Tuthmosis II

Aakheperenra, (Grande is the image of Ra), better known as Tuthmosis II, (Thot was born), son of Tuthmosis I and a secondary wife, Mutnefret, sits, on the death of his father and two older brothers Amenmose and Wadjmose, on the throne of the Two Lands.

Not being the son of the Great Royal Bride Ahmes, to reinforce his right to the throne he marries his half-sister Hatshepsut, the favorite daughter of Tuthmosis I, a woman of strong personality thanks to the care of her father, who will strongly influence her husband short duration of his reign.

The epistolary of Maneton, who calls Tuthmosis II with the name of “Chebron”, Greek corruption of his name of Ra, Aakheperenra, often prone to frequent errors of translation, report that the historian assigned to this pharaoh 13 years of reign.

The real duration of the reign of Tuthmosis II has been the subject of numerous debates among Egyptologists due to the scarcity of surviving documents.

Older scholars are more likely to accept a 13-year reign, but according to modern archaeologists, Thutmosis II would have reigned for three or four years at most. From the Great Royal Bride, Hatshepsut had a daughter, Neferura, while the heir to the throne came from the secondary bride Iset who gave birth to Thutmose III who, as had happened to his father, also strengthened his right to the throne by marrying his half-sister Neferura.

 

The kingdom of Tuthmosis II does not provide great arguments for comment, we know that it undertook two barely relevant military campaigns. In his first year of reign a revolt broke out in Nubia where the viceroy Seni was sent to sedate him, TuthmosisII did not go in person as he had to be too young.

From the usual, already mentioned autobiography inscribed on the walls of the tomb of the officer Ahmose Pennekhebet (source of inestimable value for the history of Egypt from Ahmose I to Tuthmosis III), we learn of another expedition to Palestine against the nomadic people of the Shasu.

It certainly cannot be said that Tuthmosis II was a great builder, his construction activity was limited to a few minor monuments. However, even if he had built more it is almost impossible to find out because Hatshepsut usurped most of it. On the other hand, Tuthmosis III had the name of Tuthmosis II inscribed indiscriminately on other monuments.

Several remains of buildings attributable to him were found in Semna, Kumma, and Elefantina, as well as in some localities of Nubia, but the main monument of Tuthmosis II was a limestone door in Karnak, originally present in the front of the Quarto Pylon, was later dismantled and the blocks used in the foundation of the Third Pylon by Amenhotep III.

In 2015 the Egyptian minister El-Damaty announced the discovery of a residential building attributable to Tuthmosis II.

It would be a sort of intermediate station for military use along the “Strada di Horus” on the site of Tell el-Habua, the building, made of raw bricks, originally had to measure 30 x 40 meters. The place where Thutmosis II was buried is unknown, it was assumed that it was the tomb KV42 but it does not appear that it was already completed at the time of his death.

His mummy was found by Maspero and Brugsch, in 1881, in the famous cachette of Deir el-Bahari where the mummies of numerous sovereigns were hidden to preserve them from looters who infested the Valley of the Kings, at the time of Pharaoh Simon, around 975 BC. about.

When in July 1886 Gaston Maspero disbanded the mummy he immediately recognized a certain resemblance of the face of Tuthmosis II with that of his father Tuthmosis I.

Unfortunately, the corpse had already been brutally damaged by the raiders, the left forearm was broken and detached from the body and the right arm had been truncated at the elbow, on the chest ax blows were noticed and his right leg had been cut from the body.

In his notes, Maspero reports:

<< He had just reached the age of thirty when he fell victim to an illness whose embalming process he could not remove. The skin is rough and blotchy and covered with scars, while the upper part of the skull is bald, the body is thin and a little narrow and seems to lack strength and muscular power >>.

The analyzes carried out on the body of the sovereign have in fact established that death reached him around 25 – 30 years due to a disease that left his body emaciated and covered with patches and scars.

By: Piero Cargnino

 

If you would like to discover our adventure tours click this link.   CLICK HERE

Sources and bibliography:

Cimmino Franco, “Dictionary of Pharaonic dynasties”, Bompiani, Milan 2003
Alan Gardiner, “The Egyptian civilization” – Oxford University Press 1961 (Einaudi, Turin 1997
Nicolas Grimal, “A History of Ancient Egypt”, Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988
Mattia Mancini, “Djed Medu”, Egyptology Blog, article of 5 March 2015
Edda Bresciani, “Great Illustrated Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt”, De Agostini,
Mario Tosi, “Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Gods of Ancient Egypt”, vol. II, Ananke
Guy Rachet, “Larousse dictionary of the Egyptian civilization”, Gremese Editore
Maurizio Damiano-Appia, “Encyclopedic dictionary of ancient Egypt and Nubian civilizations”, Mondadori, 1996