Ahmose I

Ahmose I was the founder of Egypt’s Eighteenth Dynasty and a central ruler in the creation of the New Kingdom. He completed the expulsion of the Hyksos, captured their stronghold at Avaris and campaigned in Nubia and the southern Levant.

Ahmose inherited the Theban war against the Hyksos from his family and completed the reunification of Egypt after capturing Avaris and pursuing the enemy into the southern Levant. His campaigns in Nubia re-established Egyptian authority to the south, while building and temple patronage helped consolidate the dynasty whose rule conventionally marks the beginning of the New Kingdom.

In Pauline Gedge’s The Hippopotamus Marsh, Ahhotep, Kamose and the young Ahmose must confront the political and personal cost of a campaign their house may not survive. In Pauline Gedge’s The Horus Road, the deaths of Seqenenre and Kamose leave the young Ahmose responsible for completing the war against the Hyksos. Before he can attack the enemy capital of Avaris, he must recover from his wounds, secure the loyalty of his commanders and find a way through defences that direct assault cannot overcome. Apepi uses intrigue as well as military force to divide the Tao family and preserve his kingdom. Ahmose’s final campaign joins siege warfare to dynastic survival, culminating in the expulsion of the Hyksos and the emergence of a reunited Egypt under the Eighteenth Dynasty. Ahmose I is treated fictionally in Pauline Gedge’s The Oasis, Christian Jacq’s The Empire of Darkness, Christian Jacq’s The Flaming Sword, and Christian Jacq’s The War of the Crowns.