What is Tao Ii The Brave?

Seqenenra Tao II
Sekenenre Taa
Preceded by: Tao I Seqenenre	Pharaoh of Egypt 17th Dynasty	Succeeded by: Kamose
Reign	c. 1560 BC or 1558 BC, likely only a few years
Praenomen	<hiero>M23-L2</hiero><hiero><-N5-O34:N29-N35:N35-></hiero> Seqenenre Who strikes like Re[1]
Nomen	<hiero>G39-N5</hiero> <hiero><-X1:O47-O29:D36-Y1-></hiero> Thot-aa
Horus name	<hiero>N28:Aa13-R19-t:N24</hiero> Khaemwaset He appears in Thebes
Consort(s)	Ahhotep I, Ahmose Inhapi, Sitdjehuti
Issue	Kamose, Ahmose I, Ahmose-Nefertari, Henutemipet, Meritamon, Nebetta, Sipair, Tumerisy, Binpu, Ahmose, Henuttamehu
Father	Tao I Seqenenre
Mother	Tetisheri
Burial	Mummy found in Deir el-Bahri cache
Major Monuments	Palace and fortifications at Deir el-Ballas

Seqenenre Tao II, (also Sekenenra Taa), called "The Brave", was one of the last of the local kinglets of the Theban region of Egypt in the Seventeenth Dynasty during the Second Intermediate Period. The dates of his reign are uncertain, but he may have risen to power in the decade ending in 1560 B.C. or in 1558 BC (based on the probable accession date of Ahmose I, the first ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty) (see Egyptian chronology). He is credited with starting the opening moves in the war of liberation against the Hyksos and was probably the son and successor to Senaktenre Tao I the Elder and Queen Tetisheri.

Later New Kingdom literary tradition states that Seqenenre Tao II came into contact with his Hyksos contemporary in the north, Aawoserra Apopi. The tradition took the form of a tale in which the Hyksos king Apopi sent a messenger to Seqenenre in Thebes to demand that the Theban hippopotamus pool be done away with, for the noise of these beasts was such that he was unable sleep in far-away Avaris. Perhaps the only historical information that can be gleaned from the tale is that Egypt was a divided land, the area of direct Hyksos control being in the north, but the whole of Egypt paying tribute to the Hyksos kings.

Seqenenre Tao II participated in active diplomatic posturing, which consisted of more than simply exchanging insults with the Asiatic ruler in the North. He seems to have led military skirmishes against the Hyksos, and judging from the vicious head wound on his mummy in the Cairo Museum, may have died during one of them. His son and successor Wadj-kheper-re Kamose, the last ruler of the Seventeenth Dynasty at Thebes, is credited with the launching a successful campaign in the Theban war of liberation against the Hyksos. The war was finally resolved under Tao's son Ahmose I.

Monumental construction

The relatively short length of his reign did not allow for the construction of much in the way of monumental structures, but it is known that he built a new palace made of mud brick at Deir el-Ballas. On an adjacent hillside overlooking the river were found the foundations of a building that was almost certainly a military observation post.^[2]

Interestingly, a relatively large amount of pottery known as Kerma-ware was found at the site, indicating that a large number of Kerma Nubians were resident at the site. It is thought that they were there as allies of the pharaoh in his wars against the Hyksos.^[3]

Mummy

Tao II's mummy was discovered in the Deir el-Bahri cache, revealed in 1881. He was interred along with those of other, later 18th and 19th dynasty leaders Ahmose I (likely his son), Amenhotep I, Thutmose I, Thutmose II, Thutmose III, Ramesses I, Seti I, Ramesses II, and Ramesses IX, as well as the 21st dynasty pharaohs Psusennes I, Psusennes II, and Siamun.

The mummy was unwrapped by Gaston Maspero on June 9, 1886. A vivid description by Gaston Maspero provides an account of the damage that was done to the pharaoh at his death:

...it is not known whether he fell upon the field of battle or was the victim of some plot; the appearance of his mummy proves that he died a violent death when about forty years of age. Two or three men, whether assassins or soldiers, must have surrounded and despatched him before help was available. A blow from an axe must have severed part of his left cheek, exposed the teeth, fractured the jaw, and sent him senseless to the ground; another blow must have seriously injured the skull, and a dagger or javelin has cut open the forehead on the right side, a little above the eye. His body must have remained lying where it fell for some time: when found, decomposition had set in, and the embalming had to be hastily performed as best it might. The hair is thick, rough, and matted; the face had been shaved on the morning of his death, but by touching the cheek we can ascertain how harsh and abundant the hair must have been. The mummy is that of a fine, vigorous man, who might have lived to a hundred years, and he must have defended himself resolutely against his assailants; his features bear even now an expression of fury. A flattened patch of exuded brain appears above one eye, the forehead is wrinkled, and the lips, which are drawn back in a circle about the gums, reveal the teeth still biting into the tongue.[4]

It has been convincingly argued that Seqenenre Tao's wound across the forehead was caused by an axe, similar to examples that have been found in Tell el-Dab'a. Egyptian axes of the same period are distinctly different in shape and would not have caused a similar wound.^[5] Given the angle of the neck wound, possibly caused by a dagger, it is most likely that the pharaoh was prone or lying down when the fatal blows were struck.^[6] In addition, the absence of wounds to the arms or hands (which would be expected if the victim were actively defending himself) indicates that the first blow must have incapacitated Seqenenra Tao. The common theory is that he died in a battle against the Hyksos, though the other long-standing theory is that he was killed while sleeping^[7]; whatever the circumstance sources agree that he was lying down on his right side when attacked, either asleep or already wounded and incapacitated from battle when the final mortal blows were struck.

His mummy was hastily embalmed, likely using the materials that were at hand upon his death, lending further support for having been killed in battle rather than at the royal court. X-rays that were done on the mummy in the late-1960s show that no attempt had been made to remove the brain or to add linen inside the cranium or eyes, both normal practice for the time. In the opinion of James Harris and Kent Weeks who undertook the forensic examination at the time the x-rays were taken, Tao II's mummy is the worst preserved of all the royal mummies held at the Egyptian Museum, and noted that a "foul, oily smell filled the room the moment the case in which his body was exhibited was opened", likely due to the poor embalming process and the absence of the use of absorbing natron salts, leaving some bodily fluids in the mummy at the time of burial.^[8]

He is the earliest royal mummy on display in the recently revamped (2006) Royal Mummies Hall at the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.^[9]

Speculative theories

Seqenenra Tao has been proposed as the legendary Hiram Abif by the authors of the book The Hiram Key. Per the authors Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, Hiram Abif (the master mason of King Solomon's Temple in masonic lore) can be traced to the historical personage of Seqenenre.

References

Other References

• Gardiner, Sir Alan. Egypt of the Pharaohs. (Oxford, 1964).
• Hayes, William C. Egypt: From the Death of Ammenemes III to Sequenenre II," in Volume 2, Chapter 2 of the "Cambridge Ancient History", Revised Edition (Cambridge, 1965).
• Pritchard, James B. (Editor). Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Third Edition, with Supplement. (Princeton, 1969).

Preceded by Tao I the Elder

Pharaoh of Egypt Seventeenth Dynasty

Succeeded by Kamose