Karnak King List

Karnak King List
Drawing of the list in 1843
Created	c. 1450 BC
Discovered	before 1826 Luxor, Luxor Governorate, Egypt
Present location	Paris, Ile-de-France, France

The Karnak King List, a list of early Egyptian kings engraved in stone, was located in the southwest corner of the Festival Hall of Thutmose III, in the middle of the Precinct of Amun-Re, in the Karnak Temple Complex, in modern Luxor, Egypt. Composed during the reign of Thutmose III, it listed sixty-one kings beginning with Sneferu from Egypt's Old Kingdom. Only the names of thirty-nine kings are still legible, and one (Intef the Elder) is not written in a cartouche.

It is not a complete list of the Egyptian pharaohs, as other kings are known from other ancient lists, but this list is valuable as it contains the names of kings of the First and Second Intermediate Periods, which are omitted in most other king lists.

It was first described by James Burton in 1825.[1] In 1843, a German expedition directed by Egyptologist Karl Lepsius was traveling up the Nile River to Karnak. A French adventurer, Émile d'Avennes, dismantled and stole the blocks containing the king list one night in order to secure it for France, and sent it home.[2][3] Severely damaged, it is now on display at the Louvre[4] in Paris.

Drawing of the Karnak King List. The colored bits remain, the white are more or less lost.

The list features the name of the pharaoh followed by the actual one inscribed on the list. The list comprises three sections and is divided at the center. The numbering follows Lepsius,[5] counting from the sides, toward the center. Pharaohs that are known have the damaged part of the inscribed name in parentheses.

Left side
Top Row
#	Ruler	Inscribed name	Hieroglyphs
1.	Neferkare I?	(Neferkare)[a]	(reconstitution)
2.	Sneferu	Sneferu
3.	Sahure	Sahure
4.	Nyuserre Ini	Ini
5.	Djedkare Isesi	Isesi
6.	Names lost
7.
8.	Sekhemre Sementawy Djehuty	Sekhemre Sementawy
Second Row
#	Ruler	Inscribed name	Hieroglyphs
9.	Name lost
10.	Intef II	Intef
11.	Intef I?	In(tef)
12.	Mentuhotep I?	Men(tuhotep)[b]
13.	Intef the Elder	Intef[c]
14.	Name lost
15.	Pepi I Meryre	Pepi
16.	Merenre Nemtyemsaf I	Merenre
Third Row
#	Ruler	Inscribed name	Hieroglyphs
17.	Amenemhat I	Sehotepibre
18.	Amenemhat II	Nebukare
19.	Names lost
20.
21.	Amenemhat IV	Maakherure
22.	Sobekneferu	Sobekneferu
23.	Sehetepkare Intef?	Intef
Bottom Row
#	Ruler	Inscribed name	Hieroglyphs
24.	Senusret I	Kheperkare
25.	Seqenenre Tao	Seqenenre
26.	Senakhtenre Ahmose	Senakhtenre
27.	Bebiankh	Seuserenre
28.	Nubkheperre Intef	Nubkheperre
29.	Mentuhotep II	Nebhepetre
30.	Mentuhotep III	Seneferkare
31.	Mentuhotep IV?	(Nebtawy)re

Right side
Top Row
#	Ruler	Inscribed name	Hieroglyphs
32.	Senusret III?	(Khakaure)[d]	(reconstitution)
33.	Sobekhotep IV	Khaneferre
34.	Neferhotep I	Khasekhemre
35.	Unknown	Sekhemre Snefertawy
36.	Sobekhotep I	Sekhemre Khutawy
37.	Amenemhat VI	Sankhibre
38.	Nebiryraw I	Sewadjenre
39.	Snaaib?	(…)khau(re)
Second Row
#	Ruler	Inscribed name	Hieroglyphs
40.	Name lost
41.	Neferhotep II	Mersekhemre
42.	Sobekhotep VII	Merkaure
43.	Sobekhotep VIII?	Seusertawy
44.	Unknown	(…)(re)
45.	Senusret IV?	Senefer(ib)re
46.	Sobekhotep VI	Khahotepre
47.	Khaankhre Sobekhotep	Khaankhre
Third Row
#	Ruler	Inscribed name	Hieroglyphs
48.	Sekhemre Wahkhau Rahotep	Wahkhaure
49.	Sewahenre Senebmiu	Sewahenre
50.	Merhotepre Sobekhotep	Merhotepre
51.	Wegaf	Khutawire
52.	Names lost
53.
54.	Sobekemsaf I	Sekhemre Wadjkhau
Bottom Row
#	Ruler	Inscribed name	Hieroglyphs
55.	Unknown	(…)re
56.	Seneferankhre?	Senefer(…)re
57.	Sewadjare Mentuhotep?	Sewadj(n)re
58.	Sekhemre Shedwaset?	Sekhem(…)re
59.	Names lost
60.
61.

• Abydos King List
• Manetho King List
• Palermo Stone
• Ramesseum king list
• Saqqara Tablet
• Turin King List
• Medinet Habu king list

• Lepsius drawing from APAW 1852 Archived 2009-10-13 at the Wayback Machine from Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften
• Karnak king list Archived 2015-03-24 at the Wayback Machine with complete hieroglyphics, sources and pictures