Editing Seti II (section)

==Contest for the throne==
Evidence that Amenmesse was a direct contemporary with Seti II's rule&mdash;rather than Seti II's immediate predecessor&mdash;includes the fact that Seti II's royal [[KV15]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/sites/browse_tomb_829.html|title=KV 15 (Sety II) |publisher=Theban Mapping Project|access-date=5 November 2015}}</ref> tomb at Thebes was deliberately vandalised with many of Seti's royal names being carefully erased here during his reign.<ref>Aidan Dodson, "The Decorative Phases of the Tomb of Sethos II and their Historical Implications", ''Journal of Egyptian Archaeology'' 85 (1999), pp. 136–138</ref> The erasures were subsequently repaired by Seti II's agents. This suggests that Seti II's reign at Thebes was interrupted by the rise of a rival: king [[Amenmesse]] in [[Upper Egypt]].<ref>Dodson, p. 131</ref> Secondly, the German scholar Wolfgang Helck has shown that Amenmesse is only attested in Upper Egypt by several Year 3 and a single Year 4 ostracas; Helck also noted that no Year 1 or Year 2 ostracas from [[Deir El Medina]] could legitimately be assigned to Amenmesse's reign.<ref>Erik Hornung, Rolf Krauss & David Warburton (editors), ''Handbook of Ancient Egyptian Chronology'' (''Handbook of Oriental Studies''), Brill: 2006, p.213</ref> This conforms well with the clear evidence of Seti II's control over Thebes in his first two years, which is attested by various documents and papyri. In contrast, Seti II is absent from Upper Egypt during his third and fourth years which are notably unattested—presumably because Amenmesse controlled this region during this time.<ref>E. F. Wente & C. C. Van Siclen, "A Chronology of the New Kingdom", ''Studies in Honor of George R. Hughes'', January 12, 1977, Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 39, Chicago: Oriental Institute, p.252</ref>  Seti II is only attested in Upper Egypt in Regnal Year 1, 2, 5 and 6 of his reign while the usurper Amenmesse likely seized control of Upper Egypt and the [[Valley of the Kings]] sometime between Year 2 until Year 5 of Seti II's reign when he was finally defeated. 

[[File:Seti II mummy head.png|thumb|left|upright|Mummy of Seti II]]
Finally, and most importantly, it is well known that the chief foreman of Deir el-Medina, a certain Neferhotep, was killed in the reign of king Amenmesse on the orders of a certain 'Msy' who was either Amenmesse himself or one of this king's agents, according to [[Papyrus Salt 124]].<ref>Jac Janssen, "Amenmesse and After: The chronology of the late Nineteenth Dynasty Ostraca", in ''Village Varia. Ten Studies on the History and Administration of Deir el-Medina'' (Egyptologische Utigaven 11), Leiden; 1997, pp. 99–109</ref> However, Neferhotep is attested in office in the work register list of Ostraca MMA 14.6.217, which also recorded Seti II's accession to the throne and was later reused to register workers' absences under this king's reign.<ref>Janssen, p.104</ref> If Seti II's 6-year reign followed that of the usurper Amenmesse, then this chief foreman would not have been mentioned in a document which dated to the start of Seti II's reign since Neferhotep was already dead.<ref>Janssen, p.100</ref> This indicates that the reigns of Amenmesse and Seti II must have partly overlapped with one another and suggests that both rulers were rivals who were fighting each another for the throne of Egypt.

During the second to fourth years of Amenmesse/Seti II's parallel reigns, Amenmesse gained the upper hand and seized control over Upper Egypt and Nubia; he ordered Seti II's tomb in the Valley of the Kings to be vandalised. Prior to his fifth year, however, Amenmesse was finally defeated by his rival, Seti II, who was the legitimate successor to the throne since he was Merneptah's son. Seti II, in turn, launched a [[damnatio memoriae]] campaign against all inscriptions and monuments belonging to both Amenmesse and this king's chief supporters in Thebes and Nubia, which included a certain [[Khaemtir|Khaemter]], a former Viceroy of Kush, who had served as Amenmesse's Vizier. Seti II's agents completely erased both scenes and texts from [[KV10]], the royal tomb of Amenmesse.<ref>Otto Schaden, "Amenmesse Project Report, "ARCE Newsletter", No.163 (Fall 1993) pp. 1–9</ref> Vizier Khaemter's scenes in Nubia which were carved when he served as the Viceroy of Kush were so thoroughly erased that until Rolf Krauss' and Labib Habachi's articles were published in the 1970s,<ref>Rolf Krauss, "Untersuchungen zu König Amenmesse", ''Studien zur altägyptischen Kultur'' 5 (1977) pp. 131–174.</ref><ref>Labib Habachi, "King Amenmesse and Viziers Amenmose and Kha'emtore: Their Monuments and Place in History", ''Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo'' 34 (1978) pp. 58–67</ref> his career here as viceroy was almost unknown, notes Frank J. Yurco.<ref>Frank Joseph Yurco, "Was Amenmesse the Viceroy of Kush, Messuwy?" ''Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt'' 39 (1997), p. 56</ref>