Sharek

Sharek
Shalek
Detail of the genealogy of Ankhefensekhmet (Berlin 23673); Sharek's name is visible in the middle, enclosed in a cartouche Detail of the genealogy of Ankhefensekhmet (Berlin 23673); Sharek's name is visible in the middle, enclosed in a cartouche
Pharaoh
Royal titulary Nomen Sharek Š-r-k <hiero>-G39-N5:</hiero> File:Hiero Ca1.svg <hiero>M8-D21:V31</hiero> File:Hiero Ca2.svg
Dynasty	uncertain

Sharek or Shalek could have been a poorly known ancient Egyptian pharaoh during the Second Intermediate Period of Egypt.

Attestation

He is only attested on a non-contemporary document, a genealogy of a priest named Ankhefensekhmet who lived at the end of the 22nd Dynasty – thus several centuries after Sharek's supposed reign; perhaps for this reason, Danish Egyptologist Kim Ryholt doubts his existence. On the document, Sharek is placed one generation before the well-known Hyksos pharaoh Apepi of the 15th Dynasty. The genealogy of Ankhefensekhmet is now exhibited at the Neues Museum in Berlin (inv. no. 23673).

Identification

Both Nicolas Grimal and William C. Hayes have proposed that Sharek should be identified with a king named Salitis, given as the founder of the Hyksos 15th Dynasty in Manetho's Aegyptiaca, a history of Egypt written in the 2nd century BC. They further propose that Sharek/Salitis is the same person as Sheshi, a ruler during Egypt's Second Intermediate Period mentioned on nearly 400 scarab seals.