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{{Short description|Egyptian pharaoh}}
{{for-multi|the Arabic-language domain name|.shabaka|the Azerbaijani stained glass windows|Shabaka (window)}}
{{Infobox pharaoh
|Name=Shabaka
|Image=Shabaqa Sphinx Head 002.jpg
|Caption=Sphinx head of Shabaka, on display at the Egyptian Museum, Cairo
|
|NomenHiero=<hiero>SA-E10-kA</hiero>
|Nomen=''Shabaka''<ref>[https://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-static/digitalegypt//chronology/shabako.html Shabako (about 715/713-700/698 BC)] Retrieved October 27, 2024.</ref>
|PrenomenHiero=<hiero>ra-nfr-kA</hiero>
|Prenomen={{Plainlist|
*''Neferkare''
*Beautiful is the Soul of Re
}}
|GoldenHiero= <hiero>-s-b-q:N17:N17-</hiero>
|Golden={{Plainlist|
*''Sebeqtawy''
*The one who has blessed the Two Lands
}}
|NebtyHiero=<hiero>s-b-q:N17:N17</hiero>
|Nebty={{Plainlist|
*''Sebeqtawy''
*The one who has blessed the Two Lands
}}
|HorusHiero=<hiero>s-b-q:N17:N17</hiero>
|Horus={{Plainlist|
*''Sebeqtawy''
*The one who has blessed the Two Lands
}}
|Reign=705–690 BC
|Predecessor=[[Shebitku]]
|Successor=[[Taharqa]]
|Spouse=[[Qalhata]], Mesbat, possibly [[Tabekenamun]]
|Children=[[Tantamani]], [[Haremakhet]], Piankharty, Isetemkheb<ref name="DH">[[Aidan Dodson|Dodson, Aidan]] & Hilton, Dyan: The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson, 2004, {{ISBN|0-500-05128-3}} p. 237.</ref>|
|Dynasty=[[Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt|25th&nbsp;Dynasty]]
|Father= [[Kashta]]
|Mother= [[Pebatjma]]
|Born=
|Died= 690 BC
|Burial=[[el-Kurru]]
|Monuments=[[Shabaka Stone]]
|}}
{{Kushite Monarchs}}
'''Neferkare Shabaka''', or '''Shabako''' ([[Meroitic language|Meroitic]]: 𐦰𐦲𐦡𐦐𐦲 (sha-ba-ka), [[Egyptian language|Egyptian]]: '''𓆷𓃞𓂓''' ''šꜣ bꜣ kꜣ'', [[Akkadian language|Assyrian]]: [[File:Rassam cylinder Shabakuu.jpg|50px]] ''Ša-ba-ku-u'', Šabakû <ref>H. D. Baker, R. Mattila, s.v. "Šabakû," in: Baker, Heather D., ed., ''The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire 3.2 Š-Z'', Helsinki, 2011: 1180.</ref>) was the third [[Kingdom of Kush|Kushite]] [[pharaoh]] of the [[Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt]], who reigned from 705 to 690 BC.<ref name="online here">Payraudeau, F., Retour sur la succession Shabaqo-Shabataqo, (in French) Nehet 1, 2014, p. 115-127.[https://web.archive.org/web/20200519183710/https://nehet.fr/NEHET1/NEHET%201-05-Payraudeau.pdf online here]</ref> The Greek sources (which include both [[Herodotus]] and [[Manetho]]) call him Sabakōn (Σαβακῶν) or, more likely, given current understanding of the order of kings and the stated reign-lengths, Sebikhōs (Σεβιχὼς).<ref>W. G. Waddell, transl., ''Manetho'', Cambridge, MA, 1940: 166-167.</ref><ref>Payraudeau, Frédéric, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20200519183710/https://nehet.fr/NEHET1/NEHET%201-05-Payraudeau.pdf Retour sur la succession Shabaqo-Shabataqo]," ''Nehet'' 1 (2014) 115-127: 119; Jurman, Claus, "The Order of the Kushite Kings According to Sources from the Eastern Desert and Thebes. Or: ''Shabataka was here first!'', ''Journal of Egyptian History'' 10 (2017) 124-151: 124, n. 1, 128.</ref><ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DS%3Aentry+group%3D1%3Aentry%3Dsabacon-bio-1 A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Sabacon]</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Finegan|first=Jack|title=Archaeological History Of The Ancient Middle East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d72ZDwAAQBAJ| publisher = Westview Press|year=1979|page=137|isbn=978-0891581642}}</ref> He ruled from the city of [[Napata]], located deep in [[Nubia]], modern-day [[Sudan]]. His burial at [[el-Kurru]] (Tomb Ku 15).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Török |first=László |title=The kingdom of Kush: handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic civilization |date=1997 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-10448-8 |series=Handbuch der Orientalistik. Erste Abteilung, Nahe und der Mittlere Osten, Handbook of Oriental studies. The Near and Middle East |location=Leiden; New York}}</ref>

==Shabaka's timeline==
The archaeological evidence now in 2016–2017 firmly favours a Shebitku-Shabaka succession. Gerard Broekman's [[Göttinger Miszellen|GM]] 251 (2017) paper shows that Shebitku reigned before Shabaka since the upper edge of Shabaka's NLR #30's Year 2 Karnak quay inscription was carved over the left-hand side of the lower edge of Shebitku's NLR#33 Year 3 inscription.<ref>Broekman, G.P.F., Genealogical considerations regarding the kings of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty in Egypt, GM 251 (2017), p. 13.</ref> This can only mean that Shabaka ruled after Shebitku. The Egyptologist Claus Jurman's personal re-examination of the Karnak quay inscriptions of Shebitku (or Shabataka) and Shabaka in 2016 and 2017 conclusively demonstrate that Shebitku ruled before Shabaka and corroborates Broekman's arguments that Shebitku's Nile Text inscription was carved before Shabaka's inscription; hence, Shebitku ruled before Shabaka.<ref>Jurman, Claus.  [https://www.academia.edu/44208909/The_Order_of_the_Kushite_Kings_According_to_Sources_from_the_Eastern_Desert_and_Thebes_Or_Shabataka_was_here_first PDF The Order of the Kushite Kings According to Sources from the Eastern Desert and Thebes. Or: Shabataka was here first!], Journal of Egyptian History 10 (2017), pp. 124-151.</ref>

Critically, Frédéric Payraudeau writes in French that "the [[Divine Adoratrice of Amun|Divine Adoratrix]] or [[God's Wife of Amun]] [[Shepenupet I]], the last Libyan Adoratrix, was still alive during the reign of Shebitku because she is represented performing rites and is described as "living" in those parts of the Osiris-Héqadjet chapel built during his reign (wall and exterior of the gate)<ref>[45 – G. Legrain, “Le temple et les chapelles d’Osiris à Karnak. Le temple d’Osiris-Hiq-Djeto, partie éthiopienne”, RecTrav 22 (1900) 128; JWIS III, 45.]</ref><ref name="online here"/> In the rest of the room, it is [[Amenirdis I]], Shabaka's sister), who is represented with the Adoratrix title and provided with a coronation name. The succession [[Shepenupet I]]—[[Amenirdis I]] as [[God's Wife of Amun]] or Divine Adoratrix thus took place during the reign of Shebitku. This detail in itself is sufficient to show that the reign of Shabaka cannot precede that of Shebitku.<ref name="F. Payraudeau, pp.115-127">Payraudeau, F., pp. 115-127.</ref>

The construction of the tomb of Shebitku (Ku. 18) resembles that of [[Piye]] (Ku. 17) while that of Shabaka (Ku. 15) is similar to that of [[Taharqa]] (Nu. 1) and [[Tantamani]] (Ku. 16).<ref>[39 – D. Dunham, El-Kurru, The Royal Cemeteries of Kush, I, (1950) 55, 60, 64, 67; also D. Dunham, Nuri, The Royal Cemeteries of Kush, II, (1955) 6-7; J. Lull, Las tumbas reales egipcias del Tercer Periodo Intermedio (dinastías XXI-XXV). Tradición y cambios, BAR-IS 1045 (2002) 208.]</ref><ref name="F. Payraudeau, pp.115-127"/> This also favours a Shebitku-Shabaka succession in the 25th dynasty. One of the strongest evidence that Shabaka ruled after Shebitku was demonstrated by the architectural features of the Kushite royal pyramids in El Kurru. Only in the pyramids of Piye (Ku 17) and Shebitku (Ku 18) are the burial-chambers open-cut structures with a corbelled roof, whereas fully tunnelled burial chamber substructures are found in the pyramids of Shabaka (Ku 15), Taharqa (Nu 1) and Tantamani (Ku 16), as well as with all subsequent royal pyramids in El Kurru and Nuri.<ref>Dunham, Dows D., El Kurru; The Royal Cemeteries of Kush (Cambridge, Massachusetts 1950).</ref> The fully tunnelled and once decorated burial chamber of Shabaka's pyramid was clearly an architectural improvement since it was followed by Taharqa and all his successors.<ref>Broekman, G.P.F., The order of succession between Shabaka and Shabataka. A different view on the chronology of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty, GM 245, (2015), pp. 21-22.</ref> The pyramid design evidence also shows that Shabaka must have ruled after—and not before—Shebitku.

In the Cairo CG 42204 of the [[High Priests of Amun|High Priest of Amun]], [[Haremakhet]]—son of Shabaka—calls himself as "king's son of Shabaka, justified, who loves him, Sole Confidant of king Taharqa, justified, Director of the palace of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt Tanutamun/[[Tantamani]], may he live for ever."<ref>Broekman, G.P.F., The order of succession between Shabaka and Shabataka. A different view on the chronology of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty, GM 245, (2015), p. 23.</ref> However, no mention of Haremakhet's service under Shebitku is made; even if Haremakhet was only a youth under Shebitku, this king's absence is strange since the intent of the statue's text was to render a chronological sequence of kings who reigned during Horemakhet's life, each of their names being accompanied by a reference to the relationship that existed between the king mentioned and Horemakhet.<ref>Broekman, G.P.F., GM 245 (2015), p. 24.</ref> This implies that when Haremakhet was born, king Shebitku was already dead, which would favour a Shebitku-Shabaka succession.

[[File:Shabaqo portrait.jpg|thumb|left|Portrait of Shabaqa]]
Payraudeau notes that Shebitku's shabtis are small (about 10&nbsp;cm) and have a very brief inscription with only the king's birth name in a cartouche preceded by "the Osiris, king of Upper and Lower Egypt" and followed by mȝʿ-ḫrw.<ref>[41 – JWIS III, 51, number 9; D. Dunham, (see footnote 39), 69, plate 45A-B.].</ref><ref name="F. Payraudeau, pp.115-127"/> They are thus very close to those of Piye/Piankhy [42 – D. Dunham, (see footnote 39), plate 44.]. However, Shabaka's shabtis are larger (about 15–20&nbsp;cm) with more developed inscriptions, including the quotation from the Book of the Dead, which is also present on those Taharqo, Tanouetamani and [[Senkamanisken]]."<ref name="F. Payraudeau, pp.115-127"/> All this evidence suggests that Shebitku ruled before Shabaka. Additionally, Payraudeau observes that in the traditional Shabaka-Shebitku arrangement, the time span between the reign of Taharqa and Shabaka would be excessively long. He notes that Papyrus Louvre E 3328c from Year 2 or Year 6 of Taharqa mentions the sale of a slave by his owner who had bought him in Year 7 of Shabaka, that is 27 years earlier in the traditional chronology but if the reign of Shabaka is placed just before that of Taharqa (with no intervening reign of Shebitku), there is a gap of about 10 years which is much more credible.<ref>Payraudeau, Nehet I, 2014, p. 119.</ref>

The German scholar Karl Jansen Winkeln also endorsed a Shebitku-Shabaka succession in a JEH 10 (2017) N.1 paper titled 'Beiträge zur Geschichte der Dritten Zwischenzeit', Journal of Egyptian History 10 (2017), pp.&nbsp;23–42 when he wrote a postscript stating "Im Gegensatz zu meinen Ausführungen auf dem [2014] Kolloquium in Münster bin ich jetzt der Meinung, dass die (neue) Reihenfolge Schebitku—Schabako in der Tat richtig ist..." or 'In contrast to my exposition at the [2014] Munster colloquium, I am now of the opinion that the (new) succession Shebitku-Shabako is in fact correct...'<ref>[[:de:Karl Jansen-Winkeln|Jansen-Winkeln, Karl]], ''Journal of Egyptian History'' '''10''' (2017), N.1, p. 40.</ref>

==Family==
{{See also|Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt family tree}}
Shabaka is thought to be the son of King [[Kashta]] and [[Pebatjma]], although a text from the time of [[Taharqa]] could be interpreted to mean that Shabaka was a brother of Taharqa and hence a son of [[Piye]].

Shabaka's Queen Consort was [[Qalhata]], according to Assyrian records, a sister of Taharqa. Shabaka and Qalhata were the parents of King [[Tantamani]] and possibly the parents of King [[Shebitku]] as well, but this conflicts with evidence in favor of Shabaka ruling after Shebitku.<ref name="DH"/>

It is possible that Queen [[Tabekenamun]] was a wife of Shabaka.<ref name="Morkot"/> She is thought by some to be a wife of Taharqa.<ref name="DH"/>

Shabaka's son [[Haremakhet]] became [[High Priest of Amun]] and is known from a statue and a fragment of a statue found in Karnak.<ref name="DH"/> A lady named Mesbat is mentioned on the sarcophagus of Haremakhet and may be his mother.<ref name="Morkot">[[Robert Morkot|Morkot, R.]]: ''The Black Pharaohs, Egypt's Nubian Rulers'', London 2000, p. 205. {{ISBN|0-948695-24-2}}.</ref>

Shabaka is the father of at least two more children, but the identity of their mother is not known. Piankharty later became the wife of her (half-)brother [[Tantamani]]. She is depicted on the Dream Stela with him. Isetemkheb H likely married Tantamani as well. She was buried in [[Abydos, Egypt]].<ref name="DH"/>

==Biography==
[[File:Donation Stela of Shabaqo MET 55.144.6 01.jpg|thumb|Donation stela of Shabaka. Shabaka appears standing to the right, with the [[cartouche]] designating him.]]
Shabaka succeeded his uncle [[Shebitku]] on the throne, and adopted the throne name of the [[Sixth Dynasty of Egypt|Sixth Dynasty]] ruler [[Pepi II Neferkare]]. Shabaka's reign was initially dated from 716 BC to 702 BC by [[Kenneth Kitchen]]. However, new evidence indicates that Shebitku died around 705 BC because [[Sargon II]] (722–705 BC) of Assyria states in an official inscription at Tang-i Var (in northwest Iran)—which is datable to 706 BC—that it was Shebitku, Shabaka's predecessor, who extradited Iamanni of [[Ashdod]] to Shebitku as king of Egypt.<ref>Frame, G., The Inscription of Sargon II at Tang-i Var, Orientalia 68 (1999), pp. 31-57</ref><ref>Dan'el Kahn, "The Inscription of Sargon II at Tang-i Var and the Chronology of Dynasty 25," ''Orientalia'' '''70''' (2001), pp. 1–3.</ref> This view has been accepted by many Egyptologists today such as Aidan Dodson,<ref>''[[Journal of Egyptian Archaeology]]'' '''88''' (2002) p. 182.</ref> Rolf Krauss, David Aston, and [[Karl Jansen-Winkeln]]<ref>Jansen-Winkeln, Karl; "The Third Intermediate Period" in Erik Hornung, Rolf Krauss & David Warburton (editors), Ancient Egyptian Chronology (Handbook of Oriental Studies), Brill, 2006. pp. 258–259</ref> among others because there is no concrete evidence for coregencies or internal political/regional divisions in the Nubian kingdom during the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. This point was also stressed by Dan'el Kahn in a 2006 article.<ref>Kahn, Dan'el., Divided Kingdom, Co-regency, or Sole Rule in the Kingdom(s) of Egypt-and-Kush?, Egypt and Levant 16 (2006), pp. 275–291. [https://www.academia.edu/404060/Was_there_a_Coregency_in_the_25th_Dynasty online PDF]</ref> All contemporary records suggest that the Nubian Pharaohs ruled Egypt with only a single king on the throne, while [[Taharqa]] states explicitly on one of his [[Kawa (Sudan)|Kawa]] steles that he assumed power only after the death of his brother, Shebitku.<ref>Kawa Stela V, line 15.</ref>

Shabaka's reign is significant because he consolidated the Nubian Kingdom's control over all of Egypt from Nubia down to the Delta region. It also saw an enormous amount of building work undertaken throughout Egypt, especially at the city of [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]], which he made the capital of his kingdom. In [[Karnak]] he erected a pink granite statue of himself wearing the twin crowns of [[Egypt]]. Shabaka succeeded in preserving Egypt's independence from outside foreign powers—especially the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] of [[Sargon II]]. The most famous relic from Shabaka's reign is the [[Shabaka Stone]] which records several Old Kingdom documents that the king ordered preserved.<ref>[http://www.maat.sofiatopia.org/shabaka.htm Shabaka stone].</ref>

Also notable is the Shabaka Gate, a large stone door unearthed by archeologists in 2011 and believed to have guarded the room where the king's treasures were stored. Despite being relative newcomers to Egypt, Shabaka and his family were immensely interested in Egypt's past and the art of the period reflects their tastes which harked back to earlier periods.

==Death==
Shabaka is assumed to have died in his 15th [[regnal year]] based on BM cube statue 24429, which is dated to Year 15, II Shemu day 11 of Shabaka's reign.<ref>Kitchen, Kenneth A. (1996).''The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 BC)'', 3rd edition (Warminster: Aris & Phillips), pp. 153-54.</ref> Shabaka was buried in a [[pyramid]] at [[el-Kurru]] and was succeeded by [[Taharqa]], who would be his nephew if Shabaka was indeed a son of Kashta.

==Image gallery==
<gallery>
File:Shabaqa Sphinx Head 001.jpg|Shabaka
File:Shabaqa-Statue.jpg| Statue of Shabaka from the Louvre
File:Statue Head of Pharaoh Shabaka - 25th Dynasty - ÄS 4859.jpg|Statue head from Munich
File:Scarab-KushiteVictoryCommemoration-Shabako-ROM.png| Large commemorative scarab of Shabaka
File:Cartouche au nom du pharaon Chabaka (Ägyptisches Museum Berlin AM 31235).jpg|Cartouche with the name of pharaoh Shabaka
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline|Shabaka}}
{{Kushite Monarchs footer}}{{Pharaohs}}
{{Rulers of the Ancient Near East}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:700s BC deaths]]
[[Category:8th-century BC pharaohs]]
[[Category:7th-century BC pharaohs]]
[[Category:8th-century BC monarchs of Kush]]
[[Category:7th-century BC monarchs of Kush]]
[[Category:Pharaohs of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt]]
[[Category:Egyptian people of Nubian descent]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]