Editing Thutmose II (section)

===Dates and length of reign===
The Epitome by [[Manetho]] refers to Thutmose II as "'''Chebron'''" and credits this ruler with a reign of 13 years. The Greek name may reflect a version of the prenomen, Aakheperenre. [[Egyptologists]] debate whether Thutmose II had a short or long reign. Some suggest a short reign of three years, based on his highest attested date is '''Year 1, II Akhet day 8''' stele.<ref>{{cite book |author=J. Von Beckerath |title=Chronologie des Pharaonischen Ägypten, ''Münchner Ägyptologische Studien 46'' |publisher=Philip von Zabern |location=Mainz |year=1997 |page=201}}</ref> There are only a small number of surviving documents, and a minimal amount of scarabs attested to this king.

It is still possible to estimate when Thutmose II's reign would have begun by means of a [[Heliacal rising|heliacal rise]] of [[Sirius|Sothis]] in [[Amenhotep I]]'s reign, which would give him a reign from 1493 to 1479 BC,<ref name="Grimal p. 204">{{cite book |last=Grimal |first=Nicolas |title=A History of Ancient Egypt |publisher=Librairie Arthéme Fayard |year=1988 |page=204}}</ref> although uncertainty about how to interpret the rise also permits a date from 1513 to 1499 BC,<ref>Helk, Wolfgang. ''Schwachstellen der Chronologie-Diskussion''. pp. 47–49. Göttinger Miszellen, Göttingen, 1983</ref> and uncertainty about how long Thutmose I ruled could also potentially place his reign several years earlier still. Nonetheless, scholars in the 20th century were assigning him a reign from 1493 or 1492 to 1479.<ref name="Grimal p. 204" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=Ian |last2=Nicholson |first2=Paul |title=The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt |page=289 |publisher=The British Museum Press |year=1995}}</ref>

Alternatively, Thutmose could have ruled around two or three years, from 1482 to 1480/1479 BC.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nadig |first=Peter |title=Hatszepsut |publisher=Prószyński i S-ka |year=2016 |isbn=978-83-8069-417-0 |page=100 |language=pl}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Cooney |first=Kara |title=Hatszepsut. Kobieta która została królem |publisher=WAB |year=2016 |isbn=978-83-280-2771-8 |pages=8 |language=pl |trans-title=The Woman Who Would be King}}</ref>

====Argument for a short reign====
[[File:Luxor, hieroglyphs on an obelisk inside the Temple of Hatshepsut, Egypt, Oct 2004.jpg|thumbnail| ''Aakheperenre'', the [[Praenomen (Ancient Egypt)#Throne name .28praenomen.29|praenomen]] of Thutmose II, temple of [[Hatshepsut]], [[Luxor]]]]
[[Ineni]], who was already aged by the start of Thutmose II's reign, lived through this ruler's entire reign into that of Hatshepsut.<ref name="Breasted, James Henry p. 47">{{cite book |last=Breasted |first=James Henry |title=Ancient Records of Egypt, Vol. II |page=47 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |year=1906}}</ref> In addition, Thutmose II is poorly attested in the monumental record and in the contemporary tomb autobiographies of New Kingdom officials. A clear count of monuments from his rule, which is the principal tool for estimating a king's reign when dated documents are not available, is nearly impossible because [[Hatshepsut]] usurped most of his monuments, and [[Thutmose III]] in turn reinscribed Thutmose II's name indiscriminately over other monuments.<ref>Grimal, Nicolas. ''A History of Ancient Egypt''. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1988. p. 216.</ref> However, apart from several surviving blocks of buildings erected by the king at [[Semna (Nubia)|Semna]], [[Kumma (Nubia)|Kumma]], and [[Elephantine]], Thutmose II's only major monument consists of a limestone gateway at Karnak that once lay at the front of the Fourth Pylon's forecourt. Even this monument was not completed in Thutmose II's reign but in the reign of his son Thutmose III, which hints at "the nearly ephemeral nature of Thutmose II's reign".<ref name="Betsy Bryan, pp. 235–236">Betsy Bryan, pp. 235–236</ref> The gateway was later dismantled and its building blocks incorporated into the foundation of the Third [[Pylon (architecture)|Pylon]] by [[Amenhotep III]].<ref name="Betsy Bryan, p.236"/>

In 1987, Luc Gabolde published a study that statistically compared the number of surviving [[Scarab (artifact)|scarab]]s found under Thutmose I, Thutmose II and Hatshepsut.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Luc|last=Gabolde|title=La Chronologie du règne de Thoutmosis II, ses conséquences sur la datation des momies royales et leurs répercutions sur l'histoire du développement de la Vallée des Rois|journal=[[Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur]] |volume=14|year=1987|pages=61–87}}</ref> While monuments can be usurped, scarabs are so small and comparatively insignificant that altering their names would be impractical and without profit; hence, they provide a far better insight into this period. Hatshepsut's reign is believed to have lasted for 21 years and 9 months. Gabolde highlighted, in his analysis, the consistently small number of surviving scarabs known for Thutmose II compared to Thutmose I and Hatshepsut respectively; for instance, [[Flinders Petrie]]'s older study of scarab seals noted 86 seals for Thutmose I, 19 seals for Thutmose II and 149 seals for Hatshepsut while more recent studies by Jaeger estimate a total of 241 seals for Thutmose I, 463 seals for Hatshepsut and only 65 seals for Thutmose II.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Luc|last=Gabolde|title=La Chronologie du règne de Thoutmosis II, ses conséquences sur la datation des momies royales et leurs répercutions sur l'histoire du développement de la Vallée des Rois|journal=[[Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur]] |volume=14|year=1987|pages=67–68}}</ref> Hence, unless there was an abnormally low number of scarabs produced under Thutmose II, this would indicate that the king's reign was rather short-lived. On this basis, Gabolde estimated Thutmose I and II's reigns to be approximately 11 and 3 full years, respectively.

Kara Cooney argues for short reign, no longer than 3 years, by judging that there were "hardly any temples with his name on them, no campaigns, no mortuary complex of any worth", and points that all known children of Thutmose II were toddlers at the time of his death, which suggests his untimely death before they could grow up.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cooney |first=Kara |title=When Women Ruled the World: Six Queen of Egypt |publisher=National Geographic |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-4262-1977-1 |page=108}}</ref>   

Consequently, the reign length of Thutmose II has been a much debated subject among [[Egyptologists]] with little consensus given the small number of surviving documents for his reign.

====Argument for a long reign====
[[File:Thutmose II in front of an offering table. From the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, Egypt. Neues Museum, Berlin.jpg|thumb|Thutmose II in front of an offering table. From the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, Egypt. Neues Museum, Berlin]]
Thutmose's reign is still traditionally given as 13 or 14 years. Although Ineni's autobiography can be interpreted to say that Thutmose reigned only a short time, it also calls Thutmose II a "hawk in the nest", indicating that he was perhaps a child when he assumed the throne.<ref name="Breasted, James Henry p. 47"/> Since he lived long enough to father two children—[[Neferure]] and [[Thutmose III]]—this suggests that he may have had a longer reign of 13 years in order to reach adulthood and start a family. The German Egyptologist [[Jürgen von Beckerath|J. Von Beckerath]] uses this line of argument to support the case of a 13-year reign for Thutmose II.<ref>[[Jürgen von Beckerath|J. Von Beckerath]], "Chronologie des Pharaonischen Ägypten", ''Münchner Ägyptologische Studien 46'' (Philip von Zabern, Mainz: 1997)</ref>{{page needed|date=October 2016}} [[Alan Gardiner]] noted that at one point a monument had been identified by Georges Daressy in 1900,<ref>G. Daressy, ''Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Égypte'' 1, 1900, 90(20)</ref> dated to Thutmose's 18th year, although its precise location has not been identified.<ref name="Gardiner, Alan p. 180">Gardiner, Alan. ''Egypt of the Pharaohs''. p. 180 Oxford University Press, 1964</ref> This inscription is now usually attributed to Hatshepsut, who certainly did have an 18th year. Von Beckerath observes that a Year 18 date appears in a fragmentary inscription of an Egyptian official and notes that the date likely refers to Hatshepsut's prenomen Maatkare, which had been altered from Aakheperenre Thutmose II, with the reference to the deceased Thutmose II being removed. There is also the curious fact that Hatshepsut celebrated her Sed Jubilee in her Year 16, which von Beckerath believes occurred 30 years after the death of Thutmose I, her father, who was the main source of her claim to power. This would create a gap of 13 to 14 years where Thutmose II's reign would fit in between Hatshepsut and Thutmose I's rule.<ref name="Beckerath Chronologie p. 121">[[Jürgen von Beckerath|J. Von Beckerath]], "Chronologie des Pharaonischen Ägypten", ''Münchner Ägyptologische Studien 46'' (Philip von Zabern, Mainz: 1997), p. 121</ref> Von Beckerath additionally stresses that Egyptologists have no conclusive criteria to statistically evaluate the reign length of Thutmose II based on the number of preserved objects from his reign.<ref>J. von Beckerath, "Nochmals zur Regierung Tuthmosis' II", ''Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur'' 17 (1990), pp. 65–74</ref>

Catherine Roerig has proposed that tomb [[KV20]], generally believed to have been commissioned by Hatshepsut, was the original tomb of Thutmose II in the [[Valley of the Kings]].<ref>C. Roerig, "The Building Activities of Thutmose III in the Valley of the Kings", in E.C. Cline, D. O'Connor (eds.), ''Thutmose III: A New Biography'', Ann Arbor 2006, pp. 238–259</ref> If correct, this would be a major project on the part of Thutmose II, which required a construction period of several years and implies a long reign for this king. Secondly, new archaeological work by French Egyptologists at Karnak has produced evidence of a pylon and an opulent festival court of Thutmose II in front of the 4th pylon according to Luc Gabolde.<ref>Luc Gabolde, "La 'cour de fetes' de Thoutmosis II à Karnak", ''Cahiers de Karnak'' 9 (1993), pp. 1–100; Luc Gabolde, "Monuments décorés en bas relief aux noms de Thoutmosis II et Hatshepsout à Karnak", Mémoires publiés par les membres de l'Institut Français d'Archéology Orientale (MIFAO) 123 le Cairo 2005.</ref> Meanwhile, French Egyptologists at Karnak have also uncovered blocks from a chapel and a barque sanctuary constructed by Thutmose II there.<ref>Luc Gabolde, ''Monuments décorés en bas relief aux noms de Thoutmosis II et Hatshepsout à Karnak'', Mémoires publiés par les membres de l'Institut Français d'Archéology Orientale (MIFAO) 123 le Cairo 2005.</ref> Finally, Zygmunt Wysocki has proposed that the funerary temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari was originally begun as Thutmose II's own mortuary temple. Thutmose III here later replaced depictions of Hatshepsut with those by Thutmose II in those parts of the temple that are proposed to have been executed by the latter king before Hatshepsut took over the temple following Thutmose II's death.<ref>Zygmunt Wysocki, "The Temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari: Its Original Form", ''Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo'' 42 (1986), pp. 213–228</ref> Thutmose II also contributed to the decoration of the temple of [[Khnum]] at [[Semna]].<ref>W. V. Davies, "Tombos and the Viceroy Inebny/Amenemnekhu", ''British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and the Sudan'' 10 (2008), 45f</ref>

A reconsideration of this new archaeological evidence would remove several arguments usually advanced in support of a short reign: namely the absence of a tomb that can be assigned to Thutmose II (prior to 2025), the absence of a funerary temple and the lack of any major works undertaken by this pharaoh.<ref>Thomas Schneider, "Contributions to the Chronology of the New Kingdom and the Third Intermediate Period", ''Egypt and the Levant'' 20, 2010. p. 393</ref> Thutmose II's Karnak building projects would also imply that his reign was closer to 13 years rather than just three years.

The rediscovery of Thutmose II's tomb in 2022 and its subsequent confirmation in 2025, along with the adjudged size of his tomb, support the theory that Thutmose II reigned for 13 or 14 years.