Editing Ahmose I (section)

===Campaigns===
[[File:Bracelet of Ahhotep II in 2018.jpg|thumb|Bracelet of Ahmose I in 2018]]
[[File:Dagger bearing the name of Ahmose I.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Dagger bearing the name Ahmose I on display at the [[Royal Ontario Museum]], Toronto]]
[[File:Pommel of the dagger bearing the name of king Ahmose.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Cartouche of Ahmose I on the dagger pommel, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto]]
The conflict between the local kings of Thebes and the Hyksos king [[Apepi (pharaoh)|Apepi]] had started during the reign of Ahmose's father, Seqenenre Tao, and would be concluded, after almost 30 years of intermittent conflict and war, during his own reign. Seqenenre Tao was possibly killed in a battle against the Hyksos, as his much-wounded mummy gruesomely suggests, and his successor Kamose (likely Ahmose's elder brother) is known to have attacked and raided the lands around the Hyksos capital, [[Avaris]] (modern [[Tell el-Dab'a]]).{{sfn|Shaw|2000|p=199}} Kamose evidently had a short reign, as his highest attested regnal year is year 3, and was succeeded by Ahmose I.{{sfn|Dodson|2012}} Apepi died around a decade later.{{sfn|Grimal|1992|p=189}}

====Conquest of the Hyksos====
Ahmose began the conquest of Lower Egypt held by the [[Hyksos]] starting around the 11th year of [[Khamudi]]'s reign, but the sequence of events is not universally agreed upon.{{sfn|Shaw|2000|p=203}}

Analyzing the events of the conquest prior to the siege of the Hyksos capital of Avaris is extremely difficult. Almost everything known comes from a brief but invaluable military commentary on the back of the [[Rhind Mathematical Papyrus]], consisting of brief diary entries,{{sfn|Spalinger|2005|p=23}} one of which reads:

{{blockquote|Regnal year 11, second month of ''shomu'', [[Heliopolis (Ancient Egypt)|Heliopolis]] was entered. First month of ''akhet'', day 23, this southern prince broke into [[Tjaru]].{{sfn|Redford|1992|p=71}}}}

[[File:Ahmose Axe Blade.jpg|thumb|right|120px|Copper axe blade inscribed with the titulary of pharaoh Ahmose I, [[Ashmolean Museum]].]]
While in the past this regnal year date was assumed to refer to Ahmose, it is today believed instead to refer to Ahmose's Hyksos opponent Khamudi since the Rhind papyrus document refers to Ahmose by the inferior title of 'Prince of the South' rather than king or pharaoh, as a Theban supporter of Ahmose surely would have called him.{{sfn|Schneider|2006|p=195}} Anthony Spalinger, in a JNES 60 (2001) book review of [[Kim Ryholt]]'s 1997 book, ''The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, {{circa}}1800–1550 BC'', notes that Ryholt's translation of the middle portion of the Rhind text chronicling Ahmose's invasion of the Delta reads instead as the "1st month of Akhet, 23rd day. ''He-of-the-South'' (i.e. Ahmose) strikes against [[Tjaru|Sile]]."{{sfn|Spalinger|2001|p=299}} Spalinger stresses in his review that he does not question Ryholt's translation of the Rhind text but instead asks whether:

{{blockquote|it is reasonable to expect a Theban-oriented text to describe its Pharaoh in this manner? For if the date refers to Ahmose, then the scribe must have been an adherent of that ruler. To me, the very indirect reference to Ahmose—it must be Ahmose—ought to indicate a supporter of the Hyksos dynasty; hence, the regnal years should refer to this monarch and not the Theban.{{sfn|Spalinger|2001|p=299}}}}
The Rhind Papyrus illustrates some of Ahmose's military strategy when attacking the Delta. Entering Heliopolis in July, he moved down the eastern delta to take [[Tjaru]], the major border fortification on the Horus Road, the road from Egypt to Canaan, in October, totally avoiding [[Avaris]]. In taking Tjaru{{sfn|Redford|1992|p=71}} he cut off all traffic between [[Canaan]] and Avaris. This indicates he was planning a blockade of Avaris, isolating the Hyksos capital from help or supplies coming from Canaan.{{sfn|El-Aref|2005}}

Records of the latter part of the campaign were discovered on the tomb walls of a participating soldier, [[Ahmose, son of Ebana]]. These records indicate that Ahmose I led three attacks against Avaris, the Hyksos capital, but also had to quell a small rebellion further south in  Egypt. After this, in the fourth attack, he conquered the city.{{sfn|Breasted|1906|pp=7–8}} He completed his victory over the Hyksos by conquering their stronghold [[Sharuhen]] near [[Gaza City|Gaza]] after a three-year siege.{{sfn|Grimal|1992|p=193}}{{sfn|Redford|1967|pp=46–49}} Ahmose would have conquered Avaris by the 18th or 19th year of his reign at the very latest.  This is suggested by "a graffito in the quarry at Tura whereby 'oxen from Canaan' were used at the opening of the quarry in Ahmose's regnal year 22."{{sfn|Redford|1992|p=195}} Since the cattle would probably have been imported after Ahmose's siege of the  town of [[Sharuhen]] which followed the fall of Avaris, this means that the reign of Khamudi must have terminated by Year 18 or 19 of Ahmose's 25-year reign at the very latest.{{sfn|Redford|1992|p=195}}

====Levantine campaigns====
After defeating the Hyksos, Ahmose began campaigning in Syria and [[Nubia]]. A campaign during his 22nd year reached [[Djahy]] in the [[Levant]] and perhaps as far as the [[Euphrates]], although the later Pharaoh [[Thutmose I]] is usually credited with being the first to campaign that far. Ahmose did, however, reach at least as far as Kedem (thought to be near [[Byblos]]), according to an [[ostracon]] in the tomb of his wife, [[Ahmose-Nefertari]].{{sfn|Weinstein|1981|p=6}} Details on this particular campaign are scarce, as the source of most of the information, [[Ahmose, son of Ebana]], served in the Egyptian navy and did not take part in this land expedition. However, it can be inferred from archaeological surveys of southern Canaan that during the late 16th century BC Ahmose and his immediate successors intended only to break the power of the Hyksos by destroying their cities and not to conquer Canaan. Many sites there were completely laid waste and not rebuilt during this period—something a Pharaoh bent on conquest and tribute would not be likely to do.{{sfn|Weinstein|1981|p=7}}

====Nubian campaigns====
Ahmose I's campaigns in Nubia are better documented. Soon after the first Nubian campaign, a Nubian named Aata rebelled against Ahmose, but was crushed. After this attempt, an anti-Theban Egyptian named Tetian gathered many rebels in Nubia, but he too was defeated. Ahmose restored Egyptian rule over Nubia, which was controlled from a new administrative center established at [[Buhen]].{{sfn|Grimal|1992|p=190}} When re-establishing the national government, Ahmose appears to have rewarded various local princes who supported his cause and that of his dynastic predecessors.{{sfn|Shaw|Nicholson|1995|p=18}}