Twenty-third Dynasty

What little of the kind we hear of is derived from the Old Testament, as we shall soon see. Manetho's TWENTY-THIRD DYNASTY consists of only four kings, the third (Psammus) being unidentifiable and the fourth (Zet) confined to Africanus and probably an error. At the head of the dynasty is a Petubastis said to have reigned 40 years according to Africanus, but only 25 according to Eusebius. He is mentioned in several of the quay inscriptions at Karnak, one of them of year 23. Serious reasons have been advanced for regarding Dyn. XXIII as contemporaneous with Dyn. XXII, and indeed the second name is given as Osorcho or Osorthon. Matters are complicated by the existence of another Petubastis who had a different Prenomen and is probably to be recognized in the hero of a late demotic romance of which there are several versions. It remains to be mentioned that there are other obscure kings presumably belonging to this period who cannot be placed. They are probably to be accounted for by the ever increasing segmentation of the land, a fact that will be amply demonstrated in the new phase of Egyptian history about to be described.