Nebiriau II (also Nebiryraw II, Nebiryerawet II) was an ancient Egyptian

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the ...

of the Theban-based 16th Dynasty, during the

Second Intermediate Period The Second Intermediate Period marks a period when ancient Egypt fell into disarray for a second time, between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom. The concept of a "Second Intermediate Period" was coined in 1942 b ...

Identity

He is commonly assumed by some Egyptologists to be the son of his predecessor

Nebiryraw I Sewadjenre Nebiryraw (also Nebiriau I, Nebiryerawet I) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Theban-based 16th Dynasty, during the Second Intermediate Period. Reign On the Turin Canon he is credited with a 26-year-long reign and was succeede ...

, given the rarity of the name ''Nebiriau'' in Egyptian historical sources. Unlike his presumed father who ruled

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancient E ...

for 26 years, he was an obscure king who is completely unattested by contemporary archaeological sources.Ryholt, p.201 The only two non-contemporary attestations for Nebiriau II are the mention of his personal name on the Ramesside

Turin Canon The Turin King List, also known as the Turin Royal Canon, is an ancient Egyptian hieratic papyrus thought to date from the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II, now in the Museo Egizio (Egyptian Museum) in Turin. The papyrus is the most extensive list av ...

(position 13.5, his throne name was lost), and a bronze statuette of the god

Harpocrates Harpocrates ( grc, Ἁρποκράτης, Phoenician: 𐤇𐤓𐤐𐤊𐤓𐤈, romanized: ḥrpkrṭ, ''harpokrates'') was the god of silence, secrets and confidentiality in the Hellenistic religion developed in Ptolemaic Alexandria (and also ...

(Cairo 38189). The four sides of the base of the statue were inscribed with the names written into cartouches; these are "Binpu", "Ahmose", "The good god Sewadjenre, deceased" and "The good god Neferkare, deceased" respectively.

Donald B. Redford Donald Bruce Redford (born September 2, 1934) is a Canadian Egyptologist and archaeologist, currently Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies at Pennsylvania State University. He is married to Susan Redford, who is also an Egyptolo ...

(1986). ''Pharaonic king-lists, annals and day-books: a contribution to the study of the Egyptian sense of history''. Mississauga: Benben Publications, , p. 55 The first two were likely two princes of the royal family of the

17th Dynasty The Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XVII, alternatively 17th Dynasty or Dynasty 17) was a dynasty of pharaohs that ruled in Upper Egypt during the late Second Intermediate Period, approximately from 1580 to 1550 BC. Its mainly Theba ...

which would replace the 16th Dynasty shortly thereafter; Sewadjenre was the throne name of Nebiriau I and finally, it is believed that Neferkare is the otherwise unattested throne name of Nebiriau II. The finding is also peculiar because the cult of Harpocrates – and thus the statuette itself – dates back to the Ptolemaic period i.e. about 1500 years after the people named on the statuette had lived. Nebiriau II was succeeded by an equally obscure king named

Semenre Semenre, also Smenre or Semenenre,von Beckerath 1984, pp. 126-27 is a poorly attested Theban pharaoh during the Second Intermediate Period of Egypt who succeeded the equally obscure Nebiriau II. He reigned from 1601 to 1600 BC (Kim Ryholt)Ry ...

who is attested by a single axe – inscribed with his throne name – and then by Seuserenre Bebiankh who is given 12 years in the Turin Canon.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nebiryraw 02 17th-century BC Pharaohs 16th-century BC Pharaohs Pharaohs of the Sixteenth Dynasty of Egypt