| Psusennes I | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Pasebakhenniut[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Pharaoh | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reign | 1047–998 BC (49 years) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor | Amenemnisu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Successor | Amenemope | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Consort | Mutnodjmet, Wiay | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | Amenemope, Ankhefenmut, Isetemkheb C | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Father | Pinedjem I | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mother | Henuttawy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | c. 998 BC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Burial | NRT III,Tanis | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monuments | Great Temple of Amun, Tanis (now in ruined fragments) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dynasty | 21st Dynasty | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Psusennes I (Ancient Egyptian:pꜣ-sbꜣ-ḫꜥ-n-njwt;Greek Ψουσέννης) was the thirdpharaoh of the21st Dynasty who ruled fromTanis in the Iron Age IB, between c. 1047 and 998 BC.
Psusennes's tomb, discovered in February 1940 by the French EgyptologistPierre Montet,[2] is notable for the condition in which it was found. All previously found pharaonic tombs had beengraverobbed, including the tomb ofTutankhamun, and Psusennes's tomb was the only ancient Egyptian royal tomb discovered in fully intact condition. However, the humid climate of Lower Egypt meant only the metal objects had survived. PharaohAmenemope and GeneralWendjebauendjed were also buried within Psusennes I'sNRT III Tanis tomb while PharaohShoshenq II and two anonymous royal individuals (possiblySiamun andPsusennes II) were reburied in Psusennes I's tomb after their original tombs became inundated with water.
Psusennes is the Greek version of his original namePasibkhanu orPasebakhaenniut (in reconstructed Late Egyptian:/pəsiwʃeʕənneːʔə/), which means "The Star Appearing in the City". His throne name, Akheperre Setepenamun, translates as "Great are the Manifestations of Ra, chosen of Amun."[3]
The reign length of Psusennes I is not certain. Different copies ofManetho's records credit him with a reign of either 41 or 46 years.
Some Egyptologists have proposed raising the 41 year figure by a decade to 51 years to more closely match certain anonymous Year 48 and Year 49 dates in Upper Egypt. in 1992, the German EgyptologistKarl Jansen-Winkeln suggested that all these dates should be attributed to the servingHigh Priest of Amun,Menkheperre instead who is explicitly documented in a Year 48 record.[4] Jansen-Winkeln notes that "in the first half of Dyn. 21, [the] HP Herihor, Pinedjem I and Menkheperre have royal attributes and [royal] titles to differing extents" whereas the first three Tanite kings (Smendes, Amenemnisu and Psusennes I) are almost never referred to by name in Upper Egypt with the exception of one graffito and rock stela for Smendes.[5] In contrast, the name of Psusennes I's Twenty-first Dynasty successors such asAmenemope,Osorkon the Elder, andSiamun appear frequently in various documents from Upper Egypt while the Theban High PriestPinedjem II who was a contemporary of the latter three kings never adopted any royal attributes or titles in his career.[6]
Hence, two separate Year 49 dates from Thebes andKom Ombo[7] could be attributed to the ruling High Priest Menkheperre in Thebes instead of Psusennes I but this remains uncertain. Psusennes I's reign has been estimated at 46 years by the editors of theHandbook to Ancient Egyptian Chronology.[8] Psusennes I must have enjoyed cordial relations with the serving High Priests of Amun in Thebes during his long reign since the High PriestSmendes II donated several grave goods to this king which were found in Psusennes I's tomb.
However, as the EgyptologistAidan Dodson notes in his 2012 book "Afterglow of Empire: Egypt from the Fall of the New Kingdom to the Saite Renaissance":
Moreover,Menkheperre was the brother of king Psusennes I since both of them were sons of the High priestPinedjem I.[10] Therefore, the Year 49 anonymous dates in Upper Egypt almost certainly belong to Psusennes I who worked in close cooperation with his brother Menkheperre who never used a royal name or prenomen in his own monuments. The German Egyptologist Thomas Schneider also assigns Psusennes I a highest date of Year 49 in a 2010 paper on the Chronology of the Egyptian New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period.[11] While Menkheperre certainly ruled Upper Egypt, he granted defacto recognition of Psusennes I's reign from Thebes. The aged Psusennes I could even have reigned into an unattested 50th year.
InPapyrus Brooklyn 16.205, which is dated to Year 4 of an anonymous king and refers back to Year 49 of another king, the latter date must be dated to Psusennes I's reign since only Psusennes I reigned this long. Previously Egyptologists (including Kenneth Kitchen) once speculated in the 1970s that the Year 49 date belonged to the reign ofShoshenq III but this king's highest date was only his Year 39 and it cannot exceed 42 years since his successor,Shoshenq IV ruled Egypt for at least 10 years between the death of Shoshenq III and the accession ofPami...as even Kitchen accepted in the preface to his 1996 book on the Third Intermediate Period.[12] If so, then Year 49 it the highest year attested for Psusennes I.
Psusennes I is best known for a major feat of engineering, moving the city of Pi-Ramesse to Zaon (Greek: Tanis).
During the LBA/IA transition (3.2 ka event, Collapse of the LBA; early 20th dynasty) and Iron IA/IB transition (late 20th Dynasty), the city ofPi-Ramesses on thePelusiac branch of the Nile suffered from climate change as the river had been subject to drought and silted up. This made river transport to the city difficult. At the height of Iron Age IB, Psusennes I thus moved Pi-Ramesses to his new capital at Zaon (Tanis), located on the Tanitic branch of the Nile.
Psusennes was ostensibly the ruler responsible for turning Tanis into a fully-fledged capital city, surrounding its temple with a formidable bricktemenos wall with its sanctuary dedicated to Amun being composed of blocks salvaged from the derelictPi-Ramesses. Many of these blocks were unaltered and kept the name of Pi-Ramesses' builder,Ramesses II, including obelisks still bearing the name of Ramesses II transported from the former capital of Pi-Ramesses to Tanis.[13]
At Tanis, Psusennes I built the enclosure walls and the central part of the Great Temple at Tanis which was dedicated to the triad ofAmun,Mut andKhonsu.[14] The temple was completed bySiamun.
Psusennes I was the son ofPinedjem I andDuathathor-Henuttawy,[15]Ramesses XI's daughter byTentamun. Thus, he was the maternal grandson of Ramesses XI of the 20th Dynasty through his mother.
Only two of Psusennes I's children remain identifiable.[17]
At Tanis, the Tomb of Psusennes I (NRT III) was discovered intact byPierre Montet in 1940.[19] Due to its moistLower Egypt location, most of the perishable wood objects were destroyed by water – a fate not shared byKV62, the tomb ofTutankhamun in the drier climate ofUpper Egypt. In contrast to KV62, Psusennes I's tomb holds the distinction of being the only pharaonic grave ever found unscathed by any tomb robbing attempts.[20] The tomb of Tutankhamun had been robbed twice in antiquity.[21]
In spite of the destruction of wooden artifacts within the tomb due to the moist Nile delta area, the king's magnificent funerary mask was recovered intact; it proved to be made of gold andlapis lazuli and held inlays of black and white glass for the eyes and eyebrows of the object.[22] Psusennes I's mask is considered to be "one of the masterpieces of the treasure[s] of Tanis" and is currently housed in Room 2 of theCairo Museum.[23] It has a maximum width and height of 38 cm and 48 cm respectively.[24] The pharaoh's "fingers and toes had been encased in gold stalls, and he was buried with gold sandals on his feet. The finger stalls are the most elaborate ever found, with sculpted fingernails. Each finger wore an elaborate ring of gold and lapis lazuli or some other semiprecious stone."[25]
Psusennes I's outer and middlesarcophagi had been recycled from previous burials in theValley of the Kings through the state-sanctioned tomb robbing that was common practice in theThird Intermediate Period. Acartouche on the red outer sarcophagus shows that it had originally been made for PharaohMerenptah, the19th Dynasty successor ofRamesses II. Psusennes I, himself, was interred in an "inner silver coffin" which was inlaid with gold.[26] Since "silver was considerably rarer in Egypt than gold," Psusennes I's silver "coffin represents a sumptuous burial of great wealth during Egypt's declining years."[27]
Dr. Douglas Derry, who worked as the head ofCairo University's Anatomy Department, examined the king's remains in 1940 and determined that the king was an old man when he died.[28] Derry noted that Psusennes I's teeth were badly worn and full of cavities, that he had an abscess that left a hole in his palate, and observed that the king suffered from extensive arthritis and was probably crippled by this condition in his final years.[29]
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