- Psusennes I
Pharaoh Infobox | Alt= Pasebakhaenniut [ [http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/chronology/psusennesi.html Pasebakhaenniut] ]
Name= Psusennes I |
Caption=Gold burial mask of King Psusennes I, discovered1940 byPierre Montet
NomenHiero=M17-Y5:N35:U7-G40-N14*N28-N35:O49
Nomen="Pasebakhaenniut"
PrenomenHiero=N5-O29:L1-C12-U21:N35
Prenomen="Akheperre Setepenamun" Great are the Manifestations of Re, chosen of Amun
Golden=
Nebty=
Horus=
GoldenHiero= | NebtyHiero=
HorusHiero=
Reign=1047 – 1001 BC | Predecessor=Amenemnisu
Successor= Amenemope
Spouse=Mutnedjmet, Wiay
Children=Amenemope, Istemkheb
Dynasty= 21st Dynasty
Father=Pinedjem I
Mother=Henuttawy
Died= 1001 BC
Burial= NRT III, Tanis
Monuments=Psusennes I, or
[ Greek Ψουσέννης] , Psibkhanno or Hor-Pasebakhaenniut I[ Egyptian "ḥr-p3-sb3-ḫỉ--nỉwt" ] was the third king of theTwenty-first dynasty of Egypt who ruled between 1047 –1001 BC . His birth name Psusennes means "The Star Appearing in the City" while his throne name, Akheperre Setepenamun, translates as "Great are the Manifestations of Re, chosen of Amun." [Peter Clayton, "Chronicle of the Pharaohs", Thames & Hudson Ltd, 1994., p.178] He was the son ofPinedjem I and Henuttawy,Ramesses XI 's daughter by Tentamun.Burial
Professor
Pierre Montet discovered pharaoh Psusennes' intact tomb (No.3 or NRT III) in Tanis in1940 . [Bob Brier, Egyptian Mummies: Unravelling the Secrets of an Ancient Art, William Morrow & Company Inc., New York, 1994. p.145] Unfortunately, due to its moist Lower Egypt location, most of the "perishable" wood objects were destroyed by water — a fate not shared byKV62 , the tomb ofTutankhamun in the drier climate of Upper Egypt. However, the king's magnificent funerary mask was recovered intact; it proved to be made of gold and lapis lazuli and held inlays of black and white glass for the eyes and eyebrows of the object. [Lorna Oakes, "Pyramids, Temples and Tombs of Ancient Egypt", Hermes House, 2003. p.216] Psusennes I's mask is considered to be "one of the masterpieces of the treasure [s] of Tanis" and is currently housed in Room 2 of theCairo Museum . [Alessandro Bongioanni & Maria Croce (ed.), The Treasures of Ancient Egypt: From the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Universe Publishing, a division of Ruzzoli Publications Inc., 2003. p.422] It has a maximum width and height of 38 cm and 48 cm respectively. [Bongioanni & Croce, op. cit., p.422] The pharaoh's : "fingers and toes had been encased in gold stalls, and he was buried with gold sandals on his feet. The finger stalls are the most elaborate ever found, with sculpted fingernails. Each finger wore an elaborate ring of gold and lapis lazuli or some other semiprecious stone." [Brier, op. cit., pp.146-147]Psusennes' outer and middle sarcophagi had been recycled from previous burials in the
Valley of the Kings , a state-sanctioned tomb-robbing that was common practice in theThird Intermediate Period . Acartouche on the red outer sarcophagus shows that it had originally been made for PharaohMerneptah , the nineteenth dynasty successor ofRamesses II . Psusennes, himself, was interred in an "inner silver coffin" which was inlaid with gold. [Christine Hobson, Exploring the World of the Pharaohs: A complete Guide to Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson 1987. p.123] Since "silver was considerable rarer in Egypt than gold," Psusennes I's silver "coffin represents a sumptuous burial of great wealth during Egypt's declining years." [Hobson, op. cit., p.123]Dr. Douglass Derry, who worked as the head of
Cairo University 's Anatomy Department, examined the king's remains in 1940, determined that the king was an old man when he died. [Douglass E. Derry, "Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Égypte" Vol. 40 (1940), pp.969-970] Derry noted that Psusennes I's teeth were badly worn and full of cavities, and observed that the king suffered from extensive arthritis and was probably crippled by this condition in his final years. [Brier, op. cit., p.147]Reign
Psusennes' precise reign length is unknown because different copies of Manetho's records credit him with a reign of either 41 or 46 Years. Some Egyptologists have proposed raising the 41 year figure by a decade to 51 years to more closely match certain anonymous Year 48 and Year 49 dates in Upper Egypt. However, the German Egyptologist Karl Jansen-Winkeln has suggested that all these dates should be attributed to the serving High Priest of Amun Menkheperre instead who is explicitly documented in a Year 48 record. [Karl Jansen-Winkeln, ZAS 119, p.26] Jansen-Winkeln notes that "in the first half of Dyn. 21, [the] HP Herihor, Pinedjem I and Menkheperre have royal attributes and [royal] titles to differing extents" whereas the first three Tanite kings (Smendes, Amenemnisu and Psusennes I) are almost never referred to by name in Upper Egypt with the exception of one graffito and rock stela for Smendes. [Karl Jansen-Winkeln, "Dynasty 21" in Erik Hornung, Rolf Krauss, and David Warburton (editors), "Handbook of Ancient Egyptian Chronology" (Handbook of Oriental Studies), Brill: 2006, p.226-227, 229] In contrast, the name of Psusennes I's Dynasty 21 successors such as Amenemope, Osochor and Siamun appear frequently in various documents from Upper Egypt while the Theban High Priest Pinedjem II who was a contemporary of the latter three kings never adopted any royal attributes or titles in his career. [Hornung, Krauss & Warburton, "op. cit.", p.229] . Hence, two separate Year 49 dates from Thebes and Kom Ombo [K.A. Kitchen, "The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100-650 BC)", third edition (Aris & Philips, 1996), pp.421 & 573] could be attributed to the ruling High Priest Menkheperre in Thebes instead of Psusennes I but this remains uncertain. Psusennes I's reign has been estimated at 46 years by the editors of the "Handbook to Ancient Egyptian Chronology". [Hornung, "et al.", "op. cit.", p.493] Psusennes I must have enjoyed cordial relations with the serving High Priests of Amun in Thebes during his long reign since the High Priest Smendes II donated several grave goods to this king which was found in Psusennes II's tomb.
During his long reign, Psusennes built the enclosure walls and the central part of the Great Temple at Tanis which was dedicated to the triad of
Amun ,Mut andKhonsu . [Nicolas Grimal, A History of Ancient Egypt, Blackwell Books 1992. pp.315-317]References
Further reading
*Bob Brier, "Egyptian Mummies: Unraveling the Secrets of an Ancient Art", William Morrow & Co, (1994), pp.146-147.
*Jean Yoyotte, BSSFT 1(1988) 46 n.2.
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