Queen Ahmose

Aahmes in hieroglyphs

Queen Ahmose was the Ancient Egyptian royal queen of pharaoh, Thutmose I, and the mother of queen and later, pharaoh, Hatshepsut. Ahmose was the Great Royal Wife of Thutmose I, a military general whose rise to pharaoh was likely assured because of her marriage to him. Two of her sons and her elder daughter, Neferubity, are thought to have died before their father's death.

Queen Ahmose, her husband, and oldest daughter

Records of Ancient Egypt regarding Ahmose are not certain as yet, it is possible that she was the royal granddaughter of Queen Ahmose-Nefertari and the daughter of Amenhotep I of Egypt or, that she was the royal daughter of king Ahmose and queen Ahmose-Nefertari, and a sister of Amenhotep I.

Amenhotep I probably came to power while he was still young himself, and his mother, Ahmose-Nefertari, was regent for him until he reached maturity.[1] This is evidenced because both his mother and he are credited with opening a worker village at the site of Deir el-Medina.[1] This would never have been recorded as such if she had not been regent. Later, Amenhotep took for his Great Royal Wife, his sister, Ahmose-Meritamon.[2]

The second royal daughter of Ahmose, Hatshepsut, was thought to be very close to her parents, being placed into important administrative positions in the government, including the chief advisory role to her father. She survived her father and became the influential royal queen of Thutmose II, and then later, to rule in her own right as one of Egypt's greatest pharaohs.