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arXiv · 2412.20407

Two Egyptian Kings, Shepseskaf and Userkaf, and a solar eclipse (2471 BC)

Amelia Carolina Sparavigna
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Abstract

Recently, arXiv published a work by G. Magli about the eclipse of 1 April 2471 BC and a supposed influence of it on the end of the fourth Egyptian dynasty and the beginning of the fifth one. In Magli's arXiv/2412.13640 paper, the eclipse is defined as the 'Shepseskaf eclipse'. Magli considers that this eclipse happened during the reign of the 'last ruler of the 4th dynasty, Shepseskaf'. Some literature is giving the name of further members of this dynasty. Therefore, here we add some references, besides those given in arXiv. We will show that, in this literature, the same eclipse of 2471 BC is linked to king Userkaf of the fifth dynasty. Some observations about chronological data proposed by Magli are also necessary. Since in arxiv/2412.13640 paper we find mentioned by Magli the pyramid of Cheops (that is Akhet Khufu, a name which is generally translated as the Khufu's horizon) and the symbol of the 'solarized' horizon, N27 of the Gardiner's list, it is necessary to stress that the word Akhet was written with the crested ibis, G25, as clearly shown by the Wadi al-Jarf papyri, which are contemporary to Khufu's reign. Mark Lehner, 2001, recognizing a translation problem, rendered Akhet Khufu as the 'Spirit of Khufu'. The use of the crested ibis, in a locution translated as 'dwellers of the horizon' is attested in a Pepi II letter to his vizier Herkhuf, then three centuries after Khufu.

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Amelia Carolina Sparavigna. 2025-01-02. Two Egyptian Kings, Shepseskaf and Userkaf, and a solar eclipse (2471 BC). https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.20407

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