Karnak Canon

The Karnak Canon is a king list that was located in the southwest corner of the Akh-Menu Hall of the Temple of Amun-Re at Karnak, Egypt.

Created during the reign of Thutmose III, it listed sixty-one kings, only the names of thirty-nine kings are still legible, and one is not written in a cartouche. Interestingly, the names include a large number of Second Intermediate Period kings not found in the other monumental king lists.

The original is in the Louvre museum in Paris (Chapelle des ancêtres, Cat. no. E 13481 bis,) and the original site in the Akh-menu (Heret-ib) festival hall, room SF-5 .

The purpose of the list was to showered or celebrated "ancestors," and was not meant to be a chronological list. The seemingly arbitrary positions the pharaohs are placed in does not reflect the order of succession, and is written in the tradition of Upper Egypt, concentrating on kings of the South.

The numbering system used in publications hail from Auswahl, numbering the kings from the center to the edges, top to bottom. However, the kings are facing the edges, indicating that the correct way to read the scenes is from the edges toward the center, which Lepsius corrected in 1853. However the numbering from Auswahl prevail, and is included in the ALT. column.

Content of the Karnak king list

Due to the poor state of the list, many of the names has been lost since its discovery. The early travellers who copied the inscriptions did so with varying accuracy.

Cartouches 38 and 57 (33, 59) record s-wꜢḏ-n-rꜤ, while 45 and 56 (42, 60) record s-nfr-[...]-rꜤ. Only one king with each of those names are known and identified.

The recorded names were in all likelyhood mistakes by the scribes, as the wꜢḏ, nfr, and Ꜥnḫ signs look alike in hieratic.

#	Alt.	Hieroglyphs	Name in list	Pharaoh
1	(8)		Destroyed	Prisse gives Neferkara, but no other source shows any name.
2	(7)		Snoferu s-nfr-w	Sneferu
3	(6)		Sahura sꜢḥw-rꜤ	Sahura
4	(5)		Ini ini	Niuserra Ini
5	(4)		Isesi issi	Djedkara Isesi
6	(3)		Destroyed
7	(2)		Destroyed
8	(1)		Sekhemra Sementawy sḫm-rꜤ smn-tꜢwi	Djehuty
9	(16)		Destroyed
10	(15)		Intef ḥr-.. in-t.f	Intef II
11	(14)		Intef ḥr-(s)h-.. in-t.f	Intef I The Horus name of Intef I is s-hr-tAwy which is the only Intef with the h-sign (Gardiner sign O4).
12	(13)		Mentuhotep ḥr-tp-.. mn-..	Mentuhotep I The first signs of the Horus name (tpja) of Montuhotep I is tp (Gardiner signs D1*Q3).
13	(12)		Hereditary Prince Intef	Uncertain Not a pharaoh, but at least a key figure in the foundation of Dynasty XI
14	(11)		Teti titi	Teti Uncertain reading, Prisse shows hieroglyphs possibly as titi.
15	(10)		Pepy ppy	Pepi II Uncertain reading but Prisse show p-i, with traces of what could be another p-i.
16	(9)		Merenra mr-n-rꜤ	Nemtiemsaf I
17	(23)		Sehotepibra s-ḥtp-ib-rꜤ	Amenemhat I
18	(22)		Nebukaura nbw-kꜢw-rꜤ	Amenemhat II
19	(21)		Destroyed
20	(20)		Destroyed
21	(19)		Maakherura mꜢꜤ-ḫrw-rꜤ	Amenemhat IV
22	(18)		Sobekneferura sbk-nfrw-rꜤ	Neferusobek
23	(17)		Intef in-t.f	Intef IV
24	(31)		Kheperkara ḫpr-kꜢ-rꜤ	Senusret I
25	(30)		Seqenenra sḳni.n-rꜤ	Seqenenra
26	(29)		Senakhtenra snḳt.n-rꜤ	Senakhtenra
27	(28)		Seuserenra swsr.n-rꜤ	Bebiankh
28	(27)		Nubkheperra nbw-ḫpr-rꜤ	Intef VI
29	(26)		Nebhapetra nb-ḥꜢpt-rꜤ	Mentuhotep II
30	(25)		Sneferkara s-nfr-kꜢ-rꜤ	Mentuhotep III
31	(24)		Destroyed	Uncertain Impossible to tell which pharaoh's name the cartouche contained
32	(39)		Khakara ḫꜤ-kꜢ-rꜤ	Senusret III Destroyed, reading according to Prisse
33	(38)		Khaneferra ḫꜤ-nfr-rꜤ	Sobekhotep IV
34	(37)		Khasekhemra ḫꜤ-sḫm-rꜤ	Neferhotep I
35	(36)		Sekhemra Snefertawy	Unreadable Destroyed, reading according to Prisse.
36	(35)		Sekhemra Khutawy sḫm-rꜤ ḫwi-tꜢwi	Sobekhotep I
37	(34)		Sankhibra s-Ꜥnḫ-ib-rꜤ	Sankhibra Amenemhat
38	(33)		Sewadjenra swꜢḏ.n-rꜤ	Nebirau I
39	(32)		..kaura	Uncertain Cannot attribute the damaged name to a certain pharaoh.
40	(47)		Destroyed
41	(46)		Mersekhemra mr-sḫm-rꜤ	Ined
42	(45)		Merkaura mr-kꜢw-rꜤ	Sobekhotep VII
43	(44)		Sekhemra Seusertawy sḫm-rꜤ swsr-tꜢwi	Sobekhotep VIII
44	(43)		Damaged	Uncertain Impossible to tell which pharaoh's name the cartouche contained.
45	(42)		Seneferibra s-nfr-ib-rꜤ	Senusret IV
46	(41)		Khahotepra ḫꜤ-ḥtp-rꜤ	Sobekhotep VI
47	(40)		Khaankhra ḫꜤ-Ꜥnḫ-rꜤ	Sobekhotep II
48	(54)		[Sekhem]ra Wahkhau [sḫm]-rꜤ wꜢḥ-ḫꜤw	Rahotep The Sekhem sign is missing or damaged
49	(53)		Sewahenra swꜢḥ.n-rꜤ	Senebmiu
50	(52)		Merhotepra mr-ḥtp-rꜤ	Sobekhotep V
51	(51)		Khutawyra ḫw-tꜢwi-rꜤ	Wegaf
52	(50)		Destroyed
53	(49)		Destroyed
54	(48)		Sekhemra Wadjkhau sḫm-rꜤ wꜢḏ-ḫꜤw	Sobekemsaf I
55	(61)		Damaged	Uncertain Impossible to tell which pharaoh's name the cartouche contained.
56	(60)		Senefer..ra	Uncertain Cannot attribute the damaged name to a certain pharaoh.
57	(59)		Sewadj..ra	Uncertain Cannot attribute the damaged name to a certain pharaoh.
58	(58)		Sekhemra ..	Uncertain Cannot attribute the damaged name to a certain pharaoh.
59	(57)		Destroyed
60	(56)		Destroyed
61	(55)		Destroyed

Illustrations

Young (Burton) 1825

Plate 96
Size: 1800x1127 (632 kB)

Wilkinson 1830

Plate IV
Size: 1646x1037 (412 kB)

Lepsius 1842

Plate I
Size: 2577x1588 (561 kB)

d'Avennes 1847

Plate I
Size: 1370x914 (500 kB)

Lepsius 1853

Plate I
Size: 2400x1154 (768 kB)

L'Illustration 1846

Page 244 top
Size: 1037x839 (328 kB)

L'Illustration 1846

Page 244 bottom
Size: 435x583 (86 kB)

L'Illustration 1846

Page 245
Size: 626x725 (189 kB)