Amarna period
The last two members of the eighteenth dynasty – Ay and Horemheb – became rulers from the ranks of officials in the royal court. Ay may have married the widow of Tutankhamun in order to get power and she did not live long afterward. Ay's reign was short. His successor was Horemheb, a general in the Egyptian army, who had been a diplomat in the administration of Tutankhamun. He may have been named as a successor by the childless Tutankhamun. Horemheb may have taken the throne away from Ay in a coup. He also died childless and appointed his successor, Paramessu who, under the name Ramesses I, ascended the throne in 1292 BC. He was the first pharaoh of the Nineteenth dynasty.