26th Dynasty (Egyptology)

J. Pope, "The Historicity of Pediese, Son of Ankhsheshonq," Revue d'Égyptologie 66 (2015), 199-225 and pls. XVIII-XXV. Nous publions ici la statue Stockholm NME 81 qui appartenait à un homme nommé Padiaset, fils d'Ânkhchechonq, prêtre de Sobek, d'Anubis et d'Hathor, Chef des prêtres d'Hérichef et Grand de Netjeret. L'inscription de cette statue a souvent été commentée en lien avec le papyrus Rylands IX, mais son interprétation reposait sur une traduction préliminaire sans examen de la statue. Le présent article propose une nouvelle traduction, accompagnée de photographies et d'un apparat critique, et une datation sur la base de l'analyse stylistique de la statue. À la lumière de ces nouveaux éléments, nous sommes amenés à réévaluer la pertinence du lien avec le papyrus mentionnée ci-dessus.

Publication of Stockholm statue NME 81. It belonged to a man named Pediese, son of Ankhsheshonq, who was a Priest of Sobek, Anubis, and Hathor, an Overseer of the Priests of Heryshef, and a Grandee in Netjeret. The statue has frequently been discussed in relation to Papyrus Rylands IX, but these interpretations have relied upon a preliminary translation without photographs or stylistic analysis. A new translation is presented here with photographs and full annotation, and the date of the inscription is evaluated through stylistic analysis of the statue. In light of these new elements, the statue's relevance to Papyrus Rylands IX is reassessed.

Abstract
The purpose of this article is to reevaluate the Assyrian attempts to conquer Egypt in the days of Taharqa, King of Kush (690-664 B.C.) during the reigns of Esarhaddon (681-669 B.C.) and Ashurbanipal (669 - ca. 630 B.C.) kings of Assyria. The historical backbone of this article is based on the Assyrian royal inscriptions. From these sources it becomes clear that the Assyrian war-machine conquered Egypt in a swift Blitzkrieg and tried to incorporate Egypt into the Assyrian realm. The fragmented Egyptian petty kingdoms, however, resisted the Assyrian occupation with the assistance of the Kushites. It is possible to shed additional light on the continuous struggle between the Assyrian overlords and the Egyptians from Queries to the Assyrian Sun god Shamash, letters from Babylonian scholars to the king of Assyria, Kushite royal inscriptions and Egyptian priestly commemorative stelae.

Abstract
Since it is commonly held that Psammetichus II abstained from aggressive activity against Babylonia, I want to reconsider his policy (595-589 B.C.) toward the Levant and the Babylonian Empire.
1 No new data exists, leaving us only the (re)-
interpretation of the facts. In this article I shall review:
1. The Babylonian presence and activity in the Levant;
2. The anti-Babylonian conference in the fourth year of Zedekiah, King of Judah (most probably 593 B.C.);
3. Alleged Judean involvement in Psammetichus II’s campaign against Kush;
4. Psammetichus II’s campaign to Kush in his third year of reign (593 B.C.);
5. The Effect of the Egyptian Campaign to Kush on the Levant;
6. The campaign of Psammetichus to the land of Kharu in his fourth regnal year.

The phenomenon of archaism was prevalent all throughout Egyptian history, reaching its pinnacle during the 26th dynasty of the Late Period. This thesis explores the archaising tendencies used in the art and architecture and aims to understand why such techniques were used. The focus is on that of Mentuemhat, Mayor of Thebes — a powerful official and priest of Amun during the 25th–26th dynasties.

BA Dissertation, Swansea University. Supervised by Dr K Zinn.

Living in the past is the phenomenon that underlies this study, which focuses on the causes of the Egyptian archaizing spirit that reached its climax under the Saite Twenty-Sixth Dynasty (664–525 B.C.), resurrecting elements from earlier stages of Egyptian civilization. These elements, which had long since fallen out of use (hence the term 'archaism,' rather than 'tradition' or 'continuity'), include everything from earlier stages of the language to artistic styles and motifs, and to funerary practices. Both royal and private documents are analyzed, as the book attempts to answer the 'why' of the archaizing movement in general by concentrating on the 'how,' that is, the mechanism of the written historical and biographical sources.

The study is divided into three parts. Part I covers general questions concerning Saite archaism as a whole, such as the wide variety of epigraphic and orthographic features of the texts of this period, and the question of Saite 'copies,' gathering examples of both scenes and texts which seem to hark back to specific earlier monuments for inspiration. The second part provides a grammatical analysis of both the royal and private texts in the corpus, including a morphological attempt to organize the verbal system of Saite secular Egyptian. The third part allows a detailed look at the royal historical stelae of Dynasty 26. Eight royal historical inscriptions are gathered for the first time with exhaustive critical apparatus including new photographs, facsimile drawings, computer-generated hieroglyphic copies for textbook use, transliteration, translation and commentary. A royal text hieroglyphic index of all words occurring in these stelae is also included.

In 2 Kgs and 2 Chron Josiah's death is described. While the Kings version is vague, the version in 2 Chron and later traditions, for historiographic reasons, blame Josiah for disobeying the word of God and thus he was punished and die in battle. However, when reconstructing the historical reality based on extra-biblical sources, mainly Neo-Babylonian, it is possible to reject a war between Necho II and Josiah as the reason for his death. A reason for a meeting between both Kings at Megiddo is raised. Finally, the death of Josiah is regarded as capital punishment, based on Egyptian parallels, and a possible way of execution is then sought based on Egyptian practice.

ESSE É O ROSTO DE SHEP-EN-ISIS, A MAIS FAMOSA MÚMIA EGÍPCIA NA SUÍÇA
A equipe responsável pela reconstrução facial da mulher que viveu no Egito Antigo durante o século 7 a.C. falou sobre o projeto com exclusividade à Aventuras na História
ISABELA BARREIROS PUBLICADO EM 15/01/2022, ÀS 08H00

A reconstrução facial da múmia Shep-en-Isis - Cícero Moraes
Desde que foi retirada do Egito e chegou à Suíça em 1820, a múmia conhecida como Shep-en-Isis, ou ainda Schepenese, tornou-se uma verdadeira atração. Um dos primeiros artefatos egípcios a chegarem ao país, o corpo mumificado transformou-se em espetáculo para o público e objeto de estudo para pesquisadores.
Com um bom estado de preservação e um elegante conjunto de caixões, não demorou para a mulher embalsamada se tornar a múmia mais popular da Suíça e a “aparecer não apenas na literatura especializada, mas também em um romance”, como explica o pesquisador da Universidade Flinders, na Austrália, e especialista em egiptologia, Michael Habicht.
A partir do interesse na antiga egípcia, foi possível determinar informações importantes sobre sua vida, como idade, ascendência e, mais recentemente, como teria sido sua face, em um projeto idealizado e realizado pelo Centro de Pesquisas da FAPAB, em Avola, na Itália.

The nephew and successor of Shabaka was even less prudent than his uncle. Following a period of several years of co-regency, Shabataka (as known to the Assyrians) rose to the throne of Thebes and Napata in 706 BCE and ruled until 690 BCE. Probably in order to stabilize the huge but newly merged countries of Kush / Ethiopia (North Sudan) and Kemet (Egypt), he tried to appease Sharrukin (Sargon), Emperor of Assyria.

But assuredly, Shebitqu failed to accurately evaluate the formidable military might of Assyria that controlled the entire Asiatic part of the Middle East from today´s Turkey´s western confines to the central Iranian plateau, and from Caucasus to Yathribu (today´s Madina in Arabia) and the Persian Gulf. In Shebitqu´s days, the ancient state of Israel (of the ten Hebrew tribes) had disappeared and its entire population (all the Israelites) had been taken to exile in Assyria´s northeastern confines; only the tiny southern Hebrew state of Judah (of the two tribes) had managed to survive around Jerusalem. Damascus and many other Aramaean states had also disappeared, being annexed by Assyria, similarly with the Neo-Hittite states, Urartu, Babylonia, and many minor states in the area of the Zagros mountains and the Iranian plateau.

To avoid an imminent Assyrian attack, Shebitqu extradited Iamanni of Asfdod, the Palestinian king, to Sharrukin of Assyria (722 – 705).
First published on 25th March 2010 in AfroArticles, Buzzle, and American Chronicle
Republished in the portal of the Oromo Parliamentarians:
https://www.oromoparliamentarians.org/English/Facts%20about%20Oromo/Kushatic%20-Oromo%20%20Palestinians.htm

Since its discovery by Battiscombe Gunn, it is believed that Saqqara's Ostrakon is able to improve our understanding of how Egyptians designed curved elements, but the geometric significance of the hieratic values is still uncertain. Indeed, in order to obtain an indisputable result, the distance between the vertical ordinates is required, and this distance is not explicitly indicated on the limestone artefact.
But since there were no algebraic formulas at the time of the Pharaohs, a simple grid-based procedure was developed such as those used by the Egyptians to reproduce the scale drawings, to try to decipher the geometric meaning of the curve drawn on the find.
To conclude, this simple process permits to understand that the five hieratic values of the Saqqara Ostrakon describe a segmental arch whose span and rise correspond to the architectural proportions of several Egyptian tombs and arches, and that the numerical sequence of the artefact could be considered the most "ancient" mathematical formula of the circle.

Among the different kinds of Egyptian garments there is a sash that appeared during the Twenty-sixth Dynasty in Thebes. This sash hangs around the neck, with its ends arranged unevenly, falling freely down the chest. In most depictions it appears as a vestment on some of the high-stewards of the Divine Adoratrices, who are represented in similar scenes, following the God’s Wife of Amun. However, there are examples of other officials wearing the neck-sash and thus the association of this garment with the high-stewards remains problematic.

During the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, mercenaries and foreign soldiers served as combatants
in the Egyptian army. They were first attested during the reign of Psammetichus I and their
presence increased constantly. They came from mainland Greece, the Aegean Islands, Caria,
Lydia, Libya, Kush, Phoenicia, Aram, Israel, and Judah. They are mentioned on private ste-
lae, and in administrative and legal papyri, biblical books, classical sources, Egyptian and
Assyrian royal inscriptions, and their presence is also demonstrated by archaeological finds.

Recent archaeological research undertaken by the French Egyptian Centre of Karnak shed new light on the poorly investigated southern bank of the Sacred Lake in the temenos of Amun. It particularly allowed to reconstruct an unknown economic complex which forms the oriental pendant of the Psammuthes building. This reconstruction led us to reconsider the architectural history of several monuments associated with the divine offerings. Furthermore, it enhanced the architectural and stratigraphic links between this economic sector and the neighboring residential Quarter of Priests, lying respectively to the south and east of the Sacred Lake.

Since its discovery by Battiscombe Gunn, it is believed that Saqqara's Ostrakon is able to improve our understanding of how Egyptians designed curved elements, but the geometric significance of the hieratic values is still uncertain. Indeed, in order to obtain an indisputable result, the distance between the vertical ordinates is required, and this distance is not explicitly indicated on the limestone artefact.
But since there were no algebraic formulas at the time of the Pharaohs, a simple grid-based procedure was developed such as those used by the Egyptians to reproduce the scale drawings, to try to decipher the geometric meaning of the curve drawn on the find.
To conclude, this simple process permits to understand that the five hieratic values of the Saqqara Ostrakon describe a segmental arch whose span and rise correspond to the architectural proportions of several Egyptian tombs and arches, and that the numerical sequence of the artefact could be considered the most "ancient" mathematical formula of the circle.

Sennacherib's Campaign Against Judah
The campaign of Sennacherib against Judah is one of the most widely researched in Biblical Studies and Ancient Near East, and one that also poses scholarly challenges. Allusion to the event is found in Isaiah, Kings, and Chronicles, but there is no correlation between the Assyrian and Biblical descriptions of the same event. Dan’el Kahn offers a textcritical analysis of these Biblical passages that allude to the military events. Detecting repetitions, breaks in the narrative, and contradictions and inconsistencies in the texts, he traces and reconstructs different and discrete sources. Kahn demonstrates that the Biblical passages are based on earlier sources that were later edited and revised by a third hand. Based on historical events that are found in non-Biblical texts, he also offers new dates for the sources. He claims that the narrative was written for the book of Isaiah, arguing that it predates the version found in Kings

Although the official career of Udjahorresnet is rather well-known in modern historiography, his family and social background has drawn little in-depth scholarly attention and is still poorly understood. This paper uses onomastics, genealogy, and prosopography as main methodological approaches in order to suggest first preliminary results. Accordingly, Udjahorresnet seems to be a member of a large and well- connected priestly family circle close to the royal house of Sais and active for generations throughout the Nile Delta, more specifically in the temples of Sais (Sa el-Hagar), Buto (Tell el-Fara‘in), Imau (Kom el-Hisn), Kom el-Firin, and perhaps Tanis (San al-Hagar). The owner of the kneeling statuette Khartum 2782 might be the best candidate for Udjahorresnet’s father, while members of his extended family left numerous monuments, including a seated group statue in the Louvre (N.663).

Im Frühjahr 1969 wurde bei Ausgrabungen der Universität Bonn unter Leitung von Elmar Edel auf der Qubbet el-Hawa ein außergewöhnliches Depot mit Materialien einer antiken Gusswerkstatt gefunden. Im Zuge der Fundteilung gelangten die meisten Stücke des Konvolutes in das Ägyptische Museum der Universität Bonn und werden dort aufbewahrt.

Die Deponierung des für die Forschung zur antiken Metallurgie bisher einzigartigen Konvoluts geschah im Zuge der Nachnutzung von Grabanlagen aus dem Alten Reich (um 2100 v. u. Z.) in der ägyptischen Spätzeit (um 550 – 400 v. u. Z.). Das Depot enthält Objekte, die alle Fertigungsstufen von Metallgegenständen im Wachsausschmelzverfahren dokumentieren. Es wurden Stücke von Rohwachs sowie Wachsmodelle und die zu deren Herstellung genutzten Negativformen gefunden. Weiterhin enthielt es vollständige Gussformen, die in einem aufwendigen Mehrschalenverfahren hergestellt wurden und teilweise bereits für den Guss ausgebrannt worden sind. Schließlich zählen einige Metallfiguren sowie weitere figürliche Objekte zum Konvolut, die alle in den Bereich einer kunsthandwerklichen Werkstatt deuten. Eine Besonderheit stellen zudem Gussformen dar, in denen Fragmente von Metallfiguren zur Reparatur im Überfangguss vorbereitet waren.

Das Depot wurde in der Gesamtpublikation der Bonner Grabungen bisher nur summarisch vorgestellt. 2014/15 initiierten die Abteilung Ägyptologie der Universität Bonn und das LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn unter Ludwig D. Morenz und Michael Schmauder ein gemeinsames und von der Fritz-Thyssen-Stiftung gefördertes Forschungsprojekt, das von Martin Fitzenreiter, Johannes Auenmüller und Frank Willer geleitet wurde. In Kooperation mit Dietmar Meinel (Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung Berlin / BAM, Fachbereich 8.5 Mikro-ZfP), Roland Schwab (Curt-Engelhorn-Zentrum Archäometrie gGmbH, Mannheim), Gerwulf Schneider (FU Berlin, Exzellenzcluster TOPOI), Ursula Baumer und Patrick Dietemann (beide Doerner-Institut / München), Thorsten Geisler-Wierwille (Steinmann Institut für Geologie, Mineralogie und Paläontologie der Universität Bonn) sowie Ursula Tegtmeier (Labor für Archäobotanik der Universität Köln) wurden die Objekte des Konvolutes eingehend und mit zeitgemäßen Verfahren untersucht. Die Ergebnisse dieses Forschungsprojekts werden in dieser Publikation vorgelegt.

The purpose of this article is to reconsider the date of King Josiah's death. I divided it into three sections: I. A short survey of the history of research. II. The relevance of Demotic Papyrus Berlin 13588 for the date of Psammetichus I's death and Necho's accession. III. Its significance for determining Egyptian-Judean Political Relations.

The dating of the short-lived settlement at Meẓad Ḥashavyahu near the coast of southern Palestine has long been the subject of controversy. Because of the Greek pottery finds there it became embroiled in sometimes circular arguments over the chronology of Early Corinthian and related Archaic pottery styles. These issues and the related question of the fall of pre-Persian Ashkelon are reviewed and a lower dating offered for the site (as allowed by John Holladay as early as 1976) in the early 6th rather than late 7th century BC. The site was almost certainly a small fortress housing a garrison of Greek mercenaries, placed strategically to support the nearby harbour-town of Yavneh-Yam – both being under Egyptian control. The question is raised as to which historical circumstances would best suit the construction of Meẓad Ḥashavyahu by the 26th Dynasty pharaohs. It is argued from a number of lines of evidence that the fortress was constructed as part of the ambitious maritime policy of Apries (589-570 BC) and that it was abandoned near the end of his reign when the Babylonians advanced towards Egypt.

Publication of five ushabtis stored in the Museo Archeologico di Udine. With the exception of one of them, which dates to the New Kingdom, the others date to the Late Period. The contribution of this study concerns the onomastic thanks to some names seldom attested. Moreover the comparison with some material discovered during excavations allows to replace this material in his archaeological context.

On 7 March 2017, the Egyptian-German Mission of Heliopolis found fragments of a colossal quartzite statue in the area of Suq el-Khamis, the western perimeter of the temple precinct of Matariya, where once stood a temple of Ramesses II. These fragments show an exceptional quality of manufacturing. They belong to the largest statue known so far of a king of the 26th dynasty, as reported by the authors in the article.

Findings derived from recent mummy CT Scans provide important insights into the varied magical approaches of ancient embalmers. The mummy of the Akhmimic priest Irethorrou (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco No. 42895) provides a wealth of new information on amulet use in the period after 600 BC. Scanned in August 2009, Irethorrou's well preserved mummy was examined by a collaborative team led by Dr. Renée Dreyfus that included the Stanford University Department of Radiography, eHuman Corp., Fovia Corp. and the Akhmim Mummy Studies Consortium. No fewer than 14 amulets were incorporated into Irethorrou's wrappings. These formed a web of signification focused on key points of the body: the skull, neck, spine, hands, elbow joints, and the thoracicabdominal axis. An important outgrowth of the examination was the discovery of a complex multi-part packet in the pelvic cavity. Comparison with other mummies, including Irethorrou's own father Ankh-Wennefer (Washington State Historical Society 1898.6.1) and an ostensibly 30 th dynasty female (Putnam Museum, Davenport Iowa No. 1 AR 21190) 1 shows that this kind of packet was not a "one-off", but a species of funerary treatment specific to the Late Period.

In der Berliner Ägyptischen Sammlung befanden sich einst drei Schenkungsstelen aus Pharbaitos, Bubastis und Memphis, die im Zweiten Weltkrieg zerstört wurden: es handelt sich um die Stelen mit den Nummern ÄM 8438, 8439 und 2111. Zwei der Stelen wurden 1883 aus der Sammlung Posno erworben, die dritte 1843 aus der Sammlung d'Athanasi. Von diesen Stelen hat nur jeweils ein einziges Foto überlebt, von ÄM 8438 und 8439 zusätzlich noch jeweils ein Papierabdruck. 1

The titles of God's Wife, God's Hand and Divine Adoratrice are seemingly lost due to the abolishment of the office of God's Wife during the incumbency of Ankhnesneferibre. There is no further evidence to suggest the reinstatement of office, nor the titles Hmt nTr, Drt nTr and dwAt nTr with a mortal occupant. During the Graeco-Roman Period, however, these titles are resurrected, but are instead attributed to the divine. Furthermore, the titles nbty rXyt "Queen of the Rekhyt" (which originates with the Late Period God's Wife), and Hrt "Female Horus" will be examined to further support the thesis. This paper explores the link between the titulary held by the God's Wives during the Third Intermediate–Late Period—Karomama, Shepenwepet I, Amenirdis I, Shepenwepet II, Nitokris, Ankhnesneferibre—and female deities of the Graeco-Roman period, with particular focus on Isis and Hathor.

This paper forms the second chapter of my MA thesis titled "Wife of the god, model of the goddess: A structural analysis of the Third Intermediate–Late Period God’s Wife’s influence on Graeco-Roman female deities".

A shabti of Tasheretenese, mother of King Amasis of the late  Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, was recently identified in the collections of the National Museum – Náprstek Museum, Prague. The shabti belongs to the class of larger shabtis of the Late Period inscribed with the Chapter Six of the Book of the Dead. The text on the shabti provides the name of Tasheretenese’s father, Iretheriru.

During the 25th and 26th dynasties, many statues, coffins, stelae and other objects of priests and state officials were inscribed with long genealogical texts. This custom is rooted in the Libyan segmentary lineage system which altered the usually somewhat shorter Egyptian genealogies since the end of the New Kingdom. In order to preserve their social position and justify their claim to particular posts, Egyptian magistrates had to adopt long genealogies into their “Selbstthematisierungen”. In most cases, a number of titles of the respective owners of the here discussed objects as well as of his or her ancestors were mentioned, too. One of the priestly families, which flourished in Thebes during the Kushite and Saïte period, was the Besenmut family. Taking the lineage of this family as a case study, the paper focuses on two questions: Is there any kind of pattern in the distribution of titles on different monuments of a specific person and which titles of a particular individual are still mentioned in the genealogical inscriptions of its descendants? The reconstruction of the Theban family trees has also some implications for the so-called “Ultra-short chronology”.

J. Pope, "Shepenwepet II and the Kingdom of Kush: Implications of a Recent Study," in R. Jasnow and K. M. Cooney, eds., Joyful in Thebes: Egyptological Studies in Honor of Betsy M. Bryan (Lockwood, 2015), 357-364. Posting of this chapter to academia.edu is forbidden by the press. If you are interested in receiving a copy of this chapter, please contact me via e-mail or through academia.edu.

ABSTRACT
In the following article I will deal with one of Isaiah’s prophecies, Isaiah 11:11–16, whose date is debated. In this article, I will concur that the prophecy is not original to Isaiah, nor was there an early Isaianic core that was expanded in later periods. Other scholars suggested different dates for the prophecy, ranging from the reign of Josiah at the end of the Assyrian rule in the Levant until the Hasmonean Period. I will forward a different historical setting to the oracle than the hitherto given options. According to this understanding, the oracle was composed in the mid-7th century BCE and reflects the political situation during the reigns of Ashurbanipal, King of Assyria, and Manasseh, King of Judah, respectively