The Order of the Kushite Kings According to Sources from the Eastern Desert and Thebes. Or: Shabataka was here first!

Abstract

The correct order of the first two kings of the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty has been the subject of a growing debate since Michael Banyai proposed a revision of the traditional chronological model in 2013. By placing Shabataka 1 before Shabaka Banyai challenged the commonly accepted view according to which it was Shabaka who established the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty and secured Kushite control over all of Egypt after having re-conquered the North and disposed of his adversary Bocchoris of the Twenty-Fourth Dynasty. Since then Banyai’s proposal of modifying the sequence of the Kushite kings, thus making Shabataka Bocchoris’ opponent, has received a growing number of supporters who have brought forward additional arguments in favour of it.The present article introduces new arguments based on a careful analysis of prosopographic, archaeological, and epigraphic data from the Eastern Desert and Thebes—especially relating to the Kushite Nile Level Records at Karnak—which provide the strongest evidence for the sequence “Shabaka—Shabataka” hitherto adduced.