| Sekhemre Wahkhau Rahotep | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Rehotep, Rahotpe, Rehotpe, Sekhem-uah-kha-ra, Sekhemre Wa-ka'u[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![Rahotep (raising arms) while offering to Osiris. Stele BM EA 833, drawn by Wallis Budge.[2]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aRahotep_stele_BM_Budge.png) Rahotep (raising arms) while offering to Osiris. Stele BM EA 833, drawn byWallis Budge.[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pharaoh | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reign | 1580 BC – 1576 BC[3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Successor | Sobekemsaf I orNebmaatre | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Dynasty | 17th Dynasty | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sekhemre Wahkhau Rahotep was anEgyptianpharaoh who reigned during theSecond Intermediate Period, when Egypt was ruled by multiple kings. The EgyptologistsKim Ryholt and Darrell Baker believe that Rahotep was the first king of the17th Dynasty.[1][3]
Rahotep seem to be attested atAbydos andCoptos.
A limestone stele which shows Rahotep making an offering toOsiris for two deceased, an officer and a priest.[5][6] The stela appears to have been made at a workshop at Abydos. Other stelae produced by this workshop belong to kingSekhemrekhutawy Pantjeny and kingWepwawetemsaf. All three kings reigned therefore quite close in time.[7]
Rahotep is known from a stele found atCoptos reporting the restoration of the temple ofMin.[8][9] The stele reads:[10][11]
(year ... under) the Majesty of Horus Wahankh, Two Ladies Weserrenput, Horus of Gold, Wad ... (... Son of) Re Rahotep, given life. His Majesty (said?) to his nobles and the courtiers who were in his following ... the temple ... My Majesty found (concerning) my father (Min), who is at the head of all gods, that his gates and doors had fallen into ruin, (They did obeisance ? before) his Majesty and said: What your ka (commands) shall come to pass, O king, our lord. It is Hu, indeed, who is in your mouth, and Sia (who is in your heart).Ptah-Sokar ... the gods fashioned you ... that you might act for them to found their temples ...You have unitedUpper andLower Egypt. May your heart be joyful upon the Horus-throne of the living ... You are ruling what the sun (encircles) ... the god (...) of the people, the refuge of all...night ... in sleeping ... the gods in seeking what is beneficial to this land. Re has placed you as his image ... what is removed (?)... as it was in the time of your fathers, the kings who followedHorus. Never was ... lost in my time ... which existed formerly. I made monuments for the gods ... wonders, which were brought ...
Rahotep is mentioned on a bow of a king's son Ameny dedicated to "the service of Min in all his feasts" at Coptos.[3][12]
In the Thutmosid Period, he is mentioned in theKarnak King List #48 as "[Sekhem]re Wahkhaure" {[sḫm]-rꜤ wꜢḥ-ḫꜤw}, betweenKhaankhre Sobekhotep andSewahenre Senebmiu.
In the Ramesside Period, he is not mentioned in theTurin King List.
In the lateNew Kingdom taleKhonsuemheb and the Ghost, the protagonist encounters a ghost who claims to have been in life "Overseer of the treasuries of king Rahotep". However, the ghost also claims to have died in regnal Year 14 of a later king Mentuhotep. These statements seem to contradict each other since none of Rahotep's successors namedMentuhotep are known to have reigned for so long, thus making the identification of both these kings problematic.[13]
While Ryholt and Baker propose that Rahotep was the first king of the 17th Dynasty,Jürgen von Beckerath sees him as the second king of that dynasty.[15][16]Alternatively,Claude Vandersleyen has tentatively dated Rahotep to the13th Dynasty on the grounds that he believes Rahotep to be related toSobekemsaf I, which Vandersleyen also dates to the 13th Dynasty because of the quality and number of statues attributable to him.[17] Baker deems these arguments "slim and rejected by most scholars".[1]
If he was indeed a ruler of the early 17th Dynasty, Rahotep would have controlledUpper Egypt as far north asAbydos.[1] According to Ryholt's reconstruction of the Second Intermediate Period, Rahotep's reign would have taken place shortly after the collapse of the16th Dynasty with the conquest of Thebes by theHyksos and their subsequent withdrawal from the region. In the wake of the conflict, the Hyksos would have looted and destroyed temples and palaces.[1] Rahotep consequently "boasts of restorations [he performed] in temples at Abydos andCoptos".[18] In Abydos, he had the enclosure walls of thetemple of Osiris renewed and in Coptos he restored the temple ofMin of which "gates and doors [have] fallen into ruins".[1] This chronology of events is debated and some scholars contest that Thebes was ever conquered by the Hyksos. Rather, they believe the kings of Upper Egypt could have been vassals of the Hyksos.
| Unknown | Pharaoh of Egypt Seventeenth Dynasty | Succeeded by |
