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The silver pharaohs of Tanis: the 21st and 22nd Dynasties

14 October 2026

The 21st Dynasty ruled Egypt from about 1069 to 945 BC, from Tanis in the north-eastern Delta. Its kings held the north, while the high priests of Amun governed the south from Thebes. Kings of Libyan descent followed them as the 22nd Dynasty, from Shoshenq I in 945 BC, and several of them were buried at Tanis too.

The silver pharaohs take their name from the tombs the French archaeologist Pierre Montet found inside the temple enclosure at Tanis in 1939 and 1940, some never robbed, with kings laid in coffins of solid silver, a metal rarer than gold in ancient Egypt.

Psusennes I took his name from a star

The best known of the Tanis kings is Psusennes I, who reigned for about half a century, c. 1039–991 BC in the chronology used on this site. His birth name is pꜣ-sbꜣ-ḫꜥ-n-njwt, said Pasebakhaenniut, "the star that appears in the city". Psusennes is the Greek form. Five signs write it:

flying pintail duck: pꜣ, "the"
star: sbꜣ, "star"
sun rising over a hill: ḫꜥ, "to appear", used for the rising sun and for kings
ripple of water: n, "in"
village with crossroads: njwt, "the city", usually Thebes

Flying pintail Star Sun rising over a hill Ripple of water Village

Write Psusennes' cartouche

Their throne names echoed the 18th Dynasty

Psusennes I's throne name is ꜥꜣ-ḫpr-Rꜥ stp-n-Jmn, Aakheperre Setepenamun, "great is the form of Ra, chosen of Amun". The sun disc for Ra comes first. The wooden column writes ꜥꜣ, "great", and the scarab ḫpr, "form". The adze, water ripple and Amun's name add "chosen of Amun".

The scarab and the sun ran through the whole period. Siamun's throne name is nṯr-ḫpr-Rꜥ, "divine is the form of Ra", with the cloth on a pole for nṯr. Shoshenq II's is ḥqꜣ-ḫpr-Rꜥ, with the crook for ḥqꜣ, "ruler". Shoshenq I took Hedjkheperre, with the mace for ḥḏ, "bright": the throne name of Smendes, founder of the 21st Dynasty. These names echo the 18th Dynasty, whose Thutmose III was Menkheperre.

Siamun's birth name, zꜣ-Jmn, "son of Amun", is written with Amun's name first and the pintail duck (zꜣ, "son") after it, because a god's name went first even when it was read last.

Sun Wooden column Scarab beetle Adze Cloth on a pole Crook Mace with a round head Pintail duck

Tanis was built from older stone

Tanis was a new royal city built largely from old stone. Statues, obelisks and blocks carrying Ramesses II's cartouches were hauled there from Pi-Ramesses, his capital nearby, and early excavators mistook Tanis for Pi-Ramesses itself.

The kings reused burial equipment too. One of Psusennes I's granite sarcophagi was first made for Merneptah of the 19th Dynasty. In Thebes, meanwhile, officials of the 21st Dynasty moved the plundered mummies of New Kingdom kings into a hidden tomb near Deir el-Bahari. Seti I, Ramesses II, Thutmose III and Ahmose I lay there until 1881, each coffin marked with a note of when it was moved.

Two kings lay in silver coffins

In 1939 Montet found, in the antechamber of Psusennes I's tomb, the burial of Shoshenq II, a 22nd Dynasty king otherwise almost unknown, in a silver coffin with a falcon's head and a gold mask. In February 1940 he opened the burial chamber of Psusennes I, found intact. The king lay in a silver coffin inlaid with gold, his face covered by a gold mask with lapis lazuli and glass inlays. Amenemope, another 21st Dynasty king, was found intact nearby.

The damp of the Delta destroyed nearly everything made of wood. The metal survived, and the Tanis treasure is now one of the highlights of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. On the mask and coffin of Psusennes, look for the star of his name.

Shoshenq I came from a Libyan family

Shoshenq I was the son of a great chief of the Ma, a Libyan people whose families had settled in Egypt generations earlier. He tied his line to the old one by marrying his son Osorkon I to Maatkare, a daughter of Psusennes II.

His name was foreign, so scribes spelled it by sound: ššnq, two pools for š, the water ripple for n and the sandy hill for q. On the Bubastite Portal at Karnak, Amun hands him a long list of towns he claimed in Canaan, Megiddo among them.

Under his successors Egypt split again. Rival kings of Libyan descent ruled alongside the 22nd Dynasty, the line Egyptologists count as the 23rd, so the two dynasties' dates overlap.

Pool Sandy hill

See the 22nd Dynasty on the timeline

Questions

What was the 23rd Dynasty of Egypt?

A line of Libyan kings who ruled from about 818 BC in the chronology used here, at the same time as the 22nd, beginning with Pedubast I. Where they ruled from is debated: many historians favour Leontopolis in the Delta, and some of these kings, such as Osorkon III, held Thebes.

Was Shoshenq I the Shishak of the Bible?

He is generally identified with Shishak, the king who marched on Jerusalem in 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles. The identification is debated, partly because Jerusalem is not in his list at Karnak.

Why were the Tanis kings buried in silver?

Egypt had plenty of gold from Nubia and the eastern desert but very little silver, so most of it had to be imported and it was the rarer metal. A silver coffin was a mark of great wealth and power.

Did Psusennes II have the same name as Psusennes I?

Yes, both were called Pasebakhaenniut, written with the same five signs. Inscriptions tell them apart by their throne names, which differ.

Glossary

birth name: The name a king was given at birth, written in the second cartouche after the title "son of Ra". Egyptologists also call it the nomen.
cartouche: An oval ring drawn around a royal name, a loop of rope tied at one end. Kings wrote their two main names in cartouches.
coffin: A box for the body, of wood or stone, often shaped like a person and painted with spells, names and gods. Rich burials nested several coffins inside a sarcophagus.
dynasty: A line of kings counted together, usually one family. Egyptologists number Egypt's kings in about 30 dynasties, following the priest Manetho.
obelisk: A tall, four-sided stone pillar with a pointed top, usually set up in pairs before a temple and carved with the king's names.
pharaoh: The king of Egypt. The word comes from per-aa, "great house", a name for the palace that came to mean the king himself in the New Kingdom.
priest: A servant of a god in a temple, who washed, dressed and fed the god's statue each day. A high priest led the staff of a great temple.
sarcophagus: A large stone coffin. In rich burials it held one or more coffins of wood.
scarab: The dung beetle, sign of the rising sun and of the word ḫpr, "to come into being". Carved scarabs were used as seals and amulets.
temple: The house of a god, where priests served the god's statue. Temples for dead kings kept up their offerings after death.
throne name: The name a king took when he came to the throne, written in the first cartouche after the title "King of Upper and Lower Egypt". Egyptologists also call it the prenomen.
tomb: A burial place: a pit, a mastaba, a pyramid or rooms cut into rock. Its chapel was where the family brought offerings.

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Where to see it

Egyptian Museum, Cairo museum
Karnak Temple site