Jürgen von Beckerath
Encyclopedia
Jürgen von Beckerath is a prominent German
Egyptologist
. He is a prolific writer who has published countless articles in journals such as Orientalia, Göttinger Miszellen
(GM), Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt
(JARCE), Archiv für Orientforschung (AfO) and Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur
(SAK) among others. Together with Kenneth Kitchen
, he is viewed as one of the foremost scholars on the New Kingdom
and the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt
.
His many popular German language
publications include Handbuch der Ägyptischen Königsnamen, 2nd edition (Mainz, 1999) and Chronologie des Pharaonischen Ägypten or "Chronology of the Egyptian Pharaohs," MÄS 46 (Philip von Zabern, Mainz: 1997), which is regarded by academics as one of the best and most comprehensive books on the chronology of Ancient Egypt
and its various Pharaohs. In 1953, he personally inspected and recorded the Nile Quay Texts at Karnak
before they were permanently lost or damaged through erosion.
154 (1996) paper, he examined and published a privately owned and poorly known stela, which dated to Year 22 of Osorkon II
's reign and has frequently been called a Jubilee
stela by academics (GM 154, pp. 19). Beckerath revealed, however, that this document did not mention any Sed festival
or Jubilee celebrations for Osorkon II in this year as one would have expected if he had indeed celebrated his massive Jubilee Feast at this time. Instead, Beckerath demonstrated that the stela's text simply read: Regnal Year 22 under the Majesty of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Usermaatre Setepenamun (i.e., Osorkon II), son of Re, the Appearance of the beloved Osorkon Meryamun in the presence of the deities Osiris
, Horus
and Isis
. (GM 154, p. 20). Osorkon II is shown being blessed by these gods in the stela.
In other words, the document is just a perfectly ordinary stela depicting the king before this trinity of gods. Beckerath aptly notes that this new evidence casts serious doubt upon the idea that the damaged Sed Jubilee date in Osorkon II's Bubastis
Festival Hall should be read as Year 22, rather than Year 30 of this pharaoh's reign (the latter reading is possible with some restoration of the damaged numeral) as Edward Wente noted in his 1976 JNES review of Kitchen's TIPE book. Beckerath's analysis thus undermined the conventional view that this king celebrated his Sed Jubilee in his 22nd Year and suggests that Osorkon II likely celebrated his first Jubilee Feast in his 30th Year instead. Traditionally, in Egypt, Sed Jubilee Feasts were held on the 30th Year of a king's reign as is evidenced by the practices of other 22nd Dynasty
kings such as Osorkon I
, Shoshenq III
and Shoshenq V
.
In another article titled "Zur Datierung des Papyrus Brooklyn 16.205" in GM 140 (1994), pp. 15–17, Professor Beckerath argued that "the 49th regnal year of a king referred to in Pap. Brooklyn 16.205 [which] is generally ascribed to Shoshenq III of the 22nd Dynasty" and comes from a mummy bandage from Deir el-Bahari should be dated to Year 49 of the 21st dynasty king Psusennes I
instead because "it is unlikely that private persons from Upper Egypt
[would] refer to this late year of Shoshenq III."http://www.leidenuniv.nl/nino/aeb94/aeb94_4.html Shoshenq III is known to have lost effective control of Upper Egypt after his 8th Year when Pedubast I
proclaimed himself king here. All mentions of Shoshenq III after his 8th Year in Upper Egypt are associated with the serving High Priest of Amun, Osorkon B. After the 1993 discovery of a new Tanite king named Shoshenq IV
who ruled Egypt for a minimum of 10 years in the 13-year interval from Year 39 of Shoshenq III to Year 1 of Pami
, Kenneth Kitchen
accepted von Beckerath's proposal in the introduction to the latest (1996) edition of his book, The Third Intermediate Period of Egypt (c. 1100-650 BC). Kitchen writes that this new royal arrangement (i.e.: Shoshenq III->Shoshenq IV->Pami) means that "Papyrus Brooklyn 16.205 of a Year 49 followed by a Year 4 must now be attributed to the time of Psusennes I
and Amenemope, not to Shoshenq III and Pimay. [i.e. Pami] (cf. 103, §83 below)" (Kitchen, TIPE 1996, p. xxvi).
Beckerath also advocates the view that Shoshenq II
enjoyed an independent reign at Tanis in his book Chronologie des Pharaonischen Ägypten. This view is seconded by Norbert Dautzenberg among other scholars.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Egyptologist
Egyptology
Egyptology is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious practices in the AD 4th century. A practitioner of the discipline is an “Egyptologist”...
. He is a prolific writer who has published countless articles in journals such as Orientalia, Göttinger Miszellen
Göttinger Miszellen
Göttinger Miszellen is a scientific journal published by the Seminar für Ägyptologie und Koptologie which contains short scholarly articles on Egyptological, Coptological, and other related subjects....
(GM), Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt
Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt
The Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt is an academic journal published by the American Research Center in Egypt. It was established in 1962 to publish research into the art, archaeology, languages, history, and social systems of the Egyptian people. As is usual for Egyptological...
(JARCE), Archiv für Orientforschung (AfO) and Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur
Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur
Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur, or SAK, is a scientific journal containing articles pertaining to the study of Egyptology.SAK was founded in 1973 by Professor Hartwig Altenmueller and Professor Dietrich Wildung, with the aim of creating a useful communication mechanism for scholars researching...
(SAK) among others. Together with Kenneth Kitchen
Kenneth Kitchen
Kenneth Anderson Kitchen is Personal and Brunner Professor Emeritus of Egyptology and Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, England...
, he is viewed as one of the foremost scholars on the New Kingdom
New Kingdom
The New Kingdom of Egypt, also referred to as the Egyptian Empire is the period in ancient Egyptian history between the 16th century BC and the 11th century BC, covering the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of Egypt....
and the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt
Third Intermediate Period of Egypt
The Third Intermediate Period refers to the time in Ancient Egypt from the death of Pharaoh Ramesses XI in 1070 BC to the foundation of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty by Psamtik I in 664 BC, following the expulsion of the Nubian rulers of the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty....
.
His many popular German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
publications include Handbuch der Ägyptischen Königsnamen, 2nd edition (Mainz, 1999) and Chronologie des Pharaonischen Ägypten or "Chronology of the Egyptian Pharaohs," MÄS 46 (Philip von Zabern, Mainz: 1997), which is regarded by academics as one of the best and most comprehensive books on the chronology of Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
and its various Pharaohs. In 1953, he personally inspected and recorded the Nile Quay Texts at Karnak
Karnak
The Karnak Temple Complex—usually called Karnak—comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings, notably the Great Temple of Amun and a massive structure begun by Pharaoh Ramses II . Sacred Lake is part of the site as well. It is located near Luxor, some...
before they were permanently lost or damaged through erosion.
Academic contributions
Throughout his academic career, Beckerath has maintained a high scholarly standard in his publications and articles and dispelled many previously held assumptions or beliefs by meticulously analyzing the original evidence. For instance, in a GMGöttinger Miszellen
Göttinger Miszellen is a scientific journal published by the Seminar für Ägyptologie und Koptologie which contains short scholarly articles on Egyptological, Coptological, and other related subjects....
154 (1996) paper, he examined and published a privately owned and poorly known stela, which dated to Year 22 of Osorkon II
Osorkon II
Usermaatre Setepenamun Osorkon II was a pharaoh of the Twenty-second Dynasty of Ancient Egypt and the son of Takelot I and Queen Kapes. He ruled Egypt around 872 BC to 837 BC from Tanis, the capital of this Dynasty. After succeeding his father, he was faced with the competing rule of his cousin,...
's reign and has frequently been called a Jubilee
Jubilee (Biblical)
The Jubilee year is the year at the end of seven cycles of Sabbatical years , and according to Biblical regulations had a special impact on the ownership and management of land in the territory of the kingdoms of Israel and of Judah; there is some debate whether it was the 49th year The Jubilee...
stela by academics (GM 154, pp. 19). Beckerath revealed, however, that this document did not mention any Sed festival
Sed festival
The Sed festival was an ancient Egyptian ceremony that celebrated the continued rule of a pharaoh...
or Jubilee celebrations for Osorkon II in this year as one would have expected if he had indeed celebrated his massive Jubilee Feast at this time. Instead, Beckerath demonstrated that the stela's text simply read: Regnal Year 22 under the Majesty of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Usermaatre Setepenamun (i.e., Osorkon II), son of Re, the Appearance of the beloved Osorkon Meryamun in the presence of the deities Osiris
Osiris
Osiris is an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. He is classically depicted as a green-skinned man with a pharaoh's beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs, wearing a distinctive crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side, and...
, Horus
Horus
Horus is one of the oldest and most significant deities in the Ancient Egyptian religion, who was worshipped from at least the late Predynastic period through to Greco-Roman times. Different forms of Horus are recorded in history and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists...
and Isis
Isis
Isis or in original more likely Aset is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic...
. (GM 154, p. 20). Osorkon II is shown being blessed by these gods in the stela.
In other words, the document is just a perfectly ordinary stela depicting the king before this trinity of gods. Beckerath aptly notes that this new evidence casts serious doubt upon the idea that the damaged Sed Jubilee date in Osorkon II's Bubastis
Bubastis
Bubastis , also known as Tell Basta or Egyptian Per-Bast was an Ancient Egyptian city, the capital of its own nome, located along the River Nile in the Delta region of Lower Egypt...
Festival Hall should be read as Year 22, rather than Year 30 of this pharaoh's reign (the latter reading is possible with some restoration of the damaged numeral) as Edward Wente noted in his 1976 JNES review of Kitchen's TIPE book. Beckerath's analysis thus undermined the conventional view that this king celebrated his Sed Jubilee in his 22nd Year and suggests that Osorkon II likely celebrated his first Jubilee Feast in his 30th Year instead. Traditionally, in Egypt, Sed Jubilee Feasts were held on the 30th Year of a king's reign as is evidenced by the practices of other 22nd Dynasty
Twenty-second dynasty of Egypt
The Twenty-First, Twenty-Second, Twenty-Third, Twenty-Fourth and Twenty-Fifth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, Third Intermediate Period.-Rulers:...
kings such as Osorkon I
Osorkon I
The son of Shoshenq I and his chief consort, Karomat A, Osorkon I was the second king of Egypt's 22nd Dynasty and ruled around 922 BC – 887 BC. He succeeded his father Shoshenq I who probably died within a year of his successful 923 BC campaign against the kingdoms of Israel and Judah...
, Shoshenq III
Shoshenq III
King Usermaatre Setepenre or Usimare Setepenamun Shoshenq III ruled Egypt's 22nd Dynasty for 39 years according to contemporary historical records. Two Apis Bulls were buried in the fourth and 28th years of his reign and he celebrated his Heb Sed Jubilee in his regnal year 30...
and Shoshenq V
Shoshenq V
Shoshenq V was the final king of the Twenty-second dynasty of Egypt of Meshwesh Libyans which controlled Lower Egypt. He was the son of Pami according to a Year 11 Serapeum stela from his reign. His prenomen or throne name, Akheperre, means "Great is the Soul of Re."The burial of two Apis Bulls is...
.
In another article titled "Zur Datierung des Papyrus Brooklyn 16.205" in GM 140 (1994), pp. 15–17, Professor Beckerath argued that "the 49th regnal year of a king referred to in Pap. Brooklyn 16.205 [which] is generally ascribed to Shoshenq III of the 22nd Dynasty" and comes from a mummy bandage from Deir el-Bahari should be dated to Year 49 of the 21st dynasty king Psusennes I
Psusennes I
Psusennes I, or Greek Ψουσέννης], Pasibkhanu or Hor-Pasebakhaenniut I Egyptian ḥor-p3-sib3-ḫˁỉ--niwt] was the third king of the Twenty-first dynasty of Egypt who ruled from Tanis between 1047 – 1001 BC...
instead because "it is unlikely that private persons from Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt is the strip of land, on both sides of the Nile valley, that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan north to the area between El-Ayait and Zawyet Dahshur . The northern section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Sohag is sometimes known as Middle Egypt...
[would] refer to this late year of Shoshenq III."http://www.leidenuniv.nl/nino/aeb94/aeb94_4.html Shoshenq III is known to have lost effective control of Upper Egypt after his 8th Year when Pedubast I
Pedubast I
Pedubastis I or Pedubast I was an Upper Egyptian Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt during the 9th century BC. Based on lunar dates which are known to belong to the reign of his rival in Upper Egypt Takelot II and the fact that Pedubast I first appeared as a local king at Thebes around Year 11 of Takelot...
proclaimed himself king here. All mentions of Shoshenq III after his 8th Year in Upper Egypt are associated with the serving High Priest of Amun, Osorkon B. After the 1993 discovery of a new Tanite king named Shoshenq IV
Shoshenq IV
Hedjkheperre Setepenre Shoshenq IV ruled Egypt's 22nd Dynasty between the reigns of Shoshenq III and Pami. This Pharaoh's existence was first argued by David Rohl but the British Egyptologist Aidan Dodson settled the issue in a seminal GM 137 article. Dodson's arguments here for the existence of a...
who ruled Egypt for a minimum of 10 years in the 13-year interval from Year 39 of Shoshenq III to Year 1 of Pami
Pami
Usermaatre Setepenre Pami was an Egyptian Pharaoh who ruled Egypt for 7 years. He was a member of the Twenty-second dynasty of Egypt of Meshwesh Libyans who had been living in the country since the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt when their ancestors infiltrated into the Egyptian Delta from Libya...
, Kenneth Kitchen
Kenneth Kitchen
Kenneth Anderson Kitchen is Personal and Brunner Professor Emeritus of Egyptology and Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, England...
accepted von Beckerath's proposal in the introduction to the latest (1996) edition of his book, The Third Intermediate Period of Egypt (c. 1100-650 BC). Kitchen writes that this new royal arrangement (i.e.: Shoshenq III->Shoshenq IV->Pami) means that "Papyrus Brooklyn 16.205 of a Year 49 followed by a Year 4 must now be attributed to the time of Psusennes I
Psusennes I
Psusennes I, or Greek Ψουσέννης], Pasibkhanu or Hor-Pasebakhaenniut I Egyptian ḥor-p3-sib3-ḫˁỉ--niwt] was the third king of the Twenty-first dynasty of Egypt who ruled from Tanis between 1047 – 1001 BC...
and Amenemope, not to Shoshenq III and Pimay. [i.e. Pami] (cf. 103, §83 below)" (Kitchen, TIPE 1996, p. xxvi).
Beckerath also advocates the view that Shoshenq II
Shoshenq II
Heqakheperre Shoshenq II was an Egyptian king of the 22nd dynasty of Egypt. He was the only ruler of this Dynasty whose tomb was not plundered by tomb robbers. His final resting place was discovered within Psusennes I's tomb at Tanis by Pierre Montet in 1939. Montet removed the coffin lid of...
enjoyed an independent reign at Tanis in his book Chronologie des Pharaonischen Ägypten. This view is seconded by Norbert Dautzenberg among other scholars.
External links
- http://www.beckerath.info/index.php?Juergen-1
- http://www.dainst.org/el/node/22607?ft=all contact details
- http://oc.encydia.com/es/J%C3%BCrgen_von_Beckerath