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Osorkon's Cartouche from his tomb in Tanis Usimare Setepenamun Osorkon II was a Pharaoh of the Twenty-second Dynasty of Ancient Egypt and the son of Takelot I and '''Queen Kapes'''. He ruled Egypt around 872 BC to 837 BC from Tanis , the capital of this Dynasty. After succeeding his father, he was faced with the competing rule of his cousin, king Harsiese A , who controlled both Thebes and the Western Oasis of Egypt. Osorkon feared the serious challenge posed by Harsiese's kingship to his authority, but, when Harsiese conveniently died in 860 BC , Osorkon II ensured that this problem would not recur by appointing his own son Nimlot C as High Priest of Amun at Thebes. His younger son '''Shoshenq''' was made High Priest Of Ptah at Memphis . In this period in Egypt's history, priestly and political power were at their most inseparable. According to a recent JEA 81(1995) paper by Karl Jansen-Winkeln, king . FOREIGN POLICY AND MONUMENTAL PROGRAM Despite his astuteness in dealings with matters at home, Osorkon was forced to be more aggressive on the international scene. The growing power of Assyria meant the latter's increased meddling in the affairs of Israel and Syria – territories well within Egypt's sphere of influence. In 853 BC , Osorkon's forces, in a coalition with those of Israel and Byblos , defeated the army of Shalmaneser III at the Battle Of Qarqar thereby halting Assyrian expansion in Canaan , albeit only briefly. Osorkon II devoted considerable resources into his building projects by adding to the temple of Bastet at Bubastis which featured a substantial new hall decorated with scenes depicting his Sed Festival and images of his Queen Karomama . Mutemhat was another of his wives. Monumental construction was also performed at Thebes, Memphis, Tanis and Leontopolis . Osorkon II also built Temple J at Karnak during the final years of his reign, which was decorated by his then serving High Priest Takelot F(the future Takelot II ). Takelot F was the son of the deceased High Priest Nimlot C and, thus, Osorkon II's grandson. Osorkon II was the last great Twenty-second Dynasty king of Tanis who ruled Egypt from the Delta to Upper Egypt because his successor, Shoshenq III lost effectively control of Middle and Upper Egypt in his 8th Year with the emergence of king Pedubast I at Thebes. REIGN LENGTH Osorkon II died around 837 BC and is buried in Tomb NRT I at Tanis. He is now believed to have enjoyed a reign well in excess of 30 Years, rather than just 25 Years. The celebrations of his first Sed Jubilee was traditionally thought to have occurred in his 22nd Year but the Heb Sed date in his Great Temple of Bubastis is damaged and can be also be read as Year 30, as Edward Wente noted in a JNES 35(1976) aticle. The fact that this king's own grandson, Takelot F, served him as High Priest of Amun at Thebes–as the inscribed Walls of Temple J prove–supports the hypothesis of a longer reign for Osorkon II. Recently, it has been demonstrated that Nile Quay Text No.14 (dated to Year 29 of an Usimare Setepenamun) belongs to Osorkon II on palaeographical grounds (see page 174-178 of G. Broekman's JEA 88(2002) analysis of the Karnak Quay Texts). This finding suggests that Osorkon II likely did celebrate his first Heb Sed in his 30th Year as was traditionally the case with other Libyan era Pharaohs such as Shoshenq III and Shoshenq V. In addition, a Year 22 Stela from his reign preserves no mention of any Heb Sed celebrations in this year as would be expected, (see Von Beckerath ). While Osorkon II's precise reign length is unknown, some Egyptologists such as Von Beckerath – in his 1997 book Chronology of the Egyptian Pharaohs – and David Aston have suggested a range of between 38 to 45 years. However, these high figures are not verified by the current monumental evidence. SUCCESSOR Osorkon II was succeeded by Shoshenq III at Tanis rather than Takelot II Si-Ese as was previously assumed because none of Takelot II's monuments have been found in Lower Egypt where other genuine Tanite kings such as Osorkon II, Shoshenq III and even the short-lived Pami (at 6-7 Years) are mentioned on donation stelas, temple walls and/or annal documents. The only documents which mention a king Takelot here--such as a Royal Tomb at Tanis, a Year 9 donation stela from Bubastis and a heart scarab featuring the nomen 'Takelot Meryamun'--belong exclusively to Takelot I. Aidan Dodson, in his 1994 book, ''The Canopic Equipment of the Kings of Egypt,'' observes that Shoshenq III built "a dividing wall, with a double scene showing Osorkon II" and himself "each adoring an unnamed deity" in the antechamber of Osorkon II's tomb.(p.95) Dodson concludes that while one may argue Shoshenq III erected the wall to hide Osorkon II's sarcophagus, it made no sense for Shoshenq to create such an elaborate relief if Takelot II had really intervened between him and Osorkon II at Tanis for 25 years unless Shoshenq III was Osorkon II's immediate successor. Shoshenq III must, hence, have wished to associate himself with this deceased king.(p.95) Consequently, the case for making Takelot II as a Twenty-second Dynasty king and successor to Osorkon II disappears, as the author writes. Other scholars such as David Aston and Jansen-Winkeln have also endorsed this position--the latter in his JEA 81 paper. TOMB The French excavator, Pierre Montet discovered Osorkon II's thoroughly plundered royal tomb at Tanis on February 27 1939 . It revealed that Osorkon II was buried in a massive granite sarcophagus with a lid carved from a Ramesside era statue. Only some fragments of a Hawk-headed coffin and canopic jars remained in the robbed tomb to identify him. {Link without Title} BIBLIOGRAPHY
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