Carthage, (Cart-Hadas), 800 to 150 BCE, Lesbos Coins

The two images on the left are the photograph of General Hannibal Barca, from both sides of the coins used in Carthage during his lifetime. The elephant is on one side and he is on the other side. Below coins from the Greek island of Lesbos from between 550 to 350 B.C.E.

General Hannibal Barca

Dido 814 - 760 B.C.E. a Queen
760 - 580 B.C.E. (unknown rulers)
Hanno I 580 - 556 B.C.E.
Malchus 556 - 550 B.C.E.
Mago I 550 - 530 B.C.E.
Hasdrubal 530 - 510 B.C.E.
Hamilcar I 510 - 480 B.C.E.
Himilco I (in Sicily) 460 - 410 B.C.E.
Hannibal I 440 - 406 B.C.E.
Himilco II 406 - 396 B.C.E.
Mago II 396 - 375 B.C.E.
Mago III 375 - 344 B.C.E.
Hanno III 344 - 340 B.C.E.
Hanno the Great 340 - 337 B.C.E.
Gisco 337 - 330 B.C.E.
Hamilcar II 330 - 309 B.C.E.
Bomilcar 309 - 275 B.C.E.?
Hamilcar III - 275 - 228 B.C.E.
Hannibal (Barca) 247 - 183 B.C.E.

Carthage was founded (traditionally by Dido) from Tyre in the 9th cent. B.C. The city-state built up trade and in the 6th and 5th cent. B.C. began to acquire dominance in the W Mediterranean. Merchants and explorers established a wide net of trade that brought great wealth to Carthage.

 The state was tightly controlled by an aristocracy of nobles and wealthy merchants.

Ancient Carthage 

Although a council and a popular assembly existed, these soon lost power to oligarchical institutions, and actual power was in the hands of the judges and two elected magistrates (suffetes). There was also a small but powerful senate.

The greatest weakness of Carthage was the rivalry between landholding and maritime families. The maritime faction was generally in control, and about the end of the 6th cent. B.C. the Carthaginians established themselves on Sardinia, Malta, and the Balearic Islands. The navigator Hanno is supposed to have sailed down the African coast as far as Sierra Leone in the early 5th cent.

The statesman Mago arrived at treaties with the Etruscans, the Romans, and some of the Greeks. Sicily, which lay almost at the front door of Carthage, was never brought completely under Carthaginian control.

Lesbos Coin 400-300 BCE

The Greek city-states of Sicily were thus preserved, but the Carthaginian threat continued and grew with the steadily increasing power of Carthage. The move against the island, begun by settlements in W Sicily, was brought to a halt when the Carthaginian general Hamilcar (a name that recurred in the powerful Carthaginian family usually called the Barcas) was defeated (480 B.C.) by Gelon, tyrant of Syracuse, in the battle of Himera.

Hamilcar's grandson, Hannibal (another name much used in the family), destroyed Himera (409 B.C.), and his colleague Himilco sacked Acragas (modern Agrigento) in 406 B.C. Syracuse resisted the conquerors, and a century later Carthage was threatened by the campaign (310–307?) of the tyrant Agathocles on the shores of Africa. After his death, however, Carthage had practically complete control over all the W Mediterranean.

Lesbos Coin 400-350 BCE

After the fall of the great Phoenician city of Tyre to Alexander the Great in 332 BCE, those Tyrians who were able to escape fled to Carthage with whatever wealth they had. Since many whom Alexander spared were those rich enough to buy their lives, these refugees landed in the city with considerable means and established Carthage as the new centre of Phoenician trade.

Not even one hundred years passed before Carthage was the richest city in the Mediterranean. The aristocrats lived in palaces, the less affluent in modest but attractive homes, while tribute and tariffs regularly increased the city’s wealth on top of the lucrative business in trade.

Hannibal (also known as Hannibal Barca, 247-183 BCE) was a Carthaginian general during the Second Punic War between Carthage and Rome (218-202 BCE).

Lesbos Coin 450-300 BCE

 He is considered one of the greatest generals of antiquity and his tactics are still studied and used in the present day. His father was Hamilcar Barca (275-228 BCE), the great general of the First Punic War (264-241 BCE). These wars were fought between the cities of Carthage in North Africa and Rome in northern Italy for supremacy in the Mediterranean region and the second war resulted directly from the first.

Hannibal assumed command of the troops following his father's death and led them victoriously through a number of engagements until he stood almost at the gates of Rome; at which point he was stopped, not by the Romans, but through a lack of resources to take the city. He was called back to Africa to defend Carthage from Roman invasion, was defeated at the Battle of Zama in 202 BCE by Scipio Africanus (236-183 BCE) and retired from service to Carthage.

Lesbos Coin 500-450 BCE

 The remainder of his life was spent as a statesman and then in voluntary exile at the courts of foreign kings. He died in 183 BCE by drinking poison.

According to the historian Philip Matyszak, "There is much we do not know about this man, though he was one of the greatest generals in antiquity.


No surviving ancient biography makes him the subject, and Hannibal slips in and out of focus according to the emphasis that other authors give his deeds and character" (24). Nothing is known of his mother and, although he was married at the time of some of his greatest victories, no records make mention of his wife other than her name, Imilce, and the fact that she bore him a son. What became her her or her son is not known. The story of Hannibal's life is told largely by his enemies, the Romans, through the historians who wrote of the Punic Wars.

Lesbos Coin 550-400 BCE

Moorish soldiers are mentioned as early as the expedition to Sicily in 406 B.C., in a revolt by a certain Hanno Barca 350 B.C. and the Roman invasion of Africa in 256 B.C. They are similarly mentioned in Livy's account of the second Punic War (218-201 B.C.).

In their bitter, prolonged and increasingly desperate struggle for national independence and control of the western Mediterranean, the Carthaginians utilized Moorish troops as integral elements in all of their battle campaigns.

With the Numidians, the Moors fought on the side of the Carthaginians against the Romans. These redoubtable Moorish warriors greatly aided the Carthaginians, and were particularly beneficial to Hannibal Barca ­the illustrious African general. Indeed, Hannibal, "who had over 6,000 [Moors] at his disposal, suffered his only defeat when they were no longer available."

Lesbos Coin 550-450 BCE

 Nevertheless, with the destruction of Carthage in the third Punic War (150­ - 46 B.C., Rome became the supreme power in North Africa.

In spite of Roman dominance, however, regional and national independence movements continued unceasingly.

499--Romans overthrow Latins at Battle of Lake Regillius.
498--Hippocrates becomes tyrant dictator at Gela, on the south coast of Sicily.
494--Plebs return to Rome after first "Secession of the Plebs". They have been at the "Mount of Curses" (Mons Sacer) and are coaxed into returning to Rome by being acknowledged as essential to Rome.
492--Troops under Hippocrates defeat Syracuse at the Helorus river.

Lesbos Coin 500-400 BCE

491--Gelon becomes the new tyrant of Syracuse. He lasts for more than 12 years until 478.
480--The Carthaginian, Hamilcar, suffers terrible defeat in war against Gelon.
478--Hieron I takes over in Syracuse upon the death of Gelon.
405--Peace treaty between Carthage and Syracuse is signed after Carthaginian troops are ravaged by plague and cannot conquer Syracuse. Reign of Dionysius I begins.
403--Dionysius becomes absolute ruler of Syracuse.
397--Motya, an important Phoenician/Carthaginian trading post on a small island just off the northwestern coast of Sicily is destroyed.

383--The third of the Carthaginian wars on Sicily breaks out, but this time the battle includes the land in the south of Italy which Dionysius had brought under his control.

Lesbos Coin 550-500 BCE

264--Rome begins first war against Carthage at Messina. This event is what is called the First Punic War.

It is also the beginning of a struggle which will last until Rome finally buries Carthage in the North African soil, so that Punic Carthage can never again populate the earth.
This year is the beginning, but the struggle will last 118 bitter years .
260--Rome achieves first naval victory over Carthaginians at Mylae on west coast of Sicily.
250--Carthaginians again destroy Selinunte.

226--Rome draws a boundary line in Spain between Carthaginian territory and Roman territory.

General Hannibal Barca's coin, courtesy of Cambridge University Coin Collection Deparment.

Twenty Second Egyptian Dynasty 943 - 720 B.C.E., Oskron II, Shoshenq III, Shoshenq IV

The kings of the Twenty-Second Dynasty of Egypt were a series of Meshwesh Libyans who ruled from circa 943 BC until 720 BC. However, the Meshwesh are no different to the Ekwesh, a major force in Confederation of the Sea People of the Mediterranean Countries, who originated from West/Central Africa. They had settled in Egypt since the Twentieth Dynasty. Manetho states that the dynasty originated at Bubastis, but the kings almost certainly ruled from Tanis, which was their capital and the city where their tombs have been excavated. Another king who belongs to this group is Tutkheperre Shoshenq, whose precise position within this dynasty is currently uncertain although he is now thought to have ruled Egypt early in the 9th century BC for a short time.

Oskron II Tomb Relief

Shoshenq I/Hedjkheperre-Setepenre 943 - 922 B.C.E.
Oskron I/Sekhemkheperre-Setepenre 922 - 887 B.C.E.
Shoshenq II/Heqakheperre-Setepenre 887 - 885 B.C.E.
Takelot I/Hedjkheperre-Setepenre  885 - 872 B.C.E.
Oskron II/Usermaetre-Setepenamun 872 - 837 B.C.E.
Shoshenq III/Usermaetre-Setepenre 837 - 798 B.C.E.
Shoshenq IV/Hedjkheperre-Setepenre 798 - 785 B.C.E.
Pami/Usermaetre-Setepenamun 785 - 778 B.C.E.
Shoshenq V/Akheppere 778 - 740 B.C.E.
Pedubast II/Sehetepibenre 740 - 730 B.C.E.
Oskron IV/Akheppere-Setepenamun 730 - 716 B.C.E.

Usermaatre Setepenamun Osorkon II was a pharaoh of the Twenty-second Dynasty of Ancient Egypt and the son of Takelot I and Queen Kapes. He ruled Egypt around 872 BC to 837 BC from Tanis, the capital of this Dynasty. After succeeding his father, he was faced with the competing rule of his cousin, king Harsiese A, who controlled both Thebes and the Western Oasis of Egypt. Osorkon feared the serious challenge posed by Harsiese's kingship to his authority but, when Harsiese conveniently died in 860 BC, Osorkon II ensured that this problem would not recur by appointing his own son Nimlot C as the next High Priest of Amun at Thebes. This consolidated the pharaoh's authority over Upper Egypt and meant that Osorkon II ruled over a united Egypt. Osorkon II's reign would be a time of large scale monumental building and prosperity for Egypt.

Shoshenq III Tomb

According to a recent paper by Karl Jansen-Winkeln, king Harsiese A, and his son were only ordinary Priests of Amun, rather than High Priests of Amun, as was previously assumed. The inscription on the Koptos lid for [..du], Harsiese A's son, never once gives him the title of High Priest. This demonstrates that the High Priest Harsiese who served is attested in statue CGC 42225 - which mentions this High Priest and is dated explicitly under Osorkon II - was, in fact, Harsiese B.

The High Priest Harsiese B served Osorkon II in his final 3 years. This statue was dedicated by the Letter Writer to Pharaoh Hor IX, who was one of the most powerful men in his time. However, Hor IX almost certainly lived during the end of Osorkon II's reign since he features on Temple J in Karnak which was built late in this Pharaoh's reign, along with the serving High Priest Takelot F(the son of the High Priest Nimlot C and therefore, Osorkon II's grandson). Hor IX later served under both Shoshenq III, Pedubast I and Shoshenq VI. This means that the High Priest Harsiese mentioned on statue CGC 42225 must be the second Harsiese: Harsiese B.

Despite his astuteness in dealings with matters at home, Osorkon II was forced to be more aggressive on the international scene. The growing power of Assyria meant the latter's increased meddling in the affairs of Israel and Syria - territories well within Egypt's sphere of influence. In 853 BC, Osorkon's forces, in a coalition with those of Israel and Byblos, fought the army of Shalmaneser III at the Battle of Qarqar to a standstill thereby halting Assyrian expansion in Canaan, for a brief while.

Osorkon II devoted considerable resources into his building projects by adding to the temple of Bastet at Bubastis which featured a substantial new hall decorated with scenes depicting his Sed festival and images of his Queen Karomama. Mutemhat was another of his wives. Monumental construction was also performed at Thebes, Memphis, Tanis and Leontopolis. Osorkon II also built Temple J at Karnak during the final years of his reign, which was decorated by his then serving High Priest Takelot F(the future Takelot II).

Osorkon II died around 837 BC and is buried in Tomb NRT I at Tanis. He is now believed to have reigned for more than 30 years, rather than just 25 years. The celebrations of his first Sed Jubilee was traditionally thought to have occurred in his 22nd Year but the Heb Sed date in his Great Temple of Bubastis is damaged and can be also be read as Year 30, as Edward Wente notes. The fact that this king's own grandson, Takelot F, served him as High Priest of Amun at Thebes-as the inscribed Walls of Temple J prove - supports the hypothesis of a longer reign for Osorkon II.

King Usermaatre Setepenre or Usimare Setepenamun Shoshenq III ruled Egypt's 22nd Dynasty for 39 years according to contemporary historical records. Two Apis Bulls were buried in the fourth and 28th years of his reign and he celebrated his Heb Sed Jubilee in his regnal year 30. Little is known of the precise basis for his successful claim to the throne since he was not a son of Osorkon II and Shoshenq's parentage and family ties are unknown. From Shoshenq III's eighth regnal year, his reign was marked by the loss of Egypt's political unity, with the appearance of Pedubast I at Thebes. Henceforth, the kings of the 22nd Dynasty only controlled Lower Egypt.

The Theban High Priest Osorkon B (the future Osorkon III) did date his activities at Thebes and (Upper Egypt) to Shoshenq III's reign but this was solely for administrative reasons since Osorkon did not declare himself king after the death of his father, Takelot II. On the basis of Osorkon B's well known Chronicle, most Egyptologists today accept that Takelot II's 25th regnal year is equivalent to Shoshenq III's 22nd year.

Shoshenq III married Djed-Bast-Es-Ankh, the daughter of Takelot, a High Priest of Ptah at Memphis, and Tjesbastperu, Osorkon II's daughter. He had at least 4 sons and 1 daughter: Ankhesen-Shoshenq, Bakennefi A, Pashedbast B, Pimay the 'Great Chief of the Ma', and Takelot C, a Generalissimo.
A certain Padehebenbast may also have been another son of Shoshenq III but this is not certain. They all appear to have predeceased their father through his nearly four decade long rule. Shoshenq III's third son, Pimay ('The Lion' in Egyptian), was once thought to be identical with king Pami ('The Cat' in Egyptian), but it is now believed that they are two different individuals, due to the separate orthography and meaning of their names. Instead, it was an unrelated individual named Shoshenq IV who ultimately succeeded Shoshenq III.

Hedjkheperre Setepenre Shoshenq IV ruled Egypt's 22nd Dynasty between the reigns of Shoshenq III and Pami. This Pharaoh's existence was first argued by David Rohl[citation needed] but the British Egyptologist Aidan Dodson settled the issue in a seminal GM 137(1993) article. Dodson's arguments here for the existence of a new Tanite king called Shoshenq IV is accepted by all Egyptologists today including J. Von Beckerath and Kenneth Kitchen the latter in the preface to the third edition of his book on the Third Intermediate Period in Egypt." While Shoshenq IV shared the same prenomen as his illustrious ancestor Shoshenq I, he is distinguished from Shoshenq I by his use of an especially long nomen-Shoshenq Meryamun Si-Bast Netjerheqawaset/Netjerheqaon which featured both the Si-Bast and Netjerheqawaset/Netjerheqaon epithets.

These two epithets were gradually employed by the 22nd Dynasty Pharaohs starting from the reign of Osorkon II. In contrast, Shoshenq I's nomen reads simply as "Shoshenq Meryamun" while neither Shoshenq I, Osorkon I nor Takelot I ever used any epithets beyond the standard 'Meryamun' (Beloved of Amun) form during their reigns. Aidan Dodson - in his 1994 book on the Canopic Equipment of the kings of Egypt - perceptively observes that when the Si-Bast epithet "appears during the dynasty of Osorkon II," it is rather infrequent while the Netjerheqawaset/Netjerheqaon epithet is only exclusively attested "in the reigns of that monarch's successors"- ie. Shoshenq III, Shoshenq IV, Pami and Shoshenq V.

Twenty Second Egyptian Dynasty 943 - 720 B.C.E., Shoshenq II, Takelot I

The kings of the Twenty-Second Dynasty of Egypt were a series of Meshwesh Libyans who ruled from circa 943 BC until 720 BC. They had settled in Egypt since the Twentieth Dynasty. Manetho states that the dynasty originated at Bubastis, but the kings almost certainly ruled from Tanis, which was their capital and the city where their tombs have been excavated. Another king who belongs to this group is Tutkheperre Shoshenq, whose precise position within this dynasty is currently uncertain although he is now thought to have ruled Egypt early in the 9th century BC for a short time.

Shoshenq II Mask

Shoshenq I/Hedjkheperre-Setepenre 943 - 922 B.C.E.
Oskron I/Sekhemkheperre-Setepenre 922 - 887 B.C.E.
Shoshenq II/Heqakheperre-Setepenre 887 - 885 B.C.E.
Takelot I/Hedjkheperre-Setepenre  885 - 872 B.C.E.
Oskron II/Usermaetre-Setepenamun 872 - 837 B.C.E.
Shoshenq III/Usermaetre-Setepenre 837 - 798 B.C.E.
Shoshenq IV/Hedjkheperre-Setepenre 798 - 785 B.C.E.
Pami/Usermaetre-Setepenamun 785 - 778 B.C.E.
Shoshenq V/Akheppere 778 - 740 B.C.E.
Pedubast II/Sehetepibenre 740 - 730 B.C.E.
Oskron IV/Akheppere-Setepenamun 730 - 716 B.C.E.

Heqakheperre Shoshenq II was an Egyptian king of the 22nd dynasty of Egypt. He was the only ruler of this Dynasty whose tomb was not plundered by tomb robbers. His final resting place was discovered within Psusennes I's tomb at Tanis by Pierre Montet in 1939. Montet removed the coffin lid of Shoshenq II on March 20, 1939, in the presence of king Farouk of Egypt himself. It proved to contain a large number of jewel-encrusted bracelets and pectorals, along with a beautiful hawkheaded silver coffin and a gold funerary mask. The gold facemask had been placed upon the head of the king. Montet later discovered the intact tombs of two Dynasty 21 kings - Psusennes I and Amenemope a year later in February and April 1940 respectively. Shoshenq II's prenomen, Heqakheperre Setepenre, means "The Manifestation of Re rules, Chosen of Re."

There is a small possibility that Shoshenq II was the son of Shoshenq I. Two bracelets from Shoshenq II's tomb mention king Shoshenq I while a pectoral was inscribed with the title 'Great Chief of the Ma Shoshenq,' a title which Shoshenq I employed under Psusennes II before he became king. These items may be interpreted as either evidence of a possible filial link between the two men or just mere heirlooms. A high degree of academic uncertainty regarding the parentage of this king exists: some scholars today contend that Shoshenq II was actually a younger son of Shoshenq I - who outlived Osorkon I and Takelot I - due to the discovery of the aforementioned items naming the founder of the 22nd Dynasty within his intact royal Tanite tomb.

As the German Egyptologist Karl Jansen-Winkeln observes in the recent (2005) book on Egyptian chronology: "The commonly assumed identification of this king with the (earlier) HP and son of Osorkon I does not appear to be very probable." A forensic examination of Shoshenq II's body by Dr. Douglas Derry, the head of Cairo Museum's anatomy department, reveals that he was a man in his fifties when he died.Hence, Shoshenq II could have easily survived Osorkon I's 35 year reign and ruled Egypt for a short while before Takelot I came to power. Moreover, Manetho's Epitome explicitly states that "3 Kings" intervened between Osorkon I and Takelot I.

Harsiese's funerary evidence places Shoshenq II roughly one or two generations after Osorkon I and may date him to the brief interval between Takelot I and Osorkon I at Tanis. In this case, the objects naming Shoshenq I in this king's tomb would simply be heirlooms, rather than proof of an actual filial relation between Shoshenq I and II. This latter interpretation is endorsed by Jurgen von Beckerath, in his 1997 book, Chronologie des Pharaonischen Agypten who believes Shoshenq II was actually an elder brother of Takelot I. The view that Shoshenq II was an elder brother of Takelot I is also endorsed by Norbert Dautzenberg in a GM 144 paper. Von Beckerath, however, places Shoshenq II between the reigns of Takelot I and Osorkon II at Tanis.

Kenneth Kitchen, in his latest 1996 edition of '"The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (c.1100-650 BC)Õ", maintains that Shoshenq II was the High Priest of Amun Shoshenq C, son of Osorkon I and Queen Maatkare, who was appointed as the junior coregent to the throne but predeceased his father.
Kitchen suggests such a coregency is reflected on the bandages of the Ramesseum mummy of Nakhtefmut, which contain the dates "Year 3" and "Year 33 Second Heb Sed" respectively. The "Year 33" date mentioned here almost certainly refers to Osorkon I since Nakhtefmut wore a ring which bore this king's prenomen. Kitchen infers from this evidence that Year 33 of Osorkon I is equivalent to Year 3 of Shoshenq II, and that the latter was Shoshenq C himself.

Dr. Derry's medical examination of Shoshenq II's mummy reveals that the king died as a result of a massive septic infection from a head wound. The final resting place of Shoshenq II was certainly a reburial because he was found interred in the tomb of another king, Psusennes I of the 21st Dynasty. Scientists have found evidence of plant growth on the base of Sheshonq II's coffin which suggests that Shoshenq II's original tomb had become waterlogged; hence, the urgent need to rebury him and his funerary equipment in Psusennes' tomb instead.

Hedjkheperre Setepenre Takelot I was a son of Osorkon I and Queen Tashedkhons who ruled Egypt for 13 Years according to Manetho. Takelot would marry Queen Kapes who bore him Osorkon II. Initially, Takelot was believed to be an ephemeral Dynasty 22 Pharaoh since no monuments at Tanis or Lower Egypt could be conclusively linked to his reign, or mentioned his existence, except for the famous Pasenhor Serapeum stela which dates to Year 37 of Shoshenq V.

However, since the late 1980s, Egyptologists have assigned several documents mentioning a king Takelot in Lower Egypt to him rather than Takelot II. Takelot I's reign was relatively short when compared to the three decades-long reigns of his father Osorkon I and son, Osorkon II. Takelot I, rather than Takelot II, was the king Hedjkheperre Setepenre Takelot who is attested by a Year 9 stela from Bubastis as well as the owner of a partly robbed Royal Tomb at Tanis which belonged to this ruler as the German Egyptologist Karl Jansen-Winkeln reported in a 1987 Varia Aegyptiaca 3 (1987), pp. 253-258 paper.

Evidently, both king Takelots used the same prenomen or royal name: Hedjkheperre Setepenre. The main difference between Takelot I and II is that Takelot I never employed the Theban inspired epithet 'Si-Ese' (Son of Isis) in his titulary, unlike Takelot II. Takelot I's authority was not fully recognised in Upper Egypt, and Harsiese A, or another local Theban king, challenged his power there. Several Nile Quay Texts at Thebes mention two sons of Osorkon I namely the High Priests of Amun Iuwelot and Smendes III in Years 5, 8 and 14 of an anonymous king who can only be Takelot I since Takelot I was their brother.

Uniquely, however, the Quay Texts specifically omit any reference to the identity of the king himself. This might suggest that there was a dispute in the royal succession following Osorkon I's death in Upper Egypt, which seriously impaired Takelot I's control there. Harsiese A, as the son of the High Priest Shoshenq C and grandson of Osorkon I, or a hypothethical king named Maatkheperre Shoshenq must have appeared as a rival.

Twenty Second Egyptian Dynasty 943 - 720 B.C.E., Shoshenq I, Oskron I

The kings of the Twenty-Second Dynasty of Egypt were a series of Meshwesh Libyans who ruled from circa 943 BC until 720 BC. They had settled in Egypt since the Twentieth Dynasty. Manetho states that the dynasty originated at Bubastis, but the kings almost certainly ruled from Tanis, which was their capital and the city where their tombs have been excavated. Another king who belongs to this group is Tutkheperre Shoshenq, whose precise position within this dynasty is currently uncertain although he is now thought to have ruled Egypt early in the 9th century BC for a short time.

Shosheng I Bracelet

Shoshenq I/Hedjkheperre-Setepenre 943 - 922 B.C.E.
Oskron I/Sekhemkheperre-Setepenre 922 - 887 B.C.E.
Shoshenq II/Heqakheperre-Setepenre 887 - 885 B.C.E.
Takelot I/Hedjkheperre-Setepenre  885 - 872 B.C.E.
Oskron II/Usermaetre-Setepenamun 872 - 837 B.C.E.
Shoshenq III/Usermaetre-Setepenre 837 - 798 B.C.E.
Shoshenq IV/Hedjkheperre-Setepenre 798 - 785 B.C.E.
Pami/Usermaetre-Setepenamun 785 - 778 B.C.E.
Shoshenq V/Akheppere 778 - 740 B.C.E.
Pedubast II/Sehetepibenre 740 - 730 B.C.E.
Oskron IV/Akheppere-Setepenamun 730 - 716 B.C.E.

Hedjkheperre Setepenre Shoshenq I also known as Sheshonk or Sheshonq I was a Meshwesh Berber king of Egypt - of Libyan ancestry - and the founder of the Twenty-second Dynasty. Shoshenq I was the son of Nimlot A, Great Chief of the Ma, and his wife Tentshepeh A, a daughter of a Great Chief of the Ma herself. He is perhaps mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as Shishaq. The conventional dates for his reign as established by Kenneth Kitchen are 945 - 924 BC but his time-line has recently been revised downwards by a few years to 943-922 BC since he may well have lived for up to 2 to 3 years after his successful campaign in Canaan, conventionally dated to 925 BC. There is "no certainty" that Shoshenq's 925 BC campaign terminated just prior to this king's death a year later in 924 BC.

The English Egyptologist, Morris Bierbrier also dated Shoshenq I's accession "between 945-940 BC" in his seminal 1975 book concerning the genealogies of Egyptian officials who served during the late New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period. Bierbrier based his opinion on Biblical evidence collated by W. Albright in a BASOR 130 paper. This development would also account for the mostly unfinished state of decorations of Shoshenq's building projects at the Great Temple of Karnak where only scenes of the king's Palestinian military campaign are fully carved. Building materials would first have had to be extracted and architectural planning performed for his great monumental projects here.

Shoshenq I was the son of Nimlot A and Tentsepeh A. His paternal grandparents were the Chief of the MA Shoshenk (A) and his wife Mehytenweskhet A. Prior to his reign, Shoshenq I had been the Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian Army, and chief advisor to his predecessor Psusennes II, as well as the father-in-law of Psusennes' daughter Maatkare. He also held his father's title of Great Chief of the Ma or Meshwesh, which is an Egyptian word for Berbers of Libya. His ancestors were Libyans who had settled in Egypt during the late New Kingdom, probably at Herakleopolis Magna, though Manetho claims Shoshenq himself came from Bubastis, a claim for which no supporting physical evidence has yet been discovered. Significantly, his Libyan uncle Osorkon the Elder had already served on the throne for at least six years in the preceding 21st Dynasty; hence, Shoshenq I's rise to power was not wholly unexpected.

He pursued an aggressive foreign policy in the adjacent territories of the Middle East, towards the end of his reign. This is attested, in part, by the discovery of a statue base bearing his name from the Lebanese city of Byblos, part of a monumental stela from Megiddo bearing his name, and a list of cities in the region comprising Syria, Philistia, Phoenicia and the Negev. He was succeeded by his son Osorkon I after a reign of 21 Years. According to the British Egyptologist Aidan Dodson, no trace has yet been found of the tomb of Shoshenq I; the sole funerary object linked to Shoshenq I is a canopic chest of unknown provenance that was donated to the Agyptisches Museum, Berlin by Julius Isaac in 1891.

The son of Shoshenq I and his chief consort, Karomat A, Osorkon I was the second king of Egypt's 22nd Dynasty and ruled around 922 BC - 887 BC. He succeeded his father Shoshenq I who probably died within a year of his successful 923 BC campaign against the kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
Osorkon I's reign is known for many temple building projects and was a long and prosperous period of Egypt's History. His highest known date is a "Year 33 Second Heb Sed" inscription found on the bandage of Nakhtefmut's Mummy which held a bracellet inscribed with Osorkon I's praenomen: Sekhemkheperre.

Oskron I/Sekhemkheperre-Setepenre

This date can only belong to Osorkon I since no other early Dynasty 22 king ruled for close to 30 years until the time of Osorkon II. Other mummy linens which belong to his reign include three separate bandages dating to his Regnal Years 11, 12, and 23 on the mummy of Khonsmaakheru in Berlin. The bandages are anonymously dated but definitely belong to his reign because Khonsmaakheru wore leather bands that contained a menat-tab naming Osorkon I. Secondly, no other king who ruled around Osorkon I's reign had a 23rd Regnal Year including Shoshenq I who died just before the beginning of his Year 22. While Manetho gives Osorkon I a reign of 15 Years in his Aegyptiaca, this is most likely an error for 35 Years based on the evidence of the second Heb Sed bandage, as Kenneth Kitchen notes. Osorkon I's throne name - Sekhemkheperre - means "Powerful are the Manifestations of Re."

However, Shoshenq II could also have been another son of Shoshenq I since the latter was the only other king to be mentioned in objects from Shoshenq II's intact royal tomb at Tanis aside from Shoshenq II himself. These objects are inscribed with either Shoshenq I's praenomen Hedjkheperre Shoshenq (though this is not certain as it requires reading the objects as a massive hierogylyphic text), or Shoshenq, Great Chief of the Meshwesh, which was Shoshenq I's title before he became king.

Since Derry's forensic examination of his Mummy reveals him to be a Man in his fifties upon his death, Shoshenq II could have lived beyond Osorkon's 35 year reign and Takelot I's 13 year reign to assumed the throne for a few short years. An argument against this hypothesis is the fact that most kings of the period were commonly named after their grandfathers, and not their fathers.
While the British scholar Kenneth A. Kitchen views Shoshenq II to be the High Priest of Amun at Thebes Shoshenq C, and a short-lived coregent of Osorkon I who predeceased his father, the well-respected German Egyptologist Jurgen von Beckerath in his seminal 1997 book, Chronologie des Pharaonischen Agypten, maintains that Shoshenq II was rather an independent king of Tanis who ruled the 22nd Dynasty in his own right for c.2 Years.

Osorkon I's reign in Egypt was peaceful and uneventful; however, both his son and grandson, Takelot I and Osorkon II respectively, later encountered difficulties controlling Thebes and Upper Egypt within their own reigns since they had to deal with a rival king: Harsiese A. Osorkon I's tomb has never been found.