Seqenenre Taa Ii

A rude letter from Apophis, ruler of the Hyksos invaders, complaining about the snoring of the hippopotami in the sacred pool at Thebes, initiated the war that ultimately led to the restoration of the rule of the pharaohs in Egypt in the 16th century BC. Unfortunately, this war also led to

the death of the addressee, Seqenenre Taa II, 14th pharaoh of the Theban dynasty.

Thirty four centuries later, the pharaoh's mummy has become the subject of forensic pathological interest and speculation.

Sek ra nare ray ta the second, was

one of the last kinglets of the Theban region of Egypt in the Seventeenth Dynasty during the Second Intermediate Period 1560 BC. The dates of his reign are uncertain, but may have been within the decade ending in 1561 B.C. (based on the probable ascension date of Ahmose, the first ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty)

He is credited with making the opening moves in the war of liberation against the Hyksos. The Hyksos were an ethnically mixed group of Western Asiatic people who appeared in the eastern Nile Delta during the Second Intermediate Period. They overthrew the weak Egyptian

Thirteenth Dynasty, whose capital was near Memphis, and formed the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Dynasties of Egypt, ruling Lower and Middle Egypt for over one hundred years. He was probably the son and successor to Tao I the Elder and Queen Tetisheri.

Thank ra that this Pharaoh has a shorter name, that being Tao II the Brave, Tao II the brave, however, suffered a terrible death, it seems that he died during battle; he participated in active diplomatic posturing, which consisted of more than simply exchanging insults with the Asiatic ruler in the North. It seems that he led military

skirmishes against the Hyksos, one of which caused his death. His throne name, which is the top set of hieroglyphics, says Seqenenre which means Who Strikes Like Re", and the bottom set simply says Tao. These two sets of hieroglyphics were found inscribed on his sarcophagus, inside a tomb, which was found in Thebes.

Tao II was found in what was most probably his original coffin, the style is consistent with that dating to the 17th Dynasty. The surface of the coffin had originally been gilded, but all gold had been scrapped off by robbers. Although only one coffin remains, the king would most certainly have been buried within a nest of coffins.

The mummy was in a much worse state - when the mummy was originally examined it was found to be a very badly damaged, disarticulated skeleton, also '... a strong odour, a rather foul, oily smell' came from the mummy. The state of Sequenenre's mummy may be due to the way he died - his skull shows that he met a very

violent death - at least five separate

wounds are clearly visible. His body had not been straighten out in the customary position - which has been taken to mean that he died and was embalmed on the field of battle. The head of Tao II, showed multiple injuries, despite

the condition it was in. in this

diagram A is a horizontal cut in the frontal bone, measuring approximately 63 mm long. (b) is A gaping front temporal wound, 31 mm long. this puncture shown as C above the right jaw was caused by dislocation of the malar bones, which in its turn was caused by (d) which was a blunt injury with fracture of the nasal bones and

destruction of the right orbita. and (e) was caused by An edged tool cut through the skin of the left cheek. Not visible in this picture is a sharp injury inflicted immediately below the left ear. This, together with the massive head injuries, have led to the hypothesis that Seqenenre Taa II died on the battlefield, and several types of weaponry used in that period have been

forwarded