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Herihor

Herihor was an Egyptian army officer and high priest of Amun at Thebes (1080 BC to 1074 BC ) during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses XI.

Herihor advanced through the ranks of the military during the reign of Ramesses XI and was integral to restoring order by ousting Pinhasy , viceroy of Nubia, from Thebes. His wife Nodjmet may have been Ramesses' daughter. After that, he gained more titles, from high priest to vizier, before finally taking the royal title and virtually ignoring Ramesses, the actual king. He never really held power outside the environs of Thebes, and Ramesses actually outlived him by at least two years. The two apparently tacitly agreed to tolerate each other.

This apparent division resulted in two rulers of Egypt – one at Thebes, the other at Tanis – but in practice these were two branches of the same family with much intermarriage and the division between these two '21st dynasties' is somewhat artificial: Herihor's great-grandson was crowned Psusennes I at Tanis. Yet the division was not completely ended until both were swept away by the invasion of the Nubian king Shoshenq I in 945 BC.

Last updated: 10-17-2005 14:35:46
Last updated: 01-04-2007 01:18:57
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