| Amenemhat II | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Ammenemes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Sitting statue attributed to Amenemhat II later usurped by19th Dynasty pharaohs Berlin,Pergamon Museum | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pharaoh | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reign | 35 regnal years 1914–1879/6 BCE;[1] 1878–1843 BCE;[2] 1877/6–1843/2 BCE[3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor | Senusret I | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Successor | Senusret II | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Consort | Unknown | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | SeeFamily | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Father | Senusret I | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mother | Neferu III | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Burial | White Pyramid at Dahshur | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dynasty | 12th Dynasty | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Amenemhat II, also known asAmenemhet II, was the thirdpharaoh of the12th Dynasty ofancient Egypt. Amenemhat II was known by his prenomenNubkaure,[3][1]. Although he ruled for at least 35 years, his reign is rather obscure, as well as his family relationships.
Archaeological findings have provided the name of Amenemhat's mother, the "king's mother"Neferu III, but not the name of his father. Nevertheless, it is commonly assumed that he was a son of his predecessorSenusret I. An early attestation of Amenemhat may have come from the tomb of the namesakenomarchAmenemhat, buried atBeni Hasan. This nomarch, who lived under Senusret I, escorted the "King's son Ameny" in an expedition toNubia, and it is believed that this prince Ameny was no other than Amenemhat II in his youth.[3]
The identity of Amenemhat's queen consort is unknown. Many royal women were buried within his pyramid complex, but their relationships with the king are unclear: a queenKeminub must be dated to the later13th Dynasty, and three "king's daughters" namedIta,Itaweret, andKhenmet may have been Amenemhat's daughters, although a definitive proof is still lacking.[3] His successorSenusret II was likely his son, although this is never explicitly stated anywhere.[4] Other children were princeAmenemhatankh and the princessesNofret II and Khenemetneferhedjet, likely the same person ofKhenemetneferhedjet I; both of these women later became wives of their purported brother Senusret II.[5] A woman queen and king's mother calledSenet is known from three statues. Her royal husband and sons are not known. Amenemhat II might be her husband.
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Amenemhat II was once believed to have shared a period ofcoregency with his predecessor Senusret I, an hypothesis based on the double-dated stela of an official named Wepwawet-aa (Leiden, V4) that bears the regnal year 44 of Senusret I and the regnal year 2 of Amenemhat II.[6] The existence of such coregency is now considered unlikely and the meaning of the double-date on the stela is interpreted as a time range when Wepwawetō was in charge, from Senusret I's year 44 to Amenemhat II's year 2.[7][8]
The most important record for Amenemhat's early reign is on fragments of the so-calledAnnals of Amenemhat II unearthed atMemphis (later reused during the19th Dynasty). It provides records of donations to temples and, sometimes, of political events. Among the latter, there is a mention of a military expedition into Asia, the destruction of two cities – Iuai and Iasy – whose location is still unknown, and the coming of tribute-bearers from Asia andKush.[10]
Under Amenemhat II several mining expeditions are known: at least 3 in theSinai, one in theWadi Gasus (year 28) and one in search foramethysts in theWadi el-Hudi. He is known to have ordered building works atHeliopolis,Herakleopolis, Memphis, in the EasternDelta, and rebuilt a ruined temple atHermopolis. There are some mentions of the building of a "First temple" but it is still unclear what it should have been.[11] A well-known finding associated with Amenemhat II is theGreat Sphinx of Tanis (Louvre A23), later usurped by many other pharaohs. He is also named on the boxes of a treasure of silver objects found under the temple ofMontu atTod: notably, many of these objects are not of Egyptian workmanship but ratherAegean, evidencing contacts between Egypt and foreign civilizations in theMiddle Kingdom. Many private stelae bears Amenemhat's cartouches – and sometimes even his regnal years – but are of little help in providing useful information about the events of his reign.[12]
Some members of Amenemhat's court are known.Senusret was thevizier at the beginning of his reign, and one of his successors wasAmeny, later likely followed bySiese who had a remarkable career and also was atreasurer and ahigh steward before his vizierate. Beside Siese, other known treasurers were Rehuerdjersen and Merykau. The "overseer of the gateway", Khentykhetywer, was buried near the king's pyramid. Other known officials were the "overseers of the chamber", Snofru and Senitef, and the royal scribe andiry-pat Samont.[11] Asgreat overseer of troops, a certainAmeny dates most likely under the king.
Amenemhat II and his successor Senusret II shared a brief coregency, the only unquestionable one of the whole Middle Kingdom. Unlike most of the double-dated monuments, the stela of Hapu fromKonosso explicitly states that these two kings ruled together for a while[8] and that the regnal year 3 of Senusret II equates the regnal year 35 of Amenemhat II. Amenemhat's year 35 on the stela of Hapu is also the highest date known for him.[13]
Unlike his two predecessors, who built their pyramids atLisht, Amenemhat II choseDahshur for this purpose, a location which had not been used as a royal cemetery since the time ofSneferu and hisRed Pyramid (4th Dynasty). At the present time, Amenemhat's pyramid – originally calledAmenu-sekhem, but best known today as theWhite Pyramid – is poorly preserved and excavated. Themortuary temple adjacent the pyramid was calledDjefa-Amenemhat.[14] Many people were buried within the pyramid complex, whose tombs were rediscovered byJacques de Morgan in 1894/5: the three aforementioned princesses Ita, Itaweret, and Khenmet were found untouched, still containing their beautiful jewels, and also the tombs of the lady Sathathormeryt, the treasurerAmenhotep, and the queenKeminub; unlike the others, the latter two were looted in antiquity and are dated to the subsequent 13th Dynasty.[10][15]
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