| The `Repetition-of-Births' in Oriental History |
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The Conventional Account of things We all know that every month we have a new moon but for the cycle of the sun we know that it reaches its zenith each year on June the 21st and its azimuth on December 21st. The latter date has always been more significant for the peoples living in the northern hemisphere because it signals the return to a warmer period ahead. In this sense many cultures celebrated these celestial events with festivities. So we have references from the Middle Kingdom's Ammenemes I where we find the phrase `Weham-meswe', `Repeater of Births' thought to refer to the monthly rebirth of the moon. In the days of Seti I. (conventionally dated from 1309-1291 BC), Seti the Great, he used the phrase `Repetition of Births' and appended it in his inscription from his first and second regnal years. Some have taken this phrase as referring to the start of a new Sothic period since shortly before Seti I. became king there started according to them a Sothic period in 1317 BC. If 8 years could be regarded as short may be open to discussion. However, for ancient cultures in the region under discussion the spring equinox at the end of March may have been a more important event. [J. Cerny, `A Note on the Repition of Births', Journal of Egyptian Archaeology Vol. 15, p, 194] Next we come into the time of Herihor of the 21st Dynasty. We shall quote now Alan Gardiner's comments. Now, "instead of dates continuing to be expressed, as normally, in terms of regnal years of the monarch, a mysterious new era named the Repetition-of-Births makes its appearance. When we recall that the usurper Ammenemes I had adopted the expression `weham meswe' as his Horus name and that Seti I, very nearly the founder of the 19th Dynasty, had appended the same words as here to datings of his first and second years, it is obvious that some sort of Renaissance was signified thereby. Fortunately we are able to determine the exact regnal date of this. Papyrus Mayer A in the Liverpool Museum is headed `Year 1 in the Repetition-of-Births' and enumerates precisely the same thieves as are listed on the verso of the already much discussed Papyrus Abbott, which bears the date `Year 1, first month of the Inundation season, day 2, corresponding to Year 19' After much hesitation and discussion it has been realized that this year 19 could only belong to the reign of Ramses XI who, however, was known from a stela found at Abydos to have survived until his 27th year. Now it could hardly be doubted that the Renaissance in question referred to some momentous occurrence or decision in Herihor's career, so that this must have fallen at a time when the suzerainty of the last Ramesses had run only two thirds of its course. The question has been clinched by a relatively recent discovery. A scene and inscription carved upon a wall of the temple of Karnak illustrates one of those oracles which became more and more frequent about this period. A scribe of the storehouse at Karnak had to be appointed, and the name of one Nesamun had been put forward. The god's approval was indicated by a `great nod' or downward inclination of the bark of Amon-Re as it was carried in procession on the shoulders of the priests. The importance of this incident lies in the personality of the high priest who put the question and in the date at the beginning of the inscription. The date is given as `Year 7 of the Repetition-of-Births .... under Ramses XI', accordingly in the 25th year of that king's reign. The figure of the high priest is accompanied by the words `The fan-bearer to the right of the King, the King's Son of Cush, the First Prophet of Amon-Re, King of the Gods, the Commander of the Army, the Prince of Pay-onkh (Paiankh)'. Now Pay-onkh was Herihor's eldest son, and since it is inconceivable that Herihor should have relinquished the high priesthood during his lifetime we cannot but conclude that he died before the 7th year of the Renaissance and at any rate more than a year before his suzerain. [Alan Gardiner `Egypt of the Pharaohs', p. 304-305] The Revised Account of things In the revised model things come out this way. We notice that the `Renaissance' deduced from the usage of the phrase `Repetition-of-Births' occurred during the time of the 21st Dynasty, in particular in the days of Herihor whom we date from shortly after 420 to about 406 BC or for several years after that. Pay-onkh or Paiankh we date from sometime after 405 to about 370 BC. The travels of Wenamon took place about 417 BC. Click on Charts from 560-260 BC, for a more graphic representation of the time lines and interconnections of this important time period. |
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| What is important to realize is that this renewal or `Renaissance' came about because the Persian King Xerxes had made the annual gatherings in his palace at Susa a repeating, annual event in Persia when all the princes and lords of his kingdom came to pay obeisance to him, an event also of consequences to the princes and lords in Egypt. In that he followed in the footsteps of the Assyrian kings who also expected `presents' from the princes and rulers in their realm. |