This was the final act of the long-protracted struggle in the north, but the mountaineers of Nubia were still in arms. There was sharp fighting in the south before the naval captain could record that his majesty ‘had taken possession of the land, both of the north and of the south.’ Aahmes received a gift of some acres of cultivated land in his native district. Later on we find him, as a veteran warrior, accompanying the two succeeding sovereigns on campaigns in the south, where he fought as admiral, at the head of the fleet. His final exploits were performed on a more distant field of battle—the ‘land of the two rivers’—Naharina (Mesopotamia). There he captured a chariot, with its horses and charioteers, for which deed he received for the seventh time a gift in gold. He concludes his story thus:—‘Now I have passed many days, and reached a grey old age. I too shall pass away to Amenti, and I shall rest in the tomb which I have prepared for myself.’ And there may still be seen a portrait of the old sailor and of his wife. He is a ‘bluff, resolute-looking man, not handsome; a short snub nose, and low solid brow—a short beard curling upwards from his chin.’[31]
The three monarchs under whom this distinguished officer served in succession, Aahmes, Amenhotep i., and Thothmes i., were the first three kings of the eighteenth dynasty. Aahmes inherited the throne by right of his mother’s descent from Mena, but he strengthened his position further by himself marrying a princess of the royal line, Nefertari, who was greatly revered by succeeding generations, both as heiress in her own right, and as mother and ancestress of an illustrious dynasty.
The first twenty-two years of the reign of Aahmes were passed in unremitting warfare. After the capture of Sherohan, he followed his foes no farther, but contented himself with erecting fortresses to protect the frontier. He would not feel his supremacy sufficiently assured over the numerous princes and chieftains who had gladly followed his victorious banner against the common foe, but would not have been quite ready when success had been achieved to resign their independent authority. At length, however, the king was able to lay aside his sword, and to turn his attention to the much needed work of restoring and renovating the temples of the gods. Again the limestone quarries were opened, and there are representations now to be seen in the sculptures of the huge blocks drawn along upon rollers by twelve or more oxen on the way to Memphis.
Aahmes left an infant son as heir to the crown, and the royal mother acted as regent until he was of age to reign. Amenhotep i. died young, and did not accomplish much; we learn, however, that during his reign Ta-Khent (Nubia) was mastered—‘the land in its complete extent lay at the feet of the king.’
In the great discovery of coffins and royal mummies, made not far from Thebes in 1881, were brought to light the bodies of Taa the Victorious (the last of the brave Sekenen-Ras), of Aahmes, and of his son Amenhotep i. The conqueror of the Hyksos is enwreathed in garlands and festoons, his young son is swathed in lotus leaves and flowers—amongst them is a perfectly preserved wasp, that must have been accidentally shut in when the coffin-lid was closed more than 3000 years ago. This coffin and its case are in very good preservation; on the lid is an effigy of the young king, which is evidently a portrait. The coffin of Thothmes i. was found, but the mummy was missing.
When Thothmes i. became king, the internal dissensions of Egypt had quieted down, and, after one campaign in the south, the king proceeded to ‘cool his heart’ by undertaking the war on which the mind of the Egyptians was set—a war of retribution and of conquest. In this distant expedition (already alluded to in the memoirs of Aahmes), Thothmes rapidly pushed his way as far as Naharina (Mesopotamia), and returned home laden with treasures and spoil, having exacted a promise of annual tribute from many tribes in many regions. In the memorial chapel of the Thothmes family a sculpture is still remaining to tell of his triumphant home-coming. ‘The soldiers holding branches in their hands, as emblems of peace, step out briskly as they approach their native land, and are met by a deputation of citizens, who slay fat oxen and sheep to feed them with. In the procession figure a couple of tigers, led along by their keepers,’[32] and apparently tame.
The king employed both his prisoners and his gold in continuing the construction of the great temple of Amen-Ra at Thebes. Its foundation had been laid by Amenemhat i. many centuries before, but the building had been hindered, or had altogether stopped, during the long years of foreign rule.
When Thothmes i. died, he left behind him one daughter and two sons, each of whom bore the same name as his father, but the younger of the brothers was only a little child. Their sister Hatasu was a proud ambitious woman, and had already been, to some extent, associated with her father during his reign. When Thothmes ii. succeeded, she was formally associated with him in the government. We read but little about this king; his reign was brief, and he was probably outshone by the energetic partner of his throne. Hatasu, in fact, could ill brook even the slight restraint imposed by his co-regency, and no sooner was he dead than the proud queen, ‘throwing aside her womanly veil, appeared in all the splendour of a Pharaoh—like a born king.’[33] She assumed man’s attire, and was seen on state occasions in the dress and regalia of an Egyptian king—even to the plaited beard. She revered her father, and paid homage to his memory, but on the unfortunate Thothmes ii. she hastened to avenge herself for the wrong he had done her in wearing a crown that was his own; she obliterated every trace of his existence to the best of her ability, and, vindictively erasing his name, she substituted her own. Hatasu also succeeded in having her name inscribed by the priests on the roll of Egyptian sovereigns.
Meantime the boy Thothmes, the rightful king, was sent by order of his imperious sister to the almost inaccessible marshes of the Delta, where he was doomed to wear out the years of his dreary boyhood, cherishing, there can be little doubt, the most vindictive feelings towards the sister who, having usurped his place, was ruling Egypt with splendour and renown.