Siptah

Name of Siptah
Portrait of the Siptah (sarcophagus)
Horus name	Ka-Nacht-meri-Hapi-se-anch-ta-neb-em-kaef-Re-neb kn-nḫt-mrj-Ḥˁpj-s-ˁnḫ-t3-nb-m-k3 = f-Rˁ-nb Strong bull , Lover of Hapi , who lets every country live through his ka every day
Sideline	Saa-Iunu Sˁ3-Jwnw Large in Iunu
Gold name	... mi-it-ef-Re ... mj-jt = f-Rˁ ... like his father Re (with twice the name ideogram for a king who represents the Horus falcon)
Throne name	Sechai-en-Re-meri-Amun Sḫˁj-n-Rˁ-mrj-Jmn The one enthroned by Re, lover of Amun Ach-en-Re-setep-en-Re 3ḫ-n-Rˁ-stp-n-Rˁ Emanation of Re (throne name from the third year of reign)
Proper name	Ramessusaptah (Ra messu sa Ptah) Rˁ mssw s3 Ptḥ Re is the one who gave birth to him, son of Ptah Merinptahsaptah (Meri en Ptah sa Ptah) Mrj n Ptḥ s3 Ptḥ Loved by Ptah, son of Ptah (proper name from the third year of reign)

Siptah was the 7th ancient Egyptian king ( Pharaoh ) of the 19th Dynasty ( New Kingdom ) and ruled from 1198 to 1193 BC. Or from 1196 to 1190 BC. Chr.

origin

Presumably he was the son of his predecessor Seti II with a Syrian concubine named Sutiraja , who appears on the relief E 26901 in the Louvre . However, the identification as the mother of Siptah is not certain.

Surname

In his first two years of reign, Siptah bore the proper name "Ramses-Siptah" and the throne name "Shai-n-Re meri-Amun". From his third year in power, the proper name was "Merenptah Siptah" and the throne name was "Ach en Re setep en Re" or "Ach en Re meri Imen". The reasons for the change of both names are not known.

supporting documents

Siptah is evidenced by various inscriptions and representations, especially from Wadi Halfa and Abu Simbel . Others can be found in Sehel , Amada , Aswan and Gebel es-Silsileh . Monuments from his reign are his grave KV47 in the Valley of the Kings and his mortuary temple as well as two stelae from el-Qurna that were usurped by Amenmesse . Siptah is also mentioned in the tomb of Tausret by a representation.

Domination

After the death of the heir to the throne Sethi-Merenptah, Siptah took up this position. His throne was between 28 Akhet IV and the 19th Peret I completed. He then ruled for 5 years and 9 months. Since , according to his mummy , he was around 20 years old at the time of his death, his age at the time of his accession to the throne should be around 14 years. Siptah led the burial of his father Seti II, whose day of burial is evident from a graffito in the grave KV14 : year 1 Siptah, 11. Schemu III .

The regency for the young king was first led by his stepmother Tausret, the great royal wife of Seti II, with the participation of the Syrian treasurer Bay . This had already been entrusted with important tasks during the reign of Seti II. In his first year of reign, Siptah appointed a certain Sethi as the new viceroy of Kush in Nubia . From year six at the latest, this will be replaced by Hori II . He also brought the vizier Hori from Memphis to Thebes and entrusted him with the administration of his mortuary temple as well as with various quarry work and the construction management in the Theban necropolis.

Death and succession

Head of the mummy of Siptah

Siptah died in his sixth year of reign and was buried in grave KV47 in the Valley of the Kings. His coffin and mummy were found in the so-called “mummy hiding place” (mummy depot) in the grave of Amenhotep II ( KV35 ) in 1898 . His examined mummy revealed not only its age, but also that the king suffered from polio with clubfoot . The direct successor was his stepmother Tausret, who added his reign to hers.

literature

• Hartwig Altenmüller : The belated burial of the Siptah. In: Göttinger Miscellen . (GM) Vol. 145, 1995, pp. 29-36.
• Darrell D. Baker: The Encyclopedia of the Egyptian Pharaohs, Volume I: Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty (3300-1069 BC). Bannerstone Press, London 2008, ISBN 978-1-905299-37-9 , pp. 431-434.
• Peter A. Clayton: The Pharaohs. Rulers and Dynasties in Ancient Egypt. Bechtermünz, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-8289-0661-3 , pp. 158-159.
• Erik Hornung : The New Kingdom. In: Erik Hornung, Rolf Krauss, David A. Warburton (eds.): Ancient Egyptian Chronology (= Handbook of Oriental studies. Section One. The Near and Middle East. Volume 83). Brill, Leiden / Boston 2006, ISBN 978-90-04-11385-5 , pp. 197-217 ( online ).
• KA Kitchen : Ramesside Inscriptions. Historical and Biographical. Volume 4. Blackwell, Oxford 1982, ISBN 0-903563-08-8 , pp. 341-350.
• Nicholas Reeves , Richard H. Wilkinson: The Valley of the Kings. Mysterious realm of the dead of the pharaohs. Weltbild-Verlag, Augsburg 2000, ISBN 3-8289-0739-3 , pp. 155–156.
• Thomas Schneider : Lexicon of the Pharaohs. Albatros, Düsseldorf 2002, ISBN 3-491-96053-3 , pp. 275-276.

Web links

Commons : Siptah  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Siptah on Tour Egypt
• The grave on the Theban Mapping Project
• Das Grab, website of the University of Basel

Notes and individual references

1. ↑ Dating from Thomas Schneider: Lexikon der Pharaonen. Düsseldorf 2002.
2. ↑ Dating from: Alberto Siliotti: The Valley of the Kings. Archaeological guide. Müller, Cologne 2001, ISBN 88-8095-602-7 .
3. ↑ Thomas Schneider: Siptah and Beja. Reassessment of a historical constellation. In: Journal for Egyptian Language and Antiquity. No. 130, 2003, pp. 134-146, here pp. 140-141.
4. ^ Thomas Schneider: Lexicon of the Pharaohs. 2nd Edition. Düsseldorf 1997, p. 275.
5. ^ Hermann A. Schlögl : The Old Egypt (= Beck'sche series. C.-H.-Beck-Wissen 2305). 3rd revised edition. Beck, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-406-48005-8 , p. 299.
6. ↑ Labib Habachi: Hori II. In: Wolfgang Helck , Eberhard Otto, Wolfhart Westendorf: Lexikon der Ägyptologie. Volume III. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1980, pp. 2-3.

predecessor	Office	successor
Seti II	Pharaoh of Egypt 19th Dynasty	Thaw