The Pharaos

Pharaohs / Dynasty 13

Amenemhat Sonbef

Pl. 74 · also Sonbef, Sekhemkare

1800 BC to 1796 BC, about 4 years · Second Intermediate Period

Modern phonetic rendering, not a copy of an inscription

Amenemhat Sonbef ruled during the early Thirteenth Dynasty, governing Egypt from the established administrative capital at Itjtawy. His reign followed that of Sobekhotep I and lasted around four years, from about 1800 to 1796 BC, with dates uncertain by about twenty-five years.

Very little is known about his life, family, or accomplishments. His reign reflects the broader pattern of the early Second Intermediate Period, during which a succession of monarchs held power for relatively brief intervals while the centralized bureaucratic systems of the Middle Kingdom still functioned.

Scholars know of Amenemhat Sonbef primarily from surviving entries in the Turin King List and contemporary administrative inscriptions, including Nilometer records cut into the rocks at the Nubian fortress of Semna. No tomb or identifiable funerary monument has yet been discovered.

Monuments

  • Semna Nilometer records

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Dates are conventional and approximate. See method and sources.