The designation Shoshenq II is variously associated by scholars with several different Egyptian royal names, most commonly Heqakheperre Shoshenq IIa, discussed below, but also Tutkheperre Shoshenq IIb and Maatkheperre Shoshenq IIc, and is sometimes applied to the High Priest of Amun Shoshenq Q.
Heqakheperre-setepenre Shoshenq-meryamun (Egyptian ḥqȝ-ḫpr-rʿ stp-n-rʿ ššnq mrj-jmn), arbitrarily designated Shoshenq IIa,Kaper 2008: 38–39. was a pharaoh of the 22nd Dynasty. King Heqakheperre Shoshenq is known entirely from his funerary effects, discovered in his reburial at Tanis by Pierre Montet in 1939. Scholars disagree as to the identity and chronological placement of the king.
The royal throne name or prenomen, Heqakheperre Setepenre, has been interpreted as "The manifestation of Ra rules, the chosen one of Ra,"Clayton 1994: 185. or as "The ruler is the (very) manifestation of Ra, the chosen one of Ra."Leprohon 2013: 146.
Evidence from burial
The only ruler of this dynasty whose burial was not plundered by tomb robbers, Heqakheperre Shoshenq's final resting place was discovered by Pierre Montet within an antechamber of Psusennes I's tomb at Tanis (NRT III). Montet removed the coffin lid on March 20, 1939, in the presence of King Farouk I himself.Brier 1994: 145. The burial proved to contain a beautiful falcon-headed silver coffin, a gold funerary mask,Sheshonq II placed over the head of the king,Brier 1994: 144. and many jewel-encrusted bracelets and pectorals. Since Heqakheperre Shoshenq is only attested on items from his burial, the inscribed objects found in it have been crucial for scholarly hypotheses regarding his identity and chronological placement.
The inscribed objects from the burial of Heqakheperre Shoshenq included: The silver falcon-headed coffin, inscribed with the royal name Heqakheperre Shoshenq (M211)Montet 1951: 37-38, pl. 17-20; Jansen-Winkeln 2007: 73; Aston 2009b: 52; Niwiński 2013: 488, 497; Broekman 2018: 27. The cartonnage inside the coffin, inscribed with the royal name Heqakheperre Shoshenq (M213)Montet 1951: 38-40; Müller & Thiem 1999: 221-222; Jansen-Winkeln 2007: 73-74; Aston 2009b: 52; Niwiński 2013: 488, 496-497; Broekman 2018: 28. The pectoral with heart scarab inscribed with the throne name Heqakheperre-setepenre on the gold pectoral plaque and with the birth name Shoshenq-meryamun on the scarab itself (M218)Montet 1951: 42, pl. 26-27; Müller & Thiem 1999: 222-224; Jansen-Winkeln 2007: 74; Aston 2009b: 52; Broekman 2018: 29. A model headrest made of iron inscribed with the royal name Heqakheperre Shoshenq (M243)Montet 1951: 50, pl. 33; Jansen-Winkeln 2007: 74; Aston 2009b: 52; Broekman 2018: 29. A leather belt with inlaid gold decoration bearing the royal birth name Shoshenq-meryamun without the distinctive throne name (M236)Montet 1951: 41, pl. 32; Aston 2009b: 52; Broekman 2018: 30. Four silver coffinettes bearing the royal birth name Shoshenq-meryamun without the distinctive throne name (M302, M305, M312, M317)Montet 1951: 57, pl. 34-35; Jansen-Winkeln 2007: 74; Aston 2009b: 52-53; Niwiński 2013: 494. A pair of gold bracelets inlaid with lapis lazuli, carnelian and white faience, inscribed with the royal name Hedjkheperre Shoshenq I and placed on the wrists of the deceased (M226-227)Montet 1951: 45, pl. 29; Müller & Thiem 1999: 224-225; Jansen-Winkeln 2007: 2; Aston 2009b: 52; Niwiński 2013: 495; Broekman 2018: 30. A gold pectoral inlaid with lapis lazuli and glass paste with the solar barque and the goddesses Isis and Maat, inscribed for the Great Chief of Ma Shoshenq, son of the Great Chief of Ma Nimlot, in other words, Hedjkheperre Shoshenq I before his accession to the throne (M219)Montet 1951: 43-45, pl. 28; Kitchen 1995: 117; Müller & Thiem 1999: 222, 225; Aston 2009b: 52; Niwiński 2013: 496; Broekman 2018: 30 A gold pectoral inlaid with lapis lazuli and colored semi-precious stones with symbolic spelling (cryptogram) of the royal name Hedjkheperre made up of crowned uraei, a scarab, and the solar disk (M220)Montet 1951: 45, pl. 29; Müller & Thiem 1999: 223-224; Aston 2009b: 52; Niwiński 2013: 496; Broekman 2018: 30. A gold bracelet with a scarab naming a certain Djedptahiufankh, possibly the like-named son of Hedjkheperre Shoshenq I (M228)Montet 1951: 46, pl. 30; Aston 2009b: 52; Niwiński 2013: 495; Broekman 2018: 30; on this Djedptahiufankh A, see Payraudeau 2014: 118-119. A gold ring naming a certain Haremineb, otherwise unknown (M234)Montet 1951: 49, pl. 29; Aston 2009b: 52; Niwiński 2013: 495. A gold bracelet with a scarab naming Menkheperre-who-tramples-the-Asiatics, a reference to the throne name of Thutmose III (M229)Montet 1951: 46, p. 30; Aston 2009b: 52; Niwiński 2013: 495; Broekman 2018: 30.
Interpretation of the evidence
Heqakheperre Shoshenq's remains were examined by Douglas Derry in 1939. He discovered that the mummified body had been reduced to a skeleton, the tissues of the body and the wrappings having been destroyed by water damage, turning into a thick brown deposit. The investigation of the skeletal remains revealed that the king was about 169 cm tall and that he was likely over fifty years of age when he died, apparently as a result of a major septic infection from a head wound, perhaps turning into meningitis.Derry 1939: 549–551; Edwards 1982: 550; Niwiński 2013: 494-495. The generous use of silver for the creation of Heqakheperre Shoshenq's coffin is considered a potent symbol of his power because silver "was considerably rarer in Egypt than gold."Hobson 1987: 123.
Various factors point to the final resting place of Heqakheperre Shoshenq in NRT III, the tomb of King Psusennes I of the 21st Dynasty, being a reburial, and this is generally accepted in scholarship.E.g., Dodson 2012: 101; Kitchen 1995: 310 seems to be alone in allowing for the possibility that this was either an original burial or a reburial. Derry's investigation found evidence of plant growth on the base of Heqakheperre Shoshenq's coffin and within it, with plant remains (rootlets) on the bones of the lower limbs, indicating that his original tomb had become waterlogged.Derry 1939: 549; Niwiński 2013: 493; Broekman 2018: 27. Andrzej Niwiński noted additional water damage to the bottoms of the four silver coffinettes which would have been placed in the canopic chest.Niwiński 2013: 494. The damage to the original burial place of the king required the reburial of his body and part of his funerary equipment in another tomb. As Aidan Dodson writes:
David Aston identified a round based travertine jar (M311) from the burial as obviously not being part of the original burial goods.Aston 2009b: 53. Gerard Broekman noted that the condition of the coffins suggests that the silver falcon-headed coffin was likely not part of the original funerary equipment but was provided for Heqakheperre Shoshenq's reburial in NRT III. He also noted that because the coffinettes were human headed, they should be expected to match an original human-headed coffin, whereas Heqakheperre Shoshenq was found buried in a falcon-headed coffin, once again suggesting that it was a later substitution.Broekman 2018: 27-28.
Identification of King Heqakheperre Shoshenq II
Given the limitations of the evidence, on the basis of circumstantial considerations King Heqakheperre Shoshenq has been variously identified with: The High Priest of Amun Shoshenq Q, son of King Sekhemkheperre Osorkon I and Maatkare B.Montet 1951: 62-63; Kitchen 1995: 118-120; Müller & Thiem 1999: 221; Broekman 2001, a view he later abandoned; Dodson & Hilton 2004: 210, 212, 215, 222; Aston 2009b: 25. An otherwise unknown son of King Hedjkheperre Shoshenq I.Jansen-Winkeln 2006: 237. An otherwise unknown son of King Hedjkheperre Takelot I and brother and predecessor of King Usermaatre Osorkon II-sibaste.Beckerath 1995: 8-9; Dautzenberg 1995: 22-23; Dodson 2012: 101, has Heqakheperre Shoshenq as a contemporary or successor of Takelot I; Payraudeau 2014: 51; Payraudeau 2020: 561. King Hedjkheperre Shoshenq I himself, Heqakheperre Shoshenq representing a variant or posthumous version of the royal name.Gardiner 1961: 448; Jacquet-Gordon 1975: 359; Edwards 1982: 549; Niwiński 2013; Broekman 2018; Broekman 2019: 22-24.
Heqakheperre Shoshenq as the High Priest of Amun Shoshenq Q was an identification advocated already by his discoverer, Pierre Montet, and popularized by Kenneth Kitchen.Montet 1951: 62-63; Kitchen 1995: 118-120. He seems a suitable candidate, though not one that can be proved to have become king, and Heqakheperre Shoshenq's original throne name and heirlooms from Shoshenq I would suggest a placement early in the 22nd Dynasty.Kitchen 1995: 117-119. In a line of argument he subsequently abandoned, Gerard Broekman considered the reburial of Heqakheperre Shoshenq among kings from the 21st Dynasty in NRT III suggestive of a relationship, which is in fact attested for Shoshenq Q, who was the maternal grandson of the last 21st Dynasty king, Psusennes II.Broekman 2001: 34-35. The identification with Shoshenq Q has been criticized, with increasing momentum, on the basis that while a single inscription of Shoshenq Q showed some royal aspirations (most notably, his name in a cartouche and the appending of the epithet Meryamun, "Beloved of Amun"), he was nowhere actually named as king or given a throne name and none of his descendants referred to him as king, something most unlikely if he had ever assumed the kingship.Jacquet-Gordon 1975: 359; Jansen-Winkeln 2007: 56-58; Broekman 2009: 76; Dodson 2012: 96-97; Payraudeau 2014: 49; Payraudeau 2020: 107, 113.
Kitchen inferred from the regnal dates of Year 3 and Year 33 found on linen bandages from the Ramesseum mummy of the Prophet of Amun Nakhtefmut, which was buried with a leather menat-tab naming King Osorkon I, that this indicated a co-regency between Osorkon I and his son, Shoshenq Q, who would then be best identified with King Heqakheperre Shoshenq, with Year 33 of Osorkon I corresponding to Year 3 of Heqakheperre Shoshenq.Kitchen 1995: 110-111, 308; for the mummy of Nakhtefmut, see Quibell 1898: 10-11. Kitchen thought, moreover, that Shoshenq Q/Heqakheperre Shoshenq then died before his father Osorkon I, which is why the latter was succeeded by another son, Takelot I.Kitchen 1995: 110, 119, 310. Kitchen's reconstruction was tentatively accepted by several scholars.E.g., Broekman 2001: 36; Jansen-Winkeln 2006: 238 might be envisioning a similar scenario, writing that Shoshenq Q (for him Maatkheperre Shoshenq) "most certainly did not have an independent reign, but rather was responsible for UE during the reign of his father." However, the case for a co-regency on the basis of this evidence proved elusive. The dates from Nakhtefmut's mummy were not inscribed on the same bandage but rather on separate bandages, and Hartwig Altenmüller's study of the funerary equipment of Egyptian mummies revealed that the bandages produced in quantity over a long span of time and dated many years apart could find their way to the same mummy. For example, another mummy from the reign of Osorkon I, that of Khonsu-maakheru in Hamburg, had bandages dated to Years 11, 12, and 23 of (apparently) Osorkon I;Altenmüller 2000: 113. similarly, the mummy of Djedptahiufankh A had bandages dated to Years 5, 10, and 11 of Shoshenq I.Altenmüller 2000: 121, n. 25. As these two near contemporary examples show, the temple priests simply reused whatever old or recycled linens which they could gain access to for their mummification rituals. Altenmüller consequently did not posit any co-regency and assigned Year 33 to Osorkon I and Year 3 to his successor Takelot I.Altenmüller 2000: 114. Accordingly, most scholars have abandoned the hypothetical co-regency between Osorkon I and his son,E.g., Dodson 2012: 99, 101; Payraudeau 2014: 46-47. although Kitchen continued to maintain his stance.Kitchen 2009: 165.