Shi'sha (Heb. Shisha', X^"'!!', an orthographical variation of Shavsha [q. v.] ; Sept. Sticrd v. r. ^i]l3d), father of Elihoreph and Ahiah, Solomon's secretaries ( 1 Kings iv, 3) ; elsewhere called Shavsha (1 Chrou. xviii, 16), etc.
Shi'shak (Heb. Shishak', p^""^^ [so the margin, but the text has Skushak' or Shoshak', p'CVii~\ ; Sept. 2oii(TfT/c('ju ; Vulg. Sesac'), a king of Egypt contemporary with Jeroboam, to whom he gave an asylum when he fled from Solomon (1 Kings xi, 40). This was indica- tive of his politic disposition to encourage the weaken- ing of the neighboring kingdom, the growth of which, under David and Solomon, was |irobably regarded by the kings of Egypt with some alarm. After Jeroboam had become king of Israel, and probably at his sugges- tion, Shishak invaded the kingilom of Judah, B.C. 971, at the head of an immense army, and, after having taken the fortified [ilaces, advanced against Jerusalem. Satisfied with the submission of Kehoboam, and with the immense spoils of tiie Temple, the king of Egypt withdrew without imjiosing any onerous conditions upon the humbled grandson of David (xiv, 25, 26; 2 Chron. xii, 2-9). (The importance of this connection between the Hebrew and Egyjitian annals justifies a full treatment of the subject, which we give largeh' from Poole's article in Smith's Pict. of the Bible.) See
JlDAII, KiNfJDOM OF.
I. jXame. — We see above an uncertainty in the He- brew form of Sbishak's name. Josephus Gnecizes the name as Susacus {XorffaKog, A/tt. vii, 5, 3; viii, 7, 8). He has generally been recognised as the Sesonchis (Sfffi-Oy^if) of Manet ho, and the Sheshenk or Sheshonk I of the monuments, first sovereign of the Bubas- lite, or twenty-second, dynasty. The accompanying cartouch- es present liis name as writ- ten in liierogly()bics. The fol- lowing is a transcriiition and translation of the second oval, containing more particular-
Cartouches of ijbishak.
SHISHAK
703
SHISHAK
ly his royal title, which reads Ame- nem Sheshenk, i. e. "Sacred to Shi- shak."
IL History. — In order to render the
Hieroglyph of Shishak.
following observations clear, it will be necessary to say a few words on the history of Egypt before the accession of Sheshenk I. On the decline of the Theban line or Ka- meses family (the twentieth dynasty), two royal houses appear to have arisen. At Thebes the high-priests of Araen, after a virtual usurpation, at last took the re- gal title, and in Lower Egypt a Tanitic dynasty (Ma- netho's twenty-first) seems to have gained royal pow- er. But it is possible that there was but one line between the twentieth and twenty -second dynasties, and that the high-priest kings belonged to the twen- ty-first. The origin of the royal line of which She- shenk I was the head is extremely obscure. Mr. Birch's discovery that several of the names of the family are Shemitic has led to the supposition that it was of As- syrian or Babj'lonian origin. Shishak, p"£'^ll\ may be compared with Sheshak, Ti^'^, a name of Babylon (rash- ly thought to be for Babel by "Atbash"); Usarken has been compared with Sargon, and Tekerut with Tiglath in Tiglath-pileser. If there were any doubt as to these identifications, some of which, as the second and third cited, are certainlj' conjectural, the name Namuret, Nim- rod, which occurs as that of princes of this line, would afford conclusive evidence, and it is needless here to compare other names, though those occurring in the gen- ealogies of the dynasty, given b}' Lepsius, well merit the attention of Shemitic students {XXII dgypf. Konif/sdyn. and Konigshuch). It is worthy of notice that the name Nimrod, and the designation of Zerah (perhaps a king of this line, otherwise a general in its service), as " the Cushite," seem to indicate that the family sprang from a Cushite origin. They may possibly have been con- nected with the Mashuwasha, a Shemitic nation, ap- parently of Libyans, for Tekerut II as prince is called " great chief of the Mashuwasha," and also " great chief of the Matit,'' or mercenaries; but they can scarcely have been of this people. Whether eastern or western Cushites, there does not seem to be any evidence in favor of their having been Nigritians; and as there is no trace of any connection between them and the twenty-fifth dynasty of Ethiopians, they must rather be supposed to be of the eastern branch. Their names, when not Egyp- tian, are traceable to Shemitic roots, which is not the case, so far as we know, with the ancient kings of Ethi- opia, whose civilization is the same as that of Egypt. We find these foreign Shemitic names in the family of the high-priest king Her-har, three of whose sons are called, respectively, ilfasa/iarala, Masakaharuta, and JIfaten-neb, although the names of most of his other sons and those of his line appear to be Eg3'ptian. This is not a parallel case to the preponderance of Shemitic names in the line of the twenty-second d3'nasty, but it warns us against too positive a conclusion. M. de Rou- ge, instead of seeing in those names of the twenty-sec- ond dynasty a Shemitic or Asiatic origin, is disposed to trace the line to that of the high-priest kings. IManetho calls the twenty-second a dynasty of Bubastites, and an ancestor of the priest -king dynastj' bears the name Meri-bast, "beloved of Bubastis." Both lines used Shemitic names, and both held the high-priesthood of Amen (comp. Etude sur une Stele Egyptienne, p. 203, 204). This evidence does not seem to us conclusive ; for policy may have induced the line of the twenty-second dynasty to effect intermarriages with the family of the priest-kings, and to assume their functions. The occur- rence of Shemitic names at an earlier time may indicate nothing more than Shemitic alliances, but those alli- ances might not improbably end in usurpation. Lepsi- us gives a genealogy of Sheshenk I from the tablet of