The Face of Pharaoh Ahmose I (Artistic Reconstruction)

Описание: Project requested by: Angel Amezquita (Angelgreat) & ArsinoeofEgypt

Pharaoh Ahmose I, son of Seqenenre Tao and Ahhotep I, was the founder of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt and father himself to Pharaoh Amenhotep I. His reign started at around age 10, though his mother ruled more or less in his place until he came of age. Ahmose remained on the throne for 25 years, dying at the young age of around 35 for reasons not yet known in 1546 or 1527 BC, depending on the dating system.

ARTIST NOTES: I would have liked to have had a clean x-ray or CT scan of Ahmose I’s skull to work with for the best result, but as of this writing I was unable to secure such an image that could be verified. I was forced to use the deepest shadows of the mummy’s head to outline the most visible possible bone structure.

It was interesting to me that some scientists in the 1980’s threw doubt over Ahmose I’s identity on the grounds of perceived discrepancies in the bone and teeth structure compared to those of known relatives. No descendant or sibling is going to be structurally identical to blood relatives, so I’m not even sure why this was an argument or what qualified as a "discrepancy" that was separate from normal variations found between generations of individuals within a family.

There was a lot of facial flesh present, which of course muddled the outlines of the skull underneath but were in themselves a clue to Ahmose’s general appearance. He would have been full-faced with prominent cheekbones, much like his father Seqenenre. The apparent angle of the eye sockets also tilted downward at the outer edges like his father. That fabulous mop of hair on Ahmose’s head looked like it had been caked in mud, but the few curls peeking out from the crusted glob seemed to point to loose flowing curls rather than the tight spirals of Nubian hair. This also was a trait Ahmose shared with his father.

From the profile of the mummy I could identify the "royal overbite" to a modest extent, but it didn’t seem enough to force his teeth to protrude. Amazingly, though his nose and head had been broken off at one point by tomb robbers searching his dead body for treasures, the outline of his nostrils remained attached to his face, so that was a handy clue to the approximate width of his nose. There was almost no lip definition, which isn’t unusual, but compared to other mummies it suggested that Ahmose’s lips were a modest shape, neither thick nor thin. Ahmose may or may not have had thick eyebrows, but since this is exclusively a genetic trait there is no way to tell from bone or from mummified remains which have lost their facial hair. His brow ridges were quite prominent.

Opening image: "Ahmose-mummy-head" circa 1912. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. License US-PD

"Ahmose I" 2025. Original Digital Art. (c) M.A. Ludwig

Music: "Major Kahlen Begins the Klingon Tea Ceremony" 2008. (c) M.A. Ludwig

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