Smenkhkare
Preceded by: Akhenaten	Pharaoh of Egypt 18th Dynasty	Succeeded by: Neferneferuaten? or Tutankhamun?
a portrait of Smenkhkare, depicted as a woman, in the naturalistic style of the late-Amarna period, associated with the sculptor Thutmose
Reign	1336–1335 BC
Praenomen	Ankhkheperure Living are the Manifestations of Re[2]
Nomen	Smenkhkare-Djeserkheperu Vigorous is the Soul of Re, Holy of Forms[1]
Consort(s)	Meritaten
Died	1335 BC

Ankhkheperure Smenkhkare (sometimes spelled Smenkhare and Smenkare; meaning "Vigorous is the Soul of Ra") was a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty who may have been the immediate successor of Akhenaten, and was a predecessor of Tutankhamun. One academic source states that Smenkhkare's sole rule lasted for approximately one year.^[3] Some Egyptologists suggest that this pharaoh's independent reign may have been as short as a few months. Others indicate a reign as long as eleven years. For other uses, see Akhenaten (disambiguation). ... Pharaoh was the ancient Egyptian name for the office of kingship. ... The Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, New Kingdom. ... Ankhkheperure Living are the Manifestations of Re[1] Nomen Neferneferuaten Perfect One of the Atens Perfection Consort(s) Smenkhkare? Died 1333 BC Ankhkheperure Neferneferuaten is believed to have been a female Pharaoh towards the end of the Amarna era, belonging to the Eighteenth Dynasty; the succession of this period... Nebkheperure Lord of the forms of Re Nomen Tutankhaten Living Image of the Aten Tutankhamun Hekaiunushema Living Image of Amun, ruler of Upper Heliopolis Horus name Kanakht Tutmesut The strong bull, pleasing of birth Nebty name Neferhepusegerehtawy One of perfect laws, who pacifies the two lands[1] Wer-Ah-Amun... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (480x720, 55 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Smenkhkare ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (480x720, 55 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Smenkhkare ... Thutmoses bust of Nefertiti, now in Berlins Egyptian Museum The Kings Favourite and Master of Works, the Sculptor Thutmose (also spelled Djhutmose and Thutmosis) was apparently the court sculptor of Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten in the latter part of his reign. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... (Redirected from 1336 BC) Centuries: 15th century BC - 14th century BC - 13th century BC Decades: 1380s BC 1370s BC 1360s BC 1350s BC 1340s BC - 1330s BC - 1320s BC 1310s BC 1300s BC 1290s BC 1280s BC Events and Trends Significant People 1338 BC - Queen Tiy of Egypt, Chief Queen... (Redirected from 1335 BC) Centuries: 15th century BC - 14th century BC - 13th century BC Decades: 1380s BC 1370s BC 1360s BC 1350s BC 1340s BC - 1330s BC - 1320s BC 1310s BC 1300s BC 1290s BC 1280s BC Events and Trends Significant People 1338 BC - Queen Tiy of Egypt, Chief Queen... The royal titulary or royal protocol of an Egyptian Pharaoh is the standard naming convention taken by the kings of Ancient Egypt. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The royal titulary or royal protocol of an Egyptian Pharaoh is the standard naming convention taken by the kings of Ancient Egypt. ... Meritaten (her name means Beloved of Aten – Aten was the sun-god her father worshipped) was the firstborn of the six daughters of Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti. ... (Redirected from 1335 BC) Centuries: 15th century BC - 14th century BC - 13th century BC Decades: 1380s BC 1370s BC 1360s BC 1350s BC 1340s BC - 1330s BC - 1320s BC 1310s BC 1300s BC 1290s BC 1280s BC Events and Trends Significant People 1338 BC - Queen Tiy of Egypt, Chief Queen... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Pharaoh was the ancient Egyptian name for the office of kingship. ... The Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, New Kingdom. ... For other uses, see Akhenaten (disambiguation). ... Nebkheperure Lord of the forms of Re Nomen Tutankhaten Living Image of the Aten Tutankhamun Hekaiunushema Living Image of Amun, ruler of Upper Heliopolis Horus name Kanakht Tutmesut The strong bull, pleasing of birth Nebty name Neferhepusegerehtawy One of perfect laws, who pacifies the two lands[1] Wer-Ah-Amun...

Tutankhamun's reign began immediately after either Smenkhkare or Neferneferuaten's death. Some scholars have speculated that Smenkhkare, rather than Akhenaten, was the parent of Tutankhamun.^[4] If these were other names for Nefertiti, when she ruled as pharaoh, as has been suggested by some—both would have been his grandparents—since she had been the royal queen of Akhenaten.

Identity

The identity of the Pharaoh whose praenomen is Ankhkheprure, who is usually known as Smenkhkare, is somewhat mysterious. Egyptologists once did not even agree upon the gender of the pharaoh. The traditional position was that this pharaoh was a man found buried in tomb KV55 whose gender seems to be supported by various scientific examinations of the remains found there. The rediscovery in the 1990s of a piece of gold foil from the trough of the KV55 coffin which proved to contain the nomen Smenkhkare also suggests that king Smenkhkare was buried there.^[5] Whether the remains are associated with the artifacts is not known. A statue of a woman in the regalia of a pharaoh bearing identification with this name has been discovered. The royal titulary or royal protocol of an Egyptian Pharaoh is the standard naming convention taken by the kings of Ancient Egypt. ... Edward R. Ayrton discovered Tomb KV55 in Egypts Valley of the Kings on January 6, 1907; Ayrtons sponsor, Theodore M. Davis, published an account of the dig (The Tomb of Queen Tîyi) in 1910. ...

The most recent studies of the late Amarna period by various Egyptologists including Aidan Dodson, James P. Allen and Erik Hornung/Rolf Krauss/David Warburton all agree that there were in fact two rulers who shared the prenomen Ankhkheprure.^[6][7][8] As the latter write:

"It is now certain that not only a man 'Ankhkheprure', but also a woman 'Ankhetkheprure' ruled between Akhenaten and Tutankhamun. The king is first known as 'Ankhkheprure' (throne name) Smenkhkare' dsr-hprw (personal name), later as 'Ankhkheprure' mrjj Neferneferkheprure'/Waenre'/ and Neferneferuaton mrjj Waenre.' The two names of the queen, i.e. 'Ankhetkheprure' mrjj/Neferkheprure'/Waenre/ and Nefernefruaton...are nearly the same as the king's later set of names and epithets. The funerary epithet...(beneficial for her husband) is hers alone and indicates that she succeeded her husband 'Ankhkheprure.' Her identity remains problematic; Kiya, Nefertiti, and Meritaten have been proposed. Items of her funerary equipment were adapted for Tut'ankhamun (M. Gabolde, Égypte Afrique & Orient 33, 2004, 19-26). Josephus lists three rulers named AXENXEPPΣΣ < 'Ankh(et)kheprure', i.e. two male rulers (one of which might be due to a corruption of the text) and a female, described as a king's daughter. In its transmitted form the Manethonian tradition ascribes twelve years and some months to either of the kings named Akhenkherres. Possibly the figures reflect an original two years and some months [once an otiose decade is deducted]."^[9]

The sets of names are associated with Smenkhkare is Ankhkheperure Smenkhkare, who may be identified as the Amarna Pharaoh who ruled beside Queen Meritaten, who was Akhenaten's daughter and Chief Wife--presumably after the death of her mother Nefertiti. Ankhkheperure Living are the Manifestations of Re[1] Nomen Neferneferuaten Perfect One of the Atens Perfection Consort(s) Smenkhkare? Died 1333 BC Ankhkheperure Neferneferuaten is believed to have been a female Pharaoh towards the end of the Amarna era, belonging to the Eighteenth Dynasty; the succession of this period... Kiya was a wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten. ... Bust of Nefertiti from Berlins Altes Museum. ... Meritaten (her name means Beloved of Aten &#8211; Aten was the sun-god her father worshipped) was the firstborn of the six daughters of Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti. ... Meritaten (her name means Beloved of Aten &#8211; Aten was the sun-god her father worshipped) was the firstborn of the six daughters of Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti. ...

To date, no objects other than the wine jar label, six royal seals, a depiction of a king Smenkhkare along with his Queen Meritaten and now a gold foil from the trough (or container) of the KV55 coffin are known. Some clearly feminine objects with the name Ankhkheprure Neferneferuaten, including a box of hers, were reused in the burial of Tutankhamen. The throne name Ankhkheperure occasionally is written in the feminine form Ankhetkheperure, with the feminine "t". This suggests that Meritaten may have been the female ruler Ankhkheperure Neferneferuaten and thus the successor of her recently deceased husband, Smenkhkare.^[10]

According to James P. Allen's most recent research (below), king Ankhkheperure Neferneferuaten was perhaps Akhenaten's co-regent, Nefertiti, in the latter's final years, but this was a woman who is distinct from the male king Ankheperure Smenkhkare. The epithet 'desired of Waenre' (ie: Akhenaten) in Neferneferuaten's nomen occasionally is replaced with the feminine term "Effective for her husband."^[11] In contrast, the male king Smenkhkare certainly ruled Egypt for a brief period on his own since he is attested in his Year 1 on a wine label from "the House of Smenkhkare"^[12], in the tomb of Kheruef along with his queen Meritaten and by the six seals bearing his name. Allen contends that Smenkhkare was not Neferneferuaten who would then be a junior co-regent of Akhenaten before she assumed the throne on her own right.^[13] Ankhkheperure Living are the Manifestations of Re[1] Nomen Neferneferuaten Perfect One of the Atens Perfection Consort(s) Smenkhkare? Died 1333 BC Ankhkheperure Neferneferuaten is believed to have been a female Pharaoh towards the end of the Amarna era, belonging to the Eighteenth Dynasty; the succession of this period...

Other scholars such as Nicholas Reeves have contended that Smenkhkare was the same person as Neferneferuaten who ruled together with Akhenaten as co-regents for the final one or two years of Akhenaten's reign. Reeves contends that Smenkhkare shares some names with Nefertiti, wife of Akhenaten, and it is possible that Nefertiti was Smenkhkare, as it is not unheard of Ancient Egypt for women to become pharaoh (e.g., Hatshepsut). On several monuments, the two are shown seated side-by-side. Reeves' suggestions would give weight to the idea that all of the names in question were different titles for Meritaten, used at different times as she held different positions: Queen, co-regent, and finally Pharaoh. Unfortunately, however, Reeves' suggestion that the KV55 royal mummy was Akhenaten is disproven by various anatomical examinations of its mummy from Rex Harrison in the 1960s to William Murnane and Bob Brier in the 1990s--the latter is a noted anatomist from Long Island University. Hence, the simplest explanation for the fact that Meritaten was associated with her father Akhenaten in several monuments and then her adoption of Smenkhkare's prenomen for her own use as she was pharaoh--presumably after her husband's death--was the fact that she wielded great power from her position as pharaoh's Eldest Daughter. Her high status at court also is emphasised by Amarna Letter 11 where Meritaten is called 'the Mistress' of the royal house.^[14] This evidence, together with her title as 'Chief Queen' under Akhenaten and then Smenkhkare, makes her the primary candidate for the female ruler known as Neferneferuaten. Bust of Nefertiti from Berlins Altes Museum. ... Maatkare[1] Truth is the Ka of Re Nomen Khnumt-Amun Hatshepsut[1] Joined with Amun, Foremost of Noble Ladies Horus name Wesretkau [1] Mighty of Kas Nebty name Wadjrenput[1] Flourishing of years Golden Horus Netjeretkhau [1] Divine of appearance Consort(s) Thutmose II Issue Neferure Father Thutmose I... Ankhkheperure Living are the Manifestations of Re[1] Nomen Neferneferuaten Perfect One of the Atens Perfection Consort(s) Smenkhkare? Died 1333 BC Ankhkheperure Neferneferuaten is believed to have been a female Pharaoh towards the end of the Amarna era, belonging to the Eighteenth Dynasty; the succession of this period...

Family

The parentage of the male king named Smenkhkare, is unknown — the leading theory is that he was either a son of Akhenaten or Amenhotep III. Unlike the majority of other Pharaohs, the only claim he made was to have been "beloved" of Akhenaten, but he never states that the latter was his father. Moreover, whenever any of Akhenaten's daughters were referred to, they were referred to as "the king's daughter, of his loins, (daughter's name)." That there was no reference to another son would seem unlikely in a largely patriarchal society. Furthermore, as evidenced by Cyril Aldred (a prominent Egyptologist), Smenkhkare would have to have been born at least three years before Akhenaten's reign began, making it very unlikely (given Akhenaten's assumed minimum age of 12 at ascension) that he was Akhenaten's son. Since Akhenaten fathered six daughters but no known sons in his 17 year reign, he must have been a mature adult when he succeeded his father. This makes it more likely that the male king Smenkhkare was a son of Amenhotep III and, therefore, a younger brother of Akhenaten. Nebmaatre The Lord of Truth is Re[2] Nomen Amenhotep Hekawaset Amun is Satisfied, Ruler of Thebes[1] Horus name Kanakht Emkhaimaat The strong bull, appearing in truth Nebty name Semenhepusegerehtawy One establishing laws, pacifying the two lands Golden Horus Aakhepesh-husetiu Great of valour, smiting the Asiatics Consort(s... Look up patriarchy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Cyril Aldred, (1914-1991), a noted Egyptologist and art historian, was born in 1914 at Fulham in London), the son of Frederick Aldred and Lilian Ethel Underwood (Aldred). ... An Egyptologist is any archaeologist, historian, linguist, or art historian who specializes in Egyptology, the scientific study of Ancient Egypt and its antiquities. ...

The tomb of Meryre II contains a roughly painted scene depicting a king and queen. It names the "King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Ankhkheperure, Son of Re, Smenkhkare, Holy-of-Manifestations, given life forever continually" as the husband of "the Chief Wife, his beloved, the Mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt, the Lady of the Two Lands, Meritaten" — it was through her royal blood that he may have claimed legitimacy to the throne, as was the practice in the period.^[15] Meryre was High Priest of the Aten at Akhetaten. ...

Tomb

In 1907, Arthur Weigall and Theodore Davis discovered a tomb known as "Tomb 55" in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb itself is a mystery, as the door bears the name Tutankhamen, the shrine bears hieroglyphs stating it was made for Queen Tiye, and the sarcophagus indicates that it was designed for Akhenaten's second wife Kiya, four cardinal bricks bearing the name of Akhenaten, and a very poorly preserved body that is considered (with about 80% certainty) to be a male around 20 years of age. There are some indications that the body shares common traits with Tutankhamen, suggesting a filial relation, but the poor degree of preservation makes this difficult to ascertain. While some scholars consider this to be the mummy of Akhenaten because its royal cartouches were deliberately erased from the coffin and the royal uraeus was removed--as were many traces of Akhenaten because of his controversial religious revolution, several anatomical examinations of the mummy's body rule out this popular hypothesis since Akhenaten would have been an infant when he ascended the throne; this suggests that it was Smenkhkare instead. In contrast, Akhenaten had 6 daughters by his wife Nefertiti which shows that he was a mature adult when he assumed the throne. The archaeological evidence from the Amarna boundary stelas show that Akhenaten had broken with the Amun priesthood and moved Egypt's capital from Thebes to the site of El-Amarna by his 5th Year. Only an adult king in full command of his mental faculties would have embarked on such a radical shift in state policy whereas a child king would have been guided--and controlled--by the state's leading administrators such as Vizier Ay who would have acted to preserve Egypt's existing political and religious order. It must be stressed that it was Tutankhamun, not Smenkhkare, who openly turned against Akhenaten's religious revolution by shifting Egypt's capital back to Thebes. Hence, the deliberate damage to king KV 55's funerary goods can also be interpreted as a reaction against Akhenaten's immediate successor--Smenkhkare--who still followed Akhenaten's policies and maintained Egypt's capital at Amarna during his brief reign. Year 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Arthur Edward Pearse Brome Weigall (1880-1934) was an Egyptologist, a stage designer, a journalist and an author whose works span the whole range from histories of Ancient Egypt through historical biographies, guide-books, popular novels, screenplays and lyrics. ... An American lawyer, Theodore M. Davis (New York City, 1837 – Florida, 1915) was most famous for his work excavating Egypts Valley of the Kings between 1889 and 1912. ... Edward R. Ayrton discovered Tomb KV55 in Egypts Valley of the Kings on January 6, 1907; Ayrtons sponsor, Theodore M. Davis, published an account of the dig (The Tomb of Queen Tîyi) in 1910. ... Location of the valley in the Theban Hills, West of the Nile, October 1988 (red arrow shows location) The Valley of the Kings (Arabic: وادي الملوك Wadi Biban el-Muluk; Gates of the King)[1] is a valley in Egypt where for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to... Tiye. ... Kiya was a wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten. ... Atenism (or the Amarna heresy) is one of the earliest monotheistic religions, associated above all with the eighteenth dynasty Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, better known under the name he later adopted, Akhenaten. ...

The Mummy in Tomb 55

The New York Long Island University professor Bob Brier notes that it was Dr. G.E. Smith, the head of the Anatomy department of Cairo University, who first reported that this mummy was that of a young man "who probably died in his twenties."^[16] A subsequent examination of the KV 55 mummy by Dr. Douglass Derry, Smith's successor, confirmed that the bones of the KV55 mummy were that of a male who died in his twenties.^[17] Derry also observed that the skull of the KV55 mummy bore close similarities with Tutankhamun's skull.^[18] As controversy continued to rage over the mummy's identity, Dr. R.G. Harrison--a professor of anatomy at the University of Liverpool--was allowed to perform the first and only modern examination of the KV 55 mummy's remains in the 1960's.^[19] Since most of its skeleton is complete--with only a portion of the sternum missing--Harrison was able to perform careful measurements and X-rays of the mummy to reveal the internal structure of its bones. Harrison concluded that there was no evidence of either a deformed skull or a glandular disorder in the KV 55 mummy while the body of the remains was that of a normal male with no significant abnormalities.^[20] This finding also eliminated the possibility that the KV 55 mummy was Akhenaten since some scholars had believed that this pharaoh suffered from Froelich's syndrome, a glandular disorder which causes "an elongated head, underdeveloped genitals, and a feminizing of the physique" of the pharaoh--features with which Akhenaten is strikingly depicted in his own statues.^[21][22] Long Island University (LIU) is a private university located on Long Island in the U.S. state of New York. ... // Background Dr. Robert Brier (b. ... Adiposogenital dystrophy is a condition characterized by Feminine obesity Growth retardation and retarded sexual development, atrophy or hypoplasia of the gonads, and altered secondary sex characteristics, headaches mental retardation, problems with vision polyuria, polydipsia. ...

As Bob Brier writes,

"As we age, our cartilage turns to bone, and bones near each other fuse. This is one reason we become less flexible as we grow older. In the case of the body in Tomb 55, based on the fusion of the bones in the sternum, the age at the time of death was between nineteen and twenty years. From the collarbone the estimate is twenty to twenty-two years, and from the sacrum the estimate is less than twenty-three years. Teeth are also a good indication of age. The third molar [of the KV 55 mummy] had not fully erupted, which indicates an age between eighteen and twenty-two. These findings are confirmed by the pelvic bones, which suggest an age of twenty to twenty-one. Given all the evidence, it is clear that this is a normal male who died very near the age of twenty and thus cannot have been Akhenaten. This leaves Semenkare as the leading candidate."^[23]

Other examinations of the KV 55 mummy by William Murnane has confirmed that this was the body of a young man who probably died between the ages of 18 to 22 years.^[24] Given his relative youth, he cannot have been Akhenaten who must have fathered his first three daughters--Meritaten, Meketaten and Ankhesenpaaten--by his fourth regnal year.^[25] For the record label, see Sacrum Torch. ...

A number of artifacts in Tutankhamun's tomb bear the name Smenkhkare, and a reconstruction of the mummy in KV55 shows that this king bore a strong similarity to the boy king. Since the Mummy in tomb 55 was likely a young man, he was possibly an older brother or the father of Tutankhamun. Smenkhkare's reign was probably brief, lasting perhaps no more than several months or a year at the most given the paucity of objects mentioning his name.

External links

• History of ancient Egypt
• Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt Family Tree
• KV55 Mummy
• KV55 KV 55's Lost Objects: Where Are They Today?
• Smenkhkare Djeserkheperu Ankhkheperure

Main article: Ancient Egypt Archaeological evidence indicates that a distinct culture was developing in the Nile valley from before 5000 BC. What is now called the Pharaonic Period is dated from around 3100 BC, when Egypt became a unified state, until its survival as an independent state ceased in 332... The Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt family tree is complex and unclear, especially at its end. ...

Footnotes

1. ^ Peter Clayton, Chronicle of the Pharaohs, Thames and Hudson Ltd, 2006 paperback. p.120
2. ^ Clayton, op. cit., p.120
3. ^ M. Gabolde, D'Akhenaton à Toutânkhamon, Université Lumière Lyon II, Boccard, (1998), pp.219-221
4. ^ http://history.memphis.edu/murnane/Allen%20-%20Amarna%20Succession.pdf James Allen, The Amarna Succession, pp.16-17
5. ^ The Enigma of tomb KV55
6. ^ Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt: A Genealogical Sourcebook of the Pharaohs (Hardcover), Thames & Hudson. 2004
7. ^ The Amarna Succession by James P. Allen in 'Causing His Name to Live: Studies in Egyptian Epigraphy and History in Memory of William J. Murnane,' University of Memphis
8. ^ Erik Hornung, Rolf Krauss & David Warburton (editors), Handbook of Ancient Egyptian Chronology (Handbook of Oriental Studies), Brill: 2006
9. ^ Hornung, Krauss & Warburton, op. cit., p.207
10. ^ Dodson, op. cit., p.207 & 285, n.111
11. ^ J.P. Allen, "Nefertiti and Smenkh-ka-re," GM 141 (1994), pp.7-17
12. ^ John Pendlebury, City of Akhenaten, vol II, pl 86 No.35
13. ^ The Amarna Succession by James Allen
14. ^ Marc Gabolde, D'Akhenaton à Toutankhamon, Universite Lumiere-Lyon 2, 1998. p.175
15. ^ Smenkhkare
16. ^ Bob Brier, The Encyclopedia of Mummies, Checkmark Books, 1998. p.182
17. ^ D.E. Derry, "Skeleton hitherto believed to be that of Akhenaten," ASAE 31 (1931), pp.115-119
18. ^ Brier, op. cit., p.182
19. ^ cf. R. G. Harrison, An Anatomical Examination of the Pharaonic Remains Purported to be Akhenaten, JEA 52 (1966), pp.113-116
20. ^ Brier, op. cit., p.182
21. ^ Brier, op. cit., p.182
22. ^ Clayton, op. cit., p.121
23. ^ Brier, op. cit., p.182
24. ^ William Murnane, OLZ 96 (2001), p.22
25. ^ James Allen, The Amarna Succession p.13

John Pendlebury (1904-1941) was a British archaeologist who worked for British intelligence during the World war Two. ...

Further reading

• Cyril Aldred, Akhenaten, King of Egypt.Thames & Hudson, 1988.
• Nicholas Reeves and Richard H. Wilkinson,The Complete Valley of the Kings. Thames & Hudson, 1996.
• Peter A. Clayton, Chronicles of the Pharaohs. Thames & Hudson, 1994.