Smenkhkare
| Ankhkheperure Smenkhkare Djeser Kheperu |
|
|---|---|
| Pharaoh | |
| Reign | 1335–1334 BCE (18th Dynasty) |
| Coregency | Akhenaten |
| Predecessor | Akhenaten |
| Successor | Neferneferuaten or Tutankhamun |
| Consort | Meritaten |
| Died | 1334 BCE |
Ankhkheperure Smenkhkare Djeser Kheperu (sometimes spelled Smenkhare, Smenkare or Smenkhkara) was a short-lived pharaoh in the late 18th dynasty. His names translate as 'Living are the Forms of Re' and 'Vigorous is the Soul of Re – Holy of Forms'. His reign was during the Amarna Period, a time when Akhenaten sought to impose new religious views. He is to be distinguished from his immediate predecessor, the female ruler Ankhkheperure Neferneferuaten (usually identified as Nefertiti). Unlike Neferneferuaten, Smenkhkare did not use epithets in his royal name or cartouche.
Very little is known of Smenkhkare for certain because later kings, beginning with Horemheb, sought to erase the entire Amarna Period from history.
Smenkhkare was known as far back as 1845 from the tomb of Meryre II. There he and Meritaten, bearing the title Great Royal Wife, are shown rewarding the tomb's owner. The names of the king have since been cut out but had been recorded by Lepsius circa 1850.
Later, a different set of names emerged using the same throne name: "Ankhkheperure mery Neferkheperure [Akhenaten] Neferneferuaten mery Wa en Re [Akhenaten]". This led to a great deal of confusion since throne names tended to be unique. For the better part of a century, the repetition of throne names was taken to mean that Smenkhare changed his name to Neferneferuaten at some point, probably upon the start of his sole reign. Indeed, Petrie makes exactly that distinction in his excavation notes of 1894.
By the 1970s, feminine traces in some versions of the name and more often in the epithets led to various theories. Among them, that Nefertiti was masquerading as Smenkhkare before changing her name again to Neferneferuaten. When considered with various stela depicting Akhenaten with another king in familiar, if not intimate poses, the theory that Akhenaten and Smenkhkare were homosexual arose.
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