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Setnakhte
Also written Setnakht
Preceded by: Twosret	Pharaoh of Egypt 20th Dynasty	Succeeded by: Ramesses III
Pharaoh Setnakhte stela
Reign	1190 BC–1186 BC
Praenomen	Userkhaure-setepenre Powerful are the forms of Re, Chosen of Re
Nomen	Setnakht Meryamunra Seth Is Victorious; Beloved Of Amon-Re[1]
Horus name	Kanakht Werpehti
Nebty name	Tutkhaumitatjenen
Golden Horus	Sekhemkhepeshder(kher)uef
Consort(s)	Tiy-merenese
Died	1186 BC
Burial	KV14

Userkhaure-setepenre Setnakhte (or Setnakht) was the first Pharaoh (1190 BC–1186 BC) of the Twentieth Dynasty of the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt and the father of Ramesses III.

It is likely that Setnakhte was an usurper who seized the throne according to Settipani, although he may well have enjoyed a Ramesside origin since one of Ramesses II's children bore his name.^[2] He was married to Queen Tiy-merenese, perhaps a daughter of Merenptah. A connection between Setnakhte's sucessors and the previous 19th dynasty is suggested by the similar names shared by Setnakhte's descendants such as Ramesses, Amun-her-khepshef, Seth-her-khepshef and Monthu-her-khepshef.

Setnakhte was originally believed to have enjoyed a reign of only 2 Years based upon his Year 2 Elephantine stela but his third regnal year is attested in Inscription No.271 on Mount Sinai^[3] If his theoretical accession date is assumed to be II Shemu 10 based on the date of his Elephantine stela, Setnakhte would have ruled Egypt for at least 2 Years and 11 Months before he died, or nearly 3 Full Years. This date is only 3 months removed from Twosret's Highest known date of Year 8, III Peret 5 and is based upon a calculation of Ramesses III's known accession date of I Shemu 26.^[4] Peter Clayton also assigned Setnakhte a reign of 3 years in his 1994 book on the Egyptian Pharaohs.^[5]

In a mid-January 2007 issue of the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram, however, Egyptian antiquity officials announced that a recently discovered and well preserved quartz stela belonging to the High Priest Bakenkhunsu was explicitly dated to Year 4 of Setnakhte's reign. The Al-Ahram article notes that this data:

"contradicts...the official record, which says Setnakhte ruled Egypt for only three years. According to the new information provided by the stela, Setnakhte's reign certainly lasted for four years, and may have continued for [a little] longer."[1]

Consequently, Setnakhte likely ruled Egypt for around 4 years. Zahi Hawass, the current Secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities declared the discovery to be one of the most important finds of 2006 because "it adjusts the history of the 20th dynasty and reveals more about the life of Bakenkhunsu."[2]

While Setnakhte's reign was still comparatively brief, it was just long enough for him to stabilize the political situation in Egypt and to establish his son, Rameses III, as his successor to the throne of Egypt. The Bakenkhunsu stela reveals that Setnakhte began the construction of a Temple of Amun-Re in Karnak which was completed by his son, Ramesses III. Setnakhte also started work on a tomb, KV11, in the Valley of the Kings, but stopped it when the tombcarvers accidentally broke into the tomb of the Nineteenth Dynasty Pharaoh Amenmesse. Setnakhte then appropriated the tomb of Queen Twosret (KV14) for his own use. Setnakhte's origins are not known, and he may have been a commoner, although some Egyptologists believe that he was related to the previous dynasty, the Nineteenth, through his mother and may thus have been a grand-son of Ramesses II. His son, Ramesses III, is regarded as the last great king of the New Kingdom.

The beginning of the Great Harris Papyrus or Papyrus Harris I, which documents the reign of Ramesses III, provides some details about Setnakhte's rise to power. An excerpt of James Henry Breasted's 1906 translation of this document is provided below:

"The land of Egypt was overthrown from without, and every man was thrown out of his right; they had no "chief mouth" for many years formerly until other times. The land of Egypt was in the hands of chiefs and of rulers of towns; one slew his neighbour, great and small. Other times having come after it, with empty years, Irsu ('a self-made man'), a certain Syrian (Kharu) was with them as chief (wr). He set plundering their (ie: the people's) possessions. They made gods like men, and no offerings were presented in the temples.

"But when the gods inclined themselves to peace, to set the land in its rights according to its accustomed manner, they established their son, who came forth from their limbs, to be ruler, LPH, of every land, upon their great throne, Userkhaure-setepenre-meryamun, LPH, the son of Re, Setnakht-merire-meryamun, LPH. He was Khepri-Set, when he is enraged; he set in order the entire land which had been rebellious; he slew the rebels who were in the land of Egypt; he cleansed the great throne of Egypt; he was ruler of the Two Lands, on the throne of Atum. He gave ready faces to those who had been turned away. Every man knew his brother who had been walled in. He established the temples in possession of divine offerings, to offer to the gods acccording to their customary stipulations."^[6]

Significantly, the Harris Papyrus does not say that Setnakhte killed Chancellor Bay who is the only plausible candidate for this Irsu. Rather, Setnakhte is only credited with establishing order after an exaggerated period of chaos and civil war. This detail conforms well with the historical evidence which shows that Bay probably died in Year 5 of Siptah.

Siptah's Stele at Elephantine seems to have referred to these chaotic period and refers explicitly to the expulsion of certain Asiatics, who fled, abandoning the gold which they looted from Egyptian temples behind. It is uncertain the degree to which this inscription referred to contemporary events or rather repeated anti-Asiatic sentiment from the reign of Pharaoh Ahmose I. Setnakhte identified with the God Atum or Temu, and built a temple to this God at Per-Atum (Biblical Pithom}

Setnakhte may have been the first Pharaoh mentioned in Greek mythology. Marianne Luban^[7] quotes Diodorus Siculus: "A man of obscure origin was chosen king, whom the Egyptians call 'Ketes', but who among the Greeks is thought to be that Proteus who lived at the time of the war about Ilium." Ketes, from Egyptian Khenti, means the same as Proteios, meaning "first". The Elephantine Stela confirms Diodorus "He was chosen, His Majesty, l.p.h., as the "Khenty-Heh", the "First One of Millions", regardless of countless others being more significant than he." In other words, King Setnakht may have been a commoner or a prince of royal blood who was somehow connected to the 19th Dynasty.

1. ^ Setnakht
2. ^ Nos ancêtres de l'Antiquité, 1991, Christian Settipani, p. 153, 173 and 175
3. ^ Von Beckerath, Chronologie des Pharaonischen Ägypten, 1997, p. 201-202
4. ^ E.F. Wente & C.C. Van Siclen, "A Chronology of the New Kingdom" in Studies in Honor of George R. Hughes, (SAOC 39) 1976, pp.236-237
5. ^ Peter Clayton, Chronicle of the Pharaohs, Thames & Hudson Ltd, 1994, p.160
6. ^ James H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, Vol No.4,(1906), pp.198-199
7. ^ Luban, Marianne "Setnakhte and the Classical Memory"http://www.geocities.com/scribelist/setnakht.html

• James H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, Vol No.4,(1906)
• Erik Hornung, Untersuchungen zur Chronologie und Geschichte des Neuen Reiches (1964)
• J. Von Beckerath, Chronologie des Pharaonischen Ägypten, Philip Von Zabern, (Mainz: 1997), pp.94-98 and pp.201-202
• Luban, Marianne "Setnakhte and the Classical Memory"http://www.geocities.com/scribelist/setnakht.html
• Dynasty revealed The new information not only illustrates the growing power of the priesthood during the New Kingdom, but also changes some concepts of the 20th dynasty, especially the facts, figures and reign relating to its founder, Pharaoh Setnakhte.