Psusennes II

praenomen or throne name nomen or birth name
Psusennes II in hieroglyphs
Era: 3rd Intermediate Period (1069–664 BC)

Psusennes II [Greek Ψουσέννης], or Hor-Pasebakhaenniut II [Egyptian ḥr-p3-sb3-ḫˁỉ-<n>-nỉwt], is the final king of the Twenty-first dynasty of Egypt. He is often considered the same person as the High-priest known as Psusennes III. Unlike his immediate predecessor and successor--Siamun and Shoshenq I--he is quite poorly attested in the historical record even though Manetho credits him with a 14 Year reign. The few contemporary attestations from his reign include a graffito in Seti I's Abydos temple, an ostracon from Um el-Qaab, an affiliation at Karnak and his presumed burial--which consists of a gilded coffin with a royal uraeus and a mummy, found in an antechamber of Psusennes I's tomb at Tanis.

 To be added to this list is a Year 5 Mummy linen that was written with the High Priest Psusennes III's name. It has been generally assumed that a Year 13 III Peret 10+X date in fragment 3B, line 6 from the Karnak Priestly Annals dates to his reign. Unfortunately, the king's name is not stated here and the only thing which is certain is that the fragment must be dated after Siamun's reign. Hence, it belongs to either Psusennes II or possibly Shoshenq I's reign.  More impressive are the number of objects which place Pseusennes II together with his successor, Shoshenq I such as an old statue of Thutmose III which contains two parallel columns of texts--one referring to Psusennes II and the other to Shoshenq I--a recently unearthed block from Basta which preserves the nomen of Shoshenq I together with the prenomen of Psusennes II, and a now lost graffito from Theban Tomb 18. 

REFERENCES:

• Aidan Dodson, RdE 38(1987), pp.50-51
• Aidan Dodson, "Psusennes II and Shoshenq I," JEA 79(1993), pp.267-268
• Jean Yoyotte, "A propos de Psousennes II," BSSFT 1(1988)