Editing Shebitku (section)

==Alleged coregency with Shabaka==
[[File:Stela Shebitqo Met.jpg|thumb|Donation Stela of Shebitku, with the [[cartouche]] identifying him (bottom left). [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]]]

The Turin Stela 1467, which depicts Shabaka and Shebitku seated together (with Shebitku behind Shabaka) facing two other individuals across an offering table, was once considered to be clear evidence for a royal co-regency between these two [[Nubian people|Nubian]] kings in [[William J. Murnane]]'s 1977 book, ''Ancient Egyptian Coregencies''.<ref>[[William J. Murnane|Murnane, William]], ''Ancient Egyptian Coregencies'', (SAOC 40: Chicago 1977), p. 190.</ref> However, the Turin Museum has subsequently acknowledged the statue to be a forgery. [[Robert Morkot]] and Stephen Quirke, who analysed the stela in a 2001 article, also confirmed that the object is a forgery which cannot be used to postulate a possible coregency between Shabaka and Shebitku.<ref>[[Robert Morkot|R. Morkot]]; Quirke, S., "Inventing the 25th Dynasty: Turin stela 1467 and the construction of history", ''Begegnungen&nbsp;— Antike Kulturen im Niltal Festgabe für Erika Endesfelder, Karl-Heinz Priese, Walter Friedrich Reineke, Steffen Wenig'' (in German) (Leipzig 2001), pp. 349–363.</ref>

Secondly, Shebitku's Year 3, 1st month of Shemu day 5 inscription in Nile Level Text Number 33 has been assumed to record a coregency between Shabaka and Shebitku among some scholars. This Nile text records Shebitku mentioning his appearing (''ḫꜥj'') in Thebes as king in the temple of Amun at Karnak where "Amun gave him the crown with two uraei like Horus on the throne of Re" thereby legitimising his kingship.<ref>[[László Török|L. Török]], ''The Royal Crowns of Kush: A Study in Middle Nile Valley Regalia and Iconography in the 1st Millennia B. C. and A.D.'', ''Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology'' 18 (Oxford 1987), p. 4. {{DOI|10.30861/9780860544326}}. {{ISBN|086054432X}}. {{OCLC|18832791}}. {{OL|22160809M}}.</ref> [[Jürgen von Beckerath]] argued in a GM 136 (1993) article that the inscription recorded both the official coronation of Shebitku and the very first appearance of the king himself in Egypt after comparing this inscription with Nile Level Text No.30 from Year 2 of Shebitku when Shabaka conquered all of Egypt.<ref>[[Jürgen von Beckerath|von Beckerath, J.]], "Die Nilstandsinschrift vom 3. Jahr Schebitkus am kai von Karnak," GM 136 (1993), pp. 7–9.</ref> If correct, this would demonstrate that Shebitku had truly served as a coregent to Shabaka for 2 years.

[[Kenneth Kitchen]], however, observes that the "verb ḫꜥj (or appearance) applies to any official 'epiphany' or official manifestation of the king to his 'public appearances'."<ref name=tip170>[[Kenneth Kitchen|Kitchen, A.]], ''The Third Intermediate Period in Egypt (1100–650 BC)'' [TIPE], 3rd edition, 1986, Warminster: Aris & Phillips Ltd, p. 170.</ref> Kitchen also stresses that the period around the first month of Shemu days 1–5 marked the date of a Festival of Amun-Re at Karnak which is well attested during the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom Period]], the 22nd Dynasty and through to the Ptolemaic period.<ref name=tip170/> Hence, in the third Year of Shebitku, this Feast to Amun evidently coincided with both the Inundation of the Nile and a personal visit by Shebitku to the Temple of Amun "but we have no warrant whatever for assuming that Shebitku...remained uncrowned for 2 whole years after his accession."<ref>Kitchen, TIPE, p. 171.</ref> William Murnane also endorsed this interpretation by noting that Shebitku's Year 3 Nile Text "need not refer to an accession or coronation at all. Rather, it seems simply to record an 'appearance' of Shebitku in the temple of Amun during his third year and to acknowledge the god's influence in securing his initial appearance as king."<ref>Murnane, Coregencies, p. 189.</ref> In other words, Shebitku was already king of Egypt and the purpose of his visit to Karnak was to receive and record for posterity the god [[Amun]]'s official legitimization of his reign. Therefore, the evidence for a possible coregency between Shabaka and Shebitku is illusory at present.

Dan'el Kahn also carefully considered but rejected arguments against a division of the 25th dynasty kingdom under Shabaka's reign with Shabaka ruling in Lower and Upper Egypt and Shebitku, acting as Shabaka's junior coregent or viceroy, in Nubia in an important 2006 article.<ref>Kahn, Dan'el., [https://www.academia.edu/404060/Was_there_a_Coregency_in_the_25th_Dynasty Divided Kingdom, Co-regency, or Sole Rule in the Kingdom(s) of Egypt-and-Kush?, Egypt and Levant] '''16''' (2006), pp. 275-291.</ref> Kahn notes that there was always only one Nubian king ruling over all of the 25th dynasty's domain including both Egypt and Nubia and that problems of communication and control "did not hinder the kushite king to be the supreme ruler of this vast territory."<ref>Kahn, Egypt and Levant '''16''', p. 290.</ref> Kahn stresses that the Great Triumphal stela of Piye indicates it took only 39 days to travel by boat from [[Napata]] to [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]] while the [[Nitocris I (Divine Adoratrice)#The Adoption Stela|Nitocris Adoption Stela]] shows that "the time to travel the distance between [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]] (or possibly Tanis) and Thebes by boat (c. 700 km or more for Tanis) is [only] 16 days."<ref>Kahn, Egypt and Levant 16, p. 290. Kahn cites RA Caminos, The Nitocris Stela, JEA '''50''' (1964), pp. 81–84 for the Nitocris stela evidence.</ref>