Aakheperre Setepenre Osorkon the Elder was the fifth king 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 ...

of Ancient Egypt and was the first

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 ...

of Meshwesh ( Ancient Libyan) origin. He is also sometimes known as Osochor, following Manetho's ''Aegyptiaca''.

Biography

Osorkon the Elder was the son of

Shoshenq A Shoshenq A, sometimes also called Shoshenq the Elder, was a ''Great Chief of the Ma'' during the 21st Dynasty of ancient Egypt. He is mainly known for being an ancestor of the 22nd Dynasty pharaohs. Biography His wife was the ''King's mother'' M ...

, the ''Great Chief of the Ma'' by the latter's wife Mehtenweshkhet A who is given the prestigious title of 'King's Mother' in a document. Osorkon was the brother of

Nimlot A Nimlot A was a ''Great Chief of the Ma'' during the late 21st Dynasty of ancient Egypt. He is mainly known for being the father of the founder of the 22nd Dynasty, pharaoh Shoshenq I. Biography Nimlot A was a son of the ''Great Chief of the Ma' ...

, the Great Chief of the Ma, and Tentshepeh A the daughter of the Great Chief of the Ma and, thus, an uncle of Shoshenq I, founder 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 ...

. His existence was doubted by most scholars until Eric Young established in 1963 that the induction of a temple priest named Nespaneferhor in ''Year 2 I

Shemu The Season of the Harvest or Low Water was the third and final season of the lunar and civil Egyptian calendars. It fell after the Season of the Emergence (') and before the spiritually dangerous intercalary month ('), after which the New Yea ...

day 20'' under a certain king named Aakheperre Setepenre—in fragment 3B, line 1-3 of the Karnak Priest Annals —occurred one generation prior to the induction of Hori, Nespaneferhor's son, in Year 17 of

Siamun Neterkheperre or Netjerkheperre-Setepenamun Siamun was the sixth pharaoh of Egypt during the Twenty-first Dynasty. He built extensively in Lower Egypt for a king of the Third Intermediate Period and is regarded as one of the most powerful rule ...

, which is also recorded in the same annals. Young argued that this king Aakheperre Setepenre was the unknown Osochor. This hypothesis was not fully accepted by all Egyptologists at that time, however. Then, in a 1976–77 paper,

Jean Yoyotte Jean Yoyotte (4 August 1927 – 1 July 2009) was a French Egyptologist, Professor of Egyptology at the Collège de France and director of research at the École pratique des hautes études (EPHE). Biography Born in 1927 at Lyon, he attended th ...

noted that a Libyan king named Osorkon was the son of Shoshenq A by the Lady Mehtenweshkhet A, with Mehtenweshkhet being explicitly titled the "King's Mother" in a certain genealogical document. Since none of the other kings named Osorkon had a mother named Mehtenweshkhet, it was conclusively established that Aakheperre Setepenre was indeed Manetho's Osochor, whose mother was Mehtenweshkhet. The Lady Mehtenweshkhet A was also the mother of Nimlot A, Great Chief of the Meshwesh and, thus, Shoshenq I's grandmother. In 1999, Chris Bennett made a case for a Queen

Karimala Karimala (sometimes written as Katimala or Kadimalo) was a Nubian queen. She is known from a relief found at the temple in Semna in Nubia. Karimala had the title of Great Royal Wife and princess. In the scene at Semna, the queen is shown with doub ...

known from an inscription in the temple of

Semna The region of Semna is 15 miles south of Wadi Halfa and is situated where rocks cross the Nile narrowing its flow—the Semna Cataract. Semna was a fortified area established in the reign of Senusret I (1965–1920 BC) on the west bank of the N ...

being his daughter. She is called both 'King's Daughter" and "King's Wife". Her name suggests she may have been Libyan. Given the date of the inscription (a year 14), she might have been the queen of either king

or king

Psusennes II Titkheperure or Tyetkheperre Psusennes II Greek_language.html" "title="/nowiki>Greek language">Greek Ψουσέννης] or Hor-Pasebakhaenniut II gyptian language, Egyptian ''ḥr-p3-sb3-ḫˁỉ--nỉwt'' was the last Pharaoh, king of the ...

. Bennett prefers a marriage to Siamun, because in that case she could have taken over the position of the

Viceroy of Kush The former Kingdom of Kerma in Nubia, was a province of ancient Egypt from the 16th century BCE to eleventh century BCE. During this period, the polity was ruled by a viceroy who reported directly to the Egyptian Pharaoh. It is believed that the ...

, Neskhons, as a religious figurehead in

Nubia Nubia () (Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), or ...

after the death of the latter in year 5 of king Siamun. Seal Aakheperre Osorkon Petrie

faience Faience or faïence (; ) is the general English language term for fine tin-glazed pottery. The invention of a white pottery glaze suitable for painted decoration, by the addition of an oxide of tin to the slip of a lead glaze, was a major a ...

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to imp ...

and a block naming a king Osorkon with the names ''Aakheperre Setepenamun, Osorkon Meryamun'', both in the

Rijksmuseum van Oudheden The (English: National Museum of Antiquities) is the national archaeological museum of the Netherlands, located in Leiden. It grew out of the collection of Leiden University and still closely co-operates with its Faculty of Archaeology. The ...

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...

, were for a long time attributed to

Osorkon IV Usermaatre Osorkon IV was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh during the late Third Intermediate Period. Traditionally considered the last king of the 22nd Dynasty, he was ''de facto'' little more than ruler in Tanis and Bubastis, in Lower Egypt. He is ...

; however, this attribution has been challenged by Frederic Payraudeau in 2000, who pointed out that those objects more likely referred to Osorkon the Elder. This would lead to the attribution to his

throne name A regnal name, or regnant name or reign name, is the name used by monarchs and popes during their reigns and, subsequently, historically. Since ancient times, some monarchs have chosen to use a different name from their original name when they ac ...

''Aakheperre'' both the epithets ''Setepenre'' and ''Setepenamun''.

Osorkon's time-line

Based on a calculation of the aforementioned Year 2 lunar date of this king – which Rolf Krauss in an astronomical calculation has shown to correspond to 990 BC – Osorkon the Elder must have become king two years before the induction of Nespaneferhor in 992 BC.Erik Hornung, Rolf Krauss and David A. Warburton (eds.), ''Ancient Egyptian Chronology'', Brill, Leiden/Boston, 2006, , p. .474 Osorkon the Elder's reign is significant because it foreshadows the coming Libyan 22nd Dynasty. He is credited with a reign of six years in Manetho's ''Aegyptiaca'' and was succeeded in power by Siamun, who was either Osorkon's son or an unrelated native Egyptian.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osorkon The Elder 10th-century BC Pharaohs Pharaohs of the Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt Berber rulers