Wadjkare () may have been an ancient Egyptian king of the Eighth dynasty who reigned during the First Intermediate Period. He is considered to be a very obscure figure in Egyptian history.Thomas Schneider: Lexikon der Pharaonen. Albatros, Düsseldorf 2002, , p. 170 - 171.
Identity Wadjkare is mentioned only once: in a royal limestone tablet known as Coptos Decree R (Cairo museum; obj. JE 41894), which is said to have been created by the king himself. It contains a list of punishments for everyone who dares to damage or plunder a shrine dedicated to the god Min-of-Coptos.Nigel C. Strudwick: Texts from the Pyramid Age. BRILL, Leiden 2005, , p. 123-124. However, from an archaeological standpoint there is nothing else known about this king. His existence is questioned by some scholars, because he is not mentioned in any Ramesside king list.Margaret Bunson: Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Infobase Publishing, 2009, , p. 429.
A rock inscription in Nubia mentions a king that in the past was tentatively read as Wadjkare.Henri Gauthier, "Nouvelles remarques sur la XIe dynastie". BIFAO 9 (1911), p. 136.Alan Gardiner, Egypt of the Pharaohs: an introduction, Oxford University Press, 1964, p. 121. It is believed nowadays that the royal name on the inscription is Menkhkare, the throne name of the 11th Dynasty local ruler Segerseni.Jürgen von Beckerath, Handbuch der Ägyptischen Königsnamen (MÄS 49), Philip Von Zabern, 1999, pp. 80-81.
Scholars such as Farouk Gomaà and William Hayes identify the Horus name Djemed-ib-taui with a ruler named Neferirkare and equate Wadjkare with an obscure ruler named Hor-Khabaw.Farouk Gomaà: Ägypten während der Ersten Zwischenzeit (= Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients. Reihe B: Geisteswissenschaften, vol. 27). Reichert, Wiesbaden 1980, . p. 57, 59, 127. Hans Goedicke sees Wadjkare as the predecessor of Djemed-ib-taui and assigns both rulers to the 9th dynasty.Hans Goedicke: Königliche Dokumente aus dem Alten Reich (= Ägyptologische Abhandlungen, Bd. 14). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1967, p. 215.
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