Neferhotep I

Neferhotep I
Archeological Museum of Bologna (Italy)
Pharaoh of Egypt
Predecessor	Sobekhotep III
Successor	Sobekhotep IV
Royal titulary Prenomen: Khasekhemre the Power of Re appears Nomen: Neferhotep Beautiful and peaceful Horus name: Geregtawy Founder of the two lands Nebty name: Wepmaat who opens the truth Golden Horus: Menmerut Stable of love

Neferhotep I was an Egyptian king of the Thirteenth Dynasty and one of the most powerful rulers of this dynasty.^[1] The Turin Canon assigned him a reign length of 11 years.

Neferhotep I came from a military family. His grandfather, Nehy, held the title ‘officer of a town regiment’. Nehy was married to a woman called Senebtysy. Nothing is known about her, other than that she held the common title ‘lady of the house’. Their only known son was called Haankhef. He appears in the sources always as ‘God’s father’, and he was married to a woman called Kemi. Haankhef and Kemi were the parents of Neferhotep I.^[2]

The family of Neferhotep I seems to have come from Thebes. Neferhotep I's brother, king Sobekhotep IV, stated that he was born there, on a stela that was placed during his reign in the temple of Amun at Karnak. However, the main capital in the Thirteenth Dynasty was still Itjtawy in the North, near the modern village of el-Lisht.

A woman called Senebsen is known as Neferhotep I's wife. Neferhotep I is known from a relatively high number of objects found across all parts of Egypt and Egyptian-controlled Lower Nubia. In the Turin King List he was given a reign of eleven years, one of the longest of this period. He is also known from a relief found at Byblos.

The most important monument of the king is a large, heavily eroded stela dating to year two of the king’s reign, found at Abydos. The inscription on the stela is one of the few ancient Egyptian royal texts to record how a king might conceive of and order the making of a sculpture.

There are also numerous inscriptions in the Aswan region mentioning Neferhotep I's name, as well as the names of family members and officials serving under this king. It is from these inscriptions that we know the name of his wife (Senebsen) and his son Haankhef and his daughter Kemi.^[3]

It is not known under which circumstances Neferhotep I died after his reign of eleven years. His successor was his brother, Sobekhotep IV, and who is perhaps the most important ruler of the Thirteenth Dynasty.^[4] Another brother, Sihathor, appears in the Turin King List as successor, but there is no real proof that he ever became king.

There are several monuments mentioning Neferhotep I and Sobekhotep IV together. This could mean that they may have reigned for some time together. Nevertheless the reigns of these two brothers in the Thirteenth Dynasty mark the peak of this otherwise rather shaky era.^[5] There are many private monuments datable under these kings, and especially in sculpture some remarkably high quality art works were produced.

References

1. ^ W. Grajetzki: The Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, London 2006 ISBN 9780715634356, 71
2. ^ Ryholt, The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, 225-231
3. ^ Ryholt, The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, 231
4. ^ Ryholt, The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, 298
5. ^ W. Grajetzki: The Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, London 2006 ISBN 9780715634356, 73

Bibliography

• K.S.B. Ryholt, The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period (Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications, vol. 20. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 1997).

External links

• Neferhotep I