Tefnakht II may have been a native Saite king who ruled Sais

Sais, Egypt

Sais or Sa el-Hagar was an ancient Egyptian town in the Western Nile Delta on the Canopic branch of the Nile. It was the provincial capital of Sap-Meh, the fifth nome of Lower Egypt and became the seat of power during the Twenty-fourth dynasty of Egypt and the Saite Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt ...

 during the 25th Nubian Dynasty of Ancient Egypt

Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt

The twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt, known as the Nubian Dynasty or the Kushite Empire, was the last dynasty of the Third Intermediate Period of Ancient Egypt....

 or merely a local mayor of Sais who was erroneously assigned a kingship by the later kings of the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt

Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt

The Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt was the last native dynasty to rule Egypt before the Persian conquest in 525 BC . The Dynasty's reign The Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt (also written Dynasty XXVI or Dynasty 26) was the last native dynasty to rule Egypt before the Persian conquest in 525 BC...

. Tefnakht II was a separate person from the illustrious Great Chief of the West Tefnakhte

Tefnakhte

Shepsesre Tefnakht , was a prince of Saïs and founder of the relatively short Twenty-fourth dynasty of Egypt who rose to become a Chief of the Ma at his home city. He is thought to have reigned roughly 732 BCE - 725 BCE or 7 years...

, who is mentioned in 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...

's Year 20 Victory Stela and would have ruled part of Lower Egypt

Lower Egypt

Lower Egypt is the northern-most section of Egypt. It refers to the fertile Nile Delta region, which stretches from the area between El-Aiyat and Zawyet Dahshur, south of modern-day Cairo, and the Mediterranean Sea....

 around 685 to 678 BC as a minor Saite king when the Nubian Dynasty still controlled all of Egypt. Tefnakht II appears in Manetho

Manetho

Manetho was an Egyptian historian and priest from Sebennytos who lived during the Ptolemaic era, approximately during the 3rd century BC. Manetho wrote the Aegyptiaca...

's Epitome as a certain Stephinates and is assigned a reign of seven years – a figure which is supported by the discovery of his Year 8 Athens stela. Manetho also writes that he was succeeded by an unknown king named Nekauba

Nekauba

Almost nothing is known of Nekauba or Nechepsos as he is also called except that he is listed as one of the early kings of the 26th Saite Dynasty in Manetho's Epitome and is assigned a reign of six years...

 at Sais. The father of Tefnakht II is unknown and the king may or may not have been a descendant of the last ruling Saite king, Bakenranef

Bakenranef

Bakenranef, known by the ancient Greeks as Bocchoris, was briefly a king of the Twenty-fourth dynasty of Egypt. Based at Sais in the western Delta, he ruled Lower Egypt from c. 725 to 720 BC. Though the Ptolemaic period Egyptian historian Manetho considers him the sole member of the Twenty-fourth...

 who was executed in Year 2 of Shabaka

Shabaka

Shabaka or Shabaka Neferkare, 'Beautiful is the Soul of Re', was a Kushite pharaoh of the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt, between according to Peter Clayton .-Family:...

. According to Sextus Africanus's version of Manetho's Epitome, the 26th Dynasty comprised nine kings which began with a Stephinates and ended with a Psammetichus (i.e., Psamtik III). Africanus copy of Manetho's Epitome also accurately records Psamtik I's reign of the 26th Dynasty as being 54 years and Apries

Apries

Apries is the name by which Herodotus and Diodorus designate Wahibre Haaibre, Ουαφρης , a pharaoh of Egypt , the fourth king of the Twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt. He was equated with the Waphres of Manetho, who correctly records that he reigned for 19 years...

's reign at 19 years. Consequently, it appears that Manetho regarded Tefnakht II to be the founder of the 26th Dynasty of Sais.

Karl-Heinz Priese noted in a 1970 article that there was no compelling reason to identify this king with the more famous Tefnakht—Piye's chief rival in Lower Egypt—aside from the similarity of their names. The earlier Tefnakht is only attested as a "Chief of the West", rather than an actual king of Sais. More significantly, however, a recent 2002 CRAIBL article by Olivier Perdu publishes a newly discovered Year 2 donation stela discovered near Sebennytos

Sebennytos

Sebennytos or Sebennytus or Egyptian: Tjebnutjer Arabic: سمنود Samannud was an ancient city of Lower Egypt, located on the Damietta branch of the Nile in the delta...

 which dates to Necho I

Necho I

Necho I was the prince or governor of the Egyptian city of Sais. He was the first attested local Saite king of the twenty-sixth dynasty of Egypt who reigned for 8 years, according to Manetho's Epitome. Egypt was reunified by his son, Psamtik I...

's reign. Perdu reveals that it is close in style, form and content with the Year 8 donation stela of Shepsesre Tefnakht. Perdu suggested that these two Saite kings were close contemporaries. Hence, Shepsesre Tefnakht would rather be a 7th century BC king who ruled Sais around the same time as king Necho I (672-664 BC) and likely ruled Sais around 685 BC-678 BC. He would then be succeeded by an unknown Nekauba

Nekauba

Almost nothing is known of Nekauba or Nechepsos as he is also called except that he is listed as one of the early kings of the 26th Saite Dynasty in Manetho's Epitome and is assigned a reign of six years...

 who was, in turn, succeeded by the well-documented Necho I, father of Psamtik I.

However, Perdu's arguments are not accepted by many Egyptologists who note that his epigraphic criteria here—such as the use of the tripartite wig, the slender figure of the king and the method through which the falcon-headed god keeps his head upright in stelas and temple wall reliefs contemporary with Tefnakht I's time—appear in use already in the early 25th Nubian dynasty during Piye's or Shabaka's reign and even in the Year 38 Shoshenq V

Shoshenq V

Shoshenq V was the final king of the Twenty-second dynasty of Egypt of Meshwesh Libyans which controlled Lower Egypt. He was the son of Pami according to a Year 11 Serapeum stela from his reign. His prenomen or throne name, Akheperre, means "Great is the Soul of Re."The burial of two Apis Bulls is...

 donation stela of Tefnakht, Chief of the Ma made by Tefnakht I, who was Piye's rival. Moreover, for Tefnakht II to have begun a native line of kings of Sais in the 680s BC, there must have been a political vacuum in Upper Egypt

Upper Egypt

Upper Egypt is the strip of land, on both sides of the Nile valley, that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan north to the area between El-Ayait and Zawyet Dahshur . The northern section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Sohag is sometimes known as Middle Egypt...

 but Taharqa

Taharqa

Taharqa was a pharaoh of the Ancient Egyptian 25th dynasty and king of the Kingdom of Kush, which was located in Northern Sudan.Taharqa was the son of Piye, the Nubian king of Napata who had first conquered Egypt. Taharqa was also the cousin and successor of Shebitku. The successful campaigns of...

exercised firm control over this region until his setbacks against the Assyrians in 671 BC. Consequently, the conventional view that Shepsesre Tefnakht should probably be identified with Tefnakht I rather than a hypothethical Tefnakht II remains valid.