A Stele of the High Priest of Amun Bakenkhonsu and New Data on the Beginning of the XX Dynasty
Safronov Alexander V.
In December 2006 the stele of the High priest of Amun Bakenkhonsu, a contemporary of Pharaoh Setnakht, was found in Luxor. This important monument was first published by M. Boraik with considerable inaccuracies in transliteration and translation. The author of the present paper gives his own translation and philological commentary on the text of the stele. Analysing and comparing the stele of Berenkhonsw with other sources of the XX dynasty (P. Turin 1879, verso I–II; Elephantine stele of Setnakht; P. Harris I) the author comes to the following conclusions: 1) the 4th year of Setnakht’s reign is fictive and in fact corresponds to the 2nd year of his reign; 2) Setnakht began his struggle for the throne moving from the South, probably from Elephantine region where he was a military chief; 3) the Theban priesthood supported Setnakht in his efforts. Probably, the priests of Amun turned to him for help as to the nearest to Thebes military force, because they were afraid of social disorder which manifested itself with the destoying of statues in Thebes.