SETHNAKHT
![](Sethnakht_closeup_Lepsius.png)
Drawing
of a relief of pharaoh Sethnakht
Userkhaure-setepenre
Setnakhte (also called Setnakht or Sethnakht) was the first pharaoh
(1189 BC–1186 BC) of the Twentieth Dynasty of the New Kingdom
of Egypt and the father of Ramesses III.
Accession
:
Setnakhte was not the son, brother or a direct descendant of either
Twosret or Merneptah Siptah—the immediately preceding two
pharaohs—nor that of Siptah's predecessor Seti II, whom Setnakht
formally considered the last legitimate ruler. [citation needed]
It is possible that he was a usurper who seized the throne during
a time of crisis and political unrest, or he could have been a member
of a minor line of the Ramesside royal family who emerged as pharaoh.
Senakhte married Tiy-Merenese, perhaps a daughter of Merneptah.
A
connection between Setnakhte's successors and the preceding Nineteenth
Dynasty is suggested by the fact that one of Ramesses II's children
also bore this name [citation needed] and that similar names are
shared by Setnakhte's descendants such as Ramesses, Amun-her-khepshef,
Seth-her-khepshef and Monthu-her-khepshef.
Reign
length :
Setnakhte was originally believed to have enjoyed a reign of only
two years based upon his Year 2 Elephantine stela but his third
regnal year is now attested in Inscription No. 271 on Mount Sinai.
If his theoretical accession date is assumed to be II Shemu 10,
based on the date of his Elephantine stela, Setnakhte would have
ruled Egypt for at least two years and 11 months before he died,
or nearly three full years. This date is only three months removed
from Twosret's highest known date of Year 8, III Peret 5, and is
based upon a calculation of Ramesses III's known accession date
of I Shemu 26. Peter Clayton also assigned Setnakhte a reign of
three years in his 1994 book on the Egyptian pharaohs.
![](The_Setnakhte_stele.jpg)
Year
4 quartzite stela of Bakenkhunsu
In
a mid-January 2007 issue of the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram, however,
Egyptian antiquity officials announced that a recently discovered
and well-preserved quartzite stela belonging to the High Priest
of Amun Bakenkhunsu was explicitly dated to Year 4 of Setnakhte's
reign. The Al-Ahram article notes that this data:
contradicts...the
official record, which says Setnakhte ruled Egypt for only three
years. According to the new information provided by the stela, Setnakhte's
reign certainly lasted for four years, and may have continued for
[a little] longer.
Zahi Hawass, the former Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council
of Antiquities, declared the discovery to be one of the most important
finds of 2006 because "it adjusts the history of the 20th Dynasty
and reveals more about the life of Bakenkhunsu." As Setnakhte's
reign was short, he may have come to the throne fairly late in life.
However,
the Al-Ahram figure does not change the fact that Setnakhte likely
truly ruled Egypt for only three, rather than four, full years since
there are no Year 1 dates attested for him, and his famous Year
2 Elephantine stela states that Setnakhte finally secured his kingship
after defeating all his opponents and challengers to the throne
in his second year. The date of the Elephantine stela in Year 2
II Shemu day 10 of Setnakhte's reign—the date of which is
mentioned only halfway in the stela rather than at its start—is
immediately followed by this proclamation: "There were no opponents
against His Majesty, l.p.h., in all the lands."
This
reference to the defeat of Setnakhte's enemies implies that this
specific date marked the termination of a conflict—presumably
Setnakhte's struggle for the throne—which extended partly
into his second year and means that Setnakhte's first year would
have overlapped with Twosret's final year, if Twosret was his opponent.
Therefore, he likely did not even rule Egypt in his theoretical
first year and could only properly administer the country from sometime
during his second year. In any event, there was an interregnum lasting
at least a year in which no ruler controlled all of Egypt and Setnakhte's
effective reign length should be reduced by a year from 4 to 3 years.
Setnakhte's
Elephantine stela touches on this chaotic period and refers explicitly
to the expulsion of certain Asiatics, who fled Egypt, abandoning
the gold which they had looted from Egyptian temples. It is uncertain
the degree to which this inscription referred to contemporary events
or rather repeated anti-Asiatic sentiment from the reign of Pharaoh
Ahmose I. Setnakhte identified with the God Atum or Temu, and built
a temple to this God at Per-Atum (Biblical Pithom). [citation needed]
![](Setnacht_Mummy.jpg)
The
"mummy in the boat" from KV35, before its destruction
After
his death, Setnakhte was buried in KV14 which was originally designed
to be Twosret's royal tomb. His mummy has never been identified
with certainty, although the so–called "mummy in the
boat" found in KV35 was sometimes identified with him, an attribution
rejected by Aidan Dodson who rather believes the body belonged to
a royal family member of Amenhotep II of the 18th Dynasty. In any
case the mummy was destroyed in a looting in 1901, thus preventing
any analysis on it.
Monuments
:
![](773px-Relief_of_Horus_and_Geb_from_KV14_(Kairoinfo4u).jpg)
Reliefs
of Horus and Geb from tomb KV14
While Setnakhte's reign was still comparatively brief, it was just
long enough for him to stabilize the political situation in Egypt
and establish his son, Rameses III, as his successor to the throne
of Egypt. The Bakenkhunsu stela reveals that it was Setnakhte who
began the construction of a Temple of Amun-Re in Karnak which was
eventually completed by his son, Ramesses III. Setnakhte also started
work on a tomb, KV11, in the Valley of the Kings, but stopped it
when the tombcarvers accidentally broke into the tomb of the Nineteenth
Dynasty Pharaoh Amenmesse. Setnakhte then appropriated the tomb
of Queen Twosret (KV14), his predecessor, for his own use.
Papyrus
Harris :
The beginning of the Great Harris Papyrus or Papyrus Harris I, which
documents the reign of Ramesses III, provides some details about
Setnakhte's rise to power. An excerpt of James Henry Breasted's
1906 translation of this document is provided below :
The
land of Egypt was overthrown from without, and every man was thrown
out of his right; they had no "chief mouth" for many years
formerly until other times. The land of Egypt was in the hands of
chiefs and of rulers of towns; one slew his neighbour, great and
small. Other times having come after it, with empty years, Irsu
('a self-made man'), a certain Syrian (Kharu) was with them as chief
(wr). He set plundering their (i.e., the people's) possessions.
They made gods like men, and no offerings were presented in the
temples.
But when the gods inclined themselves to peace, to set the land
in its rights according to its accustomed manner, they established
their son, who came forth from their limbs, to be ruler, LPH, of
every land, upon their great throne, Userkhaure-setepenre-meryamun,
LPH, the son of Re, Setnakht-merire-meryamun, LPH. He was Khepri-Set,
when he is enraged; he set in order the entire land which had been
rebellious; he slew the rebels who were in the land of Egypt; he
cleansed the great throne of Egypt; he was ruler of the Two Lands,
on the throne of Atum. He gave ready faces to those who had been
turned away. Every man knew his brother who had been walled in.
He established the temples in possession of divine offerings, to
offer to the gods according to their customary stipulations.
Until 2000, Chancellor Bay was considered the only plausible candidate
for this Irsu. However, an IFAO Ostracon no. 1864 found at Deir
el-Medina dated to Year 5 records that 'Pharaoh (Siptah) LPH has
killed the great enemy, Bay'. Because Chancellor Bay died at least
3 years before this 'Irsu', he can no longer be considered a plausible
candidate for this historical figure.
Genetics
:
In December 2012, a genetic study conducted by the same researchers
who decoded King Tutankhamun's DNA found that Ramesses III, Setnakhte's
son and second pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt belonged
to Y-DNA E-M2, alternatively known as haplogroup E1b1a1.
Source
:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setnakhte