Gemenefkhonsbak
Shepseskare-irenre Gemenefkhonsbak was an ancient Egyptian king of the Tanite 23rd Dynasty.
Evidence and interpretation
The evidence for King Gemenefkhonsubak comes almost entirely from inscriptions on blocs recovered from the ruins of Tanis. He was first recognized as a pharaoh by Pierre Montet, in his publication of inscribed blocs from the Sacred Lake of Amun at Tanis, although Serge Sauneron had already noticed his birth name on a stele. Kenneth Kitchen placed Gemenefkhonsbak's reign at Tanis sometime in c. 700–680 BC, commenting that his date was "wholly uncertain." He also characterized Gemenefkhonsbak as a "kinglet," probably reigning before the King Pedubast who was contemporary with the Assyrian interventions.Further consideration of the evidence from Tanis allowed the attribution of the Horus name Seankhtawy to Shepseskare-irenre Gemenefkhonsbak. This also makes it possible to assign him a probable wife, the King's Daughter and King's Wife Nebethetepetdiiau, and a daughter, the King's Daughter Khonsusaes. Frédéric Payraudeau found the period between Year 6 of Taharqa and the attestations of Pedubast III by the Assyrians the most likely time for the reign of Gemenefkhonsbak and possibly other local kings at Tanis. In subsequent studies, Meffre and Payraudeau placed the newly identified King Neferkare Pami II as the successor of Osorkon IV at Tanis, leaving Gemenefkhonsbak as his eventual successor, and had Gemenefkhonsbak succeeded immediately or eventually by Pedubast III. While some scholars identify Pedubast III with Sehetepibre Pedubast, Payraudeau identifies the latter as Pedubast II at the start of the Tanite 23rd Dynasty on the basis of geopolitical and stylistic considerations. A king with the throne name Sekhemkare is considered as possibly intervening between Gemenefkhonsbak and Pedubast III, but instead may have reigned at Athribis rather than Tanis.