Sewahenre Senebmiu (also Sonbmiu) is a poorly attested Egyptian pharaoh during the Second Intermediate Period, thought to belong to the late 13th Dynasty.
Attestations
Senebmiu is a poorly attested pharaoh. Contemporary attestations of Senebmiu are few, and all originate from Upper Egypt. Darrell Baker and Daphna Ben-Tor suggest that this may signal that the 13th Dynasty had lost control of Lower and possibly Middle Egypt at the time.
Gebelein, stela (BM EA 24898)
A fragment of a limestone stele discovered by G.W. Fraser in 1893 in Gebelein and now in the British Museum (BM EA 24898) bears the mention “The son of Ra, of his body, Senebmiu”. The stele once depicted the king wearing the double crown and probably making an offering, but most of the relief is lost.
Deir el-Bahri, naos (Cairo JE 46196)
An attestation of Senebmiu was uncovered in the mortuary temple of Mentuhotep II at Deir el-Bahri, where the side of a small naos is inscribed with the king’s titulary.
Qurna, staff (Moscow I.1.a. 1801, a, b)
A staff bearing the king’s prenomen inscribed for the “Royal sealer, overseer of marshland dwellers Senebni” was found in a now-lost tomb in Qurna on the west bank of the Nile opposite Karnak.
Karnak King List
The Karnak king list entry 49, redacted during the reign of Thutmose III, mentions his prenomen Sewahenre.
Turin King List
The Turin canon, redacted during Ramesses II, is severely damaged after the record of Sobekhotep VII. The identity and chronological order of the last 19 kings of the 13th Dynasty are impossible to ascertain from the document. Senebmiu’s prenomen Sewahenre may have been partially preserved on column 8, line 16 of the papyrus, which reads Se[…]enre. Darrell Baker and Kim Ryholt note this attribution is far from certain as it could also correspond to another obscure king of this period with the name Sekhaenre.
Speculations
Kim Ryholt only specifies that Senebmiu’s short reign dates between 1660 BC and 1649 BC. According to Egyptologist Jürgen von Beckerath, he was the forty-first king of the 13th Dynasty. Alternatively, Darrell Baker proposes that he may have been its fifty-seventh ruler.
