ABSTRACT
In some respects the XXIInd Dynasty has formed among Egyptologists as momentous a subject for discussion as the XXIst Dynasty, but it is satisfactory to know that most of the difficulties which have arisen in connexion with it have been removed, and that the origin and order of the kings in the dynasty have been satisfactorily ascertained. Among the names of the kings of this dynasty are four which are characteristic, i.e., Shashanq, Uasarken, Thekeleth, and Nemareth; from these attempts were made by the early Egyptologists to assign an origin to the dynasty. Dr. Birch in 1880 1 thought that the family of Shashanq, its first king, was “of Libyan or Semitic origin, that it “was descended from Psusennes” (Pasebkhānut), and that “the names of his descendants identify them with “the great Chaldean families which reigned over “Assyria and Babylonia”; at an earlier period he had no doubt that these kings were wholly of Semitic origin. Dr. Brugsch shared this view, and asserted in an unqualified manner that the names “Takeloth, Usarkon, “Nemaroth, represent in the Egyptian form and writing “the names Tiglath, Sargon, and Nimrod, so well known “in Assyria.” 1 It was, however, soon seen that none of these three names was Semitic, and the argument that the dynasty was Semitic, because the names were supposed to be Semitic, therefore fell to the ground. In the cuneiform inscriptions the work “Tukulti,” from which the Hebrews made “Tiglath,” never stands alone, but always forms part of a name, e.g. Tukulti-Ninib, Tukulti-pal-e-sharra; the name Nimrod is only known to us from Genesis x. 8, 9, and from Arabic legends, and has not as yet been identified in the cuneiform inscriptions; 2 and the first character, ua, https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203068823/f6a99e18-bbbc-4a9c-afd1-bd7a495440a1/content/ch4_page62-01_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>, in the name Uasarken, is sufficient to show that we are dealing with a non-Semitic name. All doubt as to the origin of the XXIInd Dynasty may now be set aside, for we know that its first king was a descendant of a Libyan family, and that his family belonged to the famous Māshauasha tribe of the Libyans.
