Smendes II was a

High Priest of Amun The High Priest of Amun or First Prophet of Amun ('' ḥm nṯr tpj n jmn'') was the highest-ranking priest in the priesthood of the ancient Egyptian god Amun. The first high priests of Amun appear in the New Kingdom of Egypt, at the beginnin ...

at Thebes in

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 ...

. He briefly governed from around 992 to 990 BC., p.207

Biography

The name ''Smendes'' is a

hellenization Hellenization or Hellenification is the adoption of Greek culture, religion, language, and identity by non-Greeks. In the ancient period, colonisation often led to the Hellenisation of indigenous people in the Hellenistic period, many of the ...

of the Egyptian name ''Nesbanebdjed'' (''"He of the ram, lord of

Mendes Mendes (, ''Genitive case, gen''.: ), the Greek language, Greek name of the ancient Egyptian city of Djedet, also known in ancient Egypt as Per (hieroglyph), Per-Banebdjedet ("The Domain of the Ram Lord of Djedet") and Anpet, is known today as Te ...

"''), while the ordinal number distinguishes him from the founder of the 21st Dynasty

Smendes I Hedjkheperre Setepenre Smendes was the founder of the Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt and succeeded to the throne after burying Ramesses XI in Lower Egypt – territory which he controlled. His Egyptian nomen or birth name was actually Nesban ...

, and from the later, namesake High Priest of Amun, Smendes III. Smendes was one of the sons of High Priest

Menkheperre Menkheperre, son of Pinedjem I by wife Duathathor-Henuttawy (daughter of Ramesses XI by wife Tentamon), was the High Priest of Amun at Thebes in ancient Egypt from 1045 BC to 992 BC and ''de facto'' ruler of the south of the country., p.207 ...

and Princess Isetemkheb, the daughter of

Psusennes I Psusennes I (; Greek Ψουσέννης) was the third pharaoh of the 21st Dynasty who ruled from Tanis between 1047 and 1001 BC. ''Psusennes'' is the Greek version of his original name Pasibkhanu or Pasebakhaenniut (in reconstructed Late Egypti ...

.Dodson & Hilton, pp.200-201 He married his sister

Henuttawy C Henuttawy or Henettawy, was an ancient Egyptian princess and priestess during the 21st Dynasty. Biography Henuttawy was probably a daughter of the Theban High Priest of Amun Menkheperre and of Isetemkheb C, herself daughter of pharaoh Psusen ...

and had a daughter, Isetemkheb E; another wife, Takhentdjehuti bore him

Neskhons Neskhons (“She Belongs to Khonsu, Khons”), once more commonly known as Nsikhonsou, was a noble lady of the Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt, 21st Dynasty of Egypt. Biography She was the daughter of Smendes II and Takhentdjehuti, and wed her pa ...

, who would be the wife of his brother and successor

Pinedjem II Pinedjem II was a High Priest of Amun at Thebes in Ancient Egypt from 990 BC to 969 BC and was the ''de facto'' ruler of the south of the country. Life He was married to his full sister Isetemkheb D (both children of Menkheperre, the High ...

. His pontificate was short and left few traces, missing, for instance from the annals of Egyptian historian

Manetho Manetho (; ''Manéthōn'', ''gen''.: Μανέθωνος, ''fl''. 290–260 BCE) was an Egyptian priest of the Ptolemaic Kingdom who lived in the early third century BCE, at the very beginning of the Hellenistic period. Little is certain about his ...

. He is mentioned on an inscription in

Karnak The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (), comprises a vast mix of temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construction at the complex began during the reign of Senusret I (reigned 1971–1926 BC) in the ...

, on mummy bandages and on a few bracelets found on the mummy of Psusennes I. Two extra objects bear the name of a ''High Priest of Amun Smendes'' but it is not possible to determine if these refer to Smendes II or the later Smendes III: these are a scribe's palette now at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

(47.123a–g), and a

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

kneeling statuette exhibited at the Musée royal de Mariemont (ref. B242).Claire Derriks, ''Choix d'œuvres 50'', Égypte. Mariemont, 1990, n.26 He was succeeded by his brother

References

Theban high priests of Amun People of the Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt 10th-century BC clergy {{AncientEgypt-bio-stub