Takelot III
Encyclopedia
Usimare Setepenamun Takelot III Si-Ese was Osorkon III
Osorkon III
Usermaatre Setepenamun Osorkon III Si-Ese was Pharaoh of Egypt in the 8th Century BC. He is the same person as the Crown Prince and High Priest of Amun Osorkon B, son of Takelot II by his Great Royal Wife Karomama II. Prince Osorkon B is best attested by his Chronicle—which consists of a series of...

's eldest son and successor. Takelot III ruled the first five years of his reign in a coregency with his father and served previously as the High Priest of Amun at Thebes
Thebes, Egypt
Thebes is the Greek name for a city in Ancient Egypt located about 800 km south of the Mediterranean, on the east bank of the river Nile within the modern city of Luxor. The Theban Necropolis is situated nearby on the west bank of the Nile.-History:...

. He was previously thought to have ruled Egypt for only 7 years until his 13th Year was found on a stela from Ahmeida in the Dakhla Oasis in 2005. Takelot III served the first 5 Years of his reign as the junior coregent to his father according to the evidence from Nile Quay Text No.14, which equates Year 28 of Osorkon III to Year 5 of Takelot III. He succeeded his father as king in the following Year. Takelot is attested by several documents: a donation stela from Gurob
Abu Gorab
Abu Gurab is a sun temple built by the people of ancient Egypt. It was excavated by Egyptologists between 1898 and 1901 by Ludwig Borchardt on behalf of the Berlin Museum and is located near the city of Memphis...

 which calls him "The First Prophet of Amun-Re, General and Commander Takelot," a stone block from Herakleopolis which calls him 'the Chief of Per-Sekhemkheperre' and king's son by Tentsai, Quay Text No.13 which equates Year 5 of Takelot III to Year 28 of Osorkon III and Quay Text No.4 which records his Year 6.

Reign Length

A graffito
Graffito (archaeology)
A Graffito , in an archaeological context, is a deliberate mark made by scratching or engraving on a large surface such as a wall. The marks may form an image or writing...

 on the roof of the Temple of Khonsu which records his Year 7, was long believed to be his Highest Year date. However, in February 2005, a hieratic stela from Year 13 of his reign was discovered by a University of Columbia archaeological expedition in the ruins of a Temple at the Dakhla Oasis
Dakhla, Egypt
Dakhla Oasis , also spelt Dakhleh and known colloquially as the inner oasis, is one of the seven oases of Egypt's Western Desert . Dakhla Oasis lies in the New Valley Governorate, 350 km from the Nile and between the oases of Farafra and Kharga...

. Their subsequent analysis of this dated document conclusively established this king's identity as Takelot III. This document—which measures "between 42-48 cm wide; between 47-51 cm high; [and] between 10-16 cm thick"--has now been published in JEOL 39 (2006) by Dr. Olaf Kaper and Robert Demarée. Part of the abstract for their article is given below:
"...The stela belongs to a group of finds documenting the temple of the God Thoth
Thoth
Thoth was considered one of the more important deities of the Egyptian pantheon. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine counterpart was Seshat...

...[in the western part of the Dakhla Oasis]...during the Third Intermediate Period. One block of temple decoration was found in the name of king Petubastis (I), and the stela under discussion was set up in the temple to which this block belonged. The stela's principal text has five lines, in which the date of the stela is given as Year 13 of Takeloth III (c. 740 BCE), as well as the name of the god Thoth of SA-wHAt, the local deity. The stela records a land donation to the temple on the part of the local governor, chief of a Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....

n tribe, and it concludes with a list of eleven priests who are beneficiaries of this donation....Another donation stela erected by the same governor is known from the temple of Seth
Set (mythology)
Set was in Ancient Egyptian religion, a god of the desert, storms, and foreigners. In later myths he was also the god of darkness, and chaos...

 in Mut (Dakhleh)."


The governor mentioned here is Nes-Djehuti or Esdhuti who appears as the Chief of the Shamin Libyans in both the aforementioned Year 13 stela of Takelot III and also in the Smaller Dakhla Stela. The smaller Dakla stela dates to Year 24 of the Nubian king Piye
Piye
Piye, was a Kushite king and founder of the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt who ruled Egypt from 747 BCE to 716 BCE according to Peter Clayton. He ruled from the city of Napata, located deep in Nubia, Sudan...

. This means that Takelot III and Piye were near contemporaries during their respective reigns. It might suggest that an important graffito at Wadi Gasus—which connects Year 19 of a local Theban ruler to Year 12 of a Nubian king—equates Year 19 of Takelot III (rather than Rudamun) to Year 12 of Piye. This graffito would have been carved prior to Piye's conquest of Egypt in his 20th Year—by which time both Takelot III and Rudamun had already died. However, new evidence on the Wadi Gasus graffito published by Claus Jurman has now redated the carving the famous Wadi Gasus graffito to the 25th dynastic Nubian period entirely (rather than to the 23rd dynastic Libyan era) and demonstrates that they instead pertain to Amenirdis I and Shepenupet II based on palaegraphic and other evidence at Karnak rather than the Libyan Shepenupet I and the Nubian Amenirdis I. Jurman notes that no evidence from Karnak show Shepenupet I associated with Piye's daughter, Amenirdis I. The graffito were written in 2 separate handstyles and the year date formulas for '12' and '19' were also written differently which suggests that they are unlikely to have been composed at the same time. This means that the Year 19 date cannot be assigned to Takelot III and, instead, likely belongs to the Nubian king Taharqa instead.

Papyrus Berlin 3048

Frederic Payraudeau once noted that Takelot III likely ruled Egypt for a minimum of 14 Years and was presumably the unknown Year 19 Egyptian monarch recorded at Wadi Gasus. He based his interpretation on the evidence of Papyrus Berlin 3048, the only surviving administrative document on papyri
Papyrus
Papyrus is a thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt....

 for the entire Libyan period. This document, which is explicitly dated to Year 14 of a Takelot Si-Ese Meryamun (i.e.: either Takelot II or III), records a Marriage Contract which was witnessed by Vizier Hor, and 2 Royal Treasurers: Bakenamun and Djedmontuiufankh respectively. The papyrus has traditionally been assigned to Takelot II since this ruler's Highest Date is his Year 25 whereas Takelot III's highest unequivocal date was only thought to be his Year 7. The author, observed 3 pieces of evidence which, taken together, could have supported the attribution of this papyrus to Takelot III instead.

Firstly, Frederic stresses that P. Berlin 3048 specifically mentions two Royal treasurers. The fact that 2 treasurers served Pharaoh at the same time is inconsistent with the known facts for the period from the reign of Osorkon II until the early years of Osorkon III at Thebes
Thebes, Egypt
Thebes is the Greek name for a city in Ancient Egypt located about 800 km south of the Mediterranean, on the east bank of the river Nile within the modern city of Luxor. The Theban Necropolis is situated nearby on the west bank of the Nile.-History:...

 when only a single person from one influential family served in this office. They were the descendants of Djedkhonsuiufankh A, who was the Fourth Prophet of Amun under Takelot I
Takelot I
Hedjkheperre Setepenre Takelot I was a son of Osorkon I and Queen Tashedkhons who ruled Egypt for 13 Years according to Manetho. Takelot would marry Queen Kapes who bore him Osorkon II...

: Nakhtefmut A, Harsiese C and Djedkhonsuiufankh C. Djedkhonsuiufankh A's son, Nakhtefmut A, first assumed the office of Royal Treasurer under Osorkon II; then Nakhtefmut A's son, Harsiese C, in turn succeeded him (likely under Takelot II). Finally, Harsiese C's son, Djedkhonsuiufankh C, occupied this office from the end of Takelot II's reign until the early years of Osorkon III's reign under whom he is attested. Since three direct descendants of one powerful family held the office of Royal Treasurer in the period around Takelot II's reign, it is unlikely that Djedmontuiufankh could have intervened in office as early as Year 14 of Takelot II
Takelot II
Hedjkheperre Setepenre Takelot II Si-Ese was a pharaoh of the Twenty-Third Dynasty of Ancient Egypt in Middle and Upper Egypt. He has been identified as the High Priest of Amun Takelot F, son of the High Priest of Amun Nimlot C at Thebes and, thus, the son of Nimlot C and grandson of king Osorkon...

 since he was not even connected to this family. Hence, the only other viable candidate for Djedmontuiufankh's master is Takelot III for whom no Royal Treasurer is known with certainty. Secondly, the Vizier Hor who is mentioned in Papyrus Berlin 3048 was thought to be the same person who is named as the father of Vizier
Vizier (Ancient Egypt)
The vizier was the highest official in Ancient Egypt to serve the king, or pharaoh during the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms. Vizier is the generally accepted rendering of ancient Egyptian tjati, tjaty etc, among Egyptologists...

 Nebneterou in several Nubian and Saite era genealogical documents. This also makes it far more plausible that P. Berlin 3048 belongs to Takelot III since Hor would have served as Vizier only a few years prior to the start of the Nubian Dynasty in Egypt under Piye
Piye
Piye, was a Kushite king and founder of the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt who ruled Egypt from 747 BCE to 716 BCE according to Peter Clayton. He ruled from the city of Napata, located deep in Nubia, Sudan...

 and would explain his son's later attestations in Nubian and Saite documents. In contrast, Takelot II died long before Piye conquered Egypt in his 20th Year.

Finally, the author notes that the Royal Treasurer Djedmontuiufankh, son of Aafenmut II, lists his family genealogy on the opposite side of this papyrus. (Payraudeau: 84-85) This specific list of his family tree is given: Harsiese-->Bakenkhonsu-->Harsiese-->Aafenmut I-->Merkhonsu-->Harsiese--> (name lost) -->Harsiese-->Aafenmut II-->Djedmontuiufankh-->Harsiese. An Aafenmut, a scribe of the Chief Treasurer, was buried under Osorkon I (bracellets on his Mummy bore this king's prenomen). Frederic notes that an identification of this person with one of the listed predecessors of Djedmontuiufankh is certain here since this person functioned as a 'scribe of the Treasury'--a state office with which Djedmontuiufankh's family was intimately linked with. However, this Aafenmut was probably Aafenmut I rather than Aafenmut II, Djedmontuiufankh's father, since this person's son could not lived beyond three family generations (under Takelot I, Osorkon II and the High Priest Nimlot C) from the reign of Osorkon I into Year 14 of Takelot II, as the author notes. Frederic also highlights the existence of the funerary stela of a certain Harsiese, son of Merkhonsu, which was found at the Ramesseum
Ramesseum
The Ramesseum is the memorial temple of Pharaoh Ramesses II . It is located in the Theban necropolis in Upper Egypt, across the River Nile from the modern city of Luxor...

 and has been stylistically dated to the 9th Century BC in the period around Takelot I or Osorkon II's reign to support his hypothesis that both Aafenmut I and Merkhonsu were direct ancestors of Djedmontuiufankh.

As an aside, the author believed that Nile Quay Text No.45—which, according to Gerardus Broekman in JEA 88(2002), records either Year 17, 18 or 25 of an anonymous Theban king who ruled after Shoshenq III—may perhaps be ascribed to Takelot III based on the evidence of Papyrus Berlin 3048. Since Year 13 of Takelot III is now attested, it was possible that the Year 14 date in this document also belongs to his reign, rather than Takelot II. However, Frederic Payraudeau has now since changed his views here and instead assigns this papyrus to Takelot II instead based on the mention of a certain Harsiese—designated the fourth prophet of Amun—in this document who is known to have served in office during king Takelot II's reign. This means that Takelot III's highest date is his 13th year. The fact that the chief of the Shamin-Libyans, a Nes-Djehuti, is attested in the same office in both Year 13 of Takelot III and Year 24 of Piye also shows that the interval between these two king's dates was close in time and it is unlikely that Takelot III ruled Egypt for 19 years since his brother Rudamun succeeded him at Thebes and Rudamun, in turn, was succeeded in this city by king Ini who ruled here for at least 5 years before Thebes fell permanently under Kushite control during Piye's reign.

Successor

Takelot III was the husband of Irtiubast who is named "as a King's Daughter on the coffin of their son, Osorkon G." He was ultimately succeeded in power by his younger brother Rudamun
Rudamun
Rudamun was the final pharaoh of the Twenty-third dynasty of Ancient Egypt. His titulary simply reads as Usermaatre Setepenamun, Rudamun Meryamun, and excludes the Si-Ese or Netjer-Heqawaset epithets employed by his father and brother....

, who was another son of Osorkon III rather than by any of his 3 known sons: the Prince/High Priest Osorkon F, a Prince Ihtesamun who is known from the stela of his grandson Ankhfenmut in Croydon Central Library and, finally, the Second Prophet of Amun, Djedptahefankh D who is attested in statue Tübingen 1734 and in stela CG 41006 of his great-granddaughter Nakhtbasteru. This development suggests that Takelot III must have reached an advanced age to have outlived all of his sons since it was unusual for a brother of a king to assume the throne if the king still had a son who was living. Traditional Egyptian custom required that the son of a king directly succeed his father.
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