Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt

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Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt
1077 BC–943 BC
Golden Mask of Psusennes I.jpg
Gold funerary mask of pharaoh Psusennes I
Capital Tanis
Common languages Amazigh language (Ethnic)
Egyptian language (Official)
Religion
Traditional Berber religion (Ethnic)
Ancient Egyptian Religion (Official)
Government Absolute monarchy
Historical era Third Intermediate Period of Egypt
 Established
1077 BC
 Disestablished
943 BC
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Blank.png Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt
Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt Blank.png

The Twenty-first Dynasty was an Ancient Egyptian dynasty of Amazigh origin founded by Smendes, it is usually classified as the first Dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian Third Intermediate Period, lasting from 1077 BC to 943 BC. [1]

Contents

History

After the reign of Ramesses III, a long, slow decline of royal power in Egypt followed, allowing the Libyan tribes to conquer Lower Egypt. This dynasty is described as 'Tanite' because its political capital was based at Tanis. Meanwhile, the High Priests of Amun at Thebes effectively ruled Middle and Upper Egypt in all but name. The later Egyptian Priest Manetho of Sebennytos states in his Epitome on Egyptian royal history that "the 21st Dynasty of Egypt lasted for 130 years". [2]

Pharaohs of the 21st Dynastdynastyy

Dynasty XXI Kings of Egypt
PharaohImage Prenomen (Throne name) Horus-name ReignBurialConsort(s)Comments
Smendes / Nesbanebdjed I Canopic Smendes Met.jpg Hedjkheperre SetepenreKanakhtmeryreseuser Amunkhepesheferseqamaat 1077 - 1051 BCunknown Tentamun Only controlled Lower Egypt during his reign. Founder of the 21st Dynasty.
Amenemnisu Bowcap Amenemnesut Psusennes by Khruner.jpg Neferkare Heqawaset(unknown)1051 - 1047 BCunknown
Psusennes I / Hor-Pasebakhaenniut I Golden Mask of Psusennes I.jpg Akheperre SetepenamunKanakhtemdedamun Userfausekhaemwaset1047 - 1001 BCNRT III, Tanis Mutnedjemet
Wiay
Precise length of reign unknown. Either 41 or 46 years.
Amenemope Amenemope Mask Crop.jpg Usermaatre Setepenamun(unknown)1001 - 992 BC Tanis Manetho writes in his Epitome that Amenemope ruled Egypt for 9 years.
Osorkon the Elder Seal Aakheperre Osorkon Petrie.jpg Akheperre Setepenre(unknown)992 - 986 BCunknownOsorkon the elder ruled Egypt for 6 years.
Siamun Relief Siamun Petrie.jpg Netjerkheperre SetepenamunKanakhtmerymat Sameryenamunperemhauef986 - 967 BCunknownSiamun is believed to have ruled Egypt for 19 years. Egyptologists have amended Manetho's figure of 9 years for this king to [1]9 years based on a Year 17 known for him in the Karnak Priestly Annals
Psusennes II / Hor-Pasebakhaenniut II Statue CG42192 legrain.jpg Titkheperure Setepenre(unknown)967 - 943 BCunknown

Timeline of the 21st Dynasty

Psusennes IISiamunOsorkon the ElderAmenemopePsusennes IAmenemnisuSmendesTwenty-first Dynasty of Egypt

Footnotes

  1. The Libyan Anarchy: Inscriptions from Egypt's Third Intermediate Period. Society of Biblical Lit. 2009. p. 2. ISBN   978-1-58983-174-2.
  2. Kenneth A. Kitchen, The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 BC), 3rd edition, 1986, Warminster: Aris & Phillips Ltd, p.531

Further reading

See also

Related Research Articles

The history of ancient Egypt spans the period from the early prehistoric settlements of the northern Nile valley to the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BC. The pharaonic period, the period in which Egypt was ruled by a pharaoh, is dated from the 32nd century BC, when Upper and Lower Egypt were unified, until the country fell under Macedonian rule in 332 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shoshenq I</span> Pharaoh of Egypt

Hedjkheperre Setepenre Shoshenq I —also known as Shashank or Sheshonk or Sheshonq I—was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the founder of the Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Third Intermediate Period of Egypt</span> Period of Ancient Egypt (1077-664 BCE)

The Third Intermediate Period of ancient Egypt began with the death of Pharaoh Ramesses XI in 1077 BC, which ended the New Kingdom, and was eventually followed by the Late Period. Various points are offered as the beginning for the latter era, though it is most often regarded as dating from the foundation of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty by Psamtik I in 664 BC, following the departure of the Nubian Kushite rulers of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty after they were driven out by the Assyrians under King Ashurbanipal. The use of the term "Third Intermediate Period", based on the analogy of the well-known First and Second Intermediate Periods, was popular by 1978, when British Egyptologist Kenneth Kitchen used the term for the title of his book on the period. While Kitchen argued that the period was 'far from being chaotic' and hoped that his work would lead to the abolishment of the term, with his own preference being the 'Post-Imperial epoch', his use of the term as a title seems only to have entrenched the use of the term.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psusennes II</span> Last king of the 21st Dynasty of Egypt

Titkheperure or Tyetkheperre Psusennes II [Greek Ψουσέννης] or Hor-Pasebakhaenniut II [Egyptian ḥr-p3-sb3-ḫˁỉ-⟨n⟩-nỉwt], was the last king of the Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Takelot II</span> Egyptian Pharaoh

Hedjkheperre Setepenre Takelot II Si-Ese was a pharaoh of the Twenty-third Dynasty of Ancient Egypt in Middle and Upper Egypt. He has been identified as the High Priest of Amun Takelot F, son of the High Priest of Amun Nimlot C at Thebes, and thus, the son of Nimlot C and grandson of king Osorkon II, according to the latest academic research. Based on two lunar dates belonging to Takelot II, this Upper Egyptian pharaoh is today believed to have ascended to the throne of a divided Egypt in either 845 BC or 834 BC. Most Egyptologists today, including Aidan Dodson, Gerard Broekman, Jürgen von Beckerath, M.A. Leahy, and Karl Jansen-Winkeln, also accept David Aston's 1989 hypothesis that Shoshenq III was Osorkon II's actual successor at Tanis, rather than Takelot II. As Aidan Dodson and Dyan Hilton write in their comprehensive book on the royal families of Ancient Egypt:

Takelot II is likely to have been identical with the High Priest Takelot F, who is stated in [the] Karnak inscriptions to have been a son of Nimlot C, and whose likely period of office falls neatly just before Takelot II's appearance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osorkon II</span> Egyptian king

Usermaatre Setepenamun Osorkon II was the fifth king of the Twenty-second Dynasty of Ancient Egypt and the son of King Takelot I and Queen Kapes. He ruled Egypt from approximately 872 BC to 837 BC from Tanis, the capital of that dynasty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt</span> Ancient Egyptian dynasty

The Twenty-second Dynasty was an Ancient Egyptian dynasty of Amazigh origin founded by Shoshenq I. It is also known as the Bubastite Dynasty, since the pharaohs originally ruled from the city of Bubastis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twenty-third Dynasty of Egypt</span> Ancient Egyptian dynasty

The Twenty-third Dynasty was an Ancient Egyptian dynasty of Amazigh origin, it is usually classified as the third dynasty of the ancient Egyptian Third Intermediate Period. This dynasty consisted of a number of Meshwesh kings, who ruled either as pharaohs or as independent kings of parts of Upper Egypt from 880 BC to 720 BC, and pharaohs from 837 BC to 728 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shoshenq II</span> Egyptian pharaoh

Heqakheperre Shoshenq II or Shoshenq IIa was a pharaoh of the Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt. He was the only ruler of this dynasty whose tomb was not plundered by tomb robbers. His final resting place was discovered within an antechamber of Psusennes I's tomb at Tanis by Pierre Montet in 1939. Montet removed the coffin lid of Shoshenq II on March 20, 1939, in the presence of king Farouk of Egypt himself. It proved to contain many jewel-encrusted bracelets and pectorals, along with a beautiful hawkheaded silver coffin and a gold funerary mask. The facemask had been placed upon the head of the king. Montet later discovered the intact tombs of two Twenty-first Dynasty kings a year later in February and April 1940 respectively. Shoshenq II's prenomen, Heqakheperre Setepenre, means "The manifestation of Ra rules, the chosen one of Ra."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smendes</span> Egyptian pharaoh

Hedjkheperre Setepenre Smendes was the founder of the Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt and succeeded to the throne after burying Ramesses XI in Lower Egypt – territory which he controlled. His Egyptian nomen or birth name was actually Nesbanebdjed meaning "He of the Ram, Lord of Mendes", but it was translated into Greek as Smendes by later classical writers such as Josephus and Sextus Africanus. According to the Story of Wenamun from c. 1000 BC, Smendes was a governor of Lower Egypt during the Era of the Renaissance under the reign of Ramesses XI, however, Egyptologists have questioned the historical accuracy of this story.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pedubast I</span> Egyptian pharaoh

Pedubastis I or Pedubast I was an Upper Egyptian Pharaoh of ancient Egypt during the 9th century BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osorkon III</span> Egyptian pharaoh

Usermaatre Setepenamun Osorkon III Si-Ese was Pharaoh of Egypt in the 8th Century BC. He is the same person as the Crown Prince and High Priest of Amun Osorkon B, son of Takelot II by his Great Royal Wife Karomama II. Prince Osorkon B is best attested by his Chronicle—which consists of a series of texts documenting his activities at Thebes—on the Bubastite Portal at Karnak. He later reigned as king Osorkon III in Upper Egypt for twenty-eight years after defeating the rival forces of Pedubast I/Shoshenq VI who had apparently resisted the authority of his father here. Osorkon ruled the last five years of his reign in coregency with his son, Takelot III, according to Karnak Nile Level Text No. 13. Osorkon III's formal titulary was long and elaborate: Usermaatre Setepenamun, Osorkon Si-Ese Meryamun, Netjer-Heqa-waset.

The Twenty-first, Twenty-second, and Twenty-third Dynasties ruled Egypt from the 10th century through the 8th century BC. The family tree of the Twenty-first dynasty was heavily interconnected with the family of the High Priests of Amun at Thebes. The Twenty-second dynasty and Twenty-third dynasty were also related by marriage to the family of the High Priests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siamun</span> Egyptian pharaoh

Neterkheperre or Netjerkheperre-Setepenamun Siamun was the sixth pharaoh of Egypt during the Twenty-first Dynasty. He built extensively in Lower Egypt for a king of the Third Intermediate Period and is regarded as one of the most powerful rulers of the Twenty-first Dynasty after Psusennes I. Siamun's prenomen, Netjerkheperre-Setepenamun, means "Divine is The Manifestation of Ra, Chosen of Amun" while his name means 'son of Amun.'

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Takelot III</span> Egyptian pharaoh

Usermaatre Setepenamun Takelot III Si-Ese was Osorkon III's eldest son and successor. Takelot III ruled the first five years of his reign in a coregency with his father, according to the evidence from Nile Quay Text No.13, and succeeded his father as king the following year. He served previously as the High Priest of Amun at Thebes. He was previously thought to have ruled Egypt for only 7 years until his 13th Year was found on a stela from Ahmeida in the Dakhla Oasis in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karomama I</span> Egyptian queen

Karomama I was an Egyptian queen, married to Osorkon II. She was part of the Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High Priest of Amun</span> Priestly title in ancient Egypt

The High Priest of Amun or First Prophet of Amun was the highest-ranking priest in the priesthood of the ancient Egyptian god Amun. The first high priests of Amun appear in the New Kingdom of Egypt, at the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty.

Amun was a major ancient Egyptian deity who appears as a member of the Hermopolitan Ogdoad. Amun was attested from the Old Kingdom together with his wife Amunet. His oracle in Siwa Oasis, located Western Egypt, near the Libyan Desert remained the only oracle of Amun throughout. With the 11th Dynasty, Amun rose to the position of patron deity of Thebes by replacing Montu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iuput</span>

Iuput A or simply Iuput, was High Priest of Amun from 944 to 924 BCE, during the reigns of his father Shoshenq I and his brother Osorkon I.

The Second Prophet of Amun, also called the Second Priest of Amun, was a high ranking priestly official in the cult of the ancient Egyptian god Amun. The Second Prophet of Amun office was created in the New Kingdom, at the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty.