Kim Steven Bardrum Ryholt (born 19 June 1970) is a professor of

Egyptology Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious p ...

at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia after Uppsala Unive ...

and a specialist on Egyptian history and literature. He is director of the research cente
Canon and Identity Formation in the Earliest Literate Societies
under the University of Copenhagen Programme of Excellence (since 2008) and director of The Papyrus Carlsberg Collection & Project (since 1999).

Research

One of his most significant publications is a 1997 book titled ''The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period c. 1800–1550 B.C.''

Aidan Dodson Aidan Mark Dodson (born 1962) is an English Egyptologist and historian. He has been honorary professor of Egyptology at the University of Bristol since 1 August 2018. Academic career Dodson, born in London on 11 September 1962, studied at Langl ...

, a prominent English Egyptologist, calls Ryholt's book "fundamental" for an understanding of the

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 ...

because it reviews the political history of this period and contains an updated—and more accurate—reconstruction of the Turin Canon since the 1959 publication of

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 ''Royal Canon of Egypt.'' It also contains an extensive catalogue of all the known monuments, inscriptions and seals for the kings of this period. Ryholt is also a specialist on

Demotic Demotic may refer to: * Demotic Greek, the modern vernacular form of the Greek language * Demotic (Egyptian), an ancient Egyptian script and version of the language * Chữ Nôm, the demotic script for writing Vietnamese See also * * Demos (disa ...

papyri and literature and has authored numerous books and articles about this subject. In 2011 he discovered the identity the famous sage king Nechepsos. Since 2013 he directs a project on ancient ink as technology. He has also written a book on antiquities trade with Fredrik Norland Hagen.

Second Intermediate Period

Ryholt's study makes note of numerous recent archaeological finds including the discovery of a new Hyksos king named

Sakir-Har Sakir-Har (also Seker-Har and ''Skr-Hr'') was an Hyksos king of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt, ruling over some part of Lower Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, possibly in the early 16th century BC. Attestation Sakir-Har is attest ...

, the find of a doorjamb at Gebel Antef in the mid-1990s which establishes that Sekhemre Shedtawy Sobekemsaf ( Sobekemsaf II here) was the father of the 17th Dynasty Theban kings Antef VI and Antef VII. He also discusses Ahmose's Unwetterstele document. The book also argues strongly that the Sixteenth dynasty of Egypt was made up of poorly attested Theban kings such as Nebiriau I, Nebiriau II, Seuserenre Bebiankh and Sekhemre Shedwast who are documented in the last surviving page of the Turin Canon rather than minor Hyksos vassal kings in Lower Egypt, as was generally believed. Among the most significant discussions is Ryholt's evidence that

Sekhemre Khutawy Sobekhotep Sekhemre Khutawy Sobekhotep (appears in most sources as Amenemhat Sobekhotep; now believed to be Sobekhotep I; known as Sobekhotep II in older studies) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 13th Dynasty during the Second Intermediate Period, who reigned ...

rather than Ugaf was the first king of Egypt's

13th Dynasty In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octave p ...

, and a discussion of the foreign origins of the Semitic 13th Dynasty king named

Khendjer Userkare Khendjer was the twenty-first pharaoh of the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period.Darrell D. Baker: The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume I - Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300–1069 BC, Stacey In ...

—whose reign lasted a minimum of 4 years and 3 months based on dated workmen's control notes found on stone blocks from his pyramid complex. The most controversial conclusion concerns the identity and dating of 14th Dynasty. Ryholt ''–'' like Manfred Bietak ''–'' argues that it was a forerunner of the 15th Dynasty, but differs in regarding it as contemporary with the 13th Dynasty from the latter's founding around 1800 BC until its collapse in c. 1650/1648 BC. This is contested in review of the book by Daphna Ben Tor and James/Susan Allen. Ryholt's proposal that king Sheshi, 'Ammu Ahotepre and Yakbim Sekhaenre were also rulers of the 14th Dynasty is contradicted by Ben Tor's study of the known strata levels of their seals which, in her view, indicate that they date to the second half of the Hyksos 15th Dynasty and are not contemporary with the 13th dynasty. Sheshi, Yakbim and A'amu are more likely to be Hyksos vassal kings in the Delta. Therefore, not all of Ryholt's conclusions have been accepted by Egyptologists. Ryholt has since suggested that Sheshi, one of the best attested kings of the 14th Dynasty, was contemporary with the early 13th Dynasty on the basis of an archaeological deposit at Uronarti where a seal-impression of this king was found together with impressions of two early 13th dynasty Egyptian kings. However, Ben Tor has posited that the context of Maaibre Sheshi seal is not secure and that it was most likely a New Kingdom seal impression. According to Ben Tor, Reiser reported that "two additional seal fragments among the Uronarti sealings, most probably display Eighteenth Dynasty designs." This would corroborate the occurrence of 18th dynasty intrusions among the bulk of late Middle Kingdom seals at this site. The likelihood of New Kingdom intrusions into the Uronarti context "was confirmed by Yvonne Markowitz," and also "acknowledged by Reisner" notes Ben Tor. Therefore, the Uronarti context is not secure since it bears scarab seals bearing New Kingdom dynasty type which means that the Sheshi seals found there should not be used to date this Asiatic king to the early 13th dynasty. Ben Tor stresses that the use of Second Intermediate Period scarabs for sealing in the Eighteenth Dynasty is attested at Tell el-Dab'a, where a significant number of such examples were recently found in archaeological contexts dating from the reign of

Thutmose III Thutmose III (variously also spelt Tuthmosis or Thothmes), sometimes called Thutmose the Great, was the sixth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Officially, Thutmose III ruled Egypt for almost 54 years and his reign is usually dated from 2 ...

Turin King List

Ryholt is regarded as a major scholar in the study of the Turin King List, having examined the document in person twice; he has published new and better interpretations of this damaged papyrus document in his aforementioned 1997 book and in a ZAS paper titled "The Late Old Kingdom in the Turin King-list and the Identity of Nitocris", and has published a detailed discussion of the nature of the document.Ryholt, Kim. "The Turin King-List." Ägypten und Levante 14, 2004, pp. 135-155. Ryholt reportedly intends to publish his study of the Turin Kinglist in the near future.

Selected publications

* ''The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, c. 1800–1550 B.C.'' (''Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications.'' Vol. 20, ). Copenhagen 1997, . * ''The Story of Petese son of Petetum, and Seventy Other Good and Bad Stories.'' (''The Carlsberg Papyri.'' Vol. 4, = ''Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications.'' Vol. 23, ). Copenhagen 1999, . * ''The Petese Stories II'' (''The Carlsberg Papyri.'' Vol. 6, = ''Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications.'' Vol. 29, ). Copenhagen 2005, . * ''Narrative Literature from the Tebtunis Temple Library'' (''The Carlsberg Papyri.'' Vol. 10, = ''Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications.'' Vol. 35, ). Copenhagen 2012, . * (with T. Christiansen) ''Catalogue of Egyptian Funerary Papyri in Danish Collections'' (''The Carlsberg Papyri.'' Vol. 13, = ''Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications.'' Vol. 41, ). Copenhagen 2016, . * (with F. Hagen) ''The Antiquities Trade in Egypt, 1880s–1930s: The H.O. Lange Papers'' (''Scientia Danica. Series H, Humanistica'', 4, Vol. 8, ). Copenhagen 2016, .

Research

Second Intermediate Period

Turin King List

Selected publications

References

External links