Inscription of Thutmose II

Thutmose II was the king of Egypt between approximately 1527 and 1513 BC, after inheriting the throne from his father Thutmose I. It is believed he was 17 years old when his father died, and he became king, however, did not partake in the expedition to Kush to suppress the rebellion that year. Little is known of Thutmose II, as he is overshadowed by his father Thutmose I, his wife Hatshepsut, and his son Thutmose III. He is believed to have died around the age of 30, and his body was found in the Deir el-Bahri Cache near the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut. He was the son of Thutmose I by a minor wife, Mutnofret, and was, therefore, a lesser son of Thutmose I. He married his fully royal half-sister Hatshepsut to secure his kingship, and Egyptologists generally believe that Hatshepsut was the real power behind the throne during Thutmose II’s reign. After he died, she first declared herself regent of his young son Thutmose III, and then later assumed the kingship under her own name, claiming that her father Thutmose I had wanted her to be his heir. Under her rule, Egyptian policy was virtually the same as during Thutmose II’s reign, supporting the idea that she was the real power during his reign. Additionally, several raised relief scenes from a Karnak gateway dating to Thutmose II’s reign depict both of them together, while others depict her alone, as the king would usually be depicted. During her later kingship, her cartouche was depicted on the gateway at Karnak, proving she was considered a rightful king at the time, even though most evidence of her kingship was later erased under the rule of Thutmose III, who viewed her as his regent.One of the few records of Thutmose II’s reign is the Inscription of Thutmose II’s campaign into Nubia to crush the rebelling Nubians in 1527 BC. It was discovered in the late 1800s along the road between Thebes and Philae, which was an island near the first cataract of the Nile before the creation of Lake Nasser flooded the region in the 1970s. By all accounts, Thutmose II did not participate in the campaign into Nubia, and his herald Ahmose Pen-Nekhbet did not mention the campaign in his autobiography.

© 2025 Digital Ink Productions (Lydbog): 9781989604052

Release date

Lydbog: 12. februar 2025