The Seventeenth Dynasty (Part 5)

The next two Kings both bore the personal name of Intef and both are extremely ephemeral rulers. Sekhemre Wepmaat Intef seems to have ruled for three years and although we do not know the exact location of his tomb we do know that it was inspected during the tomb robbery investigations of Dynasty Twenty (Hayes, CAH, P. 67). However, his canopic chest and coffin have survived. The coffin bears an inscription saying that it was the gift of Sekhemre Herhermaat Intef (the next King of the dynasty), a fact which indicates that Sekhemre Wepmaat Intef died before he could prepare his own funeral (Hayes, CAH, p. 67). The capstone of this King’s pyramid is now in the British Museum (Beckerath, Untersuchungen, p. 171).

Sekemre Herhermaat Intef was interred in a cheap undertaker’s stock coffin, to which the royal uraeus was hastily pegged (Winlock, Tombs, p. 267). To further illustrate the hastiness with which this King was buried, it should be pointed out that the coffin of his predecessor had the feather work decoration upon it done in gilt, while Sekhemre Herhermaat only had the decoration painted onto his coffin (Beckerath, Untersuchungen, p. 172). This King seems to have reigned for only a few months (Hayes, CAH, p. 67).

Little is known of the next King, a man named Senakhtenre Ta’o, as he has left no monuments. His name appears on the Karnak King List between those of Nebkheperre and Sekenenre Ta’o (Hayes, CAH, pp. 71 – 2) and he is listed as an ancestor of Ahmose, along with Sekenenre and Kamose, on the offering stela of Ken (Winlock, Tombs, p. 257). Hayes disputes Senakhtenre’s position here (Hayes, CAH, P. 72), but his arguments do not seem correct to me.