Thutmes II

The third son of Thutmes I and a minor wife, the teen-aged Thutmes II married his half-sister, Hatshepsut, perhaps to bolster his claim to the throne, and ruled for fourteen years. During that time he conducted several military campaigns in western Asia and led a major expedition into Nubia. Before he died, he appointed his only son, Thutmes III, as his heir, an unusual act that some think was necessary to keep his ambitious wife Hatshepsut from usurping authority. If this was the reason, it failed.

The tomb of Thutmes II has not yet been identified with certainty. Suggested candidates include KV 42, WN A, and TT 358. But KV 42 is more likely to have been cut later in Dynasty 18, and WN A (also called Bab al Muallaq) is virtually unknown. TT 358, found by Herbert Winlock’s Metropolitan Museum of Art expedition in 1929, is thought by many to be the most likely choice. But it lies outside the Valley of the Kings, and its claim to being a royal tomb is based only upon the presence of a Well shaft, a feature common to many royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings after the middle of Dynasty 18.