The New Kingdom, c. 1570 - 1070BC

The pharaohs of the New kingdom left the greatest marks on Egypt, and their activities colour our whole attitude to ancient Egypt. Many of the mummies belonging to these great kings survive to this day, having been put in 1 of 2 secret caches (perhaps there are more waiting to be discovered) when it was realised that the tombs in the Valley of the Kings were being despoiled. The mummy caches hitherto discovered and which I will refer to here are Deir el-Bahari (discovered in 1881) and the tomb of Amenhotep II in the Valley of the Kings (KV35, discovered in 1898).

The first king of the New Kingdom, and founder of the 18th dynasty, was Ahmose I (c. 1570 - 1546). The younger son of Sequerene Tao (see above), he was the man who finally threw the hated Hyksos out of Egypt. The exact location of his tomb is unknown, but is probably somewhere in the Dra Abu el-Naga area of the Theban necropolis. His mummy was found with that of his father in the Deir el-Bahari cache in 1881.

Ahmose's successor was Amenhotep I (c. 1551 - 1524). He led several military expeditions to Kush, Nubia and Libya. The spoils of war were used to initiate building at Karnak. The first king to locate his mortuary temple away from his burial, he was interred in the Valley of the Kings (KV39). His mummy was found at Deir el-Bahari in 1881.

Amenhotep was succeeded not by his son but by Tuthmosis I, a military man who had married the daughter of Ahmose and had perhaps acted as a co-regent with Amenhotep in the latter's final years. Although he had a short reign, it was full of brilliant military campaigns, especially in Nubia. Once again, the spoils went towards building at Karnak.

Tuthmosis's successor was a son by a minor Queen, Tuthmosis II. The latter's claim was strengthened by his marriage to his half-sister and Tuthmosis I's eldest daughter Hatshepsut. He apparently suffered from bad health, as he probably died in his early 30s. He had a son by a harem-girl, and attempted to name the child, later Tuthmosis III, to try to curtail the ambition of Hatshepsut, but this didn't work, as the boy had been pushed aside by year 2 of his reign. Tuthmosis II's mummy was found at Deir el-Bahari in 1881.