User:Nephiliskos/Thamphthis

Schepseskare. The lack of contemporary attestations for Thamphthis, does not by itself prove that he was a "faux kings" or 'phantom king' since he may well have been a short-lived ephemeral ruler of the fourth dynasty. The stela of the fifth dynasty official Khau-Ptah is informative: while this official lists his career in an uninterrupted sequence of Sahure, Neferirkare, Raneferef and Niuserre, he completely omits Shepseskare. Shepseskare or Sisires likely did not rule Egypt for the 7 years assigned to him by both Manetho and the Turin Canon judging by the paucity of contemporary records for his rule but he certainly ruled Egypt for a brief period of time. This is established by the existence of two cylinder seals known for him and four or five fragments of clay sealings bearing his name. In more recent years, "several new sealings [of Shepseskare]" which were found in Abusir also shows that Shepseskare did exist. Verner argues that the archaeological context of the sealings show that Shepseskare succeeded Raneferef (rather than the reverse as Manetho and the Turin Canon states) and that a dynastic struggle ensued in which Shepseskare was soon overthrown by Niuserre, Raneferef's brother, after a very brief reign. This would explain the surprising omission of Shepseskare by Khau-ptah since the former was both an usurper who briefly seized the throne after Raneferef's death. But there is no evidence for any dynastic difficulties in the late fourth dynasty and the complete lack of contemporary attestations for Thamphthis is strong evidence for regarding him as a phantom king. In this situation, the 2 year figure assigned to him by later Egyptian records could possibly be added to Shepseskaf's existing 4 year reign.

The stela of the fifth dynasty official Khau-Ptah is informative: while this official lists his career in an uninterrupted sequence of Sahure, Neferirkare, Raneferef and Niuserre, he completely omits Shepseskare. Shepseskare or Sisires likely did not rule Egypt for the 7 years assigned to him by both Manetho and the Turin Canon judging by the paucity of contemporary records for his rule but he certainly ruled Egypt for a brief period of time. This is established by the existence of two cylinder seals known for him and four or five fragments of clay sealings bearing his name. In more recent years, "several new sealings [of Shepseskare]" which were found in Abusir also shows that Shepseskare did exist. Verner argues that the archaeological context of the sealings show that Shepseskare succeeded Raneferef (rather than the reverse as Manetho and the Turin Canon states) and that a dynastic struggle ensued in which Shepseskare was soon overthrown by Niuserre, Raneferef's brother, after a very brief reign. This would explain the surprising omission of Shepseskare by Khau-ptah since the former was both an usurper who briefly seized the throne after Raneferef's death. But there is no evidence for any dynastic difficulties in the late fourth dynasty and the complete lack of contemporary attestations for Thamphthis is strong evidence for regarding him as a phantom king. In this situation, the 2 year figure assigned to him by later Egyptian records could possibly be added to Shepseskaf's existing 4 year reign.