by
Damien F. Mackey
But, just as I have argued that Moses actually needs to be assigned to
more than the one Old Kingdom dynasty - {I have set him in, all at once,
the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth dynasties} - so too, now, does it seem to me
that Joseph-Imhotep of the Third Dynasty also requires in his portfolio
the inclusion of the First Dynasty.
Introduction
Most recently, I have done for the biblical Joseph, what I had done previously for his compatriot, Moses, that is, I have found for Joseph a combined Old Kingdom and so-called 'Middle' Kingdom location in the history of ancient Egypt:
Joseph like a sub-Pharaoh to Horus Netjerikhet
Joseph, whom I have multi-identified, was basically Khasekhemwy-Imhotep, that is, Imhotep, the famed - and later deified - great Chancellor of Horus Netjerikhet of the Old Kingdom's Third Dynasty, who reigned during a seven-year Famine (Sehel Island Stela). In their 'Middle' Kingdom guises, the pair were the ruler, Mentuhotep Netjerkhedjet, and his Vizier, Bebi.
But, just as I have argued that Moses actually needs to be assigned to more than the one Old Kingdom dynasty - {I have set him in, all at once, the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth dynasties} - so too, now, does it seem to me that Joseph-Imhotep of the Third Dynasty also requires in his portfolio the inclusion of the First Dynasty.
I think that Dr. Donovan Courville may have synchronised, in part - in relation to a severe Famine - Egypt's First and Third dynasties (in The Exodus Problem and its Ramifications, 1971).
What has led me towards embracing this further step is that there is a ruler in Egypt's First Dynasty who well meets my criteria for Joseph's Pharaoh. I refer to Horus Den (c. 3050 - 2995 BC, conventional dating), supposed fourth ruler of that dynasty.
The Criteria
In the above-mentioned article on Joseph, I had suggested the following:
So, these are the main points for which I would be looking in Joseph's Pharaoh:
- Youth, perhaps a prominent mother at first;
- Egypt united, sometimes through warfare;
- A long reign, certainly exceeding 18 years;
- A powerful (sub-Pharaonic) Chancellor;
- Celebration of a Heb Sed festival;
- Centralisation of power greatly strengthening the king's hold on the land.
Now I find some of these marvellously included in the make-up of Horus Den.
To test this, let us follow through Nicolas Grimal's brief account of Horus Den in his book, A History of Ancient Egypt (Blackwell, 1994, pp. 52-53):
The reign of Den (Udimu), the fourth king of the dynasty, appears to have been a glorious and prosperous one. He limited the power of the high court officials, which had previously been allowed to grow dangerously during Merneith's regency at the beginning of his reign.
Immediately we have here a collusion with some major points above: a young king, with a prominent mother (Merneith); apparent long reign (N. Grimal will give this as (p. 53): "Den's reign is estimated to have lasted for about fifty years") that was glorious; with centralisation of power under the king himself.
King Den's proposed alter egos, Horus Netjerikhet and Mentuhotep Netjerkhedjet, are assigned long reigns - no less than 40 years, and, at the other end, 50 plus (p. 157: "Mentuhotpe II died around 2010 BC, after a reign of fifty-one years ...".).
N. Grimal continues with Den (Udimu):
He pursued a vigorous foreign policy, rapidly turning his attention to the Near East with an 'Asiatic' campaign on the first yerar of his reign. He even brought back a harem of fcemale prisoners, an act which was to be copied later by Amenophis III, This military activity, along with an expedition into the Sinai to deal with Bedouin must have influenced his choice of 'Khasty' (meaning 'foreigner' or 'man of the desert') as his nsw-bity (King of Upper and Lower Egypt) name, which was changed to Usaphais in Manetho's Greek version. He was the first Egyptian king to add to his titulature this third name; the nsw-bity title was evidently intended to reflect his active internal policy, including the building of a fortress, celebration of religious ceremonies to the gods Atum and Apis, and a national census (if the Palermos Stone is to be believed).
Den also seems to have purused a policy of conciliation with northern Egypt, which was expressed not only through the name of his wife, Merneith, but also by the creation of the post of 'chancellor of the king of lower Egypt'. The tomb of Hemaka a holder of this office, was discovered at Sakkara It contained a quantity of rich funerary furniture as well as a wooden table bearing the name of Djer whoich may have been record of Den's Sed festival (Horniung and Staehelin 1974: 17). The inscription on this tablet includes the earliest depiction of a mummy, perhaps that of Djer (Vandier 1952: 845-8). This is surprising in view of the fact that there is no other evidence for the practice of mummification until some time later. In the tomb bult by Den at Abydos a granite pavement was found, the first known example of stone-built architecture, which until then had been exclusively of mud brick.
f, as I have set out in various articles, Moses had served in ancient Egypt as a Vizier and Chief Judge during the so-called Fourth and Twelfth dynasties, then it would be fitting if his Hebrew predecessor, Joseph, had served in ancient Egypt during the Third and Eleventh dynasties.
Moses was a high official of Egypt at the apex of its great Pyramid-building age, the Fourth Dynasty. But the Fourth was the same as, so I have argued, the mighty Twelfth Dynasty, also a time of Pyramid and Sphinx building. The Hebrews were heavily involved in these gargantuan building projects.
This was the Oppressor Dynasty of Israel (Exodus).
It must also be merged with the Sixth Dynasty, whose founder, Teti, bears some striking similarites to the founder of the Twelfth Dynasty, Amenemhet, so-called I, he being the "new king who knew not Joseph" (Exodus 1:8).
Moses was the Vizier and Chief Judge, Weni, successively serving Teti (Merenre) and Pepi, as he tells in Weni's famous Autobiography; and Moses was likewise the Vizier and Chief Judge, Menthuhotep, successively serving Amenemhet (= Teti) and the great sphinx-builder, Sesostris (= Pepi).
Like many Old Kingdom architectural achievements, such as the Great Sphinx of Giza, these are also so-called 'Middle' Kingdom achievements. In other words, the enigmatic Sphinx of Giza was built in 'Middle' Kingdom times, which were actually Old Kingdom times.
Joseph
Joseph, whose death is estimated to have occured about 65 years before the birth of his compatriot Moses, belonged to, as has definitely been established by now, Egypt's Third Dynasty.
Joseph was Imhotep, a Vizier and lector-priest of incredible and lasting fame, continuing centuries beyond his time. He was apparently the architect of Egypt's first pyramid, the wondrous Step Pyramid of Saqqara, a material icon - so I believe - of his father Jacob's dream-vision at Bethel of a Stairway to Heaven (Genesis 28:12).
Massive enclosures, serving Egypt as granaries, and dams - most of relatively short duration, use-wise - were built at this time: e.g., Gisr el-Mudir, Shon Yusef, Shunet el-Zebib, etc.
Incredible that Pharaoh Netjerikhet had allowed for - even insisted upon it - such a massive effort in infrastructure in prepartion for a seven-year Famine that Joseph-as-Imhotep had foretold!
A late document (Ptolemaic), the famous Sehel Island Stela (or Famine Stela), tells of such a seven-year Famine and of Netjerikhet's dependence upon the sage advice of Imhotep.
Now, it has been argued that, since there appear to be no actual contemporary references to Imhotep - the one at the base of Netjerikhet's statue being better interpreted as a title, not a name - then Imhotep must have been a later fabrication, perhaps even a Ramesside conspiracy to delete from memory the real Joseph.
I hope that I recently may have solved the problem by identifiying Joseph-Imhotep as Khasekhemui Imhotep (Horus and Nebti names) - thought to be of Egypt's Second dynasty or Third dynasty - accredited with the building of the Shunet el-Zebib great enclosure.
But this now opens the door for some other potentially relevant identifications.
We probably need to run with the suggestion of some Egyptologists that Khasekhemui is the same as Khasekhem, before the unification of Egypt. Khasekhem can now also be the most obscure Sekhemkhet, associated with the unusual Buried Pyramid, situated right next to Netjerikhet's Step Pyramid.
The name Imhotep has been written in a graffito there.
Sekhemkhet also has the name of Djoser, making it likely that he (Joseph/ Imhotep), and not Netjerikhet, was the semi-legendary Djoser/Zoser.
Meanwhile, Khasekhemui also has the alternative name of Bebi, a name that had been associated with the seven-year biblical Famine by Dr. Donovan Courville (The Exodus Problem and its Ramifications, 1971).
And he (also Sekhemkhet) had the name elements, Anhk-ti, which might perhaps enable for a tie-up of Khasekemui again with Joseph through the highly powerful, quasi-pharaonic, Ankhtifi, of long-lasting Famine fame, whom I have already identified as Joseph.
So much for the Third Dynasty, Pharaoh Netjerikhet and Imhotep (Khasekhemwy).
Can any of this lead us also in to the Eleventh Dynasty?
What about Bebi (Khasekhemui again)?
Did not Pharaoh Mentuhotep so-called II have a Vizer named Bebi?
Note on sub pharaohs: Ramses II 'the Great', ruling over the massive kingdom of Egypt and Ethiopia, would appoint as sub-Pharaoh his famous son, the intellectual Khaemwaset.
In my revised chronology, this is the same situation as Shabaka (Ramses again) and Shebitku Khaemwaset (Khaemwaset again), which has caused much chronological mayhem for the conventional chronologists based upon the evidence of the Tang-i Var inscription, which has Shebitku located to a phase of the neo-Assyrian era (Sargon II's) where, supposedly, he ought not have been.
Pharaoh of the Famine
Clearly he was, as has now been established - and as attested by the Famine Stela of Sehel Island - Horus Netjerikhet of the Third Dynasty, wonderfully served by Imhotep/Joseph.
The Famine preparation infrastructure throughout Egypt is there for all to behold and to study.
But what about the king's so-called 'Middle' Kingdom alter ego, which I suspect that he must have had, based on Moses 's belonging to the both the Old Kingdom (Fourth and Sixth) and the 'Middle' Kingdom (Twelfth)?
My research is leading in the direction that Horus Netjerikhet was also the prominent ruler, Mentuhotep so-called II, who had a Vizier called Bebi at the time of a severe Famine, the same Famine as that during which Ankhtifi was so effectively active.
In the Eleventh Dynasty, but construed as during the time of an apparent successor of Mentuhotep II, namely IV of that name, there occurred the "seven empty years" of which the farmer, Heqanakht writes. This could only have been Joseph's Famine. As in the situation of Ankhtifi, people were cannibalising each other due to hunger.
I suspect that the various names Mentuhotep will need to be streamlined as I have found to have been necessary the case of too many kings Amenemhet and Sesostris in the Twelfth Dynasty, and also the need to merge Thutmose III with IV, and Amenhotep II with III, in the Eighteenth Dynasty.
Mentuhotep would take the name, Netjerikhet, which is much like that of our Third Dynasty Famine king.
So I suggest a combined Third/Eleventh dynasty era in the Egypt for the biblical Famine, with Mentuhotep-Netjerikhet as the compliant ruler.
Profile of the Famine Pharaoh
I expect that, when Joseph aged 30 entered the service of the Pharaoh of Egypt (Genesis 41:46), the king was the younger man, only at the very beginning of his reign. From the Palermo Stone it may be deduced that it was in the king's Year 4 when the surveyor's, the Egyptian "rope-stretchers", began making preparations for the massive building program that was about to ensue. Fourteen years later, at the time when the terrible drought had subsided, in Year 18 (Sehel Stela), Egypt was free from the scourge.
Joseph would thus have seemed like a Father to Pharaoh, as Genesis 45:8 in fact calls him. Jacob, when he came to Egypt during the Famine would twice bless the young Pharaoh (47:7, 10).
Under such circumstances, it was traditional that the king's mother took a firm hand for a time.
As apparent from the pharaonic titles, and Joseph's name of Khasekhemwy, Egypt was unified at this time, north and south. Some battles were needed to achieve this.
There was great abundance, followed by a massive Famine during his reign.
The king was a long-reigning one, who attained to a Heb Sed festival in which his Vizier was heavily involved.
He greatly limitefd the power of his officials, centralizing power, and becoming very powerful.
Obviously, the king was a great builder.
So, these are the main points for which I would be looking in Joseph's Pharaoh:
- Youth, perhaps a prominent mother at first;
- Egypt united, sometimes through warfare;
- A long reign, certainly exceeding 18 years;
- A powerful (sub-Pharaonic) Chancellor;
- Celebration of a Heb Sed festival;
- Centralisation of power greatly strenghtening the king's hold on the land.
Some of these are immediately apparent in, now Netjerikhet, now Mentuhotep.
