Masaharta or Masaherta was the

High Priest of Amun The High Priest of Amun or First Prophet of Amun ('' ḥm nṯr tpj n jmn'') was the highest-ranking priest in the priesthood of the ancient Egyptian god Amun. The first high priests of Amun appear in the New Kingdom of Egypt, at the beginning ...

at Thebes between 1054 and 1045 BC.

Biography

His father was

Pinedjem I Pinedjem I was the High Priest of Amun at Thebes in Ancient Egypt from 1070 to 1032 BC and the ''de facto'' ruler of the south of the country from 1054 BC. He was the son of the High Priest Piankh. However, many Egyptologists today believe that t ...

, who was the Theban High Priest of Amun and de facto ruler of Upper Egypt from 1070 BC, then declared himself pharaoh in 1054 BC and Masaharta succeeded him as high priest. His mother was probably

Duathathor-Henuttawy Duathathor-Henuttawy, Henuttawy or Henttawy ''("Adorer of Hathor; Mistress of the Two Lands")'' was an ancient Egyptian princess and later queen. Family Henuttawy is likely to have been the daughter of Ramesses XI, last king of the Twentieth dy ...

, the daughter of

Ramesses XI Menmaatre Ramesses XI (also written Ramses and Rameses) reigned from 1107 BC to 1078 BC or 1077 BC and was the tenth and final pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt and as such, was the last king of the New Kingdom period. He ruled Egypt for ...

, last ruler of the 20th dynasty. His aunt Tentamun, another daughter of Ramesses married Pharaoh

Smendes I Hedjkheperre Setepenre Smendes was the founder of the Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt and succeeded to the throne after burying Ramesses XI in Lower Egypt – territory which he controlled. His Egyptian nomen or birth name was actually Nesban ...

, who ruled Lower Egypt. One of Masaharta's brothers was

Psusennes I Psusennes I ( egy, pꜣ-sbꜣ-ḫꜥ-n-njwt; Greek Ψουσέννης) was the third pharaoh of the 21st Dynasty who ruled from Tanis between 1047 and 1001 BC. ''Psusennes'' is the Greek version of his original name Pasibkhanu or Pasebakhaenniu ...

, who followed Smendes's successor, the short-lived Amenemnisu as pharaoh. His wife is likely to have been the Singer of Amun Tayuheret, whose mummy was found in the Deir el-Bahri cachette. It is possible that he had a daughter called Isetemkheb, since a lady by this name is called the daughter of a high priest on her funerary objects; it is also possible, though, that she was Menkheperre's daughter. The

God's Wife of Amun God's Wife of Amun ( Egyptian: ''ḥm.t nṯr n ỉmn'') was the highest-ranking priestess of the Amun cult, an important religious institution in ancient Egypt. The cult was centered in Thebes in Upper Egypt during the Twenty-fifth and Twent ...

during Masaharta's reign seems to have been his sister Maatkare.

Sources

Several of his inscriptions are known from the

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. Constr ...

temple of

Amenhotep II Amenhotep II (sometimes called ''Amenophis II'' and meaning '' Amun is Satisfied'') was the seventh pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Amenhotep inherited a vast kingdom from his father Thutmose III, and held it by means of a few milit ...

, from ram-headed sphinxes also in Karnak, and a large falcon statue. Masaharta was responsible for the restoration of the mummy of

Amenhotep I Amenhotep I () ( egy, jmn-ḥtp(w) /jaˌmanuwˈħatpaw/ "Amun is satisfied"; Amarna cuneiform ''a-ma-an-ha-at-pe'' or ''-at-pa''), Amenôthes I, or Amenophis I, (,) from Ancient Greek Ἀμένωφις ,Dodson & Hilton (2004) p.126 additionally ...

in the 16th regnal year of Smendes. He is also mentioned in Theban Graffito no. 1572, from a year 16, together with the King's Scribe in the Place of Truth (= Scribe of the Necropolis) Ankhefenamun, the son of King's Scribe Butehamun. His highest attested year is a year 18. It is sometimes derived from the combination of two letters found in

el-Hiba El Hiba (alt. el-Hibeh; Arabic language, Arabic الحيبة ) is the modern name of the Egyptian language, ancient Egyptian city of Tayu-djayet (''t3yw-ḏ3yt''), an ancient nickname meaning "their walls" in reference to the massive enclosure ...

, the first mentioning an untitled Masaharta praying for his health, and the second a letter of thanks to the local god by the High Priest

Menkheperre Menkheperre, son of Pharaoh Pinedjem I by wife Duathathor-Henuttawy (daughter of Ramesses XI by wife Tentamon), was the High Priest of Amun at Thebes in ancient Egypt from 1045 BC to 992 BC and ''de facto'' ruler of the south of the country. ...

, that Masaharta died of illness at el-Hiba around the 24th regnal year of Smendes, but this is no more than an unproven hypothesis. In fact, it has been pointed out that such a scenario ill fits the content of the letters. His mummy was found in the Deir el-Bahri cache along with several family members; it is now in the

Mummification Museum The Mummification Museum is an archaeological museum in Luxor, Upper Egypt. It is dedicated to the art of Ancient Egyptian mummification. Location The museum is located in the city of Luxor, the ancient Thebes. It stands on the corniche in front ...

Luxor Luxor ( ar, الأقصر, al-ʾuqṣur, lit=the palaces) is a modern city in Upper (southern) Egypt which includes the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of ''Thebes''. Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open-a ...

The succession

It is often assumed that he was succeeded as high priest by his brother

Djedkhonsuefankh Djedkhonsuefankh was a High Priest of Amun in Thebes believed to have been in office from 1046–1045 BC. It is often assumed that he was a son of Pinedjem I who succeeded his brother Masaherta during a time of great turmoil in the city of The ...

, who served only for a short time and was followed by another brother,

. However, the position of Djedkhonsuefankh is not beyond dispute. All we actually know of his existence is the bare mention of his name on the coffin of his son (now lost). There it reads, according to Torr: " ..e, son of the first prophet of Amun, Djed-Khons-ef-ankh, son of the Lord of the Two Lands, Pinedjem, Beloved of Amun, first prophet of Amun", with the name Pinedjem enclosed in 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 ...

. Djedkhonsuefankh is supposed to have been succeeded as High Priest by his brother

, which seems to imply that his son " ..e" either predeceased him, was too young to succeed or was simply passed over for other reasons. However, Andrzej Niwiński has suggested that Djedkhonsuefankh was not the son of Pinedjem I, but rather of

Pinedjem II Pinedjem II was a High Priest of Amun at Thebes in Ancient Egypt from 990 BC to 969 BC and was the ''de facto'' ruler of the south of the country. He was married to his full sister Isetemkheb D (both children of Menkheperre, the High Priest of ...

, and as such the great grandson of Pinedjem IAndrzej Niwiński, Three More Remarks in the Discussion of the History of the Twenty-First Dynasty, BES 6 (1984), 81-88 Niwiński identifies him with the main official mentioned with the burials of

Neskhons Neskhons (“She Belongs to Khons”), once more commonly known as “Nsikhonsou”, was a noble lady of the 21st Dynasty of Egypt. Biography She was the daughter of Smendes II and Takhentdjehuti, and wed her paternal uncle, High Priest Pinedj ...

in year 5 of king

Siamun Neterkheperre or Netjerkheperre-Setepenamun Siamun was the sixth pharaoh of Egypt during the Twenty-first Dynasty. He built extensively in Lower Egypt for a king of the Third Intermediate Period and is regarded as one of the most powerful rule ...

and of Pinedjem II in year 10 of the same king. He postulates that

Psusennes II Titkheperure or Tyetkheperre Psusennes II Greek_language.html" "title="/nowiki>Greek language">Greek Ψουσέννης] or Hor-Pasebakhaenniut II gyptian language, Egyptian ''ḥr-p3-sb3-ḫˁỉ--nỉwt'' was the last Pharaoh, king of the ...

(in this model his brother), who probably succeeded his father Pinedjem II as High Priest and succeeded in uniting this title with that of king had Djed-Khons-ef-ankh act as his deputy in Thebes. The title of High Priest on his coffin would then be given posthumously by his son " ..e" Niwiński also points out that theophoric names as Djed-Khons-ef-ankh mainly appear very late in the 21st Dynasty. If we disregard the ephemeral Djedkhonsuefankh, it seems that Masaharta was succeeded by his brother

References

{{authority control Theban High Priests of Amun People of the Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt Ancient Egyptian mummies 11th-century BC clergy