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The Abydos King List of Ramesses II, also known as the Fragmentary Abydos King List, the Fragmentary Abydos King Table or the Fragmentary Abydos Tablet, is a list of Ancient Egyptian kings down to Ramesses' own time. Originally located in the temple of Ramesses II at Abydos in Egypt, it was built in the 13th century BC. The list is similar to the one inscribed in the temple built at the site by Ramesses' father and predecessor, Seti I, but with the addition of Ramesses' own throne name and nomen. The list was found by William John Bankes in 1818 and the surviving fragments were removed in 1837 by the French consul in Egypt, dismantled and the blocks sold to the British. Severely damaged as a result, it is now on display at the British Museum. [1] [2]
Contents
Ramesses' list is in fragments, so that only some of the kings' names survive. Originally, the list was believed to have consisted of four rows of 26 cartouches (borders enclosing the name of a king) in each row. The upper three rows would have contained names of the kings (76 ancestors plus Ramesses prenomen and nomen for a total of 78), while the fourth would have row merely repeats Ramesses II's prenomen and nomen. The original top row was lost in antiquity, leaving the current 3 rows with 32 cartouches of different pharaohs surviving.
This list omits the names of many earlier pharaohs who were apparently considered illegitimate — those were Sobekneferu, pharaohs of the Ninth Dynasty, pharaohs of the Tenth Dynasty, the Hyksos, pharaohs of the Second Intermediate Period, Hatshepsut, Akhenaten, Smenkhkare, Neferneferuaten, Tutankhamen, and Ay.
