Sebkay (alternatively Sebekay or Sebekāi) was an

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 during 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 ...

. For a long time his position created problems and he was most often placed into the 13th Dynasty. However, the discovery of the tomb of a king with the name Senebkay make it very likely that Sebkay is identical with the latter and the writing of the name Sebkay is just a misspelling of the name. Very little is known about him, since his name is attested only on a wooden

birth Tusk Birth tusks (also called magical wands or apotropaic wands) are wands for apotropaic magic (to ward off evil), mainly from the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. They are most often made of hippopotamus ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the t ...

(

wand A wand is a thin, light-weight rod that is held with one hand, and is traditionally made of wood, but may also be made of other materials, such as metal, bone or stone. Long versions of wands are often styled in forms of staves or sceptres, whi ...

) found at Abydos and now in the

Cairo Museum The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, commonly known as the Egyptian Museum (, Egyptian Arabic: ) (also called the Cairo Museum), located in Cairo, Egypt, houses the largest collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world. It houses over 120, ...

(CG 9433 / JE 34988).

Identity

Since the discovery of the wand, several

Egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ) is the scientific study of ancient Egypt. The topics studied include ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end ...

s have tried to identify this king with other rulers of the Second Intermediate Period. Stephen Quirke believed that “Sebkay” was a diminutive for “ Sedjefakare”, which is the throne name of Kay-Amenemhat, while

Jürgen von Beckerath Jürgen von Beckerath (19 February 1920 – 26 June 2016) was a German Egyptology, Egyptologist. He was a prolific writer who published countless articles in journals such as '':fr:Orientalia, Orientalia'', ''Göttinger Miszellen'' (GM), ''Journa ...

considered the name a short form of the '' nomen'' “Sobekhotep” instead.Jürgen von Beckerath, ''Untersuchungen zur politischen Geschichte der Zweiten Zwischenzeit in Ägypten'', Glückstadt, Augustin, 1964, p. 46. Thomas Schneider supports von Beckerath's hypothesis, specifying that the king Sobekhotep likely was Sobekhotep II.Thomas Schneider, in Erik Hornung, Rolf Krauss, and David A. Warburton (eds) ''Ancient Egyptian Chronology'', Brill, Leiden – Boston, 2006, pp. 178-79. A more radical hypothesis came from Kim Ryholt, who suggested the reading “Seb's son Kay”, '' de facto'' splitting the name “Seb-kay” in two different pharaohs and thus filling a gap in the

Turin King List 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 (r. 1279–1213 BC), now in the Museo Egizio (Egyptian Museum) in Turin. The papyrus is the m ...

before Kay-Amenemhat. Furthermore, in this reconstruction the name of the last mentioned king should be considered a

patronymic A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic. Patronymics are used, b ...

too, and must be read “Kay's son Amenemhat”, thus setting a dynastic line consisting of three kings: Seb, his son Kay, and the latter's son Amenemhat. Ryholt's interpretation is considered daring and controversial by some egyptologists. In 2014, at Abydos, a team of archaeologists discovered the tomb of a previously unknown king of the Second Intermediate Period, called Senebkay. It has been suggested that this ruler and Sebkay might be the same person.Finding a Lost Pharaoh
, Archaeology and arts. Retrieved 08 May 2014 Wand Sebkay Daressy

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sebkay 17th-century BC pharaohs Pharaohs of the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt 2nd-millennium BC births 2nd-millennium BC deaths Pharaohs of the Abydos Dynasty