Menkhaure Snaaib 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 ...
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 b ...
between the
Middle Kingdom and
New Kingdom at the end of the
Middle Bronze Age.
__FORCETOC__
Attestations
Stela CG 20517
In
Abydos (Kom es-Sultan) a stela dedicated to the worship of the god Min-Horus-nakht dating to the reign of Snaaib was found. It is a painted
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
stele "of exceptionally crude quality".
The stele gives the nomen, prenomen, and Horus names of the king. It also shows him wearing the
Khepresh
The khepresh (''ḫprš'') was an ancient Egyptian royal headdress. It is also known as the blue crown or war crown. New Kingdom pharaohs are often depicted wearing it in battle, but it was also frequently worn in ceremonies. While it was once c ...
crown and adoring the god
Min
Min or MIN may refer to:
Places
* Fujian, also called Mǐn, a province of China
** Min Kingdom (909–945), a state in Fujian
* Min County, a county of Dingxi, Gansu province, China
* Min River (Fujian)
* Min River (Sichuan)
* Mineola (Am ...
.
Another ruler wearing the Khepresh Crown during this period was
Neferhotep III.
Theories
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 a king of the
Abydos Dynasty, although they leave his position within the dynasty undetermined.
[Darrell D. Baker: ''The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume I - Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300–1069 BC'', Stacey International, , 2008, p. 379][ 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] Alternatively,
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 ...
sees Snaaib as a king reigning near the end 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 ...
.
[Jürgen von Beckerath: ''Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen'', Münchner ägyptologische Studien 49, Mainz 1999.]
In his study of the Second Intermediate Period, Ryholt elaborates on the idea originally proposed by
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 ...
that following the collapse of the 13th Dynasty with the conquest of
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 ...
by 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 ...
, an independent kingdom centered on Abydos arose in Middle Egypt.
[Detlef Franke: ''Zur Chronologie des Mittleren Reiches. Teil II: Die sogenannte Zweite Zwischenzeit Altägyptens'', in Orientalia 57 (1988), p. 259] The
Abydos Dynasty thus designates a group of local kinglets reigning for a short time in central Egypt. Ryholt notes that Snaaib is only attested by his stele from
Abydos and may thus belong to this dynasty.
This conclusion is shared by Darrell Baker but not by von Beckerath, who places Snaaib near the end of the 13th Dynasty.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Snaaib
17th-century BC Pharaohs
Pharaohs of the Abydos Dynasty
Egyptian Museum