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Merneferre Ay

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This article is about the 13th dynasty Pharaoh. For the 18th dynasty Pharaoh, seeAy.
Merneferre Ay
Aya, Eje, Aye, Iy, Mernoferre, Ay I
An inscribed section of the pyramidion of king Merneferre Ay's tomb.
An inscribed section of thepyramidionof king Merneferre Ay's tomb.
Pharaoh
Reign23 years, 8 months and 18 days, 1701–1677 BC,[1]1695–1685 BC,[2]1684–1661 BC[3]
PredecessorWahibre Ibiau
SuccessorMerhotepre Ini
Royal titulary
Prenomen (Praenomen)
Merneferre
mr-nfr-Rˁ
He who loves the perfection ofRa
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N5
U7		nfr
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Nomen
Ay
Iii
G39N5<
iA2ii
>

Turin King List:Merneferre
mr-nfr-Rˁ
M23
t		L2
t		<
N5U7
r		nfr
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ConsortIneni?
Dynasty13th Dynasty

Merneferre Ay(also spelledAyaorEje,sometimes known asAy I) was anancient Egyptianpharaohof the mid13th Dynasty.The longest reigning pharaoh of the 13th Dynasty, he ruled a likely fragmented Egypt for over 23 years in the early to mid 17th century BC. Apyramidionbearing his name shows that he possibly completed a pyramid, probably located in the necropolis ofMemphis.

Merneferre Ay is the last pharaoh of the 13th Dynasty to be attested outsideUpper Egypt.In spite of his long reign, the number of artefacts attributable to him is comparatively small. This may point to problems in Egypt at the time and indeed, by the end of his reign, "the administration [of the Egyptian state] seems to have completely collapsed".[1][3]It is possible that the capital of Egypt since the early Middle Kingdom,Itjtawywas abandoned during or shortly after Ay's reign. For this reason, some scholars consider Merneferre Ay to be the last pharaoh of theMiddle Kingdom of Egypt.

Chronology[edit]

Chronological position[edit]

Globular jar of Merneferre Ay,Metropolitan Museum of Art

The relative chronological position of Merneferre Ay as a king of the mid 13th Dynasty is well established by theTurin canon,a king list redacted during the earlyRamesside period(1292–1069 BC) and which serves as the primary historical source for theSecond Intermediate Period.The king list records Ay's name on column 8 line 3 (column 6 line 3 inAlan Gardiner's reading of the Turin canon and entry 7.3 in von Beckerath's reading) and establishes that Merneferre Ay was preceded byWahibre Ibiauand succeeded byMerhotepre Ini,who was possibly his son.[1]

The precise chronological placement of Merneferre Ay varies between scholars, withJürgen von Beckerathand Aidan Dodson seeing him as the 27th king of the dynasty[4]whileKim Ryholtand Darrell Baker place him in the 32nd and 33rd positions, respectively.[1][5]Similarly, the absolute datation of Ay's reign is debated and varies by 17 years between Ryholt's 1701–1677 BC[1]and Schneider's 1684–1661 BC.[3]

Reign length[edit]

Until recently, the duration of Merneferre Ay's reign, which is recorded in the Turin canon, was disputed by Jürgen von Beckerath who read the damaged figure on the papyrus fragment as 13 years[6]while bothAlan GardinerandKenneth Kitchenmaintained it should be read as 23 years.[7][8]The dispute was settled in the latest study of the Turin canon byKim Ryholtwho confirms that Merneferre Ay's reign length as recorded on the papyrus is "23 years, 8 months and 18 days".[1] Ryholt insists that "the tick that distinguishes 20 and 30 from 10 is preserved and beyond dispute. Accordingly, 23 years or, less likely, 33 years must be read."[1]This makes Merneferre Ay the longest-ruling pharaoh of the 13th Dynasty at a time when numerous short-lived kings ruled Egypt.

Reign and attestations[edit]

Green glazedsteatitescarab of Merneferre Ay,British Museum.[9]

As a king of the mid 13th Dynasty, Merneferre Ay reigned over Middle andUpper Egyptconcurrently with the14th Dynasty,which controlled at least the EasternNile Delta.The egyptologists Kim Ryholt and Darrell Baker contend that Mernferre usurped the throne at the expense of his predecessorWahibre Ibiau.[1][5]They base this conclusion on the total absence offiliative nomina,that is references to the name of his father on the artefacts attributable to him.[1]They believe that this should have been the case had his father been a pharaoh, and indeed a number of 13th Dynasty kings used filiative nomina. Little is known of Ay's consorts, he was possibly married toIneniwhose scarabs are stylistically similar to those of Ay.[1]

Attestations[edit]

Merneferre Ay is well attested; no fewer than 62scarab sealsand one cylinder-seal[10]bearing his name are known, 51 of which are of unknown provenance[5][11][12]Among the scarabs of known provenance, three are from Lower Egypt, more precisely one fromBubastisand two fromHeliopolis.[1][5]The rest of the scarabs of known provenance are fromAbydos,CoptosandLisht,all localities being in Middle or Upper Egypt. Other attestations of Ay include an obsidian globular jar now in theMetropolitan Museum of Art,[13]a ball dedicated toSobek,[14]an inscribed limestone block, part of a lintel, discovered in 1908 byGeorges LegraininKarnakand apyramidion.[5][15][16]

The pyramidion was confiscated from robbers by the Egyptian police in 1911 atFaqus,close to the ancient city ofAvaris.It is carved with the name of Ay and shows him offering toHorus"Lord of heaven", demonstrating that a pyramid was built for him during his long reign.[16][17]The fact that the pyramidion was probably discovered by the robbers in modern-day Khatana, part of the ancient city of Avaris (modern-dayQantir) is important since it was likely the capital of the 14th Dynasty during Ay's lifetime. Egyptologists believe that the pyramidion originates in fact fromMemphis,in the necropolis of which Ay's pyramid must be located. Accordingly, this suggests that the pyramid was looted at the time of theHyksosinvasion c. 1650 BC and the pyramidion taken to Avaris at this moment.[1][5]This is vindicated by the "damaged text on the pyramidion [which] originally invoked four gods" two of whom werePtahand Re-Horus (for Ra-Horakhty). The cults of these gods were based in the Memphite necropolis, not in Avaris.[1]Other objects which suffered the same fate include two colossal statues of the 13th Dynasty kingImyremeshaw.

Legacy[edit]

Lintel of Merneferre Ay.[15]

Even though Merneferre Ay is well attested, the number of objects attributable to him is relatively small given his nearly 24 year-long reign.[5]This may point to serious problems in Egypt at the time and indeed Ryholt and others believe that by the end of Ay's reign "the administration [of the Egyptian state] seems to have completely collapsed".[1]

Merneferre Ay is the last Egyptian king of the 13th Dynasty who is attested by objects from outside of Upper Egypt.[3]This may indicate the abandonment of the old capital of the Middle KingdomItjtawyin favor ofThebes.[18]Daphna Ben Tor believes that this event was triggered by the invasion of the eastern Delta and the Memphite region by Canaanite rulers. Indeed some egyptologists believe that by the end of Ay's reign the 13th dynasty had lost control of Lower Egypt, including the Delta region and possibly Memphis itself. For these authors, this marks the end of the Middle Kingdom and the beginning of theSecond Intermediate Period.[18]This analysis is rejected by Ryholt and Baker however, who note that the stele ofSeheqenre Sankhptahi,reigning toward the very end of the 13th Dynasty, strongly suggests that he reigned over Memphis. Unfortunately, the stele is of unknown provenance.[1][5]

See also[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMerneferre Ay.

References[edit]

  1. ^abcdefghijklmnoK.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,excerpts available online here.Archived2021-03-25 at theWayback Machine
  2. ^Gae Callender: 'The Middle Kingdom Renaissance (c. 2055–1650 BC)' in: Ian Shaw (editor):The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt,OUP Oxford (2003),ISBN978-0192804587.
  3. ^abcdThomas Schneider in:Ancient Egyptian Chronology- Edited by Erik Hornung, Rolf Krauss, and David A. Warburton,available onlineArchived2019-03-30 at theWayback Machine,see p. 181, 497
  4. ^Jürgen von Beckerath:Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen,Münchner ägyptologische Studien, Heft 49, Mainz: Philip von Zabern, 1999,ISBN3-8053-2591-6,see p. 98–99
  5. ^abcdefghDarrell D. Baker:The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume I - Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300–1069 BC,Stacey International,ISBN978-1-905299-37-9,2008, p. 65–66
  6. ^Jürgen von Beckerath:Untersuchungen zur politischen Geschichte der Zweiten Zwischenzeit in Ägypten,Glückstadt, J.J. Augustin, 1964
  7. ^Alan Gardiner:The Royal Canon of Turin,Griffith Institute new edition (1988),ISBN978-0900416484
  8. ^Kenneth Kitchen:The Basics of Egyptian Chronology in Relation to the Bronze Age at the "High, Middle or Low",University of Göteborg conference, 1987,JSTOR505957
  9. ^Harry Reginald Hall:Catalogue of Egyptian scarabs, etc., in the British Museum,vol 1 (1913),available not-in-copyright here,p. 20., scarab is now in London, British Museum EA 16567
  10. ^Cylinder Seal of King Merneferre Aya,Metropolitan Museum of Art,see the online catalog[1]Archived2014-09-07 at theWayback Machine
  11. ^Five scarab-seals of Merneferre Ay are now in thePetrie Museum,see three of them onDigital EgyptArchived2007-02-04 at theWayback Machine
  12. ^Olga Tufnell:Studies on Scarab Seals, vol. II,Aris & Philips, Warminster, 1984, pp. 159–161, 181, 184–187, 200, 368–369, seals No. 3168–3183, pl. LV–LVI.
  13. ^Globular Jar of King Merneferre Aya,Metropolitan Museum of Art,see the online catalog[2]Archived2014-09-07 at theWayback Machine
  14. ^Gerard Godron:Deux objets du Moyen-Empire mentionnant Sobek,BIFAO 63 (1965), p. 197–200,available onlineArchived2014-09-07 at theWayback Machine
  15. ^abGeorges Legrain:Notes d'inspection - Sur le Roi Marnofirrì,inAnnales du Service des antiquités de l'Egypte (ASAE) 9(1908)available not-in-copyright here,p. 276.
  16. ^abLabib Habachi:"Khata'na-Qantir: Importance", ASAE 52 (1954) pp. 471–479, pl.16–17
  17. ^Labib Habachi:Tell el-Dab'a and Qantir,Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (2001), pp. 172–174, no. 18,ISBN978-3-7001-2986-8
  18. ^abDaphna Ben Tor:Sequences and chronology of Second Intermediate Period royal-name scarabs, based on excavated series from Egypt and the Levant,in:The Second Intermediate Period (Thirteenth-Seventeenth Dynasties), Current Research, Future Prospectsedited by Marcel Maree, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 192, 2010, p. 91
Preceded by Pharaoh of Egypt
Thirteenth Dynasty 		Succeeded by
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