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The Most Formidable Women in History that Made Men Cower Before Them

Khalid Elhassan April 23, 2022 35 min

23. This Ancient Queen Fought Fiercely to Secure Her Son’s Throne

Artifacts recovered from the tomb of Ahhotpe I. Temple of Mut

Eventually, Ahhotpe’s son Ahmose I came of age, and personally took over the reins of power. A boss in his own right, Ahmose drove out the Hyksos invaders who had dominated northern Egypt for generations, and reunified Egypt. He then founded the Eighteenth Dynasty, Ancient Egypt’s most famous and successful. During that dynasty, the Egyptian Empire reached the zenith of its power, stretching from Syria in the north to Nubia in the south, and from Mesopotamia in the west to the Libyan deserts in the west.

Ahhotpe’s days as a warrior did not end when her son came of age. While Ahmose was busy in the south warring with Nubians, a cabal of Hyksos-sympathizing rebels tried to seize the throne. Ahhotpe rallied loyal troops, fought them off, and foiled their attempt. For that, she was rewarded with the “Golden Flies of Valor” – Ancient Egypt’s highest military award for courage. It was discovered by archaeologists in a tomb, along with weapons and jewelry, thousands of years later.

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.