Disruptive Transfers of Power

Summary

Join Kara and Jordan on a thrilling, hair-tingling journey through ancient Egypt's wild dynastic power shifts! From the dramatic reign of Tutankhamun to the strategic brilliance of Hatshepsut, explore how these rulers navigated assassinations, epic battles, and family drama to seize the throne. Discover the parallels between ancient power struggles and today’s political landscape, and dive into the ultimate royal showdowns featuring invaders like the Hyksos, Libyans, and Nubians. Buckle up for tales of epic reigns, royal intrigue, and the cunning ways rulers took their crowns in a world where the only constant was change.

Show Notes

Too Short of Reign

* Djet → Merneith (as queen regent, at least, and to her son Den, should he live)

* Cooney, When Women Ruled the World— see Chapter 1 on Merneith!

In the end, what was Merneith’s legacy? Do we remember her? Or, more important, did the Egyptians? The answer may be the expected and deflating no. Memory of her would be short-lived, as patriarchy demanded, even if it was her cautious, feminine rule that saved Egypt’s kingship. She does appear on a king list found in the tomb of her son—but just a few reigns later, on inscriptions from the last part of Dynasty 1 from the tomb of Qa’a, one of Den’s successors, there is no longer any mention of Merneith

* Recent discoveries of wine from the tomb of Merneith

* Amenemhat III → Sobekneferu (the last ruler of Dynasty XII)

* Cooney, When Women Ruled the World— see Chapter XX on Sobekneferu!

* Newberry, P. E. 1943. Co-regencies of Ammenemes III, IV and Sebknofru. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 29, 74-75

* Callender, V. G. 1998. Materials for the reign of Sebekneferu. In Eyre, C. J. (ed.), Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Egyptologists, Cambridge, 3-9 September 1995, 227-236. Leuven: Peeters.

* Pignattari, Stefania 2018. Amenemhat IV and the end of the Twelfth Dynasty: between the end and the beginning. BAR International Series 2906. Oxford: BAR Publishing

* Tutankhamun → Smenkhare/Neferneferuaten/Nefertiti

To the historian familiar with Egypt’s patterns of succession, the most compelling thing about Tutankhamun’s youthful kingship is the fact that he had no female regent that we can identify as the decision-maker (Cooney, When Women Ruled the World).

* Dodson, Aidan 2022. Tutankhamun: king of Egypt. His life and afterlife. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press.

* Dodson, Aidan 2009. Amarna sunset: Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Ay, Horemheb, and the Egyptian counter-reformation. Cairo, New York: American University in Cairo Press.

* Reeves, Nicholas 2019. The decorated north wall in the tomb of Tutankhamun (KV 62) (The burial of Nefertiti? II). Amarna Royal Tombs Project - Valley of the Kings, Occasional Paper 3. [n.p.]: ARTP

* Reeves, Nicholas 2020. The tomb of Tutankhamun (KV 62): supplementary notes (The burial of Nefertiti? III). Graphics and animations by Peter Gremse. Amarna Royal Tombs Project - Valley of the Kings, Occasional Paper 5. [n.p.]: ARTP.

* Reeves, Nicholas 2016. Tutankhamun's mask reconsidered. In Elleithy, Hisham (ed.), Valley of the Kings since Howard Carter: proceedings of the Luxor Symposium November 4, 2009, 117-134. Cairo: Ministry of Antiquities.

* Reeves, Nichol