Khendjer

Khendjer
Khendjer
	Upper part of a statue of Khendjer from his pyramid complex.Cairo Egyptian Museum,JE 53368
Pharaoh
Reign	Five years starting in 1764, 1756 or 1718 BC
Predecessor	Wegaf(most likely) orKhaankhre Sobekhotep
Successor	Imyremeshaw
Horus name
Horus name
Prenomen (Praenomen)
Nomen
;	;
Consort	Sonb[henas]
Burial	Saqqara South,Pyramid of Khendjer
Dynasty	Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt

Userkare Khendjerwas a minor king of the earlyThirteenth Dynasty of Egyptduring theMiddle Kingdom.^[2]Khendjer possibly reigned for four to five years, archaeological attestations show that he was on the throne for at least three or four years three months and five days. Khendjer had a smallpyramidbuilt for himself in Saqqara and it is therefore likely that his capital was inMemphis.

Reign

The highest attested date for Khendjer's reign isYear 5 IV Akhet day 15(season of the Inundation). Kim Ryholt notes that two dated control notes on stone blocks from his unfinished pyramid complex give him a minimum reign of3 or 4 years 3 months and 5 days.^[3]The aforementioned control notes are dated toYear 1 I Akhet day 10andYear 5 IV Akhet day 15of his reign.^[4]In these control notes, the names of three officials involved in building the pyramid are also identified. They are theInterior Overseer of the Inner Palace,Senebtyfy {jmj-rꜣ ꜥẖnwtj (n) kꜣp snb.tj⸗fj}, theInterior OverseerAmeny {jmj-rꜣ ꜥẖnwtj jmnjj} and the Interior Overseer, Craftsman, Shebenu {jmj-rꜣ ꜥẖnwtj; ḫrp ḥmww šbnw}.^[5]The latter is also attested by other sources.^[6]

Attestations

AtSaqqaraSouth, thePyramid of Khendjermay have been completed as it was found with apyramidionduring excavations by G. Jequier.^[7]There was found a fragment of acanopic jar,which offers a partial name for his queen,Seneb..."which may be restored as Sonb[henas]."^[8]There are also some notes and marks of people working at the pyramid.^[9]

AtAbydos,astela,beloning to a Controller of the PhyleAmenyseneb,record a building project by the king at the Temple ofOsiris.^[10]^[11]^[12]On this stela the name Khendjer also appear along with the prenomen Nimaatre. Some have speculated that Khendjer had a second prenomen.^[13]However, it was also the prenomen ofAmenemhat III.Amenyseneb is also associated by another stela withvizier Ankhu.^[14]See also a double-sided stela of Amenyseneb.^[15]

Another stela once inLiverpool(destroyed inWorld War II), provides the name of the king's son "Khedjer".He might be a son of the king.^[16]Other objects with his name, according to the list provided by Ryholt, include threecylinder-sealsfromAthribis,a tile found nearel-Lisht,scarab sealsand an axe blade.

Non-contemporary attestations

TheTurin King Listcolumn 7:20 mentions "Dual King Userkare Khendjer, x years...".^[17]In this list Khendjer is betweenSekhemre Khutawy Sobekhotep(7:19) andImyremeshaw(7:21).

Theories

The name Khendjer is poorly attested in Egyptian.^[18]Khendjer "has been interpreted as a foreign namehnzrand equated with the Semitic personal nameh(n)zr,[for] "boar"according to the Danish EgyptologistKim Ryholt.^[1]He notes that this identification is confirmed by the fact that the nameh(n)zris written ashzrin a variant spelling of this king's name on a seal from this king's reign.^[19]Ryholt states that the word 'boar' is:

attested ashuzīruin Akkadian,hinzīrin Arabic,hazīrāin Aramaic,hazīrin Hebrew (the name is attested ashēzīrin I Chron. 24:15, Neh. 10:20)hu-zi-riin the Nuzi texts,hnzrin Ugarit, and perhapshi-zi-riin Amorite.^[1]

Khendjer could be, according to this theory, the earliest knownSemiticking of a native Egyptian dynasty. Khendjer'sprenomenor throne name,Userkare,translates as "The Soul of Re is Powerful."^[20]

Chronological position

The exact chronological position of Khendjer in the Thirteenth Dynasty is not known for certain owing to uncertainties affecting earlier kings of the dynasty.

Egyptologist Darrell Baker makes him the twenty-first king of the dynasty, Ryholt sees him as the twenty-second king and Jürgen von Beckerath places him as the seventeenth pharaoh of the dynasty. Furthermore, the identity of his predecessor is still debated: Baker and Ryholt believe it wasWegaf,but that pharaoh is confused withKhaankhre Sobekhotep,so that it is not known which one of the two founded the Thirteenth Dynasty and which one was Khendjer's predecessor.^[1]^[2]

Several absolute dates have been proposed for his reign, depending on the scholar: 1764—1759 BC as proposed by Ryholt and Baker,^[1]1756—1751 BC as reported by Redford,^[21]and 1718—1712 BC as per Schneider.^[22]

References

Media related toKhendjerat Wikimedia Commons

^^a ^b ^c ^d ^eK.S.B. Ryholt:The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, c.1800–1550 BC,Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications, vol. 20. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 1997
^^a ^bDarrell 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. 181
^Ryholt, p.193
^Ryholt, pp.193-195
^Felix Arnold:The Control Notes and Team Marks, The South Cemeteries of Lisht,Volume II, New York 1990,ISBN 0-87099-551-0,pp.176-183
^"Marks and notes in the Pyramid Complex of Khendjer | Persons and Names of the Middle Kingdom".
^G. Jequier:Deux pyramides du Moyen Empire,Cairo 1933, S. 3-35
^Ryholt, op. cit., p.221 The object is Cairo JE 54498
^"Marks and notes in the Pyramid Complex of Khendjer | Persons and Names of the Middle Kingdom".
^Paris, Louvre Museum C11
^Stèle de Iményséneb,1753,retrieved2023-12-27
^"Stele C11".
^Jürgen von Beckerath:Untersuchungen zur politischen Geschichte der zweiten Zwischenzeit in Ägypten,Glückstadt 1964, 238
^Paris, Louvre Museum C12
^"Double-Sided Stela of the Priest Amenyseneb | Middle Kingdom".The Metropolitan Museum of Art.Retrieved2023-12-27.
^W. Grajetzki:Two Treasurers of the Late Middle Kingdom,Oxford 2001, p. 28, pl. 2
^"Turin king list: Column 7".
^The name Khedjer for private individuals appears on only two monuments: Stela Marischal Museum, University of Aberdeen ABDUA 21642 and on stela Liverpool M13635, see Iain Ralston:The Stela of Ibi son of Iiqi in the Marischal Museum, University of Aberdeen,InDiscovering Egypt from the Neva, The Egyptologcial Legacy of Oleg D Berlev,edited by S. Quirke, Berlin 2003, pp.107-110, pl. 6 and W. Grajetzki:Two Treasurers of the Late Middle Kingdom,Oxford 2001, p. 28, pl. 2. Both monuments date to around the time of king Khendjer and the individuals there might have called themselves after the king.
^Ryholt, p.220 and footnote 763
^Peter Clayton, Chronicle of the Pharaohs, Thames and Hudson Ltd, 2006 paperback, p.91
^Redford, Donald B.,ed. (2001). "Egyptian King List".The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Volume 2.Oxford University Press. pp. 626–628.ISBN 978-0-19-510234-5.
^Thomas Schneider followingDetlef Franke:Lexikon der Pharaonen

Preceded by Wegaf	Pharaoh of Egypt Thirteenth Dynasty	Succeeded by Imyremeshaw

[ryholt-1] K.S.B. Ryholt:The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, c.1800–1550 BC,Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications, vol. 20. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 1997

[encyclo-2] Darrell 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. 181

[3] Ryholt, p.193

[4] Ryholt, pp.193-195

[5] Felix Arnold:The Control Notes and Team Marks, The South Cemeteries of Lisht,Volume II, New York 1990,ISBN 0-87099-551-0,pp.176-183

[6] "Marks and notes in the Pyramid Complex of Khendjer | Persons and Names of the Middle Kingdom".

[7] G. Jequier:Deux pyramides du Moyen Empire,Cairo 1933, S. 3-35

[8] Ryholt, op. cit., p.221 The object is Cairo JE 54498

[9] "Marks and notes in the Pyramid Complex of Khendjer | Persons and Names of the Middle Kingdom".

[10] Paris, Louvre Museum C11

[11] Stèle de Iményséneb,1753,retrieved2023-12-27

[12] "Stele C11".

[13] Jürgen von Beckerath:Untersuchungen zur politischen Geschichte der zweiten Zwischenzeit in Ägypten,Glückstadt 1964, 238

[14] Paris, Louvre Museum C12

[15] "Double-Sided Stela of the Priest Amenyseneb | Middle Kingdom".The Metropolitan Museum of Art.Retrieved2023-12-27.

[16] W. Grajetzki:Two Treasurers of the Late Middle Kingdom,Oxford 2001, p. 28, pl. 2

[17] "Turin king list: Column 7".

[18] The name Khedjer for private individuals appears on only two monuments: Stela Marischal Museum, University of Aberdeen ABDUA 21642 and on stela Liverpool M13635, see Iain Ralston:The Stela of Ibi son of Iiqi in the Marischal Museum, University of Aberdeen,InDiscovering Egypt from the Neva, The Egyptologcial Legacy of Oleg D Berlev,edited by S. Quirke, Berlin 2003, pp.107-110, pl. 6 and W. Grajetzki:Two Treasurers of the Late Middle Kingdom,Oxford 2001, p. 28, pl. 2. Both monuments date to around the time of king Khendjer and the individuals there might have called themselves after the king.

[19] Ryholt, p.220 and footnote 763

[20] Peter Clayton, Chronicle of the Pharaohs, Thames and Hudson Ltd, 2006 paperback, p.91

[21] Redford, Donald B.,ed. (2001). "Egyptian King List".The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Volume 2.Oxford University Press. pp. 626–628.ISBN 978-0-19-510234-5.

[22] Thomas Schneider followingDetlef Franke:Lexikon der Pharaonen

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]