Gemenefkhonsbak

Shepseskare-irenre Gemenefkhonsbak was an ancient Egyptian king of the Tanite 23rd Dynasty.

Evidence and interpretation The evidence for King Gemenefkhonsubak comes almost entirely from inscriptions on blocs recovered from the ruins of Tanis. He was first recognized as a pharaoh by Pierre Montet, in his publication of inscribed blocs from the Sacred Lake of Amun at Tanis, although Serge Sauneron had already noticed his birth name on a stele. Kenneth Kitchen placed Gemenefkhonsbak's reign at Tanis sometime in c. 700–680 BC, commenting that his date was "wholly uncertain." He also characterized Gemenefkhonsbak as a "kinglet," probably reigning before the King Pedubast who was contemporary with the Assyrian interventions (in c. 670–667 BC).

Further consideration of the evidence from Tanis allowed the attribution of the Horus name Seankhtawy to Shepseskare-irenre Gemenefkhonsbak. This also makes it possible to assign him a probable wife, the King's Daughter and King's Wife Nebethetepetdiiau (Nb.t-ḥtp.t-dj-jȝw), and a daughter, the King's Daughter Khonsusaes (Ḫnsw-sȝ.s). Frédéric Payraudeau found the period between Year 6 of Taharqa (in 685 BC) and the attestations of Pedubast III by the Assyrians (in 671–667 BC) the most likely time for the reign of Gemenefkhonsbak and possibly other local kings at Tanis. In subsequent studies, Meffre and Payraudeau placed the newly identified King Neferkare Pami II as the successor of Osorkon IV at Tanis, leaving Gemenefkhonsbak as his eventual successor (possibly following a period of interruption under the Kushite 25th Dynasty), and had Gemenefkhonsbak succeeded immediately or eventually by Pedubast III. While some scholars identify Pedubast III with Sehetepibre Pedubast, Payraudeau identifies the latter as Pedubast II at the start of the Tanite 23rd Dynasty on the basis of geopolitical and stylistic considerations. A king with the throne name Sekhemkare (sharing the Horus name Seankhtawy with Gemenefkhonsbak) is considered as possibly intervening between Gemenefkhonsbak and Pedubast III, but instead may have reigned at Athribis rather than Tanis.

Attestations Few monuments bearing his name have been found. The better known among these is a hieratic stele from Heliopolis and now in the Museo Egizio of Turin; on this stele, this king is depicted while spearing a foreigner who lies before Osiris. According to Miroslav Verner, a scaraboid seal of unknown origin reading Shepeskare, which Flinders Petrie attributed to pharaoh Shepseskare of the 5th Dynasty at the beginning of the 20th century, may instead belong to Gemenefkhonsbak.