Seth Meribre was the twenty-fourth pharaoh 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 ...

. Seth Meribre reigned from

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

, ending in 1749 BC or c. 1700 BC. The length of his reign is not known for certain; the 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 ...

proposes that he reigned for a short time, certainly less than ten years.

Attestations

Seth Meribre is only attested for certain on 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 ...

, column 7, line 23 (

Alan Gardiner Sir Alan Henderson Gardiner, (29 March 1879 – 19 December 1963) was an English Egyptologist, linguist, philologist, and independent scholar. He is regarded as one of the premier Egyptologists of the early and mid-20th century. Personal life G ...

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 ...

: col. 6 row 23). Ryholt suggests that stele JE35256, discovered in Abydos and now in the

Egyptian Museum The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum or the Cairo Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display a ...

, was originally inscribed with the nomen, prenomen and Horus name of Seth Meribre. The stele, bearing a date ''year 4'', was later usurped by

Neferhotep I Khasekhemre Neferhotep I was an Egyptian pharaoh of the mid Thirteenth Dynasty ruling in the second half of the 18th century BC K.S.B. Ryholt: ''The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, c.1800–1550 BC'', Carsten ...

. Previously, historian Anthony Leahy has argued that the stele was erected by

Wegaf Khutawyre Wegaf (or Ugaf) was a pharaoh of the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt, who is known from several sources, including a stele and statues. There is a general known from a scarab with the same name, who is perhaps identical with this king. Atte ...

rather than Seth Meribre, an opinion shared by Darrell Baker. At the opposite end, the site of

Medamud Medamud (, from ) was a settlement in ancient Egypt. Its present-day territory is located about 8 km east-north from Luxor. The Temple of Montu was located here. It was excavated by Fernand Bisson de la Roque in 1925, who identified sev ...

, northeast of

Luxor Luxor ( ar, الأقصر, al-ʾuqṣur, lit=the palaces) is a modern city in Upper (southern) Egypt which includes the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of ''Thebes''. Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open-a ...

has yielded many ruined structures and architectural remains which were probably erected by Seth Meribre but were subsequently usurped by his successor

Sobekhotep III Sobekhotep III (throne name: Sekhemre-sewadjtawy) was an Egyptian king of the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt who reigned three to four years, c. 1740 BC or 1700 BC. Family Parents and siblings The family of the king is known from several sources. A ...

. In particular, a lintel from Medamud and now in the Egyptian Museum, JE 44944, bears almost-erased signs corresponding to Seth Meribre's nomen. Jürgen von Beckerath believes that Seth Meribre can be identified with a king mentioned on

Genealogy of Ankhefensekhmet The Genealogy of Ankhefensekhmet or Genealogy of the Memphite priestly elite (Berlin 23673) is an ancient Egyptian relief – sometimes referred to as a stela – made during the 8th century BCE, under the reign of pharaoh Shoshenq V of the late ...

of the much later

22nd Dynasty The Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt is also known as the Bubastite Dynasty, since the pharaohs originally ruled from the city of Bubastis. It was founded by Shoshenq I. The Twenty-first, Twenty-second, Twenty-third, Twenty-fourth, and Twenty-f ...

. This king bears the name "Aaqen", literally ''The donkey is strong''. Von Beckerath proposes that this refers to Seth Meribre and that the name originally was "Sethqen", that is, ''Seth is strong''. Indeed, since the god

Seth Seth,; el, Σήθ ''Sḗth''; ; "placed", "appointed") in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mandaeism, and Sethianism, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, their only other child mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible. A ...

had been ostracized during the 22nd Dynasty, the hieroglyph of the Seth-animal had been replaced by the hieroglyph of the

donkey The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...

, yielding "Aaqen".

Chronological position and reign length

The Egyptologists Darrell Baker and Kim Ryholt place Seth Meribre as the twenty-fourth ruler of the 13th Dynasty, while

sees him as the twentieth king.Jürgen von Beckerath: ''Handbuch der ägyptischen Konigsnamen'', Münchner Ägyptologische Studien 20, Mainz. These authors agree, however, that Seth Meribre probably usurped the throne at the expense of his predecessor,

Sehetepkare Intef Sehetepkare Intef (also known as Intef IV or Intef V) was the twenty-third king of the 13th Dynasty during the Second intermediate period. Sehetepkare Intef reigned from Memphis for a short period, certainly less than ten years, between 1759 BC an ...

.Darrell D. Baker: ''The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume I - Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300–1069 BC'', Stacey International, , 2008, p. 406 The duration of Seth Meribre's reign is lost in a lacuna of the Turin canon, except for the end ''"... nd6 days"''. Kim Ryholt gives a total of 10 years for the combined reigns of

Imyremeshaw Smenkhkare Imyremeshaw was an Egyptian pharaoh of the mid 13th Dynasty during the Second Intermediate Period. Imyremeshaw reigned from Memphis, starting in 1759 BC or 1711 BC.Thomas Schneider following Detlef Franke: ''Lexikon der Pharaonen'', Al ...

and Seth Meribre. Furthermore, following

Papyrus Boulaq 18 The Papyrus Boulaq 18 is an ancient Egyptian administrative document. It contains an account of the Theban palace dating to the 13th Dynasty (around 1750 BC). The papyrus lists the palace officials and the rations they received day by day. Importa ...

, there are reasons to believe that either Imyremeshaw or Sehetepkare Intef reigned for over five years, thus leaving less than 5 years to Seth Meribre.

References

{{authority control 18th-century BC Pharaohs Pharaohs of the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt