Sekhemre Sankhtawy Neferhotep III Iykhernofret was the third or fourth ruler of the Theban 16th Dynasty, reigning after Sobekhotep VIII according to Egyptologists

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 ...

and Darrell Baker.Darrell D. Baker: The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume I - Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300–1069 BC, Stacey International, , 2008, pp. 256-257 He is assigned a reign of 1 year in 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 ...

and is known primarily by a single stela from Thebes.Kim Ryholt, The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period c.1800-1550 B.C, Museum Tusculanum Press, (1997), p.202 In an older study,

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 ...

dated Neferhotep III to the end of the 13th Dynasty.

Extent of rule

In the heavily damaged stela (Cairo JE 59635 G 20799,Pascal Vernus (1982): "La stèle du roi Sekhemsankhtaouyrê Neferhotep Iykhernofret et la domination Hyksôs (stèle Caire JE 59635)", ''ASAE'' 68, pp.129-135. Neferhotep III repeatedly calls Thebes ''"my city"'' and praises himself as ''"the guide of victorious Thebes"''. This emphasis on Thebes is understood by Ryholt as showing that Neferhotep III reigned exclusively over the Theban region. Additionally, Baker points out the total lack of contemporary attestations for kings of the 16th Dynasty (except Bebiankh and

Nebiryraw I Sewadjenre Nebiryraw (also Nebiriau I, Nebiryerawet I) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Theban-based 16th Dynasty, during the Second Intermediate Period. Reign On the Turin Canon he is credited with a 26-year-long reign and was succeeded ...

) outside of a 200 km long stretch of the Nile valley comprising Thebes, from Hu in the north to

Edfu Edfu ( egy, bḥdt, ar, إدفو , ; also spelt Idfu, or in modern French as Edfou) is an Egyptian city, located on the west bank of the Nile River between Esna and Aswan, with a population of approximately sixty thousand people. Edfu is the sit ...

in the south. That Neferhotep III ruled over little more than the Theban region is further strengthened by a stela of Neferhotep's successor

Seankhenre Mentuhotepi Seankhenre Mentuhotepi was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh during the fragmented Second Intermediate Period. According to egyptologists Kim Ryholt and Darrell Baker, he was the fifth king of the 16th Dynasty reigning over the Theban region in Upper ...

where Mentuhotepi states ''"I am the king within Thebes, this is my city"''.

Reign

In his Theban stela, Neferhotep III emphasizes his role as provider of food for his people stating that ''"he who nourishes his city, saving it from famine"''. This, together with his royal name Sekhemre Sanhktawy, ''The might of Ra, who nourishes the Two Lands'' is a strong sign that

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 ...

suffered from famines during the late 16th Dynasty. Another king of the period, Senusret IV, adopted a similar royal name. Neferhotep III got certainly embroiled in a defensive war against the

Hyksos Hyksos (; Egyptian '' ḥqꜣ(w)- ḫꜣswt'', Egyptological pronunciation: ''hekau khasut'', "ruler(s) of foreign lands") is a term which, in modern Egyptology, designates the kings of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt (fl. c. 1650–1550 BC). T ...

15th Dynasty The Fifteenth Dynasty was a foreign dynasty of ancient Egypt. It was founded by Salitis, a Hyksos from West Asia whose people had invaded the country and conquered Lower Egypt. The 15th, 16th, and 17th Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often com ...

, which would ultimately overrun the 16th Dynasty state. Neferhotep praises himself on his stela as ''" He who raises his city, having been sunk through strife with foreigners''". The stela is thought to contain the earliest known mention of the Khepresh crown. Neferhotep is said to be "Adorned with the Khepresh, the living image of Re, lord of terror". For reasons which remain difficult to understand, on the stela Neferhotep III is also referred to by the epithet ''Iykhernofret'' written inside 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 ...

:Ryholt, p.155
<-M18-T28:r-nfr-t:Z2->
After his short reign, he was succeeded by a similarly short lived king

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neferhotep Iii 17th-century BC Pharaohs Pharaohs of the Sixteenth Dynasty of Egypt