Scarab Inscribed with the Name of the Kushite King Senkamanisken
Late Period
The base of this scarab bears an inscription forming the name of a Kushite ruler. The hieroglyphs on the right side form the name Senkamanisken, belonging to one of the Kushite kings who ruled around 643-623 B.C. at Napata, the capital of Kush, the Nubian kingdom located south of Egypt. Senkamanisken is a contemporary of the Egyptian pharaoh Psamtik I of Dynasty 26 (ca. 664-610 B.C.). A century earlier, around the mid-8th century B.C., the kings of Kush had conquered Egypt and ruled it for approximatively one century as Egypt’s Dynasty 25 (ca. 733-664 B.C.). Accompanying the name is the blessing ‘given life forever’.
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