Renseneb Amenemhat (also known as Ranisonb) was an

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

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 an ...

of the

13th Dynasty In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octave p ...

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 by ...

. According to egyptologist

Kim Ryholt Kim Steven Bardrum Ryholt (born 19 June 1970) is a professor of Egyptology at the University of Copenhagen and a specialist on Egyptian history and literature. He is director of the research centeCanon and Identity Formation in the Earliest Litera ...

, Renseneb was the 14th king of the dynasty, while

Detlef Franke Detlef Franke (November 24, 1952 in Lüneburg – September 2, 2007) was a Germans, German Egyptologist specialist of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. Biography Detlef Franke received his doctorate at the University of Hamburg in 1983 with his thes ...

sees him as the 13th ruler and

Jürgen von Beckerath Jürgen von Beckerath (19 February 1920, Hanover – 26 June 2016, Schlehdorf) was a German Egyptologist. He was a prolific writer who published countless articles in journals such as '' Orientalia'', ''Göttinger Miszellen'' (GM), ''Journal of t ...

as the 16th. Renseneb is poorly attested and his

throne name A regnal name, or regnant name or reign name, is the name used by monarchs and popes during their reigns and, subsequently, historically. Since ancient times, some monarchs have chosen to use a different name from their original name when they ac ...

remains unknown.

Attestations

Renseneb is known primarily thanks to the

Turin King List 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 ava ...

where he appears in Column 7, line 16 (Gardiner col. 6 line 6). He is credited a reign of four months. Renseneb is otherwise known from a single contemporary object, a bead of glazed

steatite Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in the zo ...

, last seen by

Percy Newberry Percy Edward Newberry (23 April 1869 – 7 August 1949) was a British Egyptologist. Biography Percy Newberry was born in Islington, London on 23 April 1869. His parents were Caroline () and Henry James Newberry, a woollen warehouseman. Newber ...

in an antique dealer shop in Cairo in 1929.

: ''A Bead of King Ranisonb and a Note on King Qemaw'', Gottinger Miszellen - Beitrage zur Agyptologischen Diskussion 156 (1997), p. 95–100. The bead reads "Ranisonb Amenemhat, who gives life". The Danish

Egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious ...

interprets this double name as meaning "Ranisonb

on of On, on, or ON may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * On (band), a solo project of Ken Andrews * ''On'' (EP), a 1993 EP by Aphex Twin * ''On'' (Echobelly album), 1995 * ''On'' (Gary Glitter album), 2001 * ''On'' (Imperial Teen album), 200 ...

Amenemhat" thereby showing that he was a son of a king Amenemhat. The closest predecessor of Renseneb whose nomen is known to have been Amenemhat was Seankhibre Ameny Antef Amenemhet VI, who ruled about 10 years earlier. However, the nomina of three intervening kings,

Sehetepibre Sehetepibre Sewesekhtawy (also Sehetepibre I or Sehetepibre II depending on the scholar) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 13th Dynasty during the early Second Intermediate Period, possibly the fifth or tenth king of the Dynasty. Chronological posit ...

Sewadjkare Sewadjkare (more exactly Sewadjkare I) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 13th Dynasty during the early Second Intermediate Period. According to Egyptologists Kim Ryholt and Darrell Baker he was the eleventh ruler of the dynasty, reigning for a short ...

and

Nedjemibre Nedjemibre was an ephemeral Egyptian pharaoh of the 13th Dynasty of Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period reigning c. 1780 BCK.S.B. Ryholt, ''The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, c.1800–1550 BC'', Carste ...

, are unknown and could have been Amenemhat. One of them could thus be Renseneb's father, or (older) brothers in succession. Other researchers such as Stephen Quirke do not follow him in this interpretation.Stephen Quirke: ''In the Name of the King: on Late Middle Kingdom Cylinders'', in Czerny (editor): ''Timelines, Studies in Honour of Manfred Bietak'', Leuven (2006), , p. 263–274. Renseneb's successor,

Hor Hor Awibre (also known as Hor I) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 13th Dynasty reigning from c. 1777 BC until 1775 BCK.S.B. Ryholt, ''The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period'', ''Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publication ...

, could have been of non-royal birth since he never reported his parentage. Consequently, Ryholt proposed that Hor usurped the throne. In any case the ephemeral reigns of the rulers of the early 13th Dynasty point to the general political instability of the time.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Renseneb, Amenemhat 18th-century BC Pharaohs Pharaohs of the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt