Psusennes I

Psusennes I (Ancient Egyptian: pꜣ-sbꜣ-ḫꜥ-n-njwt; Greek Ψουσέννης) was the third pharaoh of the 21st Dynasty who ruled from Tanis between 1047 and 998 BC. Psusennes is the Greek version of his original name Pasibkhanu or Pasebakhaenniut (in reconstructed Late Egyptian: /pəsiwʃeʕənneːʔə/), which means "The Star Appearing in the City" while his throne name, Akheperre Setepenamun, translates as "Great are the Manifestations of Ra, chosen of Amun." He was the son of Pinedjem I and Henuttawy, Ramesses XI's daughter by Tentamun. He married his sister Mutnedjmet.

Psusennes I

Pasebakhenniut I

Gold funerary mask of Psusennes I at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt

Pharaoh

Reign

1047–998 BC (49 years)

Predecessor

Amenemnisu

Successor

Amenemope

Royal titulary

Horus name

Kanakhtemauiamun Userefaw Sekhajemwaset
kꜣ-nḫt-m-ꜣwj-Jmn-wsr-fꜣw-sḫꜥj-m-Wꜣst
Strong bull, embraced by Amun,
full of power, who shines in Thebes

Nebty name

Wermenu-em-Ipetsut Nebpehti Waftawywahnesitmiraempet
Wr-mnw-m-Jptswt nb-pḥtj-wꜥf-tꜣwj-wꜣḥ-nsjt-mj-Rꜥ-m-pt
Great of monuments
in Ipetsut, powerful Lord, royal protector of
the two lands, like Ra in the sky

Golden Horus

Semakheperuder Pedjet-9 Itjiemsekhemef Tawnebu
smꜣ-ḫprw-dr-pḏt-9-jṯj-m-sḫm.f-tꜣw-nbw
Golden Horus who unifies the manifestations,
who overpowers the nine bows (the enemies of Egypt) and
conquers all the lands with its strength

Prenomen

Akheperre Setepenamun
ꜥꜣ-ḫpr-Rꜥ-stp.n-Jmn
Great is the manifestation of Ra, the chosen one of Amun

Nomen

Pasebakhaenniut Meriamun
pꜣ-sbꜣ-ḫꜥj-n-njwt-mrj-Jmn
Psusennes, lit. The star who appears
in the city [of Thebes], beloved of Amun

Consort

Mutnodjmet, Wiay

Children

Amenemope, Ankhefenmut, Isetemkheb C

Father

Pinedjem I

Mother

Henuttawy

Died

c. 998 BC

Burial

NRT III, Tanis

Monuments

Great Temple of Amun, Tanis (now in ruined fragments)

Dynasty

21st Dynasty

Psusennes's tomb, discovered in February 1940 by the French Egyptologist Pierre Montet, is notable for the condition in which it was found. All previously found pharaonic tombs had been graverobbed, including the tomb of Tutankhamun, and Psusennes's tomb was the only ancient Egyptian royal tomb discovered in fully intact condition. However, the humid climate of Lower Egypt meant only the metal objects had survived. Pharaoh Amenemope and General Wendjebauendjed were also buried within Psusennes I's NRT III Tanis tomb while Pharaohs Shoshenq II, Siamun and Psusennes II were reburied in Psusennes I's tomb after their original tombs became inundated with water.

Reign

Psusennes I's precise reign length is unknown because different copies of Manetho's records credit him with a reign of either 41 or 46 years. Some Egyptologists have proposed raising the 41 year figure by a decade to 51 years to more closely match certain anonymous Year 48 and Year 49 dates in Upper Egypt. in 1992, the German Egyptologist Karl Jansen-Winkeln suggested that all these dates should be attributed to the serving High Priest of Amun, Menkheperre instead who is explicitly documented in a Year 48 record. Jansen-Winkeln notes that "in the first half of Dyn. 21, [the] HP Herihor, Pinedjem I and Menkheperre have royal attributes and [royal] titles to differing extents" whereas the first three Tanite kings (Smendes, Amenemnisu and Psusennes I) are almost never referred to by name in Upper Egypt with the exception of one graffito and rock stela for Smendes. In contrast, the name of Psusennes I's Twenty-first Dynasty successors such as Amenemope, Osorkon the Elder, and Siamun appear frequently in various documents from Upper Egypt while the Theban High Priest Pinedjem II who was a contemporary of the latter three kings never adopted any royal attributes or titles in his career.

Hence, two separate Year 49 dates from Thebes and Kom Ombo could be attributed to the ruling High Priest Menkheperre in Thebes instead of Psusennes I but this remains uncertain. Psusennes I's reign has been estimated at 46 years by the editors of the Handbook to Ancient Egyptian Chronology. Psusennes I must have enjoyed cordial relations with the serving High Priests of Amun in Thebes during his long reign since the High Priest Smendes II donated several grave goods to this king which were found in Psusennes I's tomb.

However, as the Egyptologist Aidan Dodson notes in his 2012 book "Afterglow of Empire: Egypt from the Fall of the New Kingdom to the Saite Renaissance":

"At some point during his long pontificate, [the Theban High Priest of Amun] Menkheperre A acquired--via mechanisms which remains obscure--some royal attributes; a statuette shows him with a high priestly skull-cap, but with a royal kilt and cartouche around his personal name. However, while his name and high priestly title are found enclosed in ovals on various bricks...with a variant first oval at el-Hiba which reads "Dual King (of) Upper Egypt & Lower Egypt", all Menkheperre's monumental attestations give him purely high-priestly titles and no cartouche--and certainly no definitive prenomen. This suggests that the use of such [royal] attributes was brief, perhaps directly following his father's death; as late in his career as Year 48 (see p.48) he was certainly a simple high priest."

Moreover, Menkheperre was the brother of king Psusennes I since both of them were sons of the High priest Pinedjem I. Therefore, the Year 49 anonymous dates in Upper Egypt almost certainly belong to Psusennes I who worked in close cooperation with his brother Menkheperre who never used a royal name or prenomen in his own monuments. While Menkheperre certainly ruled Upper Egypt, he granted defacto recognition of Psusennes I's reign from Thebes. The aged Psusennes I could even have reigned into an unattested 50th year.

The latter date in Papyrus Brooklyn 16.205, which is dated to Year 4 of an anonymous king and refers back to Year 49 of another king, must be dated to Psusennes I's reign since only Psusennes I reigned this long; previously Egyptologists (including Kenneth Kitchen) once speculated in the 1970s that the Year 49 date belonged to the reign of Shoshenq III but this king's highest date was only his Year 39 and it cannot exceed 42 years since his successor, Shoshenq IV ruled Egypt for at least 10 years between the death of Shoshenq III and the accession of Pami...as even Kitchen accepted in the preface to his 1996 book on the Third Intermediate Period.

During his long reign, Psusennes built the enclosure walls and the central part of the Great Temple at Tanis which was dedicated to the triad of Amun, Mut and Khonsu. Psusennes was ostensibly the ruler responsible for turning Tanis into a fully-fledged capital city, surrounding its temple with a formidable brick temenos wall with its sanctuary dedicated to Amun being composed of blocks salvaged from the derelict Pi-Ramesses. Many of these blocks were unaltered and kept the name of Pi-Ramesses' builder, Ramesses II, including obelisks still bearing the name of Ramesses II transported from the former capital of Pi-Ramesses to Tanis.

Psusennes had taken his sister, Mutnedjmet, in marriage, in addition to the Lady Wiay. Only two of Psusennes I's children remain identifiable.

Burial

Professor Pierre Montet discovered pharaoh Psusennes I's intact tomb (No.3 or NRT III) in Tanis in 1940. Due to its moist Lower Egypt location, most of the perishable wood objects were destroyed by water – a fate not shared by KV62, the tomb of Tutankhamun in the drier climate of Upper Egypt. In contrast to KV62, Psusennes I's tomb holds the distinction of being the only pharaonic grave ever found unscathed by any tomb robbing attempts. The tomb of Tutankhamun had been robbed twice in antiquity.

In spite of the destruction of wooden artifacts within the tomb due to the moist Nile delta area, the king's magnificent funerary mask was recovered intact; it proved to be made of gold and lapis lazuli and held inlays of black and white glass for the eyes and eyebrows of the object. Psusennes I's mask is considered to be "one of the masterpieces of the treasure[s] of Tanis" and is currently housed in Room 2 of the Cairo Museum. It has a maximum width and height of 38 cm and 48 cm respectively. The pharaoh's "fingers and toes had been encased in gold stalls, and he was buried with gold sandals on his feet. The finger stalls are the most elaborate ever found, with sculpted fingernails. Each finger wore an elaborate ring of gold and lapis lazuli or some other semiprecious stone."

Psusennes I's outer and middle sarcophagi had been recycled from previous burials in the Valley of the Kings through the state-sanctioned tomb robbing that was common practice in the Third Intermediate Period. A cartouche on the red outer sarcophagus shows that it had originally been made for Pharaoh Merenptah, the 19th Dynasty successor of Ramesses II. Psusennes I, himself, was interred in an "inner silver coffin" which was inlaid with gold. Since "silver was considerably rarer in Egypt than gold," Psusennes I's silver "coffin represents a sumptuous burial of great wealth during Egypt's declining years."

Dr. Douglas Derry, who worked as the head of Cairo University's Anatomy Department, examined the king's remains in 1940 and determined that the king was an old man when he died. Derry noted that Psusennes I's teeth were badly worn and full of cavities, that he had an abscess that left a hole in his palate, and observed that the king suffered from extensive arthritis and was probably crippled by this condition in his final years.

Gallery

Psusennes I's gold sandals and finger and toe stalls
The silver coffin of Psusennes I at the Egyptian Museum.
Psusennes I's silver coffin
Psusennes I's Gadrooned golden vase (JE 85896)
An exquisite pectoral necklace of Psusennes I
A Gold Plaque of Psusennes I depicting the Eye of Ra and Horus
The outer sarcophagus of Merneptah which was reused by Psusennes I for his own burial
Pectoral Necklace of Psusennes I in the Egyptian Museum

Reign

Burial

Gallery

Further reading