A Compendium of World Sovereigns: Volume I Ancient 1003330673, 9781003330677

Table of contents :
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Section One: Egypt and the Fertile Crescent
Sovereigns of Egypt: Pharoahs
‘Old Kingdom’
Middle Kingdom: Unity Re-Established under Dynasty Based at Thebes
‘New Kingdom’
Hittite Empire
Babylonia
Early Rulers
Babylonia: Amorite Dynasty
Kings of Assyria
LYDIA
Kings of Israel
Kings of United Israel
Kings of the Northern Kingdom: Israel
Kings of the Southern Kingdom: Judah
Maccabeean Kingdom
Herodian Dynasty
Section Two: The Greek World
Greece
Sparta
Kingdoms Extinct by the Classical Age
Athens
Thebes
Argos
Mycenae
Pylos
Ithaca
Troy
Greek ‘Tyrannies’
Greek Mainland/Aegean
Corinth
Sicyon
Athens: Peisistratids
Megara
Samos: Polycrates, Ionia
Ionia: Miletus
Caria
Gela
Athens: State and Empire. Political Leadership 509–400 BC
Macedonia
Longest Reigns
Queens of Macedonia
Kings of Epirus
Seleucid Kingdom
Longest Reigns
Seleucid Queens
Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt
Longest Reigns
Ptolemaic Queens
Kingdom of Pergamum
Kingdom of Pontus (Officially ‘Cappadocia-in-Pontus’)
Kingdom of Cappadocia
Kingdom of Bithynia
Kingdom of Galatia
Kingdom of Commagene
Greek Rulers in Bactria and India
Kingdom of Thrace
Kingdom of Armenia
Bosporan Kingdom: Crimea
Kings of Edessa: Abgarid Dynasty
Section Three: Asia
Kingdom of Nabatea
Southern Arabia: Kingdoms of Saba and Himyar
Royal Families of Persia
Achaemenids
Parthian Kingdom
Sassanid Kingdom of Persia
India – Magadha
Haryanka Dynasty
Shaisunaga Dynasty
Nanda Dynasty
Maurya Dynasty
Gupta Dynasty
Ceylon – Kings of Anuradhapura
Chinese Dynasties
Xia (Hsia) Dynasty
Shang Dynasty
Zhou (Chou) Dynasty: (1) Western Zhou
Eastern Zhou, 771–221 BC
Zhou rulers
Kings of Zhu/Chu
Kings of Xi (Ch’i)
Kings of Qin (Ch’in)
Yen/Yan
Kings of Lu
Kings of Song
Yue/Yuyue
First Imperial Dynasty: Qin (Ch’in)
Han Dynasty: (1) Western Han
Usurping Emperor
Han: (2) Eastern Han Dynasty
Empresses Consort of China
Han Dynasty
Intermediate Period
The ‘Three Kingdoms’
Western Jin
Eastern Jin
Southern Liang: At Nanjing
Southern Zhen (Chen): At Nanjing
Northern Dynasties
Earlier Xhao (Chao): Capital Pingcheng
Later Xhao (Chao): Hubei Province
Earlier Yen: Hubei Province
Earlier Qin: Capital at Chang-An
Later Qin
Northern Wei: Toba Dynasty
Eastern Wei
Western Wei
Northern Zhou
Northern Qi
Earlier Liang (Northern): Shanxi Province
Later/Northern Liang
Western Yen (Shensi)
Later Yen (Shensi)
Southern Yen (Zhandong)
Northern Yen (Hobei)
Imperial Reunification: Dynasties of All China
SUI: Capital Chang ‘an
Vietnam
First Kingdom, of Nanyue: Trieu Dynasty
Second Kingdom: Earlier Li Dynasty
Kingdoms of Korea
Silla
Koguryeo/Goguryeo
Japan: Emperors
Yamato Dynasty
Section Four: The Roman World
Ancient Rome
Roman Kings
The Roman Republic: Early Chief Magistrates and Dating Problems
Consuls of the Republic
Roman ‘DECEMVIRS’ Govt Experiment
Restored Traditional Republic
Roman War vs. Pyrrhus of Epirus
Rome: Run-up to ‘First Punic War’ with Carthage
Rome: First Punic War Period: Consuls
Second Punic War: 218–02 BC
NUMIDIA succession, c. 215–03 BC
After the Second Punic War
Pre-Crisis Period of Thelate Republic
Effective or Titular Supreme Commanders (Civil and Military) for the Final Years of the Republic
Consuls
Roman Emperors
Rebels/emperors in the chaos of 260–1
Western Emperors
Eastern Roman Empire: (1) 395–476
Longest Reigns to 476
Oldest at Death
Youngest at Accession
Roman Empresses
The Julio-Claudians: Family of Julius Caesar and Augustus
Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire: (2): Continues to 1204
Byzantine Empresses from 491
Kings of Georgia
Iberia
Chosroid Dynasty
Section Five: The Atlantic and Late Roman World
The ‘Celtic’ Atlantic and Post-Roman German Kingdoms
Britain
Kings of the Catuvellauni
Trinovantes (Based on Essex)
Atrebates (Based on Northern Hampshire)/Belgae (Southern Hampshire)
Regni (Based on Sussex)
Iceni (Based on Norfolk)
Brigantes (Based on Yorkshire and Lancashire)
Ireland
High Kings
Post-Roman Europe
Visigothic Kings
Italy
Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy
Popes (Bishops of Rome)
Index

Citation preview

A Compendium of World Sovereigns: Volume I Ancient

The Compendium of World Sovereigns series contains three volumes: Ancient, Medieval, and Early Modern. These volumes provide students with easy-to-access ‘who’s who’ with details on the identities and dates, ages and wives, where known, of heads of government in any given state at any time within the framework of reference. The relevant original and secondary sources are also listed in a comprehensive bibliography. Providing a clear reference guide for students, to who was who and when they ruled in the dynasties and other ruler-lists for the Ancient, Medieval, and Early Modern worlds – primarily European and Middle Eastern but including available information on Africa and Asia and the pre-Columbian Americas. The trilogy accesses and interprets the original data plus any modern controversies and disputes over names and dating, reflecting on the shifts and widening of focus in student and academic studies. Each volume contains league tables of rulers’ ‘records’, and an extensive bibliographical guide to the relevant personnel and dynasties, plus any controversies, so readers can consult these for extra details and know exactly where to go for which information. All relevant information is collected and provided as a one-stop-shop for students wishing to check the known information about a world Sovereign. The Ancient volume begins with the Pharaohs in Egypt and moves through Greece, Classical and Early Medieval Armenia, Crimea, Syria, Jordan, Israel and Judah, Persia, India and ends with the Roman World in the east and west. A Compendium of World Sovereigns: Volume I Ancient provides students and scholars with the perfect reference guide to support their studies and to fact check dates, people, and places. Timothy Venning is an independent scholar and researcher and formerly worked on the Oxford New Dictionary of National Biography. His previous books include A Chronology of the Crusades (2015), A Chronology of Early Medieval Western Europe (2017), A Chronology of Medieval British History, 1066–1307 (2020), and A Chronology of Medieval British History, 1307–1485 (2020).

A Compendium of World Sovereigns: Volume I Ancient

Timothy Venning

First published 2023 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 Timothy Venning The right of Timothy Venning to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Venning, Timothy, author. Title: A compendium of world sovereigns Timothy Venning. Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge, 2023. | Includes bibliographical references and index | Identifiers: LCCN 2022050656 (print) | LCCN 2022050657 (ebook) | ISBN 9781032361949 (v.1; hardback) | ISBN 9781032361956 (v.1; paperback) | ISBN 9781032361987 (v.2; hardback) | ISBN 9781032361994 (v.2; paperback) | ISBN 9781003330691 (v.2; ebook) | ISBN 9781032362007 (v.3; hardback) | ISBN 9781032362014 (v.3; paperback) | ISBN 9781003330677 (v.1; ebook) | ISBN 9781003330707 (v.3; ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Kings and rulers—Biography. | Kings and rulers—Bibliography. | World history. Classification: LCC D107 .V56 2023 (print) | LCC D107 (ebook) | DDC 352.23092/2—dc23/eng/20221021 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022050656 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022050657 ISBN: 978-1-032-36194-9 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-36195-6 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-33067-7 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003330677 Typeset in Times New Roman by codeMantra

Contents

Section One: Egypt and the Fertile Crescent

1

Sovereigns of Egypt: Pharoahs 1 ‘Old Kingdom’ 5 Middle Kingdom: Unity Re-Established under Dynasty Based at Thebes 12 ‘New Kingdom’ 19 Hittite Empire 34 Babylonia 38 Early Rulers 38 Babylonia: Amorite Dynasty 42 Kings of Assyria 44 LYDIA 52 Kings of Israel 54 Kings of United Israel 58 Kings of the Northern Kingdom: Israel 58 Kings of the Southern Kingdom: Judah 60 Maccabeean Kingdom 63 Herodian Dynasty 64

Section Two: The Greek World Greece 67 Sparta 67 Kingdoms Extinct by the Classical Age 77 Athens 77 Thebes 79 Argos 80 Mycenae 81 Pylos 82 Ithaca 82 Troy 84 Greek ‘Tyrannies’ 87 Greek Mainland/Aegean 87 Corinth 87 Sicyon 88

67

vi Contents Athens: Peisistratids 89 Megara 90 Samos: Polycrates, Ionia 90 Ionia: Miletus 91 Caria 92 Gela 95 Athens: State and Empire. Political Leadership 509–400 BC 99 Macedonia 110 Longest Reigns 116 Queens of Macedonia 116 Kings of Epirus 117 Seleucid Kingdom 118 Longest Reigns 121 Seleucid Queens 121 Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt 122 Longest Reigns 125 Ptolemaic Queens 125 Kingdom of Pergamum 127 Kingdom of Pontus (Officially ‘Cappadocia-in-Pontus’) 128 Kingdom of Cappadocia 129 Kingdom of Bithynia 130 Kingdom of Galatia 131 Kingdom of Commagene 131 Greek Rulers in Bactria and India 141 Kingdom of Thrace 143 Kingdom of Armenia 145 Bosporan Kingdom: Crimea 150 Kings of Edessa: Abgarid Dynasty 153

Section Three: Asia Kingdom of Nabatea 155 Southern Arabia: Kingdoms of Saba and Himyar 156 Royal Families of Persia 158 Achaemenids 158 Parthian Kingdom 162 Sassanid Kingdom of Persia 166 India – Magadha 171 Haryanka Dynasty 171 Shaisunaga Dynasty 171 Nanda Dynasty 172 Maurya Dynasty 172 Gupta Dynasty 173 Ceylon – Kings of Anuradhapura 174 Chinese Dynasties 177

155

Contents vii Xia (Hsia) Dynasty 177 Shang Dynasty 177 Zhou (Chou) Dynasty: (1) Western Zhou 178 Eastern Zhou, 771–221 BC 180 Zhou rulers 180 Kings of Zhu/Chu 181 Kings of Xi (Ch’i) 183 Kings of Qin (Ch’in) 184 Yen/Yan 187 Kings of Lu 188 Kings of Song 189 Yue/Yuyue 190 First Imperial Dynasty: Qin (Ch’in) 190 Han Dynasty: (1) Western Han 191 Usurping Emperor 192 Han: (2) Eastern Han Dynasty 193 Empresses Consort of China 194 Han Dynasty 194 Intermediate Period 195 The ‘Three Kingdoms’ 195 Western Jin 198 Eastern Jin 199 Southern Liang: At Nanjing 202 Southern Zhen (Chen): At Nanjing 203 Northern Dynasties 204 Earlier Xhao (Chao): Capital Pingcheng 204 Later Xhao (Chao): Hubei Province 204 Earlier Yen: Hubei Province 205 Earlier Qin: Capital at Chang-An 205 Later Qin 205 Northern Wei: Toba Dynasty 206 Eastern Wei 207 Western Wei 207 Northern Zhou 207 Northern Qi 208 Earlier Liang (Northern): Shanxi Province 208 Later/Northern Liang 209 Western Yen (Shensi) 209 Later Yen (Shensi) 210 Southern Yen (Zhandong) 210 Northern Yen (Hobei) 210 Imperial Reunification: Dynasties of All China 211 SUI: Capital Chang ‘an 211 Vietnam 212

viii Contents First Kingdom, of Nanyue: Trieu Dynasty 213 Second Kingdom: Earlier Li Dynasty 213 Kingdoms of Korea 214 Silla 214 Koguryeo/Goguryeo 216 Japan: Emperors 218 Yamato Dynasty 218

Section Four: The Roman World Ancient Rome 222 Roman Kings 222 The Roman Republic: Early Chief Magistrates and Dating Problems 224 Consuls of the Republic 226 Roman ‘DECEMVIRS’ Govt Experiment 231 Restored Traditional Republic 232 Roman War vs. Pyrrhus of Epirus 250 Rome: Run-up to ‘First Punic War’ with Carthage 252 Rome: First Punic War Period: Consuls 253 Second Punic War: 218– 02 BC 258 NUMIDIA succession, c. 215– 03 BC 261 After the Second Punic War 262 Pre-Crisis Period of Thelate Republic 267 Effective or Titular Supreme Commanders (Civil and Military) for the Final Years of the Republic 275 Consuls 276 Roman Emperors 281 Rebels/emperors in the chaos of 260–1 289 Western Emperors 293 Eastern Roman Empire: (1) 395–476 294 Longest Reigns to 476 295 Oldest at Death 296 Youngest at Accession 296 Roman Empresses 296 The Julio-Claudians: Family of Julius Caesar and Augustus 301 Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire: (2): Continues to 1204 310 Byzantine Empresses from 491 314 Kings of Georgia 315 Iberia 315 Chosroid Dynasty 316

222

Contents  ix

Section Five: The Atlantic and Late Roman World

317

The ‘Celtic’ Atlantic and Post-Roman German Kingdoms 317 Britain 317 Kings of the Catuvellauni 322 Trinovantes (Based on Essex) 322 Atrebates (Based on Northern Hampshire)/Belgae (Southern Hampshire) 322 Regni (Based on Sussex) 324 Iceni (Based on Norfolk) 325 Brigantes (Based on Yorkshire and Lancashire) 326 Ireland 331 High Kings 331 Post-Roman Europe 336 Visigothic Kings 336 Italy 339 Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy 339 Popes (Bishops of Rome) 341 Index

347

Section One Egypt and the Fertile Crescent

Sovereigns of Egypt: Pharoahs The surviving evidence for the lists and dating of rulers comes from a mixture of documentary and archaeological sources, none of it precisely exact for the period until the seventh century BC. The main written source for the early dynasties, the work of the third century BC priest Manetho, has only survived in quotations/extracts in later authors, such as Africanus in the second century AD and the fourth century Christian historian Eusebius’ ‘Chronicon’ in the fourth century. The papyrus Royal Canon of Turin is fragmentary. Manetho also created the usually accepted division of Egyptian sovereigns into 30 dynasties, though the accuracy of many of his names has been doubted and it is arguable whether his useage of the word ‘dynasty’ has the same exact meaning of a distinct family as that used in modern times (as first used by the Romans). His suggestion of a pre-dynastic history of thousands of solar years in Egypt was hastily changed to ‘solar months’ by later, Christian historans who regarded this as contradicting the Flood story. Manetho’s claims of a very long pre-dynastic period were however in line with what Greek historian Herodotus heard in Egypt in the fifth century BC. Another problem is that some ‘separate dynasties’ seem to have been closely related, and reasons for declaring a new ‘dynasty’ when the same family continued to rule are unclear. There are three main lists surviving in stone – the fifth-dynasty Palermo Stone for the period until c. 2450 BC, and the ‘Royal Lists’ compiled under the ‘New Kingdom’: of Karnak (to Tuthmosis III), Abydos (to Seti I, preserved in his temple), and Saqqara (to Ramesses II). These lists give the sequence of early reigns and their lengths but not the precise dating as it can be correlated to our own calendar. For the latter we have to rely on the cross-dating of Egyptian events with those elsewhere in the Near East, and on astronomical records such as that of the heliacal rising of Sirius (from which the seventh year of Senusret III can be fixed at 1872 BC). The usually accepted dating, drawn up in the 1880s, has been disputed by some Egyptologists, partly involving the question of whether the star used to fix the date of heliacal rising could have been Spica. This would place all the obscure dynasties in sequential rather than parallel order, thus having only one reigning at a time, and push back the First Dynasty by over 1000 years into the fifth millennium BC. This would place Khufu at c. 3400, and the start of the Eighteenth Dynasty at c. 1709. The king-lists for the early dynasties in Manetho are notably different from the other main sources, and his early modern interpreters who used his reckoning of regnal years as accurate pushed back the First Dynasty to c. 3500 BC. This was the reckoning used by

DOI: 10.4324/9781003330677-1

2  Egypt and the Fertile Crescent the American archaeologist James Henry Breasted in his 1905 Egyptian history, which in turn placed the start of the Third Dynasty at c. 2980 BC, the Fourth at c. 2900, the Fifth at c. 2750, and the Sixth at 2623; by this reckoning the ‘First Intermediate period’ after the Old Kingdom would date from 2475 to 2160 BC. This is now seen as improbable given the definitive carbon-dating of material in the Great Pyramid, which was built by the Fourth Dynasty ruler Khufu, as from the twenty-sixth century BC. The current generally accepted reckonings for the dates of most Pharoahs arise from the series of conferences of experts in the ‘Synchronization of Civilizations in the Eastern Mediterranean in the Second Millenium BC’ project – Gothenburg in 1987 (led by Paul Astrom), Schloss Haindorf in 1990 and 1996, and Vienna in 1998. This created the notion of three distinct possible chronologies – ‘High’, ‘Middle’, or ‘Low’, the latter being the shortest (i.e. with the latest possible date for the First Dynasty et al). The ‘Low’ i.e. ‘Short’ Chronology has generally been accepted for Egypt as best fitting the evidence of the New Kingdom, and the date of the start of the NK with the Eighteenth Dynasty was agreed at 1540 to 1530 BC in 1987. Controversies continue over Mesopotamian dates (qv.). There have also been some disagreements over the lengths of reigns in the NK and elsewhere due to arguments over whether the ‘Sed’ festival, apparently celebrated for a monarch’s 30th year of reign, could be celebrated in other circumstances. The latest radiocarbon dating would indicate a 68% probability of the accession of the first ruler of the First Dynasty as being between 3118 and 3045 BC, with a 95% probability of it being after 3218. I have listed the earlier dynastic dates in question-marks and the more certain ones of the ‘New Kingdom’ (from ?1570 BC) without indicating our greater knowledge of the dating of the latter, and followed the most generally accepted dating. However, this is still not exact, and new evidence may indicate that the current dating-system needs to be refined by a few years. (A few controversial historians such as David Romer have propounded theories altering it forwards by more, putting Rameses II at c. 930, but this is not generally accepted.) Some major problems and gaps in our knowledge still remain, not least over the question of how far the ‘Hyksos’ dynasties in Lower Egypt from the C18th to the C16th represent an incursion by Levantine (Semitic?) peoples into the normal Egyptian order. It is not clear whether the incursion into Egypt was a substantial one in numbers or just of a ruling elite/dynasty, or whether the large numbers of kings attested for this period sometimes ruled simultaneously (or is so, where). Nor can the chronology of the Old Testament be correlated with the Egyptian records, which do not mention the Jewish/Hebrew arrival under Joseph, their ‘enslavement’, and the Exodus at all. Again, the numbers of any Jewish migration are unclear; it may have been a small-scale and short-term move to escape a local famine, which was too insignificant to register in Egyptian records, and it was only magnified much later in religious-based mythology written down in the kingdoms of Israel or Judah up to 900 years after the event. The Old Testament references to the Jews working as labourers on specific cities in the Nile Delta mentions places that were built in the C13th BC – but the OT’s own chronology puts the Exodus at being around 400–480 years (12 generations?) before Soloman in the C10th BC. The identification of the Pharoah who attempted to stop the Jews leaving Egypt cannot be made for definite, though Ramesses II is one favourite and another theory suggests Amenhotep III (or a late C16th BC Pharoah?) on account of a similarity between the ‘Plagues’ that preceded the Exodus and the ‘fallout’ from the eruption of the Thera volcano. The latter is, however, usually reckoned as occurring c.

Egypt and the Fertile Crescent  3 1630, before the start of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Some accounts have also suggested a link by Moses (whose name is an abbreviation of Egyptian royal ones) to the Eighteenth or Nineteenth Dynasty Pharoahs, or that he adapted or was influenced by the controversial monotheism of Pharoah Akhenaten in the C14th BC. Even one of the best-known of the Pharoahs, Tutankhamun, cannot be placed definitively as the son or half-brother of Akhenaten, and there is more controversy over who the mysterious ‘Sea Peoples’ were who invaded Egypt and were fought off c. 1180 BC by Ramesses III. Mystery also surrounds the exact location of the land of ‘Punt’, rich in exotic tradegoods, with which Egypt was trading via the Nile in the second millennium BC; given the ocean-going capabilities of ceremonial ‘barge’ ships found at Pharoanic burialsites, they could have tackled open seas and Punt may be as far afield as Somalia. The rulers are listed from the unification of the ‘Two Lands’, Upper and Lower Egypt, c. 3100 under a ruler who henceforth wore a combined double crown to symbolise it. He is usually known as the ‘Pharoah’, though the name’s translation ‘Great House’ refers as much to his residence. The names in our much later records are backed up by some physical evidence, e.g. the ‘Narmer Stone/Palette’. Some early kings also possibly used several names, e.g. Narmer as the elusive ‘King Scorpion’, and later rulers had both personal names and official regnal names created for their eras (the latter as ‘Horus names’). Manetho and others also list earlier dynasties who are even more obscure, dating back over several more thousands of years and including the semidivine ‘Sons of Horus’, who are not backed by physical evidence unlike the subsequent dynasts. Herodotus (book 2, chapter 42) reckoned that the human dynasts of Egypt reached back over 341 generations, i.e. 11,340 years, to the rule of the ‘gods’. As in Greece, latermythographers probably played up the first kings’ status by making them heirs of the gods and descendants of semi-divine founding kings. The elite that must have sustained the first unification of Egypt and move to dynastic rule c. 3100 BC led a people who had earlier been living in the then much more fertile oases of the eastern Sahara until this land was made unfarmable by desertification by climate change in the fifth millennium BC. The archaeological remains of early settlements have been found in the desert in modern times – but whether they had chiefly rulers is unknown. This is now known as the ‘Naqada’ period. The Egyptians’ own regnal year dating altered several times. Gardiner assumed that under the Middle Kingdom their ‘regnal year 2’ for a new king began on the civil New Year’s Day (i.e. ‘a Akhet 1’) following their accession, so their first ‘regnal year’ was usually shorter than one full year. This was certainly the case from the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty onwards. But under the New Kingdom, from Dynasty Eighteen, and until the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty the regnal years were dated more accurately, from the exact date of accession – i.e. the second regnal year began one year after accession. The early European scholars to study Ancient Egypt made estimates for the First Dynasty that gave a longer chronology than C20th reckoning: the pioneering C19th French translator Champollion reckoned that it had commenced c. 5867 BC. This was then shortened to 3315 by Eduard Meyer; since c. 1930 most historians place it around 3100–3000 BC. The names by which we normally refer to the rulers are in fact the fifth of five parts of what became the established style of royal names by the Eighteenth Dyasty in the C15th and C14th BC – the ‘personal name’ given at birth. The other four names were more ‘official’ titles, and their list had been built up since the First Dynasty when our records of the early rulers only give them one name. (The word ‘Pharoah’, or ‘Great

4  Egypt and the Fertile Crescent House’, as the title of the king rather than a reference to his official residence, does not appear to have been used until the Nineteenth Dynasty, starting with Merneptah in surviving evidence.) The five parts of the name were: 1 2 3 4 5

The ‘Horus name’, as the official representative of the state’s protector-god Horus. Used as far back as the First Dynasty. The ‘Nebty name’, i.e. the name identifying the ruler with the patron goddesses of the ‘Two Lands’ that had united as Egypt, Upper Egypt the goddess Nekhbet) and Lower Egypt (the goddess Wadjet). The ‘God Falcon’ or ‘Golden Horus’ name, used from the Fourth Dynasty with a representation of the sacred falcon of Horus. The ‘Throne Name’, an official title with representations of the hieroglyphs for the ‘sedge’ (the symbol of Upper Egypt) and the ‘bee’ (the symbol of Lower Egypt). The personal name.

The ‘Pharoah’ or ‘king’ was usually male and there were very few reigning as opposed to consort queens, though the most famous of these, Hatshepsut in the C15th BC, was not the first of these. But there does not seem to have been any explicit ban on a female reigning; the list of titles was used in identical form with the usual list when there was a female on the throne. The vandalising of monuments to one or two rulers who we are now certain were female may well indicate that female succession was controversial, although we know of a number of queen consorts serving as regents when their husband died and an under-age son succeeded – as far back as the fourth millennium BC? The way that a regnant female kept rigorously to the usual official, male nomenclature has made it difficult to pinpoint them, especially as until recent decades this phenomenon was seen as virtually unique for Hatshepsut. The only certain female rulers apart from her were Sobekneferu (the first ruler to use a name associated with the crocodile-god Sobek) in the Twelfth Dynasty, daughter of Amenemhat III and probably wife/sister of Amenhemhat IV, and Neferneferuaten who was one of the problematic successors of the controversial monotheist ruler Akhenaten in the C14th. The latter’s identity is still not clear, as scholars differ over whether she was the latter’s widow Nefertiti (reigning with a different ‘offiical’ title to her name as queen consort) or his daughter Meritaten. There was also a mysterious female ruler who the Ancient Greeks called ‘Nitocritis’, possibly in the Sixth Dynasty but equally possibly an invention, and the Fifth Dynasty apparent queen regnant Setibhor, ?widow of king Djedkare, whose pyramid‘s inscriptions commemorating her used the normal nomenclature for a male ruler. The senior title for an Egyptian queen consort was ‘Great Royal Wife’ (‘hmt nswt wrt’) which could be given either by the reigning king to his favourite (or genealogically most senior) wife, especially if she was of royal blood, or to his mother. The latter cases were more rare, and mostly included New Kingdom queens, e.g. Tuthmosis III’s mother Iset, Tuthmosis IV’s mother Tiaa (a former concubine not a formal royal wife, as far as can be worked out), and Amenhotep III’s mother Mutemwia. The more general titles of ‘King’s Wife’ (‘hmt nswt’) and ‘King’s Mother’ (‘mwt nswt’) were more common, as was the role and rank of female regent for an under-age son. As with China, royal concubines who had given birth to a son who became king could be elevated to royal rank either by their husbands or by their sons.

Egypt and the Fertile Crescent  5 ‘Old Kingdom’ First Dynasty, c. 3118–2890 BC or starting in c. 3000 according to Ian Shaw in his Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (Oxford UP 2000). Recent discovery of seals of the kings Den and Qaa at the dynasty’s Abydos necropolis suggest that there were eight rulers, as stated by Manetho (i.e. excluding the queen regents); for the queries over the presumed identification of ‘Manes’ as the first king in written evidence with the archaeological evidence of Narmer claiming this role see D B Emery, Archaic Egypt (Penguin 1961) pp. 32–7. It is now thought likely that the dynasty came from the Abydos region in middle Egypt but created a new (part-time?) dynastic capital at the upper end of the Nile delta in Lower Egypt, around Memphis, to cement their conquest of a formerly separate state (or states) in that region. The wars illustrated on the famous palette of the founding/unifying king, identified there as Narmer, were probably this conquest, which unified Egypt. Total: Eight kings ruling for 253 years (Manetho) or 252 years (Eusebius). M: Manetho; E: Eusebius; A or AKL: Abydos king-list (Temple of Seti I): T: Turin Papyrus list. Name

Accession

Death/dep. Years r. (where two dates given with ‘M’ and ‘T’, this is the range in the ‘official’ reckonings of Manetho and the Turin Papyrus. E is a reference to Eusebius.)

Menes (acc. to Manetho)/Meni (A) (probably aka Narmer)

c. 3118 BC?

?

62 (Manetho) 60 (E)

Athothis (M) i/Teti (A)/Hor-Aha (T) (father of Djer)

57 (M) 27 (E)

Neithhotep (probably widow of HA, as regent) (earlier assumed be wife of Narmer and mother of HA) (possibly the same as Queen Khenthap, named in one inscription)

1 (T)

Djer (T)/Iti (A)/Kenkenes/Uenephres (M)

10 if count annual rather than biannual

Sahaure (A) (‘Sephres’) (son?)

2491?

2477?

13 (M)/12, 5 months (T)

Neferikare Kakai (‘Nephercheres’) (previously known as Renefre) (son?)

2477?

2467?

10–11 (modern estimates)

2463??

c. 5 (modern estimates)

Neferefre (A) 2467?/Raniferef (‘Cheres’) (son)

(?N/R with mother, queen Khenthaus II, as regent early in reign – unless she was the mother and regent of Nyuserre Ini, below. She reigned around 2465/45.) Shepsekare (?son of NK; earlier thought to have reigned before NR)

2463??

2462??

7 (M)/months (modern est.)

Nyuserre Ini (A) (‘Rathoures’) (son of NK)

2462?

2432/22?

44 (M)/c. 30 (modern est.)

Menkauhor (A) Akuahor/ Menkauhre (‘Mencheres’) (son?)

2422?

2414?

8 or 9 (modern est.)

Djedkare (A) Isesi (‘Tancheres’)

2414?

2375?

44 (M)/28 (T)

(? Queen Setibhor, widow; may have ruled as sovereign after him and preceded Unas. Her pyramid bears the normal titles for a regnant sovereign not a consort.) Unas (A and T)/Wenis (‘Omsi’)

2375?

2345?

30 (T)/c. 15 (modern est.)

To illustrate the divergent modern estimates of Old Kingdom chronology, the following dates are estimated for Neferefre’s accession: 2475 (Miroslav Verner, 1985) 2460 (Thomas Schneider, 1996) 2456 (Neil Strudwick, 1985) Sixth Dynasty, c. 2345–2171 Total: Six kings, ruling for 203 years (M and E). Name

Accession

Death/dep. Years r.

Teti (Greek ‘Othoes’)

c. 2345?

2333?

12? (modern estimate)

10  Egypt and the Fertile Crescent (m. Queen Iput, daughter of last Fifth Dynasty king Unas, so he may have derived his legitimacy as king through her. After his death c.2333, Iput seems to have ruled as regent for her son Pepi I.) Merye Pepi I/Neferdjahor

2333/2?

Merenre (A) 2288?/aka Merenrye Nemtyemsaf (son)

2293/88?

44 (T) 48–9 (South Saqqara Stone)

2275?

11–13? (S Saqqara Stone, of Bau and Dobrev article 1991)

(m Queen Ankhesenpepi II, mother of successor, who was regent in the latter’s early years.) (Merenre’s regnal length is c. 11 years if cattle-count if biennial, c.6 if annual) Neferkare Pepi II (son)

2275?

2180?

94 (M)/90 (T) 60–70 (modern estimates.) 64 (if A. Spalinger article (1994, qv.) is correct in reckoning of 31 counts plus 1 year)

(Pepi II’s reign regarded as the longest in Egyptian history.) (End of Pepi II’s reign estimated at 2194 BC by von Beckerath 1994, 2184 by Jaromir Malek article in Shaw’s book, 2180 by Thomas Schneider 2002.) Merenre Nemtyemsaf II (son) Menkare/(Netjerkare Siptah, if he was not first ruler of next dynasty)

2180?

2178?

c. 1? (trad, seen as very short)

2171?

2158 BC Manetho: ‘27 kings in 146 years’ Eusebius: ‘5 kings in 100 years’ (Abydos KL has detailed list; Turin Papyrus fragmentary) (? Netjerikare as first ruler in Abydos King List, as successor to Merenre Nemtyemsaf of the Sixth Dynasty without mentioning the kings of the latter.) Name

Accession

Death/dep.

Years r.

?Menkare (second ruler in Abydos KL)

c. 2170

2169/6?

1 (T) to 4 (modern est.)

Neferkare/Pepiseneb (N as third ruler on Abydos KL) Qakare Ibi (on Turin Papyrus; alternate placing below)

2160s?

(existence and importance of QI attested by discovery of pyramid at Saqqara) or Neferkare Neby (fourth king on AKL) Late 2160s?

4, 2 m. (T)

Neferkare Khendu (fifth king on AKL)/ Khwiwekepu Neferkauhor (T)

2150s?

2, 1 m. (T)

Neferikare (T) or Merenhor (sixth king on AKL)

2157?

Sneferka (AKL)/Neferkamin or

mid 2150s?

2156?

Wadjkare (unless confused with one of above) Nikare (successor to Sneferka on AKL)

(Nikare was ninth of dynasty as reckoned by von Beckerath, 1984) Neferkare Tereru (AKL) Nefwerkahor (AKL) Neferkare Pepiseneb (AKL) or Neferkare Kheref Seneb (T) Neferkamin Anu (AKL) Kaukara (A)/Qakare Ibi (alternate placing)

1, 2 wks. (T)

12  Egypt and the Fertile Crescent Ninth Dynasty (at Heracleopolis), c. 2156?–2130? Total: 19 kings in 409 years (Africanus) or four kings in 100 years (Eusebius). Name

Accession

‘Achthoes’ (M) (Meryibre Khety I)

c. 2156?

Neferkare VI

2140s?

‘Achthoes’/Nebkaure Khety II

2140s–2130s?

Setut

2130s?

Death/dep

(named in T, no length)

(seven names in Turin list, eight names unrecognizable in damaged lists) Tenth Dynasty (at Ibid), c. 2130?–2040 Name

Accession

Death/dep.

Years r.

Meryhathor

2130?

2110?

c. 20? (modern est.)

Neferkare VIII

?

(named in T, no length)

‘Achthoes’/Wakhare Khety III Merykare

> 30? (modern est.) 2070s/60s?

(Dynasty possibly loses Upper Egypt to autonomist rulers of Thebes, i.e. the future Eleventh Dynasty, in this reign.) (Unknown)

c. 2065?

Middle Kingdom: Unity Re-Established under Dynasty Based at Thebes Eleventh Dynasty (Originally Governors of Thebes under Tenth Dynasty), c. 2040–1994 Total: 16 kings in 43 years (Africanus). (?Mentuhotep, autonomist regional governor/‘nomarch’ in early to mid twentysecond century BC; m?Neferu I, name meaning ‘The Beauty’) Name

Accession

Death/dep.

Years r.

Intef I, son: first of dynasty to use honorary ‘Horus name’, i.e. Sehertawy) (THEBES)

c. 2035?

c.2120/18?

4–16? (T)

Intef II (brother) (THEBES)

c. 2120/18?

2070/68?

49? (T)

Egypt and the Fertile Crescent  13 (m. Neferukayet) Intef III ‘The Great’, (son) (THEBES)

2070/68?

2060?

8? (T)

2060?

2009?

51 (T)

(m. Iyah) Mentuhotep II (rebel against Tenth Dynasty; deposes them in war in his 14th year and reunites Egypt) (son)

(m. Ashayet, title ‘King’s Beloved Wife’ and probably senior queen; also Hehenhet, Kawit, Kemsit, Sadeh, who were buried with the royal pair at Mentuhotep’s funerary complex at Deir al-Bahari.) Sankhkare (AKL)/Mentuhotep III (son of M II)

2009?

1997?

12 (T)

Nebtawyre Mentuhotep IV

1997?

1991?

7? (modern est.)

Twelfth Dynasty, c. 1991–1780 The ‘Turin Papyrus’ has a timeline of 213 years, 1 month, and 17 days between Amenemhat I’s foundation of a new capital at Itj-towy, which was from then on referenced in his official titles, to the end of the dynasty, which had eight kings. Total: Seven kings, ruling for 160 years (Africanus) or 245 years (Eusebius). Name

Accession

Death/dep.

Years r.

Am(m)enemhat I/‘Ammenemes’/ Sehetepibre (AKL)

1991?

1962?

29/30 (modern est.)

1926?

35?, or 45 with co-rule

1926?

1892?

c. 34?

Or c. 1908

1878

(m. Neferitatjenen, title ‘King’s Mother’) Senusret I (Sesostris)/ Kheperkare (AKL) (son)

1971? (co-r.)/1962?

(m. Neferu III, his sister) Am(m)enemhat II / Nabkaure (AKL) (son)

14  Egypt and the Fertile Crescent (m. Keminub) Senusret II/ Khakheperre (AKL) (son)

1897/92?

1878?

(as per Lehner 2008) 19 (T) 10 or 19 (as per Ryholt 1997)

(Senusret II m Khenemetneferhedjet I and Nofret II, ‘Queen Consorts’) (Senusret II was apparently co-ruler with his father for first 5? Years) Senusret III (Sesostris)/ 1878? Khakaure (AKL) (son of S II and K)

1859?

(as per Hornung’s chronology) (as per papyrus evidence for 39? year reign)

Or 1839?

30 years (T) 8 to 19 years (modern estimates)

(S III m. Khenemetnefhedjet II, aka ‘United with the White Crown’; also? M. Sithathoriunet; also m. M. Neferthenut and Meretseger. M was the first to hold the tile of ‘Great Royal Wife’.) Depending on whether a precise astronomical observation, the heliacal rising of Sirius, dated to the seventh year of Senusret III’s reign, can be identified as one that occurred at the Twelfth Dynasty capital of Itj-Tawy on 17 Jul 1872 BC, his accession may be identified as 1878. Ian Shaw’s Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000) does so but others prefer c. 1892 or 1897. Name

Accession

Death/dep.

Years r.

Am(m)enemes III/ Amenemhat III/ Nimaatre (AKL) (son)

c. 1820?

1780s?

up to 46, part of it as co-regent

Alt.

c. 1860

c. 1814

(m. Aat, titled ‘King’s Wife’, certainly; Khenemetneferhedjet III, probably.) Am(m)enemhat IV/ Maakhaure (AKL)

1780s

(son)

or 1814?

(Queen Regnant) Sobekneferu (sister)

1780s or 1790s (as perNicolas Grimal 1992 or 1800s (as per Cathleen Kelly 2005) or 1770s (as per Ian Shaw 2003)

7? 1806/5? (as per Ryholt 1997) 4 or 5?

Egypt and the Fertile Crescent  15 (‘Hyksos’, i.e. Levantine, invasion and occupation of eastern Lower Egypt some time around the end of this dynasty?) Thirteenth Dynasty, c. 1780–1674 (Either Upper Egypt Only, or Upper and Western Part of Lower Egypt) (60 kings in total according to Manetho.) Divergent modern estimations of dates: R, i.e. Kim Ryholt 1997 S i.e. Thomas Schneider F i.e. Detlef Francke 1988 B is Von Becherath (T is Turin Papyrus) Name

Accession

Years r.

Sekhemre Ammenemhat Sobekhotep (I)/Khutawyre (Turin Papyrus)

c. 1803® 1724 (S)

c. 6?

(?son of Ammenemhat IV; 19th of dynasty according to Turin; first of dynasty according to Ryholt) Sekhemkare (Ammenes) Senbuef/ Sonbet

1800 (R)

4? (R and B)

(second of dynasty acc. to Ryholt) Nerikare (R) (third of dynasty acc to R)

c. 1796 (R)

3? or 1 (R)

Sekhemkare Amenemhat V?Inyotef

c. 1795 (R) c. 1746 (F)

3 to 4 (T)

(or same man as Sekhemkare, above, by another theory) Ameny Qemau

c. 1793 (R)

2? (R)

Hotepibre Qemau (son?)

c. 1791 (R)

3? (R)

(sixth of dynasty acc to R; 13th acc to von Beckerath) lufni (placing here in Ryholt)

c. 1788 (R) c. 1741 (F)

1?

Seankhibre Ameny Amenemhat V

c. 1787 (R)

3?

16  Egypt and the Fertile Crescent (Eastern Delta lost to ‘Hyksos’ and their Fourteenth Dynasty around this date?) Semenkare Nebnuni (ninth of dynasty, acc. to Ryholt; Beckerath places him eighth)

c. 1785 (R) c. 1739 (S and F)

2?

c. 1783 ®

1 or 2?

(Franke makes him same man as Hotepibre Qemau) Sewndjkare 11th of dynasty acc. to R)

c. 1781 (R) c. 1737 (S)

1? (Only appears in T)

Nedjemibre

c. 1780 (R) c. 1736 (S)

7 months (Only appears in T)

Khaankhre Sobekhotep II

c. 1780 (R)

3–4?

(Ryholt places KS here as 13th of dynasty; Simon Connot and Julien Slesse, online article 2015, place him much later.) Renseneb Amenemhat (14th of c. 1777 (R) dynasty acc. to R, 13th acc. to F)

4 months?

Hor Awiybre

c. 1777 (R) c. 1732 (S)

2? (R)

S ekhemrekhutawy Khabaw

1775 (R)

3 (R) or 6 (S)

Djedkheperew (brother?)

1772? (R) 1732?(S)

2 (R)

Amenemhat VII

1770? (R)

6 or 7 (R)

(Khutawayre Wegaf reigns next, according to Ryholt: others identify him earlier, as Sobekhotep I) Userkare Khenju

1760? (R) 1718?(S)

3–4?

Smenkhkare (inTurin list)

c. 1759 (R)

1–10?

c. 1711 (S) Sehetepkare Intef

c. 1758/7? (R)

(in Turin list)

c. 1710 (S)

Sobkhotep III

c. 1750 (R) c. 1700 (S)

3–4?

Neferkhotep

c. 1747? (R)

11 years, 4 m. (T)

c. 1721 (Hornung and Krauss, Ancient Egyptian Chronology, 2012) c.1705 (S)

under 10?

Egypt and the Fertile Crescent  17 Sihathor (brother, co-r)

c. 1735? (R)

months?, end of brother’s reign

Sobkhotep IV (brother)

c. 1733 (R)

8–9?

Merhotepre Sobkhotep V

c. 1724? (R)

3–4?

c. 1693 (S)

(Franke listing identifies him with later ruler, Merhotepre Ini) Wahibre Ibiau

?

10 years, 8 months

Merneferre Ay

c. 1701 (R) c. 1684 (S)

23 years (T)

Merhotepre Ini

c. 1677 (R)

2 years, 3–4 months

(Probable reduction of realm to Upper Egypt) Sobkhotep VI Sobkhotep VII

c. 1664 (R) c. 1646 (S)

1 year?

(Successors continue as rulers of Upper Egypt at Thebes; vassals of the ‘Hyksos’ rulers of Lower Egypt.) Fourteenth Dynasty, c. 1725–1650 (or c. 1805–1650) (Disputes whether dynasty lasted for 150 years, as per Ryholt, or 75 as per J and S Allen, 1999. The divergence may reflect on the shorter period being that of full rule of all the North, with Memphis.) ‘Hyksos’ (i.e. Asiatic, non-Egyptian) rulers at Xois in the Western Nile Delta: allegedly 76 (Manetho). Yakbir Sekhenenre (unclear placing; some have him first on list)

c. 1805 or 1725?

25 years?

Ya’ amimy Nubwoserre (second ruler?)

c. 10?

Khawsorre (third?)

c. 10?

Ahotepre (fourth?)

c. 15?

Sheshi Maaibre (fifth in Ryholt list)

c. 40?

Nehe Aasehre (sixth?)

1 or 2?

Nebefawre (Turin list)

1 year, 5 m. (T) (Continued)

18  Egypt and the Fertile Crescent Sehebre (Turin list)

3–4 (T)

Merdjafare (Turin list)

< 1699?

3–4 (T)

Sewadjkae III (Turin list)

1 year

Fifteenth Dynasty: ‘Hyksos’ of Lower Egypt, c. 1670 or 1650–? Myebre Sheshi Or ‘Salitis’ (Manetho)

c. 1670?

Placings of the following rulers disputed: Semqen? (R) Aperanat?

Yaqub-Har (Manetho edition by Leo Africanus)/Pachnan Khayan/Seuserenre (Africanus/Manetho) Auserre Apepi/Apophis I

>40?

Aqenenre/Apophis II

(if there was more than one Apophis, which is now doubted) Asehere Khamudy

1580s?

10–12?

(last ruler, defeated by Eighteenth Dynasty) Sixteenth Dynasty, c. 1684–1567 Other ‘Hyksos’ rulers of Lower Egypt. Seventeenth Dynasty, c. 1650/1580–1570 (Dispute if dynasty was shorter, all ruling in around 15 years, or longer.) Native Egyptian rulers at Thebes. Sekhemre Retuhotep

c. 1590/80?

?

Sobekhamsaf I Sobekhamsaf II Sekhemre Inyotef V (son?)

3

Egypt and the Fertile Crescent  19 Sekhemre Inyotef VI (brother?) Inyotef VII Senakhhtenre Ahmose (father of ST, grandfather of Kamose and Eighteenth Dynasty king Ahmose)

(m. Queen Tetisheri.) Seqerenre Tao II (son)

?

c. 1580/1560

prob. 2–5?

(ST apparently died violently according to examination of his remains, possibly in battle against the Hyksos of Lower Egypt or assassinated.) Kamose (son)

c. 1580

c. 1571

Or c. 1560

c. 1551

9 or 10?

(Kamose’s regent in his early years was his mother, Queen Ahhotep I, who d. c.1530.) (Reconquest of Lower Egypt from the ‘Hyksos’ by Kamose. This is also tied into in academic debate to the question of when and how the ‘Middle Bronze Age’ towns in Palestine came to a violent end, either c.1560–40 or a century later, and if this can be linked to the defeated ‘Hyksos’ retreating that way to Syria or being pursued by the Eighteenth Dynasty Egyptians.) ‘New Kingdom’ The great age of Egyptian power in the Near East, and rule over much of Palestine and Syria in the C14th and C13th. The main conquests of the Eighteenth Dynasty in Palestine/Canaan and the kingdom of Nubia in the upper Nile valley commenced in the 1490s under Tuthmosis I, plausibly both as a defensive measure against any further foreign incursions and as a propaganda ‘boost’ by a king who was not the son or brother of his predecessor so of shaky legitimacy. Having originated from the Thebes region of upper Egypt, the dynasty also commenced major building-work there (under Queen Hatshepsut) that restored it to a position of pre-eminence as a royal centre. Eighteenth Dynasty, 1570?–1293 or 1551–1274 Opening date is estimated from a heliacal event observed at the capital in the summer of the ninth year of Amenhotep I’s reign (in 1517 BC if this was at Thebes as was probable), at 1551 BC (as per most modern chronologies). But it could be earlier, c. 1560, if the observation was made at Memphis as this would have had to be in 1537. The likelier and later date, i.e. 1551, as based on placing the observation of the heliacal event at the usual dynastic capital, Thebes, is followed here – the ‘Low Chronology’. The alternative, using 1570 as the start-date, is the ‘High Chronology’.

20  Egypt and the Fertile Crescent Total: 263 years (Africanus) or 348 years (Eusebius). Ahmose I (‘Born of the Moon’)

1551 Or 1571/0

1526 1546 (High Chron.)

25 years, 4 months (Manetho)

(Ahmose appears from examination of his remains, found in 1884, to have been around 35 when he died so he succeeded aged around ten and was born c.1581 or 1561.) (Principal Wife of A I: Nefertari, who was also titled ‘God’s Wife of Amun’ and had high priestess rank at the great sanctuary of Amun at Thebes.) (Wife: Ahmose-Sitkamose, probably daughter of Pharoah Khamose.) Amenhotep I (eldest surviv. son)

1531 (co-r.)/1526

1506

Or

1546

1526 (High Chron.)

20 years, 7 months (Manetho)

(Principal Wife: Ahmose-Meritamun, sister.) (Dates from here on as in Low Chronology.) Tuthmosis I (‘Khebros’ in Africanus) (?brother-in-law; in that case his wife Queen Ahhame s/Ahmose, i.e. ‘Born of the Moon’, was A I’s sister)

1506

1493

12 or 13 years, 9 m. (M)

Tuthmosis II (‘Misaphris’ in Africanus) (son)

1493

1479

13 (M), some modern est. 3–4

(Great Royal Wife: Satiah/Sitioh, i.e. ‘Daughter of the Moon’) (Junior wife: Iset, mother of Tuthmosis III.) (Wife: Meryte – Hatshepsut.) (Queen) Hatshepsut (Regent 1494) (half-sister/wife of T II; daughter of A I and Ahhames)

1479

1458

21 (sole rule) (Josephus) 22 (Africanus/ Manetho)

Tuthmosis III (stepson, son of TII by Iset)

1479

1425

54

sole 1458

1425

33 (26 in Africanus and Eusebius)

(Great Royal Wife: Nebtu.) (Lesser wives: Menhet, Menwi, and Merti, foreign princesses and possibly Syrian.) (Tuthmosis was the warrior who brought the Egyptian empire to its greatest extent, conquering as far afield as Upper Nubia and coastal Syria.)

Egypt and the Fertile Crescent  21 Amenhotep II (son of TIII)

1428 (co-r.)/1425 1398

30 27

(alternative ‘High Chronology’ dating for A II c. 1454–1419) (Principal Wife of A II, but only given rank by her son T IV, not in her husband’s lifetime when she was a concubine : Tiaa) Tuthmosis IV (son)

1398

1388

10 (probable) 9 years, 8 months (Manetho/Eusebius)

Or:

1401

1391 (Beckerath, 1997)

(Principal Wife of T IV: Nefertari II) Amenhotep III (son by Mutemwia)

1388

1350

37/38

Or:

1386

1349 (Bec kerath, 1997)

(Principal Wife of A III: Tiye.): Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten (son)

1350/1349

1336/5 1334/3

16–17 (inscript. Reference to 17th year)

(Principal wife: Nefertiti. Other wives: Kiya, Meritaten) Akhenaten, the unique and controversial transformer of Egyptian religion into a monotheistic practice (swiftly reversed on his death), also moved the capital – to his new desert foundation of Amarna, abandoned on his death. Knowledge of his reign is so muddled, probably aided by obliteration of records of him by his successors, that his length of reign, cause of death, location of tomb, and relationship to his successor have been disputed. As of the latest discoveries of inscriptions it is clear that he and Nefertiti were still reigning in his 17th regnal year. Smenkhkare (son or half-bro.) (co-r.)

1335/3

1333/2

Prob. 2

(unknown if Smenkhkare ruled only during Akhenaten’s lifetime or partly after his death.) Neferneferuaten (Queen) (wife of S, Possible daughter of Akhenaten)

1334?

1332?

2?

22  Egypt and the Fertile Crescent (One theory has N. as Akhenaten’s widow, Queen Nefertiti, now regnant and so using a different title from when she was queen consort: see J K Harris 1973. The identification of this ruler with an identical one who was co-ruler with Akhenaten, i.e. his wife, is listed by Alan Dodson, 2009; the identification of N as a separate ruler from Smenkhkare and as female was made by James P Allen, 1994 and 2006. For the alternative identification of Nefernefertuaten as Akhenaten’s daughter Meritaten, see Marc Gabolde 1998.) Tutankhamun (?son of A.)

1332?

1323?

9

(The latest theory on the disputed cause of Tutankhamun’s death, which occurred in his mid-teens, is that the fracture of a leg discovered in the 2007 examination of his remains may indicate a serious accident and fall, possibly from a chariot while hunting; murder has also been suggested.) Ay (non-dynastic)

1323

1319

4

Horemheb (non-dynastic)

1319?

1292

27 (mainstream theory)

Or:

1306

1292

14 (recent theory; J van Dyck 2008)

Nineteenth Dynasty, 1292–1185 Total: 209 years (Africanus) or 348 years (Eusebius). Ramesses I (nominee of Horemheb)

1292

1291/90

2?

Seti I (son)

1291/0

1279

11–15 (51 in Africanus)

Ramesses II (son)

1279

Jul/Aug 1213

66 (as Eusebius; Africanus has 61)

(Principal wife: Nefertari. Also m. Meritamen.) Merenptah (year son)

1213

2 May 1203

9/10 (20 in Africanus, 40 in Eusebius)

Amenmesses/Amenmose (brother or son)

1203/2

1200/1199

3

Seti II (son of M)

1200/1199

1194/3

6

Siptah

1194/3 (co-r 1197?)

1191

6

(Queen) Tewosret (probable dau. of Merenptah)

1191

1189?

2 (and 4 as co-r?)

Egypt and the Fertile Crescent  23 Twentieth Dynasty, 1189?–1077? Total: 135 years (Africanus) or 178 years (Eusebius). The main event of Ramesses III’s reign, and probably the central crisis of the era acros the Mediterranean basin as well as in Egypt, was the mass-attack on Egypt by a coalition of ‘Sea Peoples’ around 1178/6, in the eighth year of Ramesses’ reign, which Ramesses defeated in a pitched land-battle at ‘Djahy’ (probably in southern Lebanon, i.e. before the attackers reached his borders) and in a subsequent sea-battle. This was then used as the centrepiece of his propaganda in his inscriptions with portrayals of the battle inscribed on his funerary temple monument at Medinat Habu near Thebes. The ‘Harris Papyrus’ (Papyrus EA 9999) at the British Museum also contains a very long triumphant account of his victory. Even allowing for the usual boastful Egyptian royal exaggerations it is apparent that there was a serious invasion by land and by sea by an unusual coalition of wandering, landless peoples. These had arrived via the Syrian-Palestinian area and some of them may have been living in Cilicia or on the coast of Syria, but they appear to have come from further afield and the seaborne attack may have included a contingent from coastal Libya. They possibly included some Greeks from the Aegean islands and Cyprus (some of the swords depicted in the Egyptian inscriptions are similar to Mycenean Greek ones) and Anatolians as well as central Mediterranean and seaborne adventurers; the names as ‘Egyptianised’ may indicate Sardinia for one group, the ‘Sherdana’, and the ‘Peleset’ sound like the ‘Philistines’ whose origin is unclear but who ended up settled on and ruling towns on the coast.of Israel, between Acre and Gaza. This was in Egyptian hands during the C12th BC, and logically the defeated attackers (who were apparently re-settled as vassals of Ramesses) were placed there as military colonies by the Pharoah. Other elements of the ‘Sea Peoples’ included the unidentifiable ‘Denyen’ and ‘Tjekker’ in the Ramessid accounts; an earlier group of the ‘Sea Peoples’ had attacked Egypt and been defeated in the second year of Ramesses II’s reign (as described on Stele II at Karnak) so the phenomenon had been around for decades. Given their fleet as well as their land-forces, at least some of them appear to have been pirates and may have included opportunistic ex-traders preying on weak coastal defences and/or landless refugees who had lost out in some inter-tribal war in Southern Europe. It is possible that the regional unrest and sackings of major palace/urban sites in Greece by the ‘Dorians’ (see GREECE) in the C12th BC is linked to this movement of peoples. The fall of the seaborne trading ‘empire’/thalassocracy and civilization of ‘Minoan’ Crete in or near the C14th BC may also be a symptom or cause of this large-scale movement of peoples; ditto the later collapse of the Hittite empire in inland Anatolia. Logically, most modern historians think it probable that a widespread drought and some form of ‘climate change’ (and epidemics?) in the Mediterranean world touched off societal collapse and migrations. Indeed, the Egyptian civilization was one of the few Bronze Age ‘empires’ to survive this chaos – though its former empire up the Nile shrank back to ‘core’ Egypt under the Twentieth Dynasty and it seems to have lost control of most of coastal Palestine too. The cost of and losses in Ramesses’ wars may have helped to enfeeble Egypt in the following decades, and he was the last of the ‘New Kingdom’s great rulers. He was assassinated near Thebes while there for a festival by one of his junior wives, Tiye, and one of his sons (her son Pentawen) in obscure circumstances involving palace intrigue and the powerful courtier Pebekhamen, apparently aimed at putting Pentawen on the throne in place of the expected heir. The Pharoah was killed, but the

24  Egypt and the Fertile Crescent coup failed and the plotters were rounded up and executed. The feebleness and lack of politico-military success of the indistinct, shorter-reigning Pharoahs after Ramesses III may have helped or partially caused this ‘decline’ of Egypt, along with climatic and agricultural difficulties. There was also a degree of assumption of authority in Upper Egypt around Thebes by the powerful hereditary dynasty of High Priests of Amun, at least by the later C12th, but this (and general abdication of power to the lay and religious elites) may have followed rather than helped to cause a decline in central control. Setnakhtre

1189?

1186

3 (Mt Sinai inscription)

Apr? 1155

31, 1 m., 19 days

(Principal wife: Tiy-merenese) Ramesses III (son)

Mar 1186

(Principal wife: Tyti, sister. Lesser wives: Tiye, who was involved in husband’s killing; also Iset’Ta-Hemdjert’, i.e. ‘daughter of Hemdjert’, who appears to have been Syrian.) Ramesses IV (fifth son, by Tyti)

Apr? 1155

1149

6/7

(Principal wife: Duatentopet, half-sister.) (Ramesses IV was b. c.1176, as he was aged 12 when his elder brother Amenherkhepsef, the designated heir, died in c.1164.) Ramesses V/ Sekhenerenre (son by Duatentopet)

1149

1145/4

4–5

(Royal Wives:. Henutwati, Tawerettenru.) Ramesses VI (uncle; 1145/4 son of R III)

1136?

8 years, 2 m.

(Royal Wife: Nubkhesbed.) Ramesses VII/ Setepenre (son)

1136? (as Ian Shaw 1129? 2000) or 1138? (as Hornung, Krauss and Warburton 2006

7 or 8

Egypt and the Fertile Crescent  25 Ramesses VIII (ninth son of R III)

1129?

1128?

1 or 2

1129? Ramesses IX/ Neferkare Setepenre (son of Mentuherkhepeshef, yr son of R III, and ‘King’s Mother’ Takhat)

1111?

18 years, 4 m.

(Royal Wife:?Baketwernel.) Ramesses X (?son)

1111?

1107?

> 4?

Ramesses XI (son??)

1107?

1078/7?

29–30? (33 according to Ad Thijs, 1999)

(Royal Wife: Tentamun) (daughter: Duaththor-Henu Hawy, who m. Pinedjem I, High Priest of Amun at Thebes) Twenty-First Dynasty (at Tanis), 1077?–945? (Lower Egypt only) Upper Egypt was a separate and historically obscure region in this period, probably dominated by the dynastic line of High Priests of Amun at Thebes. The southern part of the New Kingdom beyond the First Cataract, the land of NUBIA, was independent and from the archaeology returned to the lifestyle of the pre-1400s BC ‘KERMA’ culture. This then changed by about 800–750 to the new ‘KUSHITE KINGDOM’, which was centred by the early-mid C8th at the city of Napata. This shared much of Egyptian religion, especially the cult of Amun, and had a major Egyptian-style temple sanctuary at Elephantine. The ruler of this state by the early C8th was Alara, married to Queen Kasaqa; their daughter was Tabiry, who was to marry Nubian/Egyptian king Piye, qv. Smendes I/Setepenre/Nesbanedjed

1077?

1051?

26 (Manetho)

Amenemni su/’Nephercheres’ (son)

1051?

1047/6?

4 (M)

Psusennes I/Paribkhanu/Setepenamun

1046?

1001?

41 or 46 (M)

(Great Royal Wife: Mutnedjmet, sister.) (Wife: Wiay.) (P was son of High Priest Pidendjem I of Thebes, autonomous ruler of Upper Egypt from c.1054, and Duathathor-Henu Hawy, daughter of Ramesses XI)

26  Egypt and the Fertile Crescent Amenemope/Setepenamu (son)

1001?

992?

9

Osorkon ‘the Elder’/’Osorchor’ (M)/ Setepenre

992?

986?

6 (M)

(O. was son of autonomous Libyan tribal warlord Sheshonq ‘A’, son of the leader of the ‘Ma’ or ‘Meshwesh’ people who appear to have been moving into the Lower Nile delta by this point, and Egyptian princess Mehtenweshkhat ‘A’. A modern reckoning by Rolf Krauss of his second lunar year as 990 makes his dating probable.) Siamun/Netekheperre Setepanamun

986?

967?

19? (at least 17)

(S’s 17th regnal year was probably 970; see Hornung, Krauss and Warburton, 2006) Psusennes II/Hor-Pasebakharniut

967/6?

945/3?

> 14 (M says 14, at least 19 probable)

(Wife: Karimala, possibly daughter of Osorkon ‘the Elder’) Twenty-Second Dynasty: Libyan (‘Bubastite’), at Tanis. 945–715 (Dating of early reigns probable, based on the expedition of S I to Jerusalem shortly before his death which the Old Testament mentions and which can be dated to 925. Also the dating of a festival in S I’s fifth year to 938.) Sheshonq I/Hedjkheperre Setepenre

945/3

924/2

21 (Kenneth Kitchen 1996) (Krauss 2005)

Osorkon I (son)

924/2

889/7

35 (‘15’ by M, prob. error)

Sheshonq II (brother??)

889/7

887/5

2

(‘3 kings between Osorkon I and Takelot I, acc. to one version of Manetho); Takelot I/Hedjkheperre Setepenre (son of O I)

887/5

872?

13 (M) or 15

Osorkon II (son)

872?

837?

29/30–35 38/9 suggested by Dodson (1997)

(Autonomous regime of cousin Harsiese ‘A’ at Thebes from 870s to d. 860) Sheshonq III/Usermaatre Setepenre

837?

798?

39

Egypt and the Fertile Crescent  27 (Loss of Upper Egypt to autonomous 23rd dynasty under Pedubast I in Sheshonq’s 11tth regnal year.) Shoshenq IV

798?

785?

13

(S IV: additional ruler, as suggested by David Rohl 1986) Pami

785?

778?

7–8

(Reckonings of dates of burial of the sacred Apis bulls put one such event in Year 28 of S III’s reign at 26 years from Year 2 of Pami’s reign, fixing their dates; probably refers to 809 and 783.) (Final rulers only ruled the Delta; central and southern Egypt under Twenty-Third Dynasty.) Sheshonq V (son)

767?

c. 730

37?

Osorkon IV

c. 730

c. 715

15?

Twenty-Third Dynasty: Upper Egypt Only to c. 715 (Leontopolis or Herakleopolis) Dynasty emerged from conflict of rivals in Upper Egypt: (a) Takelot II

c. 840

c. 817

c. 27)

(High Priest of Amun at Thebes and now identified as ‘Takelot B’, becomes King in final years of Osorkon II. Year 25 of Takelot II was Year 22 of Sheshonq III.) (b) Pedubast I (23rd dyn. Founder)

c. 825?

800?

25 (M)

Iuput (co-r.)

?

16?

Shoshenq VI

800?

795/4?

6?

(S. VI overthrown by the forces of Takelot III’s son, Osorkon III). Osorkon III (son of T II)

795/4?

767?

28?

Takelot III (son)

770?

755?

15 (first 2? As co-r.)

Rudamon (brother)

755?

752/1?

3–4

Iuput (Thebes only)

752/1?

c. 747?

5?

28  Egypt and the Fertile Crescent Twenty-Fourth Dynasty (Sais, i.e. Lower Egypt) Tefnakht Shepserre/‘Tnephachthos’ (not in Manetho)

c. 737

c. 730

7

Bakenrenef (Bocchoris)

c. 730

c. 724

5

(B. overthrown and executed in invasion by king Shebitku of Twenty-Fifth Dynasty of Upper Egypt) Twenty-Fifth Dynasty (Nubian or ‘Kushite’, at Napata) The only predominantly Sudanese, probably black, dynasty to rule Upper Egypt and to do so from Sudan; a continuation of the pre-existing Nubian kingdom of Kush (qv.). This was centred at Napata and was an illustration of the spread of Egyptian civilization South. The founder Piye’s father was Kashta, king of Nubia, who also became the ruler of Upper Egypt and controlled Thebes in the early-mid C8th; he was probably the brother of his predecessor, king Alara of Kush. Piankhi/Piye/Usimare Sneferre

744

714

27–30 or 31

(m. Tabiry, daughter of king Alara of Kush and possibly cousin; titled ‘Main King’s Wife’.) (P. conquered the 24th dynasty of Sais in the 20th year of his reign.) Shebitku Djedkare (son)

714

704?

11?

(Shebitku was originally assumed to be the third ruler, following Shabaqa; this has been revised since the discovery of a reference to him ruling in the 15th year of king Sargon of Assyria, i.e. 707/6: see Kahn 2006.) Shabaka/Neferkare (brother of Piye?) (m. Qalhata and Arty, daus of Piye)

704/3?

690

14 or 15

Taharqa (cousin of Shebitku, son/nephew of Piye)

690

664

26

Tanutamen/Tantami

664

656

8

(Assyrian conquest.) (dynasty continues in Nubia, under king Atlanersa, possibly son of Taharqa.) Twenty-Sixth Dynasty (Sais) The rulers are given with their Greek names, having relied heavily on Greek mercenaries and been the first dynasty to have close Greek ties. The first ruler, Psametik, was the son of Necho (I), d. 664, one of 12 rulers appointed by Assyria to govern Lower Egypt, and his wife Istemabet.

Egypt and the Fertile Crescent  29 Psametik I (Psammetichus)

664 656

610 610

54 (Lower Egypt) 46 (Upper Egypt)

610

595

15

(m. Mehytenweskhet) Nekau (II) (Necho) (son)

(m. Khedebneithirbinhet, titled ‘King’s Wife’ and ‘King’s Mother’) Psametik II (Psammetichus) (son)

595

589

6

Wahibre/Haaibre/Apries (son)

589

570

19 (Manetho)

Ahmose II (Amasis) (m. Tentkheta)

570

526

44

Psametik III (Psammetichus) (son)

526

525