Ancient Egypt: The Reign Of Ahmose And Hatshepsut

What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word Egypt? Most likely, a gold-filled ancient civilization with a powerful pharaoh at its core. The pharaoh was the heart of Egypt’s political power. Egypt first started growing under the rule of Ahmose, then Amenhotep III at its apex, and lastly Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Tutankhamen at its great fall. Each pharaoh brought different political stances and thus Egypt changed alongside each ruler. At first, Egypt was a small nation, then it expanded. The reason for its expansion can be accredited to the actions of pharaohs Ahmose and Hatshepsut. Ahmose was driven by his loss, the death of his brother and father, the king of Thebes. Ahmose, after becoming the heir to Thebes, set out to attack the Hyksos and avenge Egypt. After this, Ahmose aimed to conquer Nubia and succeeded; this allowed him to mass large amounts of gold from Nubia’s gold mines. Ahmose pushed Egypt’s borders beyond the Sinai and deep into Nubia. Next up was Hatshepsut, one of the few female pharaohs. To validate her position, Hatshepsut sent the army off on an expedition. In the end, that army came back with exotic goods from the

When Akhenaten and Nefertiti ruled, they changed Egypt hastily to combat the power shift from pharaoh to the high priests of Amon-Re. Their steps to change Egypt were relocating its capital to Amarna, relegating Amon-Re and putting Aten, the sun god, as the main god. This proved to be disastrous as the people of Egypt rejected Atenism, thus causing a major imbalance in power between the high priests of Amon-Re and the pharaoh. His son, Tutankhamen, inherited the throne after Akhenaten and Nefertiti passed. Tutankhamen’s sudden death without an heir accelerated Egypt’s decline. This put more stress on the imbalance of power and fully shifted the balance of power in favor of the high priests of Amon-Re by the end of his