18 Facts About Amenemhat I

Amenemhat I, known as Amenemhet I, was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the first king of the Twelfth Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom.

Amenemhat I was probably the same as the vizier named Amenemhat who led an expedition to Wadi Hammamat under his predecessor Mentuhotep IV, and possibly overthrew him from power.

Amenemhat I moved the capital from Thebes to Itjtawy and was buried in el-Lisht.

Amenemhat I is mentioned in Manetho's Aegyptiaca, originally composed circa the 3rd century BC, tentatively dated to the reign of Ptolemy II.

Amenemhat I is accorded a reign of 16 years under the name ?µµe?eµ?? by both Africanus and Eusebius, though he is placed at the end of the Eleventh Dynasty instead of at the start of the Twelfth.

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Amenemhat I was the son of a Senusret and a Nefret, who were not of the royal family.

Amenemhat I's mother is attested to on an offering table that was found at Amenemhat I's pyramid at El-Lisht which provides her title 'king's mother' and likely in the 'Prophecy of Neferty' in which she is identified as a woman from the Upper Egyptian nome of Ta-Seti.

Amenemhat I's father is attested to on a block from Karnak and held the title 'god's father'.

Amenemhat I had one presumed wife, a Neferitatjenen, who is known from a statuette of her son, presumed to be Senusret I The statuette bore the inscription 'King Senusret born to King Amenemhat and born of the king's mother Neferitatjenen'.

Amenemhat I had one known son, his successor on the throne Senusret I Three of his daughters are known: Neferu III who is attested to in the Story of Sinuhe and was the wife of Senusret I; and Neferusherit and Kayet who are named on artefacts found in Amenemhat I's pyramid complex.

There's some evidence that the early reign of Amenemhat I was beset with political turmoil, as indicated by the inscriptions of Nehri, a local governor.

Amenemhat I's name is associated with one of only two sebayt or ethical "teachings" attributed to Egyptian monarchs, entitled the Instructions of Amenemhat, though it is generally thought today that it was composed by a scribe at the behest of the king.

Amenemhat I's Horus name, Wehemmesu, which means renaissance or rebirth, is an allusion to the Old Kingdom period, whose cultural icons and models were emulated by the Twelfth Dynasty kings after the end of the First Intermediate Period.

Amenemhat I broke with this tradition instead choosing to provide names for the individual components.

The Instructions of Amenemhat I were supposedly counsels that the deceased king gave to his son during a dream.

Amenemhat I had been sent to smite the foreign countries, and to take prisoner the dwellers in the Tjehnu-land, and now indeed he was returning and had carried off living prisoners of the Tjehnu and all kinds of cattle limitless.

Amenemhat I is considered to be the first king of Egypt to have had a coregency with his son, Senusret I A double dated stele from Abydos and now in the Cairo Museum is dated to the Year 30 of Amenemhat I and to the Year 10 of Senusret I, which establishes that Senusret was made co-regent in Amenemhat's Year 20.

Amenemhat I held many offices and titles during his lifetime including those of treasurer, steward, and seal-bearer for the king of Lower Egypt.