Talk:Bikheris

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Ancient Egypt

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WikiProject Ancient Egypt to-do list:

Needed articles.

We should have an article on every pyramid and every nome in Ancient Egypt. I'm sure the rest of us can think of other articles we should have.

Cleanup.

To start with, most of the general history articles badly need attention. And I'm told that at least some of the dynasty articles need work. Any other candidates?

Standardize the Chronology.

A boring task, but the benefit of doing it is that you can set the dates !(e.g., why say Khufu lived 2589-2566? As long as you keep the length of his reign correct, or cite a respected source, you can date it 2590-2567 or 2585-2563)

Stub sorting

Anyone? I consider this probably the most unimportant of tasks on Wikipedia, but if you believe it needs to be done . . .

Data sorting.

This is a project I'd like to take on some day, & could be applied to more of Wikipedia than just Ancient Egypt. Take one of the standard authorities of history or culture -- Herotodus, the Elder Pliny, the writings of Breasted or Kenneth Kitchen, & see if you can't smoothly merge quotations or information into relevant articles. Probably a good exercise for someone who owns one of those impressive texts, yet can't get access to a research library.

Diodorus[edit]

Just placing this here as an item of curiosity.

Diodorus' Bibliotheca Historica, 1.64.1 reads:

Upon the death of this king (i.e. Χέμμις) his brother Κεφρὴν (Kephren/Khafre) succeeded to the throne and ruled fifty-six years; but some say that it was not the brother of Χέμμις (Khemmis/Khufu), but his son, named Χαβρύην (Khabryes), who took the throne.

Seems like the confusion about the reign sequence of dynasty IV was muddled already in ancient times. Maybe this Khabryes was indeed Bikheris?

Peter Lundström 18:05, 25 January 2014 (UTC)

Hi there. The tale of Diodorus is wrong no matter what. It's an archaeologically proven fact, that after Khufu his son Djedfrê (or Râdjedef) ascended the throne. In general, it's thought that alle the brothers and halfbrothers of Khufu were already too old for a longer rule. An ominous king named "Wehemka" or "Sethka" tried, but failed and left an unfinished pyramid at Zawyet el'Aryan. He could have been a brother of Khufu with the citizen name "Set-ka", he is actually archaeologically detected. The proven succession from Snefru to Schepseskaf is: Snefru → Khufu → Djedefrê → Khafrê → Menkaurê → Schepseskaf. If Sethka actually ruled, he did only a very short time, most possibly between Djedefrê and Khafrê. Or between Khufu and Djedefrê.

Funnily enough, Herodotus called lots of kings for the fourth dynasty, but misplaced some of them. He calls: Sóris, Sûphis, Súphis II., Menchêres, Râtoises, Bícheris, Seberchêres and Thampthís in this succession. If we put the names in chronologically correct order, it's: Sóris, Sûphis, Râtoises, Bícheris, Sûphis II., Menchêres, Seberchêres and Thamphthís. The names of Diodorus, Khephrén and Khábryes sound extremly similar and to me it looks like they are based on the same source. Thus, he points to one and the same king, without being aware of it. Regards;--Nephiliskos (talk) 13:53, 26 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you kindly for the great answer! Doesn't sound too far-fetched that Bikheris could be identified as this Sethka/Baka. The Diodorus story might not be the literal truth, but since it is some 2000 years old, there might be some small truth in it. Sure, he was at least as far from the time of the fourth dynasty as we are from his time...

The discrepancy between the Abydos Canon's 1 king and the Saqqara Canon's 4 kings between Menkaure and Userkaf will probably remain a riddle forever. Peter Lundström 01:55, 28 January 2014 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by PLstrom (talk • contribs)