Arikah Map

Amenemhat I

Persondata
NAME Amenemhat I
ALTERNATIVE NAMES {{{Alt}}}
SHORT DESCRIPTION Pharaoh of Egypt
DATE OF BIRTH {{{Birth}}}
PLACE OF BIRTH Ancient Egypt
DATE OF DEATH {{{Death}}}
PLACE OF DEATH Ancient Egypt
Preceded by:
Mentuhotep IV		 Pharaoh of Egypt
Twelfth Dynasty		 Succeeded by:
Senusret I
Amenemhat I
Reign 1991 BC to 1962 BC
Praenomen <hiero><-ra-s-R4:t*p ib-></hiero>
Sehetepibre
Who satisfies the heart of Re
Nomen <hiero><-i-mn:n-m-HAt:t-></hiero>
Amenemhat
Amun is in front
Horus name
<hiero>G5</hiero>
<hiero>F25-F31-G43:t</hiero>
Amenemhat I:Image:srxtail2.GIF
Wehemmesut
Nebty name
<hiero>G16</hiero>
<hiero>F25-F31-G43:t</hiero>
Wehemmesut
Golden Horus
<hiero>G8</hiero>
<hiero>F25-F31-G43:t</hiero>
Wehemmesut[1]
Repeating of births
Burial Burial = Pyramid at el-Lisht
Amenemhat I:The pyramid ruin of Amenemhet I at Lisht.
Enlarge
The pyramid ruin of Amenemhet I at Lisht.

Amenemhat I was the first ruler of the Twelfth Dynasty (the dynasty debated to be the beginning of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt). He ruled from 1991 BC to 1962 BC[2] .Amenemhet I was not of royal lineage, and hence took measures to assure the authority of his kingship, such as including literary works (the Prophecy of Neferti, Instructions of Amenemhat) and the revertion to the pyramid-style complexes of the 6th dynasty rulers. Amenemhet I also moved the capital from Thebes to Itjtawy and was buried in el-Lisht.

His son Senwosret I, followed a similar path as Amenemhet did, by building his pyramid at Lisht, although his son, the next ruler of Egypt, Amenemhet II, did not follow this tradition. Senwosret's pyramid is a closer reflection of the 6th dynasty pyramids than that of Amenemhet I. Amenemhet I and Senwosret I are thought to have shared a joint reign (coregency) of at least 10 years, with Amenemhet I celebrating his jubilee (sed festival) one year after they began their joint reign.

He is thought to have been assassinated. Nobody knows for sure, but it is written in "his own hand" that it was an attack by his bodyguard.

Amenemhat I's name is associated with one of only two sebayt or ethical "teachings" attributed to Egyptian monarchs. The document is entitled the Instructions of Amenemhat I. The only other royal sebayt was the Instruction for King Merikara set in the First Intermediate Period, but probably a Middle Kingdom composition. As Merikara was a king during the unstable periods of the Seventh through Ninth Dynasties, however, almost nothing is known of him or of his father who presumably wrote the instructions.

Naguib Mahfouz, the Nobel Prize for Literature – winning Egyptian writer includes Amenemhat I in one of his stories published in 1941 entitled "Awdat Sinuhi". The story appeared in an English translation by Raymond Stock in 2003 as "The Return of Sinuhe" in the collection of Mahfouz's short stories entitled Voices from the Other World. The story is based directly on the "The Story of Sinuhe", although adding details of a lovers' triangle romance involving Amenemhat I and Sinuhe that does not appear in the original.


Contents

Sucession

Amenemhat I was the first king of Egypt who definitively had a coregency with his son, Senusret I. A double dated stele dates to the thirtieth year of Amenemhat I and to the tenth year of Senusret I, which establishes that Senusret would have been made coregent in Amenemhat's 20th regnal year.[3]

Further reading

References

  1. ^ [1] Amenemhat I
  2. ^ D Wildung, L'Âge d'Or de L'Égypte - le Moyen Empire, Office de Livre, 1984
  3. ^ Murnane, Willaim J. Ancient Egyptian Coregencies, Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization. No. 40. p.2. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1977.

Categories


Pharaohs of the Twelfth dynasty of Egypt

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