| Merkare | |
|---|---|
| Pharaoh | |
| Reign | unknown duration, some time between 1663 BC and 1649 BC[1] |
| Predecessor | Merkheperre |
| Successor | [name lost] |
| Dynasty | 13th dynasty |
Merkare was anEgyptianpharaoh of the late13th Dynasty of Egypt during theSecond Intermediate Period reigning for a short while, some time between 1663 BC and 1649 BC.[1]
As a pharaoh of the 13th Dynasty, Merkare would have reigned either over Upper Egypt fromThebes or over Middle and Upper Egypt fromMemphis. At the time, the Eastern Nile Delta was under the domination of the14th Dynasty.
According to the egyptologistKim Ryholt, no less than 17 kings of the 13th Dynasty reigned in the short time period from 1663 BC until 1649 BC.[1] Scholars, such asManfred Bietak and Ryholt proposed that this instability is a consequence of a prolongedfamine and perhaps aplague which struck at least the Delta region and lasted until the end of the 13th and14th Dynasty states c. 1650 BC.[1][2] The weakened state of both kingdoms may explain, in part, why they fell rapidly to the emergingHyksos power c. 1650 BC.[1]
Merkare's only attestation is theTurin canon, a king list compiled in the earlyRamesside period.[3] According to the egyptologistKim Ryholt, the canon gives his prenomen on the 8th column, 18th line[1] (Gardiner entry 7.23[4]). The Turin papyrus is damaged on the section covering the late 13th dynasty and Merkare's reign length is lost in a lacuna and also his successor's nomen and prenomen is lost into history.
The exact chronological position of Merkare is not known for certain as the damaged state of the Turin canon only allows for conjectural reconstructions of the late 13th Dynasty. According to Ryholt he was the forty-eighth ruler of the dynasty, while Baker and von Beckerath see him as the forty-seventh.[1][3][5]
| Preceded by | Pharaoh of Egypt Thirteenth Dynasty | Succeeded by lost |
