Pinedjem I was the High Priest of Amun at Thebes in Ancient Egypt from 1070 to 1032 BC. In addition to, the de facto ruler of the south of the country from 1054 BC. He was the son of the High Priest Piankh. However, many Egyptologists today believe that the succession in the Amun priesthood actually ran from Piankh to Herihor to Pinedjem I.

Family of Pinedjem I

Pinedjem I
Ushabti of Pinedjem I, from Deir el-Bahari, now in Brooklyn Museum.

His parents Piankh and Nodjmet had several children; three brothers (Heqanefer, Heqamaat, Ankhefenmut) and one sister (Faienmut) of Pinedjem I known. Three of his wives known. Duathathor-Henuttawy, the daughter of Ramesses XI bore him several children: the future pharaoh Psusennes I, the God’s Wife of Amun Maatkare, Princess Henuttawy and probably Queen Mutnedjmet, the wife of Psusennes.

Another wife was Isetemkheb, Singer of Amun. She is mentioned along with Pinedjem I on bricks found at el-Hiban. A possible third wife is Tentnabekhenu, mentioned on the funerary papyrus of her daughter Nauny. Nauny was buried at Thebes and called a King’s Daughter, thus it is likely that Pinedjem was her father.

Other than Psusennes, Pinedjem had four other sons, whose mother is unidentified. But one or more of them must have been born to Duathathor-Henuttawy: Masaharta, Djedkhonsuefankh, Menkheperre (all of whom became High Priests of Amun) and Nesipaneferhor, a God’s Father (priest) of Amun, whose name replaced that of a son of Herihor in the Karnak temple of Khonsu.

Bibliography

  • Firstly, Gabriella Dembitz, Inscriptions of the high priest Pinudjem I on the walls of the Eighteenth Dynasty Temple at Medinet Habu, in: E. Bechtold – A Gulyás – A. Hasznos (eds.): From Illahun to Djeme. Studies Presented to Professor Ulrich Luft. 31-41. BAR International series 2311. Oxford., 2011.
  • Secondly, Gabriella Dembitz, Une scène d’offrande de Maât au nom de Pinedjem Ier sur la statue colossale dite Ramsès II à Karnak. Karnak Varia §3, in: Cahiers de Karnak 15 (2015), 173-180.
  • Thirdly, Ad Thijs, King or High Priest? The problematic career of Pinuzem, in: Göttinger Miszellen 211 (2006), 81-88.
  • Lastly, Ad Thijs, The Scenes of the High Priest Pinuzem in the Temple of Khonsu, in: Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 134 (2007), 50-63.