Several fragments belonging to the Annals of Amenemhat II are known from Memphis in Egypt. They are an important historical document for the reign of the

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 king Amenemhat II (about 1929–1895 BC), but also for the history of Ancient Egypt and understanding kingship in general.

Discovery

The first fragment of these annals was found in 1908 at Memphis, by excavations under

Flinders Petrie Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Sir Flinders Petrie, was an English people, English Egyptology, Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. ...

. The fragment was published in 1909. A second and much bigger fragment was discovered by Gerhard Haeny and raised in 1974 by Sami Farag, who was at this time director for Egyptian antiquities in Memphis and

Saqqara Saqqara ( : saqqāra ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is an Egyptian village in the markaz (county) of Badrashin in the Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for ...

. It was found under the base of a colossal statue of king

Ramses 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 ...

and was used there as supporting stone. The latter fragment is high, wide and about thick. The fragment contains the remains of 41 columns describing events in the reign of king Amenemhat II. A high number of these ''events'' are reports of offerings made to different deities and temples all around the country.

Foreign relations

There are also accounts of military enterprises. In column 7 there is mentioned the sending of a mission to the

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

region. In the following column there is a report of another mission to Asia ''for destroying Iuaa''. In column 9/10 appears a report of the coming of people from

Kush KUSH 1600 AM is a radio station licensed to Cushing, Oklahoma. The station broadcasts a Full service format, consisting of local and national talk, sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, tha ...

(

Nubia Nubia (, Nobiin language, Nobiin: , ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the confluence of the Blue Nile, Blue and White Nile, White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), and the Cataracts of the Nile, first cataract ...

) and Ubatsepet. The latter place is otherwise only rarely attested but might be south of Nubia. The people brought tributes, such as plants, incense, gold, weapons, but also head rests and even wigs. In column 12 is mentioned the coming of the ''children of the ruler'' from Asia. They bring tributes to Egypt. ''Children of the ruler'' does not necessarily mean that the actual children of the local ruler came, but in a wider context, can signify the ''people'' of a ruler. Column 18 reports the destruction of the Asian towns Iuai and Iasy and the bringing of 1554 prisoners to Egypt. Then, in column 25 is mentioned that the prisoners were placed in the pyramid town Sekhem-Amenemhat (perhaps the name of Amenemhat II's pyramid town), most likely for building the White Pyramid.

Expeditions to the Sinai

Column 13/14 reports the return of an expedition from the Sinai. The main material brought back was

turquoise Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrous phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula . It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gemstone for millennia due to its hue. The robi ...

, but also other minerals (most of the Egyptian words in the text are not yet identified) and

petrified wood Petrified wood (from Ancient Greek meaning 'rock' or 'stone'; literally 'wood turned into stone'), is the name given to a special type of ''fossilized wood'', the fossilized remains of terrestrial plant, terrestrial vegetation. ''Petrifaction ...

. There are several expeditions to the Sinai known, that date under Amenemhat II. For several reasons it seems most likely that the text refers to the one datable to year 29 of the king, providing a rough timeframe for the events mentioned on this fragment of the stone. In column 23 there is a report of the king being in Fayum for catching birds. This is almost the only time that the king appears in the text as the main person acting. The catching of birds has most likely a ritual function. The dating of the annals within the reign of king Amenemhat II is uncertain. There is no year dating within the preserved texts. There are otherwise only a few indications. In column 10 appears the statue of the ''overseer of marshland dwellers'' Ameny. This person is also known from a rock inscription in Southern Egypt, dated to year 43 of

Senusret I Senusret I (Egyptian language, Middle Egyptian: wikt:z-n-wsrt, z-n-wsrt; /suʀ nij ˈwas.ɾiʔ/) also anglicized as Sesostris I and Senwosret I, was the second pharaoh of the Twelfth dynasty of Egypt, Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1971 ...

. On the fragment found by Petrie appears a statue of the

vizier A vizier (; ; ) is a high-ranking political advisor or Minister (government), minister in the Near East. The Abbasids, Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was at first merely a help ...

Ameny. Until year 8 of Amenemhat II, the vizier Senusret was in office. Therefore, this part of the inscription must relate to events after year 8, as the vizier Ameny must have been in office after year 8. On the other side there are events mentioned that might relate to the

Sed festival The Sed festival (''ḥb-sd'', Egyptian language#Egyptological pronunciation, conventional pronunciation ; also known as Heb Sed or Feast of the Tail) was an ancient Egyptian ceremony that celebrated the continued rule of a pharaoh. The name is ...

of the king, that happened around year 30 of the king's reign. It is not known where these annals were once placed. It seems possible that they once decorated the funerary temple of Amenemhat II at his pyramid at

Dahshur DahshurAlso transliterated ''Dahshour'' (in English often called ''Dashur''; ' ) is an ancient Egyptian pyramid complex and necropolis and shares the name of the nearby village of Manshiyyat Dahshur () in markaz Badrashin, Giza Governorate, Giza ...

Foreign locations

In the text there are mentioned several foreign locations; many of them are not known from other sources and are therefore hard to identify.

Hartwig Altenmüller Hartwig Altenmüller Hamburg University biography (in German) (born 1938, in Saulgau, Württemberg, Germany) is a German Egyptologist. He became professor at the Archaeological Institute of the University of Hamburg in 1971. He worked as an arc ...

who published a full study of the text follows

Wolfgang Helck Hans Wolfgang Helck (16 September 1914 – 27 August 1993) was a German Egyptologist, considered one of the most important Egyptologists of the 20th century. From 1956 until his retirement in 1979 he was a professor at the University of Hamburg. ...

who identifies Iasy with Alasia (

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

) and Iuai with Ura in modern Turkey. If these identifications are correct they testify to Egyptian military enterprise much farther away than previously thought.Altenmüller: ''Zwei Annalenfragmente'', 297-306

References

Literature

* Hartwig Altenmüller and A. M. Moussa, "Die Inschrift Amenemhets II. aus dem Ptah-Tempel von Memphis, ein Vorbericht," Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur 18 (1991): 1–48 * Ezra Marcus, "Amenemhet II and the Sea: Maritime Aspects of the Mit Rahina (Memphis) Inscription," Egypt and the Levant 17 (2007): 137–190

External links

Annals of Amenemhat II
comments

nnals of Amenemhat II] (the fragment found by Petrie) Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt