Sobekemsaf I

Who is Sobekemsaf I?

Sekhemre Wadjkhaw Sobekemsaf I was a pharaoh of Egypt during the 17th Dynasty. He is attested by a series of inscriptions mentioning a mining expedition to the rock quarries at Wadi Hammamat in the Eastern Desert during his reign. One of the inscriptions is explicitly dated to his Year 7. He also extensively restored and decorated the Temple of Monthu at Medamud where a fine relief of this king making an offering before the gods has survived.

Sobekemsaf I's son—similarly named Sobekemsaf after his father—is attested in Cairo Statue CG 386 from Abydos which depicts this young prince prominently standing between his father's legs in a way suggesting that he was his father's chosen successor. Sobekemsaf's chief wife was Queen Nubemhat; she and their daughter are known from a stela of Sobekemheb's husband, a Prince Ameni, who might have been a son of Sekhemre-Heruhirmaat Intef or possibly Senakhtenre Ahmose.

The "burial equipment of Sobekemsaf W[adjkhaw] does not contain his prenomen, but can nevertheless be assigned with certainty to this king" since the tomb of Sobekemsaf Shedtawy "was thoroughly robbed in antiquity" by tomb robbers as recorded in Papyrus Abbott III 1-7. On this basis, Kim Ryholt assigns a large heart-scarab, "which was, and indeed still is, set in a large gold mount" containing the name of 'Sobekemsaf' to Sekhemre Wadjkhau Sobekemsaf I here since the tomb robbers would not overlook such a large object on the mummy of the king if it came from Sobekemsaf II's tomb. A wooden canopic chest also bearing the name 'Sobekemsaf' on it has also been attributed to this king by two prominent Egyptologists, Aidan Dodson and Kim Ryholt because it is known that the tomb of Sekhemre Shedtawy Sobekemsaf II was sacked and destroyed by fire in antiquity by grave robbers. In contrast, "the damage suffered by Cat. 26 is minor, consistent with what it might have suffered at the hands of Qurnawi dealers."