Thutmose III as “Shishak”
by Damien F. Mackey Champollion’s Shoshenk as “Shishak” Jean François Champollion was obviously a prodigious talent to whom we owe the first translations of the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. But he was also a pioneer, hence susceptible to some early miscalculations. His identification, with Megiddo, of Thutmose III’s Mkty, was, as far as Sir Henry Breasted was concerned, as if set in stone. The most interesting candidates, as far as I am concerned, who have been put forward for the biblical “Shishak king of Egypt” (I Kings 14:25), are: Shosenk I; Thutmose III; and Ramses II. Shoshenk I, because he was the choice of Champollion, and because this identification is still, to this day, purportedly a biblically-based pillar of Egyptian chronology – namely, the 5 th year of Rehoboam, son of Solomon, tied to the 21 st year campaign of Shoshenk I. Thutmose III, because he alone is, according to my r