Tefnakht

Shepsesre Tefnakht (in Ancient Greek: Τνέφαχθος, romanizedTnephachthos)[3] was a prince of Sais and founder of the relatively short Twenty-fourth Dynasty of Egypt; he rose to become a Chief of the Ma in his home city. He is thought to have reigned roughly 732 BCE to 725 BCE, or seven years. Tefnakht I first began his career as the "Great Chief of the West" and Prince of Sais and was a late contemporary of the last ruler of the 22nd Dynasty: Shoshenq V. Tefnakht I was actually the second ruler of Sais; he was preceded by Osorkon C, who is attested by several documents mentioning him as this city's Chief of the Ma and Army Leader, according to Kenneth Kitchen,[4] while his predecessor as Great Chief of the West was a man named Ankhhor.[5] A recently discovered statue, dedicated by Tefnakht I to Amun-Re, reveals important details about his personal origins.[6] The statue's text states that Tefnakht was the son of a certain Gemnefsutkapu and the grandson of Basa, a priest of Amun near Sais. Consequently, Tefnakht was not actually descended from either lines of Chiefs of the Ma and of the Libu as traditionally believed but rather came from a family of priests, and his ancestors being more likely Egyptians rather than Libyans.[7]

Tefnakht is absent from the Manethonian tradition, perhaps because of the abbreviated form in which the Aegyptiaca is known, perhaps because Tefnakht was considered a usurper.[8]

  1. ^ Peter A. Clayton, Chronicle of the Pharaohs: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Rulers and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt, Thames and Hudson, London, 1994. p.188
  2. ^ Tefnakht
  3. ^ Diodorus Siculus 1.45
  4. ^ KA Kitchen, The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 BC), 3rd ed. 1996, Aris & Phillips Limited, pp.351 & p.355
  5. ^ Kitchen, op. cit., § 316.
  6. ^ P.R. Del Francia, "Di una statuette dedicate ad Amon-Ra dal grande capo dei Ma Tefnakht nel Museo Egizio di Firenze", S. Russo (ed.) Atti del V Convegno Nazionale di Egittologia e Papirologia, Firenze, 10-12 dicembre 1999, Firenze, 2000, 63-112, 76-82
  7. ^ Del Francia, pp.63-112 & 76-82
  8. ^ Bonhême, M.-A. (1987). Les noms royaux dans l'Égypte de la troisième période intermédiaire (in French). IFAO. p. 228. ISBN 9782724700459.