| Snaaib | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Senaaib, Sena'aib, Sennaib, Snaiib | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Stele of Snaaib, on display at theEgyptian Museum,Cairo | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pharaoh | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reign | Uncertain, 17th century BCE | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Dynasty | possibly theAbydos Dynasty or near the end of the13th Dynasty[1] or late16th dynasty[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Menkhaure Snaaib was anEgyptianpharaoh during theSecond Intermediate Period between theMiddle Kingdom andNew Kingdom at the end of theMiddle Bronze Age.
InAbydos (Kom es-Sultan) a stela dedicated to the worship of the god Min-Horus-nakht dating to the reign of Snaaib was found.[3][4] It is a paintedlimestonestele "of exceptionally crude quality".[5] The stele gives the nomen, prenomen, and Horus names of the king. It also shows him wearing theKhepresh crown and adoring the godMin. The stele is the earliest known depiction of theKhepresh being worn.[6][5]
Another ruler wearing the Khepresh Crown during this period wasNeferhotep III.
According to EgyptologistsKim Ryholt and Darrell Baker he was a king of theAbydos Dynasty, although they leave his position within the dynasty undetermined.[6][5] Alternatively,Jürgen von Beckerath sees Snaaib as a king reigning near the end of the13th Dynasty.[7][8][9]
In his study of the Second Intermediate Period, Ryholt elaborates on the idea originally proposed byDetlef Franke that following the collapse of the 13th Dynasty with the conquest ofMemphis by theHyksos, an independent kingdom centered on Abydos arose in Middle Egypt.[10] TheAbydos Dynasty thus designates a group of local kinglets reigning for a short time in central Egypt. Ryholt notes that Snaaib is only attested by his stele fromAbydos and may thus belong to this dynasty.[5] This conclusion is shared by Darrell Baker but not by von Beckerath, who places Snaaib near the end of the 13th Dynasty.[9]
