Merneferre Ay

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Merneferre Ai
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This article is about the 13th dynasty Pharaoh. For the 18th dynasty Pharaoh, see Ay.
Merneferre Ay
Aya, Eje, Aye, Iy, Mernoferre, Ay I
An inscribed section of the pyramidion of king Merneferre Ay's tomb.
An inscribed section of the pyramidion of king Merneferre Ay's tomb.
Pharaoh
Reign23 years, 8 months and 18 days, 1701–1677 BC,[1] 1695–1685 BC,[2] 1684–1661 BC[3]
PredecessorWahibre Ibiau
SuccessorMerhotepre Ini
Royal titulary
Prenomen  (Praenomen)
Merneferre
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He who loves the perfection of Ra
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Nomen
Ay
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Turin King List: Merneferre
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Consort
13th Dynasty

Merneferre Ay (also spelled Aya or Eje, sometimes known as Ay I) was an

13th Dynasty. The longest reigning pharaoh of the 13th Dynasty, he ruled a likely fragmented Egypt for over 23 years in the early to mid 17th century BC. A pyramidion bearing his name shows that he possibly completed a pyramid, probably located in the necropolis of Memphis
.

Merneferre Ay is the last pharaoh of the 13th Dynasty to be attested outside Upper Egypt. In spite of his long reign, the number of artefacts attributable to him is comparatively small. This may point to problems in Egypt at the time and indeed, by the end of his reign, "the administration [of the Egyptian state] seems to have completely collapsed".[1][3] It is possible that the capital of Egypt since the early Middle Kingdom, Itjtawy was abandoned during or shortly after Ay's reign. For this reason, some scholars consider Merneferre Ay to be the last pharaoh of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt.

Chronology

Chronological position

Globular jar of Merneferre Ay, Metropolitan Museum of Art

The relative chronological position of Merneferre Ay as a king of the mid 13th Dynasty is well established by the

Second Intermediate Period. The king list records Ay's name on column 8 line 3 (column 6 line 3 in Alan Gardiner's reading of the Turin canon and entry 7.3 in von Beckerath's reading) and establishes that Merneferre Ay was preceded by Wahibre Ibiau and succeeded by Merhotepre Ini, who was possibly his son.[1]

The precise chronological placement of Merneferre Ay varies between scholars, with Jürgen von Beckerath and Aidan Dodson seeing him as the 27th king of the dynasty[4] while Kim Ryholt and Darrell Baker place him in the 32nd and 33rd positions, respectively.[1][5] Similarly, the absolute datation of Ay's reign is debated and varies by 17 years between Ryholt's 1701–1677 BC[1] and Schneider's 1684–1661 BC.[3]

Reign length

Until recently, the duration of Merneferre Ay's reign, which is recorded in the Turin canon, was disputed by Jürgen von Beckerath who read the damaged figure on the papyrus fragment as 13 years[6] while both Alan Gardiner and Kenneth Kitchen maintained it should be read as 23 years.[7][8] The dispute was settled in the latest study of the Turin canon by Kim Ryholt who confirms that Merneferre Ay's reign length as recorded on the papyrus is "23 years, 8 months and 18 days".[1] Ryholt insists that "the tick that distinguishes 20 and 30 from 10 is preserved and beyond dispute. Accordingly, 23 years or, less likely, 33 years must be read."[1] This makes Merneferre Ay the longest-ruling pharaoh of the 13th Dynasty at a time when numerous short-lived kings ruled Egypt.

Reign and attestations

steatite scarab of Merneferre Ay, British Museum.[9]

As a king of the mid 13th Dynasty, Merneferre Ay reigned over Middle and

filiative nomina, that is references to the name of his father on the artefacts attributable to him.[1] They believe that this should have been the case had his father been a pharaoh, and indeed a number of 13th Dynasty kings used filiative nomina. Little is known of Ay's consorts, he was possibly married to Ineni whose scarabs are stylistically similar to those of Ay.[1]

Attestations

Merneferre Ay is well attested; no fewer than 62

scarab seals and one cylinder-seal[10] bearing his name are known, 51 of which are of unknown provenance[5][11][12] Among the scarabs of known provenance, three are from Lower Egypt, more precisely one from Bubastis and two from Heliopolis.[1][5] The rest of the scarabs of known provenance are from Abydos, Coptos and Lisht, all localities being in Middle or Upper Egypt. Other attestations of Ay include an obsidian globular jar now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,[13] a ball dedicated to Sobek,[14] an inscribed limestone block, part of a lintel, discovered in 1908 by Georges Legrain in Karnak and a pyramidion.[5][15][16]

The pyramidion was confiscated from robbers by the Egyptian police in 1911 at Faqus, close to the ancient city of Avaris. It is carved with the name of Ay and shows him offering to Horus "Lord of heaven", demonstrating that a pyramid was built for him during his long reign.[16][17] The fact that the pyramidion was probably discovered by the robbers in modern-day Khatana, part of the ancient city of Avaris (modern-day Qantir) is important since it was likely the capital of the 14th Dynasty during Ay's lifetime. Egyptologists believe that the pyramidion originates in fact from Memphis, in the necropolis of which Ay's pyramid must be located. Accordingly, this suggests that the pyramid was looted at the time of the Hyksos invasion c. 1650 BC and the pyramidion taken to Avaris at this moment.[1][5] This is vindicated by the "damaged text on the pyramidion [which] originally invoked four gods" two of whom were Ptah and Re-Horus (for Ra-Horakhty). The cults of these gods were based in the Memphite necropolis, not in Avaris.[1] Other objects which suffered the same fate include two colossal statues of the 13th Dynasty king Imyremeshaw.

Legacy

Lintel of Merneferre Ay.[15]

Even though Merneferre Ay is well attested, the number of objects attributable to him is relatively small given his nearly 24 year-long reign.[5] This may point to serious problems in Egypt at the time and indeed Ryholt and others believe that by the end of Ay's reign "the administration [of the Egyptian state] seems to have completely collapsed".[1]

Merneferre Ay is the last Egyptian king of the 13th Dynasty who is attested by objects from outside of Upper Egypt.

Second Intermediate Period.[18] This analysis is rejected by Ryholt and Baker however, who note that the stele of Seheqenre Sankhptahi, reigning toward the very end of the 13th Dynasty, strongly suggests that he reigned over Memphis. Unfortunately, the stele is of unknown provenance.[1][5]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Merneferre Ay.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. Archived 2021-03-25 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ISBN 978-0192804587
    .
  3. ^ a b c d Thomas Schneider in: Ancient Egyptian Chronology - Edited by Erik Hornung, Rolf Krauss, and David A. Warburton, available online Archived 2019-03-30 at the Wayback Machine, see p. 181, 497
  4. ISBN 3-8053-2591-6
    , see p. 98–99
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-1-905299-37-9
    , 2008, p. 65–66
  6. ^ Jürgen von Beckerath: Untersuchungen zur politischen Geschichte der Zweiten Zwischenzeit in Ägypten, Glückstadt, J.J. Augustin, 1964
  7. ISBN 978-0900416484
  8. JSTOR 505957
  9. Harry Reginald Hall: Catalogue of Egyptian scarabs, etc., in the British Museum, vol 1 (1913), available not-in-copyright here
    , p. 20., scarab is now in London, British Museum EA 16567
  10. ^ Cylinder Seal of King Merneferre Aya, Metropolitan Museum of Art, see the online catalog [1] Archived 2014-09-07 at the Wayback Machine
  11. Petrie Museum, see three of them on Digital Egypt Archived 2007-02-04 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ Olga Tufnell: Studies on Scarab Seals, vol. II, Aris & Philips, Warminster, 1984, pp. 159–161, 181, 184–187, 200, 368–369, seals No. 3168–3183, pl. LV–LVI.
  13. ^ Globular Jar of King Merneferre Aya, Metropolitan Museum of Art, see the online catalog [2] Archived 2014-09-07 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ Gerard Godron: Deux objets du Moyen-Empire mentionnant Sobek, BIFAO 63 (1965), p. 197–200, available online Archived 2014-09-07 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ a b Georges Legrain: Notes d'inspection - Sur le Roi Marnofirrì, in Annales du Service des antiquités de l'Egypte (ASAE) 9 (1908) available not-in-copyright here, p. 276.
  16. ^ a b Labib Habachi: "Khata'na-Qantir: Importance", ASAE 52 (1954) pp. 471–479, pl.16–17
  17. ISBN 978-3-7001-2986-8
  18. ^ a b Daphna Ben Tor: Sequences and chronology of Second Intermediate Period royal-name scarabs, based on excavated series from Egypt and the Levant, in: The Second Intermediate Period (Thirteenth-Seventeenth Dynasties), Current Research, Future Prospects edited by Marcel Maree, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 192, 2010, p. 91
Preceded by
Thirteenth Dynasty
 Succeeded by
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