Thutmose I in hieroglyphs
praenomen or throne name
nomen or birth name

Aakheperkare Thutmose I ( ? – 1492 BC; sometimes spelled Thutmosis) was the 3rd Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1504 BC to 1492 BC. He was the father of the Pharaohs Thutmose II and Hatshepsut and was the first Pharaoh to be buried in the Valley of the Kings.

Thutmose I had both a common father and mother, Semiseneb, but rose through the ranks of the military to become one of the most prominent commanders under the reign of his predecessor Amenhotep I and possibly served as a co-regent. There is some debate over the parentage of his wife Queen Ahmose. She was either the daughter of Ahmose I and Queen Ahmose-Nefertari or Thutmose I's sister. When Amenhotep I died childless, Thutmose I ascended the throne. Amenhotep's mother, Ahmose-Nefertari, continued to hold the title of God's Wife of Amun into Thutmose's reign, legitimizing his rule.

Thutmose led several major military campaigns most notably against insurgent Hyksos tribes in the Nile Delta. He pursued the tribes all the way to the Euphrates River. In Nubia he led an expedition beyond the Third Cataract where he engaged a Nubian king in hand to hand combat and slew the Nubian king. According to one of Thutmose I's admirals, Ahmose, son of Ebana, upon victory he had the Nubian king's body hung from the prow of his ship, before he returned to Thebes.

An avid builder, Thutmose I commissioned many construction projects during his rule, including the first tomb carved out at the Valley of the Kings. Much of his projects were at the Temple of Karnak under the supervision of the architect Ineni. These works included the fourth and fifth pylons, numerous courts and statues, the completion of the Treasurey expansion begun by Amenhotep I, and had a hypostyle hall of cedar wood constructed at Karnak to commemorate his victory over the Hyksos.

Ahmose bore him two sons, Wadjmose and Amenmose, both of whom died before Thutmose I. A son by a minor wife, Mutnofret, became his heir and successor Thutmose II, with rival claims by his fully royal daughter Hatshepsut.

Thutmose I's body was found in the Deir el-Bahri Cache above the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut and can viewed today in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

See also: List of Pharaohs