
Thutmose II (1510-1479 BC) was Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt from 1492 to 1479 BC, succeeding Thutmose I and preceding Hatshepsut.
Biography[]

A statue of Thutmose
Thutmose was the son of Thutmose I and Mutnofret and the half-sister of Hatshepsut, whom he married. Thutmose succeeded his father as Pharaoh in 1492 BC, and he was confronted with a Kushite rebellion on his coronation. The young Thutmose sent his generals to quell the uprising in Nubia, and he also battled the Shasu nomads from the Sinai Peninsula to Retjenu in Syria. In spite of his greatness, he was confronted with an even more powerful threat when the Israelite prophet Moses came to his court in 1491 BC and demanded that Pharaoh let his people go from their bondage and allow them to leave Egypt. Thutmose refused several times, only for Egypt to be stricken with plagues, including the turning of the Nile to blood, a plague of frogs, a plague of gnats, and the deaths of all of Egypt's firstborn children and cattle. Thutmose himself developed cysts that remained with him until his death. Thutmose ultimately agreed to allow the enslaved Israelites to leave Egypt for Canaan, only to change his mind and lead an army after them. Thutmose cornered the Israelites, either on the shores of the Red Sea or the "Sea of Reeds" in the Sinai Peninsula, and it was there that the Bible says God parted either the waters or the reeds to enable the Israelites to cross, while closing them to drown or strand the Pharaoh's army. Thutmose was thus unsuccessful in his attempt to wipe out the hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees, and the loss of his army marked the end of Egypt's brief prosperity during his reign. His wife Hatshepsut became the power behind her husband's throne, and Thutmose died in 1479 BC.