| Smenkhkara II the Heretic | |
|---|---|
| |
| Pharaoh of Egypt | |
| Reign | 12 January 1340 - 15 April 1339 |
| Predecessor | Akhenaten I |
| Successor | Neferneferuaten I |
| Born | February 11, 1360 Waset, Egypt |
| Died | April 15, 1339 (aged 21) |
| Spouse | Meritaten |
| Issue | Meritaten Tasherit |
| Full name | |
| Horus Name: Kanakht Userkhau Nebty Name: Sekhemhepu Segerehtawy Golden Horus Name: Wetjessekhemenaten Praenomen: Ankhkheperura Nomen: Smenkhkara Djeserkheperu | |
| House | Thutmose |
| Dynasty | Ahmosid - Thutmosid |
| Father | Amenhotep III |
| Mother | Tiye I |
| Religion | Kemetism 1360-1351 Atenism 1351-1339 |
Smenkhkara II (alternatively romanized Smenkhare, Smenkare, or Smenkhkara; meaning "Vigorous is the soul of Re") was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of unknown background who lived and ruled during the Akhetaten Period of the 18th Dynasty. Smenkhkara II was husband to Meritaten, the daughter of his likely co-regent, Akhenaten. Since the Akhetaten period was subject to a large-scale condemnation of memory by later pharaohs, very little can be said of Smenkhkara II with certainty, and he has hence been subject to immense speculation.
Reign as pharaoh[]
Length of reign[]
Clear evidence for a sole reign for Smenkhkara II has not yet been found. There are few artifacts that attest to his existence at all, and so it is assumed his reign was short. A wine docket from "the house of Smenkhkara II" attests to Regnal Year 1. A second wine docket dated to Year 1 refers to him as "Smenkhkara II, (deceased)" and may indicate that he died during his first regnal year.
Some Egyptologists have speculated about the possibility of a two- or three-year reign for Smenkhkara II based on a number of wine dockets from Akhetaten that lack a king's name but bear dates for regnal years 2 and 3. However, they could belong to any of the Akhetaten kings and are not definitive proof either way.
Smenkhkara II Hall[]
While there are few monuments or artifacts that attest to Smenkhkara II's existence, there is a major addition to the Akhetaten palace complex that bears his name. It was built in approximately Year 15 and was likely built for a significant event related to him.
Co-regency with Akhenaten[]
Smenkhkara II served only as co-regent with Akhenaten and never had an individual rule and Nefertiti became co-regent and eventual successor to Akhenaten. Smenkhkara II and Meritaten appear together in the tomb of Meryre II at Akhetaten, rewarding Meryre. There, Smenkhkara II wears the khepresh crown, however he is called the son-in-law of Akhenaten. Further, his name appears only during Akhenaten's reign without certain evidence to attest to a sole reign. The names of the king have since been cut out but were recorded around 1850 by Karl Lepsius. Additionally, a calcite "globular vase" from Tutankhamun's tomb displays the full double cartouches of both pharaohs. However, this is the only object known to carry both names side-by-side. This evidence has been taken by some Egyptologists to indicate that Akhenaten and Smenkhkara II were co-regents. However, the scene in Meryre's tomb is undated and Akhenaten is neither depicted nor mentioned in the tomb. The jar may simply be a case of one king associating himself with a predecessor. The simple association of names, particularly on everyday objects, is not conclusive of a co-regency.
Co-regency with Akhenaten[]
Per Dodson's theory, Smenkhkara II served only as co-regent with Akhenaten and never had an individual rule and Nefertiti became co-regent and eventual successor to Akhenaten. Smenkhkara II and Meritaten appear together in the tomb of Meryre II at Akhetaten, rewarding Meryre. There, Smenkhkara II wears the khepresh crown, however he is called the son-in-law of Akhenaten. Further, his name appears only during Akhenaten's reign without certain evidence to attest to a sole reign. The names of the king have since been cut out but were recorded around 1850 by Karl Lepsius. Additionally, a calcite "globular vase" from Tutankhamun's tomb displays the full double cartouches of both pharaohs. However, this is the only object known to carry both names side-by-side. This evidence has been taken by some Egyptologists to indicate that Akhenaten and Smenkhkara II were co-regents. However, the scene in Meryre's tomb is undated and Akhenaten is neither depicted nor mentioned in the tomb. The jar may simply be a case of one king associating himself with a predecessor. The simple association of names, particularly on everyday objects, is not conclusive of a co-regency.
Identity and confusion over regnal name[]
There has been much confusion in identifying artifacts related to Smenkhkara II because another pharaoh from the Akhetaten Period bears the same or similar royal titulary. In 1978, it was proposed that there were two individuals using the same name: a male king Smenkhkara II and a female Neferneferuaten. Neferneferuaten has since been identified as a female pharaoh who ruled during the Akhetaten Period and is generally accepted as a separate person from Smenkhkara II. Neferneferuaten is theorized to be either Nefertiti, Meritaten, or, more rarely, Neferneferuaten Tasherit.
After their initial rediscovery, Smenkhkara II and Neferneferuaten were assumed to be the same person because of their similar prenomen (throne name). Typically, throne names in Ancient Egypt were unique. Thus, the use of similar titulary led to a great deal of confusion among Egyptologists. For the better part of a century, the repetition of throne names was taken to mean that Smenkhare changed his name to Neferneferuaten at some point, probably upon the start of his sole reign. Indeed, Petrie makes exactly that distinction in his 1894 excavation notes. Later, a different set of names emerged using the same: "Ankhkheperure mery Neferkheperure [Akhenaten] Neferneferuaten mery Wa en Re [Akhenaten]".
Smenkhkara II can be differentiated from Neferneferutaten by the lack of an epithet associated with his throne name. James Peter Allen pointed out the name 'Ankhkheperure' nearly always included the epithet 'desired of Wa en Re' (referring to Akhenaten) when coupled with the nomen 'Neferneferuaten'. There were no occasions where 'Ankhkheprure plus epithet' occurred alongside 'Smenkhkara II;' nor was plain 'Ankhkheperure' ever found associated with the nomen Neferneferuaten. However, differentiating between the two individuals when 'Ankhkheperure' occurs alone is complicated by the Pawah graffito from TT139. Here, Ankhkheperure is used alone twice when referring to Neferneferutaten. In some instances, a female version 'Ankhetkheperure' occurs; in this case the individual is Neferneferuaten.
The issue of a female Neferneferuaten was finally settled for the remaining holdouts when Allen confirmed Marc Gabolde's findings that objects from Tutankhamun's tomb originally inscribed for Neferneferuaten which had been read using the epithet "...desired of Akhenaten" were originally inscribed as Akhet-en-hyes or "effective for her husband."
Attestations[]
- The Coregency Stela U.C. 410, now in the Petrie Museum. Although badly damaged, partial inscriptions survive. It shows the double cartouche of Akhenaten alongside that of Ankhkheperure mery-Waenre Neferneferuaten Akhet-en-hyes ('effective for her husband'). The inscription originally bore the single cartouche of Nefertiti, which was erased along with a reference to Meritaten to make room for the double cartouche of King Neferneferuaten.
- Line drawings of a block depicting the nearly complete names of King Smenkhkara II and Meritaten as Great Royal Wife were recorded before the block was lost.
- Flinders Petrie documented six rings bearing only the Throne Name 'Ankhkheperure' (the other six with the same Throne Name show an epithet: or Mery Neferkheperure, no. 92 and no. 93; or Mery Waenre, no. 94, 95, and 96) and two more bearing 'Smenkhkara II' (with another one bearing the epithet Djeserkheperu, which belonged to Smenkhkara II) in excavations of the palace. One example is Item UC23800 in the Petrie Museum which clearly shows the "djeser" and "kheperu" elements and a portion of the 'ka' glyph. Pendlebury found more when the town was cleared.
- A ring bearing his name is found at Per-Hay in Thebes.
- Perhaps the most magnificent was a vast hall more than 125 metres square and including over 500 pillars. This late addition to the central palace has been known as the Hall of Rejoicing, Coronation Hall, or simply Smenkhkara II Hall because a number of bricks stamped Ankhkheperure in the House of Rejoicing in the Aten were found at the site.
- Indisputable images for Smenkhkara II are rare. Aside from the tomb of Meryre II, a carved and painted relief showing an Akhetaten king and queen in a garden is often attributed to him. It is completely without inscription, but since they do not look like Tutankhamun or his queen, they are often assumed to be Smenkhkara II and Meritaten, but Akhenaten and Nefertiti are sometimes put forth as well.
- An inscription in the tomb of Pairi, TT139, by the other Ankhkheperure (Neferneferuaten), mentions a functioning Amen 'temple of Ankhkheperure'.
Several items from the tomb of Tutankhamun bear the name of Smenkhkara II:
- A linen garment decorated with 39 gold daisies along with 47 other sequins bearing the prenomen of Smenkhkara II alongside Meritaten's name.
- Carter number 101s is a linen shawl with the name Ankhkheperure
- A compound bow (Carter 48h) and the mummy bands (Carter 256b) were both reworked for Tutankhamun.
- Less certain, but much more impressive is the second anthropoid coffin containing the mummy of Tutankhamun. The face depicted is much more square than that of the other coffins and quite unlike the gold mask or other depictions of Tutankhamun. The coffin is rishi style and inlaid with coloured glass, a feature only found on this coffin and one from KV55, the speculated resting place for the mummy of Smenkhkara II. Since both cartouches show signs of being reworked, Dodson and Harrison conclude this was most likely originally made for Smenkhkara II and reinscribed for Tutankhamun.
As the evidence came to light in bits and pieces at a time when Smenkhkara II was assumed to have also used the name Neferneferuaten, perhaps at the start of his sole reign, it sometimes defied logic. For instance, when the mortuary wine docket surfaced from the 'House of Smenkhkara II (deceased)', it seemed to appear that he changed his name back before he died.
Since his reign was brief, and he may never have been more than co-regent, the evidence for Smenkhkara II is not plentiful, but nor is it quite as insubstantial as it is sometimes made out to be. It certainly amounts to more than just 'a few rings and a wine docket' or that he 'appears only at the very end of Ahkenaton's reign in a few monuments' as is too often portrayed.