Karnak King List

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Karnak King List
KarnakCanonPrisseDrawing.png
Drawing of the list in 1843
Createdc. 1450 BC
Discoveredbefore 1826
Luxor, Luxor Governorate, Egypt
Present location Paris, Ile-de-France, France

The Karnak King List, a list of early Egyptian kings engraved in stone, was located in the southwest corner of the Festival Hall of Thutmose III, in the middle of the Precinct of Amun-Re, in the Karnak Temple Complex, in modern Luxor, Egypt. Composed during the reign of Thutmose III, it listed sixty-one kings beginning with Sneferu from Egypt's Old Kingdom. Only the names of thirty-nine kings are still legible, and one is not written in a cartouche (a border used normally to surround the name of a king).

Contents

It is not a complete list of the Egyptian pharaohs, as other kings are known from other ancient lists, but this list is valuable as it contains the names of kings of the First and Second Intermediate Periods, which are omitted in most other king lists.

It was first described by James Burton in 1825. [1] In 1843, a German expedition directed by Egyptologist Karl Lepsius was traveling up the Nile River to Karnak. A French adventurer, Émile d'Avennes, dismantled and stole the blocks containing the king list one night in order to secure it for France, and sent it home. [2] [3] Severely damaged, it is now on display at the Louvre [4] in Paris.

Drawing of the list

Drawing of the Karnak King List. The colored bits remain, the white are more or less lost. Karnak King List Drawing.png
Drawing of the Karnak King List. The colored bits remain, the white are more or less lost.

Description of the list

The list features the name of the pharaoh followed by the actual one inscribed on the list. The list comprises three sections and is divided at the center. The numbering follows Lepsius, [5] counting from the sides, toward the center. Pharaohs that are known have the damaged part of the inscribed name in parenthesis.

Left sideRight side
Top Row
PharaohInscribed namePharaohInscribed name
1. Name destroyedName destroyed32. Senusret III Khakare
2. Sneferu Sneferu33. Sobekhotep IV Khaneferre
3. Sahure Sahure34. Neferhotep I Khasekhemre
4. Nyuserre Ini Ini35. Name destroyedName destroyed
5. Djedkare Isesi Isesi36. Sobekhotep I Sekhemre Khutawy
6. Name destroyedName destroyed37. Amenemhet VI Sankhibre
7. Name destroyedName destroyed38. Nebiryraw I Sewadjenre
8. Djehuti Sekhemre Sementawy39. Snaaib?...khau(re)
Second Row
PharaohInscribed namePharaohInscribed name
9. Name destroyedName destroyed40. Name destroyedName destroyed
10. Intef II Intef41. Neferhotep II Mersekhemre
11. Intef I In(tef)42. Sobekhotep VII Merkaure
12. Mentuhotep I Men(tuhotep) [a] 43. Sobekhotep VIII?Seusertawy
13. Intef the Elder Intef [b] 44. Unknown...re
14. Teti Teti45. Senusret IV Senefer(ib)re
15. Pepi I Meryre Pepi46. Sobekhotep VI Khahotepre
16. Merenre Nemtyemsaf I Merenre47. Sobekhotep II Khaankhre
Third Row
PharaohInscribed namePharaohInscribed name
17. Amenemhat I Sehotepibre48. Rahotep (Sekhem)re Wahkhaure
18. Amenemhat II Nebukare49. Sewahenre Senebmiu Sewahenre
19. Name destroyedName destroyed50. Merhotepre Sobekhotep Merhotepre
20. Name destroyedName destroyed51. Wegaf Khutawire
21. Amenemhat IV Maatkherure52. Name destroyedName destroyed
22. Sobekneferu Sobekneferu53. Name destroyedName destroyed
23. Sehetepkare Intef?Intef54. Sobekemsaf I Sekhemre Wadjkhau
Bottom Row
PharaohInscribed namePharaohInscribed name
24. Senusret I Kheperkare55. Unknown...re
25. Seqenenre Tao Seqenenre56. Pepi III?Senefer..re
26. Senakhtenre Ahmose Senakhtenre57. Mentuhotep V?Sewadj..re
27. Bebiankh Seuserenre58. Sekhemre Shedwaset?Sekhem..re
28. Nubkheperre Intef Nubkheperre59. Name destroyedName destroyed
29. Mentuhotep II Nebhepetre60. Name destroyedName destroyed
30. Mentuhotep III Seneferkare61. Name destroyedName destroyed
31. Mentuhotep IV (Nebtawy)re
P1060217 Louvre Thoutmosis III chapelle des Ancetres volet 1 rwk.JPG
P1060218 Louvre Thoutmosis III chapelle des Ancetres volet 2 rwk.JPG
P1060219 Louvre Thoutmosis III chapelle des Ancetres volet 3 rwk.JPG
Detailed photos of the actual list in the Louvre

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Accompanied by the Horus name "-aa", meaning "the ancestor", which is still visible next to it.
  2. ↑ Name is not written inside a cartouche

References

  1. ↑ Burton, James: "Excerpta Hieroglypica", Plate Ia, Cairo, 1825
  2. ↑ "L'Illustration, Journal Universel", Vol. VII, p 244-245, Paris 1846
  3. ↑ Monderson, Frederick. "Temple of Karnak: The Majestic Architecture of Ancient Kemet" p. 58
  4. ↑ Chapelle des ancêtres in the Sully wing, Rez-de-chaussée, Room 12, Catalogue number E13481bis
  5. ↑ Abhandlungen der Königlichen Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1852 (1853) p.455
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