Editing Sahure (section)

==== Reign length ====

The [[Turin King List|Turin canon]], a king list written during the [[Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt|Nineteenth Dynasty]] in the early [[Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt|Ramesside era]] (1292–1189 BC), credits him with a reign of twelve years five months and twelve days. In contrast, the near contemporary royal annal of the Fifth Dynasty known as the [[Palermo Stone]] records his second, third, fifth and sixth years on the throne as well as his final 13th or 14th year of reign{{efn|group=note|During the Old Kingdom period, the Egyptians did not record time as we do today. Rather, they counted years since the beginning of the reign of the current king. Furthermore these years were referred to by the number of [[Cattle count (Egypt)|cattle counts]] which had taken place since the start of the reign. The cattle count was an important event aimed at evaluating the amount of taxes to be levied on the population. This involved counting cattle, oxen and small livestock.{{sfn|Katary|2001|p=352}} During the first half of the Fifth Dynasty, this count might have been [[wikt:Special:Search/biennial|biennial]]{{sfn|Verner|2001a|p=391}} although it may not always have happened at regular intervals.{{sfn|Spalinger|1994|p=297}} Following these principles, the Palermo stone actually talks of the years after the first, second and either sixth or seventh{{sfn|Wilkinson|2000|p=168}} cattle counts of Sahure's reign. If the count was indeed biennial, which is uncertain, this would correspond to Sahure's second, third and fourteenth years.}} and even records the day of his death as the 28th of [[Season of the Harvest|Shemu]] I, which corresponds to the end of the ninth month.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2000|p=259}}{{sfn|Breasted|1906|p=70}} Taken together these pieces of information indicate that the royal annal of the Fifth Dynasty recorded a reign of 13 years 5{{nbs}}months and 12 days for Sahure, only one year more than given by the Turin Canon and close to the 13 years figure given in Manetho's ''Aegyptiaca''.{{sfn|Waddell|1971|p=51}}

Sahure appears in two further historical records: on the third entry of the [[Karnak king list]], which was made during the reign of [[Thutmose&nbsp;III]] (1479–1425 BC) and on the 26th entry of the Saqqara Tablet dating to the reign of [[Ramses&nbsp;II]] (1279–1213 BC).{{sfn|Baker|2008|pp=343–345}} Neither of these sources give his reign length. The absolute dates of Sahure's reign are uncertain but most scholars date it to the first half of the 25th century BC, see note 1 for details.{{sfn|Baker|2008|pp=343–345}}