| Neferhotep I the Holy | |
|---|---|
| |
| Pharaoh of Egypt | |
| Reign | 5 March 1741 - 16 July 1730 |
| Predecessor | Sobekhotep IV |
| Successor | Sobekhotep V |
| Co-Ruler | Sihathor I |
| Born | June 9, 1784 Waset, Egypt |
| Died | July 16, 1730 (aged 54) |
| Spouse | Senebsen |
| Issue | Haankhef, Kemi, Wahneferhotep |
| Full name | |
| Horus Name: Geregtawy Nebty Name: Wepmaat Golden Horus Name: Menmerut Praenomen: Khasekhemra Nomen: Neferhotep | |
| House | Haankhefian |
| Dynasty | Sobekhotep - Amenemhatid |
| Father | Haankhef |
| Mother | Kemi |
| Religion | Kemetism |
Khasekhemra Neferhotep I was an Egyptian pharaoh of the mid Thirteenth Dynasty ruling in the second half of the 18th century BC during a time referred to as the late Middle Kingdom or early Second Intermediate Period, depending on the scholar. One of the best attested rulers of the 13th Dynasty, Neferhotep I reigned for 11 years.
The grandson of a non-royal townsman from a Theban family with a military background, Neferhotep I's relation to his predecessor Sobekhotep IV is unclear and he may have usurped the throne. Neferhotep I was likely contemporaneous with kings Zimri-Lim of Mari and Hammurabi of Babylon. Little is known of his activities during his decade-long reign and the most important document surviving from his rule is a stela from Abydos recounting the fashioning of an image of Osiris and Neferhotep's determination that it be made "as instructed by the gods at the beginning of time".
Towards the end of his reign, Neferhotep I shared the throne with his brother Sihathor, a coregency that lasted a few months to a year. Sihathor died shortly before Neferhotep, who probably then appointed another brother, Sobekhotep V, as coregent. In any case, Sobekhotep V succeeded Neferhotep I soon afterwards, and reigned over Egypt for almost a decade. The reigns of the two brothers mark the apex of the 13th Dynasty.
Family[]
Origins[]
Neferhotep I seems to have come from a non-royal family of Thebes with a military background. His grandfather, Nehy, held the title "officer of a town regiment". Nehy was married to a woman called Senebtysy. Nothing is known about her other than that she held the common title "lady of the house". Their only known son was called Haankhef.
Haankhef always appears in the sources as "God's father" and "royal sealer" and his wife Kemi as "king's mother" indicating that neither of them was of royal birth. The parentage of Neferhotep and Haankhef is directly confirmed by a number of scarab seals from Rakhenet where the latter is said to be the father of the former. Haankhef is also explicitly recorded as the father of Neferhotep I in the Turin canon, a king list compiled during the early Ramesside era and which serves as the primary historical source for the rulers of this time period. This is an extremely rare occurrence as the Turin canon normally only names the pharaohs, while non-royal people are excluded from the list. Beyond Haankhef, the only other exception to this rule is the father of Amenemhat X.
Egyptologists have noted that instead of hiding their non-royal origins, Neferhotep I, his predecessor Sobekhotep IV, and his successor Sobekhotep V, remarkably, proclaimed them on their stelae and scarab seals. This is at odds with the traditional Egyptian system where the legitimacy of the new king rests mainly on his filiation. These proclamations of non-royal origins were possibly made to dissociate these kings from their immediate predecessors, in particular Seth I whose monuments have been usurped and defaced. The reason for this remains unknown.
Descendants and succession[]
Inscriptions from Aswan indicate that Neferhotep I had at least two children, named Haankhef and Kemi like his parents, with a woman called Senebsen. He also possibly had another son named Wahneferhotep. In spite of this, Neferhotep I named his brother Sihathor as coregent in the last months of his reign and when both Sihathor and Neferhotep I died around the same time, they were succeeded by another brother, Sobekhotep V.
Sobekhotep V, whose reign marks the apex of the 13th Dynasty, mentions on a stela (Cairo JE 51911) that was placed in the temple of Amun at Ipetisut that he was born in Thebes:
My majesty [came] to the Southern City since I wanted to see the august god; it is my city in which I was born. ... I saw the vigor of his majesty (i.e. Amun) at every single feast when I was a child who could not yet conceive.
Similarly, Neferhotep I could well have been born in Thebes; even though the capital of Egypt during the 13th Dynasty was still Itjtawy in the north, near the modern village of Itjtawy.