Webensenu

Webensenu was a son of the Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh Amenhotep II, who died in youth and whose remains were recovered from his father's tomb, KV35, in the Valley of the Kings.

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Archaeological Evidence

Webensenu's identity rests on inscriptional and physical evidence recovered from KV35, excavated by Victor Loret in March 1898: fragments of an inscribed canopic set bearing his name and title, and an inscribed shabti figure, both probably from the antechamber F. An unwrapped young male mummy, one of three laid directly on the floor of a side chamber off the burial chamber, has been associated with him; the body displays the sidelock of youth, an Egyptian convention marking a wearer who had not yet reached adulthood, consistent with an estimated age at death of roughly 11 to 15 years.

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Historical Context

As a son of Amenhotep II who did not survive to succeed him, Webensenu's death occurred before the succession passed to his brother, Thutmose IV. Little else is attested about his life; the evidence for him is almost entirely funerary rather than textual.

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Biblical Connection

Some, including the Expedition Bible team in their KV35 investigation, have proposed Webensenu as the firstborn son whose death is described in Exodus 12:29. This identification depends on accepting Amenhotep II as the pharaoh of the Exodus - itself a debated identification, as noted in Amenhotep II's own entry - and on Webensenu specifically being the firstborn among his sons, which the surviving evidence does not establish directly. The proposal remains a live scholarly and apologetic argument rather than a settled identification.

See also: Amenhotep II, Victor Loret, Thutmose IV, Exodus