Sahathor (1) (fl. c. 1730 b. c.e.) Obscure ruler of the Thirteenth Dynasty
His reign is not well documented, but he was the successor of his brother, neferhotep i, with whom he may have had a brief coregency.
Sahathor (2) (fl. 19th century b. c.e.) Treasury official of the Twelfth Dynasty
He served in the reign of amenemhet ii (1929-1892 b. c.e.) as an assistant treasurer and expedition leader. Sahathor conducted a mining expedition and brought gold and turquoise to court from nubia (modern Sudan). He also conducted an expedition to bring rare plants to the pharaoh. His abydos tomb carries accounts of his exploits as well as reports of his promotions and court favors. A stylish statue of Sahathor was also inscribed in a niche in his tomb.
See also EGYPTIAN natural resources.
Sahure (d. 2446 b. c.e.) Second ruler of the Fifth Dynasty He reigned from 2458 b. c.e. until his death. Sahure was the successor of userkhaf and possibly the son of Queen KHENTAKAWES (1). A builder and innovator, Sahure started sending fleets of ships along the coast of palestine and conducted expeditions to punt. He exploited the mines in the sinai territory and quarried diorite stone at ABU SIMBEL near ASWAN. Mentioned in the Palermo STONE, Sahure campaigned against the Libyans and made raids on Syrian-held lands. His name meant “He Who Comes to re.”
Sahure began the royal cemetery at abusir south of SAQQARA. He erected a pyramidal complex there, complete with a valley temple, causeway, and mortuary temple. It was designed with colonnaded courts and reliefs depicting his military campaigns and is considered a model of Fifth Dynasty funerary architecture, using not only basic building materials from the local region but fine limestone from the tureh (Tura) quarry as well. Sahure’s desert hunting expeditions and his naval fleet are depicted on the pyramid. The scenes are in low relief and were once painted.
His mortuary temple had rainspouts shaped as lion heads, forerunner of the Gothic gargoyles. Copper-lined bases and lead plugs were also discovered in the complex, as were red granite palm columns. His pyramid was called Sekhet-Re, “the Field of Re.” A second pyramid was built in the eastern complex, possibly for an unknown consort. In the later eras, Sahure’s complex was used as a sanctuary for the goddess sekhmet. Sahure was succeeded on the throne by his brother kakai.
St. Petersburg Papyrus This is an Egyptian document now in the State Hermitage Museum in Russia. The papyrus contains the TALE OF THE SHIPWRECKED SAILOR.
Sais (Zau, Sai, Sa-el-Hagar) It is a site on the right bank of the Rosetta or Canopic branch of the Nile in the Delta region. Called Zau or Sai by the Egyptians, Sais is the modern Sa-el-Hagar. The city was the cult center of the goddess neith (1) and the capital of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty (664-525 B. C.E.). The rulers of the Twenty-fourth Dynasty (724-712 b. c.e.) also resided in Sais, which served as the capital of psammetichus i (r. 664-610 B. C.E.). No monuments remain, however, as the city was looted by later dynasties and by the persians. The burial sites of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty are still evident in the territory, some having yielded exquisite objects of the mortuary regalia of the Necho-Psam-metichus royal line.
Sakieh (sakia) It was an Egyptian waterwheel designed to take water out of the Nile for use in agricultural projects. Oxen or humans powered the sakieh, which was used side by side with the later shaduf, the irrigation tool introduced by the hyksos.
See also agriculture; faiyum.
Salamis This was the principal coastal city of Cyprus, where a naval battle took place between ptolemy i soter (r. 304-284 b. c.e.) and Demetrius i poliorcetes of Macedonia and his allies in 306 b. c.e. The Egyptians were defeated in the battle. At the time of the engagement, Salamis was an important Egyptian trade center. The battle also took place early in the reign of Ptolemy I, at a time when the former generals of ALEXANDER III the great struggled for supremacy in the Mediterranean world.
See also diadoche.
Salamuni This was an ancient necropolis district serving the city of akhmin in many historical eras. A temple for the god min was also erected in Salamuni.
Sal Island It is an eight-mile-long site south of the third cataract of the Nile in nubia (modern Sudan). A famous summit there was called Gebel Adou. ’ahmose (r. 1550-1525 B. C.E.) fortified an Egyptian outpost there, and a temple was erected on the island by amenhotep i (r. 1525-1504 b. c.e.). The site served as an outpost of Egyptian trade activities. seti i (r. 1306-1290 b. c.e.) put down a rebellion on Sal island, at Sha’at, defeating the Irem, a local warrior people. The island became the administrative base of the viceroy of Nubia in Seti I’s reign.
Salitis (Sharek, Sharlek) (fl. c. 1640 b. c.e.) Asiatic who founded the Fifteenth Dynasty, called the Great Hyksos He started his line in MEMPHIS and then moved his capital to AVARIS on the eastern side of the Bubastis branch of the Nile in the Delta. Salitis is believed to have held the Avaris throne for about 19 years. He ruled the entire Delta and Egypt as far south as gebelein. He is called “Sultan” in some lists, and his Asian name was Sharek or Sharlek. Salitis and his successors in Avaris were called the Great Hyksos because of their dominance. Salitis had an alliance with the kermeh culture in nubia (modern Sudan), and his seals were found there. He was a contemporary of INYOTEF IV of Thebes, whose line held Upper Egypt. Salitis fortified Avaris against possible assaults by the Thebans.
Sallier Papyri This is collection of ancient Egyptian texts purchased by one M. Sallier from an Egyptian sailor. These papyri contained accounts of the campaigns of RAMESSES II (r. 1290-1224 b. c.e.) and the confrontations of Sekenenre ta’o ii of the Seventeenth Dynasty (1640-1550 B. C.E.) with apophis (1585-1553 b. c.e.) of the Fifteenth Dynasty, starting the war against the Hyksos. Also included is a copy of the “Poem of pentaur,” the account of Ramesses Il’s battle of kadesh. The SATIRE ON TRADES is part of the accounts and literary texts.
The Sallier papyri are in the British Museum in London. papyrus iV, for example, dating to the 56th regnal year of Ramesses ii, is long and composed over an earlier text, with exercises, notes, and memorabilia on the verso. A CALENDAR of lucky and unlucky days is part of the material in this papyrus.
See also QUARREL OF APOPHIS AND sekenenrE (ta’o II).
Salt Papyrus This is an Egyptian account from the Nineteenth Dynasty (1307-1196 B. C.E.), discovered in DEIR EL-MEDINA. A petition from a worker named Ame-nakhte is included in this document. He wrote about another worker, Paneb, and his numerous crimes, expecting some sort of redress in the local court system.
See also “the eloquent peasant of herakleopolis”;
LEGAL SYSTEM.
Samto-wetefnakht (fl. seventh century b. c.e.) Trade and mayoral official of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty He served psammetichus i (r. 664-610 b. c.e.) as the mayor of herakleopolis and as “the master of shipping.” His family had a firm grip on the Nile trade. When NITOCRIS (2), the princess of the royal house, sailed to Thebes to be adopted as the god’s wife of amun, or Divine Adoratrice of Amun, she traveled on one of Samto-wetefnakht’s ships.
World History
