Smendes III was a High Priest of Amun at Thebes during the reign 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 ...

Takelot I Hedjkheperre Setepenre Takelot I was an ancient Libyan ruler who was pharaoh during the Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt. Reign Takelot I was the son of Osorkon I and Queen Tashedkhons, who ruled Egypt for thirteen years according to Manetho. Takel ...

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 ...

Biography

The name ''Smendes'' is a

hellenization 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 ...

of the Egyptian name ''Nesbanebdjed'' (''"He of the ram, lord of

Mendes Mendes ( grc-gre, Μένδης, ''gen''.: ), the Greek name of the ancient Egyptian city of Djedet, also known in ancient Egypt as Per-Banebdjedet ("The Domain of the Ram Lord of Djedet") and Anpet, is known today as Tell El-Ruba ( ar, تل ال ...

"''), while the ordinal number distinguishes him from the founder of the

21st Dynasty The Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXI, alternatively 21st Dynasty or Dynasty 21) is usually classified as the first Dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian Third Intermediate Period, lasting from 1077 BC to 943 BC. History After the r ...

Smendes I Hedjkheperre Setepenre Smendes was the founder of the Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt and succeeded to the throne after burying Ramesses XI in Lower Egypt – territory which he controlled. His Egyptian nomen or birth name was actually Nesban ...

, and from the earlier, namesake High Priest of Amun,

Smendes II Smendes II was a High Priest of Amun at Thebes in Ancient Egypt. He briefly governed from about 992 to 990 BC., p.207 Biography The name ''Smendes'' is a hellenization of the Egyptian name ''Nesbanebdjed'' (''"He of the ram, lord of Mendes"''), ...

. A scarcely attested High Priest, he is mainly known for some

Nile Level Texts The Nile Level Texts (or Nile Quay Texts) are inscribed on the cult terrace (the so-called "quay") at the temple of Karnak, in Thebes, Egypt. This cult terrace itself was constructed during the time of Ramesses II, but the kings of the 22nd to t ...

Karnak The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (, which was originally derived from ar, خورنق ''Khurnaq'' "fortified village"), comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construct ...

where he is called ''High Priest of Amun'' and ''son of king Osorkon'': No. 17 (dating to a Year 8 of a deliberately omitted king), No. 18 (Year 13 or 14, king omitted) and No. 19 (Year lost, king omitted).Kitchen, op. cit., § 96; 157.
Despite the lack of a conclusive record, it is almost certain that the "king Osorkon" father of Smendes III is

Osorkon I Sekhemkheperre Osorkon I was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 22nd Dynasty. Osorkon's territory included much of the Levant. The Osorkon Bust found at Byblos is one of the five Byblian royal inscriptions. Biography The son of Shoshenq I and ...

: if so, Smendes also was the brother of his two predecessors

Iuwelot Iuwelot or Iuwlot was a High Priest of Amun at Thebes and military commander during the reign of pharaohs Osorkon I (reigned 922–887 BC) and Takelot I (reigned 885–872 BC) of the 22nd Dynasty. Biography As a son of Osorkon I, Iuwelot was bro ...

and

Shoshenq C Shoshenq C was the eldest son of the 22nd Dynasty pharaoh Osorkon I and queen Maatkare, and served as the High Priest of Amun at Thebes during his father's reign. Consequently, he was the most important official in Upper Egypt after the king hi ...

and of the contemporary king Takelot I. Relying on the fact that the previous Nile Level (No. 16) was ordered by Iuwelot and dated in Year 5 of a nameless king who could only be Takelot I, it was concluded that the three levels ordered by Smendes were referring to the same pharaoh. About his life and the events occurred under his mandate almost nothing is known; as shown before, he continued the practice begun by his predecessor of omitting the name of Takelot I from the Nile levels, possibly because of a presumed dynastic quarrel occurred in

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancient ...

after the death of Osorkon I. A

scribe's palette The ancient Egyptian Scribe equipment hieroglyph 𓏞 ( Gardiner no. Y3), or its reversed form 𓏟 ( Gardiner no. Y4), portrays the equipment of the scribe. Numerous scribes used the hieroglyph in stating their name, either on papyrus docume ...

now at the

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 ...

(47.123a–g) inscribed for a ''High Priest of Amun Smendes'', more likely belongs to him rather than Smendes II. A

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

kneeling statuette of a ''High Priest of Amun Smendes'' exhibited at the

Musée royal de Mariemont The Royal Museum of Mariemont (french: Musée royal de Mariemont) is a museum situated in Mariemont, near Morlanwelz, in Belgium. It is constituted around the personal collection of art and antiquities owned by the industrialist Raoul Warocqué (1 ...

(ref. B242) cannot be securely attributed to one rather to another of the two namesake priests. His succession is uncertain. According to

Kenneth Kitchen Kenneth Anderson Kitchen (born 1932) is a British biblical scholar, Ancient Near Eastern historian, and Personal and Brunner Professor Emeritus of Egyptology and honorary research fellow at the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, Univ ...

, towards the end of the reign of Takelot I, Smendes III was succeeded by

Harsiese A King Hedjkheperre Setepenamun Harsiese, or Harsiese A, is viewed by the Egyptologist Kenneth Kitchen in his Third Intermediate Period of Egypt to be both a High Priest of Amun and the son of the High Priest of Amun, Shoshenq C. The archaeological ...

, a son of his brother Shoshenq C, which in addition to ''High priest of Amun'' proclaimed itself an independent sovereign in Thebes. This hypothesis was rejected by Karl Jansen-WinkelnKarl Jansen-Winkeln, “Historische Probleme Der 3. Zwischenzeit,” in ''JEA'' 81(1995), pp. 129–149. who proved that Harsiese A never was High Priest of Amun, hence that Smendes' successor should be looked in other people, perhaps in

Nimlot C Nimlot C was a Theban High Priests of Amun, High Priest of Amun at Thebes during the reign of pharaoh Osorkon II of the 22nd Dynasty. Biography From the stela of Pasenhor it is known that Nimlot C was a son of pharaoh Osorkon II and his queen Dj ...

References

Bibliography

*Kenneth Kitchen, ''The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 BC)'', 1996, Aris & Phillips Limited, Warminster, {{authority control Theban High Priests of Amun People of the Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt 9th-century BC religious leaders 9th-century BC Egyptian people