Sakir-Har

Sakir-Har (Śkr-hr)
Pharaoh
Heqa-Khasut
PredecessorSalitis?
SuccessorKhyan?
Royal titulary
Nebty name
Tjes-pedjut
Ṯz-pḏwt
He who subdues the bow people
G16
V1T10
T10
T10
Golden Horus
Iri-tash-ef
Jrj-t3š.f
He who establishes his boundary
G8
irt
U30		 AS
Z9
f
Nomen
Heqa-Khasut, Sakir-Har[1]
Ḥq3 ḫ3swt Skr Hr
Ruler of foreign countries (=Hyksos), Reward of Har
S38N25
Z2		 z
k
r		 h
r
MonumentsA doorjamb from Tell el-Dab'a
Dynasty15th Dynasty

Sakir-Har (Śkr-hr; Seker-Har) was a Hyksos king of the early Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt, ruling over some part of Lower Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, possibly in the early 16th century BC.[2]

Attestation

Sakir-Har is attested by a single inscription on a doorjamb excavated at Tell el-Dab'a—ancient Avaris—by Manfred Bietak in the 1990s.[3]

Doorjamb, Cairo TD-8316

The doorjamb, now in Cairo under the catalog number Cairo TD-8316, bears his partial royal titulary in the manner of the Ancient Egyptian, showing his Nebti and Golden Falcon names, as well as his nomen.[4] The doorjamb reads

[Horus who... ...], The possessor of the Wadjet and Nekhbet diadems who subdues the bow people. The Golden Falcon who establishes his boundary. The heka-khawaset, Sakir-Har.[5][6]

Theories

The doorjamb confirms the identity of Sakir-Har as one of the kings of the Hyksos Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt. His immediate successor could have been the powerful Hyksos ruler, Khyan, if he was the third Hyksos king of this dynasty, although Sakir-Har's precise position within this dynasty has not yet been established firmly. The name Sakir-Har may translate as "Reward of Har",[7] or may alternatively derive from the Amorite Sikru-Haddu meaning "The memory of Hadad",[8] in which case Sakir-Har may have reigned after Khyan and Yanassi and immediately before Apophis.

The fact that Sakir-Har bears an Egyptian titulary as well as the title of heka-khawaset (Hyksos) suggests that the line of kings to which Sakir-Har belongs may have deliberately taken this title for themselves as had been proposed earlier by scholars, including Donald Redford.[9] Bietak shared this opinion, writing that "although this new term [heka-khawaset] perhaps was originally applied by the Egyptians in a disparaging way to the new rulers of the land, the rulers themselves employed ‘Hyksos’ as an official ruler's title".[10] Research has since then refuted the idea that the Egyptians originated the term, further proving that the title of heka-khawaset, "Ruler of Foreign Lands", was invented by the Hyksos rulers[2] possibly to emphasize their origins or, more explicitly, their Amorite affiliation.[11]

Papyrus Carlsberg 642

Schneider (2018) points to a late Hyksos tradition which may refer to Śkrhr in the demotic Papyrus Carlsberg 642 which mentions an impious ruler Saker.[12][13][14]

References

  1. ^ Jürgen von Beckerath, Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen (= Münchner ägyptologische Studien, vol 46), Mainz am Rhein: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1999. ISBN 3-8053-2310-7, pp.116-17.
  2. ^ a b Candelora 2017, p. 204.
  3. ^ Bietak & Hein 1994, pp. 151–152, see also fig. no. 126.
  4. ^ Ryholt 1997, p. 120.
  5. ^ Ryholt 1997, p. 123.
  6. ^ Booth 2005, p. 31.
  7. ^ Ryholt 1997, pp. 127–128.
  8. ^ Bietak 2007, p. 753.
  9. ^ Redford 1970, p. 13.
  10. ^ Bietak 1996, p. 113.
  11. ^ Candelora 2017, p. 216.
  12. ^ Quack equates Saker with Salatis
  13. ^ Schneider 2006:193 n. 122
  14. ^ Schneider 2018:277

Bibliography

Booth, Charlotte (2005). The Hyksos period in Egypt. Shire Egyptology. Vol. 27. Shire: Princes Risborough. ISBN 9780747806387.
Bietak, Manfred (2007). "Où est le palais des Hyksôs ? À propos des fouilles à Tell el-Dabca et 'Ezbet Helmi". Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (in French): 749–780.
Candelora, Danielle (2017). "Defining the Hyksos: A Reevaluation of the Title HqA xAswt and Its Implications for Hyksos Identity". Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt. 53: 203–221. doi:10.5913/jarce.53.2017.a010.
Bietak, Manfred; Hein, I., eds. (1994). Pharaonen und Fremde - Dynastien im Dunkel: Sonderaustellung des Historischen Museums der Stadt Wien in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Ägyptologischen Institut der Universität Wien und dem Österreichischen Archäologischen Institut Kairo, Rathaus Wien, Volkshalle, 8. Sept. - 23. Okt. 1994. Vienna.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Bietak, Manfred (1996). Avaris, the Capital of the Hyksos. Recent Excavations at Tell el-Dab'a. Raymond and Beverly Sackler Foundation distinguished lecture in Egyptology. Vol. 1. London: British Museum Press for the Trustees of the British Museum. ISBN 0714109681.
Redford, D. (1970). "The Hyksos Invasion in History and Tradition". Orientalia. 39 (1).
Ryholt, Kim (1997). The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, c. 1800–1550 B.C. CNI publications, 20. Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Near Eastern Studies, University of Copenhagen : Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 978-87-7289-421-8.
Preceded by Pharaoh of Egypt
Fifteenth Dynasty 		Succeeded by