ttery jars are relatively porous, the wine within them was consumed not long after the bottling process, and since mortuary complexes were fully stock

ory of Ancient Egypt, 164). During the 18th Dynasty, Thutmose III seemingly celebrated a sed festival in his 30th year, as well; Redford suggests that the year of rest from Asiatic campaigning between Thutmose III’s sixth and seventh campaigns, which corresponds precisely to his Year 30, signifies a “holiday year” used to celebrate this landmark anniversary (Redford, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel, 158). 69. Der Manuelian, Amenophis II, 43. 70. Wente and Van Siclen III, “Chronology of the New Kingdom,” 227–228. The occurrence of a coregency under Thutmose III and Amenhotep II is essentially undisputed among conservative Egyptologists, as supporting evidence for it is plentiful. See Redford, “Coregency of Tuthmosis III,” 116; Der Manuelian, Amenophis II, 24; and Richard A. Parker, “Once Again the Coregency of Thutmose III and Amenhotep II,” in Studies in Honor of John A. Wilson, in Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 35 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969), 228. Nevertheless, Shea firmly disputes the notion of such a coregency, though formerly he advocated one. His current position is built on a foundational presupposition, namely that Amenhotep II died in the Red Sea. The proof Shea presents for his position is that Amenhotep II reportedly launched two “first campaigns.” According to Shea’s theory, a successor (Amenhotep IIB) was secretly and deceitfully placed on the throne after Amenhotep IIA drowned in the Red Sea, but with the caveat that the later pharaoh used the same birth name and throne-name as his deceased predecessor, thus completing the reign of “Amenhotep II” as an imposter (Shea, “Amenhotep II as Pharaoh,” 44–46). This outlandish theory, however, is fraught with difficulties, creating far more problems than it solves, the foremost being that this entire leap of speculation is based on the false—yet completely handicapping—presupposition that the exodus-pharaoh died in the Red Sea. Since this presumption was demonstrated to be inaccurate, only Shea’s arguments stand to be evaluated. If the two “first campaigns” of Amenhotep II were actually one campaign, which will be proven subsequently, then Shea loses all impetus for his fantastic claim. Moreover, he provides no precedent in Egypt’s long history for the practice of two pharaohs ruling under the same name, with the latter using his predecessor’s nomen and praenomen as his own. Surely such an act would incite a court rebellion and turn the royal family against the officials who secretly placed the imposter on the throne. Shea also asserts that the two coronation celebrations for Amenhotep II—one after his father died on ca. 22 March, and the other on ca. 22 November, as recorded on the Memphis Stele—represent a contradiction, implying the reigns of different rulers. However, three inescapable problems plague this assertion: (1) if Amenhotep IIB was coronated on 22 November, the deception of the court officials would have been exposed; (2) the exodus occurred on 15 Nisan (25 April), which would render inconceivable Amenhotep IIB’s coronation as late as 22 November; and (3) the attestation of “two accession dates” actually supports a coregency. In The Biography of Amenemheb, it is stated that Thutmose III died on vii, 30 (ca. 22 March) of his 54th year, and that on the very next day Amenhotep II was “established on the throne of his father” (Der Manuelian, Amenophis II, 20). However, both the Semna Stela and BM 10056 offer iv, 1 (ca. 22 November) as his accession date, and since on BM 10056 the year-number even changes immediately after the mention of 22 November, a definitive conclusion can be made that Amenhotep II’s regnal years were numbered from ca. 22 November, not from 23 March (Redford, “Coregency of Tuthmosis III,” 121). Shea claims that if indeed Amenhotep II was inaugurated when he became coregent on 22 November of an earlier year, there would be no need for an installation ceremony on the day after Thutmose III died.



Actually, the Egyptian texts never refer to an installation ceremony on 23 March;
they note only that he was established on his father’s throne. Before Thutmose III died, Amenhotep II ruled as a coregent with his father, with full pharaonic authority; only after his father died, however, did he actually take the throne as the pharaoh with ultimate authority. Yet even if there was a ceremony immediately after his father’s death, such an event at the outset of his sole rule would serve to establish him on the throne and lessen the chance of a usurpation attempt by a potential challenger. In addition to all of these problems with Shea’s argumentation, what pharaoh of the proud and powerful 18th Dynasty would equate himself with a deceased predecessor, especially one who lost his slave-base, lost the firstborn child of every Egyptian citizen, lost the world’s most powerful army, and died shamefully in a mass drowning? Moreover, could such a grand scheme be expected never to be challenged, or to surface at some later time during Egypt’s entire storied history? Thus the notion of two Amenhotep II’s is resolutely rejected. 71. Redford, “Coregency of Tuthmosis III,” 117. 72. Vandersleyen notes that in spite of the good physical development of Amenhotep II, an examination of his mummy reveals that he was of average height and died at about 44 years of age (Claude Vandersleyen, L’Egypte et la Vallée du Nil, vol. 2 [Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1995], 336). Harris and Weeks, adding that his wavy hair was brown with gray at the temple, suggest that he was 45 at death (Harris and Weeks, X-Raying, 138). 73. Der Manuelian, Amenophis II, 44. 74. G. Robins, “The Value of the Estimated Ages of the Royal Mummies at Death as Historical Evidence,” Göttinger Miszellen 45 (1981), 63–68. 75. While Thutmose III’s exact age at his accession is unknown, his reign lasted into his 54th regnal year. According to Brugsch-Bey, he reigned 53 years, 11 months, and 1 day (Heinrich Brugsch-Bey, Egypt Under the Pharaohs [London: Bracken Books, 1902], 193), while Tyldesley claims that he reigned 53 years, 10 months, and 26 days (Tyldesley, Hatchepsut, 96, 215). 76. Harris and Weeks, X-Raying, 138. 77. Yohanan Aharoni and Michael Avi-Yonah, The Macmillan Bible Atlas (New York: Macmillan, 1977), 34. 78. Vandersleyen, L’Egypte, vol. 2, 341. 79. Der Manuelian, Amenophis II, 59. 80. “Previously, on seeing a man from Egypt, the kings of Canaan fled bef[ore him, but] now the sons of Abdi-Ashirta make men from Egypt prowl about [like do]gs” (The Amarna Letters, ed. and trans. William L. Moran [Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992], 183). 81. Vandersleyen, L’Egypte, vol. 2, 333. This and all subsequent quotes by Vandersleyen are translated into English from the original French by Lydia Polyakova and Inna Kumpyak. Horemheb reigned from ca. 1335–1307 BC. 82. Yohanan Aharoni, “Some Geographical Remarks Concerning the Campaigns of Amenhotep II,” JNES 19:3 (Jul 1960), 177. 83. James B. Pritchard, Rosetta Stone Chinese