| Meruserre Yaqub-Har | |
|---|---|
| Yakubher, Yakubhar, Yak-Baal | |
 Drawing of a scarab of Yaqub-Har byFlinders Petrie | |
| Pharaoh | |
| Reign | 17th or 16th century BCE |
| Dynasty | 14th dynasty or15th dynasty, possibly a vassal of the Hyksos king, highly uncertain |
Meruserre Yaqub-Har (other spelling:Yakubher, also known asYak-Baal[1]) was apharaoh ofEgypt during the 17th or 16th century BCE. As he reigned during Egypt's fragmentedSecond Intermediate Period, it is difficult to date his reign precisely, and even the dynasty to which he belonged is uncertain.
Yaqub-Har is attested by no less than 27 scarab seals. Three are fromCanaan, four from Egypt, one fromNubia and the remaining 19 are of unknown provenance.[2] The wide geographic repartition of these scarabs indicate the existence of trade relations among theNile Delta, Canaan, and Nubia during the Second Intermediate Period.[2]
Ryholt points to a scarab seal of Yaqub-Har which was discovered during excavations inTel Shikmona in modern-dayIsrael. The archaeological context of the seal was dated to theMB IIB period (Middle Bronze Age 1750 BC-1650 BC), which means that Yaqub-Har predated the 15th Dynasty.[3][4]
The dynasty to which Yaqub-Har belongs is debated, with Yaqub-Har being seen variously as a 14th Dynasty king, an earlyHyksos ruler of the 15th Dynasty or a vassal of the Hyksos kings.
The14th Dynasty of Egypt has ruled the eastern Delta region just prior to the arrival of the Hyksos in Egypt. The Danish specialistKim Ryholt has suggested that Yaqub-Har was a king of the late 14th Dynasty and the last one of this dynasty to be known from contemporary attestations.[5] Since the name "Yaqub-Har" may have aWest Semitic origin, meaning "Protected byHar", Yaqub-Har would then be a 14th Dynasty ruler.[6] Ryholt's argument is based on the observation that while earlyHyksos kings of the 15th Dynasty, such asSakir-Har, used the titleHeka-Khawaset, later Hyksos rulers adopted the traditional Egyptian royal titulary. This change happened underKhyan, who ruled as theHeka-Khawaset early in his reign, but later adopted the Egyptian prenomenSeuserenre. Later Hyksos kings, such asApophis, abandoned theHeka-Khawaset title and retained instead the customary Egyptian prenomen, just like the kings of the 14th Dynasty. Ryholt then notes that Yaqub-Har himself always used aprenomen,Meruserre, which suggests that he either ruled at the end of the 15th Dynasty or was a member of the 14th Dynasty. Since the end of the 15th Dynasty is known not to have included a ruler by the name of Meruserre, Ryholt concludes that Yaqub-Har was a 14th Dynasty ruler.[4]
On the other hand, Daphna Ben-Tor and Suzanne Allen note that Yaqub-Har's scarab seals are stylistically almost identical with those of the well-attested Hyksos kingKhyan.[7] This suggests that Yaqub-Har was either Khyan's immediate15th Dynasty successor or a vassal of the Hyksos king who ruled a part of the Egyptian Delta under Khyan's authority. As Ben-Tor writes, "Supporting evidence for the Fifteenth Dynasty affiliation of King Yaqubhar is provided by the close stylistic similarity between his scarabs and the scarabs of KingKhayan".[8] Additionally, the form of thewsr-sign used in these kings' royal prenomina "argue for a chronological proximity [between Yaqub-Har and Khyan] and against Ryholt's assigning of Yaqub-Har to the Fourteenth Dynasty and Khayan to the Fifteenth Dynasty."[8]
InExodus Decoded, filmmakerSimcha Jacobovici suggested that Yaqub-Har was the PatriarchJacob, on the basis of asignet ring found in the Hyksos capitalAvaris that read "Yakov/Yakub" (from Yaqub-her), similar to the Hebrew name of the Biblical patriarch Jacob (Ya'aqov). Jacobovici ignores the fact that Yaqub-Har is a well-attested pharaoh of theSecond Intermediate Period; and Yakov and its variants are commonSemitic names from the period. Furthermore, Jacobovici provides no explanation as to whyJoseph would have a signet ring with the name of his father Jacob.[9]
