Rudamun - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Rudamun was the final pharaoh

Pharaoh

Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...

of the Twenty-third dynasty

Twenty-third dynasty of Egypt

The Twenty-third Dynasty of ancient Egypt was a separate regime of Meshwesh Libyan kings, who ruled ancient Egypt. This dynasty is often considered part of the Third Intermediate Period.-Rulers:...

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...

. His titulary simply reads as Usermaatre Setepenamun, Rudamun Meryamun, and excludes the Si-Ese or Netjer-Heqawaset epithets employed by his father and brother.

He was the younger son of Osorkon III

Osorkon III

Usermaatre Setepenamun Osorkon III Si-Ese was Pharaoh of Egypt in the 8th Century BC. He is the same person as the Crown Prince and High Priest of Amun Osorkon B, son of Takelot II by his Great Royal Wife Karomama II. Prince Osorkon B is best attested by his Chronicle—which consists of a series of...

, and the brother of Takelot III

Takelot III

Usimare Setepenamun Takelot III Si-Ese was Osorkon III's eldest son and successor. Takelot III ruled the first five years of his reign in a coregency with his father and served previously as the High Priest of Amun at Thebes. He was previously thought to have ruled Egypt for only 7 years until his...

. He is a poorly attested pharaoh of this dynasty according to 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...

's seminal book on 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....

. Kitchen credits him with a brief reign of about two to three years due to the few contemporary documents known for him. These include a small amount of decorative work done on the Temple of Osiris Heqadjet, several stone blocks from Medinet Habu

Medinet Habu (temple)

Medinet Habu is the name commonly given to the Mortuary Temple of Ramesses III, an important New Kingdom period structure in the location of the same name on the West Bank of Luxor in Egypt...

, and a vase. In recent years, two fragments of a faience

Faience

Faience or faïence is the conventional name in English for fine tin-glazed pottery on a delicate pale buff earthenware body, originally associated with Faenza in northern Italy. The invention of a white pottery glaze suitable for painted decoration, by the addition of an oxide of tin to the slip...

statuette bearing Rudamun's name from Hermopolis

Hermopolis

Hermopolis Magna or simply Hermopolis or Hermopolis Megale or Hermupolis is the site of ancient Khmun, and is located near the modern Egyptian town of El Ashmunein in Al Minya governorate.-Etymology:Khmun, the Ancient Egyptian name of the city, means "eight-town", after the Ogdoad, a group of...

have been discovered. This recent discovery suggests that Radamun managed to preserve the unity of his father's large kingdom in 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...

ranging from at least Herakleopolis Magna

Herakleopolis Magna

Heracleopolis or Herakleopolis Magna is the Greek name of the capital of the Twentieth nome of ancient Egypt. It was called Henen-nesut, Nen-nesu, or Hwt-nen-nesu in ancient Egyptian, meaning 'house of the royal child.' Later, it was called Hnas in Coptic, and Ahnas in medieval Arabic writings...

to Thebes

Thebes, Egypt

Thebes is the Greek name for a city in Ancient Egypt located about 800 km south of the Mediterranean, on the east bank of the river Nile within the modern city of Luxor. The Theban Necropolis is situated nearby on the west bank of the Nile.-History:...

during his brief reign.

Some Egyptologists such as David Aston

David Aston

David Aston is an actor from Auckland, New Zealand who played the character Rhineheart in the 1999 Hollywood movie The Matrix. He also works as presenter for non-broadcast in-house videos, televisions commercials, voiceover artist and singer.-Early life:...

have argued that Rudamun was the anonymous Year 19 king attested at Wadi Gasus. However, new evidence on the Wadi Gasus graffito published by Claus Jurman in 2006 has now redated the graffito to the 25th dynastic

Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt

The twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt, known as the Nubian Dynasty or the Kushite Empire, was the last dynasty of the Third Intermediate Period of Ancient Egypt....

Nubia

Nubia is a region along the Nile river, which is located in northern Sudan and southern Egypt.There were a number of small Nubian kingdoms throughout the Middle Ages, the last of which collapsed in 1504, when Nubia became divided between Egypt and the Sennar sultanate resulting in the Arabization...

n period entirely (rather than to the Libyan era) and demonstrates that they pertain to Amenirdis I

Amenirdis I

Amenirdis I was a God's Wife of Amun in ancient Egypt.She was a Kushite princess, daughter of Pharaoh Kashta and Queen Pebatjma. She is likely to have been the sister of pharaohs Shabaka and Piye. Kashta arranged to have her adopted by the Divine Adoratrice of Amun, Shepenupet I, at Thebes as her...

and Shepenupet II

Shepenupet II

Shepenupet II was an Ancient Egyptian princess of the Twenty-fifth dynasty and the Divine Adoratrice of Amun from around 700 BC to 650 BC. She was the daughter of the first Kushite pharaoh Piye, and sister of Piye's successors Taharqa and Shabaka. She was adopted by her predecessor in office,...

based on paleographic and other evidence 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...

rather than the Libyan Shepenupet I

Shepenupet I

Shepenupet I was an ancient Egyptian high priestess during the reign of the 23rd dynasty. She was the first “hereditary” God's Wife or Divine Adoratrice of Amun to wield political power in ancient Thebes and its surrounding region...

and the Nubian Amenirdis I. Jurman notes that no monumental evidence from the Temple of Osiris Heqadjet or Karnak depict Shepenupet I associated with Piye

Piye

Piye, was a Kushite king and founder of the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt who ruled Egypt from 747 BCE to 716 BCE according to Peter Clayton. He ruled from the city of Napata, located deep in Nubia, Sudan...

's daughter, Amenirdis I. Another alternative that the Year 19 Wadi Gasus ruler was a certain Shoshenq VII, a new unknown ruler, was proposed by G. Broekman in a paper based on Nile Level Text No. 3 which is dated to Year 5 of a Theban king who ruled after Osorkon III. However, there are serious doubts among scholars as to whether Nile Level Text No. 3 contained the nomen Shoshenq rather than Takelot. Jean Legrain, who had the first opportunity to survey the Karnak Quay Texts did not read any royal nomen in this inscription—from his 1898 publication of the Quay Texts—since the stone had already been badly eroded. The stone would have been in even worse condition when Von Beckerath inspected the document in 1953 and assumed the surviving traces on the Text No. 3 referred to a king Shoshenq, rather than a Takelot.

Soon after Rudamun's death, his kingdom quickly fragmented into several minor city states under the control of various local kings such as Peftjaubast of Herakleopolis Magna

Herakleopolis Magna

, Nimlot at Hermopolis, and Ini

Ini

Ini was a king at Thebes, Egypt, during the 8th century BCE.Menkheperre Ini or Iny Si-Ese Meryamun was probably Rudamun's successor at Thebes but was not a member of his predecessor's 23rd Dynasty. Unlike the 23rd dynasty rulers, he was a local king who ruled only at Thebes for at least 4–5 years...

at Thebes. Peftjaubast married Irbastudjanefu, Rudamun's daughter, and was, therefore, Rudamun's son-in-law. Nothing is known about Rudamun's final burial place. The surviving contemporary information from his reign suggests that it was quite brief.

Further reading