It groups together kings by location rather than chronology. It notes names of kings that were omitted from other king lists. The length of the reign of each king in years, in some cases even in months and days. It not only just lists the names of the kings, as most other lists did, but it gives other useful data such as: It is the most informative and accurate list and goes back all the way to King Menes. This king list seems to have been written during the reign of Ramesses II, the great 19th dynasty pharaoh. Moreover, it records the length of reigns precisely. Unlike other lists of kings, the Turin King List enumerates all rulers, including the minor ones and those considered usurpers. However, one king list was exceptional: the Turin King List, also called the Turin Royal Canon, which was written on papyri in hieratic script. Why the Turin King List (Turin Royal Canon) is so special in Egyptology?Īll the other lists were recorded on hard surfaces meant to last many lifetimes, such as tomb or temple walls or on rocks. Royal List of Thutmosis III from Karnak. The King Lists we know of so far include: The way that Egyptologists used the lists was by comparing them to each other as well as to data collected through other means and then reconstructing the most logical historical record. If you remember, we know the ancient Egyptians believed the pharaoh was a reincarnation of Horus on earth and would be identified with Osiris after death. It is said that these lists were not meant to provide historical information so much as a form of “ancestor worship”. But in 1959, Gardiner, the British Egyptologist, proposed another placement of the fragments, including the newly recovered pieces in 2009. One of the most important restorations was made in 1938 by Giulio Farina, the museum’s director. Historians are still finding and piecing together the missing fragments of the Turin King List. Later, some other hundred fragments were pieced together by German and American archaeologist Gustavus Seyffarth (1796-1885). Some 48 pieces of the puzzle were first assembled by French Egyptologist Jean-Francois Champollion (1790-1832). © Image Credit: Wikimedia CommonsĪlthough at first it was mostly intact and was placed in a box along with other papyri, the parchment crumbled into many fragments by the time it arrived in Italy, and had to be reconstructed and deciphered with much difficulty. Though Drovetti’s discoveries are commendable, because his methods were sometimes destructive – ruining monuments and artifacts for the sake of easy transportation and more profits. Napoleon’s proconsul Bernardino Drovetti first discovered the Turin Royal Canon Papyrus. Written in an ancient Egyptian cursive writing system called hieratic, the Turin Royal Canon Papyrus was purchased in Thebes by the Italian diplomat and explorer Bernardino Drovetti in 1822, during his travels to Luxor. It is, therefore, an extremely valuable historical document. © Image Credit: Alfredoeye It included ephemeral kings and queens that were normally excluded from other lists, as well as the lengths of their reigns. The Turin Canon, on the other hand, was written on papyrus in the cursive hieratic script, and is the most complete and historically accurate. They were not meant to be literal chronological lists and should not be treated as such. They served a cultic rather than historic function. 
1570-1069 BC) and were carved in stone on temple walls in hieroglyphs. The discovery of the Turin King List The Turin Canon Papyrus: The majority of king lists from ancient Egypt, including the Abydos king list, date to the New Kingdom (ca.
Although it has sustained much damage, it provides very useful information for Egyptologists and is also somewhat in-line with Manetho’s historical compilation on ancient Egypt. Of all the so-called king lists of ancient Egypt, the Turin King List is possibly the most significant. The papyrus is believed to be the most extensive list of kings compiled by the Egyptians, and is the basis for most chronology before the reign of Ramesses II. The papyrus is now located in the Museo Egizio (Egyptian Museum) at Turin. The Turin King List, also known as the Turin Royal Canon, is a hieratic papyrus thought to date from the reign of Ramesses II (1279-13 BCE), third king of the 19th Dynasty of ancient Egypt.
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