Thutmose II

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Categories: 1479 BC deaths | Mummies | Pharaohs | Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt

Thutmose II
in hieroglyphs

praenomen or throne name

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nomen or birth name

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Akheperenre Thutmose II (d. 1479 BC; sometimes spelled Thutmosis) was the fourth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from either 1492 BC or 1482 BC to 1479 BC. Manetho's Epitome calls him 'Chebron' which is a reference to his prenomen--Akheperenre--and gives him a reign of 13 Years but this figure is highly disputed among scholars. Some Egyptologists prefer to shorten his reign by a full decade to only 3 Years because his Highest Year Date is only a Year 1 stela. In addition, he is poorly attested in the monumental evidence and in the official geneaologies of contemporary New Kingdom officials. In 1987, Luc Gabolde published a study in SAK which compared the number of known scarabs produced under Thutmose I, Thutmose II and Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut's reign reign length was known to be 21 Years and 9 Months. Gabolde concluded that Thutmose I and II had a reign of approximately 11 and 3 Full years respectively. Consequently, the reign length of Thutmose II has been a highly controversial subject with little clarity.

Thutmose II was the son of Thutmose I and a minor wife, Mutnofret. He was, therefore, a lessor son of Thutmose I who chose to marry his fully royal half-sister, Hatshepsut, to secure his kingship. While he successfully put down rebellions in Nubia and the Levant and defeated a group of nomadic Bedouins, these campaign were specifically carried out by the king's Generals, and not by Thutmose II himself. This is often interpreted as evidence that Thutmose II was still a minor at his accession. Ineni, one of his court officials, even states in his tomb Autobiography that the king was a "Hawk in the Nest" upon his rise to power which is an indication of his relative youthfulness. Thutmose II had two daughters with Hatshepsut, Nefrure and Meritre, but also managed to father a male heir, the famous Thutmose III, by a lesser wife named Isis before his death. If Thutmose II was indeed a young child on his accession, he would probably have reigned for 13 Years in order to reach Maturity and father children of his own.

Some archaeologists believe that Hatshepsut was the real power behind the throne during Thutmose II’s rule because of the similar foreign and domestic policies which were later pursued under her reign and because of her claim that she was her father’s intended heir. She later had herself crowned Pharaoh after his death early during Thutmose III's reign. Thutmose II's body was found in the Deir el-Bahri Cache above the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut and can be viewed today in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

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Thutmose II

See also