Psammuthes

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Psammuthes or Psammuthis, [1] was a pharaoh of the Twenty-ninth Dynasty of Egypt during 392/1 BC.

Pharaoh Title of Ancient Egyptian rulers

Pharaoh is the common title of the monarchs of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty until the annexation of Egypt by the Roman Empire in 30 BCE, although the actual term "Pharaoh" was not used contemporaneously for a ruler until Merneptah, c. 1200 BCE. In the early dynasty, ancient Egyptian kings used to have up to three titles, the Horus, the Sedge and Bee (nswt-bjtj) name, and the Two Ladies (nbtj) name. The Golden Horus and nomen and prenomen titles were later added.

Twenty-ninth Dynasty of Egypt

The Twenty-ninth Dynasty of Egypt is usually classified as the fourth Dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian Late Period. It was founded after the overthrow of Amyrtaeus, the only Pharaoh of the 28th Dynasty, by Nefaarud I in 398 BC, and disestablished upon the overthrow of Nefaarud II in 380 BC.

Contents

Biography

The place of this king in the dynasty is a matter of debate. Although he is mentioned in three different epitomes of Manetho's Aegyptiaca (Africanus, Eusebius and the Armenian version of the latter) and in the Demotic Chronicle , the sequence of kings is different among these sources and it is unclear if Psammuthes succeeded Hakor, or vice versa. [1]

An epitome is a summary or miniature form, or an instance that represents a larger reality, also used as a synonym for embodiment. Epitomacy represents, "to the degree of." An abridgment differs from an epitome in that an abridgment is made of selected quotations of a larger work; no new writing is composed, as opposed to the epitome, which is an original summation of a work, at least in part.

Manetho Egyptian historian and priest from Ancient Egypt

Manetho is believed to have been an Egyptian priest from Sebennytos who lived in the Ptolemaic Kingdom in the early third century BC, during the Hellenistic period. He authored the Aegyptiaca in Greek, a major chronological source for the reigns of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt. It is unclear if he wrote his work during the reign of Ptolemy I Soter or Ptolemy II Philadelphos, but no later than that of Ptolemy III Euergetes.

Sextus Julius Africanus was a Christian traveler and historian of the late second and early third centuries. He is important chiefly because of his influence on Eusebius, on all the later writers of Church history among the Church Fathers, and on the whole Greek school of chroniclers.

According to a hypothesis of the Egyptologist John D. Ray, upon the death of Nepherites I in 393 BC, the throne passed to his son and successor, which is likely to had been Hakor. However, it seems that in his Year 2 a usurper, Psammuthes (a hellenized form of the Egyptian name Pasherienmut [2] ), seized power and deposed Hakor, while proclaiming himself pharaoh. [1]

John David Ray is a British Egyptologist and academic. He is the current Sir Herbert Thompson Professor of Egyptology at the University of Cambridge. His principal field of interest covers the Late and Hellenistic periods of Egypt, with special reference to documents in the demotic script, and he is also known for deciphering the Carian script, a writing system used by Anatolian mercenaries who fought for the late-period Egyptians.

Nepherites I Egyptian pharaoh

Nefaarud I or Nayfaurud I, better known with his hellenised name Nepherites I, was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the founder of the 29th Dynasty in 399 BC.

Hellenization historical spread of ancient Greek culture

Hellenization or Hellenisation is the historical spread of ancient Greek culture, religion and, to a lesser extent, language, over foreign peoples conquered by Greeks or brought into their sphere of influence, particularly during the Hellenistic period following the campaigns of Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC. The result of Hellenization was that elements of Greek origin combined in various forms and degrees with local elements; these Greek influences spread from the Mediterranean basin as far east as modern-day Pakistan. In modern times, Hellenization has been associated with the adoption of modern Greek culture and the ethnic and cultural homogenization of Greece.

Relief bearing part of Psammuthes' royal titulary, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Psammuthis-ReliefFragmentBearingNames MetropolitanMuseum.jpg
Relief bearing part of Psammuthes' royal titulary, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Both Manetho and the Demotic Chronicle give to Psammuthes a reign length of a year, agreeing with the highest date given by archaeological records, a Mother of Apis stele recording his "Year 1, fourth month of Peret ". Before the year 2 of Psammuthes, and thus before the "official" year 3 of Hakor, the latter in some way resumed power, and then continued to date his monuments since his first coronation date, simply pretending that the usurper never existed. [1]

The Season of the Emergence was the second season of the lunar and civil Egyptian calendars. It fell after the Season of the Inundation and before the Season of the Harvest.

Nevertheless, some archaeological records mentioning Psammuthes have survived: the Mother of Apis stele from the Serapeum of Saqqara, a block from Akhmim, and some other findings all from the Theban region. Psammuthes is generally credited to have ordered the construction of a chapel in Karnak, which was later usurped and finished by Hakor. It is also possible, however, that the chapel was started by Hakor before his deposition and further restored by him during his second reign. [1]

The Serapeum of Saqqara is a serapeum located north west of the Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, a necropolis near Memphis in Lower Egypt. It was a burial place of Apis bulls, sacred bulls that were incarnations of the ancient Egyptian deity Ptah. It was believed that the bulls became immortal after death as Osiris Apis, a name that appears in Coptic as ⲟⲩⲥⲉⲣϩⲁⲡⲓ, Userhapi, which was borrowed in Greek as Σέραπις, Serapis, in the Hellenistic period.

Akhmim City in Sohag, Egypt

Akhmim is a city in the Sohag Governorate of Upper Egypt. Referred to by the ancient Greeks as Khemmis, Chemmis and Panopolis, it is located on the east bank of the Nile, 4 miles to the northeast of Sohag.

Thebes, Egypt Ancient Egyptian city

Thebes, known to the ancient Egyptians as Waset, was an ancient Egyptian city located along the Nile about 800 kilometers (500 mi) south of the Mediterranean. Its ruins lie within the modern Egyptian city of Luxor. Thebes was the main city of the fourth Upper Egyptian nome and was the capital of Egypt mainly during the Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom. It was close to Nubia and the Eastern Desert, with its valuable mineral resources and trade routes. It was a cult center and the most venerated city of ancient Egypt during its heyday. The site of Thebes includes areas on both the eastern bank of the Nile, where the temples of Karnak and Luxor stand and the city proper was situated; and the western bank, where a necropolis of large private and royal cemeteries and funerary complexes can be found.

See also

Muthis may have been an ephemeral ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Twenty-ninth dynasty.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Ray, J. D., 1986: "Psammuthis and Hakoris", The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology , 72: 149-158.
  2. ↑ Peter Clayton, Chronicle of the Pharaohs, Thames and Hudson Ltd. 1994 p.203
Preceded by
Hakor 		Pharaoh of Egypt
Twenty-Ninth Dynasty 		Succeeded by
Hakor (restored)
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