Senwosret, son of Rehkmire
Senwosret, son of Rekhmire, is one of two mummies who woke up in the basement of the British Museum, 3000 years and 2500 miles from the last place he called home. This latest hiccup in his fortunes, however, is merely the latest in a series of disasters that dogged his family since the disgrace of his father drove him to abandon life in the great Temple of Amun to win glory fighting the King's enemies. Three thousand years later Senwosret must once again answer the call of honour and family to save himself and those he loves from those who would destroy everything he holds dear.
Rehkmire, Vizier to two Kings
On the hills to the West of Ancient Thebes (modern day Luxor) a series of tombs are cut into the sandstone rocks around Deir el Bahri. These tombs were commissioned by Theban aristocracy and range in date from nobles who died during the Middle Kingdom around 2000 BCE all the way to those who witnessed the rise of Christianity.
One of these tombs, archaeologically labelled TT100 belonged to Rehkmire, who died when the Egyptian New Kingdom was at its height. He himself had reached the height of Egyptian society, having served at Tchet (or Vizier, effectively the King's right hand man) to two Kings, Tuhtmoses III and his son Amenhotep II.
A painting of Rehkmire, taken from his tomb walls can be seen on the right, where he is wearing the traditional robes of an Ancient Egyptian Vizier. Other painting show him with his wife Meryt, his pet Goose and his many children, one of whom is Senwosret who was at the time a young man still at the comparatively humble rank of a wa'ab priest.
This prosperous and idyllic family set up was not to last long however. Rehkmire never occupied his expensive tomb, which was systematically defaced, with most paintings of Rekhmire along with references to his name being obliterated with red paint.
The literate and targeted nature of the attack on Rehkmire's tomb suggests that the Vizier had been officially disgraced, an impression reinforced by the fact that none of his sons appears to have achieved high office under Amenhotep II or his descendants, but we have no idea of the nature of Rekhmire's disgrace nor what became of his family, including the mysterious Senwosret.
Senwosret, Scribe and Wa-ab Priest
As discussed above, one of Rekhmire's sons, Senwosret, was described as being a Wa-ab, or "pure" priest, which is the lowest rank of the Ancient Egyptian priesthood. Although holders of this office were considered members of the elite, their duties in the temple were restricted to ensuring that both it and they themselves retained ritual cleanliness and purity, bathing daily in special pools within temple precincts. They also prepared ritual offerings, assisted with ceremonies, looked after the necessary temple equipment and carried the sacred barques (model boats that carried the images of the gods) during festivals.
As lower-ranked priests, wa-ab priests were not allowed into the inner sanctuaries of the temples in which they served and were not required to be literate. However, given his elevated family connections I found it most likely that Senwosret would have been given scribal training at an early age and that his status was intended to be a temporary stepping stone to a status comparable to that already attained by his elder brothers.
It is also worth noting that the role of wa'ab priest was often undertaken on what modern people would consider a part time basis, with teams of wa'ab priests working in a temple on a one month on, three months off rotation, with them working other trades, from merchant, to farmer, to scribe on their "off" months. In considering this reality for Senwosret, particularly after his father's disgrace, I decided to provide him with a military role, which many nobles with religious titles also played.
The Army of Amenhotep II
Given what little we know of the life of Senwosret, son of Rehkmire, he would probably have been too young to take part in the campaigns of Tuhtmoses III that carved out Ancient Egypt's Western Asian Empire and culminated in the famous victory at the Battle of Megiddo. The success of these campaigns meant that the next King, Amenhotep II, had comparatively less to do militarily speaking. However he did conduct several campaigns into Western Asia, generally against the Mitanni people and it was into these campaigns that I placed Senwosret.
By Amenhotep II's reign the 18th Dynasty to which he belonged was at its height, producing the Golden Age for which Ancient Egypt's New Kingdom is famed. The army which he commanded reflected the power of this Kingdom and still basked in the glory of his father's triumphs. Unlike the armies of previous Kingdoms, Amenhotep's military forces were a permanent standing army consisting of an infantry, which formed the main body of the army, the chariot corps which contained the elite forces and the bowmen and auxilliary forces of which the Nubian Medjai troops were the most famous. Given the disgrace of Senwsoret's father I decided to put him in the infantry as a superior officer in charge of 250 men, a position that formed part of the standardised chain of command that was a feature of the Egyptian army of this period.
The infantry troops are shown in the picture to the right, consisting of troops bearing Shields, spears and a side arm which could be a war axe, a khopesh or a mace illustrate the standard infantry corp that Senwsosret lead before his untimely demise.
