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Facts About Ancient Egypt They Didn’t Teach In School

Khalid Elhassan October 29, 2023 31 min

Egyptian - The Great Pyramids of Giza, as they would have looked when newly built — The Great Pyramids of Giza, as they would have looked when newly built. Quora

An Ancient Egyptian Warrior Queen

Egyptian - Queen Ahhotep recovers the body of her slain husband, who died fighting the Hyksos — Queen Ahhotep recovers the body of her slain husband, who died fighting the Hyksos. National Geographic

Queen Ahhotep II (flourished sixteenth century BC) was Ancient Egypt’s most heroic female fighter. A warrior queen of the Seventeenth Dynasty, she led armies in combat against the Hyksos – Semitic invaders who had conquered Lower Egypt. Ahhotep took control of Egypt’s throne and armies after her husband was killed fighting the invaders, and ruled as regent during the minority of her son, Ahmose I. She kept up the pressure against the Hyksos until her son was old enough to take charge and take over the fight.

Egyptian - Ring of Queen Ahhotep — Ring of Queen Ahhotep. Louvre Museum

A stele records Ahhotep’s deeds: “The king’s wife, the noble lady, who knew everything, assembled Egypt. [Ahhotep] looked after what her Sovereign had established. She guarded it. [Ahhotep] assembled her fugitives. She brought together her deserters. [Ahhotep] pacified her Upper Egyptians. She subdued her rebels … [The queen] is the one who has accomplished the rites and taken care of Egypt… She has looked after her soldiers, she has guarded her, [Ahhotep] has brought back her fugitives and collected together her deserters, [the queen] has pacified Upper Egypt and expelled her rebels.”

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.