Kamose

Kamose ( ancient Egyptian Kamesiu ) was the last Egyptian King (Pharaoh) of the 17th dynasty (second interim ) and ruled from about 1554 to 1550 BC ( according to Franke 1545-1539 BC).

• 3.1 inscriptions
• 3.2 According to tradition, Flavius ​​Josephus

• 4.1 mummy and coffin
• 4.2 succession

Family

His parents were probably Senachtenre and Tetischeri. He was probably married to Ahhotep II. In Egyptology the not yet completely excluded possibility is further discussed that it could also be a son of Seqenenre at Kamose. He would thus be either uncle or older brother of Ahmose I..

As the only daughter from the name Ahmose Satkamose ( Ahmose, daughter of Kamose ) would come into question, an exact family relationship, however, is not used. In the resulting direct traditions of the written work of Josephus about the authenticity of Judaism and the Chronicle of Eusebius of Caesarea Kamose is called the father of Ahmose I..

Regency

Longevity

Although Egyptologists recognize its rule on five or six years, only his third year of reign is occupied. From a stele inscription of Emhab, a drummer from the army of Kamose, it appears that these three years of rule were marked by continuous military:

"I am one who followed his master on his campaigns, which showed no weakness against the orders he gave. As I arranged that all strong in ( my ) were bent hands. I spent three years ... every day with the beating of the drum. I strove my Lord in all his affairs after. "

Territory

Kamoses dominions extended from Elephantine in the south to about Tepihu in the north. The Hyksos king Apopi I reigned in the core area to Memphis, with additional guaranteed trade contacts to Qu. Nubia formed a separate kingdom, which was set per - Hyksos. As is apparent from the Kamose steles, Hyksos and Theban seemed to have lived up to this time in peaceful coexistence. There was a so-called modus vivendi: the Thebans had grazing rights in the Nile Delta, received grain shipments as pig feed, leaving in return the Hyksos access to Upper Egyptian quarries. Agriculture and trade flourished.

Campaigns against the Hyksos

Inscriptions

Kamose continued after the death of his predecessor Seqenenre continued the struggle against the Hyksos. Two stelae and a scribe panel report on campaigns of Kamose against the Hyksos. The beginning of the first stele is known as copy since 1908, found in the rubble of Dra Abu el- Naga (Carnarvon panel ). In 1932 and 1935 two stelae fragments were found in the third pylon of the Karnak temple belonging to the upper right half of the destroyed limestone stele. The second stele was recovered intact in 1954. She served as the foundation of a Ramses II statue in Karnak and originally came from the 12th dynasty. On one side are of Sesostris I still recognizable inscriptions and representations.

According to the inscriptions conquered Kamose in his third regnal year in succession the fortress Neferusi at Hermopolis, Perschak, Perdjetgen and Initentchenet and the oasis Bahariya and stood with his troops before Avaris, the Hyksos capital, he attacked only in the outskirts and then besieged. A cry for help Apopi to the Nubian princes he started from. At the time of the Nile flood Kamose returned to Thebes, to proclaim his successful campaign on steles in the country.

According to tradition, Flavius ​​Josephus

From the traditions of the work about the authenticity of Judaism following statements are about Kamose as king, which reduced the Hyksos known:

" 86 to a reign of a king named Alisfragmouthosis ... be the shepherds ( the Hyksos ) after a defeat ... but finally been included ... Avaris was the name of this place ... 88 The son of Alisfragmouthosis, Thummosis ( Ahmose I ) ... have completed an agreement that they leave ( Hyksos ) Egypt. "

After the death

Mummy and coffin

About Kamoses death nothing is known accurately. Auguste Mariette and Heinrich Brugsch found in 1857 an unknown coffin at the northern end and in the plane of Dra Abu el- Naga. It contained a crumbled to dust the mummy, some lost amulets, a scarab, a bronze mirror, one of the two " bracelets " with the name of Ahmose, a dagger with a golden handle and two lions in gold. Only by George Daressy this coffin was correctly identified and Kamose be attributed. It is not a royal coffin, but a later started private coffin of the Rishi - type, which was converted to a king hastily coffin. The mummy had apparently contained mummified insufficient.

The special feature of the coffin is that it is the only ruler funeral was the end of the 17th to mid- 18th dynasty, whose mummy was not transferred to the Deir el- Bahari. The exact position of the coffin locality and further find circumstances are not recorded. We only know that he was near the coffin of Ahhotep I or II, something down the hill, a few dozen meters east of TT155 ( grave of Intef ).

Over the grave of the plant Kamose nothing more is known except that it the end of the 20th Dynasty was located in Dra Abu el- Naga and have still been intact seemed (minutes of the grave robbers Commission). Daniel Polz believed that the pyramid grave K94.1 system was originally intended for Kamose because this is just 250 meters from the suspected location coffin away. Moreover, they seem to be just as unfinished as they have undergone funeral and the coffin found.

Succession

Ahmose succeeded him. This made ​​it through more sieges, without a fight to expel the Hyksos from Egypt and unite the kingdom once again. Therefore, Ahmose is considered the first ruler of the New Kingdom and founder of the 18th dynasty.