Sewadjkare III (also known as Sewadjkare IIDarrell D. Baker: The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume I - Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300–1069 BC, Stacey International, , 2008, p. 418) 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

Fourteenth Dynasty of Egypt The Fourteenth Dynasty of Egypt was a series of rulers reigning during the Second Intermediate Period over the Nile Delta region of Egypt. It lasted between 75 (ca. 1725–1650 BC) and 155 years (ca. 1805–1650 BC), depending on the sc ...

during the Second Intermediate Period c. 1700 BC. As a king of the 14th Dynasty, Sewadjkare III would have reigned from

Avaris Avaris (; Egyptian: ḥw.t wꜥr.t, sometimes ''hut-waret''; grc, Αὔαρις, Auaris; el, Άβαρις, Ávaris; ar, حوّارة, Hawwara) was the Hyksos capital of Egypt located at the modern site of Tell el-Dab'a in the northeastern r ...

over the eastern

Nile Delta The Nile Delta ( ar, دلتا النيل, or simply , is the delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Po ...

and possibly over the western Delta as well.

Evidence

No contemporary attestation of Sewadjkare III 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 from older documents and serves as the primary source for kings of the second intermediate period. Sewadjkare III's prenomen appears on the 9th column, 6th line of the papyrus.

Chronological position

Sewadjkare III's relative position in the 14th Dynasty is somewhat secured by the Turin canon. According to this king list, Sewadjkare reigned for about one year and was preceded by Merdjefare and succeeded by Nebdjefare. At the opposite, Sewadjkare III's absolute chronological position is debated. 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, Sewadjkare III was the eleventh king of the 14th Dynasty, reigning c. 1699 BC for around one year. Ryholt's reconstruction of the early 14th dynasty is controversial however and other specialists, such as Manfred Bietak 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 ...

, believe that the dynasty started shortly before Nehesy c. 1710 BC rather than c. 1805 BC as proposed by Ryholt. In this case, Sewadjkare III would only be the sixth king of the dynasty.Jürgen von Beckerath: ''Chronologie des pharaonischen Ägyptens'', Münchner Ägyptologische Studien 46, Mainz am Rhein, 1997

Identity

Sewadjkare III should not be confused with two other pharaohs bearing the same prenomen and who also reigned during the Second Intermediate Period. The earliest of the two is Sewadjkare I 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 ...

, c. 1781 BC. Just like Sewadjkare III, Sewadjkare I is known only thanks to the Turin canon. The other pharaoh bearing the same prenomen is Sewadjkare Hori II (also known as Hori II) who reigned at the very end of the 13th Dynasty, from c. 1669 until 1664 BC.

References

{{authority control 17th-century BC Pharaohs Pharaohs of the Fourteenth Dynasty of Egypt