# Ankhefensekhmet
**Ankhefensekhmet** (Egyptian *ꜥnḫ-f-nḫt*, sources print the name as Ankhefensekhmet (A)) was [High Priest of Ptah](https://www.edgepedia.org/high-priest-of-ptah) at Memphis at the end of the [Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt](https://www.edgepedia.org/twenty-first-dynasty-of-egypt), around the close of the tenth century BC. He is known almost entirely through his son: the High Priest Shedsunefertem (A), who held the Memphis priesthood in the time of Sheshonq I, names Ankhefensekhmet as his father on his monuments.[1](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/030751330609200106) An Apis bull embalming table scene shows Shedsunefertem alongside the cartouche of [Shoshenq I](https://www.edgepedia.org/shoshenq-i) and identifies him as son and successor of the High Priest Ankhefensekhmet (A).[2](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110676327-014/pdf) In the lower chronological scheme Ankhefensekhmet's floruit (the period when a person was active) falls around 982–962 BC, spanning the reigns of Osorkon the Elder, Siamun, and Psusennes II.[3](https://more.bham.ac.uk/birminghamegyptology/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2013/01/Mladjov-2017-The-Transition-between-the-Twentieth-and-Twenty-First-Dynasties-Revisited.pdf)
| Key facts | Detail |
|---|---|
| Office | High Priest of Ptah at Memphis, late Twenty-first Dynasty[1](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/030751330609200106) |
| Floruit | c. 982–962 BC in the lower scheme, under Osorkon the Elder, Siamun, and Psusennes II[3](https://more.bham.ac.uk/birminghamegyptology/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2013/01/Mladjov-2017-The-Transition-between-the-Twentieth-and-Twenty-First-Dynasties-Revisited.pdf) |
| Chief attestations | Apis embalming table scene (via his son Shedsunefertem) and British Museum EA 25[2](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110676327-014/pdf) • [1](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/030751330609200106) |
| Son and successor | Shedsunefertem (A), High Priest of Memphis under Sheshonq I[1](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/030751330609200106) • [2](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110676327-014/pdf) |
| Grandson | Sheshonq (C), son and successor of Shedsunefertem, designated by the title *stm n.j PtH*[2](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110676327-014/pdf) |
| Chronological anchor | Start of the Twenty-second Dynasty under Shoshenq I, fixed at 943 BC[3](https://more.bham.ac.uk/birminghamegyptology/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2013/01/Mladjov-2017-The-Transition-between-the-Twentieth-and-Twenty-First-Dynasties-Revisited.pdf) |
| State of chronology | Twenty-first Dynasty absolute dating remains disputed, with rival schemes differing by decades[4](https://www.academia.edu/35319071/Two_Studies_in_21st_Dynasty_Chronology_I_Deconstructing_Manethos_21st_Dynasty_II_The_Datelines_of_High_Priest_Menkheperre_Journal_of_Egyptian_History_6_1_219_256) |
## Evidence and monuments
Ankhefensekhmet is attested through two monuments of his son. The first is a scene on the south side of an Apis bull's embalming table: it shows the cartouche of Shoshenq I (c. 943–923 BC), founder of the Twenty-second Dynasty, beside a figure of the High Priest Shedsunefertem (A), son and successor of the High Priest Ankhefensekhmet (A), wearing the leopard skin and side-lock, with a label describing the performance of the Opening of the Mouth for Osiris-Apis by the Pillar of his Mother.[2](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110676327-014/pdf) This scene ties Ankhefensekhmet's family to the Apis cult at Memphis.
The second monument is the kneeling naophorous (statue of official holding a god's shrine) statue British Museum EA 25. It had previously been recognized as belonging to an unidentified official, son of a high priest of Memphis called Ankhefensekhmet; study of the fragmentary text showed that this son was Shedsunefertem, high priest of Memphis in the time of Sheshonq I, for whom it records some unusual epithets.[1](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/030751330609200106) The statue itself is a re-used work: the text is argued to be secondary, and the sculpture, which bears a regal belt motif, was originally made for [Khaemwese](https://www.edgepedia.org/khaemwaset-son-of-ramesses-ii), son of [Ramesses II](https://www.edgepedia.org/ramesses-ii), before being usurped.[1](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/030751330609200106) Shedsunefertem is also known from a stele in the Cleveland Museum of Art (1914.669), dated to Dynasty 22, reign of Shoshenq I.[5](https://www.clevelandart.org/print/art/1914.669) No preserved monument names Ankhefensekhmet acting alone, and his titles beyond the high priesthood are not recorded.
## Dating and chronology
Ankhefensekhmet's absolute dates are reached indirectly, by counting back from a fixed point. Astrochronological matches and international synchronisms allow reasonable certainty that the Twenty-second Dynasty began with Shoshenq I in 943 BC, which fixes the terminal date against which the late Twenty-first Dynasty reigns are reckoned.[3](https://more.bham.ac.uk/birminghamegyptology/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2013/01/Mladjov-2017-The-Transition-between-the-Twentieth-and-Twenty-First-Dynasties-Revisited.pdf) The further anchor is the assumption that [Psusennes II](https://www.edgepedia.org/psusennes-ii), father-in-law of [Osorkon I](https://www.edgepedia.org/osorkon-i), was a contemporary of Shoshenq I.[6](http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/3296/1/Jansen_Winkeln_Relative_Chronology_2006.pdf)
In the lower chronological scheme, Amenemope reigned 991–982 BC, Osorkon the Elder 982–976 BC, Siamun 976–957 BC, and Psusennes II 957–943 BC, so a High Priest of Ptah dated c. 982–962 BC falls within the reigns of [Osorkon the Elder](https://www.edgepedia.org/osorkon-the-elder), Siamun, and Psusennes II.[3](https://more.bham.ac.uk/birminghamegyptology/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2013/01/Mladjov-2017-The-Transition-between-the-Twentieth-and-Twenty-First-Dynasties-Revisited.pdf) A floruit at the very end of the Twenty-first Dynasty is consistent with a son holding office under Shoshenq I at the start of the Twenty-second.[1](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/030751330609200106) • [5](https://www.clevelandart.org/print/art/1914.669)
These dates are scheme-dependent. There has never been any consensus on the nature, composition, and chronology of the Twenty-first Dynasty, and recent research has produced rival chronological models.[4](https://www.academia.edu/35319071/Two_Studies_in_21st_Dynasty_Chronology_I_Deconstructing_Manethos_21st_Dynasty_II_The_Datelines_of_High_Priest_Menkheperre_Journal_of_Egyptian_History_6_1_219_256) One proposed model allocates the high year dates of the Theban High Priest Menkheperre to the *wḥm-mswt* ('Renaissance') era rather than to Psusennes or Amenemope of Tanis, shortening Twenty-first Dynasty chronology by some four decades, in step with archaeological and genealogical evidence; such a shortening would shift the absolute placement of officials of the period.[4](https://www.academia.edu/35319071/Two_Studies_in_21st_Dynasty_Chronology_I_Deconstructing_Manethos_21st_Dynasty_II_The_Datelines_of_High_Priest_Menkheperre_Journal_of_Egyptian_History_6_1_219_256) The same study rejects as circular the claim that Manetho's regnal years for the dynasty are corroborated by the monuments.[4](https://www.academia.edu/35319071/Two_Studies_in_21st_Dynasty_Chronology_I_Deconstructing_Manethos_21st_Dynasty_II_The_Datelines_of_High_Priest_Menkheperre_Journal_of_Egyptian_History_6_1_219_256) In the Manetho-based reckoning, Manetho's Psinaches is supposed to have reigned for nine years, while Siamun's attested reign was at least 17 years; the traditional identification of the two rests only on the absence of alternatives.[6](http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/3296/1/Jansen_Winkeln_Relative_Chronology_2006.pdf) The two positions on Manetho's value remain unreconciled.
## The office of High Priest of Ptah at Memphis
Ankhefensekhmet held the high priesthood at Memphis under conditions set at the start of the Twenty-first Dynasty, when Egypt was split in two.[6](http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/3296/1/Jansen_Winkeln_Relative_Chronology_2006.pdf) Within this divided landscape, the predominant strategy of the Memphite high priest appears to have been that the same person and his family controlled not only a ritual practice and privileged knowledge but also direct access to the god's statue hidden deep inside the temple complex; Memphite priestly positions, including the *wr xrp.w Hmw.t* and *stm*-priest offices, were often held by the same person.[2](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110676327-014/pdf)
The title *stm n.j PtH* appears to have differentiated an intended successor of the high priest of Memphis: Shedsunefertem (A) bears the titles *wr xrp.w Hmw.t* and *stm n.j PtH* on the Apis embalming table monument, and the same pattern recurs with Sheshonq (C), son and successor of Shedsunefertem.[2](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110676327-014/pdf) The statue record also reflects a break at this period: there was a hiatus in the production of statues during the Twenty-first Dynasty, and usurpation was extensive when interest in the medium revived at the start of the Twenty-second Dynasty, as EA 25's re-use of a sculpture of Khaemwese shows.[1](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/030751330609200106)
## Family and succession
Ankhefensekhmet (A) was father and predecessor of the High Priest Shedsunefertem (A), who held the office in the time of Sheshonq I.[1](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/030751330609200106) • [2](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110676327-014/pdf) Shedsunefertem's own son and successor, Sheshonq (C), was marked as intended successor through the *stm n.j PtH* title, continuing the pattern of hereditary transmission.[2](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110676327-014/pdf) The family thus held the Memphis high priesthood from the last years of the Twenty-first Dynasty into the Twenty-second, across the accession of Shoshenq I.[2](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110676327-014/pdf) • [5](https://www.clevelandart.org/print/art/1914.669) The Theban succession at the end of the Twentieth Dynasty is itself disputed: Jansen-Winkeln proposed in 1992 that Piankh preceded Herihor among the late Twentieth Dynasty High Priests of Amun, reversing the traditional reconstruction.[7](http://birminghamegyptology.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Jennifer-Palmer-The-High-Priests-of-Amun-at-the-End-of-the-Twentieth-Dynasty.pdf)
## Attestation and dating
Ankhefensekhmet appears only as a name in his son's filiations, on the Apis embalming table scene and the statue EA 25.[1](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/030751330609200106) • [2](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110676327-014/pdf) The *wr xrp.w Hmw.t* and *stm* titles cited above belong to Shedsunefertem, not to his father.[2](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110676327-014/pdf)
His absolute dates carry the uncertainty of the dynasty as a whole. The lower scheme brackets him under Osorkon the Elder, Siamun, and Psusennes II, counting from Shoshenq I's 943 BC accession;[3](https://more.bham.ac.uk/birminghamegyptology/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2013/01/Mladjov-2017-The-Transition-between-the-Twentieth-and-Twenty-First-Dynasties-Revisited.pdf) the rival model that assigns Menkheperre's year dates to the *wḥm-mswt* era would compress the same span by some four decades, moving everyone in it.[4](https://www.academia.edu/35319071/Two_Studies_in_21st_Dynasty_Chronology_I_Deconstructing_Manethos_21st_Dynasty_II_The_Datelines_of_High_Priest_Menkheperre_Journal_of_Egyptian_History_6_1_219_256) What the monuments do secure, regardless of scheme, is a sequence: Ankhefensekhmet, then Shedsunefertem under Shoshenq I, then Sheshonq (C) as designated successor, three generations controlling access to Ptah across one of Egypt's dynastic boundaries.[1](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/030751330609200106) • [2](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110676327-014/pdf)
## References
1. A Battered Statue of Shedsunefertem, High Priest of Memphis (BM EA 25), *Journal of Egyptian Archaeology* 92. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/030751330609200106
2. Handbook chapter on the High Priests of Memphis (De Gruyter). https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110676327-014/pdf
3. Mladjov, I. (2017). The Transition between the Twentieth and Twenty-First Dynasties Revisited. *Birmingham Egyptology Journal*. https://more.bham.ac.uk/birminghamegyptology/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2013/01/Mladjov-2017-The-Transition-between-the-Twentieth-and-Twenty-First-Dynasties-Revisited.pdf
4. Two Studies in 21st Dynasty Chronology. *Journal of Egyptian History* 6:1, 219–256. https://www.academia.edu/35319071/Two_Studies_in_21st_Dynasty_Chronology_I_Deconstructing_Manethos_21st_Dynasty_II_The_Datelines_of_High_Priest_Menkheperre_Journal_of_Egyptian_History_6_1_219_256
5. Stele of the High Priest of Ptah, Shedsunefertem. Cleveland Museum of Art 1914.669. https://www.clevelandart.org/print/art/1914.669
6. http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/3296/1/Jansen_Winkeln_Relative_Chronology_2006.pdf
7. Palmer, J. The High Priests of Amun at the End of the Twentieth Dynasty. http://birminghamegyptology.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Jennifer-Palmer-The-High-Priests-of-Amun-at-the-End-of-the-Twentieth-Dynasty.pdf
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Periods and civilizations › Ancient Near East, Egypt, Nubia, and the Punic world › Ancient Egypt › Third Intermediate Period › Third Intermediate Period: officials, priests, and private persons*
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