Second Intermediate Period
Sobekemsaf I
17th Dynasty (Theban) · c.1580-1550 BCE
Open full-size illustration →Source: Shaw, Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000)
Background
Sobekemsaf I, throne name Sekhemre Wadjkhaw, was an early Seventeenth Dynasty king buried at Dra Abu el-Naga, the Theban royal necropolis used by this dynasty. He is one of the few Seventeenth Dynasty kings whose burial site can be identified with some confidence, thanks largely to a much later criminal investigation rather than to inscriptions from his own reign. Research: UCL Digital Egypt; Metropolitan Museum.
Reign dates: Shaw, Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000)
Full profile
A pyramid plundered and put on trial
More than four centuries after his death, in the reign of Ramesses IX, an official investigation into a wave of tomb robberies at Thebes produced one of ancient Egypt's most detailed surviving criminal records, including confessions describing how thieves broke into "the pyramid tomb of King Sobekemsaf," stripped its royal mummy of gold and jewelry, and burned the coffin to destroy the evidence. Egyptologists debate whether the victim named in these documents was this king, Sobekemsaf I, or his similarly named successor Sobekemsaf II, since the surviving papyri do not always distinguish clearly between the two. Either way, the case remains among the most vivid direct accounts of tomb robbery to survive from ancient Egypt, describing the crime in the robbers' own recorded words rather than through later summary or legend.
Sources for this profile
- Baker, D. D. (2008). The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume 1. Stacey International.
- Shaw, I. (Ed.). (2000). The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press.
- Ryholt, K. (2004). The Turin King-list. Ägypten und Levante, 14, 135–155.
- Dodson, A., & Hilton, D. (2004). The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson.
- University College London. Digital Egypt for Universities.
The complete, APA-formatted reference list is on the Academic Sources & Bibliography page.