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{{Short description|Final Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt}}
{{Infobox pharaoh
| name           = Horemheb
| alt_name       = Horemhab, Haremhab, Haremheb
| image          = StatueOfHoremhebAndTheGodHorus-DetailOfHoremheb01 KunsthistorischesMuseum Nov13-10.jpg
| ImageSize      = 200
| image_alt      =
| caption        = Detail of a statue of Horemheb, at the [[Kunsthistorisches Museum]], Vienna
| role           =
| reign          = 27 regnal years (disputed)<br>1319–1292 BC (low chr.)
| dynasty        = [[Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt|18th&nbsp;Dynasty]]
| coregency      =
| predecessor    = [[Ay (pharaoh)|Ay]]
| successor      = [[Ramesses I]]
| notes          =
| prenomen       = Djeserkheperure Setepenre <br />''Ḏsr-ḫprw-Rˁ-stp-n-Rˁ''<br>''Holy are the manifestations of [[Ra]], the chosen one of Ra''<br><hiero>M23:t-L2:t-<-ra:Dsr-xpr:Z2-ra-stp:n-></hiero>
| prenomen_hiero =
| nomen          = Horemheb Meryamun<br>''Ḥr-m-ḥb-mrj-Jmn''<br>''[[Horus]] is in jubilation, beloved of [[Amun]]''
| nomen_hiero    = <hiero>M17-Y5:N35-U6-G5-S3-Aa15:W3</hiero>
| horus          = Kanakht Sepedkheru <br> ''K3-nḫt-Spd-ḫrw''<br />''Strong bull, whose plans are effective''
| horus_hiero    = <hiero>E2:D40-M44-G43-G13-S29-P8-Z7</hiero>
| horus_prefix   = <!-- Default is <hiero>G5</hiero> -->
| nebty          = Werbiawet-em-Ipetsut <br>''Wr-bj3wt-m-Jptswt'' <br />''He who is great of miracles in [[Karnak|Ipetsut]]''
| nebty_hiero    = <hiero>G36:D21-U16:X1*Z2-G17-M17-Q3:X1-Q1-Q1-Q1</hiero>
| golden         = Heruhermaat Sekhepertawy <br />''Ḥrw-ḥr-m3ˁ.t-sḫpr-t3wj'' <br />''He who is satisfied with the [[Maat]], he who makes the two lands come to existence''
| golden_hiero   = <hiero>O4:D21-Y1:D2*Z1-C10-S29-L1-N17:N17</hiero>
| spouse         = [[Amenia (wife of Horemheb)|Amenia]], [[Mutnedjmet]]
| children       = Possibly [[Tanedjemet|Tanodjmy]]
| father         =
| mother         =
| birth_date     =
| death_date     = 1292&nbsp;BC
| burial         = [[KV57]]
| monuments      = [[Tomb of Horemheb in Saqqara|Memphite Tomb]] <br/> [[Temple of Ay and Horemheb]]
}}
'''Horemheb''', also spelled '''Horemhab''', '''Haremheb''' or '''Haremhab''' ({{langx|egy|ḥr-m-ḥb}}, meaning "[[Horus]] is in Jubilation"),<ref name="Ranke 1935 248">{{cite book |last1=Ranke |first1=Hermann |title=Die Ägyptischen Personennamen, Bd. 1: Verzeichnis der Namen |date=1935 |publisher=J.J. Augustin |location=Glückstadt |url=http://gizamedia.rc.fas.harvard.edu/images/MFA-images/Giza/GizaImage/full/library/ranke_personennamen_1.pdf |access-date=24 July 2020 |page=248 |archive-date=17 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220317212335/http://gizamedia.rc.fas.harvard.edu/images/MFA-images/Giza/GizaImage/full/library/ranke_personennamen_1.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> was the last [[pharaoh]] of the [[Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt|18th&nbsp;Dynasty of Egypt]] (1550–1292 BC).<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Strudwick|first=Helen|title=The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt|publisher=Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.|year=2006|isbn=978-1-4351-4654-9|location=New York|pages=82–83}}</ref> He ruled for at least 14&nbsp;years between 1319&nbsp;BC and 1292&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite book |editor-first1=Erik |editor-last1=Hornung |editor-first2=Rolf |editor-last2=Krauss |editor-first3=David |editor-last3=Warburton |title=Ancient Egyptian Chronology |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientegyptianc00horn_842 |url-access=limited |series=Handbook of Oriental Studies |publisher=Brill |year=2006 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ancientegyptianc00horn_842/page/n505 493] |chapter=Chronology table|isbn=9789004113855 }}</ref> He had no relation to the preceding royal family other than by marriage to [[Mutnedjmet]], who is thought (though disputed) to have been the daughter of his predecessor, [[Ay (pharaoh)|Ay]]; he is believed to have been of common birth.

Before he became pharaoh Horemheb was the [[commander-in-chief]] of the [[Military of ancient Egypt|army]] under the reigns of [[Tutankhamun]] and [[Ay (pharaoh)|Ay]]. After his accession to the throne, he reformed the Egyptian state and it was during his reign that official action against the preceding [[Amarna]] rulers began, which is why he is considered the ruler who restabilized his country after the troublesome and divisive [[Amarna Period]].

Horemheb demolished monuments of [[Akhenaten]], reusing the rubble in his own building projects, and usurped monuments of Tutankhamun and Ay. Horemheb presumably had no surviving sons, as he appointed as his successor his [[Vizier (Ancient Egypt)|vizier]] Paramessu, who would assume the throne as [[Ramesses I]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.carlos.emory.edu/RAMESSES/1_introduction.html |title=Ramesses |publisher=carlos.emory.edu |access-date=2015-08-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170628000129/http://www.carlos.emory.edu/RAMESSES/1_introduction.html |archive-date=2017-06-28 |df=dmy-all |url-status=dead}}</ref>

As pharaoh, Horemheb authored the [[Edict of Horemheb]], a criminological legislative document instituting policies for reducing corruption.

==Early career==
[[File:Horemheb Ashershow1.JPG|thumb|left|150px|A statue of Horemheb as a scribe]]
Horemheb is believed to have originally come from Hnes,{{efn|''Hnes'' is the city's ancient Egyptian name; it was later called ''[[Heracleopolis Magna]]'' by classical authors; its modern name is ''Ihnasya el-Medina''.}} on the west bank of the [[Nile]], near the entrance to the [[Faiyum]], since his coronation text formally credits the god [[Horus]] of Hnes for establishing him on the throne.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Alan |last=Gardiner |author-link=Alan H. Gardiner |title=The coronation of king Haremhab |journal=Journal of Egyptian Archaeology |volume=39 |year=1953 |pages=14, 16, 21}}</ref>

[[File:Limestone statue of a husband and wife, British Museum.jpg|thumb|left|150px|A statue of Horemheb as an official]]
His parentage is unknown but he is believed to have been a commoner. According to the French Egyptologist [[Nicolas Grimal]], Horemheb does not appear to be the same person as [[Paatenemheb]] (''[[Aten]] Is Present In Jubilation''), who was the commander-in-chief of Akhenaten's army.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.virtual-egyptian-museum.org/Collection/FullVisit/Collection.FullVisit-JFR.html?..%2FContent%2FSTO.XL.00896.html&0 |publisher=Virtual Egyptian Museum |title=The Full Collection |website=virtual-egyptian-museum.org |access-date=2006-08-17 |archive-date=2006-01-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060105123218/http://www.virtual-egyptian-museum.org/Collection/FullVisit/Collection.FullVisit-JFR.html?..%2FContent%2FSTO.XL.00896.html&0 |url-status=live }}</ref> Grimal notes that Horemheb's political career began under Tutankhamun where he "is depicted at this king's side in his own tomb chapel at Memphis."<ref name=Grimal1992>{{cite book |first=Nicolas |last=Grimal |title=A History of Ancient Egypt |publisher=Blackwell |year=1992}}</ref>{{rp|page=242}}

He is known to have served in the military during the reign of Akhenaten.<ref name="v984">{{cite web | title=Horemheb | website=Ancient Egypt Online | url=https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/horemheb/ | access-date=2025-05-29}}</ref> In the earliest known stage of his life Horemheb served as "the royal spokesman for [Egypt's] foreign affairs" and personally led a diplomatic mission to visit the [[Nubia]]n governors.<ref name=Grimal1992/>{{rp|page=242}} This resulted in a reciprocal visit by "the Prince of Miam ([[Aniba (Nubia)|Aniba]])" to Tutankhamun's court, "an event [that is] depicted in the tomb of the Viceroy Huy."<ref name=Grimal1992/>{{rp|page=242}} Horemheb quickly rose to prominence under [[Tutankhamun]], becoming commander-in-chief of the army and advisor to the pharaoh. Horemheb's specific titles are spelled out in his [[Saqqara]] tomb, which was built while he was still only an official: "Hereditary Prince, [[Fan-bearer on the Right Side of the King]] and Chief Commander of the Army"; the "attendant of the King in his footsteps in the foreign countries of the south and the north"; the "King's Messenger in front of his army to the foreign countries to the south and the north"; and the "Sole Companion, he who is by the feet of his lord on the battlefield on that day of killing Asiatics."<ref>{{cite book |first=John A. |last=Wilson |article=Texts from the tomb of general Hor-em-heb |title=Ancient Near Eastern Texts (ANET) relating to the Old Testament |publisher=Princeton University Press |edition=2nd |year=1955 |pages=250–251}}</ref>
[[File:Saqq Horemheb 07.jpg|thumb|Relief from Horemheb's tomb in Saqqara. Receiving 'gold of honour' collars.]]
[[File:Tumba de Tutankamón, Valle de las Reyes, Luxor, Egipto, 2022-04-03, DD 77.jpg|thumb|Relief from [[KV62]] showing court officials dragging Tutankhamun's coffin. Horemheb is possibly the person closest to Tutankhamun's mummy.]]

==Reign==
===Tutankhamun Iry-pat===
When Tutankhamun died while a teenager, Horemheb had already been officially designated as the ''rpat'' or ''[[iry-pat]]'' (basically the hereditary or crown prince) and ''idnw'' (deputy of the king in the entire land) by the child pharaoh; these titles are found inscribed in Horemheb's then private Memphite tomb at Saqqara, which dates to the reign of Tutankhamun since the child king's
{{blockquote|...&nbsp;cartouches, although later usurped by Horemheb as king, have been found on a block which adjoins the famous gold of honour scene, a large portion of which is in Leiden. The royal couple depicted in this scene and in the adjacent scene&nbsp;76, which shows Horemheb acting as an intermediary between the king and a group of subject foreign rulers, are therefore to be identified as Tut'ankhamun and 'Ankhesenamun. This makes it very unlikely from the start that any titles of honours claimed by Horemheb in the inscriptions in the tomb are fictitious.<ref name=vanDijk1993>{{cite thesis |title=The New Kingdom Necropolis of Memphis |series=Historical and Iconographical Studies |first=Jacobus |last=van&nbsp;Dijk |publisher=University of Groningen |type=dissertation |place=Groningen, NL |year=1993 |chapter=Chapter&nbsp;One: Horemheb, Prince Regent of Tutankh'amun |chapter-url=http://www.jacobusvandijk.nl/docs/Horemheb_chapter.pdf |access-date=2012-04-07 |archive-date=2011-03-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110313125527/http://www.jacobusvandijk.nl/docs/Horemheb_chapter.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|pages=17–18 / PDF pp.&nbsp;9–10}} }}

The title ''iry-pat'' (Hereditary Prince) was used very frequently in Horemheb's Saqqara tomb but not combined with any other words. When used alone, the Egyptologist [[Alan H. Gardiner|Alan Gardiner]] has shown that the ''iry-pat'' title contains features of ancient descent and lawful inheritance which is identical to the designation for a "Crown Prince."<ref>{{cite journal |first=Alan |last=Gardiner |author-link=Alan H. Gardiner |title=The coronation of King Haremhab |journal=Journal of Egyptian Archaeology |volume=39 |year=1953 |pages=13–31}}</ref> This means that Horemheb was the openly recognised heir to Tutankhamun's throne, and not Ay, Tutankhamun's immediate successor. The Dutch Egyptologist [[Jacobus Van Dijk]] observes:

{{blockquote|There is no indication that Horemheb always intended to succeed Tut'ankhamun; obviously not even he could possibly have predicted that the king would die without issue. It must always have been understood that his appointment as crown prince would end as soon as the king produced an heir, and that he would succeed Tut'ankhamun only in the eventuality of an early and / or childless death of the sovereign. There can be no doubt that nobody outranked the Hereditary Prince of Upper and Lower Egypt and Deputy of the King in the Entire Land except the king himself, and that Horemheb was entitled to the throne once the king had unexpectedly died without issue. This means that it is Ay's, not Horemheb's, accession that calls for an explanation. Why was Ay able to ascend the throne upon the death of Tut'ankhamun, despite the fact that Horemheb had at that time already been the official heir to the throne for almost ten years?<ref name=vanDijk1993/>{{rp|pages=48–49 / PDF pp.&nbsp;40–41}} }}

Nozomu Kawai, however, rejects Van Dijk's interpretation that Tutankhamun had nominated Horemheb as his successor and reasons that:
: "If Horemheb was appointed as the "Crown Prince" at the beginning of Tutankhamun’s reign, this means that the end of the royal bloodline was already arranged. If this arrangement was made, people like [[Ay (pharaoh)|Ay]], who were closely connected to the royal family, would not have accepted it. Although Horemheb had already boasted of his strength in his pre-royal career, the statements must have been exaggerated, especially in his [ie. Horemheb's] coronation inscription, which was undoubtedly intended to propagate his legitimacy as the king. Notably, he called himself the ‘Eldest son of Horus’, a title that regularly refers to the Crown Prince. For van Dijk this means that he was already the designated successor of Tutankhamun. Janssen, however, states that the "Eldest Son" was honorific and did not indicate the surviving heir to the throne. I would suggest that this expression seems to have been a propaganda title meaning the "Eldest son of Horus of Hutnesu," Horemheb’s birthplace."<ref>Nozomu Kawai, [https://www.academia.edu/395389/Ay_versus_Horemheb_The_Political_Situation_in_the_Late_Eighteenth_Dynasty_Revisited Ay vs Horemheb: The Political Situation in the Late 18th Dynasty Revisited], JEH 3 (2010), p.270</ref>

[[File:Saq Horemheb 01.jpg|thumb|The forecourt of Horemheb's Memphite [[Tomb of Horemheb (Memphis)|tomb]] at Saqqara.]]
While no objects belonging to Horemheb were found in Tutankhamun's tomb, and items among the tomb goods donated by other high-ranking officials, such as [[Maya (Egyptian)|Maya]] and General [[Nakhtmin]], were identified by Egyptologists. Nozomu Kawai maintains that Horemheb was an active participant at Tutankhamun's burial.
Kawai writes:
: "Many scholars have suggested that Horemheb did not leave any evidence in Tutankhamun’s tomb, while prominent persons such as Ay, Maya and Nakhtmin left either funerary items or iconographic images. However, the wall scene of the tomb shows Tutankhmun’s coffin dragged by a group of officials in a mourning procession that contains a man who seems to be Horemheb (Fig. 3). The lone figure standing behind the two viziers must be Horemheb, which also makes him situated closest to the mummy of Tutankhamun. This means that Horemheb acted as the leader of the funerary procession."<ref>Nozomu Kawai, [https://www.academia.edu/395389/Ay_versus_Horemheb_The_Political_Situation_in_the_Late_Eighteenth_Dynasty_Revisited Ay vs Horemheb: The Political Situation in the Late 18th Dynasty Revisited], JEH 3 (2010), p.271</ref>

Kawai maintains rather that both Ay and Horemheb held important high administrative roles during Tutankhamun's reign with Ay participating in royal cultic activities whereas Horemheb acted as a royal military leader and legislator.<ref>Nozomu Kawai, [https://www.academia.edu/395389/Ay_versus_Horemheb_The_Political_Situation_in_the_Late_Eighteenth_Dynasty_Revisited Ay vs Horemheb: The Political Situation in the Late 18th Dynasty Revisited], JEH 3 (2010), pp.270-71</ref> But after Ay became the pharaoh, his relationship with Horemheb changed. The aged Vizier [[Ay (pharaoh)|Ay]] initially succeeded Tutankhamun, possibly because he made an arrangement with Horemheb.  However, during his brief four-year reign, Ay proceeded to nominate [[Nakhtmin]] as his successor—whom Ay named as "King's Son" ([[wikt:zꜣ-nswt|zꜣ-nswt]])<ref>Wolfgang Helck, Urkunden der 18. Dynastie: Texte der Hefte 20-21 (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1984), pp. 1908–1910</ref>—rather than Horemheb.  The title of "King’s Son" (zꜣ-nswt) was clearly meant to designate the king's successor and Ay, therefore, sidelined Horemheb's claim to the throne with this action. [[Ankhesenamun]], Tutankhamun's queen chose not to marry Horemheb, a commoner, and this also solidified Ay's kingship.<ref name=vanDijk1993/>{{rp|pages=50–51, 56–60 / PDF pp.&nbsp;42–43, 48–52}}

===Kingship===
Kawai notes that Horemheb himself likely "did not plot revenge on Ay, probably because Ay was old and would likely die soon" and merely kept his military power.<ref>Nozomu Kawai, [https://www.academia.edu/395389/Ay_versus_Horemheb_The_Political_Situation_in_the_Late_Eighteenth_Dynasty_Revisited Ay vs Horemheb: The Political Situation in the Late 18th Dynasty Revisited], JEH 3 (2010), pp.287</ref>  After Ay's reign, which lasted for a little over four years, Horemheb managed to seize power, presumably thanks to his position as commander of the army, and to assume what he must have perceived to be his reward for having ably served Egypt under Tutankhamun and Ay, Horemheb resented Ay's attempt to sideline him from the royal succession and acted to quickly removed Nakhtmin's rival claim to the throne and arranged to have Ay's [[WV23|WV&nbsp;23]] tomb desecrated by smashing the latter's sarcophagus, systematically chiselling Ay's name and figure out of the tomb walls and probably destroying Ay's mummy.<ref>Ay's tomb WV&nbsp;23 in the western annex of the Valley of the Kings; see {{cite book |author1=Porter |author2=Moss |name-list-style=amp |title=Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyph Texts, Reliefs and Parts |volume=1 |at=Part&nbsp;2 pp.&nbsp;550–551 |place=Oxford, UK |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1960}}</ref> Horemheb also usurped and enlarged Ay's mortuary temple at [[Medinet Habu (temple)|Medinet Habu]] for his own use and erased Ay's titulary on the back of a 17-foot colossal statue by carving his own titulary in its place.

Horemheb's actions against Ay were a [[damnatio memoriae]] to remove the memory of his rival from the historical records. However, he spared Tutankhamun's tomb from vandalism presumably out of respect because it was Tutankhamun who had overseen his rise to prominence in the first place and because he had no antagonism with Tutankhamun.

[[File:StatueOfHoremhebAndTheGodHorus KunsthistorischesMuseum Nov13-10.jpg|left|thumb|A statue of Horemheb with [[Horus]] at the [[Kunsthistorisches Museum]] of [[Vienna]], [[Austria]].]]
[[File:Statue of king Horemheb with the god Amun.png|thumb|A statue of Horemheb with [[Amun]] at the [[Museo Egizio]] of [[Turin]], [[Italy]].]]
Upon his accession, Horemheb initiated a comprehensive series of internal transformations to the power structures of [[Akhenaten]]'s reign, due to the preceding transfer of state power from Amun's priests to Akhenaten's government officials. Horemheb "appointed judges and regional tribunes ... reintroduced local religious authorities" and divided legal power "between [[Upper and Lower Egypt|Upper Egypt]] and [[Upper and Lower Egypt|Lower Egypt]]" between "the [[Vizier (Ancient Egypt)|Vizier]]s of [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]] and [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]] respectively."<ref name=Grimal1992/>{{rp|page=243}}

These deeds are recorded in a stela which the king erected at the foot of his Tenth Pylon at Karnak. Occasionally called The Great [[Edict of Horemheb]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/texts/edict_of_horemheb.htm |title=The Great Edict of Horemheb |publisher=reshafim.org.il |access-date=2008-02-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817035720/http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/texts/edict_of_horemheb.htm |archive-date=2018-08-17 |df=dmy-all |url-status=dead}}</ref> it is a copy of the actual text of the king's decree to re-establish order to the Two Lands and curb abuses of state authority. The stela's creation and prominent location emphasizes the great importance which Horemheb placed upon domestic reform.

Horemheb also reformed the Army and reorganized the [[Deir el-Medina]] workforce in his 7th&nbsp;year while Horemheb's official Maya renewed the tomb of [[Thutmose IV]], which had been disturbed by tomb robbers in his 8th&nbsp;year. While the king restored the priesthood of Amun, he prevented the Amun priests from forming a stranglehold on power, by deliberately reappointing priests who mostly came from the Egyptian army since he could rely on their personal loyalty.<ref>{{cite book |first=Peter |last=Clayton |title=Chronicle of the Pharaohs |url=https://archive.org/details/chronicleofphara00clay |url-access=limited |publisher=Thames & Hudson Ltd |year=1994 |page=[https://archive.org/details/chronicleofphara00clay/page/137 137]|isbn=9780500050743 }}</ref>
Horemheb was a prolific builder who erected numerous temples and buildings throughout Egypt during his reign. He constructed the Second, Ninth, and Tenth [[Pylon (architecture)|Pylons]] of the [[Great Hypostyle Hall, Karnak|Great Hypostyle Hall]], in the [[Karnak|Temple at Karnak]], using recycled [[talatat]] blocks from [[Akhenaten]]'s own monuments here, as building material for the first two Pylons.<ref name=Grimal1992/>{{rp|page=243, 303}}

Horemheb continued Tutankhamun's restoration of the old order that had been established before the Amarna period. He reintroduced the ancient cults, particularly Amun, thus proving himself a true pharaoh who established Maat (world order).<ref name=":0" />

Because of his unexpected rise to the throne, Horemheb had two tombs constructed for himself: the [[Tomb of Horemheb (Memphis)|first]] – when he was a mere nobleman – at [[Saqqara]] near [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]], and the other in the [[Valley of the Kings]], in [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]], in tomb [[KV57|KV&nbsp;57]] as king. His chief wife was Queen [[Mutnedjmet]], who may have been [[Nefertiti]]'s younger sister. They had no surviving children, although examinations of Mutnedjmet's mummy show that she gave birth several times, and she was buried with an infant, suggesting that she and her last child died in childbirth. It has been suggested that Horemheb and Mutnedjmet at least had a daughter who was simply not mentioned on any monuments.<ref name=dh156>Aidan Dodson & Dyan Hilton, ''The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt''. Thames & Hudson, 2004, {{ISBN|0-500-05128-3}}, pg 156</ref> Horemheb is not known to have any children by his first wife, [[Amenia, Wife of Horemheb|Amenia]], who died before Horemheb assumed power.<ref>{{cite book |first=Joyce |last=Tyldesley |title=Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt |url=https://archive.org/details/chroniclequeense00tyld |url-access=limited |publisher=Thames & Hudson |year=2006 |page=[https://archive.org/details/chroniclequeense00tyld/page/n139 140]|isbn=9780500051450 }}</ref>

===Disputed reign length===
[[File:La tombe de Horemheb (KV.57) (Vallée des Rois Thèbes ouest) -6.jpg|thumb|The sarcophagus of Horemheb and wall reliefs in his [[KV57]] tomb.]]
Scholars have long disputed whether Horemheb reigned for 14–15 years or 27&nbsp;years. [[Manetho]]'s Epitome assigns a reign length of 4&nbsp;years and 1&nbsp;month to a king called Harmais. Scholars previously assigned this reign-length to Ay; however, evidence from excavations in Horemheb's tomb (KV57) indicates that this figure should be raised by a decade to [1]4&nbsp;years and 1&nbsp;month and attributed to Horemheb. These excavations, conducted under G.T. Martin and [[Jacobus Van Dijk]] in 2006 and 2007, uncovered a large hoard of 168&nbsp;inscribed wine sherds and dockets, below densely compacted debris in a great shaft (called Well Room&nbsp;E) in KV&nbsp;57. Of the 46&nbsp;wine sherds with year dates, 14&nbsp;have nothing but the year date formula, 5&nbsp;dockets have year&nbsp;10+X, 3&nbsp;dockets have year&nbsp;11+X, 2&nbsp;dockets preserve year&nbsp;12+X and 1&nbsp;docket has a year&nbsp;13+X inscription. 22&nbsp;dockets "mention year&nbsp;13 and 8 have year&nbsp;14 [of Horemheb]" but none mention a higher date for Horemheb.<ref name=vanDijk2008>{{cite journal |first=Jacobus |last=van&nbsp;Dijk |title= New evidence on the length of the reign of Horemheb |url=https://www.jacobusvandijk.nl/docs/JARCE_44.pdf |journal=Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt  |volume=44 |year=2008 |page=195}}</ref>

The full texts of the docket readings are identical and read as:
:{{blockquote|Year&nbsp;13. Wine of the estate of Horemheb-meren-Amun, L.P.H., in the domain of Amun. Western River. Chief vintner ''Ty''.<ref name=vanDijk2008/>}}

Meanwhile, the year&nbsp;14 dockets, in contrast, are all individual and mention specific wines such as "very good quality wine" or, in one case "sweet wine" and the location of the vineyard is identified.<ref name=vanDijk2008/> A general example is this text on a year&nbsp;14 wine docket:
:{{blockquote|Year&nbsp;14, Good quality wine of the estate of Horemheb-meren-Amun, L.P.H., in the domain of Amun, from the wineyard of [[Atfih]], Chief vintner ''Haty''.<ref name=vanDijk2008/>}}
Other year&nbsp;14 dockets mention Memphis (?), the Western River while their vintners are named as Nakhtamun, [Mer-]seger-men, Ramose, and others.<ref name=vanDijk2008/>{{rp|page=196}}

The "quality and consistency of the KV&nbsp;57 dockets strongly suggest that Horemheb was buried in his year&nbsp;14, or at least before the wine harvest of his year&nbsp;15 at the very latest."<ref name=vanDijk2008/>{{rp|page=196}} This evidence is consistent "with the Horemheb dockets from Deir el-Medina which mention years&nbsp;2, 3, 4, 6, 13, and 14, but again no higher dates&nbsp;..." while a docket ascribed to Horemheb from [[Sedment]] has year&nbsp;12."{{refn|van&nbsp;Dijk (2008)<ref name=vanDijk2008/>{{rp|page=197–198}} cites Nagel (1938), for year&nbsp;2;<ref>{{cite book |first=G. |last=Nagel |title=La ceramique du Nouvel Empire a Deir Medineh |place=Cairo |year=1938 |volume=15 |page=6}}</ref> Koenig (1979–1980)<ref>{{cite book |first=Y. |last=Koenig |title=Catalogues des etiquettes de jarres hieratiques de Deir el Medineh |place=Cairo |year=1979–1980}}</ref> for year&nbsp;3 (no.&nbsp;6299), year&nbsp;4 (no.&nbsp;6295), year&nbsp;6 (no.&nbsp;6403), year&nbsp;13 (no.&nbsp;6294), and year&nbsp;14 (no.&nbsp;6345); Martin (1988)<ref>{{cite book |first=G.T. |last=Martin |contribution=Three Objects of New Kingdom Date from the Memphite Area and Sidmant: 3.&nbsp;An inscribed amphora from Sidmant |editor1-first=J. |editor1-last=Baines |display-editors=etal |title=Pyramid Studies and Other Essays presented to I.E.S.&nbsp;Edwards |place=London |year=1988}}</ref>{{rp|at=pl.&nbsp;21, pp.&nbsp;118–120}} }} The lack of dated inscriptions for Horemheb after his year&nbsp;14 also explains the unfinished state of Horemheb's royal KV&nbsp;57 tomb – "a fact not taken into account by any of those [scholars] defending a long reign [of 26 or 27&nbsp;years]. The tomb is comparable to that of [[Seti I]] in size and decoration technique, and Seti&nbsp;I's tomb is far more extensively decorated than that of Horemheb, and yet Seti managed to virtually complete his tomb within a decade, whereas Horemheb did not even succeed in fully decorating the three rooms he planned to have done, leaving even the burial hall unfinished. Even if we assume that Horemheb did not begin the work on his royal tomb until his year&nbsp;7 or 8, ... it remains a mystery how the work could not have been completed had he lived on for another 20 or more years."<ref name=vanDijk2008/>{{rp|page=198}} Therefore, some scholars now accept a reign of 14&nbsp;years and 1&nbsp;month.

In 1995, prior to the 2006 and 2007 discovery of wine dockets from Horemheb's tomb, Van Dijk in a 1995 [[Göttinger Miszellen|GM]] article already argued, based on the career of [[Maya (treasurer)|Maya]]'s chief sculptor, Userhat Hatiay, that Horemheb far shorter reign of between 15 and 17 years.<ref>Jacobus Van Dijk, "[https://www.jacobusvandijk.nl/docs/GM_148.pdf Maya's Chief Sculptor Userhat-Hatiay. With a Note on the Length of the Reign of Horemheb PDF]", GM 148 (1995), pp. 29–34</ref>

[[File:Colossal Statue of King Tutankhamun (10466439746).jpg|thumb|Colossal [[Quartzite]] statue usurped to represent Horemheb excavated from the ruins of the Ay and Horemheb temple in the 1930s, now on display in the [[Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures]]. Traces of previous cartouches on the statue confirm that the statue was originally of [[Tutankhamun]].]]
The argument for a 27-year reign derived from two texts. The first is an anonymous [[hieratic]] [[Graffito (archaeology)|graffito]] written on the shoulder of a now fragmented statue from his mortuary temple in Karnak which mentions the appearance of the king himself, or a royal cult statue representing the king, for a religious feast. The ink graffito reads ''Year&nbsp;27, first Month of Shemu day&nbsp;9, the day on which Horemheb, who loves Amun and hates his enemies, entered'' [the temple for the event]. It was disputed whether this was a contemporary text or a reference to a festival commemorating Horemheb's accession written in the reign of a later king.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Rolf |last=Krauss |title=Nur ein kurioser Irrtum oder ein Beleg für die Jahr&nbsp;26 und 27 von Haremhab? |journal=Discussions in Egyptology |volume=30 |year=1994 |pages=73–85}}</ref> The second text is the Inscription of Mes, from the reign of [[Ramesses II]], which records that a court case decision was rendered in favour of a rival branch of Mes' family in year&nbsp;59 of Horemheb.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/texts/mes.htm |title=Inscription of Mes |publisher=reshafim.org.il |access-date=2009-04-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121144717/http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/texts/mes.htm |archive-date=2016-11-21 |df=dmy-all |url-status=dead}}</ref> It was argued that the year&nbsp;59 Horemheb date included the reigns of all the rulers between Amenhotep&nbsp;III and Horemheb. Subtracting the nearly 17-year reign of Akhenaten, the 2-year reign of [[Neferneferuaten]], the 9-year reign of Tutankhamun and the reign of Ay suggested a reign of 26–27&nbsp;years for Horemheb. However, the length of Ay's reign is not actually known and Wolfgang Helck argues that there was no standard Egyptian practice of including the years of all the rulers between Amenhotep&nbsp;III and Horemheb.<ref name=Helck1984>{{cite book |first=Wolfgang |last=Helck |title=Urkunden der 18&nbsp;Dynastie: Texte der Hefte&nbsp;20–21 |place=Berlin |publisher=Akademie-Verlag |year=1984 |pages=1908–1910}}</ref>{{rp|at='''IV''':2162}}<ref name=vanDijk2008/>{{rp|page=198–199}}

The most recent interpretation of the archeological evidence today favours Van Dijk's arguments that Horemheb either died in his Regnal Year 14 or that he started a Regnal Year 15 but died before the wine harvest of his final year was processed, and that later Rammasside pharaohs included the reigns of all the rulers between Amenhotep&nbsp;III and Horemheb to give him a total of at least 47 years. As David Aston notes in a 2012 Ägypten und Levante paper, this theory means that R. "Hari's [1964] emendation of the [partly damaged] Horemheb text London UC 14291 to Year [1]5 is possible but to year [2]5 is unlikely."<ref>David Aston, [https://www.academia.edu/39997434/Radiocarbon_Wine_Jars_And_New_Kingdom_Chronology Radiocarbon, Wine Jars and New Kingdom Chronology PDF], Ägypten und Levante/Egypt and the Levant 22, 2012, p.296</ref>

=== Cartouches and symbols ===
Horemheb turned to several gods because of his various names: his throne name, ''Djeserkheperure'', means 'Sacred are the manifestations of Ra' and his name birth name is accompanied by the epithet ''Meryamun'', which means 'beloved of Amun'.<ref name=":0" />

It is not yet proven whether Horemheb had really exorcised the Amarna period; the great iconoclasm began only after his death. To be able to build for himself, however, he did have the Per-Aten temple at Karnak pulled down and constructed a pylon of the Amun temple with its stone blocks. The Aten reliefs from the Amarna period on those blocks therefore remained fairly well preserved.<ref name=":0" />

Horemheb appear in reliefs wearing the typical pleated linen robe of a high-ranking official depicted sitting in front of an offering table, as a pharaoh holding the pole and the sekhem sceptre of a high official (the uraeus was added after his ascension to the throne), with a benu-bird regarded as the protector of the dead as the soul of Ra sitting on a stand, and finally a man worshipping a benu-bird.<ref name=":0" />

The coronation inscription on the back of a double statue, showing Horemheb with his wife, tells that he is under the protection of Horus and appointed by Amun. It reports further that he had the damaged statues of the old gods remade and had the temples that had fallen into disrepair rebuilt. For the Amun cult, 'he provided them with servants to the god and lector priests from the military elite'. In a decree on a stele in Karnak, he again officially confirms the restoration of the old order.<ref name=":0" />

==Succession==
{{see also|Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt family tree}}
[[File:La tombe de Horemheb (KV.57) (Vallée des Rois Thèbes ouest) -4.jpg|thumb|[[KV57|KV&nbsp;57]]: the Tomb of Horemheb]]

Under Horemheb, Egypt's power and confidence were once again restored after the internal chaos of the [[Amarna Period]]; this situation set the stage for the rise of the 19th&nbsp;Dynasty under such ambitious Pharaohs as [[Seti I]] and [[Ramesses II]]. [[Geoffrey Thorndike Martin]] in his excavation work at Saqqara states that the burial of Horemheb's second wife [[Mutnedjmet]], as well as that of an unborn or newborn baby, was located at the bottom of a shaft to the rooms of Horemheb's Saqqara tomb. He notes that "a fragment of an [[alabaster]] vase inscribed with a funerary text for the chantress of Amun and King's Wife, Mutnodjmet, as well as pieces of a statuette of her [was found here] ... The funerary vase in particular, since it bears her name and titles would hardly have been used for the burial of some other person."<ref name="Martin">{{cite book |first=G. |last=Martin |title=The Hidden Tombs of Memphis |publisher=Thames & Hudson |year=1991 |pages=97–98}}</ref><blockquote>Eugene Strouhal studied a skull and other bones and concluded that they belonged to the queen. According to his analysis, the queen lost her teeth at an early age. She died at around age forty, possibly in childbirth, as the remains of a fetus were found with her body.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b4N9DAAAQBAJ&q=queen+mutnodjmet+buried+with+fetus&pg=PA143 |via=Google Books |title=Scanning the Pharaohs: CT Imaging of the New Kingdom Royal Mummies |last1=Hawass |first1=Zahi A. |author1-link=Zahi Hawass |last2=Saleem |first2=Sahar |year=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-977-416-673-0 |language=en |access-date=2020-11-12 |archive-date=2022-10-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221003055706/https://books.google.com/books?id=b4N9DAAAQBAJ&q=queen+mutnodjmet+buried+with+fetus&pg=PA143 |url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote>Since Horemheb had no surviving son, he appointed his [[Vizier (Ancient Egypt)|Vizier]], Paramessu, to succeed him upon his death, both to reward Paramessu's loyalty and because the latter had both a son and grandson to secure Egypt's royal succession. Paramessu employed the name [[Ramesses I]] upon assuming power and founded the [[Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt|19th Dynasty]] of the New Kingdom. Horemheb's second successor, [[Seti I]], was married to a possible daughter of Horemheb's, [[Tanedjemet|Tanodjmy]].<ref>Mladjov 2014.</ref> While the decoration of Horemheb's KV&nbsp;57 tomb was still unfinished upon his death, this situation is not unprecedented: [[Amenhotep II]]'s tomb was also not fully completed when he was buried, even though this ruler enjoyed a reign of 26&nbsp;years.

Although many of his monuments were later usurped by [[Seti I]], Seti left the name of Horemheb on the veil of the Amun bark on a pedestal in Luxor temple untouched, likely out of respect. This is similar to how Horemheb left the name of Tutankhamun on the veil of Amun bark at Karnak temple untouched.<ref name="x641">{{cite web | title=Reliefs and Inscriptions at Luxor Temple, Volume 1: The Festival Procession of Opet in the Colonnade Hall | website=Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures | url=https://isac.uchicago.edu/research/publications/oip/reliefs-and-inscriptions-luxor-temple-volume-1-festival-procession-opet | access-date=2025-01-01 | page = xx}}</ref>

==Tomb and excavation==
[[File:Coffin of Ramesses II 01.jpg|thumb|upright|The coffin of [[Ramesses II]] is thought to have been originally commissioned for Horemheb before being reused for the reburial of Ramesses II during the [[Wehem Mesut]].]]
Directly after his accession to the throne, Horemheb had a tomb built in the Valley of Kings, abandoning his earlier one near Memphis. For the first time, scenes from the [[Book of Gates]] were used in the burial chamber as a decoration for a royal tomb.<ref name=":0" />

Horemheb's tomb was excavated in the early 20th&nbsp;century by [[Theodore M. Davis]]. Davis discovered it in a poor state due to robbers and earth movements over the centuries. The lid of the [[sarcophagus]] had been taken off and smashed by robbers.<ref>{{cite AV media |medium=video |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jrjNcBNF7A |title=Haremhab, Pharaoh and Conqueror: New Investigations in His Royal Tomb in the Valley of the Kings |publisher=The Met |access-date=2017-02-23 |archive-date=2017-04-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170405143543/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jrjNcBNF7A |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Saqq Horemheb 06.jpg|Relief of Horemheb's tomb in Saqqara
File:Submission of West Asiatics on the tomb of Horemheb circa 1300 BCE.jpg|Submission of West Asiatic foreigners on the Saqqara tomb of Horemheb circa 1300 BC
File:Saqq Horemheb 02.jpg|Stele from Horemheb's tomb in Saqqara
File:Luxor temple9 c.jpg|Wall relief of Horemheb on a column of the colonnade of Amenhotep III, Luxor Temple, Egypt
File:-1316-1302 Haremhab Opfer anagoria.JPG|Horemheb making an offering; Egypt, Dynasty 18, Reign of Horemheb\
File:Karnak9.JPG|A wall relief of Horemheb making an offering to [[Amun]] on the 10th pylon at Karnak
File:Horemheb canopic head.jpg|Canopic Jar head of Horemheb found inside his [[KV57]] tomb
File:Hermitage hall 100 - Egyptian hall 50.jpg|Upper part of the Stela of the commander chief Horemheb (later king) with the depiction of him in front of gods: Atum, Osiris, Ptah-Sokar. Found in [[Tomb of Horemheb in Saqqara|his Memphite tomb in Saqqara]] Limestone. Dynasty XVIII, reign of Tutankhamun. Third quarter of the 14th century BC. Saqqara
File:Abydos KL 18-09 n74.jpg|Cartouche of Horemheb on the Abydos King List.
</gallery>

==Cultural depictions==
===Film===
* Horemheb was portrayed by [[Nonso Anozie]] in ''[[Tut (miniseries)| Tut miniseries]]'' (2015), a three-part miniseries based on Tutankhamun
* Horemheb was portrayed by [[Victor Mature]] in ''[[The Egyptian (film)|The Egyptian]]'' (1954), the film adaptation of [[Mika Waltari]]'s bestselling novel.
* Horemheb was portrayed by [[Salah Zulfikar]] in ''[[Nefertiti y Aquenatos|Nefertiti and Akhenaton]]'' (1973), Mexican short film of [[Raúl Araiza (director)|Raúl Araiza]].

===Television===
* Horemheb was portrayed by British actor [[Nonso Anozie]] in the 2015 mini-TV series ''[[Tut (miniseries)|Tut]]'' which aired on [[Spike (TV network)|Spike]] in the US, and on [[Channel 5 (UK)|Channel 5]] in the UK.

===Music===
* Horemheb is a character in the opera ''[[Akhnaten (opera)|Akhnaten]]'' by [[Philip Glass]]; he is sung by a baritone.

===Literature===
* Horemheb is a major character in Nick Drake's trilogy of mystery novels, ''The Book of the Dead'', ''Tutankhamun'' and ''The Book of Chaos''.{{citation needed|date=July 2015}}
* Horemheb is a major character in [[P. C. Doherty]]'s trilogy of historical novels, ''An Evil Spirit Out of the West'', ''The Season of the Hyaena'' and ''The Year of the Cobra''.
* Horemheb is a major character in [[Pauline Gedge]]'s historical novel ''The Twelfth Transforming''.
* Horemheb is a major character in Katie Hamstead's trilogy, ''Kiya: Hope of the Pharaoh'', ''Kiya: Mother of the King'' and ''Kiya: Rise of a New Dynasty''.
* Horemheb is a key character in Kyah Merritt's historical trilogy ''A Legacy of Light (trilogy)''.
* Horemheb is a minor character in the novels ''Nefertiti'' and '' The Heretic Queen'' by [[Michelle Moran]].
* Horemheb appears as a major character in [[Lynda Suzanne Robinson]]'s ''Lord Meren'' series of Egyptian mysteries.
* Horemheb is a minor character in [[Chie Shinohara]]'s Japanese graphic novel, ''[[Red River (manga)|Red River]]'', centered around ancient Anatolia and ancient Egypt.
* Horemheb is a major character in [[Mika Waltari]]'s 1945 historical fiction international bestseller ''[[The Egyptian]]''<ref>{{cite book |first=Mika |last=Waltari |author-link=Mika Waltari |title-link=The Egyptian |title=Sinuhe Egyptiläinen |language=fi |date=November 1945 |trans-title=Sinuhe, The Egyptian |publisher=[[Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö|WSOY]] |place=Helsinki}} (note that many later translations, including the 1949 English edition, were heavily abridged and [[Bowdlerized]])</ref>
* Horemheb is a major character, originally named ''Kaires'', in two novels by [[Allen Drury]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Allen |last=Drury |author-link=Allen Drury |title=[[A God Against the Gods]] |publisher=Doubleday |date=July 1976 |isbn=0-385-00199-1}} reprinted by WordFire Press in 2015</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Allen |last=Drury |author-link=Allen Drury |title=[[Return to Thebes]] |publisher=Doubleday |date=February 1977 |isbn=0-385-04199-3}} reprinted by WordFire Press in 2015</ref> This version is the illegitimate son of Ay, and has an affair with [[Sitamun]] for many years until he drops the relationship in favor of his kingly ambitions. Initially presented as an easygoing and good-natured courtier, Horemheb becomes increasingly hardened, ambitious, and cynical after being forced to carry out morally questionable tasks, such as killing [[Anen]] and raiding the Theban temple of Amun, both on behalf of [[Akhenaten]]. He also plays a major role in the deaths of both Akhenaten and Tutankhamun. While Ay outmaneuvers him for the throne after Tut's death (Horemheb had planned to force [[Ankhesenamun]] to marry him, but she announced a marriage to Ay instead), Horemheb easily forces his ailing father to accept him as heir a few years later. 
* Horemheb is a key character in Judith Tarr's historical novel ''Pillar of Fire.''

==Footnotes==
{{notelist|1}}

==References==
{{reflist|25em}}

==Bibliography==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* [[Cyril Aldred]], Two monuments of the reign of Ḥoremḥab, in: ''Journal of Egyptian Archaeology'' 54 (1968), 100–106.
* [[Jürgen von Beckerath]], Nochmals die Regierungsdauer des Ḥaremḥab, in: SAK 6 (1978), 43–49.
* [[Jürgen von Beckerath]], Chronologie des pharaonischen Ägypten, MÄS 46, Philip Von Zabern, Mainz: 1997.
* [[Alan Gardiner]], The Inscription of Mes: A Contribution to Egyptian Juridical Procedure, Untersuchungen IV, Pt. 3 (Leipzig: 1905).[https://ia903103.us.archive.org/31/items/UGAAe4_3/UGAAe4_3.pdf online]
* Nicholas Grimal, A History of Ancient Egypt, Blackwell Books: 1992.
* K.A. Kitchen, The Basis of Egyptian Chronology in relation to the Bronze Age," Volume 1: pp.&nbsp;37–55 in "High, Middle or Low?: Acts of an International Colloquium on absolute chronology held at the University of Gothenburg 20–22 August 1987." (ed: Paul Aström).
{{Refend}}
* Ian Mladjov, "Rediscovering Queen Tanodjmy: A probable link between Dynasties 18 and 19," ''Göttinger Miszellen'' 242 (2014) 57–70. [https://www.academia.edu/8136732/I_Mladjov_Rediscovering_Queen_Tanodjmy_A_probable_link_between_Dynasties_18_and_19_G%C3%B6ttinger_Miszellen_242_2014_57_70 online]

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.archaeowiki.org/Horemheb |title=Horemheb |website=Archaeowiki.org}}
* {{cite AV media |medium=video |via=YouTube |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lLv58zwGhU |title=Symposium on Horemhab |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art}}
* {{cite AV media |medium=video |via=YouTube |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jrjNcBNF7A |title=Haremhab, Pharaoh and Conqueror: New Investigations in His Royal Tomb in the Valley of the Kings (lecture)}}
* {{cite AV media |medium=video |via=YouTube |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lLv58zwGhU |title=A Symposium on Haremhab: General and King of Egypt}}

{{Pharaohs}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Horemheb| ]]
[[Category:14th-century BC births]]
[[Category:13th-century BC deaths]]
[[Category:14th-century BC pharaohs]]
[[Category:13th-century BC pharaohs]]
[[Category:Pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Tutankhamun]]
[[Category:Ay]]
[[Category:Fan-bearer on the Right Side of the King]]
[[Category:Regents of Egypt]]
[[Category:Works subject to expurgation]]