# Thutmose I Source: https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/pharaohs/thutmose-i Language: en # Thutmose I The soldier king usually named as the first buried in the Valley of the Kings. **Reign**: c.1504–1492 BCE **Dynasty**: 18th Dynasty **Period**: New Kingdom **Also written**: Tuthmosis I · Djehutymes I · Aakheperkare · تحوتمس الأول · عا خبر كا رع ## Who they were Thutmose I expanded Egyptian power and contributed major buildings at Karnak. His family background and the precise circumstances of his accession are not securely established. ## Why they matter He is closely associated with the early development of royal burial in the Valley of the Kings. The sequence of his burials and reburials is debated, so identifying one tomb as his original burial requires care. ## What happened He campaigned into Nubia in his second year and again later, and northward through Syria to the Euphrates, where the army crossed and set up a boundary stela — the point Thutmose III would go back to look for two generations later. At home he began the transformation of Karnak from a modest Middle Kingdom temple into a monumental one: the Fourth and Fifth Pylons (a monumental gateway formed by two massive towers), a pillared hall between them, a court lined with standing statues of the king in mummy form, and a pair of red granite obelisks in front. The work was directed by an official called Ineni, whose own tomb inscription describes supervising the cutting of a royal tomb “alone, no one seeing and no one hearing”. That sentence is the single most quoted piece of evidence for the move to a hidden valley, and it does not name the valley. ## What they built in Luxor At Karnak: the Fourth and Fifth Pylons, the court between them with its Osiride statues, and two red granite obelisks in front of the Fourth Pylon, one of which is still standing. In the Valley of the Kings, two tombs are connected with him — KV20 and KV38 — and which of them was cut for him is argued about. ## Where to meet them At Karnak, look for the obelisk and structures associated with his reign. For the Valley of the Kings, use the tomb histories to distinguish original construction from later burial and reuse. How we label claims ## What is disputed Each claim below carries its evidence class. A claim marked interpretation or uncertain is not a weaker version of a fact — it is a different kind of statement, and the note says why. - Uncertain Which tomb in the Valley of the Kings was cut for him — KV20 or KV38. KV20 was later enlarged by Hatshepsut and held burial equipment naming both of them; KV38 is smaller and may be a reburial prepared for him by Thutmose III. Both readings are argued in the mainstream literature and neither is settled. - Uncertain That Ineni’s “no one seeing and no one hearing” refers to the Valley of the Kings. The inscription is genuine and its wording is not in doubt. What it does not do is name a place, and specialists differ on whether it describes the valley, a cliff tomb elsewhere at Thebes, or the secrecy of the operation in general terms. It is the foundation of the “first king in the valley” claim and it is thinner than the claim built on it. Who added what ## Before and after [12th Dynasty **Senusret I** c.1965–1920 BCE The oldest building you can walk around at Karnak is his, and it was found inside a pylon. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/pharaohs/senusret-i) [18th Dynasty **Thutmose I** c.1504–1492 BCE The soldier king usually named as the first buried in the Valley of the Kings. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/pharaohs/thutmose-i) [18th Dynasty **Thutmose III** c.1479–1425 BCE Seventeen campaigns, and an empire that outlasted him by two hundred years. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/pharaohs/thutmose-iii) [18th Dynasty **Hatshepsut** c.1473–1458 BCE A king who was a woman, and whose name was later cut out of her own walls. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/pharaohs/hatshepsut) Tomb ## Their tomb No tomb in this directory is recorded to them. [Tomb directory](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/tombs) Continue reading ## Explore the connections 1–1 / 6 [Temple complex · East bank ### Karnak Temple Complex Two thousand years of building, rebuilding and royal ambition, gathered around the temples of Amun. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/karnak)[Necropolis · West bank ### Valley of the Kings The royal burial landscape of the New Kingdom: rock-cut tombs tucked into a desert valley, separate from the kings’ major commemorative temples. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/valley-of-the-kings)[God ### Amun The hidden god of Thebes, who became king of the gods and the state god of an empire. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/gods/amun)[God ### Osiris Ruler of the dead, associated with restoration and renewal. ](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/gods/osiris)[History ### Why Pharaohs Stopped Building Pyramids New Kingdom kings at Thebes used rock-cut tombs and separate commemorative temples. Landscape, royal tradition and protecting the burial all help explain the change; no single surviving account settles why it happened. ](https://luxor101.com/journal/why-pharaohs-stopped-building-pyramids)[History ### Hatshepsut: The Story to Know Before Visiting Deir el-Bahari Hatshepsut ruled with full royal titles alongside Thutmose III. Her royal names and images were attacked later; the pattern and timing complicate the familiar explanation of immediate personal revenge. ](https://luxor101.com/journal/hatshepsut-and-the-erasure) Sources & further reading 4 Tier 2 The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, edited by Ian Shaw Oxford University Press Tier 2 The Complete Valley of the Kings, Nicholas Reeves and Richard H. Wilkinson Thames & Hudson Tier 2 The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, Aidan Dodson and Dyan Hilton Thames & Hudson Tier 1 Theban Mapping Project — Atlas of the Theban Necropolis Theban Mapping Project Source review is incomplete. Consultation dates are shown only for checked references. Published works and institutional references for further reading. [Sources and review status](mailto:corrections@egyptmore.com?subject=Luxor101%20correction) [Pharaohs](https://luxor101.com/ancient-luxor/pharaohs)