Anat-her (also 'Anat-Har) may have been the first ruler of the Sixteenth Dynasty of Egypt, reigning over some part of Lower Egypt 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 ...

as a vassal 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 ...

kings 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 combi ...

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 ...

: ''Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen'', Münchner ägyptologische Studien, Heft 49, Mainz : P. von Zabern, 1999, , p. 116–117 This is contested however, with the 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 Darrel Baker believing that 'Anat-Har was a

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 ...

ite chieftain contemporary with the powerful

12th Dynasty The Twelfth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (Dynasty XII) is considered to be the apex of the Middle Kingdom by Egyptologists. It often is combined with the Eleventh, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth dynasties under the group title, Middle Kingdom. Some ...

. 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
excerpts available online here.
/ref> Others such as Nicholas Geoffrey Lempriere Hammond contend that he was a prince of the 15th Dynasty. 'Anat-Har's name means "

Anat Anat (, ), Anatu, classically Anath (; uga, 𐎓𐎐𐎚 ''ʿnt''; he, עֲנָת ''ʿĂnāṯ''; ; el, Αναθ, translit=Anath; Egyptian: '' ꜥntjt'') was a goddess associated with warfare and hunting, best known from the Ugaritic text ...

is content" and refers to the Semitic goddess Anat, showing that he was of Canaanite descent.

Attestations

'Anat-Har is attested by two scarab-seals, one of which is made of

steatite Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in the ...

and possibly originates from

Bubastis Bubastis ( Bohairic Coptic: ''Poubasti''; Greek: ''Boubastis'' or ''Boubastos''), also known in Arabic as Tell-Basta or in Egyptian as Per-Bast, was an ancient Egyptian city. Bubastis is often identified with the biblical ''Pi-Beseth'' ( h ...

in the Nile Delta. 'Anat-Har is not listed 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 ...

, a king list redacted 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 primary historical source for the kings of the Second Intermediate Period.

Ruler, prince or chieftain

Ruler

The seals credit 'Anat-Har with the title of ''Heka-chasut'', "Ruler of the foreign lands", the title born by the early Hyksos kings. Consequently,

proposed that 'Anat-Har was a member of the 16th Dynasty and a vassal of the Hyksos kings of the 15th Dynasty. The interpretation of the 16th Dynasty as regrouping vassals of the Hyksos is debated however, with some egyptologists including Ryholt, Darrell Baker and Janine Bourriau believing that the 16th Dynasty ruled an independent Theban kingdom c. 1650–1580 BC.

Prince

These seals are significant for 'Anat-Har's name is not found within a

cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the f ...

and there is no evidence, therefore, that he reigned as

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 ...

. Nicholas Geoffrey Lempriere Hammond therefore proposed that he may simply have been an

prince Nicholas Geoffrey Lempriere Hammond, Cyril John Gadd, Edmond Sollberger, History of the Middle East and the Aegean region C. 1800-1380 B.C., Cambridge University Press, 1970 p 58 under the authority 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 combi ...

at AvarisThomas Schneider: ''Lexikon der Pharaonen'', Albatros, Düsseldorf 2002, , p. 73

Chieftain

Following the lack of cartouche,

also argues that 'Anat-Har never reigned as a ruler of Lower Egypt. Furthermore Ryholt points to the style and design of 'Anat-Har's seals which are typically of seals produced during the 12th Dynasty. Thus Ryholt argues that 'Anat-Har was a Canaanite chieftain contemporary with this dynasty and who may have had commercial relations with Egypt. According to Ryholt the title of ''Heka-chasut'', which constitutes the main argument for a 15th Dynasty date, is also found in seals of the 12th and 14th Dynasties and cannot be used to precisely date 'Anat-Har's life.

References