| Bakenranef | |
|---|---|
| Bocchoris | |
 Apis stela dated to Year 6 of Bakenranef's reign, found in Saqqara. | |
| Pharaoh | |
| Reign | 725–720 BC |
| Predecessor | Tefnakht |
| Successor | None (Egypt united underShebitqo, Upper Kingdom Pharaoh) |
| Father | Tefnakht |
| Dynasty | 24th Dynasty (Western Delta) |
Bakenranef, known by theancient Greeks asBocchoris (Ancient Greek:Βόκχωρις,Bókkhōris;[1]Latin:Bocchoris) orBochchoris (Βόχχωρις,Bókhkhōris;Latin:Bochchoris) was briefly a king of the24th Dynasty of Egypt. Based atSais in the western Delta, he ruledLower Egypt from c. 725 to 720 BC. Though thePtolemaic period Egyptian historianManetho[2] considers him the sole member of the 24th Dynasty, modern scholars include his fatherTefnakht in that dynasty. AlthoughSextus Julius Africanus quotes Manetho as stating that "Bocchoris" ruled for six years, some modern scholars again differ and assign him a shorter reign of only five years, based on evidence from anApis Bull burial stela. It establishes that Bakenranef's reign ended only at the start of his 6th regnal year which, under the Egyptian dating system, means he had a reign of 5 full years. Bakenranef's prenomen or royal name,Wahkare, means "Constant is the Spirit of Re" in Egyptian.[3]
Manetho is the source for two events from Bakenranef's reign. The first is the story that alamb uttered the prophecy thatEgypt would be conquered by theAssyrians, a story later repeated by such classical authors asClaudius Aelianus (De Natura Animalis 12.3). The second was that Bakenranef was captured byShebitqo, a king of the25th Dynasty, who executed Bakenrenef by having him burned alive. AKushite king, Shebitqo extended his rule over the whole of Egypt, which had been split since the21st Dynasty.
Diodorus Siculus, writing about three centuries after Manetho, adds some different details. Diodorus states that although Bakenranef was "contemptible in appearance", he was wiser than his predecessors (1.65). The Egyptians attributed to him alaw concerningcontracts, which provided for a way to dischargedebts where nobond was signed; it was observed down to Diodorus' time (1.79). For this, and other acts, Diodorus included "Bocchoris" as one of the six most important lawgivers of ancient Egypt. For a minor kinglet briefly in control of theNile Delta, this is an unexpectedly prominent ranking: "He was a surprising choice,"Robin Lane Fox observes,[4] "Perhaps some Greeks, unknown to us, had had close dealings with him; from his reign we havescarab-seals bearing his Egyptian name, one of which found its way into a contemporary Greek grave onIschia up near theBay of Naples." Ischia was the earliest of eighth-century BC Greek colonies in Italy.
The Roman historianTacitus mentions that many Greek and Roman writers thought he had a part in the origin of theJewish nation:
Most writers, however, agree in stating that once a disease, which horribly disfigured the body, broke out over Egypt; that king Bocchoris, seeking a remedy, consulted the oracle ofHammon, and was bidden to cleanse his realm, and to convey into some foreign land this race detested by the gods. The people, who had been collected after diligent search, finding themselves left in a desert, sat for the most part in a stupor of grief, till one of the exiles, Moses by name, warned them not to look for any relief from God or man, forsaken as they were of both, but to trust to themselves, taking for their heaven-sent leader that man who should first help them to be quit of their present misery. They agreed, and in utter ignorance began to advance at random. Nothing, however, distressed them so much as the scarcity of water, and they had sunk ready to perish in all directions over the plain, when a herd of wild asses was seen to retire from their pasture to a rock shaded by trees. Moses followed them, and, guided by the appearance of a grassy spot, discovered an abundant spring of water. This furnished relief. After a continuous journey for six days, on the seventh they possessed themselves of a country, from which they expelled the inhabitants, and in which they founded a city and a temple.
— Tacitus,Histories, 5.3
Shebitqo deposed and executed Bakenranef by burning him alive at the stake. This effectively ended the short-lived 24th Dynasty of Egypt as a potential rival to the Nubian 25th Dynasty. Although the Manethonic and classical traditions maintain that it was Shebitqo's invasion which brought Egypt under Kushite rule, the king burning his opponent, Bocchoris-Bakenranef, alive, there is no direct evidence that Shebitqo did slay Bakenranef, and although earlier scholarship generally accepted the tradition, it has recently been treated more sceptically.[5]
King Bakenranef has been credited with initiating aland reform, but the brevity of his reign and the small geographical extent of the area he ruled, together with the indirect character of the historical evidence for it, has cast some doubt upon this.[6] Diodorus credits Bakenranef with abolishingdebt slavery, a claim based upon a now-lost work by the historianHecateus of Abdera. It is possible that Hecateus invented the story in order to support an ideological debate over debt slavery in Greek society.[7]
Despite the importance implied by these writers, few contemporary records of Bakenranef have survived. The chief inscription of his reign concerns the death and burial of anApis bull during Years 5 and 6 of his reign; the remainder are a fewstelae thatAuguste Mariette recovered while excavating theSerapeum of Saqqara. In a tomb inTarquinia in Italy was foundan inscribed vase with his names.
| Preceded by | Pharaoh of Egypt 24th Dynasty | Succeeded by Conquered byShebitqo |
