Thamphthis facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Thamphthis in hieroglyphs |
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| Predecessor: Shepseskaf? Successor: Userkaf? |
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Saqqara table |
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Turin canon (Column III, line 16) |
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Thamphthis is the hellenized name of an ancient Egyptian ruler (pharaoh) of the 4th Dynasty in the Old Kingdom, who may have ruled around 2500 BC under the name Djedefptah for between two and nine years. His original Egyptian name is lost, but it may have been Djedefptah or Ptahdjedef ("he endures like Ptah") according to William C. Hayes. Thamphthis is one of the shadowy rulers of the Old Kingdom, since he is completely unattested in contemporary sources. For this reason, his historical figure is discussed intensely by historians and Egyptologists.
Background
Since Thamphthis' name was found in the historical works of Manetho, the Aegyptiacae, Egyptologists are trying to connect this ruler with contemporary kings to build up a continuous chronology, which resulted in controversies and debates.
As early as 1887, Eduard Meyer viewed Thamphthis as a mere usurper, who was not allowed to be mentioned in royal annals or have his own mortuary cult because he gained the throne illegitimately. Peter Jánosi goes further and says that Thamphthis is a fiction, due to the lack of archaeological support. He claims that Thamphthis should be erased from modern kinglists.
Winfried Seipel and Hermann Alexander Schlögl instead postulate that the historical figure behind Thamphthis could have been queen Khentkaus I. This theory is supported by Khentkaus being depicted in her mortuary temple as a ruling pharaoh with nemes-headdress, king's beard and uraeus-diadem on her forehead. But this theory is problematic since Khentkaus' name never appears inside a serekh or royal cartouche.
Wolfgang Helck points out that Khentkaus I could have been the mother of Thamphthis, so Thamphthis would have been the son of king Shepseskaf. As a possible wife of Thamphthis he proposes a princess named Bunefer, who may have been the daughter of Shepseskaf. She was a priestess of Shepseskaf.
Literature
- Jürgen von Beckerath: Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen, von Zabern, Mainz 1999, ISBN: 3-422-00832-2
- Jürgen von Beckerath: Chronologie des pharaonischen Ägypten, von Zabern, Mainz 1997 ISBN: 3-8053-2310-7
- Iowerth Eiddon Stephen Edwards: The Cambridge ancient history, Band 3. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2000, ISBN: 978-0-521-07791-0
- William C. Hayes: The Scepter of Egypt, Band 1: From the Earliest Times to the End of the Middle Kingdom. Yale University Press, New York 1990 (Neuauflage), ISBN: 978-0-300-09159-5
- Wolfgang Helck: Geschichte des Alten Ägypten. BRILL, Leiden 1981, ISBN: 90-04-06497-4
- Peter Jánosi: Giza in der 4. Dynastie. Die Baugeschichte und Belegung einer Nekropole des Alten Reiches. Band I: Die Mastabas der Kernfriedhöfe und die Felsgräber. Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien 2005, ISBN: 3-7001-3244-1
- Alan B. Lloyd: Herodotus, book II: commentary 99-182. BRILL, Leiden 1988, ISBN: 978-90-04-04179-0
- Eduard Meyer, Johannes Duemichen: Geschichte des alten Aegyptens. Band 1 von: Allgemeine Geschichte in Einzeldarstellungen. Grote, Hamburg 1887
- Kim Ryholt, Adam Bülow-Jacobsen: The political situation in Egypt during the second Intermediate Period. Museum Tusculanum Press, 1997, ISBN: 978-87-7289-421-8
- Wilfried Seipel: Untersuchungen zu den ägyptischen Königinnen der Frühzeit und des Alten Reiches. University of California, 1980
- Ian Shaw: The Oxford history of ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press, Oxford (UK) 2002, ISBN: 978-0-19-280293-4
- William Gillian Waddell: Manetho - The Loeb classical library; 350 -. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.) 2004 (Reprint), ISBN: 0-674-99385-3
See also
In Spanish: Dyedefptah para niños
