Genealogy of Ankhefensekhmet

rdf:langString Genealogy of Ankhefensekhmet

rdf:langString Genealogy of Ankhefensekhmet

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rdf:langString The Genealogy of Ankhefensekhmet or Genealogy of the Memphite priestly elite (Berlin 23673) is an ancient Egyptian relief – sometimes referred to as a stela – made during the 8th century BCE, under the reign of pharaoh Shoshenq V of the late 22nd Dynasty. A surviving block is kept at the Egyptian Museum of Berlin. The relief was issued by a priest called Ankhefensekhmet with the purpose of illustrating his own genealogy. The relief traces back Ankhefensekhmet's sequence of ancestors up to 60 generations before, with the earliest individuals dating back to the 11th Dynasty (around 1300 years before Ankhefensekhmet's time). Many of Ankhefensekhmet's ancestors bore the title of "Chief of master-craftsmen", more commonly referred as "High Priest of Ptah". Robert K. Ritner suggested that the mention of pharaohs of the Hyksos period (Apepi, the otherwise unknown Sharek and Aaqen) should reflect the continuity of the sequence of ancestors, rather than an acceptance of the Hyksos rule by the indigenous people of Egypt; in fact, the name Aaqen, which means "Valiant ass", looks like an intentional misspelling of "Strong of valour". Still earlier, Alan Gardiner also suggested that Aaqen may be a mocking name for Aaqenenre ("Great and strong is Ra"), which is one of Apepi's throne names.