Kim Ryholt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kim S B Ryholt is a Danish Egyptologist, who works at the Carsten Niebuhr Institute (Publications) of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Copenhagen.

One of his most significant publications is a 1997 book titled "The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period c.1800-1550 B.C." by Museum Tuscalanum Press. (ISBN 87-7289-421-0) Aidan Dodson, a prominent English Egyptologist, calls Ryholt's book "fundamental" for an understanding of the Second Intermediate Period in his Bi Or LVII, January-April 2000, p.48 Book Review of Ryholt's 463 page book because it reviews the political history of this period and contains an updated--and more accurate--reconstruction of the Turin Canon since the 1959 publication of Alan Gardiner's Royal Canon of Egypt. It also contains an important catalogue of all the known monuments, inscriptions and seals for the kings of this Period.

Ryholt's study makes note of numerous recent archaeological finds including the discovery of a new Hyksos king named Sakir-Har, the find of a door jamb at Gebel Antef in the mid-1990's which establishes that Sekhemre Shedtawy Sobekemsaf IIwas the father of the 17th Dynasty Theban king's Antef VI and Antef VII as well as a fresh discussion of Ahmose's Unwettterstele document. It also strongly argues that the Sixteenth dynasty of Egypt was made up of poorly attested Theban kings such as Nebiriau I, II, Seuserenre Bebiankh and Sekhemre Shedwaset who are documented in the last surviving page of the Turin Canon rather than minor Hyksos vassal kings in Lower Egypt, as is generally believed. Among the most significant discussions is Ryholt's evidence that Sekhemre Khutawy rather than Ugaf was the first king of Egypt's 13th Dynasty (see Appendix A of his book) and a discussion of the foreign origins of the Semitic 13th Dynasty king named Khendjer--whose reign lasted a minimum of 4 years and 3 Months based on dated workmen's control notes found on stone blocks from his unfinished pyramid complex. (Ryholt: p.193) Khendjer's name, which means 'boar', is a foreign Semitic name which suggests he was the first recognised foreign (ie: of non-Egyptian origin) Pharaoh of Egypt.

Some of Ryholt's conclusions are based on limited evidence that could be interpreted in several ways. His Chapter on the 14th Dynasty has now been demonstrated to be erroneous in assuming that the 14th Dynasty was contemporary with the 13th Dynasty from the latter's time of inception around 1800 BC until its termination in c.1650/1648 BC. The evidence from the strata levels of Ryholt's cited 14th Dynasty seals recounted in a BASOR (315) 1999, pp. 47-73 book review by Daphna Ben Tor & James/Susan Allen conclusively establish that the 14th Dynasty was only contemporary with the 13th Dynasty in the last half century of the latter's existence. Critically, Manfred Bietak has dated the inscriptions and monuments of Nehesy at Tell el-Dab'a in the Delta--the first known Dynasty 14 king--to Stratum F or B/3 of the Bronze Age at around 1700 BC--corresponding to the late 13th Dynasty.^[1] Ryholt's proposal that king Sheshi, A'amu and Yakbim were also rulers of the 14th Dynasty is discredited by Ben Tor's analsyis of the strata levels of their seals which show that they date to the second half of the Hyksos 15th Dynasty. Sheshi, Yakbim and A'amu were presumably Hyksos vassal kings in the Delta. Therefore, not all of Ryholt's conclusions--especially on the 14th Dynasty--have been accepted by mainstream Egyptologists.

[edit] References