Muthis
Muthis may have been an ephemeral ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Twenty-ninth Dynasty.
| Muthis | |
|---|---|
| Pharaoh | |
| Reign | possibly a year between 393 and 380 BCE |
| Predecessor | uncertain |
| Successor | uncertain |
| Dynasty | 29th Dynasty |
Biography
He is sometime reported as a son of Nepherites I who ruled for a brief time before being deposed by an usurper, Psammuthes.[1] However, this statement is based on an interpretation of a passage in the Demotic Chronicle:
His son (i.e. of Nepherites I) was allowed to succeed him. (But) a short time was vouchsafed to him...
Nevertheless, the Demotic Chronicle never mentions the name of Muthis and, as pointed out by the Egyptologist John D. Ray, "his son" could be a reference to Hakor instead.[2]
It is also possible that Muthis was a very shadowly usurper, maybe related to the other usurper Psammuthes. Another option is that "Muthis" was simply a copying error, and therefore never existed; the latter hypothesis is supported by the fact that the name is clearly hellenized but there are no clues of what could have originally meant "Muthis" in Egyptian.[3]
Attestations
His name does not appear on any monument, and he is only mentioned by Eusebius's Epithome of Manetho. Eusebius gave him a single year of reign and placed him at the very end of the dynasty, after Nepherites II; however, the Armenian version of Eusebius placed him between Psammuthes and Nepherites II.[4]
References
- Nicolas Grimal, A History of Ancient Egypt, Blackwell Books, 1992.
- Ray, op. cit., p. 155.
- Ray, op. cit., p. 152.
- Ray, op. cit., p. 158.
Bibliography
Ray, J.D., 1986: "Psammuthis and Hakoris", The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 72: 149–158.