Seventh Dynasty of Egypt | |||||||||||||
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| c. 2181 BC | |||||||||||||
| Capital | Memphis | ||||||||||||
| Common languages | Egyptian language | ||||||||||||
| Religion | ancient Egyptian religion | ||||||||||||
| Government | Absolute monarchy | ||||||||||||
| Historical era | Bronze Age | ||||||||||||
• Established | c. 2181 BC | ||||||||||||
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TheSeventh Dynasty of Egypt would mark the beginning of theFirst Intermediate Period in the early 22nd century BC but its actual existence is debated. The only historical account on the Seventh Dynasty was inManetho'sAegyptiaca, a history of Egypt written in the 3rd century BC, where the Seventh Dynasty appears essentially as a metaphor forchaos. Since next to nothing is known of this dynasty beyond Manetho's account, Egyptologists such asJürgen von Beckerath andToby Wilkinson have usually considered it to be fictitious.[1][2] In a 2015 re-appraisal of the fall of theOld Kingdom, the Egyptologist Hratch Papazian has proposed that the Seventh Dynasty was real and that it consisted of kings usually attributed to theEighth Dynasty.
Based on the now lost writings ofAfricanus (c. 160–240) andEusebius (c. 260–340), themselves based on the now lost work of the Egyptian priestManetho (3rd century BC), the Byzantine scholarGeorge Syncellus (died after 810) variously assigns to the period after the Sixth dynasty – the Seventh Dynasty – 70 kings in 70 days (Africanus) or 5 kings in 75 days (Eusebius).[3]: 395 According to Manetho, these kings would have ruled inMemphis.[3]: 396 Rather than a historical reality, this rapid succession of kings has long been interpreted as a metaphor for chaos.[3]: 395
Some Egyptologists, such as Papazian (2015),[3]: 395 believe that this interpretation may give undue weight to Manetho's writings, and that it distorts the general scholarly understanding of the end of the Old Kingdom. According to Papazian (2015),[3]: 395 "a re-examination ... of the Seventh Dynasty's existence, remains fully justified" and some of the kings usually attributed to the mid-Eighth Dynasty should instead be understood to belong to the Seventh Dynasty. Being attested by two additional ancient historical sources as well as archeological evidence, theEighth Dynasty is not quite as obscure as the Seventh. As a consequence, some Egyptologists combine the Seventh and Eighth Dynasty into a single line of kings, reigning immediately after the Sixth Dynasty.
The Seventh Dynasty is usually considered fictitious and is thus either ignored altogether by modern scholars or it is combined with the Eighth Dynasty. The Egyptologist Hratch Papazian has proposed in 2015 that a number of rulers usually seen as belonging to the mid-Eighth Dynasty identified by theAbydos King List should be attributed to a Seventh Dynasty:[3]: 416
| Name | Evidence beyond the Abydos king list |
|---|---|
| Djedkare Shemai | — |
| Neferkare Khendu | — |
| Merenhor | — |
| Neferkamin | — |
| Nikare | Possibly attested by a cylinder seal.[4] |
| Neferkare Tereru | — |
| Neferkahor | Attested by a cylinder seal. |
| Neferkare Pepiseneb | Turin Canon gives at least one year.[5] |
| Neferkamin Anu | — |
The system of dynasties devised in the third century B.C. [by Manetho] is not without its problems—for example, the Seventh Dynasty is now recognized as being wholly spurious, while several dynasties are known to have ruled concurrently in different parts of Egypt...
| Preceded by | Dynasty of Egypt c. 2181 BC | Succeeded by |
