Shoshenq II
Shoshenq II | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Cairo Museum | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pharaoh | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Reign | 887–885 BC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Predecessor | Osorkon I | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Successor | Takelot I (most likely) or Tutkheperre Shoshenq? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Consort | 22nd Dynasty |
Heqakheperre Shoshenq II or Shoshenq IIa
Shoshenq II's enigmatic identity
There is a small possibility that Shoshenq II was the son of Shoshenq I. Two bracelets from Shoshenq II's tomb mention king Shoshenq I while a pectoral was inscribed with the title 'Great Chief of the Ma Shoshenq,' a title which Shoshenq I employed under Psusennes II before he became king.[6] These items may be interpreted as either evidence of a possible filial link between the two men or just mere heirlooms.
A high degree of academic uncertainty regarding the parentage of this king exists: some scholars today contend that Shoshenq II was actually a younger son of
Harsiese's funerary evidence places Shoshenq II roughly one or two generations after Osorkon I and may date him to the brief interval between Takelot I and Osorkon I at Tanis.[12] In this case, the objects naming Shoshenq I in this king's tomb would simply be heirlooms, rather than proof of an actual filial relation between Shoshenq I and II. This latter interpretation is endorsed by Jürgen von Beckerath, in his 1997 book, Chronologie des Pharaonischen Ägypten who believes Shoshenq II was actually an elder brother of Takelot I. The view that Shoshenq II was an elder brother of Takelot I is also endorsed by Norbert Dautzenberg in a GM 144 paper.[13] Von Beckerath, however, places Shoshenq II between the reigns of Takelot I and Osorkon II at Tanis.[14]
Unfortunately, however, the case for a coregency between Osorkon I and Shoshenq II is uncertain because there is no clear evidence that the Year 3 and Year 33 bandages on Naktefmut's body were made at the same time. These two dates were not written on a single piece of mummy linen—which would denote a true coregency. Rather, the dates were written on two separate and unconnected mummy bandages which were likely woven and used over a period of several years, as the burial practices of the Amun priests show. A prime example is the Mummy of Khonsmaakheru in Hamburg which contains separate bandages dating to Years 11, 12, and 23 of
On Harsiese, Jacquet-Gordon notes that "there is no good evidence to suggest that the 1st prophet
Independent reign
More significantly, Shoshenq II's intact burial did not contain a single object or heirloom naming Osorkon I—an unlikely situation if Osorkon did indeed bury his own son. Kitchen notes that this king's burial goods included a pectoral that was originally inscribed for the Great Chief of the Ma Shoshenq I—before the latter became king—and "a pair of bracellets of Shoshenq I as king but no later objects."[22] This situation appears improbable if Shoshenq II was indeed Shoshenq C, Osorkon I's son who died and was buried by his own father. Other Dynasty 21 and 22 kings such as Amenemope and Takelot I, for instance, employed grave goods which mentioned their parent's names in their own tombs. This suggests that Heqakheperre Shoshenq II was not a son of Osorkon I but someone else's son, perhaps Shoshenq I. Karl Jansen-Winkeln writes in the most recent book on Egyptian chronology that:
- As the individuals interred in the [Tanite] royal tombs often bore objects belonging to their parents, this king (Shoshenq II) is probably a son of Shoshenq I.[7]
Since this pharaoh's funerary objects such as his silver coffin, jewel pectorals, and cartonnage all give him the unique royal name Heqakheperre, he was most likely a genuine king of the 22nd Dynasty in his own right, and not just a minor coregent. Jürgen von Beckerath adopts this interpretation of the evidence and assigns Shoshenq II an independent reign of 2 years at Tanis.[14] In their 2005 academic publication on Egyptian chronology, the Egyptologists Rolf Krauss and David Alan Warburton also ascribed Shoshenq II an independent reign of between 1 and 2 years in the 22nd dynasty although they place Shoshenq II's brief reign between that of Takelot I and Osorkon II.[23] The German Egyptologist Thomas Schneider, in a 2010 paper, has accepted the validity of the reference in Manetho's epitome to the "3 [Tanite] kings" from Africanus' version and placed the reigns of both Shoshenq II and Tutkheperre Shoshenq in the interval between Osorkon I and Takelot I.[24] The exclusive use of silver for the creation of Shoshenq II's coffin is a potent symbol of his power because silver "was considerably rarer in Egypt than gold."[25]
Death and burial
Dr. Derry's medical examination of Shoshenq II's mummy reveals that the king died as a result of a massive septic infection from a head wound.[26]
The final resting place of Shoshenq II was certainly a reburial because he was found interred in the tomb of another king, Psusennes I of the Twenty-first Dynasty. Scientists have found evidence of plant growth on the base of Shoshenq II's coffin, which suggests that Shoshenq II's original tomb had become waterlogged,[27] hence a need to rebury him and his funerary equipment in another tomb. As Aidan Dodson writes:
It is abundantly clear that the presence of Shoshenq II within NRT III (Psusennes I's tomb) was the result of a reburial. Apart from the presence of the [king's] coffinettes within an extremely mixed group of secondhand jars, the broken condition of the trough of the king's silver coffin showed that it had received rough handling in antiquity.[28]
References
- Egyptological Conference on the History and Chronology of the Libyan Period in Egypt at Leiden University, the conference members voted unanimously to designate him as Shoshenq IIa.
- ^ Bob Brier, Egyptian Mummies: Unravelling the Secrets of an Ancient Art, William Morrow & Company Inc., New York, 1994. p.145
- ^ Sheshonq II
- ^ Brier, p.144
- ^ Peter A. Clayton, Chronicle of the Pharaohs: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Rulers and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt, Thames and Hudson, London, 1994. p.185
- ^ Kenneth A. Kitchen, The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 BC), 3rd edition: 1996, Aris & Phillips Ltd., p.117
- ^ a b Karl Jansen-Winkeln, The Chronology of the Third Intermediate Period: Dyns 22-24 in 'Handbook of Egyptian Chronology,' ed. Rolf Krauss, Erik Hornung, David Warburton, Brill: 2005, p.237
- ^ Douglas E. Derry, Note on the Remains of Shashanq, Annales du Service des Antiquités de l’Égypte 39 (1939), pp.549-551
- ^ Jürgen von Beckerath, Chronologie des Pharaonischen Ägypten, Philipp von Zabern: Mainz am Rhein, (1997), pp.95
- ^ Eva R. Lange, Ein Neuer König Schoschenk in Bubastis, Göttinger Miszellen 203 (2004), pp.65–72
- ^ Aidan M. Dodson, The Canopic Equipment of the Kings of Egypt, Kegan Paul Intl: London, 1994. pp.90 & 92
- ^ J. von Beckerath, p.98
- ^ Norbert Dautzenberg, Bemerkungen zu Schoschenq II., Takeloth II. und Pedubastis II., Göttinger Miszellen 144 (1995), pp.21-29
- ^ a b J. von Beckerath, pp.98 & 191
- ^ Kitchen, pp.117–119
- ^ Kitchen, p.110
- ^ Kitchen, p.308
- ^ Helen Jacquet-Gordon, book review of KA Kitchen's The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 B.C.), Bibliotheca Orientalis 32 (1975), pp.358–359
- ^ Jacquet-Gordon, pp.358–360
- ^ Jacquet-Gordon, p.35
- ^ Kitchen, p.117
- ^ Kitchen, pp.117–118
- ^ Rolf Krauss & David A. Warburton, Chronological Table for the Dynastic Period in 'Handbook of Egyptian Chronology,' ed. Rolf Krauss, Erik Hornung, David Warburton, Brill: 2005, p.493
- ^ Thomas Schneider, Contributions to the Chronology of the New Kingdom and the Third Intermediate Period, Aegypte und Levante 20 (2010) p.403
- ^ Christine Hobson, Exploring the World of the Pharaohs: A complete Guide to Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson 1987. p.123
- ^ Derry, pp.549–551
- ^ Derry, pp.549-551
- ^ Dodson, p.89
Further reading
- ISBN 3-86097-540-4
- Guy Brunton, Some Notes on the Burial of Shashanq Heqa-Kheper-Re, Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Égypte 39 (1939), 541-547
- N. Dautzenberg, 'Bemerkungen zu Schoschenq II., Takeloth II. und Pedubastis II', Göttinger Miszellen 144 (1995), 21-29
- D. E. Derry, Note on the Remains of Shashanq, Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Égypte 39 (1939), 549-551