Ahmose, son of Ebana, served in the

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

military under the

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...

Ahmose I Ahmose I ( egy, jꜥḥ ms(j .w), reconstructed /ʔaʕaħ'maːsjə/ ( MK), Egyptological pronunciation ''Ahmose'', sometimes written as ''Amosis'' or ''Aahmes'', meaning "Iah (the Moon) is born") was a pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ...

Amenhotep I Amenhotep I () ( egy, jmn-ḥtp(w) /jaˌmanuwˈħatpaw/ " Amun is satisfied"; Amarna cuneiform ''a-ma-an-ha-at-pe'' or ''-at-pa''), Amenôthes I, or Amenophis I, (,) from Ancient Greek Ἀμένωφις ,Dodson & Hilton (2004) p.126 additionally ...

, and

Thutmose I Thutmose I (sometimes read as Thutmosis or Tuthmosis I, Thothmes in older history works in Latinized Greek; Ancient Egyptian: '' ḏḥwtj- ms'', ''Tʼaḥawtī-mīsaw'', , meaning "Thoth is born") was the third pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of E ...

. His

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

has survived and is intact on the wall of his tomb and has proven a valuable source of information on the late

17th Dynasty The Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XVII, alternatively 17th Dynasty or Dynasty 17) was a dynasty of pharaohs that ruled in Upper Egypt during the late Second Intermediate Period, approximately from 1580 to 1550 BC. Its mainly Theba ...

and the early 18th Dynasty of Egypt. Ahmose was born in the city of Nekheb, the modern

El Kab El Kab (or better Elkab) is an Upper Egyptian site on the east bank of the Nile at the mouth of the Wadi Hillal about south of Luxor (ancient Thebes). El Kab was called Nekheb in the Egyptian language ( , Late Coptic: ), a name that refers to ...

. During the war to expel the

Hyksos Hyksos (; Egyptian '' ḥqꜣ(w)- ḫꜣswt'', Egyptological pronunciation: ''hekau khasut'', "ruler(s) of foreign lands") is a term which, in modern Egyptology, designates the kings of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt (fl. c. 1650–1550 BC). T ...

from Egypt, in the reign of

Seqenenre Tao Seqenenre Tao (also Seqenera Djehuty-aa or Sekenenra Taa, called 'the Brave') ruled over the last of the local kingdoms of the Theban region of Egypt in the Seventeenth Dynasty during the Second Intermediate Period. He probably was the son and ...

, his father enlisted in the navy. After the deaths of Tao and his son

Kamose Kamose was the last Pharaoh of the Theban Seventeenth Dynasty. He was possibly the son of Seqenenre Tao and Ahhotep I and the uncle of Ahmose I, founder of the Eighteenth Dynasty. His reign fell at the very end of the Second Intermediate Period ...

, Ahmose began to serve as a soldier under Pharaoh Ahmose I. He participated in the battle of

Avaris Avaris (; Egyptian: ḥw.t wꜥr.t, sometimes ''hut-waret''; grc, Αὔαρις, Auaris; el, Άβαρις, Ávaris; ar, حوّارة, Hawwara) was the Hyksos capital of Egypt located at the modern site of Tell el-Dab'a in the northeastern r ...

(the Hyksos capital in the

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also re ...

), where he killed two Hyksos and was awarded the "gold of valor" twice. Ahmose was awarded slaves and other spoils by the pharaoh after Avaris was sacked. Ahmose also participated in the three-year

siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition warfare, attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity con ...

Sharuhen Sharuhen ( he, שָׁרוּחֶן) was an ancient town in the Negev Desert or perhaps in Gaza. Following the expulsion of the Hyksos from Egypt in the second half of the 16th century BCE, they fled to Sharuhen and fortified it. The armies of Pha ...

in southern

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

for which he was rewarded. He followed his king to Nubia, where they put down three rebellions. Under Amenhotep I, he fought against the Nubians and was given gold and slaves for his bravery. During the reign of Thutmose I, Ahmose participated in a naval campaign against Nubian tribes in the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin language, Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered ...

valley and was appointed admiral. He also followed Thutmose on a campaign against

Naharin Naharin, MdC transliteration ''nhrn'', was the ancient Egyptian term for the kingdom of Mitanni during the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom of Egypt. The 18th dynasty was in conflict with the kingdom of Mitanni for control of the Levant from the ...

all the way to the

Euphrates River The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...

. Ebana was the name of Ahmose's mother (and probably a very important woman); his father's name was Baba. Paheri, the grandson of Ahmose and a scribe and priest of the goddess

Nekhbet Nekhbet (; also spelt Nekhebit) is an early predynastic local goddess in Egyptian mythology, who was the patron of the city of Nekheb (her name meaning ''of Nekheb''). Ultimately, she became the patron of Upper Egypt and one of the two patron dei ...

and tutor to the prince

Wadjmose Wadjmose was an ancient Egyptian prince of the 18th Dynasty; a son of Pharaoh Thutmose I.Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton: The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson, 2004, pp.130-131,140 Biography He is likely to have been born a ...

, supervised the building of his grandfather's tomb.

References

* "Biography of Ahmose, son of Ebana" in ''Ancient Records of Egypt'' by James Henry Breasted, Part Two, sections 1 to 24, 38ff and 78f

* "The Autobiography of Ahmose Son of Abana" in ''Ancient Egyptian Literature'' by M. Lichtheim, vol.2, pp. 12ff.

External links

The biographical inscriptions of Ahmose son of Ebana

Autobiography of Ahmose
in Lepsius, ''Denkmäler'' III, 12d.
The Autobiography of Ahmose, Son of Ebana (English Translation)
{{Authority control Ancient Egyptian soldiers Officials of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt Ancient Egyptian autobiographies Ahmose I Amenhotep I Thutmose I