Pinedjem I was the High Priest of Amun at Thebes in Ancient Egypt from 1070 to 1032 BC and the de facto ruler of the country’s south from 1054 BC. He was the son of the High Priest Piankh. However, many Egyptologists today believe that the succession in the Amun priesthood ran from Piankh to Herihor to Pinedjem I.
Reign of Pinedjem I
According to the new hypothesis regarding the succession of the Amun priesthood, Pinedjem I was too young to succeed in the High Priesthood of Amun after the death of Piankh. Herihor instead intervened to assume this office. After Herihor’s death, Pinedjem I finally claimed this office that his father, Piankh, had once held. The decorations support this interpretation from the Temple of Khonsu at Karnak, where those of Pinedjem I immediately follow Herihor’s wall reliefs. Here, there was no intervening phase for Piankh and also by the long career of Pinedjem I, who served as High Priest of Amun and later as king at Thebes.
He inherited a political and religious base of power at Thebes. Pinedjem strengthened his control over Middle and Upper Egypt and asserted his kingdom’s virtual independence from the Twenty-first Dynasty based at Tanis. He married Duathathor-Henuttawy, a daughter of Ramesses XI, to cement his relations with the other powerful families of the period. Their son, Psusennes I, became Pharaoh at Tanis, removing the gap between the two families at a stroke. In practice, however, the 21st dynasty kings and the Theban high priests were probably never far apart politically since they respected each other’s political autonomy.
Around Year 15 or 16 of Smendes, Pinedjem I proclaimed himself pharaoh over Upper Egypt, and his priestly role was inherited by his two sons, Masaharta and Menkheperre. His daughter, Maatkare, held the position of Divine Adoratrice of Amun.
Pinedjem’s mummy was found in the cache at Deir el-Bahri.
Family
His parents, Piankh and Nodjmet, had several children; three brothers (Heqanefer, Heqamaat, Ankhefenmut) and one sister (Faienmut) of Pinedjem I are known. Three of his wives are 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, a singer for Amun. She is mentioned along with Pinedjem I on bricks found at El-Hiban. A possible third wife is Tentnabekhenu, who is mentioned on the funerary papyrus of her daughter Nauny. Nauny was buried at Thebes and is 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. Still, 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.