13 Facts About Atlanersa

Atlanersa was a Kushite ruler of the Napatan kingdom of Nubia, reigning for about a decade in the mid-7th century BC.

Atlanersa was the successor of Tantamani, the last ruler of the 25th Dynasty of Egypt, and possibly a son of Taharqa or less likely of Tantamani, while his mother was a queen whose name is only partially preserved.

Atlanersa was the second Nubian king to build a pyramid in Nuri after Taharqa.

Atlanersa was the son of king Taharqa or less probably of Atlanersa's immediate predecessor Tantamani.

Specialists, such as Laszlo Torok, who contend that Atlanersa's father was Taharqa, explain the intervening reign of Tantamani by positing that Atlanersa might have been too young to ascend the throne at the death of his father and that attempting a military reconquest of Egypt required a strong king.

Atlanersa bore the title of "Great one of the Imat-scepter, noblewoman".

Atlanersa was married to at least two of his sisters: Yeturow, who bore the title of "wife of the king, daughter of the king, sister of the king, mistress of Egypt", and Khaliset who was "noblewoman, lady of the Imat-sceptre, singer, great daughter of the king".

Foundation tablets bearing Atlanersa's name show that he started a temple dedicated to the syncretic god Osiris-Dedwen at Jebel Barkal, now known as B700.

Atlanersa's name was present on a scene inscribed on the front pylon of the temple, now destroyed.

Finally, Atlanersa's name is written on a granite altar from the same temple.

Reliefs on the barque stand and on the sanctuary walls show Atlanersa holding up the heavens and performing the ceremony of uniting the two lands, originally solely a part of the coronation of Egyptian pharaohs but subsequently an integral part of the Kushite royal legitimation.

Atlanersa is the only Kushite king of the mid-7th century BC whose statue was absent from the statue cache uncovered in Jebel Barkal Temple B500 by George Andrew Reisner in 1916.

At Old Dongola, a fragmentary obelisk bearing Atlanersa's name was discovered in a church, where it had been reused as a column.