The
Bible's Shishak was Heqakheperre Sheshonk IIa
by
Eve Engelbrite ©2012
There is evidence supporting why Heqakheperre Sheshonk
IIa was the biblical Shishak and why Sheshonk I was not the biblical
Shishak. The evidence makes the most historical sense in accordance
to my new high chronology,
and so I will provide the necessary background information. I
maintain that Joshua retook the “country
of Goshen”
in 1451-1444 BC during the reign of Rameses II (1480-1414 BC), and
that the weak pharaohs of the 19th,
20th,
and early 21st
dynasties did nothing about it, except for Merenptah (1414-1394 BC)
who retook a few cities from the new owners called “Israel”.
Judge Deborah (1339-1299
BC)
described a major volcanic eruption
which occurred in the eighth year of Rameses III (1310 BC) when he
allowed homeless Sea People to live among the Philistines.
Prince Hadad
escaped to Sheshonk I and married queen Patareshnes' sister
As
David conquered Edom; Hadad, the child prince of Edom, was carried
off to Egypt by servants, and later returned to rule Edom as an
adult. The history provides a very important clue.
For
it came to pass, when David was in Edom, and Joab the captain of the
host was gone up to bury the slain, after he had smitten every male
in Edom . . . That Hadad fled, he and certain Edomites of his
father's servants with him, to go into Egypt; Hadad being yet a
little child. And they arose out of Midian, and came to Paran: and
they took men with them out of Paran, and they
came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt; which gave him an house, and
appointed him victuals, and gave him land. And Hadad found great
favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him to wife the sister
of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes
the queen.
And the sister of Tahpenes
bore him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh's house:
and Genubath was in Pharaoh's household among the sons
of Pharaoh. And when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his
fathers, and that Joab the captain of the host was dead, Hadad said
to Pharaoh, Let me depart, that I may go to my own country. (I Kings
11:13-21)
I
suggest that prince Hadad and company came under the protection of
Sheshonk I, who had at least three sons, and his wife Patareshnes (a
very similar name to Tahpenes).
Her father was Nemareth, the "Great Chief of the Foreigners,"
and more likely open to a marriage arrangement with a foreigner. The
sister of Patareshnes, Hadad's bride, is not named. I suggest this
wedding took place about 1035 BC during the latter years of Sheshonk
I.
Patareshnes has the syllables /pa/, /ta/, /resh/, and
/nes/. Tahpanes has the syllables /ta/, /pa/, and /nes/; three out
of four. Patareshnes was married to Sheshonk, whose name sounds like
Shishak. The glyph for 'n' was sometimes dropped. Thus Sheshonk I
was more likely to have lived during the reign of king David.
King
David died in fall of 1015 BC, which was during the reign of Osorkon
I when Hadad likely asked to return to Edom and was given leave.
Unless the Bible actually names the pharaoh, you can not assume that
only one pharaoh dealt with a particular Hebrew person in the text.
And even when the Bible does name a pharaoh, several pharaohs used
the same name.
I think Manetho's three other kings after Osorkon I were
all sons named Sheshonk from Hedjkheperre Sheshonk I and three
different wifes: Heqakheperre Sheshonk IIa to Karoama, Tutkheperre
Sheshonk IIb to Patareshnes, and Maakheperre Sheshonk IIc to an
unknown consort.
Ussher
placed Jeroboam fleeing to Shishak in 978 BC based upon his knowledge
of Egyptian chronology at the time; the date may be correct, but
Ussher's Egyptian chronology was not. Many more artefacts have been
discovered in Egypt and Israel since the seventeenth century. In the
19th century, better parameters were established for
digging a site and for dating objects by the pottery types. In the
20th century the Egyptian chronology became the standard
by which all other chronologies were based, but by the 21st
century, archaeologists outside of Egypt realised Egypt's chronology
was 200 years off. My chronology resolves those issues by basing all
chronologies on the standard of the Holy Bible.
The
Battles at the Wall (“Shur”)
Both Saul and David
refer to fighting the Amalekites at Shur,
and both Siamun and Sheshonk I have reference to battles against
Asiatics, with Sheshonk I specifically citing the Bitter Lakes.
According to the Prophecy of Neferty,
Amenemhat I built the “Walls-of-the-Ruler
to bar Asiatics
from entering Egypt”. In Hebrew, the word “wall” is shur.
Amenemhat I built a
north/south barrier from the Bitter Lakes to El-Ballah Lake. I
propose that Siamun had established Amalekite strongholds in the
Sinai to protect trade on the road, known as the “way
to Shur”
(Genesis 16:7), between the wall of the eastern Nile delta and
Israel.
In
Tanis, where the majority of Siamun artifacts were found, a calcite
bas-relief depicts Siamun in the traditional pose smiting an enemy
holding a double axe. Avaris had been a port of commerce for Minoans
during the early 18th
dynasty; and Minoan-influenced Sea Peoples who used such axes had
returned to live in the Nile delta during the early 20th
dynasty. I conjecture that pharaoh Siamun drove the Judahites and
Sea Peoples out of Goshen and reestablished Egypt's border at the
Wall (Shur)
of the Ruler. I further propose that about 1067 BC Siamun also held
his Wall border when “Saul
smote the Amalekites from Havilah until you come to Shur, that is
over against Egypt.”
(I
Samuel 15:7)
Twelve years later I suggest Sheshonk I aided general
David in killing “the Amalekites . . . as you go to Shur”
(I
Samuel 27:8) at the Wall of the Ruler north of
the Bitter Lakes. Sheshonk's badly broken stela at Karnak recorded
his victory over the Sinai bedouin:
“[Iuput] the First [Prophet] of Amon-Re, . . . victory
in the . . . lands of Asia, Lord of the Two Lands, Hej[kheper]re . .
. Now [My Majesty] discovered [that . . .] [. . . they ]
killed [. . . my soldiers and?] my leaders. Then His majesty pondered
concerning them . . . Then His Majesty said to his entourage [that
was in the following]: ['Behold . . .] these wretched deeds that
they have done.' Then they said [before His Majesty . . .] [Then
His Majesty went forth . . .], his chariotry following him, without
their knowing. Now […] Among them His Majesty made a great
slaughter […] and he [slew] them ashore on the bank of the Bitter
Lakes. . . .”
The
discovery which Sheshonk I made during his first year as pharaoh may
have been from reading Siamun's journals of how he repaid the bedouin
who robbed his caravans and slew his soldiers, or it may have been a
new and similar report. Or Siamun's journal may have boasted of how
he took credit for Saul's slaughter at the wall/shur,
and so Sheshonk I took credit for David's slaughter at the wall.
Neither Saul nor David mentioned engaging Egyptian troops at their
wall border.
Seeing
the military might with which David dispatched the Amalekites may
have caused Sheshonk I to avoid attacking Israel. Instead, Sheshonk
I may have taken boats with troops to Byblos in the “lands of Asia”
to restore Egypt's trade (and share of taxes) there.
Sheshonk I Traded
with Abi-Baal who was Hiram's father
Byblite kings inscribed their names upon statues (modern
example pictured) given to them from pharaohs with whom they traded.
Sheshonk I gave Abi-Baal, king of Byblos, a seated
statue of himself
in recognition of their continued trade agreements. Sheshonk's son,
Osorkon I, gave Eli-Baal a statue of himself.
According to Josephus, Meander of Ephesus
wrote “When Abi-baal was dead, his son Hiram received the kingdom
from him, who, when he had lived fifty-three years, reigned
thirty-four,” and that the construction of Solomon's Temple began
in the twelfth year of Hiram's reign,
which I place at 1011 BC. If so, Hiram reigned from 1023 to 989 BC.
I suggest Abi-Baal willed his son Hiram to rule over Tyre, and willed
his son Eli-Baal (to whom Osorkon I gave a statue) to succeed his
father in Byblos. Hiram traded with both kings David and Solomon.
And
Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and
carpenters, and masons: and they built David an house. (II Samuel
5:11)
So
Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees according to all his
desire. And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for
food to his household, and twenty measures of pure oil: thus gave
Solomon to Hiram year by year. And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as
he promised him: and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and
they two made a league together. (I Kings 5:10-12)
A
sarcophagus of a “son
of Ahiram,
king of Byblos”
was discovered in Byblos in 1923 AD thus verifying the royal name of
Hiram. The sarcophagus has winged sphinxes carved into it, which
also verifies Phoenician trade with Egypt. Hiram's sarcophagus may
be the large limestone one on a pedestal nicknamed Qabr Hiram
southeast of Tyre.
The
pharaonic statues of Sheshonk I and Osorkon I sent to Phoenician
kings Abi-Baal and Eli-Baal (who was contemporary with Hiram) provide
another verification that Sheshonk I lived at least a generation
before the biblical Shishak. Hiram traded with kings David and
Solomon, and Osorkon I traded with Hiram's brother Eli-baal; thus
making Heqakheperre Sheshonk
IIa the better candidate for Shishak and a campaign in Israel during
the fifth year of Solomon's son Rehoboam in 970 BC.
Near
the Annals
of Thutmose III
in the Temple of Amun at Karnak, Sheshonk I recorded his dues “when
I made it as thy tribute (i.e. Amun's) of the land of Canaan (Khuru)
which had turned away from thee,”
which I ascribe to the taxes he retrieved from the city of Megiddo.
Aside from this obscure inscription, “no direct record survives”
of Sheshonk I's temple gifts from a Canaanite campaign.
I suggest that Sheshonk I's stela in Megiddo
re-established that city alone in Israel as a vassal of Egypt in
order to do trade with Egypt. The king of the city-state of Byblos
was considered an equal by Sheshonk I just as king Solomon considered
Hiram, king of Tyre, an equal. The wealth of the Phoenicians
afforded them great latitude with the kingdoms around them.
Sheshonk
I won victories in Phoenicia, Aram (Syria), Sinai and Nubia
Sheshonk I may have continued with his troops from
Phoenicia
north and east to defeat his enemies who were still attacking Egypt's
vassals from the mountains, and he referred to these enemies by the
area in which they lived: “two rivers” and “back-country”.
Amun's speech in Sheshonk's victory relief at Karnak
concluded:
“Every
country that has come without number – Your Majesty has destroyed
them in the completion of a moment. I have struck for you those who
rebelled against you, suppressing for you the Asiatics. The armies
of Mitanni
– I have slain those belonging to them beneath your sandals.”
The
Egyptian word translated Mitanni is Nhrn
referring to Aram-Naharim
which means
“Aram two rivers”
and refers to the Aramaeans
of the upper Tigris and upper Euphrates rivers who had carved out
space for themselves near the Assyrians (descended from Shem's son,
Asshur). According to his annals, Tiglath Pileser I (1115-1076 BC)
fought “Mitanni”/Aramaeans
about 50 years prior to Sheshonk I's attack. Both kings Saul and
David fought in Aram-Zobah on the road through Damascus, and king
David made it to the Euphrates river.
Shem's
son Aram
had a son Uz who founded Damascus. Jacob married two wives from
kinsfolk in the area of Padan-Aram (now southeast Turkey), so he
likely learned Aramaic.
Aramaic became the major business language of the eastern
Mediterranean countries and spread to others with trade well beyond
the time of Christ. The Aramaeans and Assyrians did not disappear
but became known as different people groups over time. The Aramaeans
were such a large population that they were classified further by the
areas in which they lived.
“And
the children of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the
entering in of the gate: and the Syrians [Aram] of Zoba, and of
Rehob, and Ishtob, and Maacah, were by themselves in the field.”
(II
Samuel 10:8)
“So
they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto
Rehob, as men come to Hamath” (Numbers 13:21)
A
couple cities named Rehob exist in the south, but the Aramaeans lived
in the land of Rehob (now Rechaiya) which contained the road to
Hamath. Ishtob is the land of Tob.
Although
the Mitanni empire had ceased to exist, the two rivers to which
Sheshonk referred had not disappeared. Sheshonk I slew the armies
of “two rivers,” yet none of those city names are listed on the
victory wall. Cities #3, 7, 8 refer to Nubia, who are referenced in
one of the central scenes of Sheshonk I and Iuput.
“Smiting
the chiefs of the Nubian tribesmen, of all inaccessible foreign
lands, of all the lands of the Phoenicians, and foreign lands of the
Asiatic back-country.”
In
this inscription instead of “two rivers” (Nhrn),
Sheshonk I referred to the “Asiatic back-country” (phw.w
St.[t])
which was another 100-200 miles northeast of Hamath. The statue
given to Abi-Baal is evidence that Sheshonk I subdued Byblos whose
ancient name was Gubla which may be #11 in his list with Megiddo #12
and rbyt
(Beth-Rehob?) finishing the row at #13. But I conclude the rest of
the cities on the victory wall were conquered by someone else who
actually led a campaign against Israel.
Reign
of Sheshonk I (1055-1022 BC)
Since Osorkon I's renewal of heb-sed inscription at
Karnak “strongly suggests that Osorkon I reigned into his
thirty-fourth year,”
then Sheshonk I's renewal of heb-sed inscription at Karnak
should also attribute to him at least 33 years. In
Sheshonk I's 21st
year he began a massive building project called “the Mansion of
Hedjkheperre Setepenre in Thebes”. Some Egyptologists only
give Sheshonk I the 21 years recorded on the Gebel es-Silsilah stela.
Gebel es-Silsilah
Stela
This was a massive stela cut into the sandstone cliff
almost 3 meters high by 2.5 meters wide with 57 columns of text. It
mentioned heb-sed festival three times, and stated that the building
of the heb-sed court (along with the pylons, colonnade, doors, and
statues) was the main purpose in Sheshonk's “regnal year 21, second
month of summer, on this day while his majesty was in residence at .
. . Re-Horachty.”
[In the latter years of Ramesses II, Re-Horachty was used to
describe Pi-Ramesses.]
Sheshonk I was clearly preparing for his 30th year jubilee
celebration 9 years in advance, so he likely knew about how long it
would take to complete such a task.
According to a 2008
study, with modern tools and power it takes 0.217 million BTU's
to quarry one ton of sandstone.
That's just to cut it out of the earth, and does not include
finishing, processing, or transporting it. In the early 1900's at
the Excelsior Stone Quarry of sandstone, “The 10 ton blocks were
cut so that they could be transported to Las Vegas using the 'Big
Devil Wagon'. This frightful locomotive-like behemoth could haul 20
tons of cut stone on a single trip. The odd looking contraption also
burned about 400 gallons of crude oil per day.”
Quarrying and transporting sandstone takes a lot of time and energy.
Sheshonk I's heb-sed court “was located between the
first and second pylon. The court enclosed the Sety II shrine and the
northern section of the Ramesses III temple. The court was lined on
its northern and southern sides with sandstone
papyrus bud columns.”
The following is from a Missouri quarry:
“As a small 2 acre quarry, we hand-cut
about 300 tons in a year. . . . Twenty cubic feet of sandstone
weighs about 1.25ton (2500 lbs). . . . A 20 ft long 2 feet high wall
that is stacked 1 foot deep = 20ft x 2 ft x 1 ft = 40 cu ft.”
The completed heb-sed court measured 82 meters by 101
meters (269 X 331 feet), and the western gate had an opening of
17.70m (58 ft) and a total height of 27.50m (90 ft).
I don't know the wall thickness of the court; but with just a one
foot depth 6,423.75 tons of sandstone would be needed, which may have
taken the ancient Egyptians at least four years to quarry.
The Gebel es-Silsilah quarry was located 40 miles north
of Elephantine and 90 miles south of Thebes. To transport 6,000 tons
of sandstone to the work site would have taken at least a year, and
to dress and to place the blocks may have taken another year. Seven
scenes of Sheshonk I and his son Iuput were completed at Karnak along
with over ninety lines of hieroglyphs (not counting the 130+ captured
city names) possibly taking another year. 4 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 7 year
minimum, not accounting for losses of time due to accidents, weather,
war, etc.. Since the stela recorded Re-Horachty, as Sheshonk's
residence, calling his reliefs the Bubastite Portal is a misnomer.
Sheshonk's
delta residence moved from Pi-Rameses on the eastern delta to Pi-Ese
(estate of Isis) in the central delta at Sebennytos (now Samannud),
not Bubastis (near Zagazig) thirty miles southeast. At Karnak on
Sheshonk's eastern pilaster is inscribed, “First occasion (of)
repeating the jubilee . . .;”
thus, Sheshonk I reached his 33rd regnal year. This
completed and moderately decorated jubilee court and gate attest to
the long life of Sheshonk I, and not a sudden death during
construction.
Scenes at Karnak of
Sheshonk I with his son Iuput
The great
wall inscription begins with classical exultation of the king, and
line 2 states “thou hast trodden down the natives of Nubia,”
later followed by Amun's blessing on his building plans” (lines
12-17). Next to this great wall is the “Bubastite Gate” which
features three masterfully engraved scenes of Sheshonk I and his son
HPA Iuput accompanied by their illustrious titles. The court and
gate were completed with seven total engraved scenes of Sheshonk I
and Iuput “depicted on an equal scale”.
Incongruities of
Sheshonk I's Victory Relief at Karnak
In Sheshonk's “first
[campaign of] victory” early in his reign,
the right side image of Sheshonk I wearing the white crown and
holding a mace is hardly visible, but upon close inspection, the
Chicago Epigraphic Survey determined it was “modelled in gypsum on
the stone”.
On the left, Amun's shuti
is engraved flat whereas his figure is in bas relief;
hence I conjecture the shuti was enhanced with semi-precious stones
and/or it displayed a Libyan version of the double crown which was
later erased. Iuput's description in several scenes throughout the
jubilee court reads, “First Prophet of Amun-Re, king of the gods,
great general and leader Iuput . . .;”
hence I propose general Iuput was between Amun and Sheshonk I at the
center of the army facing front. This scene was planned to exhibit
Iuput's and Sheshonk's victories over the Meshwesh
of the west, the bedouin at Bitter Lakes in the eastern delta, the
Nubians of the south, “. . . the
Asiatic back-country, the Aegean
islands
. . .,”
and “all inaccessible foreign lands, of all the lands of the
Phoenicians . . .”
Though the first nine names were traditional enemies of
Egypt, they were actually conquered by Sheshonk I. The first row of
names: Upper Egypt, Lower Egypt, Wawat of Upper Nubia, Libyans,
S[hetiam] of the western oases, Mn[tywnwstt] Bedouin,
Bow[men of feather], Seti (nome #1 often conquered by Lower Nubia),
H3wnbwt (Haunebut, meaning "Behind the Islands,"
the Aegean),
#10 copy of Amu (foreigners), G3[d(t?)] (possibly
Gubla, the ancient name of Byblos), Megiddo, and Rbyt
(Rehob-Beth).
Sheshonk I's victory relief at El-Hibeh only has one row
beginning “The western oasis, the eastern desert,”
which are on either side of Thebes (though the west oases extend to
the Fayyum).
Merenptah mentioned “Israel”, but Sheshonk I never named it. I
conclude the rest of the cities on the Karnak victory relief were
conquered by someone else who actually led a campaign against Israel.
The original group of bearded soldiers
(only the second man is clean shaven) were standing with recurve bows
in the furthest hand and a “vial of oil” (?) in the closest hand
and the last man holding a feather of maat. Their hands are twice as
small as the scene engraved on top of them in which two more sets of
seven bearded men facing left and right are standing with the
opposite arm raised in praise. Thus the first group of men have
three hands each. The left headbands may be Canaanite mercenaries,
and the right helmets may be Cretan mercenaries. In the center of
these male groups, Iuput was originally facing front with both arms
crossing his chest holding objects.
In his right
hand appears to be a miniature double curved bow held closely to his
chest; in his left hand is a feather of maat. (There is also a
feather of maat underneath the lowest sets of men's elbows.)
His left elbow makes the first male appear to be female. Iuput's
head is missing. These incongruities suggest this wall was usurped by
someone after Sheshonk I; like his youngest son, Sheshonk IIa.
Sheshonk
I's Victory Scene at Karnak was Usurped by Sheshonk IIa
The small woman beneath Amun is holding a long-handled
spoon in her right hand, and a stick about the same length (the very
top of which no longer remains) in her left hand. This long-handled
spoon was used to scoop out the brains prior to mummification. The
bottom of the “stick” appears to have tassels, so maybe it was a
scroll. Below her stick/scroll is a white crown, which was likely
Sheshonk I kneeling to this goddess of Thebes.
Attached to the end of her spoon are two groups of three lines,
depicting ropes, which lead to six rows of captives.
Amun holds the feather of maat in his right hand and a
plumb line in his left hand with the plumb bob at his toe. Amun's
left hand may have held something above it which has since been
marred. Amun's left hand also holds two groups of five lines, but
only the top group is attached to five rows of captives. The other
group of five lines does not continue beyond the first block.
Sheshonk
I's Iron I Stela v. Sheshonk IIa's Iron II Destruction of Megiddo
My
book, Pharaohs of the Bible (4004-960 B.C.) goes into
detail of the names, locations, and strata of the cities listed on
the victory relief; and then places the strategic cities into four
charts which specify the timing of their various destruction levels
accompanied by the likely conquerors. All cities conquered by
Shishak are listed as Iron IIA, Iron IIB, or Iron IIA-B by their
respective archaeologists; whereas Sheshonk I's stela fragment at
Megiddo was discovered prior to excavating the Iron II strata. The
following is an excerpt from my book with the particular strata listed.
#12 Megiddo ('place of crowds'):
Tell el-Mutesellim (hill of the ruler)
P.L.O. Guy was the main
excavator of Stratum VI at Megiddo in 1934. He uncovered pillared
houses typical of the early Israelites.
Guy wrote,
“There had
obviously been a disaster of some sort in VI, of which the fire was
the culmination, and that disaster may have been either a battle or
an earthquake. . . . Some skeletons were found crushed under walls in
postitions of obvious agony, but a number of others had been buried .
. . It looked as if survivors had come back after the catastrophe and
had left where they were those bodies which had been hidden by fallen
walls but had hastily buried those who were visible. . . . The
disaster, whatever it was, had been pretty sudden, for most of the
rooms contained very large quantities of pottery in situ . .
.”
Skeletons crushed under fallen
walls from a sudden disaster sounds like an earthquake which
'culminated' in a fire. Neither was there evidence the site was
quickly inhabited and rebuilt by a 'victor'; instead stratum Vb had
walls of poor quality. The stela fragment of Sheshonk I was found in
1926 in a “dump adjacent to a trench excavated by the German
engineer Gottlieb Schumacher”
in 1905.
“. . . dating of
our [Guy's] Stratum IV . . . to Early Iron I, though not to the
earliest, or Philistine part of it. Philistine suggestions were . .
. at places where we penetrated to Stratum V. From somewhere in a
minor trench of Schumacher's which penetrates barely below Stratum IV
came the stela fragment . . .”
“Guy was confident that it had
come from the earliest stratum uncovered in the trench, namely
Stratum VA/IVB”
which Guy dated to Iron I. Therefore, Sheshonk I placed his 20-inch
thick stela at Megiddo during Iron I of the 11th century
of Stratum V, and Sheshonk IIa destroyed the beautiful ashlar
buildings of Stratum IVb.
Thus the question of why a pharaoh would place his stela
of ownership in the midst of Megiddo's ashes is solved with two
different pharaohs of the same name coming to the city at different
times for different purposes. Sheshonk I sought tax revenues from
the traveller's going through the poor city of Megiddo, and Sheshonk
IIa sought to loot and to destroy the wealthy chariot city which
Solomon had built and Jeroboam had reinforced.
Sheshonk IIa's
Burial Goods and Mummy
“A forensic
examination of Shoshenq II's body by Dr. Douglas Derry, the head of
Cairo Museum's anatomy department, reveals that he was a man in his
fifties when he died.”
If Sheshonk IIa was born in 1022 BC, and died in 970 BC, that is 52
years. Dr. Derry wrote that Sheshonk IIa died of a massive septic
infection in a head wound.
I suggest this head wound was inflicted during his campaign in
Israel, that he died shortly after his return with Jerusalem's
treasures, and he was afforded a grand burial in a silver coffin with
a gold mask. I suggest that before his death he ordered his campaign
to be engraved next to his father's victory relief in Karnak; the
list of cities was squeezed into the left side. Possibly the artisan
reworked most of Iuput out of the relief before Sheshonk IIa died and
the project came to a halt.
“The Egyptian king referred to as Shishak
is conventionally equated with Sheshonk I … chooses to ignore the
valid criticism of James et al. (1992:127) that there are
other alternatives, and that there are problems with the Sheshonk I
candidacy ... James et al. James (1991:229-231) and Rohl
(1995) plausibly question this assumption ... there is another
Sheshonk (II) in close proximity who might also be a candidate.”
The problem stems from acceptance of Thiele's dates (1983:80).
I agree with Manning that a Sheshonk II is a better
candidate for Shishak, and that Thiele's dates have caused problems.
Since Heqakheperre Sheshonk IIa
died from an infected head wound from battle and was honored with a
gold face mask and silver coffin, he is the best candidate for
Shishak. Found on Sheshonk IIa's mummy was a jeweled pectoral
inscribed with “Sheshonk, Great Chief of the Ma” which belonged
to Sheshonk I before he was king; leaving us a clue to his heritage.
At Sheshonk's temple to Amun at el-Hibeh, the pillar
scene in the first pillared hall has the following inscription:
“King offers floral
collar and two pectorals to Horus.”
This is followed by an inscription under Horus.
“To you I have given
all life, stability, and dominion appearance upon the throne of
Horus, [who leads the living.]”
Could Horus refer to a promise that Sheshonk IIa, the
child of Sheshonk I's old age, would rule? Sheshonk I's pectoral on
the mummy of Sheshonk IIa might be the most compelling artefact
signifying that Sheshonk IIa added his conquered cities to the
victory relief of Sheshonk I.
