Some kingly names according to Manetho

by Marianne Luban © Mar. 2000

@Pharaoh

Published in 

Egypt

 · 3 Sep 2023

Summary

Manetho's compendium of the dynasties of the kings of Egypt is the basis of our own understanding of Egyptian history. Nevertheless, Manetho's renderings (or those of his copiers) of some of the pharaonic names have posed difficulties.

Manetho, the Egyptian historian who supposedly did his research in the time of Ptolemy Soter and dedicated his Aegyptiaca to Ptolemy Philadelphus around 285-246 BCE (1), has been described as "helpful but unreliable". True perhaps, but it is an undeniable fact his reliability has been questioned by persons who, though being even farther removed from dynastic Egypt than Manetho, somehow feel they know better than he did in every detail. An "Epitome" was made of Manetho's works at an early date in the form of a list of the pharaohs of Egypt, which was preserved by Christian chronographers, notably Africanus and Eusebius. The most extensive quotation from the writings of Manetho is that of Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian who lived in the first century CE during the Roman occupation of Judea.

The origins of Manetho, himself, are murky, but he is said to have written a letter to Ptolemy Philadelphus describing himself as "high-priest and scribe of the sacred shrines of Egypt, born at Sebennytos and dwelling at Heliopolis (On)." However, this letter has been regarded as a forgery. (2) Manetho is said to have written his history of Egypt in three books. By coincidence, Clement of Alexandria claimed that another Egyptian author, Apion, used as a source a certain "Ptolemy of Mendes", who also penned a history of Egypt of the same length. While Mendes, or "Pi-Banebdjedu" was a city of the Delta, "Manetho" is a very plausible vocalization of "Banebdjedu" (Ba, the Lord of Mendes", as well. Otherwise, the historian's name has been suggested as meaning "Beloved of Thoth", 'Gift of Thoth", "Truth of Thoth", "Beloved of Neith", "Lover of Neith and "Horseherd" (groom)", among others.

Many people have wondered why Manetho, if he is assumed to be a priest and the leading scholar in Egypt of his day (3), committed so many errors when it came to transcribing the names of the pharaohs. In fact, Manetho's version of the kingly names is based upon an auditory perception of them instead of being an attempt at a proper transliteration. n bygone times, if an author wished to make, say, ten copies of his work, he dictated it to ten scribes and this could result in some errors and variations among the copies(4). And, of course, this method of copying relies on auditory perception. Given all the scattered monuments that were inscribed with the names of Ramesses the Great with his fabled sixty-six regnal years (5), what could possibly have been the excuse for writing his name "Harmesses Miamoun" with an "h"? This mistake occurs only in the version of Josephus, so it can't be suspected that he obtained this writing directly from Manetho. At any rate, no other versions of the Egyptian historian's king-list repeat this particular error. (6). Yet it is clear that sometimes the original cartouches bearing the royal names were erroneously interpreted to the extent that some glyphs were actually omitted, as this paper will illustrate.

A familiar monument, the Rosetta Stone, attests to how admirably certain scribes in Ptolemaic Egypt were still able to compose a text in Middle Egyptian and one can assume that, if Manetho was a scholar of that era who wished to impress his king, he would surely not have dared to perform less ably in compiling a list of the rulers of Egypt, examples of which already existed from dynastic times. It is also inescapable that most scholars interested in Manetho have been classicists who knew little about the Egyptian language, themselves, and failed to realize the large difference between written and spoken Egyptian. One cannot overestimate the tendancy of the Egyptians to drop, assimilate or elide their consonants and even subject certain words to metathesis or a reversing of their syllables, as Coptic, the ultimate stage of Egyptian, attests. /b/, /m/ and /n/ were often substituted for one another in vocalization and the phoneme "l", which did not even exist in the Egyptian graphic system, regularly took the place of /r/ and /n/, especially in the dialect of the Fayum. These idiosyncracies and others are found in Manetho's list of the dynasties of the pharaohs of Egypt. Josephus claims that Manetho had promised to write a history of Egypt based on the ancient records. Indeed, even if the Egyptian had utilized certain bits of folklore in his narrative--which no doubt he did--he could not have compiled his kinglist without consulting those records, reading hieroglyphs within cartouches, and realizing how pharaonic names were properly spelled.

The Greek Hibeh papyrus no. 27 which dates from 301-298 BCE., is a detailed calendar from the Saite nome in the Delta. It contains an introduction, in which the compiler relates that he spent five years in the Saite, learning a great deal from a certain wiseman there. He adds a remark on the method with which astronomers and sacred scribes, called "Hierogrammateis" could fix the setting and rising of the stars and thereby could keep most of the festivals annually on the same day. Some have surmised this sage to have been none other than Manetho, himself. In fact, Hibeh papyrus no. I.72.4ff, which is a memorandum from the high-priest, Petosiris, dated to circa 241 BCE, mentions a Manetho by name, in connection with a temple. However, Diodorus Siculus never refers to him and seems to have gleaned information regarding Egypt from Hecataeus of Abdera, who evidently pre-dated Manetho, instead. Although Manetho and his station in life must remain largely a mystery, the reason for his mistakes in Egyptian can be fairly easily explained through my suggestion of "oral transmission" of his Egyptian text.(7). However, I do deem it possible that Manetho can have made a few errors of his own when he read the pharaonic kinglists. Yet the misreadings I detect seem so basic that I am more inclined to attribute them to the first person who read Manetho's text aloud to a translator.

Certain signs appear to have been omitted because the reader did not recognize their significance, but in other instances they are recognized correctly. In Manetho's Dynasty Four, "Soris" seems to be a reading of the (s-r-w) in "Sneferu", completely ignoring the "nfr" glyph (F35) after the /s/. Yet in other names this sign is given its correct value. "Sufis" for "Khufu" is understandable as certain Egyptian dialects had /S/ for /x/ (8). Again, the final /w/ is rendered /i/, which was common practice, probably reflecting its vocalization in this position.

The Third Dynasty of Manetho is remarkable because it appears to contain the names of royal females who were not rulers, insofar as we know, although Manetho points out that, in Dynasty Two "it was decided that women also might hold the kingly office". A certain "Tyreis" can be interpreted as "Hetep-heres" (9) and "Mesochris" as "Meresankh", both names being used by more than one king's daughter during the Third and Fourth Dynasties. A "Tosorthis" (Sesorthos) seems to refer to Djoser, the monarch so closely associted with Imhotep, the architect and physician, (his name being vocalized "Imouthes"by the Greeks based on Egyptian pronunciation). The latter and his master were recalled as being not only of equal importance in the eyes of the Egyptians but virtually inseparable where achievement was concerned.

The Fourth Dynasty of Manetho, while not exactly "straightforward", presents no great mysteries. Dynasty Five is much the same. "Usercheres" certainly is not a far cry from "Userkaf" and neither is "Nephercheres" for "Neferirkare". But, from the cartouche of "Shepseskare", only three elements, (ra-s-s), were used to get "Sisires", totally ignoring the word "ka". The /p/ in "Sps" is understandably dropped..

Nebkaure Akhtoy of the Ninth Dynasty is beautifully rendered, this pharaoh possibly being such a tyrant that nobody forgot how to say his name (11). The Amenemhats of the Twelfth are called everything from the almost correct "Ammenemes" to "Lachares", "Lamares", "Ameres" and "Mer". "Lamares" is an expected vocalization of "Nymaare", the prenomen of Amenemhat III and "Lachares" fits to "Maakherure", that of Amenemhat IV, when one recalls that /m/, /n/ and "l" are sometimes interchangeable in vocalization.

Omar Zuhdi, in an excellent article in KMT Magazine,, explained why King Teti, (of whom Manetho couldn't resist disclosing that he was murdered by his bodyguard), is rightly rendered "Othoes" (10) in Dynasty Six. Merenre of the Sixth is obviously called "Methusuphis" due to his prenomen being "Nemtyemsaf and Nitocris, the queen or king who ushered out the Dynasty, must properly have been "Neith-Iqert".

Similarly interesting (and confusing) things occur in the names of the rulers that make up his Hyksos era or the "Shepherd Kings" that are variously ascribed to the Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Dynasties. It is written: "The first of these kings, Saites, reigned for 19 years: the Saite nome is called after him." (13) Saites is, without doubt, the same as Salites,and it is tempting to suppose this might be the Semitic version (Shalit) of the Egyptian demon, Apepi. From an Ugaritic text comes the line "I did crush the crooked serpent, Shalit, the seven-headed".(14) Salites was credited with establishing Avaris and the Asiatics in the Delta were ever afterward called "the Children of Apepi" by the Egyptians. After "Saites" Manetho lists: Apachnan, 36 years; Bnon (Baion), 44 years; Apophis, 61 years; Iannas, 50 yrs. 1 mo; Assis, 49 yrs. 2 mos. Also mentioned, in some versions, are an Archles for 49 years and a Staan for 50.

Very long reigns, indeed, these Delta kings showing every sign of being of rugged stock, except that the regnal years are probably illusory and a result of confusion about their names. We have the cartouches of Apepi I and II (with a different spelling than that of the demonic serpent) and Apachnan appears to be a misreading of "Aqenenre", the throne name of Apepi II. Evidently the sign for the disc of the sun or "ra" was somehow, due to erosion or just plain bad writing, mistaken for the sign which represents /p/. As odd as this may seem, it must be so because all the other signs needed to write Apachnan or "aA (p) q nn" are present within the cartouche (15). A "Bnon" is possibly a "ringer" mistakenly interposed from another dynasty (16).

Archles and Staan (17) are difficult to account for, but Iannes has been surmised to be Khyan (Seuserenre). I would concur. The ultimate Hyksos king mentioned by Manetho (per Josephus) is Assis, although we understand the last to be Apepi II or perhaps Khamudi. Assis must be the name of King Sheshi (Mayebre).

As Africanus cursorily (and erroneously) puts it: "The Seventeenth Dynasty were Shepherd Kings again (18), 43 in number, and the kings of Thebes or Diospolis, 43 in number. Total of the reigns of the Shepherd Kings and the Theban kings, 151 years." (19) The postscript to several versions is "It was in their time that Joseph appears to have ruled in Egypt."

Some names of the 18^th Dynasty are:

• Tethmosis (corresponding to) Thutmose I
• "Chebron " "Akheperenre" or Thutmose II
• Amenophis " Amenhotep I", probably out of place
• "Amessis/Amensis" Traditionally considered to be Hatshepsut (see below). The ancients often confused Ahmose with a king named "Thummosis". It seems Manetho transposed the early 18^th Dynasty kings, but perhaps he knew something we don't know--such as an arrangment of concurrent reigns.
• Mephres "Menkheperre" or Thutmose III

It would appear that the names of Maatkare Hatshepsut were completely forgotten by the Ptolemaic era, but it was recalled, at least, that a woman reigned for 21 years and 9 months in some part of the dynasty (21). I would propose that "Amensis", as supplied by Africanus, is nothing more than "Hmt nswt", pronounced by the Egyptians as "hime insi"--their only term for "queen", after all. Certainly, no word has survived for "female pharaoh" as this was, despite the existence of several female rulers, a contradiction in terms. "Amessis" is probably the result of certain nasals, like the Egyptian "n", having a servile character, meaning that they tended to be assimilated to the following consonant.

After Mephres, we find a rather odd appellation of "Misphragmutosis", which is a prime example of how the ancient Egyptians slurred their speech so as to render the separate words in a phrase nearly unrecognizable at times.

Misphragmutosis is yet another corruption of "Menkheperre" (22) and would then be Thutmose III. However, since Manetho wrote, according to Josephus: "...There came a revolt of the kings of the Thebaid and the rest of Egypt against the Shepherds, and a fierce and prolonged war broke out between them. By a king whose name was Misphragmutosis, the Shepherds, he says, were defeated." So some kings were evidently confused..

If you want to know why, you will have to read my new book "The Exodus Chronicles: Beliefs, Legends & Rumors from Antiquity Regarding the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt". Amenhotep II is left entirely out of Manetho's roster of the 18^th Dynasty.

Manetho continues his Eighteenth Dynasty with:

• Thutmosis = Thutmose IV
• Amenophis = Amenhotep III

"Orus" Unrecognizable in the 18^th Dynasty

Now comes the interesting part: Manetho says "then his daughter 'Akencheres' for 12 years 1 month, then her brother 'Rathotis' for 9 years". I think "Rathotis" is doubtless Tutankhamun from the part of his name that had survived in the oral tradition from "Neb-Kheperu-RA-TUT-ankh-Amun" because it is not likely that Manetho ever read these names in cartouches. At any rate, the length of reign given (9 years) for Rathotis makes sense as far as we can tell, and most scholars have reached the same conclusion about the identity as myself.

A list of the First through Twelfth Dynasties, as we know them, consists of these phonetically corresponding names of Manetho.

(Not all the names in the dynasties are represented below. This may be done at a future date)

Dyn 1

Hor-Aha = "Naracho", also called "Menes"
Merbiape = "Miebidos"

Dyn 2

Nynetjer = "Binothris"
Seth-Peribsen = "Sethenes"

Dyn 3 & 4

Nebka= "Necherochis"
Djoser = "Tosorthos" (Sesorthos)
Sekhemkhet = "Kerpheres"
Snefru = "Soris"
Khufu = "Suphis"
Menkaure = "Mencheres" (in Herodotus this king is succeeded by an "Asychis", who could,
according to the vagaries of Egyptian pronunciation, have been either Shepseskaf or Userkaf)
Djedefre = "Ratoises"
Khafre = "Bicheres"
Shepseskaf = "Sebercheres" (or "Sephuris)

Dyn 5

Userkaf = "Usercheres
Niuserre = "Siseres"
Sahure = "Sephres"
Neferirkare = "Nephercheres"
Menkauhor = "Mencheres"
Djedkare = "Tatcheres"
Unas = "Onnus"

Dyn 6

Teti = "Othoes"
Pepi = "Phius"
Merenre = by his prenomen, Nemtyemsaf, = "Methusuphis"
Pepi II = "Phiops"
Neith-Iqert = "Nitocris"

Dyn 8

Nebkaure Akhtoy = Manetho places an "Achthoes" in his Dyn. 9

Dyn 12

Amenemhet = "Ammanemes"
Senusret = "Sesostris"
Sobekneferu = "Skemiophris"

Skip 13 through 18

Dyn 19

Seti = "Sethos"
Ramesses = "Rampses"
Ammenepthis = Merenptah
Amenenemnes = Amenmesse

Next is "Thouris", called a man, but probably confused with Queen Tawosret. It is rather humorous to note that this "Thouris" is given to wife one "Alcandra", who is probably none other than the young Siptah, who became king at a tender age under the prenomen of Akhenre-Sotepenre with Tawosret as his regent or co-king. "Akhenre" was no doubt misunderstood as "Alcandra", the "d" in this last being nothing more than an illusion created by a "tapped" r (as in the British "veddy" for "very"), the same thing occuring in "Ozymandias" for "Usermaare". Since "Alkandra" means, in Greek, "Woman of a man of valor", a female was assumed here.. Tawosret, also known as "Twore", adopted full pharaonic titles at some point.

Manetho mentions no specific names in his 20^th Dynasty. The Chronicle of Eratosthenes claimed a king "Siphthas", ruling for five years before a a king, variously called "Phruoro" (Phouro) or "Pheros", by the Classic authors. It has been concluded that this appellation signified nothing more than "pharaoh", but I deem that a facile and possibly not very meritorious assumption. Herodotus introduces "Pheros" thus: "Pheros has no military exploits to his credit, but it happened that the following event led to his blindness. Once, the volume of water coming down the river was greater than ever before; the river rose to eighteen cubits, and when it flooded the fields, a wind descended and the river became turbulent. The king, they say, committed a sacrilege; he seized a spear and hurled it into the middle of the swirling river, and was immediately afterwards afflicted with an eye disease from which he became blind."

The amusing tale was told to Herodotus of how Pheros attempted to cure his blindness, being told he would be able to see again if he could rinse his eyes with the urine of a woman who had never lain with any man but her husband.

This was in the king's eleventh year. Pheros kept that white cane of his a long time before he found the woman he was looking for. "He tested out his own wife first, but he still did not regain his sight, so then he tried all kinds of women one after another. When at last he did recover his sight, he had all the women he had tested, except the one whose urine he had washed in to regain his sight, assemble in a single town (the one which nowadays goes by the name of "Red Clod"), and once they were all gathered there he burnt the town down, with them inside it." Pheros married the woman with the beneficial urine and erected some remarkable structures which "he dedicated to the sanctuary of the sun--two monolithic stone obelisks, each a hundred cubits tall and eight cubits thick." So was dismissed Pheros by Herodotus, even though he tells us this king was the son of the great "Sesostris" (a ruler supposed to be Ramesses II but probably an amalgam of several kings). "Pheros" or "Phruro", in the mixed up chronology of Herodotus, could be Neferkheperure Akhenaten, who raised the Ben-Ben, the two obelisks at Karnak. Herodotus's narrative also includes the description of a monarch named "Proteus", who must surely be Setnakht of the 20^th Dynasty.

Notes

1. Diodorus. I.87.1-5 ; 88.4
2. Manetho, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press (1997).
3. W.G. Waddell, Manetho, The Introduction (Loeb)., evidently was convinced of it.
4. From what we know of Egyptian pronunciation, if someone spoke the name of King Nynetjer (Dynasty II), it could have sounded like "Bi-nou-teh", resulting in the "Binothris" of Manetho (also written "Biophis"), according to Africanus ("In whose reign it was decided that women might hold the kingly office.")
5. According to Manetho. Ramesses II ruled for sixty-seven or sixty-eight years according to modern scholarship. The pseudo-Manetho Book of Sothis gives the correct length of reign for this king.
6. It is almost superfluous to mention that all the kingly names of Manetho are Hellenized, many being given the suffix of "is", reflecting the sybillant habit of the Greeks.
7. The Rosetta Stone certainly is a prime example of how certain people in Ptolemaic Egypt were still wonderfully capable at writing Middle Egyptian, the classic language, even though it was not entirely the same Middle Egyptian as on the monuments of the pharaohs of the New Kingdom.
8. Not rendered "Shufis" because the Greek alphabet does not contain /S/.
9. We see evidence that, in names, and perhaps even in general, the word "hotep" was dismissively vocalized in some sort of abbreviated fashion.
10. Zuhdi, Omar, "Manetho", KMT Spring 1992, pp.22-31. While I agree with Zuhdi that a sound probably came before the first /t/, I can't see why the second /t/ would be final and silent with a /y/ yet to follow. Apparently this second /t/ carried a vowel sound of its own.
11. It was said of him that he behaved more cruelly than any of his predecessors, was smitten with madness and killed by a crocodile.
12. James Hoch, "Semitic Words In Egyptian Texts", Princeton University Press.
13. Having nothing to do with Sais, but being in the extreme east of the Delta, next to the Tanite nome.
14. ANET, pp. 137-138
15. This would certainly be a bizarre error, if Manetho, himself, had made it because someone well-schooled in the Egyptian language would have known that "aA (p) q nn" is a meaningless writing and that all prenomina should be a phrase like Aqenenre", which means "The Great Valor of Ra"--unless this cartouche was perceived as no prenomen but a foreign, and therefore inscrutable, nomen. It should be noted, however, that Chris Bennett informed me of the existence of a scarab of an "eldest king's son, Ipq", possibly the son of Mayibre Sheshi.
16. There was a "Bbnm" of Dynasty Fourteen at Xois (Sakha) in the Western Delta, these kings probably being local and co-existent with a dynasty of Upper Egypt. Or perhaps there was a problem caused by Seuserenre Bebiankh (surviving as "Bnon") being confused with the Seuserenre that was the prenomen of Khyan. The cartouche of Khyan turned up on the lid of an alabastron in the Palace of Minos at Knossos in Crete, as well as a basalt lion from Bagdad. "The Kings of Dynasty XIV, and even the kings of Dynasty XIII, reigned simultaneously with the Hyksos kings." Manetho, Loeb Classical Library, pages 75, footnote.
17. I can offer no good suggestion for "Archles". "Staan" may be "Pnst-n-spti" from the end of Dynasty Fourteen.
18. Africanus actually refers to the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Dynasties. See, for one, Peter Clayton's Chronicle of the Pharaohs, (London, 1994). When Africanus mentions the Hyksos of the Fifteenth Dynasty, he states that there were only six, which seems to agree with the six modern scholars recognize. (Rainer Hannig lists a "Chamudi")
19. The Hyksos rule in the Nile Valley lasted for about 120 years and it was under the rule of the Theban King, Seqenenre Tao that a war with the Hyksos erupted around 1590 BC. The fight was continued by Kamose, the last pharaoh of the Seventeenth Dynasty and Ahmose, the premier king of the Eighteenth, is said to have expelled the "shepherds".
20. But Syncellus, according to Africanus, does not: "The Eighteenth Dynasty consisted of 16 kings of Diospolis. The first of these was Amos..."
21. Joyce Tyldesley suggests that Hatshepsut was not included in the Nineteenth Dynasty king lists, not so much out of animus against the "woman king" but because she shared her reign with Thutmose III (or vice versa), this great pharaoh being the only one thought worthy of inclusion. (Hatchepsut, London, 1996)
22. A dialectic version of "Menkheperre", with /S/ for /x/, resulted in "M'shopria".
23. According to Josephus, "Orus" reigned 36 and a half years.