Jedkara Isesi

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The reign of Isesi is well documented by both the economic papyri from Abusir and the numerous royal seals and modern inscriptions; all this taken together indicates a rather long reign of this pharaoh. The names of this pharaoh are found in all four lists of the ancient Egyptian kings known to us. This is, firstly, the Karnak royal list , the creation of which dates back to the reign of Thutmose III , where he is recorded in the fifth line under his personal name Isesi. Jedkara is on the 32nd line in the Abydos Pharaohs list , drawn during the reign of King Seti I , on the wall of his temple in Abydos . He is also on the Sakkar list (31st entry), where he appears under the name Maatkara, “The True Soul of Ra, ” probably due to a copyist error. Finally, the name of Jedkar is indicated in the Turin papyrus (III column, 24th row), where it is given as Jed, "The Strongest . "

In Turin papyrus, the place where the time of his reign is marked is not very readable, only the figure 8 is well traced, as the ending. It is believed that he ruled for 28 years, but some Egyptologists suggest this data is erroneous and believe that 38 years were actually meant. According to Manetho, this pharaoh, whom he calls Tanjeres ( dr. Greek Τανχέρης ), ruled for 44 years. ^[2] The latest discovered date of this pharaoh is 22 years of calculation, 12 days, IV months of the Ahet season , which is very well consistent with the Manetho’s data, if you take for the year of calculation - calculation of cattle for tax purposes, usually during the Old Kingdom held every two years. However, the problem is that sometimes these calculations were carried out every year. Celebrating Jedkar’s cheb-sed jubilee also suggests that the reign of the pharaoh exceeded 30 years. On the alabaster vessel of that period is inscribed: "The first time is the anniversary of Jedkar, beloved by the Souls of Heliopolis ."

It is believed that the reign of Jedkar Isesi was a time of decentralization and weakening of the power of the pharaoh. His name contains the oldest philosophical work that has come down to our time - “The Teachings of Ptahhotep, ” attributed to his chat Ptahhotep . This Ptahhotep was a member of the royal family and may have been the uncle of Pharaoh. He probably served as his guardian and mentor. ^[3]

Having ascended the throne, the pharaoh adopted the throne name of Jedkar, "The Spirit of the solar god Ra is strong . " There is evidence that this king bore the personal name of Isesi, or Sisi (sometimes read as Assa). As a choral name, his name was Jedhau, “Strong in his ascension or appearance,” and as the Golden Falcon, he bore the name Jed, “Strong” or “Stable , ” “Monumental . ”

As far as we know, this pharaoh was the first to accept the famous Sa-Ra title, “Son of the solar god Ra ” , which was written before his personal name Isesi (or Sisi), and therefore, he meant that the pharaoh was physically a descendant of the sun god. ^[four]

Jedkara and the Palermo Stone

There is an assumption that the ancient annals of Palermo stone were created during the reign of Jedkar. Although the name of this pharaoh is not mentioned anywhere in the surviving fragments of this artifact , but a simple calculation of the number of cells into which this monument is broken (each cell corresponds to a certain year), says that this chronicle may have been brought up to the 7th year of Jedkar's reign. There is some evidence for this. In Wadi Maghara, on the Sinai Peninsula , a ruined inscription was found in which you can read the following: “A year after the fourth count of all cattle and small livestock, in which [year] God made [so] that there was a secret [place in] quarry found this valuable stone [used for] a plate with ancient inscriptions. " Then came the names of King Jedhau, Jedkar, Isesi and a list of expedition members under the command of a ship captain named Nianh-Hentiheti. “The year after the fourth counting time” may well be the 7th or 8th year of the reign of Jedkar Isesi, if these calculations were carried out once every two years, which is typical for that period. That is, this is the year to which, according to the reconstruction, the chronicle has been brought.

There is another inscription, which may also refer to the compilation of these annals. In the tomb of the vizier of Senejemib it is written: “I [Senejemib] was the one who brought joy to the king as the keeper of the secrets of His Majesty and as a favorite of his Majesty in everything ... As for any business that His Majesty instructed me to do, I did it at the request of the heart His Majesty regarding him. [I received a command from] His Majesty when he was at the Archives Site. When it was filled ... His Majesty made me incense in the presence of His Majesty ... Never did this for anyone in the presence of the king ... Then His Majesty wrote [a letter to me] with his own fingers, in order to praise me because he fulfilled I have done all the work that His Majesty has ordered me to do, rightly and well at the request of His Majesty's heart regarding her. [Here is this letter:] “The royal command to the Vizier Senejemib, the chief scribe of the royal archives, the head of all the work of the king. My Majesty saw the letter that you sent in order to inform me [that part of the work was completed], for the building, called “Beloved [king] of Isesi”, was built in the palace ... [You completed it in such a way] to please the heart of Isesi ... for you could convey in words what Isesi desires is better than anyone on the whole earth ... You will make a stove (?) as planned ... My Majesty wants to hear this assurance of yours ... ""

Senejemib then quotes the second letter received from Pharaoh. It concerns the plan for a new building in the royal palace, in front of which they had to set up a garden (?) 1200 cubits long and 221 cubits wide. Perhaps it was a building where a stone slab with a chronicle was kept. It was something like a temple dedicated to the royal ancestors. All this inscription, as well as the inscription on the Sinai, may not have any relation to the recording of the annals of the Palermo stone. However, taking into account that Senejemib was the “chief scribe of the tsar’s archives”, as well as the fact that the mentioned work was entrusted to him by the pharaoh when the king “was in the Place of Archives”, there is reason to believe that this is a chronicle. ^[5]

Jedkar Expeditions

In addition to the already mentioned inscription on the Sinai in this area there are two more images of the pharaoh Jedkar, where he is shown arrogant hand over an Asian and called "Slaughtering all countries." The inscription is dated to the 9th year of counting cattle, that is, apparently, the 18th year of the reign of Dzhedkar. The expedition, which left this inscription, consisted of more than 1,400 people and, probably, was sent there to extract copper and turquoise in the local mines. Expeditions to the Sinai Peninsula departed from the port on the site of the modern Ain Sokhna, located on the western shore of the Gulf of Suez . This is evidenced by papyrus and prints of cylindrical seals with the name of Jedkar, found in these places. The port included large galleries carved in sandstone and serving as residential and storage facilities. On the wall of one such gallery, an inscription was found about another expedition to the "Turquoise Mountains" in the year of the seventh count of cattle - perhaps the 14th year of the reign of Jedkar.

During the archaeological excavations of Edfu in southern Upper Egypt , more than 220 clay seals marked with silver were found. Edfu, called the ancient Egyptians Behdet, was probably the site of mountain expeditions sent to the Eastern Desert and the Red Sea during the reign of Jedkar Isesi. These expeditions were carried out with the help of a special group of researchers called sementiu , who were assembled by order of an administration official sent by the king from Memphis to Edfu. In Wadi Hammamat , a two-day journey east of Koptos from a deserted valley through which the road to the Red Sea passed, an inscription with the name Isesi was also found. This indicates the ongoing work of the pharaoh in local quarries.

At least one expedition to diorite quarries located 65 km northwest of Abu Simbel was carried out south of Egypt by Jedkar. Dzhedkara was not the first pharaoh to mine stone here, since these quarries were already used during the IV dynasty , and work continued here during the VI dynasty and later, during the Middle Kingdom . Graffiti with the name Isesi imprisoned in cartouche was discovered on a rock in the Thomas area (about 150 km south of Aswan ) in Lower Nubia , and this proves that the soldiers of the pharaoh came here during an expedition. According to the inscription of Khufhor , the ruler of the southernmost region of Egypt - Elephantine , under the later Pharaoh Pepi II , Jedkar sent an expedition along the Nile to the country of Iam (above 3 thresholds), under the command of the “treasurer of God” Baurid. From this expedition, a dwarf - a pygmy , a resident of the Central regions of Africa, was brought to the court of the pharaoh.

Jedkara Isesi probably also worked in gold mines in the Eastern Desert and in Nubia. Indeed, after all, the earliest mention of the "Land of Gold" - the ancient Egyptian term for Nubia - is found in the inscription from the memorial temple of Jedkar.

Statue

The only statue of Jedkar currently known is the seated statue of a king of limestone, from which only the lower part of the legs has been preserved. This monument was found in 1900 during excavations led by Flinders Pitri in the temple of Osiris in Abydos . The lost upper part of the statue was attached to the lower with the help of spikes. On the pedestal, on both sides of the legs, inscriptions with the throne name of Jedkar are inscribed. The current location of this statue is unknown.

Jedkar Pyramid

In addition, his pyramid , called Nefer ("Beautiful") , the pharaoh built on the ancient necropolis of Saqqara , and not in Abusir , like his predecessors. Of all the pyramids of the V dynasty, this was the largest; the sides of its base were approximately 86.5 meters. Now this pyramid is severely destroyed and is known by its Arabic name “Haram al-Shovaf” (“The Watch Pyramid”), because it rises like the tower of an old castle on a round rocky hill, directly above the village of Sakkara. For a long time, the name of its owner was unknown. He was recognized only in 1945 by Abd es-Salaam and L. Variy, who first examined this pyramid in detail. Unfortunately, both died before they could publish the results of their work. In a burial chamber in a broken sarcophagus , the remains of a mummified body of a man, possibly Jedkar himself, were found. The mummy belonged to a man who died at the age of 50 to 60 years. A radiocarbon analysis conducted in the early 1990s confirmed that the mummy dates back to the V dynasty.

The memorial temple of the pyramid was unusually great; it contained fallen columns with capitals in the form of palm trees and fragments of reliefs depicting hunting in the desert and a procession of women with sacrificial gifts. The lower temple of this pyramid was not found. The underground premises were not yet decorated with “ texts ”; they were already discovered in the pyramid of the successor of Jedkar, King Unis . ^[6]

Despite the fact that all representatives of his dynasty erected temples dedicated to the sun god Ra , Jedkar, apparently, did not create such a temple. It is believed that the growing popularity of Osiris among ordinary Egyptians, which shook the position of the state cult of Ra, was witnessed in this way. True, it should be noted that he carried out some restoration work in the sunny temple of Sahur in Abusir .

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