Psusennes I

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Psusennes I

Psusennes I, or [Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
???s?????], Psibkhanno or Hor-Pasebakhaenniut I [Egyptian

Egyptian language

Egyptian is a branch of the Afro-Asiatic languages language family along with the Chadic languages, Berber languages, Semitic languages, Cushitic languages and possibly Omotic languages languages....
?r-p3-sb3-?ˁ?--n?wt] was the third king

Pharaoh

Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. In antiquity this title began to be used for the ruler who was the religious and political leader of united ancient Egypt, only during the New Kingdom, specifically, during the middle of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt....
of the Twenty-first dynasty of Egypt

Twenty-first dynasty of Egypt

The Twenty-First, Twenty-Second, Twenty-Third, Twenty-Fourth and Twenty-Fifth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, Third Intermediate Period....
who ruled between 1047 – 1001 BC. His birth name Psusennes means "The Star Appearing in the City" while his throne name, Akheperre Setepenamun, translates as "Great are the Manifestations of Re, chosen of Amun." He was the son of Pinedjem I

Pinedjem I

Pinedjem I was the High Priests of Amun at Thebes in Ancient Egypt from 1070 BC to 1032 BC and the de facto ruler of the south of the country from 1054 BC....
and Henuttawy, Ramesses XI

Ramesses XI

Ramesses XI reigned from 1107 BC to 1078 BC or 1077 BC and was the tenth and final king of the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt. He ruled Egypt for at least 29 years although some Egyptologists think he could have ruled for as long as 30 years....
's daughter by Tentamun.

essor Pierre Montet

Pierre Montet

Pierre Montet was a respected France Egyptologist. He first began his studies under Victor Loret at the University of Lyon.He excavated at Byblos in Lebanon between 1921 and 1924, excavating tombs of rulers from Middle Kingdom times....
discovered pharaoh Psusennes' intact tomb (No.3 or NRT III) in Tanis

Tanis, Egypt

Tanis , the Greek language name of ancient Djanet , is a city in the north-eastern Nile delta of ancient Egypt. It lies on the Tanitic branch of the Nile ....
in 1940.

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Psusennes I, or [Greek

Greek language

Egyptian language

Pharaoh

Twenty-first dynasty of Egypt

Pinedjem I

Pinedjem I was the High Priests of Amun at Thebes in Ancient Egypt from 1070 BC to 1032 BC and the de facto ruler of the south of the country from 1054 BC....
and Henuttawy, Ramesses XI

Ramesses XI

Burial

Professor Pierre Montet

Pierre Montet

Tanis, Egypt

Tanis , the Greek language name of ancient Djanet , is a city in the north-eastern Nile delta of ancient Egypt. It lies on the Tanitic branch of the Nile ....
in 1940. Unfortunately, due to its moist Lower Egypt

Upper and Lower Egypt

File:Ancient Egypt map-en.svgAncient Egypt was divided into two regions, known as Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. To the north was Lower Egypt where the Nile stretched out with its several branches to form the Nile Delta....
location, most of the "perishable" wood objects were destroyed by water — a fate not shared by KV62

KV62

Tomb KV62 in Egypt's Valley of the Kings is the Tomb of Tutankhamun, which became famous for the wealth of treasure it contained. The tomb was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter , underneath the remains of workmen's huts built during the Ramesside Period; this explains why it was spared from the worst of the tomb depredations of that t...
, the tomb of Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun , Egyptian language was an Ancient Egypt Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt , during the period of History of Egypt known as the New Kingdom....
in the drier climate of Upper Egypt

Upper and Lower Egypt

File:Ancient Egypt map-en.svgAncient Egypt was divided into two regions, known as Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. To the north was Lower Egypt where the Nile stretched out with its several branches to form the Nile Delta....
. However, the king's magnificent funerary mask was recovered intact; it proved to be made of gold and lapis lazuli and held inlays of black and white glass for the eyes and eyebrows of the object. Psusennes I's mask is considered to be "one of the masterpieces of the treasure[s] of Tanis" and is currently housed in Room 2 of the Cairo Museum. It has a maximum width and height of 38 cm and 48 cm respectively. The pharaoh's

"fingers and toes had been encased in gold stalls, and he was buried with gold sandals on his feet. The finger stalls are the most elaborate ever found, with sculpted fingernails. Each finger wore an elaborate ring of gold and lapis lazuli or some other semiprecious stone."

Psusennes' outer and middle sarcophagi had been recycled from previous burials in the Valley of the Kings

Valley of the Kings

The Valley of the Kings is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th century BC to 11th century BC, tombs were constructed for the Pharaoh and powerful nobles of the Conventional Egyptian chronology#New Kingdom ....
, a state-sanctioned tomb-robbing that was common practice in the Third Intermediate Period. A cartouche

Cartouche

In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oblong inclosure with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a pharaoh name, coming into use during the beginning of the Fourth dynasty of Egypt under Pharaoh Sneferu....
on the red outer sarcophagus shows that it had originally been made for Pharaoh Merneptah

Merneptah

Merneptah was the fourth ruler of the Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt of Ancient Egypt. He ruled Egypt for almost ten years between late July or early August 1213 to May 2, 1203 BC, according to contemporary historical records....
, the nineteenth dynasty

Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt

The Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, New Kingdom....
successor of Ramesses II

Ramesses II

Ramesses II was the third Egyptian pharaoh of the Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt. He is often regarded as Ancient Egypt's greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh....
. Psusennes, himself, was interred in an "inner silver coffin" which was inlaid with gold. Since "silver was considerable rarer in Egypt than gold," Psusennes I's silver "coffin represents a sumptuous burial of great wealth during Egypt's declining years."

Dr. Douglass Derry, who worked as the head of Cairo University

Cairo University

Cairo University is an institute of higher education located in Giza, Egypt. The university was founded on December 21, 1908, as the result of an effort to establish a national center for educational thought....
's Anatomy Department, examined the king's remains in 1940, determined that the king was an old man when he died. Derry noted that Psusennes I's teeth were badly worn and full of cavities, and observed that the king suffered from extensive arthritis and was probably crippled by this condition in his final years.

Reign

Psusennes' precise reign length is unknown because different copies of Manetho's records credit him with a reign of either 41 or 46 Years. Some Egyptologists have proposed raising the 41 year figure by a decade to 51 years to more closely match certain anonymous Year 48 and Year 49 dates in Upper Egypt. However, the German Egyptologist Karl Jansen-Winkeln has suggested that all these dates should be attributed to the serving High Priest of Amun Menkheperre instead who is explicitly documented in a Year 48 record. Jansen-Winkeln notes that "in the first half of Dyn. 21, [the] HP Herihor, Pinedjem I and Menkheperre have royal attributes and [royal] titles to differing extents" whereas the first three Tanite kings (Smendes, Amenemnisu and Psusennes I) are almost never referred to by name in Upper Egypt with the exception of one graffito and rock stela for Smendes. In contrast, the name of Psusennes I's Dynasty 21 successors such as Amenemope, Osochor and Siamun appear frequently in various documents from Upper Egypt while the Theban High Priest Pinedjem II who was a contemporary of the latter three kings never adopted any royal attributes or titles in his career.. Hence, two separate Year 49 dates from Thebes and Kom Ombo could be attributed to the ruling High Priest Menkheperre in Thebes instead of Psusennes I but this remains uncertain. Psusennes I's reign has been estimated at 46 years by the editors of the Handbook to Ancient Egyptian Chronology. Psusennes I must have enjoyed cordial relations with the serving High Priests of Amun in Thebes during his long reign since the High Priest Smendes II donated several grave goods to this king which was found in Psusennes II's tomb.

During his long reign, Psusennes built the enclosure walls and the central part of the Great Temple at Tanis which was dedicated to the triad of Amun

Amun

Amun, reconstructed Egyptian language Yamanu , was the name of a deity in Egyptian mythology who gradually rose from being an abstract concept to the patron deity of Thebes, Egypt and one of the most important deities in Ancient Egypt before fading into obscurity....
, Mut

Mut

Mut, which meant mother in the ancient Egyptian language, was an ancient Egyptian mother goddess with multiple aspects that changed over the thousands of years of the culture....
and Khonsu.

Psusennes I

Burial

Reign

Further reading