Political Situation Egypt (CNI Publications) [Hardcover]

Kim Ryholt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 19, 1997 | ISBN-10: 8772894210 | ISBN-13: 978-8772894218

This study is an attempt to establish a chronology for the Second Intermediate Period (the 250 years prior to 1800-1550 BC), and define the different kingdoms which then existed. The Second Intermediate Period separates the two glorious periods of the Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom. During the 19th century BC, an invasion by Canaanite tribes into the Egyptian Delta took place. Around 1800 BC, these people proclaimed their own king and the Delta thus became independent from the rest of Egypt. Egypt remained split between Canaanite kings in the north and native Egyptian kings in the south for the remainder of the Second Intermediate Period.The division of Egypt brought about an economic decline, and the entire period is characterized by a lack of royal monuments. This circumstance has greatly hampered attempts to establish a chronology of the period and, as a consequence, it has been very difficult to date many sources which are relevant for the social and political situation of the period. The Second Intermediate Period has, therefore, remained one of the most obscure periods of Egypt's ancient history.The first chapter discusses the primary sources for the chronology of the period. It includes a revised restoration and a comprehensive source evaluation of the famous Turin King-list, a papyrus from the New Kingdom (1550-1100 BC), which contains the only complete king-list from Pharaonic Egypt. The second chapter, the individual dynasties/kingdoms of the period are systematically defined according to their kings, geographical and chronological extent. The fourth and final chapter contains an historical outline of the political situation during the Second Intermediate Period, based on the conclusions in the study.Appended to the work is a catalog of all the sources, approximately 1500, known to contain the names of the Egyptian kings of the period. Each source is briefly described in terms of type, origin and present location, followed by bibliographical references. This catalog, which also includes some unpublished material, is intended to facilitate further research into the period.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 463 pages
• Publisher: Museum Tusculanum Press (January 19, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 8772894210
• ISBN-13: 978-8772894218
• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 8.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,972,150 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great update on the Turin Canon but uneven on SIP matters, January 8, 2005

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Fabian Boudville (BC, Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Political Situation Egypt (CNI Publications) (Hardcover)

This book by Kim Ryholt is required reading for a History of the Second Intermediate Period (SIP) and has been called "fundamental" for an understanding of this notoriously opaque era with its list of more than 100 different kings. (Aidan Dodson, Bi Or LVII, January-April 2000, p.48) If Ryholt's study only dealt with the Turin Canon, I would definitely give it 5 stars. However, I can only give it 4 stars because some of his conclusions--particularly on the 14th Dynasty--have been shown to be erroneous.

Among many important revelations, Ryholt provides new evidence to prove that Sekhemre Khutawy, rather than Khutawre Ugaf, was the first king of the 13th Dynasty. (see pp.315-320) Ryholt convincingly argues that Nebkheperre and Sekhemre Wepmaat Intef were both the sons of a king named Sobekemsaf, most likely Sobekemsaf Shedtawy, based on inscriptions on a door jamb which was recovered from the remains of a 17th Dynasty temple in Gebel Antef. This family relationship is now universally accepted by all Egyptologists. Ryholt brilliantly demonstrates that the predecessor of Sobekhotep III was a certain Meribre Seth, and provides circumstantial evidence to argue that Manetho's 16th Dynasty was actually a Theban predecessor to the 17th Dynasty, and are reflected in the Turin Kinglist. The latter hypothesis has been followed by some scholars such as James Allen and Ms Bourriau--the latter in the 2000 book 'The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt,' and, more recently, by Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton's 2004 book: "The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt." This hypothesis is strongly affirmed by the relatively small scale of attestations, in the form of a single stela, dagger and/or a few royal seals, known for these Theban kings such as Sobekhotep VIII, Neferhotep III, Nebiriau I and Semenenre. In contrast, the 17th Dynasty kings carried out extensive temple restoration work throughout Upper Egypt while both Nebkheperre Intef and Seqenenre Tao commanded enough resources to construct a new temple and royal palace complex at Gebel Antef and Deir El-Ballas respectively. This suggests that the series of Theban kings listed within the Turin Canon lived in constrained economic times compared to the more prosperous 17th Dynasty and, therefore, were not members of this Dynasty. Ryholt also notes that there is no space for the known sequence of 17th Dynasty kings in this section of the Kinglist. The author argues that Kamose never approached the city of Avaris during his Year 3 campaign but rather seized territory belonging to Avaris near the Faiyum area of Middle Egypt. (pp.172-174) Ryholt also notes that Kamose instituted a brief coregency with Ahmose after his 3rd Year--during which he initiated a second campaign against the Nubians to retake Elephantine from the latter. This action is documented by 2 separate rock inscriptions at Arminna and Toshka in Nubia which strikingly depict the prenomen and nomen of Ahmose and Kamose side by side thereby denoting a coregency. (pp.273-274) In contrast, Kamose's Year 3 stela at Thebes--which documents his victory against Apophis--never once mentions Ahmose. Finally, the author rightly criticises the popular theory that the 13th Dynasty Viziers were more powerful than Pharaoh as baseless and untenable. Critically, Ryholt observes that less than 12 monuments "belong directly to the Viziers of the Entire Thirteenth Dynasty and among them a third are explicitly recorded as royal donations." (pp.282-283) This suggests that the 13th Dynasty kings controlled the Viziers rather than vice versa.

A unique discussion by Ryholt is his striking analysis of the famous Unwetterstele of Ahmose.(pp.143-148) This stela has conventionally been assumed to record--in vivid detail--the destruction caused by the massive Thera Eruption. However, this event has been dated to the late 17th Century BC on dendrochronology and Artic ice cores sample data--a time when the Hyksos were firmly in control of Egypt. The most significant portion of the stela as translated by Vandersleyen in RdE 19 reads "And it was reported to his Majesty (Ahmose): Districts have been entered (ie: taken), tombs have been demolished, temples have been ravaged, pyramids have been torn down, that which has been done is that which was not done. Then His Majesty commmanded that the temple-domains which had fallen into ruin in the entire land be renovated, the monuments of the gods be restored, their enclosure walls be raised (etc)." (pp.144-145) Ryholt, perceptively notes that the use of the verb 'k meaning 'to enter' is rather forced in the text and must be amended with the word "by water" in order to make sense of the line. Moreover, if districts had actually been penetrated by water--presumably a Tsunami caused by Thera--the royal scribes would have unequivocally stated "that 'districts...have been flooded'" by using a verb such as b'k which means 'to flood.' Instead the ambiguous verb 'k is used, which can also "be employed for conquering and taking hold of a district by the enemy, cf., eg. P. Rhind." (p.145) Ryholt argues instead that the Unwetterstele should be viewed as a metaphor for Egypt's "general state of desolation" after the final expulsion of the Hyksos by Ahmose and states that we have evidence of 12th and 13th Dynasty royal pyramid tombs, temples and statues being looted, destroyed and/or transported as war trophies to Avaris under the Hyksos king, Apophis. (pp.145-148) Hence, the events recorded by Ahmose may actually refer to the scorched earth policies adopted by the Hyksos in their gradual retreat from Egypt rather than a natural disaster.

However, the majority of Ryholt's conclusions regarding the 14th Dynasty have now been discredited (cf. a BASOR(315) 1999, pp.47-73 paper by D. Ben Tor & James/Susan Allen). Ben Tor and the Allens provide conclusive evidence to show that "not a single example of 14th Dynasty royal-name or private name scarabs from Egypt, Nubia, and Palestine [as] represented by Ryholt originated in an archaeological context that can be dated to the reign of the 13th Dynasty." (BASOR, p.59) The 3 writers also observe that the scarab of the Asiatic Treasurer Har, "was found in Tomb 20 of Stratum D/2 which dates to the final phase of the Hyksos Period(c.1560-1530 BC)" (BASOR, p.58) rather than to the 14th Dynasty, as Ryholt argues. There are certain other difficulties with Ryholt's proposal for the existence of Trade Agreements between the 13th and 14th Dynasties. No scrabs of Ryholt's 14th Dynasty have been found in any Canaanite archaeological settings that were contemporary with the 13th Dynasty or even at Byblos, which had an active trading relationship with the 13th Dynasty (BASOR, p.60). This situation casts grave doubts upon Ryholt's view that the 14th Dynasty was an early contemporary of the 13th Dynasty because it is improbable that this Asiatic state, which supposedly controlled the strategic Delta region, would not have participated in the profitable trade which developed between the 13th Dynasty with Canaan and Byblos respectively. Consequently, Ryholt's contention that the 14th Dynasty was always contemporary with the 13th Dynasty from the latter's time of inception cannot be sustained. Rather, the 13th Dynasty must have initially controlled all of Egypt including the Delta region and Tell el-Dab'a(Avaris). The 13th Dynasty's control over these two sites would have lapsed only relatively late in its lifetime--presumbly a few decades prior to the Hyksos invasion. The general abscence of 13th Dynasty monuments in the Delta can be explained by the damp environment and high water table in this region which acts against the preservation of royal monuments, and also by the unstable political structure of this Dynasty which featured numerous kings with brief 2 to 4 years reigns each. The 13th Dynasty was characterised by several coup d'etats: Meribre Seth himself was deposed by Sobekhotep III, who appears to been an Army officer. This situation would not have been conducive towards the initiation of major building projects in the Delta or throughout Egypt proper--which helps explain the relatively small number of attestations known for many 13th Dynasty kings.

Ryholt's assertion that Maaibre Sheshi was a 14th Dynasty contemporary of the early 13th Dynasty kings Khabau and Djedkheperew--which is based on the discovery of their seals in Building D at Uronarti--is undermined by Bietak's analysis of the ceramic materials found there, whose characteristics clearly date them to the latter half of the 13th Dynasty. (BASOR, p.57). This means that the Fortress of Uronarti was still being occupied by a 13th Dynasty garrison until late into this Dynasty's lifetime when the decision was finally taken to abandon it. Sheshi, therefore, would not necessarily have been an early contemporary of these two 13th Dynasty kings, as Ryholt claims. More recently, Ben Tor has produced evidence of at least 2 New Kingdom intrusions which were found amongst the Uronarti seals--see her paper in "Scarabs of the Second Millenium BC from Egypt, Nubia, Crete and the Levant: Chronological and Historical Implications," Vienna 2004. These New Kingdom intrusions demonstrate that the context of the Uronarti seals can no longer be seen as secure; accordingly, the Maaibre sealing can be viewed as a New Kingdom intrusion (ie: a New Kingdom sealing made by a SIP seal of Sheshi). Sheshi may, instead, have been a vassal king of the Hyksos who ruled in the Delta since 1)the archaeological contexts of his seals show him to be contemporary with the 15th Dynasty and 2)he never once employed the 'Heka-Khaset' title on any of his 396 known seals. This title was exclusively used by the early Hyksos kings such as Khyan and Sakir Har. Incidentally, recently published ceramic studies by both Manfred Bietak and Beck & Zevulun in 1996 rule out a 14th Dynasty Delta place of origin for the Tell el-Yahudiya... Read more ›

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The New Standard, December 17, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Political Situation Egypt (CNI Publications) (Hardcover)

This is *the* book for a thorough account of the political and social climate in Egypt during the second intermediate period. It is the first study to supplant von Beckerath's "Untersuchungen zur politsche Geschicte der Zweiten Zwischenzeit in Agypten" and takes into account virtually all of the evidence to come to light in the 33 years since von B's seminal work. My only complaint is that it does not treat any of the Nubian textual material which, although scant, does offer some worthwhile insight into the period. But, what can you do? The price is a bit on the steep side... which will probably preclude the non-specialist from picking it up. However, for the student of Egyptology, this is definitely a must-have for your reference shelf (assuming, of course, you don't have access to a good Egyptian-focused library)