003) p.168] Along the edge of this room he built colossal statues, each one alternating wearing the crown of Upper Egypt and the crown of Lower Egypt. Finally, outside of the fourth pylon, he erected four more flagpoles and two obelisks, although one of them, which now has fallen, was not inscribed until Thutmose III inscribed it about 50 years later. The cedar columns in Thutmose I's hypostyle hall were replaced with stone columns by Thutmose III, however at least the northernmost two were replaced by Thutmose I himself. Hatshepsut also erected two of her own obelisks inside of Thutmose I's hypostyle hall. In addition to Karnak, Thutmose I also built statues of the Ennead at Abydos, buildings at Armant, Ombos, el-Hiba, Memphis, and Edfu, as well as minor expansions to buildings in Nubia, at Semna, Buhen, Aniba, and Quban. [cite web | title = Thutmosis I | url=http://touregypt.net/featurestories/tuthmosis1.htm | accessdate = 2006-08-02 | work = touregypt.net]

Thutmose I was the first king who definitely was buried in the Valley of the Kings. Ineni was commissioned to dig this tomb, and presumably to build his mortuary temple. His mortuary temple has not been found, quite possibly because it was incorporated into or demolished by the construction of Hatshepsut's mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri. [Gardiner (1964) p.170] His tomb, however, has been identified as KV32. In it was found a yellow quartzite sarcophagus bearing the name of Thutmose I. His body, however, may have been moved by Thutmose III into the tomb of Hatshepsut, KV20, which also contains a sarcophagus with the name of Thutmose I on it.

Death & burial

Thutmose 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 Ahmose I, Amenhotep 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 original coffin of Thutmose I was taken over and re-used by a later pharaoh of the 21st dynasty. Originally the mummy of Thutmose I was thought to be lost, but Egyptologist Gaston Maspero, largely on the strength of familial resemblance to the mummies of Thutmose II and Thutmose III, believed he had found his mummy in the otherwise unlabelled mummy #5283.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/dirs/1/7/3/2/17324/17324-h/v4c.htm#image-0047] This identification has been supported by subsequent examinations, revealing that the embalming techniques used came from the appropriate period of time, almost certainly after that of Ahmose I and made during the course of the Eighteenth dynasty. [Smith (2000) p.25-28]

Gaston Maspero described the mummy in the following manner::"The king was already advanced in age at the time of his death, being over fifty years old, to judge by the incisor teeth, which are worn and corroded by the impurities of which the Egyptian bread was full. The body, though small and emaciated, shows evidence of unusual muscular strength; the head is bald, the features are refined, and the mouth still bears an expression characteristic of shrewdness and cunning." What has been thought to be his mummy can be viewed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. In 2007, Dr. Zahi Hawass announced that the mummy previously thought to be Thutmose I was a thirty year old man who died as a result of an arrow wound to the chest. Because of the young age of the mummy and the cause of death it was determined that the mummy was probably not that of King Thutmose I. [Citation | last = Anderson | first = Lisa | author-link = | title = Mummy awakens new era in Egypt | newspaper = Chicago Tribune | pages = | year = 2007 | date = 14 July | url = http://www.chnpress.com/news/?section=2&id=7226.]

ee also

* History of Ancient Egypt
* Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt Family Tree

Notes and references

Bibliography

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