The king lists of ancient Egypt
The king lists of ancient Egypt are few and mostly poorly preserved.
The majority of the lists were created during the New Kingdom, and all but the Turin Canon were inscribed on stone, with hieroglyphs,
while the papyrus was written in ink in hieratic.
These cultic collections of selected deceased kings were engraved on the walls of important temples, and were not meant to be literal chronological lists.
By contrast, the kings on the Turin Papyrus include ephemeral kings and queens, and also record their length of reign, which none of the cultic lists do.
This makes it the most complete list of kings of Ancient Egypt that is available to us.
The minor lists are lists of kings that mention only a handful kings, yet for the sake of completeness, they are included here.
The main sources in chronological order
| 2350 BC | The Royal Annals – The Palermo stone and associated fragments – predynastic to early Fifth Dynasty kings. |
| 2275 BC | South Saqqara Stone – from the reign of Pepi II (Sixth Dynasty) |
| 1425 BC | Karnak Canon – from the reign of Thutmose III – Third to Eighteenth dynasties |
| 1425 BC | Thutmose III offering table – from the reign of Thutmose III |
| 1280 BC | Abydos Canon – from the reign of Seti I – First to Nineteenth dynasties |
| 1250 BC | Turin king list – from the reign of Ramesses II – Gods and First to Sixteenth dynasties |
| 1250 BC | Saqqara Canon – from the reign of Ramesses II – First to Nineteenth Dynasty |
| 1215 BC | Ramesseum king list – Ramesses II Mortuary Temple |
| 1150 BC | Medinet Habu king list – Ramesses III Mortuary Temple |
