Sekhemre Shedtawy Sobekemsaf II was an

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

king who reigned during the

Second Intermediate Period The Second Intermediate Period dates from 1700 to 1550 BC. It marks a period when ancient Egypt was divided into smaller dynasties for a second time, between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom. The concept of a Secon ...

, when Egypt was fragmented and ruled by multiple kings.

Biography

His throne name, Sekhemre Shedtawy, means "Powerful is Re; Rescuer of the Two Lands". It is now believed by Egyptologists that Sobekemsaf II was the father of both Sekhemre-Wepmaat Intef and Nubkheperre Intef based on an inscription carved on a doorjamb discovered in the ruins of a 17th Dynasty temple at Gebel Antef in the early 1990s which was built under Nubkheperre Intef. The doorjamb mentions a king Sobekem afas the father of Nubkheperre Intef/Antef VII--(''Antef begotten of Sobekem...'') He was in all likelihood the Prince Sobekemsaf who is attested as the son and designated successor of king

Sobekemsaf I Sekhemre Wadjkhaw Sobekemsaf I was a pharaoh of Egypt during the 17th Dynasty in the Second Intermediate Period. Attestations Sekhemre Wadjkhaw Sobekemsaf I is known from several monuments, see Ryholt 1997:395 File 17:6. Abydos Sobekemsaf I's ...

on Cairo Statue CG 386. In the

(SIP) there were two kings with the nomen Sobekemsaf: Sekhemre Shedtawy Sobekemsaf and Sekhemre Wadjkhau Sobekemsaf. In addition there is a prenomen Sekhemre Shedwaset, Powerful is Ra, Rescuer of Waset (gr. Thebes), which may be a local variation of Sekhemre Shedtawy. The names imply a time of turmoil where the city and land was in need of rescue. There were also a King's Son Sobekemsaf. Several private individuals and officials also had the name Sobekemsaf, like the reporter of Thebes Sobekemsaf who was the brother of a Queen Nubkhaes. The latter seem to have ascended the throne following the fall of the late 13th Dynasty, as her uncle High Steward Nebankh had served

Neferhotep I Khasekhemre Neferhotep I was an Ancient Egypt, Egyptian pharaoh of the mid Thirteenth dynasty of Egypt, Thirteenth Dynasty ruling in the second half of the 18th century BCKim Ryholt, Ryholt, K.S.B: The Political Situation in Egypt During the Se ...

and

Sobekhotep IV Khaneferre Sobekhotep IV was one of the more powerful Egyptian kings of the 13th Dynasty (c. 1803 BC to c. 1649 BC), who reigned at least eight years. His brothers, Neferhotep I and Sihathor, were his predecessors on the throne, the latter havi ...

. It is unclear if there were one or two queens named Nubkhaes. Attestations of Nubkhes (I) does not preserve the name of her husband, and the Papyrus Abbott assumes that Nubkhaes (II) found in the tomb of Sobekemsaf was his wife. The numbering of Sobekemsaf I and Sobekemsaf II can be confused, Ryholt (1997) has Sekhemre Shedtawy as Sobekemsaf I.

Attestations

A list of attestations is provided by Ryholt 1997:393 File 17/2. In the preserved attestations only the prenomen and nomen are preserved. Fragment Sobekemsaf Petrie

*BM EA 38089 , At Abydos, a limestone block with two cartouches containing the prenomen and nomen of Sobekemsaf II. *MMA 25.3.330 , At Dra Abu el-Naga, a shrine fragment. *MMA 25.3.229 , At Dra Abu el-Naga, a stela with the royal name Sobekemsaf (nomen) found together with the shrine (MMA 25.3.330), belonging to a private individual. *BM EA 1163 , At Qurna, a triangular limestone stela of a contemporary temple scribe Sobekhotep with cartouches of Sobekemsaf II. *Medinet Habu magazine , At the Luxor-Farshut Road, a door-jamb of a king Intef (nomen) with the royal name of Sobekemsaf (nomen), indicated as the father of Intef. The ortography indicates that Intef was Nubkheperre Intef. *Present location unknown , At Thebes, a lintel. *Cairo JE 85415 , Provenance unknown, a finger-ring. *Present location unknown , At Dra Abu el-Naga(?), a small pyramid tomb. Note that attestations with the nomen Sobekemsaf may belong to one of two kings, Sobekemsaf I or Sobekemsaf II.

Non-contemporary attestations

A series of attestations date to Ramesses IX at the end of the 20th Dynasty, *BM EA 10221 "Pap. Abbott" , At Thebes, a document with inspection of pyramid-tomb. *Brussels, Musées Royaux E.6857/Amherst 6 "Pap. Leopold/Amherst" , At Thebes, a document with investigation of violated pyramid-tomb. *Vienna ÄS 3876 II:7 "Pap. Ambras" , At Thebes, an inventory list with references to document above.

The robbery of Sobekemsaf's tomb

The Abbott and Leopold-Amherst Papyruses, which are dated to Year 16 of Ramesses IX, state that this king's royal pyramid tomb was violated and destroyed by tomb robbers. The confessions and tomb robbery trials of the men responsible for the looting of Sekhemre Shedtawy Sobekemsaf's tomb are detailed in the latter papyrus which is dated to Year 16, III Peret day 22 of Ramesses IX. This document relates that a certain Amenpnufer, son of Anhernakhte, a stonemason from the Temple of Amun Re "fell into the habit of robbing the tombs f noblemen in West Thebesin company with the stonemason Hapiwer" and mentions that they robbed Sobekemsaf's tomb along with six other accomplices in Year 13 of Ramesses IX. Cottrell, Leonard: ''The Lost Pharaohs'', Pan Books, London and Sydney, 8th printing: (1977), p. 135. Amenpnufer confesses that they In his trial, Amenpnufer testifies that he and his companions dug a tunnel into the king's pyramid with their copper tools: Amenpnufer states that the treasures taken from the two royal mummies amounted to "160 deben of gold" or 32 lbs (14.5 kg). The document ends with the conviction of the thieves—with a probable death sentence—and notes that a copy of the official trial transcripts was dispatched to Ramesses IX in

Lower Egypt Lower Egypt ( ') is the northernmost region of Egypt, which consists of the fertile Nile Delta between Upper Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, from El Aiyat, south of modern-day Cairo, and Dahshur. Historically, the Nile River split into sev ...

. Amenpnufer himself would have been sentenced to death by

impalement Impalement, as a method of torture and execution, is the penetrating trauma, penetration of a human by an object such as a stake, pole, spear, or hook, often by the complete or partial perforation of the torso. It was particularly used in respon ...

, a punishment which "was reserved for nlythe most heinous crimes" in Ancient Egypt.

Burial

The Tomb of Sobekemsaf has not been located. According to the

Abbott Papyrus The Abbott Papyrus serves as an important political document concerning the tomb robberies of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt during the New Kingdom. It also gives insight into the scandal between the two rivals Pawero and Paser of Thebes. The A ...

and the Leopold-Amherst Papyrus, which is dated to Year 16 of Ramesses IX, Sekhemre Shedtawy Sobekemsaf was buried along with his chief Queen Nubkhaes (II) in his royal tomb in the necropolis in the west opposite Thebes, most likely at

Dra' Abu el-Naga' The necropolis of Draʻ Abu el-Naga () is located on the West Bank of the Nile at Thebes, Egypt, just by the entrance of the dry bay that leads up to Deir el-Bahari and north of the necropolis of el-Assasif. The necropolis is located near the Va ...

Theories

Placement in the 17th Dynasty

He was once thought to belong to the late Thirteenth Dynasty, but is today believed to be placed as a king of the

Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt The Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XVII, alternatively 17th Dynasty or Dynasty 17) was a dynasty of Pharaoh, pharaohs that ruled in Upper Egypt during the late Second Intermediate Period of Egypt, Second Intermediate Period, approx ...

. The German Egyptologist Daniel Polz, who rediscovered Nubkheperre Intef's tomb at Dra Abu el Naga', strongly maintains that Nubkheperre Intef ruled very late in the 17th Dynasty, which means that Sekhemre Wadjkhau Sobekemsaf (I) cannot have intervened between the Intef line of kings and the Ahmoside family of kings: Senakhtenre, Seqenenre and Kamose. Polz's hypothesis that Nubkheperre Intef ruled late in the 17th Dynasty is supported "by the evidence of the box of Minemhat, who was governor of

Coptos Qift ( ; ''Keft'' or ''Kebto''; Egyptian Gebtu; ''Coptos'' / ''Koptos''; Roman Justinianopolis) is a city in the Qena Governorate of Egypt about north of Luxor, situated a little south of latitude 26° north, on the east bank of the Nile. In a ...

" in Year 3 of Nubkheperre Intef "which was part of the funerary equipment of an Aqher who lived under Seqenenre ao" This discovery strongly suggests that the reigns of Nubkheperre Intef and Seqenenre Tao were separated by only a few years in time rather than 15 to 20 years at a time when few pharaohs enjoyed long reigns in the 17th Dynasty. The late Middle Kingdom German Egyptologist Detlef Franke (1952–2007) also supported this view in an article which was published in 2008—a year after his death—where he wrote: :Contrary to Ryholt, I see no place for a king Sobekemsaf who ruled gyptafter Nubkheperra Antef. Ryholt believed that Sekhemre Wadjkhaw Sobekemsaf intervened between the line of Intef kings and the accession of Senakhtenre—the first 17th Dynasty kings from the Ahmoside family line. Polz argues that Sekemre Wadjkhaw Sobekemsaf was instead the father of Sekhemre Shedtawy Sobekemsaf (II) and the grandfather of the Intef kings since a statue of Sekhemre Wadjkhaw Sobekemsaf shows that his eldest son was also named Sobekemsaf as Anthony Spalinger notes.Spalinger, Anthony: LÄ, V, 1032. This means that Sekhemre Wadjkhaw Sobekemsaf ruled on the throne before the Intef kings took power early in the 17th Dynasty—and that he would be Sobekemsaf I instead and the father of Sobekemsaf II. Since Sekhemre Shedtawy Sobekemsaf (II) himself is known to be the father of Nubkheperre Intef, this means that both he and Sobekemsaf I ruled Egypt before Sekhemre-Wepmaat Intef and Nubkheperre Intef assumed the throne. Sobekemsaf II would, therefore, be the son of

and the father of his two immediate successors: Sekhemre-Wepmaat Intef and Nubkheperre Intef.

References

Bibliography

* Ryholt, Kim: The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period c.1800–1550 B.C, Museum Tuscalanum Press, (1997). , 393 File 17/2.