Third Intermediate Period
Shoshenq V
22nd Dynasty (Bubastite/Libyan) · 945-715 BCE
Open full-size illustration →Source: Shaw, Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000)
Background
Shoshenq V's nearly 40-year reign watched central royal power in the Delta dissolve into independent Libyan chiefdoms, and, fittingly, one of the most important sources for reconstructing his dynasty's own family tree was carved not to honor him but a sacred bull, late in his reign. Research: UCL Digital Egypt; Louvre.
Dating: Shaw, Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000)
Full profile
The final long reign
Shoshenq V ruled for nearly 40 years, making him the last long-reigning monarch of the 22nd Dynasty. By the end of his tenure, centralized power in the north had almost completely collapsed. Powerful local Libyan chiefs in the western Delta began setting up their own independent, autonomous fiefdoms, ignoring the king in Tanis entirely.
A genealogy carved for a bull
In his 37th regnal year, a priest named Pasenhor officiated at the burial of a sacred Apis bull at the Serapeum in Saqqara and commemorated the event with a limestone stela, now in the Louvre. Pasenhor used the opportunity to record his own family line back through generations of priests to the royal house itself, listing an unbroken sequence of kings running from Shoshenq I through Osorkon I, Takelot I, and Osorkon II. Because this sequence can be matched confidently to known rulers, the Stela of Pasenhor remains one of the most important single sources for fixing the order and family relationships of the early 22nd Dynasty.
Sources for this profile
- Shaw, I. (Ed.). (2000). The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press.
- Dodson, A., & Hilton, D. (2004). The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson.
- Leprohon, R. J. (2013). The Great Name: Ancient Egyptian Royal Titulary. Society of Biblical Literature.
- UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology. Chronology. UCLA.
- University College London. Digital Egypt for Universities.
The complete, APA-formatted reference list is on the Academic Sources & Bibliography page.