Egypt may have had the most advanced civilisation on our planet. As the technologies advance, archaeologists find older pyramids and mummies, proving that even 5,000 years ago they had such advanced technologies while most of the world was in primitive stages.
There is a lesser known name of one of its oldest Pharaohs. His face speaks a thousand words although not much is known about him. His face has massive cuts at various places and completely disfigured if not for the skilled embalmers who had performed almost a plastic surgery on the dead man and put most of his face in place. Every documentary stated that his remains are in poor condition, with bones mangled and the head detached from the rest of the body.
Historical evidence
Seqenenre Tao II had reigned over Southern Egypt 3600 years ago, between about 1558 B.C. and 1553 B.C. and was famous for battling with the Hyksos, which some call as ‘immigrants’ which had taken over the Nile Delta. Not much is known about this Pharaoh but his mummy was discovered more than hundred years ago. X-ray photos were taken of his skull in the 1960s. Recently, after conducting CT scans which produced 3D images of Seqenenre’s body, archaeologist Zahi Hawass and radiology professor Sahar Salim believe (just as one of the old theories) that this King was brutally injured in the battlefield when he has led his soldiers against the Hyksos, risking his life and later executed in front of the enemy King.
We already know about brave warrior Kings, such as Ramsses II who had led his troops against enemies in many battles, but this is the first mummy found with fatal injuries that were inflicted on him on his last day. His coffin was also not so elaborated, but next to his name was mentioned ‘The Brave’ as he had risked his life in the battlefield rather than sending his troops to fight and commanding from behind.
Weapons
According to Dr Hawass and Prof Salim, Hyksos weapons that are preserved in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, including an ax, spear and several daggers showed compatibility with the wounds on Seqenenre Tao II. Painfully, they were all on his face. He has a seven centimetres cut across his forehead, which is visible despite skilled embalming. Researchers say it would have been delivered from an ax or sword stroke from above. This wound alone could have been fatal, but the enemy had not stopped there, as another potentially fatal slice above the pharaoh’s right eye was 3.2 cm long and possibly made with an ax. More cuts on the nose, right eye and right cheek came from the right and from above and may have been delivered with an ax handle or blunt staff, the researchers added.
Someone in front of the king seemed to have swung a sword or an ax at the pharaoh’s left cheek, leaving another wound. From the left, probably a spear had penetrated the base of his skull, making a 3.5 cm wound. Years ago when Smithsonian channel made a documentary on him, it mentioned that this spear blow, possibly could have made the King fall on the battlefield from his chariot.
The mummy
The mummy looks hastily prepared, as his body must have been rapidly decaying when retrieved from the battlefield. His brain was not removed like in the usual practice sending the soul to afterlife, but embalmers had done commendable work on his face concealing some of the wounds which only became visible during the recent experiments using computed tomography (CT) technology. The pharaoh’s desiccated brain was also stuck to the left side of his skull, suggesting that someone laid him on his side after his death, or his body was on that position for a long duration on the battlefield, rotting, after his enemies executed the King.
According to the two researchers’ publication on the ‘Frontiers in Medicine’, there was no intracranial resin or other evidence of other embalming materials. The cribriform plate is intact with no CT evidence of attempt of brain removal and no amulets or jewellery was found on the body. His body was left to rot in the battlefield or ‘elsewhere’ by his enemies as the 19th-century archaeologists who found the mummy had reported a foul smell when they unwrapped it.
His deformed hands indicate that Seqenenre’s hands were tied behind his back, preventing him from defending himself as the researchers had found this evidence leading to the conclusion that he was captured in the battlefield, while fiercely fighting with his soldiers against the enemy risking his life and brutally injured, weakened and taken as a prisoner to the Hyksos King, where he was executed by enemy soldiers possibly while others watched and cheered. His mummy was discovered in the Deir el-Bahari cache in 1881, was examined for the first time at the time, and was studied by X-ray in the 1960s.
Family
The story of the brave Pharaoh does not end there. A text on a carved rock slab in Thebes recounts that Seqenenre Tao II’s son and immediate successor, Pharaoh Kamose, also died in battle against the Hyksos at a young age. National Geographic states that he also died just three years into his reign, as Pharaoh Kamose sought to extend his rule northward over all of Lower Egypt. This apparently was met with much opposition by his courtiers, as these princes in Thebes had achieved a treaty to divide power with Hyksos rulers.
According to the Carnarvon Tablet, Kamose went north to attack the Hyksos, bravely like his father saying, “My wish is to save Egypt and to smite the Asiatic.” Only his coffin and some artefacts remain. His mummified body lost forever, as some sources say that this young Pharaoh did not even have the time to create an elaborate Tomb or a funeral for himself while he was busily fighting the enemy during the short period he ruled.
After the battlefield death of Pahroah Kamose, Ahmose, the second son of Seqenenre Tao II, became the next king at a young age, leaving his mother, the brave Seqenenre Tao’s Queen to defend the country until he came of age. Ahmose later became known as a great king, the one who chased the Hyksos to what is known as Gaza today.
Ahmose’s reign laid the foundations for the New Kingdom, under which Egyptian power reached its peak between the 16th and 11th centuries B.C. Seqenenre Tao II died in the battlefield fighting for his country brutally hit on the face and head with many weapons and lost the battle, but his tragic death paved the way for his eldest son to go further and his second son to finally achieve great victory for his nation.