Shebitku or ShabatakaThe more neutral spelling, according to Jurman 2017: 124, n. 1, 128. (, , or )The identification with Sabakōn rathern than with Sebikhos (Σεβιχὼς) is the result of the recent reappraisal of the order of Shabataka and Shabaka and the order and reign-lengths in the epitomes of Manetho. also known as Shebitqo, was the second pharaoh of the Kushite Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt who ruled from 714 BC – 705 BC. He was a son of Piye, the founder of this dynasty. Shebitku's prenomen or throne name, Djedkare, means "Enduring is the Soul of Re." Shebitku's queen was Arty, who was a daughter of king Piye, according to a fragment of statue JE 49157 of the High Priest of Amun Haremakhet, son of Shabaka, found in the temple of the Goddess Mut in Karnak.Jansen-Winkeln, Karl, Inschriften der Spätzeit: Teil III: Die 25. Dynastie, (in German) (2009). pp. 347-8. [52.5].
Reign before Shabaka Until recent times, Shebitku was placed within the 25th Dynasty between Shabaka and Taharqa. Although the possibility of a switch between the reigns of Shabaka and Shebitku had already been suggested before by Jean-Frédéric BrunetBrunet, Jean-Frédéric, "The 21st and 25th Dynasties Apis Burial Conundrum", Journal of the Ancient Chronology Forum 10 (2005), p. 29. and Baker had outlined nine reasons for the reversal,Joe Baker (2005), on egyptologyforum.org it was Michael Bányai in 2013Michael Bányai, "Ein Vorschlag zur Chronologie der 25. Dynastie in Ägypten", JEgH 6 (2013) 46-129 and "Die Reihenfolge der kuschitischen Könige", JEgH 8 (2015) pp. 81–147. who first published in a mainstream journal many arguments in favor of such a relocation. After him, Frédéric Payraudeau and Gerard P. F. BroekmanBroekman, Gerard P. F., "The order of succession between Shabaka and Shabataka; A different view on the chronology of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty", GM 245 (2015) 17–31. independently expanded the hypothesis. The archaeological evidence discovered in 2016/2017 by Claus Jurman confirms a Shebitku-Shabaka succession. Gerard Broekman's GM 251 (2017) paper shows that Shebitku reigned before Shabaka since the upper edge of Shabaka's NLR #30 Year 2 Karnak quay inscription was carved over the left-hand side of the lower edge of Shebitku's NLR#33 Year 3 inscription.Broekman, G.P.F., Genealogical considerations regarding the kings of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty in Egypt, GM 251 (2017), p. 13. The Egyptologist Claus Jurman's personal re-examination of the Karnak quay inscriptions of Shebitku (or Shabataka) and Shabaka in 2016 and 2017 conclusively demonstrate that Shebitku ruled before Shabaka and confirmed Broekman's arguments that Shebitku's Nile Text inscription was carved before Shabaka's inscription; hence, Shebitku ruled before Shabaka.Jurman, Claus; The Order of the Kushite Kings According to Sources from the Eastern Desert and Thebes. Or: Shabataka was here first!, Journal of Egyptian History 10 (2017), pp. 124–151. See PDF
Critically, it was first pointed out by Baker and then later by Frédéric Payraudeau who wrote in French that "the Divine Adoratrix ie., God's Wife of Amun Shepenupet I," the last Libyan Adoratrix, was still alive during the reign of Shebitku/Shabataqo because she is represented performing rites and is described as "living" in those parts of the Osiris-Héqadjet chapel built during his reign (wall and exterior of the gate).[45 – G. Legrain, "Le temple et les chapelles d'Osiris à Karnak. Le temple d’Osiris-Hiq-Djeto, partie éthiopienne", RecTrav 22 (1900) 128; JWIS III, 45.] In the rest of the room it is Amenirdis I, (Shabaka's sister), who is represented with the Adoratrix title and provided with a coronation name. The succession Shepenupet I – Amenirdis I as God's Wife of Amun or Divine Adoratrice of Amun thus took place during the reign of Shebitku. This detail in itself is sufficient to show that the reign of Shabaka cannot precede that of Shebitku.
The construction of the tomb of Shebitku (Ku. 18) resembles that of Piye (Ku. 17) while that of Shabaka (Ku. 15) is similar to that of Taharqa (Nu. 1) and Tantamani (Ku. 16).[39 – D. Dunham, El-Kurru, The Royal Cemeteries of Kush, I, (1950) 55, 60, 64, 67; also D. Dunham, Nuri, The Royal Cemeteries of Kush, II, (1955) 6-7; J. Lull, Las tumbas reales egipcias del Tercer Periodo Intermedio (dinastías XXI-XXV). Tradición y cambios, BAR-IS 1045 (2002) 208.] One of the strongest evidence that Shabaka ruled after Shebitku was demonstrated by the architectural features of the Kushite royal pyramids in El Kurru. Only in the pyramids of Piye (Ku 17) and Shebitku (Ku 18) are the burial chambers are open-cut structures with a corbelled roof, whereas fully tunneled burial chamber substructures are found in the pyramids of Shabaka (Ku 15), Taharqa (Nu 1) and Tantamani (Ku 16), as well as with all subsequent royal pyramids in El Kurru and Nuri.Dunham, Dows D.; El Kurru; The Royal Cemeteries of Kush (Cambridge, Massachusetts 1950). The fully tunneled and once-decorated burial chamber of Shabaka's pyramid was clearly an architectural improvement since it was followed by Taharqa and all his successors.Broekman, G.P.F., The order of succession between Shabaka and Shabataka. A different view on the chronology of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty, GM 245, (2015), pp. 21-22.
The pyramid design evidence also shows that Shabaka must have ruled after—and not before—Shebitku. This also favours a Shebitku-Shabaka succession in the 25th dynasty. In the Cairo CG 42204 of the High Priest of Amun, Haremakhet—son of Shabaka—calls himself as "king's son of Shabaka, justified, who loves him, Sole Confidant of king Taharqa, justified, Director of the palace of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt Tanutamun/Tantamani, may he live for ever."Broekman, G.P.F., The order of succession between Shabaka and Shabataka. A different view on the chronology of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty, GM 245, (2015), p. 23. However, as first noted by Baker, no mention of Haremakhet's service under Shebitku is made; even if Haremakhet was only a youth under Shebitku, this king's absence is strange since the intent of the statue's text was to render a chronological sequence of kings who reigned during Haremakhet's life, each of their names being accompanied by a reference to the relationship that existed between the king mentioned and Haremakhet.Broekman, G.P.F., GM 245 (2015), p. 24. A possible explanation for Shebitku's omission from the statue of Haremakhet was that Shebitku was already dead when Haremakhet was born under Shabaka.
Payraudeau notes that Shebitku's shabtis are small (about 10 cm) and have a very brief inscription with only the king's birth name in a cartouche preceded by "the Osiris, king of Upper and Lower Egypt" and followed by mȝʿ-ḫrw.[41 – JWIS III, 51, number 9; D. Dunham, (see footnote 39), 69, plate 45A-B.]. They are thus very close to those of Piye/Piankhy [42 – D. Dunham, (see footnote 39), plate 44.]. However, Shabaka's shabtis are larger (about 15–20 cm) with more developed inscriptions, including the quotation from the Book of the Dead, which is also present on those Taharqo of Tanouetamani, and Senkamanisken." All this evidence also suggests that Shebitku ruled before Shabaka. Finally, as first pointed out by Baker, and then later by Payraudeau who observed that in the traditional Shebitku-Shabaka chronology, the time span between the reign of Taharqa and Shabaka seems to be excessively long. They both noted that Papyrus Louvre E 3328c from Year 2 or Year 6 of Taharqa mentions the sale of a slave by his owner who had bought him in Year 7 of Shabaka, that is 27 years earlier in the traditional chronology but if the reign of Shabaka is placed just before that of Taharqa (with no intervening reign of Shebitku), there is a gap of about 10 years which is much more credible.Payraudeau, Nehet I, (2014), p. 119.
The German scholar Karl Jansen Winkeln also endorsed a Shebitku-Shabaka succession in a JEH 10 (2017) N.1 paper titled 'Beiträge zur Geschichte der Dritten Zwischenzeit', Journal of Egyptian History 10 (2017), pp. 23–42 when he wrote a postscript stating "Im Gegensatz zu meinen Ausführungen auf dem Kolloquium in Münster bin ich jetzt der Meinung, dass die (neue) Reihenfolge Schebitku—Schabako in der Tat richtig ist..." or 'In contrast to my exposition at the Munster colloquium, I am now of the opinion that the (new) succession Shebitku-Shabako is in fact correct...'Jansen-Winkeln, Karl, Journal of Egyptian History 10 (2017), N1, p. 40.
Alleged coregency with Shabaka
The Turin Stela 1467, which depicts Shabaka and Shebitku seated together (with Shebitku behind Shabaka) facing two other individuals across an offering table, was once considered to be clear evidence for a royal co-regency between these two Nubian kings in William J. Murnane's 1977 book, Ancient Egyptian Coregencies.Murnane, William, Ancient Egyptian Coregencies PDF, (SAOC 40: Chicago 1977), p. 190. However, the Turin Museum has subsequently acknowledged the stela to be a forgery. Robert Morkot and Stephen Quirke, who analysed the stela in a 2001 article, also confirmed that the object is a forgery which cannot be used to postulate a possible coregency between Shabaka and Shebitku.R. Morkot; Quirke, S., "Inventing the 25th Dynasty: Turin stela 1467 and the construction of history", Begegnungen — Antike Kulturen im Niltal Festgabe für Erika Endesfelder, Karl-Heinz Priese, Walter Friedrich Reineke, Steffen Wenig (in German) (Leipzig 2001), pp. 349–363.
Secondly, Shebitku's Year 3, 1st month of Shemu day 5 inscription in Nile Level Text Number 33 has been assumed to record a coregency between Shabaka and Shebitku among some scholars. This Nile text records Shebitku mentioning his appearing (ḫꜥj) in Thebes as king in the temple of Amun at Karnak where "Amun gave him the crown with two uraei like Horus on the throne of Re" thereby legitimising his kingship.L. Török, The Royal Crowns of Kush: A Study in Middle Nile Valley Regalia and Iconography in the 1st Millennia B. C. and A.D., Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 18 (Oxford 1987), p. 4. . . . . Jürgen von Beckerath argued in a GM 136 (1993) article that the inscription recorded both the official coronation of Shebitku and the very first appearance of the king himself in Egypt after comparing this inscription with Nile Level Text No.30 from Year 2 of Shebitku when Shabaka conquered all of Egypt.von Beckerath, J., "Die Nilstandsinschrift vom 3. Jahr Schebitkus am kai von Karnak," GM 136 (1993), pp. 7–9. If correct, this would demonstrate that Shebitku had truly served as a coregent to Shabaka for 6 years and some months.