:''See Amenemhat, for other individuals with this name.'' Seankhibre Ameny Antef Amenemhat VI was an Egyptian

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until th ...

of the early

Thirteenth Dynasty In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the Musical note, note thirteen scale degrees from the root (chord), root of a chord (music), chord and also the interval (music), interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be ...

ruling in the first half of the 18th century BC K.S.B. Ryholt: ''The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, c.1800–1550 BC'', Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications, vol. 20. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 1997
excerpts available online here.
/ref> during a time referred to as the late Middle Kingdom or early

Second Intermediate Period The Second Intermediate Period marks a period when ancient Egypt fell into disarray for a second time, between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom. The concept of a "Second Intermediate Period" was coined in 1942 b ...

, depending on the scholar. Amenemhat VI certainly enjoyed a short reign, estimated at 3 years or shorter. He is attested by a few contemporary artefacts and is listed on two different king lists. He may belong to a larger family of pharaohs including Amenemhat V, Ameny Qemau, Hotepibre Qemau Siharnedjheritef and Iufni.

Attestations

;Historical Amenemhat VI is listed on the

Turin canon The Turin King List, also known as the Turin Royal Canon, is an ancient Egyptian hieratic papyrus thought to date from the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II, now in the Museo Egizio (Egyptian Museum) in Turin. The papyrus is the most extensive list ...

, a king list redacted in the early

Ramesside period The Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XX, alternatively 20th Dynasty or Dynasty 20) is the third and last dynasty of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom period, lasting from 1189 BC to 1077 BC. The 19th and 20th Dynasties furthermore togeth ...

and which serves as the primary historical source regarding the

. In the latest reading of the canon by the Danish Egyptologist

Kim Ryholt Kim Steven Bardrum Ryholt (born 19 June 1970) is a professor of Egyptology at the University of Copenhagen and a specialist on Egyptian history and literature. He is director of the research centeCanon and Identity Formation in the Earliest Litera ...

, Amenemhat VI appears in the 7th column, 10th row under his

prenomen The ''praenomen'' (; plural: ''praenomina'') was a personal name chosen by the parents of a Roman child. It was first bestowed on the ''dies lustricus'' (day of lustration), the eighth day after the birth of a girl, or the ninth day after the birt ...

''Seankhibre''.Darrell D. Baker: The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume I - Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300–1069 BC, Stacey International, , 2008, p. 33–34 This corresponds to the 6th column, 10th row in

Alan Gardiner Sir Alan Henderson Gardiner, (29 March 1879 – 19 December 1963) was an English Egyptologist, linguist, philologist, and independent scholar. He is regarded as one of the premier Egyptologists of the early and mid-20th century. Personal life G ...

's and

Jürgen von Beckerath Jürgen von Beckerath (19 February 1920, Hanover – 26 June 2016, Schlehdorf) was a German Egyptologist. He was a prolific writer who published countless articles in journals such as '' Orientalia'', ''Göttinger Miszellen'' (GM), '' Journal o ...

's reading of the Turin king list.

: ''Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen, Münchner ägyptologische Studien'', Heft 49, Mainz : Philip von Zabern, 1999, , see pp.90–91, king No 7. Amenemhat VI is also mentioned on the Karnak king list, entry 37. ;Archeological Amenemhat VI is attested by a few contemporary artefacts. These include 2 cylinder seals from el-Mahamid el-Qibli in

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancient E ...

, one of which is dedicated to "''

Sobek Sobek (also called Sebek or Sobki, cop, Ⲥⲟⲩⲕ, Souk) was an ancient Egyptian deity with a complex and elastic history and nature. He is associated with the Nile crocodile or the West African crocodile and is represented either in its f ...

Lord of

Sumenu Sumenu or Smenu ( Egyptian: ''S(w)mnw'') was an ancient Egyptian town located in Upper Egypt. It housed the most prominent early- Middle Kingdom sanctuary of the crocodile-god Sobek.Betrò, p. 91 Identification Uncertainties about the exact l ...

''".

William C. Hayes William Christopher Hayes (March 21, 1903 – July 10, 1963) was an American Egyptologist. His main fields of study were history of Egyptian art and translation/interpretation of texts.W. C. Hayes, ''The Scepter of Egypt'', part II, 4th print ...

: ''The Scepter of Egypt: A Background for the Study of the Egyptian Antiquities in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1, From the Earliest Times to the End of the Middle Kingdom'', MET Publications 1978
available online
see p. 342 fig. 226 An offering table bearing Amenemhat VI's cartouche has been discovered in

Karnak The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (, which was originally derived from ar, خورنق ''Khurnaq'' "fortified village"), comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Constru ...

and is now in the

Egyptian Museum The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum or the Cairo Museum, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display a ...

, CG 23040.Ahmed Bey Kamal: ''Tables d'offrandes'', vol. I, Le Caire, 1909
available online
see item 23040 p. 31–37

Auguste Mariette François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette (11 February 182118 January 1881) was a French scholar, archaeologist and Egyptologist, and the founder of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities, the forerunner of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. Early ...

-Bey: ''Karnak. Étude topographique et archéologique avec un appendice comprenant les principaux textes hiéroglyphiques découverts ou recueillis pendant les fouilles exécutées a Karnak'', Leipzig, 1875
available online
see p. 45–46 pl. 9–10. A stele from

Abydos Abydos may refer to: *Abydos, a progressive metal side project of German singer Andy Kuntz *Abydos (Hellespont), an ancient city in Mysia, Asia Minor * Abydos (''Stargate''), name of a fictional planet in the ''Stargate'' science fiction universe ...

mentions an official, Seankhibre-Seneb-Senebefeni, whose name is likely a basilophorous one, dedicated to Seankhibre Amenemhat. An architrave from a private tomb of the necropolis of Heliopolis bears the name Seankhibre within a

cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the f ...

However, recent research indicates that the latter monument may belong to a different king with a similar name,

Seankhibtawy Seankhibra Seankhibtawy Seankhibra is the name of an Ancient Egyptian king of the 11th or more likely the 12th or 13th Dynasty of Egypt, during the Middle Kingdom period. As of 2018, Seankhibtawy Seankhibra is only known from a single architrave found at ...

Chronology

;Relative chronological position The relative chronological position of Amenemhat VI is secured thanks to the Turin canon. His predecessor was a poorly known pharaoh named Iufni and his successor was an equally obscure king,

Semenkare Nebnuni Semenkare Nebnuni (also Nebnun and Nebnennu) is a poorly attested pharaoh of the early 13th Dynasty during the Second Intermediate Period. According to Egyptologists Darrell Baker and Kim Ryholt, Nebnuni was the ninth ruler of the 13th Dynasty.K.S. ...

.Thomas Schneider in Erik Hornung, Rolf Krauss, and David A. Warburton (editors): ''Ancient Egyptian Chronology'', Handbook of Oriental Studies
available online
see p. 176 for the chronology. ;Absolute position and dating The absolute chronological position of Amenemhat VI is less certain owing to uncertainties affecting the earlier kings of the dynasty. According to Kim Ryholt and Darrell Baker, he was the 8th king of the dynasty, whereas Thomas Schneider,

Detlef Franke Detlef Franke (November 24, 1952 in Lüneburg – September 2, 2007) was a German Egyptologist specialist of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. Biography Detlef Franke received his doctorate at the University of Hamburg in 1983 with his thesis "''A ...

and von Beckerath see him as the 7th ruler. The duration of Amenemhat's reign is lost due to the poor state of preservation of the Turin papyrus and only the number of days is readable as '' ..and 23 days''. Ryholt nonetheless assigns him a short reign of 3 years spanning 1788–1785 BC.

Extent of rule

It is unclear whether or not Amenemhat VI reigned over the whole of Egypt. He likely had control over Lower

Nubia Nubia () ( Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sud ...

, which had been conquered by the

12th Dynasty The Twelfth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (Dynasty XII) is considered to be the apex of the Middle Kingdom by Egyptologists. It often is combined with the Eleventh, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth dynasties under the group title, Middle Kingdom. Some ...

and would not be abandoned before at least another 60 years. His control over

Lower Egypt Lower Egypt ( ar, مصر السفلى '; ) is the northernmost region of Egypt, which consists of the fertile Nile Delta between Upper Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, from El Aiyat, south of modern-day Cairo, and Dahshur. Historically, ...

is debated. Ryholt believes that the

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

ite 14th Dynasty was already in existence at the time, forming an independent realm controlling at least the Eastern

Nile Delta The Nile Delta ( ar, دلتا النيل, or simply , is the delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to ...

. While this analysis is accepted by some scholars—among them, Gae Callender, Janine Bourriau and Darrell Baker,Gae Callender: ''The Middle Kingdom Renaissance (c. 2055–1650 BC)'' in Ian Shaw (editor): ''The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt'', Oxford University Press (2004), it is rejected by others including Manfred Bietak, Daphna Ben-Tor and James and Susan Allen who contend that the 14th Dynasty could not have existed before the later king of the 13th Dynasty Sobekhotep IV.Daphna Ben-Tor & James and Susan Allen: ''Seals and Kings'', Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (BASOR) 315, 1999, pp.47-73.

Family

The Egyptologist Kim Ryholt proposes that Amenemhat VI was a member of a larger royal family including pharaohs Sekhemkare Amenemhat V, Ameny Qemau, Hotepibre Qemau Siharnedjheritef and Iufni. He bases this conclusion on the double names borne by these pharaohs, which he believes are

filiative nomina In ancient Egyptian grammar, a ''filiative nomen'' (plural ''filiative nomina'') is a name, typically of a pharaoh, that incorporates the name(s) of the person's father and possibly grandfather. References See also * Nomen (Ancient Egypt) * ...

, i.e. names referring to one's parents. Hence the ''Ameny'' in Ameny Qemau would indicate that he was the son of Amenemhat V, then succeeded by his own son Hotepibre Qemau Siharnedjheritef as shown by the ''Qemau'' in his name. Similarly "Ameny Antef Amenemhat (VI)" would be a triple name meaning "Amenemhat, son of Antef, son of Ameny" possibly because his father was a certain "King's son Antef" attested on scarab seals dated on stylistic ground to the 13th Dynasty and who would himself be a son of Amenemhat V. Amenemhat VI's predecessor Iufni would also be part of this family although his precise relation to the other members cannot be settled due to the lack of material dating to his very short reign. Less than 10 years after Amenemhat VI's reign, a king named Renseneb Amenemhat took the throne. Following the same logic, he would be a son of a king Amenemhat who could possibly be Amenemhat VI or one of the intervening kings. Ryholt's analysis is contested by some Egyptologists as it relies on the unproven assumption that double names are necessarily filiative nomina. For exampleː Julien Siesse: ''La XIIIe dynastie: histoire de la fin du Moyen Empire égyptien. Passé présent''. Sorbonne Université, Paris 2019, ISBN 979-1-023-10567-4, 61-63

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amenemhat VI, Seankhibre 18th-century BC Pharaohs Pharaohs of the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt