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SekenenraSekenenra Tao II was one of the last kinglets of the Theban Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt. His dates are uncertain, but may have been within the decade ending in 1561 B.C. (based on the probable ascension date of Ahmose, the first ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty) (See Egyptian Chronology). His reign fell in what is known as the Second Intermediate Period. He is credited with making the opening moves in the war of liberation against the Hyksos. Later New Kingdom literary tradition has brought Sekenenra Tao II into contact with his Hyksos contemporary in the north, Aa-woser-ra Apopi. The tradition took the form of a tale in which the Hyksos king Apopi sent a messenger to Sekenenra 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. Sekenenra 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, he may have died during one of them. His son and successor Wadj-kheper-ra Kamose, the last ruler of the Seventeenth Dynasty at Thebes, is credited with the opening campaign of the Theban war against the Hyksos. Additional Reading: 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).
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