Sobekhotep V
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Merhotepre Sobekhotep (also known as Sobekhotep V; Sobekhotep VI in older studies) was an Egyptian king 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 ...
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 ...
. According to egyptologist
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 ...
he was the thirtieth pharaoh of the dynasty, while Darrell Baker believes instead that he was its twenty-ninth ruler.K. S. B. Ryholt, ''The political situation in Egypt during the second intermediate period'', c. 1800–1550 B.C. Museum Tusculanum Press, 1997, pp 37, 233Darrell D. Baker: ''The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume I - Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300–1069 BC'', Stacey International, , 2008 In older studies, Jürgen von Beckerath and
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 ...
identified Merhotepre Sobekhotep with Merhotepre Ini, thereby making him Sobekhotep VI and the twenty-eighth ruler of the 13th Dynasty.


Identity

The identity of Merhotepre Sobekhotep is debatable because his name is missing from the Turin canon, a king list redacted in the early
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 ...
. According to
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 ...
, Merhotepre Sobekhotep is missing from the list because he was listed in the line below that of Sobekhotep IV. This line was lost in 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 p ...
of the papyrus. That this king must have ruled during the 13th dynasty however is uncontested since a seated statue of the king bearing his cartouche has been found and is now located in the Cairo Museum. While Franke and von Beckerath identified Merhotepre Sobekhotep with Merhotepre Ini, on the basis that they have the same prenomen, Ryholt showed in 1997 that he was listed in the lacuna below Sobekhotep IV. Furthermore, Ryholt points to the many rulers of the period who shared prenomen and yet were not the same person. Ryholt thus sees him as a separate ruler from Merhotepre Ini and credits him a reign of approximately 3 years.


Chronological position

Merhotepre Sobekhotep's position following the reign of Sobekhotep IV is strongly suggested by the fact that five 13th Dynasty pharaohs are attested by genealogical seals which mention their parents. Four of these pharaohs are known to have been
Sobekhotep III Sobekhotep III (throne name: Sekhemre-sewadjtawy) was an Egyptian king of the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt who reigned three to four years, c. 1740 BC or 1700 BC. Family Parents and siblings The family of the king is known from several sources. ...
,
Neferhotep I Khasekhemre Neferhotep I was an Egyptian pharaoh of the mid Thirteenth Dynasty ruling in the second half of the 18th century BC K.S.B. Ryholt: ''The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, c.1800–1550 BC'', Carst ...
and his two brothers Sihathor, and Sobekhotep IV.Ryholt, p.231 But two genealogical seals bear name of the ruler's mother as ''The king's Mother Nubhotepti'' and the king as ''Sobekhotep''. However, Sobekhotep III's mother was Jewhetibew whereas Neferhotep I, Sihathor and Sobekhotep IV were the sons of ''The King's Mother Kemi''. This means that there was a different king named Sobekhotep who used genealogical seals in his lifetime. A further seal impression found at Tukh apparently mentions the father of this unknown king and while it is broken, and the father's name is unreadable, "it is clear from the traces that it was neither Monthhotep obekhotep III's fatheror Haankhef eferhotep I, Sihathor and Sobekhotep IV's father. This seal impression is likely, therefore, to have been made by the paternal counterpart to the seal naming Nubhotepti. Since the seal impression bears a prenomen that appears to read ''mr- ..r , Ryholt argues that we are dealing "with a king whose nomen was Sobekhotep and whose prenomen was constructed on the form mr-X-rˁ" such as Merhotepre or Merkawre Sobekhotep.Ryholt, pp.231-232 Ryholt notes, furthermore, that during the 13th Dynasty, royal genealogical seals were in use only during the period of the four identified kings, which succeeded each other on the throne: Sobekhotep III-Neferhotep I-Sihathor-Sobekhotep IV. Since during the 30+ years that followed in the reigns of Khahotepre Sobekhotep, Wahibre Ibiau and
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 mi ...
, no genealogical seals are attested for these three kings, it is safe to assume that "it had thus positively gone out of use by their reigns". Thus, Merkawre Sobekhotep would not have used it in his reign since he was the ninth successor of Sobekhotep IV.Ryholt, p.232 The 30-year gap also excludes the reigns of other intervening kings from the death of Sobekhotep IV and the accession of Merkawre Sobekhotep such as Sewadjkare Hori who ruled Egypt for five years as per the
Turin King List 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 a ...
. Therefore, king Merhotepre Sobekhotep, who is also attested by a statue from the Cairo Museum, would be the only candidate remaining to be the immediate successor of Sobekhotep IV and predecessor of Khahotepre Sobekhotep. Merhotepre Sobekhotep employed genealogical seals and his name was lost in a lacuna at the bottom of a column of the Turin canon. The successor of Merhotepre Sobekhotep, Khahotepre Sobekhotep, whose reign is mentioned on the Turin canon, also has a prenomen which is similar in style since it is built on an ''X-htp-rˁ'' formula, further confirming that both reigned in close succession.


See also

* List of Pharaohs


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sobekhotep 05 18th-century BC Pharaohs Pharaohs of the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt