Segerseni was an ancient Egyptian or

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 Sudan), or ...

n chieftain of Nubia, likely reigning concurrently with the end of the

11th 11 (eleven) is the natural number following 10 and preceding 12. It is the first repdigit. In English, it is the smallest positive integer whose name has three syllables. Name "Eleven" derives from the Old English ', which is first atteste ...

and beginning of 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 ...

during the early Middle Kingdom.

Attestation

Segerseni is attested by one or two rock inscriptions discovered in Umbarakab (Khor-Dehmit) in Lower Nubia. Segerseni's throne name as given on the inscriptions remains in doubt as it was roughly carved and became badly weathered over time. It could be ''Menkhkare'' or ''

Wadjkare Wadjkare was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Eighth dynasty who reigned c. 2150 BC during the First Intermediate Period. He is considered to be a very obscure figure in Egyptian history.Thomas Schneider: ''Lexikon der Pharaonen''. Albatros, D ...

''. The former is now regarded as more probable.Darrell D. Baker: ''The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume I - Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300–1069 BC'', Stacey International, , 2008, p. 357 One of Segerseni's inscriptions possibly records a war in the unidentified region of ''Persenbet''. Segerseni is not attested on any of the Egyptian king lists.

Biography

Even though Segerseni adopted the titles of an Egyptian pharaoh, there is no evidence of him outside of Nubia. He was thus most likely a

pretender A pretender is someone who claims to be the rightful ruler of a country although not recognized as such by the current government. The term is often used to suggest that a claim is not legitimate.Curley Jr., Walter J. P. ''Monarchs-in-Waiting'' ...

to the Egyptian or Nubian throne headquartered in

Lower Nubia Lower Nubia is the northernmost part of Nubia, roughly contiguous with the modern Lake Nasser, which submerged the historical region in the 1960s with the construction of the Aswan High Dam. Many ancient Lower Nubian monuments, and all its modern p ...

, during a politically troubled period: either at the beginning of the First Intermediate Period, during 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 ...

, or in the time span including the reign of

Mentuhotep IV Nebtawyre Mentuhotep IV was the last king of the 11th Dynasty in the Middle Kingdom. He seems to fit into a 7-year period in the Turin Canon for which there is no recorded king. Family King's Mother Imi In Wadi Hammamat, a rock inscription (Ham ...

of the 11th Dynasty and the early reign of

Amenemhat I :''See Amenemhat, for other individuals with this name.'' Amenemhat I ( Ancient Egyptian: ''Ỉmn-m-hꜣt'' meaning 'Amun is at the forefront'), also known as Amenemhet I, was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the first king of the Twelfth Dynas ...

of the 12th Dynasty. The latter possibility is seen as more probable by Egyptologists. In particular, these two rulers seem to have had problems in being universally recognized as legitimate

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 the ...

s. It is known that Amenemhat I dispatched

Khnumhotep I Khnumhotep I (''ẖnmw-ḥtp, "Khnum is pleased"'') was an ancient Egyptian '' Great Chief of the Oryx nome'' (the 16th nome of Upper Egypt) during the reign of Pharaoh Amenemhat I of the 12th Dynasty, Middle Kingdom (early 20th century BCE). T ...

, the faithful '' Great Chief of the

Oryx nome The Oryx nome ( Egyptian: ''Ma-hedj'') was one of the 42 '' nomoi'' (administrative divisions; Egyptian: ''sepat'') in ancient Egypt. The oryx nome was the 16th nome of Upper Egypt, Wolfram Grajetzki, ''The Middle Kingdom of ancient Egypt: histo ...

'' (the 16th nome of

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 ...

) at Elephantine to Nubia in order to wipe out the last resistance against him there, but it is not known with certainty who was the leader of this resistance. It remains conjectural to posit that it was Segerseni. Furthermore, two other rulers based in Nubia, Iyibkhentre and

Qakare Ini Qakare Ini (also Intef) was an ancient Egyptian or Nubian ruler who most likely reigned at the end of the 11th and beginning of the 12th Dynasty over Lower Nubia. Although he is the best attested Nubian ruler of this time period, nothing is kno ...

are known, likely from the same time period. They were both likely pretenders to the Egyptian throne, and the relationships between them and Segerseni are unknown. If Segerseni was indeed Amenemhat I's foe, he could have been fighting on Mentuhotep IV's side or for his own Nubian realm. Indeed, Nubia had gained its independence during the First Intermediate Period, as indicated by the military campaigns of

Mentuhotep II Mentuhotep II ( egy, Mn- ṯw- ḥtp, meaning " Mentu is satisfied"), also known under his prenomen Nebhepetre ( egy, Nb- ḥpt- Rˁ, meaning "The Lord of the rudder is Ra"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the sixth ruler of the Eleventh D ...

in the region, only 40 years prior to Segerseni's conjectured lifetime.Gae Callender, in: Ian Shaw (edit.), ''Oxford History of Ancient Egypt'', p. 140.

Attestation

Biography

References

Further reading