Khahotepre Sobekhotep VI (also known as Sobekhotep V) was an
Egyptian king of the
13th Dynasty
In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the Musical note, note thirteen scale degrees from the root (chord), root of a chord (music), chord and also the interval (music), interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be ...
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 by ...
. According to Egyptologist
Kim Ryholt
Kim Steven Bardrum Ryholt (born 19 June 1970) is a professor of Egyptology at the University of Copenhagen and a specialist on Egyptian history and literature. He is director of the research centeCanon and Identity Formation in the Earliest Lite ...
he was the thirty-first pharaoh of the dynasty, while Darrell Baker believes instead that he was its thirtieth ruler.
[K. S. B. Ryholt, ''The political situation in Egypt during the second intermediate period'', c. 1800–1550 B.C. Museum Tusculanum Press, 1997, pp 37, 233][Darrell D. Baker: ''The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume I - Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300–1069 BC'', Stacey International, , 2008] Alternatively,
Jürgen von Beckerath
Jürgen von Beckerath (19 February 1920, Hanover – 26 June 2016, Schlehdorf) was a German Egyptologist. He was a prolific writer who published countless articles in journals such as '' Orientalia'', '' Göttinger Miszellen'' (GM), '' Journal ...
and
Detlef Franke
Detlef Franke (November 24, 1952 in Lüneburg – September 2, 2007) was a German Egyptologist specialist of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt.
Biography
Detlef Franke received his doctorate at the University of Hamburg in 1983 with his thesis "''Alt ...
see him as the twenty-fifth king of the dynasty.
Identity
Until Ryholt's study of the Second Intermediate Period, it was believed that Sobekhotep VI's prenomen was Merhotepre. Reevaluating the archeological evidence, however, Ryholt attributed Merhotepre to Sobekhotep V and Khahotepre to Sobekhotep VI. Because of this change of prenomen, Merhotepre Sobekhotep and Khahotepre Sobekhotep are respectively called Sobekhotep VI and Sobekhotep V in older studies.
Attestations
Khahotepre Sobekhotep VI is listed in the
Turin canon 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, now in the Museo Egizio (Egyptian Museum) in Turin. The papyrus is the most extensive list ...
as the successor of
Sobekhotep IV
Khaneferre Sobekhotep IV was one of the more powerful Egyptian kings of the 13th Dynasty (c. 1803 BC to c. 1649 BC), who reigned at least eight years. His brothers, Neferhotep I and Sihathor, were his predecessors on the throne, the latter having ...
. However, this only occurs because one line is missing within a
lacuna
Lacuna (plural lacunas or lacunae) may refer to:
Related to the meaning "gap"
* Lacuna (manuscripts), a gap in a manuscript, inscription, text, painting, or musical work
** Great Lacuna, a lacuna of eight leaves where there was heroic Old Norse p ...
in the king list, below the line for Sobekhotep IV. This lacuna would have preserved the reign of
Merhotepre Sobekhotep
Merhotepre Sobekhotep (also known as Sobekhotep V; Sobekhotep VI in older studies) was an Egyptian king of the 13th Dynasty during the Second Intermediate Period. According to egyptologist Kim Ryholt he was the thirtieth pharaoh of the dynasty, wh ...
. Khahotepre Sobekhotep VI is credited a reign of 4 years, 8 months and 29 days, which Ryholt dates to 1719-1715 BC.
In spite of this relatively long reign for the period, there are only very few objects directly attesting Sobekhotep VI. There exists a
scarab seal
Scarabs were popular amulets and impression seals in ancient Egypt. They survive in large numbers and, through their inscriptions and typology, are an important source of information for archaeologists and historians of the ancient world. They ...
from
Abydos and a kneeling statuette of the king, possibly from
Kerma
Kerma was the capital city of the Kerma culture, which was located in present-day Sudan at least 5,500 years ago. Kerma is one of the largest archaeological sites in ancient Nubia. It has produced decades of extensive excavations and research, ...
. Items of unknown provenance include 6 scarab seals, a cylinder seal
Cylinder seal of SObekhotep VI
Petrie Museum
The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology in London is part of University College London Museums and Collections. The museum contains over 80,000 objects and ranks among some of the world's leading collections of Egyptian and Sudanese material ...
and a seal impression. Finally, a scarab bearing the prenomen Khahotepre was found in a tomb in Jericho, which could be evidence of trade relations between the 13th dynasty state and the Levant
The Levant () is an approximation, approximate historical geography, historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology an ...
.
Family
Khahotepre Sobekhotep VI's father was perhaps Sobekhotep IV, the best attested king of the entire second intermediate period. This hypothesis is based on an inscription found in the Wadi el-Hudi which attests that Sobekhotep IV had a son called 'Sobekhotep'. If this son is indeed Sobekhotep VI, then his mother would be possibly Tjan, wife of Sobekhotep IV. Sobekhotep VI's queen may have been named Khaenoub (also Khaesnebou) or Nubhotepti.
References
External links
Sobekhotep VI
from Digital Egypt (University College. London)
{{authority control
18th-century BC Pharaohs
Pharaohs of the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt