| Nehesy | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nubian | |||||||
| Dynasty | 14th Dynasty (?)[1] | ||||||
| Pharaoh(s) | Sheshi[1] | ||||||
| Titles | Crown Prince King's Eldest Son | ||||||
| Father | Sheshi (?)[1] | ||||||
| Mother | Tati (?)[1] | ||||||
| Burial | Unknown | ||||||
- For other pages by this name, see Panehesy.
Nehesy (transliteration: nḥsï, meaning: "Nubian") was an ancient Egyptian Crown Prince of the Fourteenth Dynasty during the Second Intermediate Period. As such, he was of Canaanite origin.
Nehesy is known from 22 scarab-seals bearing his name. Some of them attest him with the title "King's Eldest Son" (sꜢ-nsw smsw). Based on their stylistic features, the scarab-seals were specifically produced during the reign of Sheshi.[1] This indicates that Nehesy was a son of Sheshi,[1] probably by the King's Wife Tati. The scarab-seals of princes Ipqu and Apepi also belong to Sheshi's reign, suggesting that they were Nehesy's brothers.[2]
Danish Egyptologist Kim Ryholt suggests a chronological placement of Sheshi in the early 14th Dynasty as the father and direct predecessor of Pharaoh Nehesy, who is listed as an early ruler of the 14th Dynasty in the Turin King List. He furthermore proposes that the "King's Son Nehesy" is identical to this namesake king.[3] Ryholt bases this on his seriation of the different scarab-type groups, which inverts that of William Ayres Ward,[4] and by dating them using the high chronology of the Middle Bronze Age phases in Palestine.
However, Daphna Ben-Tor points out that this chronology is "highly controversial" and "can no longer be accepted".[5] The stylistic features of the scarab-seals of King Sheshi, Queen Tati and princes Nehesy and Ipqu are usually attributed to the Hyksos period,[4] and their archaeological context is currently dated to the 15th Dynasty of the Hyksos.[6][5] Ben-Tor argues that the scarabs referring to Prince Nehesy are different in style from those referring to Pharaoh Nehesy and that the two are separate individuals.
Further confirmation has since been provided by a stela, which was discovered in 2005 at Tell Habua, depicting prince Nehesy offering oil to the god Banebdjedet and bearing an inscription which mentions the "King's Sister Tani". A woman with this name and title is known from other sources around the time of the Hyksos pharaoh Apepi (ca. 1570 BC).[7] This suggests that the "King's Son Nehesy" of the stela lived ca. 1570 BC, over 100 years after King Nehesy's estimated lifetime.
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References[]
Bibliography[]
- 'Abd El-Maksoud, M./Valbelle, D., 2005: Tell Héboua-Tjarou. L'apport de l'épigraphie. Revue d'Égyptologie (in French). Vol. 56.
- Ben-Tor, D./Allen S.J./Allen J.P., 1999: Seals and Kings. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (BASOR) 315.
- Bietak, M., 1991: Egypt and Canaan During the Middle Bronze Age. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (BASOR) 281.
- Ryholt, K., 1997: The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period c.1800-1550 B.C. Museum Tuscalanum Press.
- Ryholt, K., 2014: Seals and History of the 14th and 15th Dynasties. In: Forstner-Müller, I./Moeller, N. (eds.): The Hyksos Ruler Khyan and the Early Second Intermediate Period in Egypt: Problems and Priorities of Current Research. Proceedings of the Workshop of the Austrian Archaeological Institute and the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Vienna, p. 235-276.
- Ward, W.A. 1984: Royal-Name Scarabs. In: O. Tufnell, Scarab Seals and their Contribution to History in the Early Second Millennium B.C. Studies on Scarab Seals, Vol. 2. Aris & Phillips, Warminster.