Thutmose I

Categories: 1492 BC deaths | Pharaohs | Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt | Mummies

Thutmose I
in hieroglyphs

praenomen or throne name

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nomen or birth name

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Akheperkare Thutmose I (d. 1492 BC; sometimes spelled Thutmosis) was the third Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1504 BC to 1492 BC. He was the father of the Pharaohs Thutmose II and Hatshepsut and was the first Pharaoh to be buried in the Valley of the Kings (tombs KV20 and KV38).

Thutmose had both a common (i.e., non-noble) father and mother, Semiseneb, but rose through the ranks of the military to become one of the most prominent commanders under the reign of his predecessor Amenhotep I and possibly served as a co-regent. There is some debate over the parentage of his wife Queen Ahmose. She was either the daughter of Ahmose I and Queen Ahmose-Nefertari or Thutmose I's sister. When Amenhotep I died childless, Thutmose ascended the throne. Amenhotep's mother, Ahmose-Nefertari, continued to hold the title of God's Wife of Amun into Thutmose's reign, legitimizing his rule.

Thutmose led several major military campaigns, most notably against insurgent Hyksos tribes in the Nile Delta. He pursued the tribes all the way to the Euphrates River. In Nubia he led an expedition beyond the Third Cataract where he engaged a Nubian king in hand to hand combat and slew the Nubian. According to one of Thutmose's admirals, Ahmose, son of Ebana, upon victory he had the Nubian king's body hung from the prow of his ship, before he returned to Thebes.

An avid builder, Thutmose commissioned many construction projects during his rule, including the first tomb carved out at the Valley of the Kings. Many of his projects were at the Temple of Karnak under the supervision of the architect Ineni. These works included the fourth and fifth pylons, numerous courts and statues, the completion of the treasury expansion begun by Amenhotep I, and had a hypostyle hall of cedar wood constructed at Karnak to commemorate his victory over the Hyksos.

Ahmose bore him two sons, Wadjmose and Amenmose, both of whom died before Thutmose. A third son by a minor wife, Mutnofret, became his heir and successor Thutmose II, with rival claims by his fully royal daughter Hatshepsut. Manetho records that his reign lasted 12 Years; this is supported by 2 dated inscriptions from Years 8 and 9 of his reign on a stone block from Karnak.

Thutmose I's body was found in the Deir el-Bahri Cache above the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut and can be viewed today in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

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Thutmose I

See also