Editing Seti II (section)

==Reign==
{{see also|End of the 19th Dynasty}}
[[File:Limestone fragment inscribed with the birth-name of King Seti II within a cartouche. 19th Dynasty. From Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London.jpg|thumb|left|Limestone fragment inscribed with the birth-name of King Seti II within a cartouche. 19th Dynasty. From Egypt. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London]]
[[Image:Seti II replica statue REM.JPG|thumb|A replica statue of Seti II holding a shrine to the god [[Amun]] on display at the [[Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum]]]]
[[File:Karnak Tempel Vorhof 10.jpg|thumb|A small temple erected by Seti II in the atrium of the temple of Karnak.]]
[[File:Luxor Karnak-Tempel 2016-03-21 Obelisk 01.jpg|thumb|An obelisk erected by Seti II in front of Karnak temple]]
Seti II promoted [[Chancellor Bay]] to become his most important state official and built 3 tombs &ndash; [[KV13]], [[KV14]], and [[KV15]] &ndash; for himself, his Senior Queen [[Tausert]] and Bay in the [[Valley of the Kings]]. This was an unprecedented act on his part for Bay, who was of Syrian descent and was not connected by marriage or blood ties to the royal family. Because Seti II had his accession between II Peret 29 and III Peret 6 while Siptah—Seti II's successor—had his accession around late IV Akhet to early I Peret 2,<ref>[[Jürgen von Beckerath]], Chronologie des Pharaonischen Ägypten, MAS:Philipp von Zabern, (1997), p.201</ref> Seti's 6th and final regnal year lasted about 10 months; therefore, Seti II ruled Egypt for 5 years and 10 months or almost 6 full years when he died.

Due to the relative brevity of his reign, Seti's tomb was unfinished at the time of his death. Tausert later rose to power herself after the death of [[Siptah]], Seti II's successor. According to an inscribed ostraca document from the Deir el-Medina worker's community, Seti II's death was announced to the workmen by "The [Chief of] police Nakht-min" on Year 6, I Peret 19 of Seti II's reign.<ref>KRI IV: 327. II.22-28, §57 (A.17)</ref> Since it would have taken time for the news of Seti II's death to reach Thebes from the capital city of Pi-Ramesses in Lower Egypt, the date of I Peret 19 only marks the day the news of the king's death reached Deir el-Medina.<ref>Jacobus J. Janssen, Village Varia: Ten Studies on the History and Administration of
Deir el-Medina, Egyptologische Uitgaven 11 (Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije
Oosten, 1997), 153-54</ref> Seti II likely died sometime late in IV Akhet or early in I Peret; Wolfgang Helck and R.J. Demarée have now proposed I Peret 2 as the date of Seti II's actual death,<ref>Wolfgang Helck, "Begräbnis Pharaos," in The Intellectual Heritage of Egypt: Studies
Presented to László Kákosy by Friends and Colleagues on the Occasion of his 60th Birthday, ed.
Ulrich Luft, (Budapest: La Chair d’Égyptologie de l’Université Eötvös Loráno de Budapest,
1992), 270, n.12. See also R.J. Demarée, "The King is Dead – Long Live the King," GM 137 (1993): p.52</ref> presumably since it is 70 days before the day of his burial. From a graffito written in the first corridor of Twosret's [[KV14]] tomb, Seti II was buried in his [[KV15]] tomb on "Year 1, III Peret day 11" of [[Siptah]]'s reign.<ref>Hartwig Altenmüller, "Bemerkungen zu den neu gefundenen Daten im Grab der Königin Twosre (KV 14) im Tal der Könige von Theben," pp.147-148, Abb. 19. Cf. "Der Begräbnistag Sethos II," SAK 11 (1984): 37-38 & "Das Graffito 551 aus der thebanischen Nekropole," SAK 21 (1994): pp.19-28</ref>

Seti II's earliest prenomen in his First Year was 'Userkheperure Setepenre'<ref>Frank Joseph Yurco, <cite>Was Amenmesse the Viceroy of Kush, Messuwy?</cite> ''JARCE'' 39 (1997), pp.49-56</ref> which is written above an inscription of [[Messuy]], a [[Viceroy]] of Nubia under Merneptah, on a rock outcropping at Bigeh Island. However, Messuy's burial in Tomb S90 in Nubia has been discovered to contain only funerary objects naming Merneptah which suggests that 1) Messuy may have died during Merneptah's reign and 2) Seti II may have merely associated himself with an official who had actively served his father as Viceroy of Kush. Seti II soon changed his royal name to 'Userkheperure Meryamun', which was the most common form of his prenomen.

Two important papyri date from the reign of Seti II. The first of these is the "[[Tale of Two Brothers]]", a fabulous story of troubles within a family on the death of their father, which may have been intended in part as political satire on the situation of the two half brothers. The second is the records of the trial of [[Paneb]]. Neferhotep, one of the two chief workmen of the [[Deir el-Medina]] necropolis, had been replaced by Paneb, his troublesome son-in-law. Many crimes were alleged by Neferhotep's brother—Amennakhte—against Paneb in a violently worded indictment preserved in papyrus now in the British Museum. If Amennakhte's testimony can be trusted, Paneb had allegedly stolen stone from the tomb of Seti II while still working on its completion—for the embellishment of his own tomb—besides purloining or damaging other property belonging to that monarch. Paneb was also accused of trying to kill Neferhotep, his adopted father-in-law, despite being educated by the latter and after the murder of Neferhotep by 'the enemy,' Paneb had reportedly bribed the Vizier Pra'emhab in order to usurp his father's office. Whatever the truth of these accusations, it is clear that Thebes was going through very troubled times. There are references elsewhere to a 'war' that had occurred during these years, but it is obscure to what this word alludes—perhaps to no more than internal disturbances and discontent. Neferhotep had complained of Paneb's attacks on himself to the vizier Amenmose, presumably a predecessor of Pra'emhab, whereupon Amenmose had punished Paneb. This trouble-maker had then brought a complaint before 'Mose' (i.e., 'Msy'), who then acted to remove Pra'emhab from his office. Evidently this 'Mose' must have been a person of the highest importance, perhaps the king [[Amenmesse]] himself or a senior ally of the king.

Seti II also expanded the copper mining at [[Timna Valley]] in [[Edom]], building an important temple to [[Hathor]], the cow goddess, in the region. It was abandoned in the [[late Bronze Age collapse]], where a part of the temple seems to have been used by [[Midianite]] nomads, linked to the worship of a [[Nehushtan|bronze serpent]] discovered in the area.<ref>Magnusson, Magnus, "Archaeology of the Bible Lands" (BBC Books)</ref> Seti II also founded a station for a barge on the courtyard in front of the pylon II at [[Karnak]], and chapels of the [[Theban Triad]] – [[Amun]], [[Mut]] and [[Khonsu]].