Thutmose II
Pl. 107 · also Tuthmosis II
1492 BC to 1479 BC, about 13 years · New Kingdom
Thutmose II was the son of Thutmose I and a secondary royal wife, Mutnofret. To reinforce his claim to the throne, he married his royal half-sister Hatshepsut. He reigned from about 1492 to 1479 BC, with dates uncertain by about a decade. His relatively short tenure was marked by suppressing rebellions in Nubia and addressing minor unrest in the northern desert borders.
His primary architectural additions took place at Karnak, where he began a limestone gateway before the Fourth Pylon, later completed or altered by his successors. His designated burial site in the Valley of the Kings is disputed, though KV42 is frequently proposed. Upon his death, the crown passed to his young son Thutmose III, born to a secondary wife named Iset, with Hatshepsut initially serving as regent. Scholars reconstruct his reign from military stelae carved in the rocks near Aswan, temple relief blocks and his identified mummy preserved in the Deir el-Bahari royal cache.
Monuments
- Karnak Pylon IV gateway
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Try the name on the Cartouche Desk, or see where the reign falls on the timeline.
Dates are conventional and approximate. See method and sources.