Amenemhat II
Encyclopedia
Nubkhaure Amenemhat II was the third pharaoh
Pharaoh
Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...

 of the Twelfth Dynasty
Twelfth dynasty of Egypt
The twelfth dynasty of ancient Egypt is often combined with Dynasties XI, XIII and XIV under the group title Middle Kingdom.-Rulers:Known rulers of the twelfth dynasty are as follows :...

 of Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

. Not much is known about his reign. He ruled Egypt for 35 years from 1929 BC to 1895 BC and was the son of Senusret I
Senusret I
Senusret I was the second pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1971 BC to 1926 BC, and was one of the most powerful kings of this Dynasty. He was the son of Amenemhat I and his wife Nefertitanen. His wife and sister was Neferu. She was also the mother of the successor Amenemhat II...

 through the latter's chief wife, Queen Nefru
Neferu III
Neferu was an ancient Egyptian queen of the 12th dynasty. She was a daughter of Amenemhat I, wife of Senusret I and the mother of Amenemhat II....

. His queen is not known; although recently a certain 'king's wife' named Senet has been proposed. His prenomen or throne name, Nubkaure, means "Gold
Gold (hieroglyph)
The ancient Egyptian Gold hieroglyph is a member of the crowns, dress, staves hieroglyphs. Its major importance is as one of the Fivefold Titulary names of the Egyptian pharaoh, the Horus of Gold name....

en are the Souls of Re."

The most important monument of his reign are the fragments of an annual stone found at Memphis
Memphis, Egypt
Memphis was the ancient capital of Aneb-Hetch, the first nome of Lower Egypt. Its ruins are located near the town of Helwan, south of Cairo.According to legend related by Manetho, the city was founded by the pharaoh Menes around 3000 BC. Capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom, it remained an...

, reused in the New Kingdom. It reports events of the first years of his reign. Donations to various temples are mentioned as well as a campaign to Southern Palestine and the destruction of two cities. The coming of Nubians to bring tribute is also reported. Amenemhat II established a coregency with his son Senusret II
Senusret II
Khakeperre Senusret II was the fourth pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1897 BC to 1878 BC. His pyramid was constructed at El-Lahun...

 in his 33rd Regnal Year in order to secure the continuity of the royal succession.

His pyramid
White Pyramid
Located in the pyramid field at Dahshur, the White Pyramid of Amenemhat II is now nothing more than a pile of rubble, having been heavily quarried for stone. The remaining limestone rubble has given rise to its modern name....

 was constructed at Dahshur
Dahshur
Dahshur , is a royal necropolis located in the desert on the west bank of the Nile approximately 40 kilometres south of Cairo...

 and is only little researched. Next to the pyramid were found the tombs of several royal women some of them were found undisturbed and still contained golden jewellery.

The court of the king is not well known. Senusret
Senusret (vizier)
Senusret was an Ancient Egyptian official who was a vizier during the last years of king Senusret I's rule and in the first years of Amenemhet II. Senusret is known from a stela found in Abydos, which is dated to year 8 of Amenemhet II. He also appears in biographical inscriptions in the tomb of...

 and Ameny
Ameny (vizier)
Ameny was an Ancient Egyptian vizier under Middle Kingdom king Amenemhat II, around 1900 BC, in the Twelfth Dynasty. Ameny appears on the fragment of an annal stone of the king. The fragment was found by Flinders Petrie in Memphis and mentions a statue of this vizier. Ameny is perhaps also known...

 were the viziers at the beginning of the reign. Two treasurers are known: Merykau and Zaaset
Siese
Siese was an Ancient Egyptian vizier and treasurer of the Twelfth Dynasty. He was most likely in office under Amenemhat II . Information about Siese is primarily derived from his mastaba excavated by Jacques de Morgan around 1894/95 at Dahshur and rediscovered in 2008 by an Egyptian team...

. The overseer of the gateway Khentykhetywer is attested on a stela, where he reports an expedition to Punt.

Succession

Amenemhat II and his son, Senusret II, shared a brief coregency, which was the last certain one of the Middle Kingdom. The stela of Hapu at Aswan dates to the third year of Senusret II and to the 35th year of Amenemhat, meaning that Senusret was crowned in his father's 33rd regnal year. The name of the younger king is placed ahead of the senior king, which may possibly indicate that Senusret was the dominant personality in the coregency even before his father died, although such speculation is based on far too little evidence for a fair evaluation one way or the other.

Sphinx Theory

There has been evidence brought forward that shows that the face of the Great Sphinx of Giza
Great Sphinx of Giza
The Great Sphinx of Giza , commonly referred to as the Sphinx, is a limestone statue of a reclining or couchant sphinx that stands on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile in Giza, Egypt....

 is that of Amenemhat II. The evidence includes statements made by German Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt
Ludwig Borchardt
Ludwig Borchardt was a German Egyptologist who was born in Berlin.-Life:Borchardt initially studied Architecture and later Egyptology under Adolf Erman. In 1895 he journeyed to Cairo and produced, with Gaston Maspero, the Catalogue of the Egyptian Museum...

 suggesting that the eye-paint cosmetics seen on the Sphinx were not seen before the 6th Dynasty (making it unlikely to have represented Khafra
Khafra
Khafra — also Khafre — was an Egyptian pharaoh of the Fourth dynasty, who had his capital at Memphis. According to some authors he was the son and successor of Khufu, but it is more commonly accepted that Djedefre was Khufu's successor and Khafra was Djedefre's...

 as typically assumed) and that the pleated stripes on the nemes
Nemes
The nemes was the striped headcloth worn by pharaohs in ancient Egypt. It covered the whole crown and back of the head and nape of the neck and had two large flaps which hung down behind the ears and in front of both shoulders. It was sometimes combined with the double crown, as it is on the...

headress are in groups of three, a very specific style seen exclusively during the 12th Dynasty. The same stripes, eye-paint, and facial structure are present on Amenemhat's sphinx statue in the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...

. It is concluded by this evidence that the statue itself was created during the 4th Dynasty or before, the original head was damaged beyond repair, and that Amenemhat II carved his own likeness into the existing head and neck to save the structure (explaining why the Sphinx's head is so disproportionately small).

Further reading

  • W. Grajetzki, The Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt: History,Archaeology and Society, Duckworth, London 2006 ISBN 0-7156-3435-6, 45-48

External links

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