Maaibre Sheshi (also Sheshy) was a ruler of areas of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

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 ...

. The dynasty, chronological position, duration and extent of his reign are uncertain and subject to ongoing debate. The difficulty of identification is mirrored by problems in determining events from the end of the Middle Kingdom to the arrival of the Hyksos in Egypt. Nonetheless, Sheshi is, in terms of the number of artifacts attributed to him, the best-attested king of the period spanning the end of the Middle Kingdom and the Second Intermediate period; roughly from c. 1800 BC until 1550 BC. Hundreds of scaraboid seals bearing his name have been found throughout Canaan, Egypt, Nubia, and as far away as Carthage, where some were still in use 1,500 years after his death. Three competing hypotheses have been put forth for the dynasty to which Sheshi belonged. First hypothesis supported by

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 ...

s such as

Nicolas Grimal Nicolas-Christophe Grimal (born 13 November 1948 in Libourne) is a French Egyptologist. Biography Nicolas Grimal was born to Pierre Grimal in 1948. After his Agrégation in Classics in 1971, he obtained a PhD in 1976 and a Doctorat d'État in ...

William C. Hayes William Christopher Hayes (March 21, 1903 – July 10, 1963) was an American Egyptologist. His main fields of study were history of Egyptian art and translation/interpretation of texts.W. C. Hayes, ''The Scepter of Egypt'', part II, 4th print ...

, and

Donald B. Redford Donald Bruce Redford (born September 2, 1934) is a Canadian Egyptologist and archaeologist, currently Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies at Pennsylvania State University. He is married to Susan Redford, who is also an Egyptolo ...

believe he should be identified with

Salitis In the Manethonian tradition, Salitis (Greek ''Σάλιτις'', also Salatis or Saites) was the first Hyksos king, the one who subdued and ruled Lower Egypt and founded the 15th Dynasty. Biography Salitis is mainly known from a few passages of F ...

, founder of the

15th Dynasty The Fifteenth Dynasty was a foreign dynasty of ancient Egypt. It was founded by Salitis, a Hyksos from West Asia whose people had invaded the country and conquered Lower Egypt. The 15th, 16th, and 17th Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combin ...

according to historical sources and king of the

Hyksos Hyksos (; Egyptian '' ḥqꜣ(w)- ḫꜣswt'', Egyptological pronunciation: ''hekau khasut'', "ruler(s) of foreign lands") is a term which, in modern Egyptology, designates the kings of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt (fl. c. 1650–1550 BC). T ...

during their invasion of Egypt. Salitis is credited with 19 years of reign and would have lived sometime between c. 1720 BC and 1650 BC. Second hypothesis supported by Egyptologist

William Ayres Ward William Ayres Ward (June 10, 1928 – September 13, 1996) was an American Egyptologist. Biography Born in Chicago, Ward studied at the Butler University in Indianapolis and received his B.A. in History of religions in 1951. Then, he attained a ...

and the archaeologist Daphna Ben-Tor propose that Sheshi was a Hyksos king and belongs to the second half of the 15th Dynasty, reigning between

Khyan Seuserenre Khyan (also Khayan or Khian and Apachnan from the West Semitic Apaq-khyran) was an Hyksos king of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt, ruling over Lower Egypt in the second half of the 17th century BCE. His royal name Seuserenre translates ...

and Apophis. Alternatively,

Manfred Bietak Manfred Bietak (born in Vienna, 6 October 1940) is an Austrian archaeologist.14th Dynasty, a line of kings of Canaanite descent ruling over of 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 ...

immediately before the arrival of the Hyksos. Proponents of this theory, such as

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, credit Sheshi with 40 years of reign starting ca. 1745 BC. Ryholt proposed that Sheshi allied his kingdom with the

Kushites The Kingdom of Kush (; Egyptian: 𓎡𓄿𓈙𓈉 ''kꜣš'', Assyrian: ''Kûsi'', in LXX grc, Κυς and Κυσι ; cop, ''Ecōš''; he, כּוּשׁ ''Kūš'') was an ancient kingdom in Nubia, centered along the Nile Valley in what i ...

Nubia Nubia () (Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), or ...

via a dynastic marriage with the Nubian princess Tati. Ryholt further posits that the son of Sheshi and Tati was Nehesy, whose name means "The Nubian", whom he believes succeeded Sheshi to the throne as the pharaoh Nehesy Aasehre.

Attestations

Nomen and prenomen on seals

The nomen of Sheshi is inscribed on over two hundred scarab seals, which constitute the sole attestations of his reign. The number of scarabs attributed to Sheshi is paralleled in number only by those bearing 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 ...

''Maaibre'', meaning "''The righteous one is the heart of Ra''". Based on the close stylistic similarities between both groups of scarabs as well as their otherwise unmatched numbers, the consensus among Egyptologists is that Maaibre was the prenomen of Sheshi. Sheshi scarabs locations

Consequently, Maaibre Sheshi is the best attested ruler of the Second Intermediate Period in terms of the number of artefacts attributed to him, with 396 seals and two seal impressions showing his nomen or prenomen. This figure is three times higher than the 123 seals attributed to the next best attested king of the period,

Yakbim Sekhaenre Sekhaenre Yakbim or Yakbmu was a ruler during the Second Intermediate Period of Egypt. Although his dynastic and temporal collocation is disputed, Danish Egyptologist Kim Ryholt believes that he likely was the founder of the Levantine-blooded Four ...

. In addition to these seals,

Manfred Bietak Manfred Bietak (born in Vienna, 6 October 1940) is an Austrian archaeologist.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 ...

and inscribed with the name of a king ''"

Shenshek Shenshek was a ruler of some part of Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, possibly during the 17th century BC, and likely belonging to the 14th Dynasty. K.S.B. Ryholt: ''The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Per ...

"'' should probably be attributed to Sheshi. This conclusion is rejected by

and Darrell Baker, who believe that Shenshek was a separate king.

Location of the finds

Over 80 percent of the seals attributed to Maaibre Sheshi are of unknown provenance, but the remaining 20 percent have been found throughout Egypt,

and

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

, indicating widespread trade and diplomatic contacts during Sheshi's reign. Important finds include seals from

Lachish Lachish ( he, לכיש; grc, Λαχίς; la, Lachis) was an ancient Canaanite and Israelite city in the Shephelah ("lowlands of Judea") region of Israel, on the South bank of the Lakhish River, mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible. Th ...

Gezer Gezer, or Tel Gezer ( he, גֶּזֶר), in ar, تل الجزر – Tell Jezar or Tell el-Jezari is an archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (eithe ...

Jericho Jericho ( ; ar, أريحا ; he, יְרִיחוֹ ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank. It is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It is the administrative seat of the Jericho Gove ...

Tel Michal Tel Michal is an archaeological site on Israel's central Mediterranean coast, near the modern city of Herzliya, about north of the Yarkon River estuary and south of Arsuf-Appolonia. Excavations have yielded remains from the Middle Bronze Age to ...

,Bryce 2009.

Amman Amman (; ar, عَمَّان, ' ; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤓𐤁𐤕 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''Rabat ʻAmān'') is the capital and largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of 4,061,150 a ...

and

Tell el-Ajjul Tall al-Ajjul or Tell el-'Ajul is an archaeological mound or '' tell'' in the Gaza Strip. The fortified city excavated at the site dates as far back as ca. 2000-1800 BCE and was inhabited during the Bronze Age. It is located at the mouth of Wad ...

in Canaan. In Lower Egypt, three seals have been unearthed in Tell el-Yahudiya and Tell el-Mashkuta and a further eight are from the wider Delta region. Four seals originate from

Saqqara Saqqara ( ar, سقارة, ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is an Egyptian village in Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. ...

and a further five from the Middle Egyptian sites of Abusir el-Melek, Kom Medinet Ghurab, Kom el-Ahmar and Deir Rifa. To the south, in Upper Egypt, a total of twenty seals are known from

Abydos Abydos may refer to: *Abydos, a progressive metal side project of German singer Andy Kuntz * Abydos (Hellespont), an ancient city in Mysia, Asia Minor * Abydos (''Stargate''), name of a fictional planet in the '' Stargate'' science fiction universe ...

, Hu, Thebes,

Elephantine Elephantine ( ; ; arz, جزيرة الفنتين; el, Ἐλεφαντίνη ''Elephantíne''; , ) is an island on the Nile, forming part of the city of Aswan in Upper Egypt. The archaeological sites on the island were inscribed on the UNESCO ...

Esna Esna ( ar, إسنا , egy, jwny.t or ; cop, or ''Snē'' from ''tꜣ-snt''; grc-koi, Λατόπολις ''Latópolis'' or (''Pólis Látōn'') or (''Lattōn''); Latin: ''Lato''), is a city of Egypt. It is located on the west bank of ...

and

Edfu Edfu ( egy, bḥdt, ar, إدفو , ; also spelt Idfu, or in modern French as Edfou) is an Egyptian city, located on the west bank of the Nile River between Esna and Aswan, with a population of approximately sixty thousand people. Edfu is the site ...

, In Nubia, seals of Sheshi have been found in the Egyptian fortresses of

Uronarti Uronarti, a Nubian word meaning "Island of the King", is an island in the Nile just south of the Second Cataract in the north of Sudan. The primary importance of the island lies in the massive ancient fortress that still stands on its northern end ...

and

Mirgissa Mirgissa (originally Iken) was a settlement in Northern state, Sudan. Situated at the 2nd cataract in Wadi Halfa, it contained one of the largest fortresses in Nubia. In the time of Thutmose II, 250 to 450 people inhabited the area. The first E ...

and otherwise in Dakka,

Kerma Kerma was the capital city of the Kerma culture, which was located in present-day Sudan at least 5,500 years ago. Kerma is one of the largest archaeological sites in ancient Nubia. It has produced decades of extensive excavations and research, in ...

, Sayala,

Aniba ''Aniba'' is an American neotropical flowering plant genus in the family Lauraceae. They are present in low and mountain cloud forest in Caribbean islands, Central America, and northern to central South America. Description They are shrubs o ...

, Masmas,

Faras Faras (formerly grc, Παχώρας, ''Pakhôras''; la, Pachoras; Old Nubian: Ⲡⲁⲭⲱⲣⲁⲥ, ''Pakhoras'') was a major city in Lower Nubia. The site of the city, on the border between modern Egypt and Sudan at Wadi Halfa Salient, was f ...

, Ukma, Akasha and Sai. Finally, two seal impressions of Sheshi have been found in

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...

, in a context dated archeologically to the 2nd-century BC. The seals of Sheshi are now scattered in many different museums, including the

Israel Museum The Israel Museum ( he, מוזיאון ישראל, ''Muze'on Yisrael'') is an art and archaeological museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world’s leading encyclopa ...

Petrie Museum The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology in London is part of University College London Museums and Collections. The museum contains over 80,000 objects and ranks among some of the world's leading collections of Egyptian and Sudanese material ...

Ashmolean The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

Walters Art Museum The Walters Art Museum, located in Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is a public art museum founded and opened in 1934. It holds collections established during the mid-19th century. The museum's collection was amassed ...

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

and the Egyptian Museum of Cairo.

Historical sources

No historical attestation of Sheshi is known for certain. Sheshi is absent from 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 ...

, a list of kings written on papyrus during the

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 ...

and which serves as the primary historical source for the Second Intermediate Period. This is because the section of the papyrus covering the 13th to 17th Dynasties is heavily damaged and the problem of Sheshi's chronological position cannot be resolved from the document. It is unclear whether Sheshi is mentioned in the ''

Aegyptiaca Manetho (; grc-koi, Μανέθων ''Manéthōn'', ''gen''.: Μανέθωνος) is believed to have been an Egyptian priest from Sebennytos ( cop, Ϫⲉⲙⲛⲟⲩϯ, translit=Čemnouti) who lived in the Ptolemaic Kingdom in the early third ...

'', a history of Egypt written in the 3rd century BC during the reign of

Ptolemy II ; egy, Userkanaenre Meryamun Clayton (2006) p. 208 , predecessor = Ptolemy I , successor = Ptolemy III , horus = ''ḥwnw-ḳni'Khunuqeni''The brave youth , nebty = ''wr-pḥtj'Urpekhti''Great of strength , gol ...

(283–246 BC) by the Egyptian priest

Manetho Manetho (; grc-koi, Μανέθων ''Manéthōn'', ''gen''.: Μανέθωνος) is believed to have been an Egyptian priest from Sebennytos ( cop, Ϫⲉⲙⲛⲟⲩϯ, translit=Čemnouti) who lived in the Ptolemaic Kingdom in the early third ...

. Indeed, the ''Aegyptiaca'' only reports

Hellenized Hellenization (other British spelling Hellenisation) or Hellenism is the adoption of Greek culture, religion, language and identity by non-Greeks. In the ancient period, colonization often led to the Hellenization of indigenous peoples; in the ...

names for Egyptian pharaohs and the identification of Sheshi with any particular name remains controversial. Finally, Aharon Kempinski and

have proposed that Sheshi is the historical figure who gave rise to the Biblical

Sheshai Sheshai () was a clan of Anakim living in Hebron named for a son of Anak in the Bible (Numbers 13:22). The clans were driven out of the city by Caleb (Joshua 15:14) and the Tribe of Judah (Judges 1:10). The two brothers of Sheshai were Ahiman and ...

, one of the

Anakim Anakim ( ''ʿĂnāqīm'') are mentioned in the Bible as a race of giants, descended from Anak. According to the Old Testament, the Anakim lived in the southern part of the land of Canaan, near Hebron (Gen. 23:2; Josh. 15:13). states that they in ...

living in

Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after East J ...

at the time of the

conquest of Canaan The Book of Joshua ( he, סֵפֶר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ‎ ', Tiberian: ''Sēp̄er Yŏhōšūaʿ'') is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Israe ...

by the Hebrews according to .

David Rohl The New Chronology is an alternative chronology of the ancient Near East developed by English Egyptologist David Rohl and other researchers beginning with ''A Test of Time: The Bible - from Myth to History'' in 1995. It contradicts mainstream ...

goes even further and explicitly equates Sheshi with Sheshai.

Dynasty

Egyptian - Scarab of Sheshi - Walters 4215 - Bottom (2)

Three competing hypotheses have been proposed regarding the dynasty to which Sheshi belonged.

Hyksos ruler

, Redford, and Peter Clayton identify Sheshi with

(also known as Saites). According to the ''Aegyptiaca'', Salitis was the founder of the

. Alternatively, Bietak and Janine Bourriau have proposed that Salitis should be identified with

Sakir-Har Sakir-Har (also Seker-Har and ''Skr-Hr'') was an Hyksos king of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt, ruling over some part of Lower Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, possibly in the early 16th century BC. Attestation Sakir-Har is attested ...

, a poorly known ruler of the Second Intermediate Period who, in contrast to Sheshi, is known to have borne the title of "Hyksos". If Sheshi is to be equated with Salitis, then the seals of Sheshi discovered in Nubia suggest that the Hyksos allied themselves with the Nubians against the native Egyptian

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 ...

as soon as they arrived in the Nile Delta, an event which Grimal places at c. 1720 BC. Grimal envisions Sheshi's kingdom as comprising the entire Nile Delta and the Nile valley north of

Gebelein Gebelein (Egyptian Arabic: , Two Mountains; Egyptian: Inerty or Per-Hathor; Ancient Greek: or ; Latin: ''Pathyris'' or ''Aphroditopolis'') was a town in Egypt. It is located on the Nile, about 40 km south of Thebes, in the New Valley Gov ...

. According to Manetho as reported by

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...

in ''

Against Apion ''Against Apion'' ( el, Φλαΐου Ἰωσήπου περὶ ἀρχαιότητος Ἰουδαίων λόγος α and ; Latin ''Contra Apionem'' or ''In Apionem'') is a polemical work written by Flavius Josephus as a defense of Judaism as a ...

'', Salitis 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 ...

, and fortified the existing town of Avaris, which was to become the Hyksos' seat of power. Grimal and Hayes further equate Sheshi with

Sharek Sharek or Shalek could have been a poorly known ancient Egyptian pharaoh during the Second Intermediate Period of Egypt. Attestation He is only attested on a non-contemporary document, a genealogy of a priest named Ankhefensekhmet who lived at ...

, a king whose sole attestation is found on a stone slab detailing the

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 ...

, a priest who lived at the end of the

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 ...

c. 750 BC, some 900 years after Sheshi's estimated lifetime.

and the archaeologist Daphna Ben-Tor rely on seriations of the seals of Sheshi and other kings of the Second Intermediate Period to date Sheshi to the second half of the 15th Dynasty, between the great Hyksos pharaohs

and Apophis.

Vassal of the Hyksos

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 ...

is less assertive about Sheshi's identity and assigns him to his combined

15th 15 (fifteen) is the natural number following 14 (number), 14 and preceding 16 (number), 16. Mathematics 15 is: * A composite number, and the sixth semiprime; its proper divisors being , and . * A deficient number, a smooth number, a lucky ...

16th 16 (sixteen) is the natural number following 15 and preceding 17. 16 is a composite number, and a square number, being 42 = 4 × 4. It is the smallest number with exactly five divisors, its proper divisors being , , and . In English speech, ...

Dynasty, where he regroups Hyksos rulers whose chronological position is uncertain together with kings whom he sees as vassals of the Hyksos. Von Beckerath's analysis relies on the hypothesis that Manetho's 16th Dynasty comprised minor rulers of the Nile Delta region, called lesser Hyksos, who served the great Hyksos kings of the 15th Dynasty such as Khyan and Apophis. For Manfred Bietak, the large number of attestations of Sheshi suggests that he was an important Hyksos ruler, yet his inclusion in the 15th Dynasty may be doubtful given the total absence of monuments attributable to him. Thus, Bietak concludes that Sheshi should be placed in a group of West Semitic rulers who coexisted with the 15th Dynasty, possibly as vassals or partly independently from it, and some of whom even bore the title of "Hyksos". The existence of lesser Hyksos kings in Egypt is currently debated. Ryholt has shown that a statement in

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian ...

' epitome of the ''Aegyptiaca'' indicating that the Hyksos had vassals contains a corruption of Manetho's original text. Thus, he rejects the hypothesis that the 16th Dynasty comprised vassals of the Hyksos and maintains instead that it was a native Egyptian dynasty independently reigning over the Theban region between the fall of the 13th Dynasty and the advent of the

17th Dynasty The Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XVII, alternatively 17th Dynasty or Dynasty 17) was a dynasty of pharaohs that ruled in Upper Egypt during the late Second Intermediate Period, approximately from 1580 to 1550 BC. Its mainly Theba ...

. These conclusions on the 16th Dynasty have been accepted by many scholars, including Ben-Tor,

James Peter Allen James Peter Allen (born 1945) is an American Egyptologist, specializing in language and religion. He was curator of Egyptian Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1990 to 2006. In 2007, he became the Charles Edwin Wilbour Professor of Egypt ...

, Susan Allen, Baker and Redford. Yet, for both Redford and Bietak "without doubt, there were, under the umbrella of the fifteenth dynasty rulers, a series of vassals in southern and coastal Palestine, in Middle Egypt, and in Thebes. ... Such was the political system of the Hyksos, and typical of the Amorite kingdoms in Syria and the city-states in Palestine".

King of the 14th Dynasty

Egyptian - Scarab with the Cartouche of Sheshi - Walters 4226 - Bottom (2)

Ryholt and Baker reject the identification of Sheshi as a 15th Dynasty ruler. Ryholt observes that early Hyksos kings, such as

and Khyan, are known to have adopted the title '' Heqa khasewet'' meaning "ruler of the foreign lands", a title which Sheshi did not bear. In addition, the later of these two kings, Khyan, only adopted an Egyptian

during the second half of his reign—a practice that was followed by subsequent Hyksos kings. In contrast, if Sheshi is to be identified with Maaibre, then Sheshi bore a prenomen. This implies either that he was a Hyksos king reigning after Khyan, in contradiction with Khyan's known successors Apophis and

Khamudi Khamudi (also known as Khamudy) was the last Hyksos ruler of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Khamudi came to power in 1534 BC or 1541 BC, ruling the northern portion of Egypt from his capital Avaris. His ultimate defeat at the hands of Ahmose I, a ...

and the fact that Sheshi did not bear the title of ''Heqa khasewet''; or that he belonged to another dynasty. Consequently, Ryholt suggests that Sheshi was actually a 14th Dynasty ruler, the 14th Dynasty being a line of kings of Canaanite descent possibly ruling over the Eastern Nile Delta immediately before the arrival of the Hyksos 15th Dynasty. Many Egyptologists accept the existence of the 14th Dynasty based on archaeological evidence and on the fact that about 50 kings are recorded in the Turin canon between the 13th Dynasty and the later Hyksos rulers. On the other hand, Redford proposed that these 50 kings constitute the genealogy of the Hyksos rulers and that the 14th Dynasty is chimerical. Based on a seriation of the scarab seals of the Second Intermediate Period available in 1900 AD,

George Willoughby Fraser George Willoughby Fraser (baptized 5 August 1866 – 24 November 1923) was an English civil engineer who operated at the service of the Egypt Exploration Fund. His parents were Sir Thomas Fraser and Matilda Wildman. As part of his work f ...

was able to date Sheshi's reign to "a short dynasty before the Hyksos invasion". More recently, Ryholt obtained a similar result using his own seriation and places Sheshi before

Yaqub-Har Meruserre Yaqub-Har (other spelling: Yakubher, also known as Yak-Baal) was a pharaoh of Egypt during the 17th or 16th century BCE. As he reigned during Egypt's fragmented Second Intermediate Period, it is difficult to date his reign precisely, an ...

and the great Hyksos rulers Khyan and Apophis and after Yakbim Sekhaenre,

Ya'ammu Nubwoserre Nubwoserre Ya'ammu (also rendered as Ya'amu, Jamu and Jaam) was a ruler during the Second Intermediate Period of Egypt. This Asiatic-blooded ruler is traditionally placed in the Sixteenth Dynasty, an hypothesis still in use nowadays by scholars ...

, Qareh Khawoserre and 'Ammu Ahotepre. Rolf Krauss independently reached the same conclusion. Given that the earliest 14th Dynasty ruler mentioned on the Turin canon is

Nehesy Nehesy Aasehre (Nehesi) was a ruler of Lower Egypt during the fragmented Second Intermediate Period. He is placed by most scholars into the early 14th Dynasty, as either the second or the sixth pharaoh of this dynasty. As such he is considered t ...

, a king who left several attestations of his reign in the Delta region, and that there is only space for one predecessor for Nehesy on the canon, Ryholt concludes that the earlier document from which the canon was copied had 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 ...

preceding Nehesy. Such lacunae are noted as ''wsf'' on the canon and could cover any number of kings. Thus, Ryholt sees no obstacle with having Sheshi succeed 'Ammu Ahotepre and immediately precede Nehesy.

Dating

Mid-18th century BC

Ryholt dates Sheshi's reign to the mid-18th century BC. His main argument is the presence of seals of Sheshi and of two kings of the mid 13th Dynasty

Sekhemrekhutawy Khabaw Sekhemrekhutawy Khabaw was an Egyptian pharaoh of the early 13th Dynasty during the Second Intermediate Period. Attestations Khabaw is well attested through archaeological finds. Fragments of a red granite architrave measuring by bearing his ...

and

Djedkheperew Djedkheperew (also known as Djedkheperu) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 13th Dynasty reigning for an estimated two-year period, from c. 1772 BC until 1770 BC.K.S.B. Ryholt, ''The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period'' ...

in the Egyptian fort of Uronarti in Nubia. The fort of Uronarti was abandoned at some point in the 13th Dynasty, an event which Ryholt dates to the reign of Djedkheperew given the lack of seals attributable to subsequent kings. Ryholt thus proposes that Sheshi reigned from c. 1745 BC until 1705 BC and was a contemporary of Khabaw and Djedkheperew. Ryholt's hypothesis regarding Sheshi comes with his dating the start of the 14th Dynasty around 1805 BC, over 90 years earlier than accepted by most Egyptologists. They propose instead that the 14th Dynasty emerged during the two decades of

Merneferre Ay Merneferre Ay (also spelled Aya or Eje, sometimes known as Ay I) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the mid 13th Dynasty. The longest reigning pharaoh of the 13th Dynasty, he ruled a likely fragmented Egypt for over 23 years in the early to mid ...

's reign, which is dated to between 1700 BC and 1660 BC, depending on the scholar. Ay is the last 13th Dynasty pharaoh to be attested in Lower Egypt, and most scholars, therefore, contend that he abandoned

Itjtawy Itjtawy (full Egyptian name ''Amenemhat-itj-tawy'' — "Amenemhat, Seizer of the Two Lands"), is the name of the royal city founded as a new capital by Twelfth Dynasty Egyptian King Amenemhat I, who ruled from approximately 1991 BC to 1962 BC, du ...

, the capital of Egypt since the reign of

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 ...

(c. 1980 BC), in favor of Thebes, as he lost control of the Delta region to the 14th Dynasty.

Mid- to late-17th century BC

If Sheshi is to be identified with Salitis, the founder of the 15th Dynasty, according to Manetho, then he would have lived around 1650 BC, the date agreed upon by most Egyptologists, including Ryholt, for the arrival of the Hyksos in Egypt. If Sheshi lived during the second half of the 15th Dynasty between the reigns of Khyan and Apophis as Ben-Tor and Ward favor then Sheshi would have reigned c. 1600 BC.

Reign length

The Egyptologists identifying Sheshi with Salitis follow Josephus,

Sextus Julius Africanus Sextus Julius Africanus (c. 160 – c. 240; Greek: Σέξτος Ἰούλιος ὁ Ἀφρικανός or ὁ Λίβυς) was a Christian traveler and historian of the late second and early third centuries. He is important chiefly because o ...

and Eusebius who report that Manetho credited Salitis with 19 years of reign in his ''Aegyptiaca''. Ryholt relies instead on a statistical method and estimates the duration of Sheshi's reign to have been between 20 and 53 years. The method consists in tallying the seals of Yakbim Sekhaenre, Ya'ammu Nubwoserre, Qareh Khawoserre and 'Ammu Ahotepre with those of Sheshi. Then, knowing that the first four of these kings reigned for at least 30 years, implies that they have left between 7.5 and 20 seals per year while on throne. Consequently, Sheshi's nearly 400 scarabs would correspond to 20 to 53 years, which Ryholt gives as about 40 years.

Family

Ryholt proposes that Sheshi had at least two consorts; Tati with whom he fathered his successor pharaoh Nehesy, and an unknown queen with whom he fathered a prince Ipqu. Ryholt reached this conclusion on noting that scarabs of queen Tati and Princes Ipqu and Nehesy bear stylistic markers which are found on those of Sheshi and thus that they must have been contemporaries. In addition, "Tati" is attested as a feminine Nubian name in earlier

execration texts Execration texts, also referred to as proscription lists, are ancient Egyptian hieratic texts, listing enemies of the pharaoh, most often enemies of the Egyptian state or troublesome foreign neighbors. The texts were most often written upon stat ...

, which would explain the peculiar name of Nehesy meaning "the Nubian". For Ryholt, Sheshi's motivation behind a dynastic marriage with a

Kushite The Kingdom of Kush (; Egyptian: 𓎡𓄿𓈙𓈉 ''kꜣš'', Assyrian: ''Kûsi'', in LXX grc, Κυς and Κυσι ; cop, ''Ecōš''; he, כּוּשׁ ''Kūš'') was an ancient kingdom in Nubia, centered along the Nile Valley in what i ...

princess was to ally his kingdom with the Nubians. Ryholt's hypothesis concerning Nehesy may be vindicated by a number of scarabs giving Nehesy the titles of "king's son" and of "eldest king son", indicating that Nehesy's father was a king as well. In addition, both Nehesy and Ipqu bore the titles of "king's son of Ra", a conflation of the titles "son of Ra" and "king's son", which could indicate that they were appointed junior coregents by Sheshi. These conclusions are shared by Baker but rejected by Ben-Tor, who argues not only that Nehesy reigned before Sheshi but also that the Nehesy referred to as "king's son" was a later Hyksos prince. In 2005 a stele of Nehesy was discovered in the fortress city of

Tjaru Tjaru ( egy, ṯꜣrw) was an ancient Egyptian fortress on the ''Way of Horus'' or ''Horus military road'', the major road leading out of Egypt into Canaan. It was known in Greek as Selē ( grc, Σελη), in Latin as Sile or Sele, and in Coptic ...

, the starting point of the ''Way of Horus'', the major road leading out of Egypt into Canaan. The stele shows a "king's son Nehesy" offering oil to the god

Banebdjedet Banebdjedet (Banebdjed) was an ancient Egyptian ram god with a cult centre at Mendes. Khnum was the equivalent god in Upper Egypt. Family His wife was the goddess Hatmehit ("Foremost of the Fishes"), who was perhaps the original deity of Mendes. ...

and also bears an inscription mentioning the "king's sister

Tany Tany may refer to: * the Hungarian name of Tôň, a village and municipality in the Komárno District, Slovakia ; People * Tany Youne (1903-1977), a soviet actress and writer * Luke de Tany (died 1282), a high-ranking Norman lord * Theaurau Jo ...

". A woman with this name and title is known from other sources around the time of the Hyksos pharaoh Apophis c. 1570 BC. This suggests that the "king's son Nehesy" of the stela lived c. 1570 BC as well, over 100 years after King Nehesy's estimated lifetime. This could be confirmed by Ben-Tor's observation that the scarabs referring to the "king's son Nehesy" are different in style from those referring to king Nehesy. In this situation, the "king's son Nehesy" would be a Hyksos prince different from the better-known king Nehesy.

Notes, references and sources

Notes

References

Sources

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External links

* * {{authority control 18th-century BC Pharaohs 17th-century BC Pharaohs Pharaohs of the Fourteenth Dynasty of Egypt Pharaohs of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt Year of birth unknown Place of birth unknown 2nd-millennium BC deaths 2nd-millennium BC births Anakim