Djedankhre Montemsaf
| Djedankhre Montemsaf | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Montuemsaf, Mentemsaf, Mentuemsaf | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Steatite scarab of pharaoh Djedankhre Montemsaf reading "The good god, Djedankhre", now in the Petrie Museum UC11225. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pharaoh | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reign | uncertain, ca. 1590 BC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor | uncertain, Dedumose II | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Successor | uncertain, Mentuhotep VI | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Burial | unknown, probably in Dra' Abu el-Naga'[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dynasty | 16th Dynasty | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Djedankhre Montemsaf was a Theban king of the 16th Dynasty based in Upper Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period c. 1590 BC.[2][3] As such he would have ruled concurrently with the 15th Dynasty which controlled Lower and Middle Egypt.
Attestations
Djedankhre Montemsaf is attested by an inscribed block found in Gebelein,[1][4] a bronze axe-blade of unknown origin, now in the British Museum, and bearing "The good god Djedankhre, given life" and finally two scarab seals, also of unknown provenance.[1][5] Djedankhre Montemsaf is not attested on the surviving fragments of the Turin canon, his reign and those of 4 other kings of the end of the 16th Dynasty being lost in a lacuna.[2] For this reason, the exact chronological position as well as the length of his reign cannot be ascertained.
Chronological position
According to the new arrangement of kings of the Second Intermediate Period and Kim Ryholt, Djedankhre Montemsaf succeeded Djedneferre Dedumose II and preceded Merankhre Mentuhotep VI on the throne.[6] He was thus a king of the late 16th Dynasty and may have reigned ca. 1590 BC. The arguments supporting this chronological position are: 1) the form of his prenomen Ḏd-X-Rˁ, which is in common with those of Dedumose I and Dedumose II; 2) the location of finds attesting Montemsaf in Thebes and the south; and 3) the style of the axe-blade which can be dated to the late Second Intermediate Period.
On the other hand, an older study by Jürgen von Beckerath places Djedankhre Montemsaf in the 13th Dynasty, following Mentuhotep VI and succeeded by Dedumose I on the throne.[7]
References
- ^ a b c Darell D. Baker: The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume I - Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300 - 1069 BC, Stacey International, ISBN 978-1-905299-37-9, 2008, p. 221
- ^ a b Kim Ryholt: The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, Museum Tusculanum Press, (1997), p. 202
- ^ Dodson, Aidan and Hilton, Dyan. The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. 2004. ISBN 0-500-05128-3
- ^ Chris Bennett, A Genealogical Chronology of the Seventeenth Dynasty, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, Vol. 39 (2002), pp. 123-155 JSTOR
- ^ One scarab is in the British Museum BM EA 40687, the other in the Petrie Museum UC 11225, see scarab here.
- ^ New arrangement, Digital Egypt for Universities
- ^ Jürgen von Beckerath: Untersuchungen zur politischen Geschichte der zweiten Zwischenzeit in Ägypten, Glückstadt 1964, (XIII G.)