1, 3 However, although these injuries are generally accepted as being the cause of his death, the precise chronology of their infliction remains a matter of debate. For instance, the frontotemporal lesions may have been caused by axes, whereas the blunt injury to the nose and right face could result from the impact of a mace. This, together with the massive head injuries, have led to the hypothesis that Seqenenre Taa II died on the battlefield, and several types of weaponry used in that period have been forwarded as possible agents of his destruction. Not visible in this picture is a sharp injury inflicted immediately below the left ear. (e) An edged tool cut through the skin of the left cheek. (c) This perforation above the right jaw was caused by dislocation of the malar bones, which in its turn was caused by (d) blunt injury with fracture of the nasal bones and destruction of the right orbita.

(b) A gaping frontotemporal wound, 31 mm long. 2 (a) A horizontal cut in the frontal bone, measuring approximately 63 mm. The head of Seqenenre Taa II, showing multiple injuries. 2 Contrary to the embalming customs, the pharaoh's brain was left inside the skull, his heart was not replaced, and his limbs were not straightened into the usual position of a pharaoh's mummy, suggesting that he was hurriedly prepared for the afterlife. Five different wounds to the head have been identified, including two perforating impression fractures of the frontotemporal region, severe blunt injury to the nose and right side of the face, and sharp injuries to the left cheek and below the left ear (fig 1 1 ).

Found in 1881, it is in a badly damaged, disarticulated condition, but nevertheless shows remarkable details. Thirty four centuries later, the pharaoh's mummy has become the subject of forensic pathological interest and speculation. Unfortunately, this war also led to the death of the addressee, Seqenenre Taa II, 14th pharaoh of the Theban dynasty. A rude letter from Apophis, ruler of the Hyksos invaders, complaining about the snoring of the hippopotami in the sacred pool at Thebes 1 initiated the war that ultimately led to the restoration of the rule of the pharaos in Egypt in the 16th century BC.

Egyptian pharaoh