Yanassi (also Yanassy and Yansas-aden, possibly reflecting the

West Semitic The West Semitic languages are a proposed major sub-grouping of ancient Semitic languages. The term was first coined in 1883 by Fritz Hommel.Hyksos prince, and possibly king, of the Fifteenth Dynasty. He was the eldest son of the pharaoh Khyan, and possibly the crown prince, designated to be Khyan's successor. He may have succeeded his father, thereby giving rise to the mention of a king "Iannas" in

Manetho Manetho (; grc-koi, Μανέθων ''Manéthōn'', ''gen''.: Μανέθωνος) is believed to have been an Egyptian priest from Sebennytos ( cop, Ϫⲉⲙⲛⲟⲩϯ, translit=Čemnouti) who lived in the Ptolemaic Kingdom in the early third ...

's ''Aegyptiaca'', who, improbably, was said to have ruled after the pharaoh Apophis. Alternatively, the Egyptologist Kim Ryholt has proposed that Khyan was succeeded ''by'' Apophis, and because Yanassi was Khyan's eldest son, Ryholt proposed that Apophis was an usurper. This opinion has been rejected as mere speculation by scholars including David Aston Archaeological discoveries in the 2010s show that Khyan's rule may have to be pushed further back in time, creating the need and time for one or more kings to reign between Khyan and Apophis. In addition, the Turin canon, an exhaustive list of kings written during the reign of Ramses II, can be interpreted to have credited more than 10 years of reign to a king ruling before Apophis and after Khyan, possibly Yanassi, if he was indeed Apophis' immediate predecessor.

Attestations

In spite of his status as the royal son of the long-reigning Khyan, Yanassi is attested only by a damaged stela (Cairo TD-8422 76 found at Tell el-Dab'a, the site of the ancient Hyksos capital,

Avaris Avaris (; Egyptian: ḥw.t wꜥr.t, sometimes ''hut-waret''; grc, Αὔαρις, Auaris; el, Άβαρις, Ávaris; ar, حوّارة, Hawwara) was the Hyksos capital of Egypt located at the modern site of Tell el-Dab'a in the northeastern r ...

. On the stela – which was probably dedicated to the god ''

Seth Seth,; el, Σήθ ''Sḗth''; ; "placed", "appointed") in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mandaeism, and Sethianism, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, their only other child mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible. A ...

, lord of Avaris'' – he is called the ''eldest king's son'' of Khyan. If Yanassi indeed became king, he might have ruled between Khyan and Apophis. On the Turin canon, the entry before that attributed to Apophis, on column 10 line 26, is damaged, such that the name of the king is lost, and his reign length is only partial, it may be read as 10, 20, or 30 plus a certain number of years. A further, though non-contemporary, attestation of Yanassi may be found in Josephus' polemic, ''

Contra Apionem ''Against Apion'' ( el, Φλαΐου Ἰωσήπου περὶ ἀρχαιότητος Ἰουδαίων λόγος α and ; Latin ''Contra Apionem'' or ''In Apionem'') is a polemical work written by Flavius Josephus as a defense of Judaism as ...

'' where Josephus claims to directly quote the ''Aegyptiaca'' (Αἰγυπτιακά) of Manetho, which would have been written in the 3rd century BC during the reign of

Ptolemy II ; egy, Userkanaenre Meryamun Clayton (2006) p. 208 , predecessor = Ptolemy I , successor = Ptolemy III , horus = ''ḥwnw-ḳni'Khunuqeni''The brave youth , nebty = ''wr-pḥtj'Urpekhti''Great of strength , gol ...

(283 – 246 BC) by the Egyptian priest Manetho. No copies of the ''Aegyptiaca'' have survived since antiquity, and it is now known only through later quotations by Sextus Julius Africanus, Josephus and Eusebius. According to Josephus, Manetho's reconstruction of the Fifteenth Dynasty's succession was Salitis, Bnon, Apachnan, Iannas, Archles/Assis, and Apophis. Apachnan is generally understood to be the Hellenized name of Khyan, while Iannas ( grc, Iαννας) would best be understood as a corruption of that of Yanassi, confirming that he ascended the Hyksos throne. Josephus further reports that Manetho credited Iannas with an improbably long reign of 50 years and one month. In any case, this means that Manetho must have considered Yanassi a king. Until the 2010's, this idea was rejected by the scholarly consensus in Egyptology, which considered Apophis as Khyan's direct successor, as proposed by Ryholt. In this understanding, it appeared more likely that, in a Manethonian passage mentioning both Iannas/Yanassi and Khyan, Josephus erroneously chose the former instead of the latter. This view was challenged by archaeological discoveries which implied that Khyan may have reigned up to 80 years earlier than thought hitherto, necessitating for one or more kings to reign between him and Apophis.

References

Bibliography

: : : : 17th-century BC Pharaohs 16th-century BC Pharaohs Pharaohs of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt Amorite kings Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown People of the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt Heirs to the ancient Egyptian throne {{AncientEgypt-bio-stub