FragmentaryKingsListFromAbydosTempleOfRamessesII-BritishMuseum-August19-08

The Abydos King List of Ramesses II, also known as the Fragmentary Abydos King List, the Fragmentary Abydos King Table or the Fragmentary Abydos Tablet, is a list of

Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

ian

kings Kings or King's may refer to: *Kings: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations. *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts **The ''Shahnameh'', an 11th-century epic Persia ...

down to Ramesses' own time. Originally located in the temple of

Ramesses II Ramesses II (sometimes written Ramses or Rameses) (; , , ; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was an Pharaoh, Egyptian pharaoh. He was the third ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Nineteenth Dynasty. Along with Thutmose III of th ...

at Abydos in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, it was built in the 13th century BC. The list is similar to the one inscribed in the temple built at the site by Ramesses' father and predecessor,

Seti I Menmaatre Seti I (or Sethos I in Greek language, Greek) was the second pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt during the New Kingdom of Egypt, New Kingdom period, ruling or 1290 BC to 1279 BC. He was the son of Ramesses I and Sitre, and th ...

, but with the addition of Ramesses' own

throne name A regnal name, regnant name, or reign name is the name used by monarchs and popes during their reigns and subsequently, historically. Since ancient times, some monarchs have chosen to use a different name from their original name when they accede ...

and nomen. The list was found by

William John Bankes William John Bankes (11 December 1786 – 15 April 1855) was an English politician, explorer, Egyptologist and adventurer. The second, but first surviving, son of Henry Bankes MP, he was a member of the Bankes family of Dorset and he had Sir Ch ...

in 1818 and the surviving fragments were removed in 1837 by the French consul in Egypt, dismantled and the blocks sold to the British. Severely damaged, it is now on display at the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

.https://www.bmimages.com/preview.asp?image=00032689001 Ramesses' list is in fragments, so that only some of the kings' names survive. Originally, the list was believed to have consisted of four rows of 26

cartouche upalt=A stone face carved with coloured hieroglyphics. Two cartouches - ovoid shapes with hieroglyphics inside - are visible at the bottom., Birth and throne cartouches of Pharaoh KV17.html" ;"title="Seti I, from KV17">Seti I, from KV17 at the ...

s (borders enclosing the name of a king) in each row. The upper three rows would have contained names of the kings (76 ancestors plus Ramesses prenomen and nomen for a total of 78), while the fourth would have row merely repeats Ramesses II's prenomen and nomen. The original top row was lost in antiquity, leaving the current 3 rows with 32 cartouches of different pharaohs surviving. This list omits the names of many earlier pharaohs who were apparently considered illegitimate — those were

Sobekneferu Sobekneferu or Neferusobek () was the first confirmed queen regnant A queen regnant (: queens regnant) is a female monarch, equivalent in rank, title and position to a king. She reigns ''suo jure'' (in her own right) over a realm known ...

, pharaohs of the Ninth Dynasty, pharaohs of the Tenth Dynasty, the

Hyksos The Hyksos (; Egyptian language, Egyptian ''wikt:ḥqꜣ, ḥqꜣ(w)-wikt:ḫꜣst, ḫꜣswt'', Egyptological pronunciation: ''heqau khasut'', "ruler(s) of foreign lands"), in modern Egyptology, are the kings of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt ( ...

, pharaohs of the

Second Intermediate Period The Second Intermediate Period dates from 1700 to 1550 BC. It marks a period when ancient Egypt was divided into smaller dynasties for a second time, between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom. The concept of a Secon ...

Hatshepsut Hatshepsut ( ; BC) was the sixth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, Egypt, ruling first as regent, then as queen regnant from until (Low Chronology) and the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Thutmose II. She was Egypt's second c ...

Akhenaten Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Akhenaton or Echnaton ( ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning 'Effective for the Aten'), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Eig ...

Smenkhkare Smenkhkare (alternatively romanized Smenkhare, Smenkare, or Smenkhkara; meaning "Vigorous is the soul of Re") was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of unknown background who lived and ruled during the Amarna Period of the 18th Dynasty. Smenkhkare was ...

Neferneferuaten Ankhkheperure-Merit-Neferkheperure/Waenre/Aten Neferneferuaten (), or "Neferneferuaten", is the name of a queen regnant ('female pharaoh, king') of ancient Egypt who reigned in her own right near the end of the Amarna Period during the Eightee ...

Tutankhamen Tutankhamun or Tutankhamen, (; ), was an Egyptian pharaoh who ruled during the late Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt. Born Tutankhaten, he instituted the restoration of the traditional polytheistic form of ancient Egyptian religion, undo ...

, and Ay.

The names are listed in reverse chronological order from the upper right to the bottom left, as they were meant to be read.

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Works cited

* {{Commons category, Fragmentary Abydos King List 13th-century BC inscriptions Abydos, Egypt Ancient Egyptian King lists Egyptian inscriptions

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