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The Underappreciated Nikola Tesla, and Other Under-Recognized Historic Figures

Khalid Elhassan January 12, 2020 32 min

Nikola Tesla - A New System of Alternating Current Motors and Transformers — Nikola Tesla. Pintrest

22. Saving Her Son’s Throne

Artifacts recovered from Ahhotpe I’s tomb. Temple of Mut

When Ahhotpe’s son came of age, he took the reins of power, chased out the Hyksos, and reunified Egypt. As Ahmose I, he went on to found the Eighteenth Dynasty, during which the Egyptian Empire reached its zenith, stretching from Syria in the north to Nubia in the south, and from Mesopotamia in the west to the Libyan deserts in the west.

Hyksos-sympathizing rebels attempted to seize the throne while Ahhotpe’s son was busy in the south warring with Nubians. So she rallied loyal troops, personally led them in fighting off the rebels, and foiled their attempt. For that, she was rewarded with the “Golden Flies of Valor“, Ancient Egypt’s highest military award for courage – the Pharaohs’ version of America’s Medal of Honor or Britain’s Victoria Cross. It was discovered in her 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.