13 Facts About Siamun

Neterkheperre or Netjerkheperre-Setepenamun Siamun was the sixth pharaoh of Egypt during the Twenty-first Dynasty.

Siamun built extensively in Lower Egypt for a king of the Third Intermediate Period and is regarded as one of the most powerful rulers of the Twenty-first Dynasty after Psusennes I Siamun's prenomen, Netjerkheperre-Setepenamun, means "Divine is The Manifestation of Ra, Chosen of Amun" while his name means 'son of Amun.

Siamun is often identified with the last king of Manetho's 21st Dynasty, "Psinaches".

Hence, Siamun would have taken the throne about 16 years earlier in 986 BC.

Siamun built at Heliopolis and at Piramesse where a surviving stone block bears his name.

Siamun constructed and dedicated a new temple to Amun at Memphis with 6 stone columns and doorways which bears his royal name.

The king's name is explicitly given as [ Siamun, beloved of Am] in the relief and there can be no doubt that this person was Siamun as the eminent British Egyptologist Kenneth Kitchen stresses in his book, On the Reliability of the Old Testament.

Paul S Ash has challenged this theory, stating that Siamun's relief portrays a fictitious battle.

Siamun argues that there is nothing in the relief to connect it with Philistia or the Levant.

Dever challenges these positions, arguing that Siamun reigned from 978 to 959 BCE, coinciding with Solomon's early years of reign and that such diplomatic marriages are well attested in the ancient Near East; he states that archaeological excavations in Gezer show that the site had been refortified in 950 BCE, during Solomon's reign, only to be later destroyed by Shoshenq I, during his raid against Israel.

The king's name is explicitly given as [ Siamun, beloved of Am] in the relief and there can be no doubt that this person was Siamun.

However, Paul S Ash has challenged this theory, stating that Siamun's relief portrays a fictitious battle.

Siamun argues that there is nothing in the relief to connect it with Philistia or the Levant.