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Sometimes just when things look their worst, someone comes along that can turn things around. Ahmose was such a person. There have been many pharaohs in Egypt's long history but Ahmose was one of the most important ones. There is much disagreement as to the exact time that Ahmose became the pharaoh of Egypt but most think that is was around 1550 BC. The country was in terrible shape. In the north were the Hyksos who occupied that area and one of them had declared himself the pharaoh of Egypt. In the south the Nubians were becoming a huge threat. Ahmose was the son of Seqenenre Taa I. Seqenenre and his army tried to expel the enemies of Egypt but instead of accomplishing this, they were defeated and most died including Ahmose's father. In some texts it is said that Seqenenre Taa II was the father of Ahmose.

Kamose was the brother of Ahmose and the pharaoh. One of his men intercepted a message from the Hyksos to the Nubians. It asked for an alliance to trap the Egyptians in the middle. Infuriated Kamose attacked the Hyksos and conquered the first town but died before he could go any further. It was believed that Ahmose was only a boy at the the time. Kamose was the last king of the 17th Dynasty. Ahmose now became pharaoh and it was thought that he was only 10 years old. So here was the problem, Ahmose was now pharaoh but the country was falling apart.

But the days were numbered for the Hyksos. It took ten years, but Ahmose had now grown up and he never forgot what had happened to his father and brother. He attacked the Hyksos and defeated them. The victory was not quick and some sieges are said to have lasted for years. The siege of the Palestinian Fortress of Sharuhen was said to have taken the six years but it was the decisive battle that broke the back of the Hyksos. This had the effect of uniting Egypt. Ahmose was far from finished. He never forgot that the reason his brother had attacked the Hyksos was not only because of their father's death but also because they were going to join forces with the Nubians to defeat Egypt. He took his army to Nubia and defeated them next. Now he owned the famous Nubian gold mines which increased Egypt's riches. While in Nubia history states that the Hyksos again tried to rebel, but it is thought that the mother of Ahmose was left in charge and she put down the insurrection. This part of history is a little hazy. I guess this can be expected when we are talking about events that happened over 3,500 years ago. Egypt's borders had now been stretched deep into Nubia in the south and way beyond the Sinai desert in the north east. The new Egyptian empire was beginning and so was the dawn of Egypt's golden age.

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Ahmose learned from his enemies. The Hyksos used horses in battle and so did Ahmose and this may be one of the reasons he was able to conquer his enemies where others had failed. It is said that the pharaoh attributed all his victories to the god Amen and never gave any of the credit to himself. Ahmose is credited with the start of a new period in Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom. The name Ahmose meant 'the moon is born'. Ahmose married his sister, Almose-Nefertin and had many children. Archaeologists think that they may have unearthed his palace in the Al-Dabaa area in the Sharqiya Governorate of Egypt. It is known that he did have some building projects and did reopen a limestone quarry, but not many of his structures survived. His mummy has been found in the Deir el-Bahan cache but his tomb was never found. It seems that there was a lot of illicit tomb robbing going on and many of these items, including mummies were confiscated by the government but not all the locations of where they came from were known.

Ahmose was truly one of the greatest pharos even though he was not one of the most well known. Expanding Egypt's territory and increasing their wealth and safety allowed them to flourish for many hundreds of years He had restored Egypt to its former glory. The new kingdom lasted a little over three hundred years. Egypt's Dynastic period lasted from 2960 BC to 332 BC, over 2600 years, truly an incredible record for any country.