His chronological position is much debated. In literature, Sekhemre Khutawy Sobekhotep is known as Sobekhotep II and Amenemhat Sobekhotep. Kim Ryholt (1997) makes a strong case for Sekhemre Khutawy Sobekhotep as the founder of the dynasty, a hypothesis that is now dominant in Egyptology.[1][3] If so, he may be the first ruler with this name, making him Sobekhotep I. His double name may also be a filiation, Sobekhotep, son of Amenemhat.
Sekhemre Khutawy Amenemhat Sobekhotep is attested by contemporary sources dating to the early 13th Dynasty.[4][5]
In Year 1, he is attested on a papyrus at Lahun in the middle part of Egypt. Later, he is mainly attested by architectural elements in the 4th Nome of Thebes. His highest attested date is Year 4 according to Nile Level Records in Nubia.
He is mentioned on the Kahun Papyrus IV.[6][7] Written in hieratic text, it contains "a census of the household of a lector-priest that is dated to the first regnal year" of the king.[8] The household includes a son of the lector-priest, and the papyrus records the birth of this son during a 40th regnal year of an unnamed king, "which can only refer to Amenemhat III."[5] This establishes that Sekhemre Khutawy Sobekhotep reigned close in time to Amenemhat III, with the son still part of the household of the lector-priest.
A number of architectural elements bearing Sobekhotep's titulary are known: a fragment of a Hebsed chapel from Medamud, three lintels from Deir el-Bahri and Medamud, an architrave from Luxor and a doorjamb from Medamud that is now in the Louvre.
Three Nile level records from Semna and Kumna in Nubia are also attributable to Sekhemre Khutawy Sobekhotep, the latest of which is dated to year 4, showing that he reigned for at least three complete years.[1][10]
At Semna, a nile level record was made in Year 2 and Year 3[11][12] At Kumma, a nile level record was made in Year 4.[12]
Smaller artifacts mentioning Sekhemre Khutawy Sobekhotep comprise a cylinder seal[13] from Gebelein, an adze-blade,[14] a statuette from Kerma and a faience bead, now in the Petrie Museum (UC 13202).[1][4][15]
His tomb was believed to have been discovered in Abydos in 2013, but its attribution is now questioned.[16] During a 2013 excavation in Abydos, a team of archaeologists led by Josef W. Wegner of the University of Pennsylvania discovered the tomb of a king with the name Sobekhotep. While Sobekhotep I was named as owner of the tomb on several press reports since January 2014,[17][18][19][20][21] further investigations made it more likely that the tomb belongs to king Sobekhotep IV instead.[16]
Drawing of a seal reading "The son of Ra, Sobekhotep Amenemhat, beloved of Sobek-Ra, Lord of Iu-miteru".[22]
There is some dispute in Egyptology over the position of this king in the 13th Dynasty. The throne name Sekhemre Khutawyre appears in the Turin King List as the 19th king of the 13th Dynasty. However, the Nile level records and his appearance on a papyrus found at Lahun indicate that he might date to the early 13th Dynasty. In both monument types only kings of the late 12th and early 13th Dynasty are mentioned.
In the Turin King List, Khutawyre appears as the first 13th Dynasty king. Egyptologist Kim Ryholt maintains that it is possible that the writer of the list confused Sekhemre Khutawy with Khutawyre, the nomen of Wegaf.[1]
His double name Amenemhat Sobekhotep may be a filiation meaning "Sobekhotep, son of Amenemhat". It has been suggested that Sobekhotep was a son of the penultimate pharaoh of the 12th Dynasty, king Amenemhat IV. Therefore, Sobekhotep may have been a brother of Sekhemkare Sonbef, the second ruler of the 13th Dynasty.[23] Other Egyptologists read Amenemhat Sobekhotep as a double name, these being common in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Dynasty.[24]
^ abcdefK. S. B. Ryholt, The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, c.1800–1550 BC, Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications, vol. 20. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 1997.
^Thomas Schneider after Detlef Franke: Lexikon der Pharaonen, p. 255
^Darrell D. Baker: The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume I – Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300–1069 BC, Stacey International, ISBN978-1-905299-37-9, 2008, p. 443
^ abElsa Yvanez (2010) Rock Inscriptions from Semna and Kumma
^New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art MMA 30.8.319
^Egyptian Museum at Cairo, JE 67944; forgery? Ali Hassan Eid
(2022) The Journey from Authenticity to Forgery: A Case-study on an Adze-blade (Egyptian Museum Cairo JE 67944) of the Thirteenth Dynasty
^Dodson, Aidan and Hilton, Dyan. The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson, 2004. ISBN0-500-05128-3
^Stephen Quirke: In the Name of the King: on Late Middle Kingdom Cylinders, in: Timelines, Studies in Honour of Manfred Bietak, Leuven, Paris, Dudley, MA. ISBN90-429-1730-X, 263-64
K. S. B. Ryholt, The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, c.1800–1550 BC, (Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications, vol. 20. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 1997), 336, File 13/1.
