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Osorkon IV

Egyptian pharaoh

Osorkon IV
Summary

Egyptian pharaoh

FieldValue
nameOsorkon IV
alt_nameShilkanni, So
imageRelief Osorkon IV by Khruner.png
image_size230px
captionRelief thought to depict Osorkon IV, from Tanis
reign730 – 716 BC
dynasty22nd Dynasty or 23rd Dynasty
predecessorShoshenq V or Pedubast II
successorPami II
prenomenUsermaa(t)re
Wsr-mȝˁ(t)-Rˁ
Powerful is the maat of Ra
prenomen_hiero-N5-U1-F12-Aa11:D36-
nomen*Osorkonu
Wsrknw*
Osorkon(u)
nomen_hieroV4-Aa18-D21:V31-W24
horus_prefixG5 --
childrenPami II ?
fatherPedubast II ?
motherTadibast III

Wsr-mȝˁ(t)-Rˁ Powerful is the maat of Ra Wsrknw* Osorkon(u)

Usermaatre Osorkon, designated Osorkon IV, was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh during the late Third Intermediate Period. Long considered the last king of the 22nd Dynasty, he was de facto little more than ruler in Tanis and Bubastis, in Lower Egypt and is now generally grouped in the Tanite 23rd Dynasty. He is generally – though not universally – identified with the King Shilkanni () mentioned by Assyrian sources, and with the biblical So, King of Egypt ( Sōʾ) mentioned in the second Books of Kings (17:4).

Osorkon ruled during one of the most chaotic and politically fragmented periods of ancient Egypt, in which the Nile Delta was dotted with small Libyan kingdoms and principalities and Meshwesh dominions; as the last heir of the Tanite rulers, he inherited the easternmost parts of these kingdoms, the most involved in all the political and military upheavals that soon would afflict the Near East. During his reign, he had to face the power of, and ultimately submit himself to, the Kushite King Piye during Piye's conquest of Egypt. Osorkon IV also had to deal with the threatening Neo-Assyrian Empire outside his eastern borders.

Reign

Early years

According to the reconstruction of events by Kenneth Kitchen, Osorkon IV ascended to the throne of Tanis in c. 730 BC, after the long reign of Shoshenq V of the 22nd Dynasty, who was possibly his father and predecessor. However, this view was first challenged in 1970 by Karl-Heinz Priese, who preferred to place Osorkon IV in a lower–Egyptian branch of the 23rd Dynasty, just after the reign of the shadowy pharaoh Pedubast II; this placement found support among certain scholars. Aidan Dodson omitted Pedubast II and had Shoshenq V followed immediately by Osorkon IV, but still placed the latter in the Tanite 23rd Dynasty. More recently, Frédéric Payraudeau placed Sehetepibre Pedubast II at the start of the Tanite 23rd Dynasty, and has him succeeded by Osorkon IV. Osorkon's mother or wife, named on an electrum aegis of Sekhmet now in the Louvre, was Tadibast III. Osorkon IV's realm was restricted only to the district of Tanis (Rˁ-nfr) and the territory of Bubastis, both in the eastern Nile Delta. His neighbors were Libyan princes and Meshwesh chiefs who ruled their small realms outside of his authority.

Closeup of the ''Victory Stela'' of Piye. Osorkon IV is the left one among the prostrating kings.

Around 729/28 BC, soon after his accession, Osorkon IV faced the invasion of the Kushite pharaoh Piye of the Nubian 25th Dynasty. Along with other rulers of Lower and Middle Egypt – mainly Nimlot of Hermopolis and Iuput II of Leontopolis – Osorkon IV joined the coalition led by the Chief of the West Tefnakht in order to oppose the Nubian. However, Piye's advance was unstoppable and the opposing rulers surrendered one after another: Osorkon IV found it wise to reach the Temple of Ra at Heliopolis and pay homage to his new overlord Piye personally— an action which was soon imitated by the other rulers. As reported on his Victory Stela, Piye accepted their submission, but Osorkon and most of the rulers were not allowed to enter the royal enclosure because they were not circumcised and had eaten fish, both abominations in the eyes of the Nubian. Nevertheless, Osorkon IV and the others were allowed to keep their former domains and authority.

The Assyrian threat

In 726/25 BC Hoshea, the last King of Israel, rebelled against the Assyrian King Shalmaneser V who demanded an annual tribute, and, according to the second Book of Kings, sought the support of So, King of Egypt (2 Kings 17:4) who, as already mentioned, was most likely Osorkon IV (see below). For reasons which remained unknown – possibly in order to remain neutral towards the powerful Neo-Assyrian Empire, or simply because he did not have enough power or resources – King So did not help Hoshea, who was subsequently defeated and deposed by Shalmaneser V. The Kingdom of Israel ceased to exist, many Israelites were brought to Assyria as exiles, and Assyrian and Babylonian settlers occupied Israel.

Battle of Raphia (720 BC)

Sargon II, Osorkon's Assyrian opponent.

In 720 BC, a revolt occurred in Palestine against the new Assyrian King Sargon II, led by King Hanunu of Gaza who sought the help of "Pirʾu of Musri", a term most probably meaning "Pharaoh of Egypt" and referring to Osorkon IV. Assyrian sources claim that this time the Egyptian king did send a turtanu (an army–commander) called Reʾe or Reʾu (his Egyptian name was Raia, though in the past it was read Sibʾe) as well as troops in order to support his neighboring ally. However, the coalition was defeated in battle at Raphia. Reʾe fled back to Egypt, Raphia and Gaza were looted and Hanunu was burnt alive by the Assyrians.

In 716 BC, Sargon II almost reached Egypt's boundaries. Feeling directly threatened this time, Osorkon IV (here called Shilkanni by Assyrian sources, see below) was carefully diplomatic: he personally met the Assyrian king at the "Brook of Egypt" (most likely el-Arish) and tributed him with a present which Sargon personally described as "twelve large horses of Egypt without equals in Assyria". The Assyrian king appreciated his gifts and did not take action against Osorkon IV.

End

No mention of Osorkon IV is known after 716 BC. Some archaeological evidence suggest that shortly after this date, Bakenranef of the 24th Dynasty expanded his realm eastward, taking over Tanis. In 712 BC, Piye's successor Shebitku marched northward and defeated Bakenranef. When around the same year King Iamani of Ashdod sought refuge from Sargon II in Egypt, Shebitku was in fact the sole ruler of Egypt, and returned Iamani to the Assyrians in chains. In any case, Osorkon IV was seemingly dead before that year.

Whether it was Osorkon IV or a successor who was possibly supplanted by Bakenranef, Osorkon IV's line appears to have survived for decades. His immediate successor seems to have been the recently identified King Neferkare Pami II, who was eventually followed at Tanis by Shepseskare Gemenefkhonsbak, Sekhemkare, and Pedubast III.

Identification with Shilkanni and So

It is believed that Shilkanni is a rendering of (U)shilkan, which in turn is derived from (O)sorkon – hence Osorkon IV – as first proposed by William F. Albright in 1956. This identification is accepted by several scholars while others remain uncertain or even skeptical. Shilkanni is reported by Assyrians as "King of Musri": this location, once believed to be a country in northern Arabia by the Orientalist Hans Alexander Winckler, is certainly to be identified with Egypt instead. In the same way, the "Pir'u of Musri" to whom Hanno of Gaza asked for help in 720 BC could only have been Osorkon IV. The identity of the biblical King So is somewhat less definite. Generally, an abbreviation of (O)so(rkon) is again considered the most likely by several scholars, but the concurrent hypothesis which equates So with the city of Sais, hence with King Tefnakht, is supported by a certain number of scholars.

Attestations

Small aegis of Sekhmet with the name of Osorkon and Tadibast, in the [[Louvre]].

Osorkon IV is attested by Assyrian documents (as Shilkanni and other epithets) and probably also by the Books of Kings (as King So), while Manetho's epitomes list him as the second king of the 23rd Dynasty, Osorkhō, reigning for 8 years between Petoubatēs (Pedubast II) and Psammous (Pami II). He is undoubtedly attested on the well-known Victory Stela of Piye on which he is depicted while prostrating in front of the owner of the stela along with other submitted rulers. Another finding almost certainly referring to him is the aforementioned aegis of Sekhmet, found at Bubastis and mentioning a King Osorkon son of queen Tadibast who–as the name does not coincide with those of any of the other Osorkon kings' mothers–can only be Osorkon IV's mother.

About the throne name

Osorkon's throne name was thought to be Aakheperre Setepenamun from a few monuments naming a namesake pharaoh Osorkon, such as a faience seal and a relief–block, both in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, but this attribution was questioned by Frederic Payraudeau in 2000. According to him, these findings could rather be assigned to an earlier Aakheperre Osorkon – i.e., the distant predecessor Osorkon the Elder of the 21st Dynasty – thus implying that Osorkon IV's real throne name was unknown. Furthermore, in 2010/11 a French expedition discovered in the Temple of Mut at Tanis two blocks bearing a relief of a King Usermaa(t)re Osorkonu, depicted in a quite archaizing style, which at first were attributed to Osorkon III. In 2014, on the basis of the style of both the relief and the royal name, Aidan Dodson rejected the identification of this king with both the already-known kings Usermaatre Osorkon (Osorkon II and III) and stated that he was rather Osorkon IV with his true throne name. A long-known, archaizing "glassy faience" statuette fragment from Memphis now exhibited at the Petrie Museum (UC13128) which is inscribed for one King Usermaatre, had been tentatively attributed to several pharaohs from Piye to Rudamun of the Theban 23rd Dynasty and even to Amyrtaios of the 28th Dynasty, but may in fact represent Osorkon IV.

References

Bibliography

  • Dodson, Aidan 2012, Afterglow of Empire: Egypt from the Fall of the New Kingdom to the Saite Renaissance, Cairo: American University in Cairo Press.
  • Payraudeau, Frédéric 2020, L'Égypte et la vallée du Nil Tome 3: Les époques tardives (1069–332 av. J.-C.), Paris: Presses universitaires de France.
  • Waddell, W. G. (transl.) 1940, Manetho, Cambridge, MA: Loeb Classical Library.

References

  1. {{harvp. Dodson. 2014
  2. {{harvp. Dodson. 2014
  3. {{harvp. Dodson. 2014
  4. {{harvp. Kitchen. 1995
  5. {{harvp. Berlandini. 1979
  6. {{harvp. Edwards. 1982
  7. {{harvp. Schneider. 1985
  8. {{harvp. Mitchell. 1991
  9. {{harvp. Grimal. 1992
  10. {{harvp. Priese. 1970
  11. {{harvp. Leahy. 1990
  12. {{harvp. von Beckerath. 1997
  13. see also Jansen-Winkeln 2006, pp. 246–47 and references therein.
  14. Wilkinson (2011, p. XVIII) recognizes Osorkon IV as the last ruler of the 22nd Dynasty, though placing Pedubast II before him.
  15. Dodson 2012: 150-151.
  16. Payraudeau 2014: 100-103; Payraudeau 2020: 151-155.
  17. {{harvp. Berlandini. 1979
  18. Payraudeau 2020: 153.
  19. {{harvp. Kitchen. 1995
  20. {{harvp. Grimal. 1992
  21. {{harvp. Kitchen. 1995
  22. {{harvp. Grimal. 1992
  23. {{harvp. Kitchen. 1995
  24. {{harvp. Wilkinson. 2011
  25. {{harvp. Grimal. 1992
  26. {{harvp. Wilkinson. 2011
  27. {{bibleverse. 2. Kings. 17:6. NKJV
  28. {{bibleverse. 2. Kings. 17:24. NKJV
  29. {{harvp. Grimal. 1992
  30. {{harvp. Kitchen. 1995
  31. {{harvp. Grimal. 1992
  32. {{harvp. Kitchen. 1995
  33. {{harvp. Kitchen. 1995
  34. {{harvp. Yoyotte. 1971
  35. Payraudeau 2020: 154.
  36. {{harvp. Payraudeau. 2014
  37. {{harvp. Kitchen. 1995
  38. {{harvp. Payraudeau. 2014
  39. {{harvp. Kitchen. 1995
  40. Payraudeau 2020: 155, 210.
  41. {{harvp. Kitchen. 1995
  42. Dodson 2012: 151; Payraudeau 2020: 210.
  43. Payraudeau 2010: 210.
  44. {{harvp. Albright. 1956
  45. {{harvp. Kitchen. 1995
  46. {{harvp. Dodson. 2014
  47. {{harvp. Grimal. 1992
  48. {{harvp. Edwards. 1982
  49. {{harvp. Schneider. 1985
  50. {{harvp. Mitchell. 1991
  51. {{harvp. Kitchen. 1995
  52. {{harvp. Wilkinson. 2011
  53. {{harvp. Jansen-Winkeln. 2006
  54. {{harvp. Yoyotte. 1971
  55. {{harvp. Kitchen. 1995
  56. {{harvp. Kitchen. 1995
  57. {{harvp. Edwards. 1982
  58. {{harvp. Schneider. 1985
  59. {{harvp. Mitchell. 1991
  60. {{harvp. Kitchen. 1995
  61. {{harvp. Patterson. 2003
  62. {{harvp. Clayton. 2006
  63. {{harvp. Dodson. 2014
  64. {{harvp. Theis. 2020
  65. {{harvp. Goedicke. 1963
  66. {{harvp. Redford. 1985
  67. See also Kitchen 1996, § 463 and references therein.
  68. {{harvp. Kahn. 2001
  69. Waddell 1940: 160-161; Payraudeau 2020: 153-154; Kitchen 1995: 418, who identified Osorkhō with Osorkon III, thought Osorkon IV had been ignored by the epitomes of Manetho.
  70. {{harvp. Jansen-Winkeln. 2006
  71. {{harvp. Berlandini. 1979
  72. {{harvp. Schneider. 1985
  73. {{harvp. Payraudeau. 2000
  74. {{harvp. Dodson. 2014
  75. {{harvp. Dodson. 2014
  76. {{harvp. Brandl. 2011
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