The Silver Pharaoh - Psusennes I

King Tutankhamun is perhaps the most well known Egyptian Pharaoh that the public knows about. The discovery of his tomb by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon in 1922 thrust the study of Egyptology and Ancient Egyptian history forward in the minds of many and to this day there is still much interest in that field. His tomb gave us our first experience with a tomb that had largely been untouched by grave robbers over time and allowed us to see many of the riches that a Pharaoh in Egyptian antiquity would have been buried with.

But this thread is not about King Tutankhamun. It is about a much less known, but possibly more wealthy pharaoh. This thread is about King Psusennes I. The intact tomb of Psusennes I was discovered in Tanis by Pierre Montet in 1940. Psusennes ruled from Tanis during the Egypt's 21st Dynasty for about 40 to 50 years.

Unfortunately, while the gold, silver and jewels placed in his tomb were perfectly preserved, the remains of Psusennes did not fare as well. Because of the location of the tomb in the Nile Delta, the humidity inside the tomb was not at all conducive to the preservation of his remains and they were practically destroyed by time and the damp conditions.

www.akhet.co.uk...

Psusennes' mummy was virtually entirely destroyed by the damp conditions in the delta but his jewellery and other non perishable grave goods survived in perfect condition. Notable amongst the items discovered in this tomb was Psusennes' solid gold mask and mummy board

In addition to many of the gold jewelry and other items found in the tomb, one item that indicates the wealth that Psusennes had amassed was the presence of a silver coffin.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/1e544bfc2f47.jpg[/atsimg]

www.akhet.co.uk...

His mummy had been placed inside a silver coffin which is unusual as in ancient Egypt silver was more valuable than gold as it had to be imported. This coffin was then placed in a black granite sarcophagus, which was in turn placed in a red granite outer sarcophagus.

A few more of the riches found in his burial tomb.

Golden Mask
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f99cffd6ca12.jpg[/atsimg]

Golden Toe Covers
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/b25f0d399628.jpg[/atsimg]

Pectoral
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/975cc4bb11d9.jpg[/atsimg]

Also, there is an interesting documentary about Psusennes I on the following website and you can watch the whole thing here: The Silver Pharoah (PBS Documentary)

You can also see more photos of the riches found in his tomb here: The Silver Pharoah Mystery Photos

Now this guy seems like he was an extortionist lmao

Nice find OP. SnF for you. I hadn't heard of really anyone but Tut. I'm really hoping that with Hawass gone, we can get more info on Egyptology.

Tanis in the 21 dynasty was full of foreigners.....psusennes was a theban king....showing upper egypts influence reaching this far north....well into the late kingdom......

the jewelery is nothing new....sheshonq who founded the 22nd dynasty has a better tomb...he was buried in a magificent silver coffin...carved into the image of sokar (looks like horus). On the death of Psusennes II, and the passing of the 21st Dynasty, Sheshonq I took control of the kingdom and the 22nd Dynasty had begun.

brilliant how all these theban king asserted themselves in the region of tanis.....all up untll the 25th dynasty when the last true ruler of egypt reined..King Taharqa (690-664 B.C.), theban pharaoh during the 25th dynasty Egypt.


thanks for the story OP...hopefully the nubian/thebans can get there history back

peace

Ah! It took a lookup on Wikipedia to show the name that I know him by -- "Akheperre Setepenamun".

I think the most interesting part of this is that (as Wikipedia says) he's buried in coffins originally made for other pharaohs (link), showing the breakdown in the government and religious organizations that had started during the reign of his father and gets much worse over the next hundred years or so. Interesting stuff, and thanks for writing that very nice article!

I really dig the snake coming out of the third eye look.

man i would give my left nut to own that sold gold mask especially the way gold has sky rocketed lol. good post