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| Shoshenq I in hieroglyphs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Era: 3rd Intermediate Period (1069–664 BC) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shoshenq I (or Sheshonk I – for discussion of the spelling, see Shoshenq; Egyptian ššnq], was a Meshwesh Libyan king of Egypt and founder of the Twenty-second Dynasty. The conventional dates of his reign are 945 BC-924 BC (following the chronology of Kenneth Kitchen). Some, including Kitchen, think he is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as שׁישׁק Šîšaq (transliterated as Shishaq and Shishak) though this identification has been questioned by David Rohl, Peter James, and other adherents of the so-called New Chronology.
Shoshenq, prior to establishing himself as king, had been the commander-in-chief of the armies of Egypt, as well as advisor to his predecessor Psusennes II, as well as the father-in-law of Psusennes' daughter Maatkare. His ancestors are generally thought to have been Libyans, who had settled in Egypt during the late New Kingdom, probably at Herakleopolis Magna, though Manetho claims Shoshenq himself came from Bubastis, a claim for which no supporting physical evidence has yet been discovered.
Shoshenq consolidated his hold on Egypt by marriage alliances as well as making his son Iuput both High Priest of Amun and commander of the armies; another son, Nimlot, was also given prominent positions in the military. He pursued an aggressive foreign policy in the adjacent territories of the Middle East, which is attested in part by the find of a statue base bearing his name from the Lebanese city of Byblos, part of a monumental stele from Megiddo, and a list of Palestinian cities in topographical lists inscribed on the walls of temples at al-Hibah and Karnak.
A fragment of a stele bearing his cartouche has been found at Megiddo, which has been interpreted as a monument Shoshenq erected to celebrate his victory.