Merkawre Sobekhotep (also known as Sobekhotep VII) was the thirty-seventh

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 Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period.

Attestations

Contemporary

Merkawre Sobekhotep is attested by a scarab-seal of unknown origin and by two statues dedicated to

Amun Amun (; also ''Amon'', ''Ammon'', ''Amen''; egy, jmn, reconstructed as (Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian) → (later Middle Egyptian) → (Late Egyptian), cop, Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ, Amoun) romanized: ʾmn) was a major ancient Egyptian ...

. The statues were originally from

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 ...

and are now in the Egyptian Museum and in the Louvre Museum respectively. The statues present Merkawre Sobekhotep with two sons ''Bebi'' and ''Sobekhotep'', both bearing the titles of "king's son" and of "court official".

Non-contemporary

Merkawre Sobekhotep is also named in 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 ...

(Ryholt: row 8 column 8,

Gardiner Gardiner may refer to: Places Settlements ;Canada * Gardiner, Ontario ;United States * Gardiner, Maine * Gardiner, Montana * Gardiner (town), New York ** Gardiner (CDP), New York * Gardiner, Oregon * Gardiner, Washington * West Gardiner, Maine ...

& von Beckerath: row 7, column 8) and in the Karnak king list. The Turin canon credits him with a reign of 2 years, a lost number of months and 3 to 4 days. Consequently, Ryholt attributes him 2 and a half years of reign.

Chronological position

The exact chronological position of Merkawre Sobekhotep in the 13th dynasty is not known for certain owing to uncertainties affecting earlier kings of the dynasty.

Turin canon

According to the Turin canon, Merkawre Sobekhotep was the immediate successor of

Sewadjkare Hori Sewadjkare Hori (also known as Hori II) was a pharaoh of the late 13th Dynasty, possibly the thirty-sixth king of this dynasty. He reigned over Middle and Upper Egypt for five years, either during the early or mid-17th century, from 1669 until 1 ...

. After Merkawre Sobekhotep's kingship, the sequence of rulers of the 13th dynasty is highly uncertain due to a large lacuna affecting the Turin canon. Four to seven king names are lost to the lacuna.

Speculations

He probably reigned over Middle and perhaps

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 ...

during the mid-17th century BC from 1664 BC until 1663 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 Alternatively, the German Egyptologist Thomas Schneider dates this short-lived king's reign from 1646 BC to 1644 BC Darrell Baker makes him the thirty-seventh king of the dynasty,

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 ...

sees him as the thirty-eighth king 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 ...

places him as the thirty-second pharaoh of the dynasty.

: ''Untersuchungen zur politischen Geschichte der zweiten Zwischenzeit in Ägypten'', Glückstadt 1964, S. 61, 254-255 (XIII 32.)

References

External links

Titulary of Sebekhotep VII
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sobekhotep, Merkawre 17th-century BC Pharaohs Pharaohs of the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt