Sewadjkare (more exactly Sewadjkare I) 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 early

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 Egyptologists

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 ...

and Darrell Baker he was the eleventh ruler of the dynasty, reigning for a short time c. 1781 BC.K.S.B. Ryholt, ''The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, c.1800–1550 BC'', Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications, vol. 20. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 1997
excerpts available online here.
/ref>Darrell D. Baker: ''The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume I - Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300–1069 BC'', Stacey International, , 2008, p. 417 Alternatively, Thomas Schneider,

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

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 ...

see him as the tenth king of the 13th Dynasty, with Schneider placing his reign at c. 1737 BC.Jürgen von Beckerath: ''Chronologie des pharaonischen Ägyptens'', Münchner Ägyptologische Studien 46. Mainz am Rhein, 1997

Evidence

No contemporary attestation of Sewadjkare survives to this day and this pharaoh is only known to us thanks to 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 ...

. This king list was redacted during the early

Ramesside period The Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XX, alternatively 20th Dynasty or Dynasty 20) is the third and last dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom period, lasting from 1189 BC to 1077 BC. The 19th and 20th Dynasties furthermore togeth ...

from older documents and serves as the primary source for kings of the Second Intermediate Period. Sewadjkare's name appears on the 7th column, 13th line of the papyrus.

Reign length

The Turin canon normally gives the reign length of the kings it lists; however, the duration of Sewadjkare's reign is lost in a

lacuna Lacuna (plural lacunas or lacunae) may refer to: Related to the meaning "gap" * Lacuna (manuscripts), a gap in a manuscript, inscription, text, painting, or musical work **Great Lacuna, a lacuna of eight leaves where there was heroic Old Norse po ...

. Only the number of days is partially preserved and was read by Ryholt as eleven to fourteen days. The space apparently taken by the total duration of the reign as recorded on the Turin canon led Ryholt to propose a minimum reign length of half a month. Given the total absence of contemporary attestation for Sewadjkare, it seems likely that he was an ephemeral ruler.

Identity

Sewadjkare should not be confused with two other pharaohs bearing the same

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 who reigned later in the Second Intermediate Period. Sewadjkare Hori II, also known as Hori II, reigned at the very end of the 13th Dynasty, from c. 1669 until 1664 BC. The other ruler with the same prenomen is Sewadjkare III of the 14th Dynasty, who is also known only thanks to the Turin canon. Sewadjkare III reigned for a short while, some time between c. 1699 and 1694 BC.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sewadjkare 18th-century BC Pharaohs Pharaohs of the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt