Sobekhotep VIII

The only contemporary attestation of Sobekhotep VIII is a stela found inside the third pylon at Karnak. This stela was used as construction material to fill the pylon during Amenhotep III's extensive works at the site. The stela is dated to the epagomenal, or final five days, of Sobekhotep VIII's fourth regnal year, and describes his attitude at a temple, probably that of Karnak, during a massive Nile flood:^[3]

(Life to) the son of Ra Sobekhotep, beloved of the great inundation, given life for ever. Year 4, fourth month of Shemu, the epagonal days, under the auspices of the person of this god, living for ever. His person went to the hall of this temple in order to see the great inundation. His person came to the hall of this temple which was full of water. Then his person waded there[...]

According to Egyptologist John Baines, who studied the stela in detail, by coming to the temple as it was flooded, the king reenacted the Egyptian story of the creation of the world in imitating the actions of the creator god Amun-Ra, to which the stela iconography closely associates the king, ordering the waters to recede from around the primordial mount.^[3]

The Karnak King List 43 (44) mentions Sekhemre Seusertawy (sḫm-rꜤ swsr-tꜢwi). He is listed between Merkawra (42 (45)) and a lost name (44 (43)).^[4]

The Turin King List does not mention Sekhemre Seusertawy. The list is heavily fragmented and many names have been lost. Some have speculated that he can be identified in Turin King List 11:2 as Sekhemre [...].

Egyptologists Jürgen von Beckerath and Labib Habachi considered Sobekhotep VIII to be a king of the 13th Dynasty.^[5][6]

The Turin King List (11:2) reads: "The Dual King Sekhemra ... 16 years ...".^[7] Egyptologists Kim Ryholt and Darrell Baker assign this entry to Sekhemre Seusertawy, which is Sobekhotep VIII's nomen. If this identification is correct, then Sobekhotep VIII reigned for 16 years as the third king of the 16th Dynasty. This would make him the direct successor of Djehuti and the predecessor to Neferhotep III, although his relation to both of these kings remains unknown.^[1][2] In his reconstruction of the chronology of the Second Intermediate Period, Ryholt proposes that Sobekhotep VIII reigned from 1645 BC until 1629 BC, shortly after the Hyksos 15th Dynasty took over the Nile Delta and the city of Memphis, thereby precipitating the collapse of the 13th Dynasty.