Seventh Dynasty of Egypt
Seventh Dynasty of Egypt | |||||||||||
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c. 2181 BC | |||||||||||
Capital | Memphis | ||||||||||
Common languages | Egyptian language | ||||||||||
Religion | ancient Egyptian religion | ||||||||||
Government | Absolute monarchy | ||||||||||
Historical era | Bronze Age | ||||||||||
• Established | c. 2181 BC | ||||||||||
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Periods and dynasties of ancient Egypt | ||
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All years are BC | ||
XXXIII | 305–30 |
The Seventh Dynasty of Egypt would mark the beginning of the
Historical sources
Based on the now lost writings of Africanus (c. 160–240) and Eusebius (c. 260–340), themselves based on the now lost work of the Egyptian priest Manetho (3rd century BC), the Byzantine scholar George Syncellus (died after 810) variously assigns to the period after the Sixth dynasty – the Seventh Dynasty – 70 kings in 70 days (Africanus) or 5 kings in 75 days (Eusebius).[3]: 395 According to Manetho, these kings would have ruled in Memphis.[3]: 396 Rather than a historical reality, this rapid succession of kings has long been interpreted as a metaphor for chaos.[3]: 395
Some Egyptologists, such as Papazian (2015),
List of rulers
The Seventh Dynasty is usually considered fictitious and is thus either ignored altogether by modern scholars or it is combined with the Eighth Dynasty. The Egyptologist Hracht Papazian has proposed in 2015 that a number of rulers usually seen as belonging to the mid-Eighth Dynasty identified by the Abydos King List should be attributed to a Seventh Dynasty:[3]: 416
Name | Evidence beyond the Abydos king list |
---|---|
Djedkare Shemai | — |
Neferkare Khendu | — |
Merenhor | — |
Neferkamin | — |
Nikare | Possibly attested by a cylinder seal.[4] |
Neferkare Tereru | — |
Neferkahor | Attested by a cylinder seal. |
Neferkare Pepiseneb | Turin Canon gives at least one year.[5] |
Neferkamin Anu | — |
References
- ISBN 978-1-4088-1002-6.
The system of dynasties devised in the third century B.C. [by Manetho] is not without its problems—for example, the Seventh Dynasty is now recognized as being wholly spurious, while several dynasties are known to have ruled concurrently in different parts of Egypt...
- ISBN 978-3-8053-2591-2.
- ^ a b c d e f g Hratch Papazian (2015). "The State of Egypt in the Eighth Dynasty". In Peter Der Manuelian; Thomas Schneider (eds.). Towards a New History for the Egyptian Old Kingdom: Perspectives on the Pyramid Age. Harvard Egyptological Studies. BRILL.
- ^ Peter Kaplony: Die Rollsiegel des Alten Reichs, vol. 2: Katalog der Rollsiegel (Monumenta Aegyptiaca Vol. 3), La Fondation Égyptologique Reine Élisabeth, Brüssel 1981, issue 144.
- ^ Kim Ryholt: "The Late Old Kingdom in the Turin King-list and the Identity of Nitocris", Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde, 127 (2000), p. 91