Uncovering the Identity of Moses: Has His Egyptian Name and Mother's Name Been Discovered?

Mar 14

6 min read

Have we determined Moses' Egyptian name and identified his Egyptian mother? That's a huge question, and people are still debating who the Pharaoh during Moses' time was. Some folks argue that Moses and the other Bible stories are just made up. But is there any archaeological proof of Moses and his Egyptian mom? To explore this, we check out an article from the March-April edition of "Let the Stones Speak" by the Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology, titled "Is This Moses?"

A prince from the New Kingdom Period of Egyptian history shares remarkable similarities with the Biblical Moses. The parallels are so compelling that a prominent supporter is convinced this prince is, in fact, the same figure known as Moses.

The Bible says Moses lived 120 years and consisted of three equal parts. These parts include 40 years living in Egypt, 40 years in the land of Midian, and a final 40 years as the leader of the Israelites during the Exodus. The writer of the articles states Moses's birth was around 1526 B.C, to which Thutmose the first was Pharaoh over Egypt. What is interesting as the article states, is Thutmose the first had a fully royal daughter, Hatshepsut, and a half royal son Thutmose the second. To ensure his son's place on the Egyptian throne, the dying Thutmose the first had his 18-year-old son marry his 24-year-old half-sister Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut had a daughter with her stepbrother named Neferure. Like his father, Thutmose the second had son through his concubine named Iset. Thutmose the second died when Iset was only two years old, leaving his half-sister Hatshepsut as Pharaoh, for 22 years.

Egyptologist Sir William Flinders Petrie noted that Pharaoh Hatshepsut's "activity seems to have been entirely given to peaceful enterprises" in an age of tranquility to the realm" (A History of Egypt, Vol 2). One remarkable inscription on the facade of her temple at Speos Artemidos reads, in part: "My spirits inclined toward foreign people... " Another inscription describes a "heart full of love." These extraordinary sentiments fit well with the biblical description of a "pharaoh's daughter" who would bring up a foreign child from poverty and catapult him into princedom. Coincidentally, during the reign of Hatshepsut, a "commoner" was catapulted in rank to the highest levels of Egyptian administration and princedom.

Uncovering the Identity of Moses Egyptian Name

The prince adopted by Hatshepsut is referred to as Senenmut. This commoner of non-royal blood had nearly 90 titles bestowed on him by Hatshepsut. But you may be asking, why the change in name from Moses to Senenmut? The reason as Roberts states in the article was a provision by his mother for her adopted son to be equal in status as Pharaoh:

"A significant title she, Hatshepsut, bestowed...was in the changing of his name to Senenmut, which means "mother's brother." In essence, it was a title elevating a son to the status of equal with his mother, allowing him to claim equal status of "brother to the gods" with this pharaonic parent."

Senenmut holding Neferura and Hatshepsut — On the Right a statute of Senenmut holding Neferura Hatshepsut's daughter. On the Left Hatshepsut

Moses Rise to Power

According to the article Senenmut rose to power through the ranks of military service in his late teens and onward. During the reign of Thutmose the first a military campaign was in play in the land of Kush, Ethiopia. Moses appears to have attained the rank of "brigade commander." Although the Bible makes little mention of this battle, classical historians such as Josephus dedicated an entire chapter to it titled, Antiquities of the Jews to Moses's military exploits in Ethiopia. Another historian named Artapanus makes a similar account. But the rise in rank and the 90 titles bestowed upon Senenmut did not occur until Hatshepsut became queen and sole ruler of Egypt.

Egyptologist Prof. Joyce Tyldesley refers to him as the "Greatest of the Great" in the court of Hatshepsut, her "most influential courtier." Effectively, Senenmut was ruler of Egypt," She writes.

Moses Greatest Egyptian Achievement

I find it interesting that the man who God would give instructions to build the Tabernacle in the wilderness is the same man who served as royal architect, overseeing the construction of Hatshepsut's grand mortuary complex at Deir el-Bahari. Could this site be the location where Moses killed the Egyptian who was fighting a Hebrew as mentioned in Exodus 2:11-14?

But Senenmut presided over both Hatshepsut's mortuary tomb and his own labeled Tomb 71 and Tomb 353. These tombs had some interesting details, such as a detailed star map ceiling - the earliest star-map ever discovered in Egypt, leading some to speculate Moses was also an astronomer. But this tomb was never the resting place for Moses as mentioned in the Old Testament text, in fact the tomb was never finished.

Hatshepsut's grand mortuary complex at Deir el-Bahari

Moses Sudden Disappearance

Senenmut was never buried in Tomb 71 or 353, instead they were sealed prematurely.

"The decorated chamber in Tomb 353 was abandoned and sealed while still full of excavated chip and workmen's tools, and his quartzite sarcophagus was left unfinished in the corridors of Tomb 71."

There was another clue to the identity of Senenmut, and that clue is the literary epic titled Story of Sinhue, was discovered in Tomb 353. This story describes the protagonist, Sinhue, fleeing Egypt into the Levant to escape pharaoh's wrath, following the assassination of King Amenemhet the first. It makes mention of Sinhue swelling with Bedouin and marrying the daughter of a chieftain.

Egyptologist Prof. James Hoffmeier notes that, despite several key differences, "These same features are found in the story of Moses in Exodus...Theses striking similarities between the main elements in the stories of Sinuhe and Moses have, surprisingly, not attracted the attention of biblical scholars."

The Timing of Senenmut's Disappearance and the Killing of the Egyptian

Is there something to the timing of Senenmut disappearance? Does it correlate to the 40th year when Moses would have left Egypt? The answer is yes.

"We have no dated references to Senenmut after year 18-19" of the Hatshepsut/Thutmose the third coregency...Standard high chronology, which places the beginning of the Hatshepsut/Thutmose the third coregency circa 1504 B.C., would puy this final mention of Senenmut (year 18-19) at circa 1486 B.C. - the 40th year of our biblical Moses...Senenmut disappears completely off the Egyptian scene. ..if you are keeping up on the mathematics, if Moses was born in 1526 B.C., he would have turned 40 in 1486 B.C., the same year he is said to have murdered the Egyptian.

There is no record of Senenmut disappear, a man with 90 titles, with a name implying equal power as Pharaoh. But his disappearance had reproductions, he suffered along with his Egyptian mother the curse of damnatio memoriae, with translated "damnation of memory." Who ordered the removal of Senenmut and Hatshepsut's names, that would be the Pharaoh of the Exodus Amenhotep the second. But not all the statutes bore the damnation of memory. Several survived, one in which this interesting inscription is found:

"The steward Senenmut it is who has come forth, from the flood and to whom has been given the inundation, that he may control it; even the Nile."

This inscription implies Senenmut came from the Nile, which they call the flood, which parallels the Biblical narrative of Moses:

(Exodus 2:3-10) "And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink. {4} And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him. {5} And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. {6} And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children. {7} Then said his sister to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? {8} And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child’s mother. {9} And Pharaoh’s daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. {10} And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water."