The Death of a King

Ever since the butchered remains of the mummy of King Sequenenre II were unrolled on June 9, 1886, by Gaston Maspero, the mummy has been a strong subject for archaeologists to see the results of wounds inflicted by several ancient weapons.

Sequenenre, the prince of Thebes, declared war upon the foreign ruler of Egypt, the Hyksos king Apophis, after a threat was sent to Sequenenre by Apophis, who complained that the snoring of the hippopotamuses in the sacred lake was keeping Apophis awake. Apophis at his capital of Avaris in the delta was much to far away to hear the hippo's snoring; instead, Apophis was telling Sequenenre that he knew the prince of Thebes was conspiring with others to overthrow him.

Within a few years, in about 1560 bc. Sequenenre was dead assassinated by two or more assailants, with there being some evidence that the king may have received four of his five head wounds while he was lying on the ground unconscious after the first blow to his head. From his head wounds, it can be surmised that at least two or more weapons were used, including an axe, a spear, possibly a sword, and a blunt object, maybe the but end of the axe.

To Sequenenre's credit, he acquired the moniker of Sequenenre the Brave, with his descendants driving the foreign kings out of Egypt, and the princes of Thebes became kings of Upper and Lower Egypt.