Wahkare Khety was an

ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

ian

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pr ꜥꜣ, pr ꜥꜣ''; Meroitic language, Meroitic: 𐦲𐦤𐦧, ; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') was the title of the monarch of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty of Egypt, First Dynasty ( ...

of the 9th or 10th Dynasty during the

First Intermediate Period The First Intermediate Period, described as a 'dark period' in ancient Egyptian history, spanned approximately 125 years, c. 2181–2055 BC, after the end of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old Kingdom. It comprises the seventh Dynasty, Seventh (altho ...

Identity

The identity of Wahkare Khety is controversial. While some scholars believe that he was the founder of the 9th Dynasty, many others place him in the subsequent 10th Dynasty. William C. Hayes, in ''

The Cambridge Ancient History ''The Cambridge Ancient History'' is a multi-volume work of ancient history from Prehistory to Late Antiquity, published by Cambridge University Press. The first series, consisting of 12 volumes, was planned in 1919 by Irish historian J. B. Bur ...

'', vol 1, part 2, 1971 (2008), Cambridge University Press, , p. 996.Michael Rice, ''Who is who in Ancient Egypt'', 1999 (2004), Routledge, London, , p. 7.

9th Dynasty hypothesis

If Wahkare Khety was the founder of the 9th Dynasty, he may be identified with the hellenized king Achthoês, the founder of this dynasty according to

Manetho Manetho (; ''Manéthōn'', ''gen''.: Μανέθωνος, ''fl''. 290–260 BCE) was an Egyptian priest of the Ptolemaic Kingdom who lived in the early third century BCE, at the very beginning of the Hellenistic period. Little is certain about his ...

. Manetho reports:

The first of these ings Achthoês, behaving more cruel than his predecessors, wrought woes for the people of all of Egypt, but afterwards he was smitten with madness and killed by a
crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large, semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term "crocodile" is sometimes used more loosely to include ...
.William Gillian Waddell: ''Manetho (= The Loeb classical library. Bd. 350)''. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.) 2004 (Reprint), , p. 61.

If this hypothesis is correct, Wahkare Khety may have been a Herakleopolitan prince who profited from the weakness of the Memphite rulers of the Eighth Dynasty to seize the throne of Middle and

Lower Egypt Lower Egypt ( ') is the northernmost region of Egypt, which consists of the fertile Nile Delta between Upper Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, from El Aiyat, south of modern-day Cairo, and Dahshur. Historically, the Nile River split into sev ...

around 2150 BC. This hypothesis is supported by contemporary inscriptions referring to the northern, Herakleopolitan kingdom as the ''House of Khety'', although that only proves that the founder of the 9th Dynasty was a Khety, but not necessarily Wahkare Khety.

10th Dynasty hypothesis

Many scholars believe instead that Wahkare Khety was a king of the 10th Dynasty, identifying him with the Khety, who was the alleged author of the famous '' Teaching for King Merykare'', thus placing him between Neferkare VIII and Merikare. In this reconstruction, Wahkare is the last Herakleopolitan king bearing the name ''Khety'', and the cruel Achthoês founder of the 9th Dynasty is identified with Meryibre Khety, and the ''House of Khety'' must refer to him instead. From the ''Instructions'', it is known that Wahkare Khety, in alliance with the

nomarch A nomarch (, Great Chief) was a provincial governor in ancient Egypt; the country was divided into 42 provinces, called Nome (Egypt), nomes (singular , plural ). A nomarch was the government official responsible for a nome. Etymology The te ...

s of Lower Egypt, managed to repel the nomad "Asiatics" who for generations roamed in the

Nile Delta The Nile Delta (, or simply , ) is the River delta, delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's larger deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the eas ...

. Those nomarchs, although recognizing Wahkare's authority, ruled ''de facto'' more or less independently. The expulsion of the "Asiatics" allowed the establishment of new settlements and defense structures on the northeastern borders, as well as the reprise of trades with the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

ine coast. Wahkare, however, warned Merikare not to neglect guarding these borders, as the "Asiatics" still were considered a danger.
In the south, Wahkare and the faithful nomarch of

Asyut AsyutAlso spelled ''Assiout'' or ''Assiut''. ( ' ) is the capital of the modern Asyut Governorate in Egypt. It was built close to the ancient city of the same name, which is situated nearby. The modern city is located at , while the ancient city i ...

Tefibi retook the city of

Thinis Thinis ( Greek: Θίνις ''Thinis'', Θίς ''This'' ; Egyptian: Tjenu; ; ) was the capital city of pre- unification Upper Egypt. Thinis remains undiscovered but is well attested by ancient writers, including the classical historian Manetho ...

, previously captured by the Thebans led by Intef II; however, the troops of Herakleopolis sacked the sacred necropolis of Thinis, a serious crime which was reported by Wahkare himself. This crime caused the immediate reaction of the Thebans, who later finally captured the Thinite '' nomos''. After those events Wahkare Khety decided to abandon this bellicose policy and begin a phase of peaceful coexistence with the southern kingdom, which endured until part of the reign of his successor Merikare, who succeeded the long reign – five decades – of Wahkare.

Attestations

There is no contemporary evidence bearing his name. His cartouches appears on a 12th Dynasty wooden coffin inscribed with Coffin Texts and originally made for a steward named Nefri, was found in Deir el-Bersha and now is in the

Egyptian Museum The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, commonly known as the Egyptian Museum (, Egyptian Arabic: ) (also called the Cairo Museum), located in Cairo, Egypt, houses the largest collection of Ancient Egypt, Egyptian antiquities in the world. It hou ...

in Cairo (CG 28088).

Alan Gardiner Sir Alan Henderson Gardiner, (29 March 1879 – 19 December 1963) was an English Egyptologist, linguist, philologist, and independent scholar. He is regarded as one of the premier Egyptologists of the early and mid-20th century. Personal li ...

, ''Egypt of the Pharaohs, an introduction''. Oxford University Press 1961, p. 112 On it, Wahkare Khety's name was found once in place of Nefri's, but it is unknown if the texts were originally inscribed for the king, or if they were simply copied later from an earlier source. Thomas Schneider, ''Lexikon der Pharaonen''. Albatros, Düsseldorf 2002, , p. 172. His name is maybe also attested in the Royal canon of Turin.

Identity

9th Dynasty hypothesis

10th Dynasty hypothesis

Attestations

References

Further reading