Egypt 4: From Chaos to Empire Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hor

Wegaf was the first ruler of the dynasty. At one time it was believed the changeover was accompanied by chaos but it now seems to have been a smooth transition although little was built in his reign.

Nehesy was the least obscure of the 14th Dynasty ruler. The 14th Dynasty ruled for about 57 years in the eastern delta but only two kings are known from monuments.

Hor was the third king of Dynasty 13. His tomb was small and the only impressive item was his life sized wooden Ka statue (a representation of his spirit in the form of a statue of him with a pair of arms raised above his head).

Answer: Ay

Regnal numbers are modern. Kings were identified by their other names - This Ay was Merneferre and the successor of Tutankhamen was Kheperkheperure. Ay was probably the last king of the dynasty to control the whole of Egypt.

Answer: Desert princes

Shepherd kings and captive shepherds were translations made by the first century CE Jewish historian Josephus. Shepherd kings was the accepted translation for a long time. An alternate translation is rulers of foreign lands (heqa-khase). They seem to have been a Semitic people and probably infiltrated over a long period then took advantage of instability rather than invaders.

Answer: The roaring of the sacred Hippopotami at Thebes was keeping him awake in Avaris (800 km away) and Sequenre should do something about it

We do not have the response to this message. After the fall of the Hyksos the Egyptians tried to destroy all records of them and blackened their memory, for instance they falsely accused them of not honouring the Sun god. It was thought they introduced the chariot but now it seems it appeared shortly after the Hyksos did.

Answer: In battle

His body was hurriedly embalmed (possibly on the battlefield). He was probably killed by at least two people who inflicted five wounds, four when he was on the ground. No inscription records what happened - according to the inscriptions no pharaoh in history ever lost a battle.

Answer: Amun-pnufer robbed his tomb

Sobekemsaf was the first king of his dynasty so his father probably was not a king. Amun-pnufer and seven accomplices robbed the king's tomb and that of his queen in the reign of Ramses IX (probably over 500 years after he was buried). The 17th Dynasty tombs are quite poor.

Answer: Ahmose son of Ebana left an account of how he served in the kings campaigns against the Hyksos

Ahmose son of Ebana left his biography in his tomb (and I have written a quiz about it). He also served under Amenhotep I and Tuthmosis I. Ahmose was the first king of the eighteenth dynasty and of the new kingdom which shows that the division into dynasties is inconsistent as he was the son of Sequenre II and brother of his predecessor Kahmose which should mean he was part of the previous dynasty. Being the first king of the new kingdom is not a reason for starting a new dynasty as the middle kingdom started in the middle of Dynasty eleven.

Answer: He had two tombs

Tuthmosis was not the son of Amenhotep I. His claim to the throne was that he was married to princess Ahmose, the daughter of king Ahmose I and of his queen Ahmose. Ahmose I was the last king who had a pyramid. One theory was that he was originally buried with his daughter Hatshepsut but later as part of his campaign against the memory of Hatshepsut Tuthmosis III moved the body to a new tomb.

Answer: Hatshepsut

He was the son of Tuthmosis I by a minor wife and Hatshepsut was his daughter by his great royal wife. They seem to have had a daughter and he had a son (the future Tuthmosis III) by a harem girl called Isis.

Answer: None

The only evidence for who ordered it is that it is huge (41.75 metres tall, 1168 tonnes in weight) which leads some people to think that it belonged to Ramses II. There are depictions of her people moving obelisks. One of the rafts used seems to have been 100 metres by 30 metres.

The temple also has a description of her expedition to Punt. No one knows where Punt is - it was originally thought to be northern Somaliland or but most scholars now think it is further south (Eritrea or southern Sudan). One of the things they brought back was hbny or ebony.

However owing to later misidentifications true ebony now has to be called African Blackwood.