This whole thing started out as a couple disjoined pages of collected images and notes. Over the years it became more refined, but like many projects, it grew beyond its initial scope. So I created this site to try to organise the sources of the names of the pharaohs, with references and hieroglyphs freely available online.
Almost all hieroglyphs presented has been verified by visual inspection of the sources mentioned. This is a hobby, I am not an Egyptologist. I add to this website when time permits. The site is primarily designed for and intended to be read on a large screen, but works fine on phones and tablets too.
For historical or general information about pharaohs, this Wikipedia page is a much better place to start. The order of succession is disputed by Egyptologists for a number of pharaohs — in some cases their very existence. This website concentrates on the actual names, not on discussions about which pharaoh should be placed where. I have tried to follow the general consensus, but this is not always easy, as progression takes years to complete and is often hidden away in obscure journals that are only available to the academic community.
Always check with the original sources to ensure you are getting accurate information and, where possible, verify that the source is correct and not just repeating potentially flawed information.
It is up to you which information to trust, but you should always check the sources anyway – before repeating potentially incorrect information. Yes, that includes this website! There will inevitably be errors, typos, omissions and other (hopefully minor) problems on these pages.
A big problem with websites is that they inevitably disappear. This will happen to this website too. With printed book, there is always the possibility of finding a physical copy. When a domain name disappears, the information is lost unless it has been archived. But a digital archive can disappear in the blink of an eye. Yes, books are not immune to destruction, but they can survive without electricity. Furthermore, digital records are susceptible to manipulation, whereas physical books has to be printed and are less vulnerable to such alterations.
Try to locate a physical source and remember that digital manipulation is trivial. Try to use multiple sources from different locations if possible (maybe a little too paranoid?). Please note that the information contained in these pages may include mistakes or missing details. I apologize for any errors. This is not intentional.
I would like to thank Bieke Mahieu for invaluable help and inspiration with the Turin king list.
All the material on this website is free to use (under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license) which means that you are free to copy and
redistribute and adapt the material in any medium or format, provided that you give appropriate credit, something like:
Lundström, Peter. (2024). Available at: https://pharaoh.se [Accessed 17 Jan. 2024].
Contact information
Using self-hosted email became unmanageable (too much spam)
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https://pharaoh.se/about/