Seankhibtawy Seankhibra is the name of an Ancient Egyptian king of the

11th 11 (eleven) is the natural number following 10 and preceding 12. It is the first repdigit. In English, it is the smallest positive integer whose name has three syllables. Name "Eleven" derives from the Old English ', which is first attested i ...

or more likely the

12th 12 (twelve) is the natural number following 11 and preceding 13. Twelve is a superior highly composite number, divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6. It is the number of years required for an orbital period of Jupiter. It is central to many systems ...

13th Dynasty of Egypt 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 pl ...

, during the Middle Kingdom period. As of 2018, Seankhibtawy Seankhibra is only known from a single architrave found at

Ayn Shams Ain Shams (also spelled Ayn or Ein - ar, عين شمس, , cop, ⲱⲛ ⲡⲉⲧ ⲫⲣⲏ) is a suburb of Cairo, Egypt. The name means "Eye of the Sun" in Arabic, referring to the fact that Ain Shams is built on top of the ancient city of Hel ...

, the ancient city of Heliopolis, where it once adorned a private tomb. It is unclear whether Seankhibtawy Seankhibra is an otherwise unknown king or is rather a name variant for another, better known king of the 12th or 13th Dynasty.

Identification

His identification causes problems in

Egyptology 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 ...

, as there is no other king known with the same names, dating to the Middle Kingdom. The monument with the king's name has been dated beyond doubt to the Middle Kingdom on stylistically grounds. The name of the private person who owned the monument is damaged, but scant remains indicate that it might have been a person called Heny. The titulary of ancient Egyptian kings consisted of five names, the

prenomen The ''praenomen'' (; plural: ''praenomina'') was a personal name chosen by the parents of a Roman child. It was first bestowed on the ''dies lustricus'' (day of lustration), the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the bi ...

and the nomen being the ones most commonly used on monuments. Yet another important name was the

Horus name The Horus name is the oldest known and used crest of ancient Egyptian rulers. It belongs to the " great five names" of an Egyptian pharaoh. However, modern Egyptologists and linguists are starting to prefer the more neutral term: the "serekh nam ...

. Seankhibtawy Seankhibra appears on the monument with the Horus name Seankhibtawy and his prenomen Seankhibra. No other known king bears this combination of names. As of 2018, there is only one known king from the same historical period with the prenomen Seankhibra: pharaoh Amenemhat VI of the early

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 ...

. A second king with the same prenomen is attested in the

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 ...

as king of the slightly later 14th Dynasty, but he is not known from any contemporary attestations. The architrave is of unknown provenance, it probably come from an undocumented rescue excavation. The first person who commented on the king was

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 ...

who assigned the monument to Amenemhat VI.

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 ...

in his study of 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 ...

followed Franke's dating. The architrave was only fully published in 2005 by Mey Zaki who, again, follows this dating and identification. In contrast, the Egyptologist

William Kelly Simpson William Kelly Simpson (January 3, 1928 – March 24, 2017) was an American professor of Egyptology, Archaeology, Ancient Egyptian literature, and Afro-Asiatic languages at Yale University.The Cambridge University Catalogue. (2009)The Great Pyramid ...

has dated the monument to the late

11th Dynasty The Eleventh Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty XI) is a well-attested group of rulers. Its earlier members before Pharaoh Mentuhotep II are grouped with the four preceding dynasties to form the First Intermediate Period, whereas the late ...

, a time which saw the reign of

Mentuhotep IV Nebtawyre Mentuhotep IV was the last king of the 11th Dynasty in the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, Middle Kingdom. He seems to fit into a 7-year period in the Turin Canon for which there is no recorded king. Family King's Mother Imi In Wadi Hammamat, ...

, a poorly known pharaoh with few attestations. Nevertheless, other Egyptologists such as Alexander Ilin-Tomich, deem it more likely the monument dates to the

12th Dynasty The Twelfth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (Dynasty XII) is considered to be the apex of the Middle Kingdom by Egyptologists. It often is combined with the Eleventh, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth dynasties under the group title, Middle Kingdom. Some s ...

on stylistic grounds, possibly to the early part of the Dynasty during the reigns

Amenemhat I :''See Amenemhat, for other individuals with this name.'' Amenemhat I ( Ancient Egyptian: ''Ỉmn-m-hꜣt'' meaning 'Amun is at the forefront'), also known as Amenemhet I, was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the first king of the Twelfth Dynast ...

Senusret I Senusret I (Middle Egyptian: z-n-wsrt; /suʀ nij ˈwas.ɾiʔ/) also anglicized as Sesostris I and Senwosret I, was the second pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1971 BC to 1926 BC (1920 BC to 1875 BC), and was one of the most ...

Amenemhat II Nubkaure Amenemhat II, also known as Amenemhet II, was the third pharaoh of the 12th Dynasty of ancient Egypt. Although he ruled for at least 35 years, his reign is rather obscure, as well as his family relationships. Family Archaeological fi ...

. Therefore, Seankhibtawy Seankhibra is either an otherwise not yet attested short reigning king; or it is an early name of one of the mentioned kings before they changed name to the form better known from other monuments.Alexander Ilin-Tomich: ''King Seankhibra and the Middle Kingdom Appeal to the Living''. In: G. Miniaci, W. Grajetzki (editors.): ''The World of Middle Kingdom Egypt (2000-1550 BC)'', Vol. 1, London 2015, , pp. 145-168
book online
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seankhibtawy Seankhibra 20th-century BC Pharaohs Pharaohs of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt Pharaohs of the Eleventh Dynasty of Egypt 20th-century BC rulers