AMENHOTEP I

flourished 15th century BC king of Egypt (reigned 15141493 BC), son of Ahmose I, the founder of the 18th dynasty. He effectively extended Egypt's boundaries in Nubia (the modern Sudan). The biographies of two soldiers confirm Amenhotep's wars in Nubia. As shown by a graffito from the seventh year of his reign, he reached the frontier at the Second Cataract of the Nile, probably establishing a frontier farther south on Sai Island. Amenhotep also raided Libya, but no details of the operation are recorded. His only confirmed activities in Asia are the reopening of the mines at Sinai and the reoccupation of the fortress erected there during the Middle Kingdom, but there is indirect evidence that he held territory in Syria. Little is known about Amenhotep's building activity, because ancient Egyptian buildings were often demolished for stone. A fine, small limestone chapel of the king has been recovered, and the king's official in charge of construction credits another temple to Amenhotep. His tomb was probably a rock-cut structure separated from its temple, a departure from earlier royal practice. He founded the cemetery workers' village at Dayr al-Madinah in western Thebes, and in later periods both the king and his mother were worshiped there.