The Saqqara King List: What It Reveals About Ancient Egyptian Kings

Located in the vast desert necropolis of Saqqara, just south of modern-day Cairo, is one of the most fascinating and valuable records of ancient Egyptian epigraphy — the Saqqara King List. Discovered in 1861, inside the private tomb of a high-ranking official named Tenry, the stone relief carved during the reign of the Nineteenth Dynasty provides a unique insight into the Pharaonic history. Unlike royal temple inscriptions, which are explicitly intended to proclaim the king’s power and legitimacy, the Saqqara King List was created for a private mortuary chapel, reflecting the perspective of ancient Egypt’s elite about their sovereign masters and ancestors.

The tablet containing fifty-eight royal cartouches from the First Dynasty until the reign of Ramesses II helps the modern Egyptologists a lot, as the study of its unique content, omissions, and chronological arrangement provides significant insights into the ancient understanding of the history of the New Kingdom.

1. Discovery and historical context of the artifact

The Saqqara King List was discovered in the necropolis of Saqqara by French archaeologist Auguste Mariette during excavations of the ancient capital of Memphis’s burial ground.

A. The tomb of Tenry

The relief was not carved on a public temple pylon or a royal cenotaph, but on the wall of the funerary chapel belonging to Tenry (Tjuneroy). The high-ranking official served under the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II in the Nineteenth Dynasty and held the title of “Chief Lector Priest” and “Overseer of all works on all monuments of the king.”

B. Current location and preservation

After discovery, the tablet was removed from the ground to protect it from further damage and potential tomb robbers. Today, the Saqqara King List is stored in the Egyptian Museum of Cairo, being one of the highlights of the New Kingdom collection.

2. Structural layout and visual presentation

The Saqqara tablet was made from high-quality limestone, and originally, there were fifty-eight cartouches on it, arranged in two rows. On each cartouche was carved the king’s throne name, enclosed in an oval ring, facing the tomb owner.

A. The ritual context

On the original relief, Tenry and Ramesses II were depicted in front of the rows of cartouches in an attitude of adoration and offering. Placing the picture of the Pharaonic dynasty in his private tomb, Tenry expressed his devotion and respect for the divine rulers of Egypt and ensured the connection of his Ka with the eternal power of the Pharaohs’ spirits after death.

B. Damage and missing entries

Out of the original fifty-eight cartouches, only forty-seven have survived today, while eleven are lost due to stone fractures. Even though some of the entries on the Saqqara tablet are missing, the ones survived give a clear idea about the chronological order of the Pharaonic kings ruling over Egypt for more than a thousand years.

3. The sequence of Kings from the First Dynasty to Ramesses II

The Saqqara tablet contains the chronology of Pharaohs’ rule from the beginning of the dynastic tradition to the contemporary ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty.

A. Starting with the First Dynasty

Unlike the Abydos King list, which started on the cartouche of Meni (Menes), the Saqqara tablet started its chronological sequence from the sixth ruler of the First Dynasty, Anedjib (Adjib). The first five rulers of the First Dynasty, including Menes, were probably erased or left blank to follow the local tradition of the Memphite capital.

However, the list continued on the second row in the same chronological order, mentioning the Second and Third dynasties’ rulers, who ruled over the territory of Memphis.

B. The Old Kingdom and the pyramid builders

The Old Kingdom rulers receive great attention on the Saqqara tablet, mentioning the names of the most renowned Pharaohs of the Pyramid Age: Djoser (who built the step pyramid at Saqqara), Sneferu, Khufu (the builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza), Khafre, and Menkaure.

Probably, the emphasis on these rulers’ names reflected the Memphite priests’ beliefs regarding their contribution to the establishment of Egypt’s religious and cultural traditions.

C. The Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom rulers

The Middle Kingdom rulers mentioned on the Saqqara tablet include the most famous sixth dynasty pharaohs – Amenemhat I, Senusret III, and his son, who reinstated the unity of the empire after the first intermediate period. On the Saqqara tablet, the New Kingdom history is continued with the rulers of the Nineteenth dynasty – the great pharaohs of the empire, which extended its borders to the furthest edges of the Near East.

4. What the list reveals about history?

The Saqqara tablet contains valuable information for the modern Egyptologists studying the history of ancient Egypt.

A. Memphite perspective on history

The unique characteristic of the Saqqara list as a primary source is that it provides the historian with a Memphite perspective on the history of the country. The emphasis on the rulers of the First and Sixth dynasties reflects the regional perception of the national history that was different from the perspectives embedded in the other surviving lists like the Abydos or the Karnak King Lists.

B. The issue of systematic censorship

The problem of censorship in ancient Egyptian historical writing is also reflected in the content of the Saqqara tablet. Following the tradition of other New Kingdom inscriptions, the Saqqara list employed systematic omissions to underline the continuous succession of orthodox kingship.

The main topic of the list is the narration about the history of the royal dynasty, free from any disruptions or interferences. Therefore, the names of the heretic kings were excluded from the list. The Amarna dynasty’s rulers, Akhenaten, Smenkhkare, Tutankhamun, and Ay, were omitted, and the succession was continued from Amenhotep III to Horemheb.

In addition, the names of the foreign kings of the Fifteenth dynasty, ruling over the Delta region during the Second Intermediate Period, were not included in the Saqqara list in order to preserve the image of the uninterrupted history of Egypt.

The only female ruler whose name was not included in the Saqqara tablet was Queen Hatshepsut. Even though she ruled Egypt for twenty-two years and accomplished a lot for the country, she was not acknowledged as a legitimate king by the traditional priests.

C. Reversing the reverse

One of the most intriguing epigraphic puzzles concerning the Saqqara tablet is the reversed order of the Kings’ names. In the majority of ancient Egyptian writings and paintings, the names of the rulers are listed from left to right in chronological order. On the Saqqara tablet, however, they are placed from the right to the left in the same chronological order. Thus, when following the direction of the seated Pharaoh’s gaze, the viewer perceives the reverse order of the cartouches.

5. The Saqqara list and modern historical reconstruction

For the modern historians, the Saqqara tablet is a crucial piece of evidence in the attempts to reconstruct the ancient chronology of Egypt.

As none of the primary source documents contain a complete history of Egypt, the comparative analysis of the Turin Royal Canon, the Palermo Stone, the Abydos King List, and the Saqqara tablet helps identify the exact age of particular rulers. The value of the Saqqara tablet in this chronological analysis lies in the fact that it contains the correct spelling of the throne names (prenomens) of the Old and Middle Kingdoms’ rulers. Additionally, the names of the First Dynasty’s rulers were included in the Saqqara tablet, providing the modern historians with the opportunity to match the regnal years correctly. The damaged parts of the Turin papyrus can also be compensated with the help of the Saqqara list, especially concerning the history of the First Intermediate Period.

Conclusion

The Saqqara list is a magnificent example of how the ancient Egyptians perceived their history and paid continuous respect to their ancestors. Carved not on a grand temple pylon but in a private tomb, the relief reveals the attitude of ancient Egypt’s elite towards their country’s history and culture.

The Saqqara tablet shows the devotion of the high priest Tenry to the memory of the Pharaohs who ruled over Egypt fifty centuries ago. The names carved on the limestone tablet remind the modern people about the ancient wonder of the world and its rich history that still amazes the people in the twenty-first century.