Editing Merneferre Ay (section)

==Chronology==

===Chronological position===
[[File:Globular Jar of King Merneferre Aya MET DP354727.jpg|thumb|upright|Globular jar of Merneferre Ay, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]]]
The relative chronological position of Merneferre Ay as a king of the mid 13th Dynasty is well established by the [[Turin King List|Turin canon]], a king list redacted during the early [[Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt|Ramesside period]] (1292&ndash;1069 BC) and which serves as the primary historical source for the [[Second Intermediate Period]]. The king list records Ay's name on column 8 line 3 (column 6 line 3 in [[Alan Gardiner]]'s reading of the Turin canon and entry 7.3 in von Beckerath's reading) and establishes that Merneferre Ay was preceded by [[Wahibre Ibiau]] and succeeded by [[Merhotepre Ini]], who was possibly his son.<ref name="ryholt"/>

The precise chronological placement of Merneferre Ay varies between scholars, with [[Jürgen von Beckerath]] and Aidan Dodson seeing him as the 27th king of the dynasty<ref>[[Jürgen von Beckerath]]: ''Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen'', Münchner ägyptologische Studien, Heft 49, Mainz : Philip von Zabern, 1999, {{ISBN|3-8053-2591-6}}, see p. 98&ndash;99</ref> while [[Kim Ryholt]] and Darrell Baker place him in the 32nd and 33rd positions, respectively.<ref name="ryholt"/><ref name="encyclo">Darrell D. Baker: ''The Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs: Volume I - Predynastic to the Twentieth Dynasty 3300–1069 BC'', Stacey International, {{ISBN|978-1-905299-37-9}}, 2008, p. 65&ndash;66</ref> Similarly, the absolute datation of Ay's reign is debated and varies by 17 years between Ryholt's 1701–1677 BC<ref name="ryholt"/> and Schneider's 1684–1661 BC.<ref name="schneider"/>

===Reign length===
Until recently, the duration of Merneferre Ay's reign, which is recorded in the Turin canon, was disputed by Jürgen von Beckerath who read the damaged figure on the papyrus fragment as 13 years<ref>Jürgen von Beckerath: ''Untersuchungen zur politischen Geschichte der Zweiten Zwischenzeit in Ägypten'', Glückstadt, J.J. Augustin, 1964</ref> while both [[Alan Gardiner]] and [[Kenneth Kitchen]] maintained it should be read as 23 years.<ref>[[Alan Gardiner]]: ''The Royal Canon of Turin'', Griffith Institute new edition (1988), {{ISBN|978-0900416484}}</ref><ref>[[Kenneth Kitchen]]: ''The Basics of Egyptian Chronology in Relation to the Bronze Age at the "High, Middle or Low"'', University of Göteborg conference, 1987, {{JSTOR|505957}}</ref> The dispute was settled in the latest study of the Turin canon by [[Kim Ryholt]] who confirms that Merneferre Ay's reign length as recorded on the papyrus is "23 years, 8 months and 18 days".<ref name="ryholt">[[Kim Ryholt|K.S.B. Ryholt]]: ''The Political Situation in Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, c.1800–1550 BC'', Carsten Niebuhr Institute Publications, vol. 20. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 1997, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ANRi7cM5ZwsC&q=Aya excerpts available online here.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210325033406/https://books.google.com/books?id=ANRi7cM5ZwsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=ryholt&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RieiUcXVDIrLhAex3oCIBg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Aya&f=false |date=2021-03-25 }}</ref>
Ryholt insists that "the tick that distinguishes 20 and 30 from 10 is preserved and beyond dispute. Accordingly, 23 years or, less likely, 33 years must be read."<ref name="ryholt"/> This makes Merneferre Ay the longest-ruling pharaoh of the 13th Dynasty at a time when numerous short-lived kings ruled Egypt.