Psusennes II

Preceded by: Siamun	Pharaoh of Egypt 21st Dynasty	Succeeded by: Shoshenq I
Psusennes II
Psusennes III Ancient Egyptian: Hor-Pasebakhaenniut
Statue of Psusennes II usurped from Thutmose III at the Cairo Museum (Legrain 1914).
Reign
976–943 BC (33 years) as HPA 967-943 BC (24 years) as Pharaoh
Royal Titulary Praenomen Tyetkheperre-Setepenre Image of the Manifestations of Re, Chosen of Re Nomen Hor-Pasebakhaenniut Horus, the Rising Star in the City
Legacy
Father	Pinedjem II
Mother	Isetemakhbit
Consort(s)	Nestanebetashru (?), Karimala (?)
Issue	Maatkare, Djedptahiuefankh (?), Tentsepeh (?)
Died	943 BC
Burial	NRT III, Tanis (reburial?)

For other pages by this name, see Psusennes.

Tyetkheperre-Setepenre Psusennes II, the Hellenized version of Hor-Pasebakhaenniut (transliteration: hrw pꜢ-sbꜢ-ḫꜤ-n-nỉwt, meaning: "Horus, the Rising Star in the City"), was the last High Priest of Amun and Pharaoh of the Twenty-first Dynasty during the Third Intermediate Period.

Family

See also: 21st Dynasty Family Tree.

Psusennes II was the son of the High Priest of Amun Pinedjem II and Isetemakhbit. His sister Henuttawy became God's Wife of Amun. His sister, Nestanebetashru, became Chief of the Harem of Amun-Re, which indicates that she married a High Priest, possibly Psusennes II. Perhaps the Second Prophet of Amun Djedptahiuefankh, who was later buried next to Nestanebetashru, was their son.

Chris Bennett has suggested in 1999 that Osorkon could be the father of Karimala, who is known from an inscription in the temple of Semna in Nubia where she is called both "King's Daughter" and "King's Wife". Her name suggests she may indeed have been of Libyan origin. Given the Year 14 date of the inscription, she might have been the queen of either Siamun or Psusennes II. Although Bennett himself prefers a marriage to Siamun, both options remain possible.

Psusennes II's only known child is a daughter named Maatkare, who later became the queen consort of Pharaoh Osorkon I. Her mother's identity remains unknown, but Nestanebetashru and Karimala are both possible candidates. Psusennes II may have been the father of Tentsepeh, a late 21st dynasty King's Daughter who married the High Priest of Ptah Shedsunefertem. However, her father is not specified by name and may therefore be Siamun instead.

Dates and Length of Reign

Manetho attributes a total of 14 regnal years to Psusennes II. However, resulting a lunar calculation of a feast in Siamun's reign by Rolf Krauss, this figure has been raised by a decade to 24 years. Siamun enjoyed a reign of 19 years and would have been succeeded by Psusennes II in 967 BC, thus deducing a reign of 24 years (967-943 BC) for Psusennes II.

Policy

The Egyptologist Karl Jansen-Winkeln notes that an important graffito from the Temple of Abydos contains the complete titles of a king Tyetkheperre-Setepenre Pasebakhaenniut-Meryamun "who is simultaneously called the HPA (i.e., High Priest of Amun) and supreme military commander". This suggests that Psusennes was both Psusennes III, the High Priest of Thebes, and Psusennes II, the pharaoh of Tanis, at the same time. Both were already believed by some scholars to be the same person, though it is now confirmed. Furthermore, the graffito shows that Psusennes did not resign his office as High Priest of Amun during his reign.

High Priest of Amun

Psusennes succeeded his father Pinedjem II as High Priest of Amun upon the latter's death in Year 10 of Siamun (976 BC). Prior to his identification with pharaoh Psusennes II, as High Priest he was known by scholars as Psusennes III.

Pharaoh

Psusennes succeeded Siamun on the throne at Tanis (967 BC). Since he already held the position of High Priest of Amun at Thebes, Psusennes, now pharaoh as well, controlled both Upper and Lower Egypt, thus reuniting the country under centralised rule.

Burial and Succession

Upon death, Psusennes II was succeeded by Shoshenq I, the founder of the Twenty-second Dynasty.

Although Psusennes II's original royal tomb has never been located, it has been proposed that he is one of "two completely decayed mummies in the antechamber of NRT-III (Psusennes I's tomb)" on the basis "that a batch of crude faience shabtis bearing the name of a [king] Pasebkhanut (i.e., Psusennes) found in the antechamber of Tanis [Tomb] NRT-III did not belong to the tomb's original owner, Pasebkhanut I, as had originally been assumed, but to the later king of the [same] name".

Bibliography

• Bennett, C., 1999: Queen Karimala, Daughter of Osochor? Göttinger Miszellen, Vol. 173.
• Dodson, A., 2009: The Transition between the 21st and 22nd Dynasties Revisited. In: The Libyan Period in Egypt, Historical and Cultural Studies into the 21st-24th Dynasties: Proceedings of a Conference at Leiden University.
• Dodson, A., 2012 (Revised and Updated 2019 Edition): Afterglow of Empire: Egypt from the Fall of the New Kingdom to the Saite Renaissance. The American University in Cairo Press.
• Jansen-Winkeln, K., 2006: Relative Chronology of Dyn. 21. In: Erik Hornung, Rolf Krauss, and David A. Warburton (eds.), Ancient Egyptian Chronology. Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1: The Near and Middle East, Vol. 83.
• Legrain, G., 1914: Statues et statuettes de rois et de particuliers. In: Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire. Le Caire.
• Peden, A.J., 2001: The Graffiti of Pharaonic Egypt: Scope and Roles of Informal Writings. (C. 3100-332 B.C (Probleme Der Agyptologie, 17. Bd) Brill Academic Publishers.
• Yoyotte, J., 1987: L'Or des pharaons. Paris.

Predecessor: Siamun

Pharaoh of Egypt 21st Dynasty

Successor: Shoshenq I

Predecessor: Pinedjem II

High Priest of Amun 21st Dynasty

Successor: Iuput