SHISHAK (n)T,i; Sept. Zovaalcitz), a king of Egypt contemporary with Jeroboam, to whom he gave an asylum when he fled from Solomon (t Kings xi. 4o). This was indicative of his politic disposition to encourage the weakening of the neighbouring kingdom, the growth of which under David and Solomon was probably regarded by the kings of Egypt with some alarm. After Jeroboam had become king of Israel, and probably at his suggestion, Shishak invaded the kingdom of Judah, B.C. 971, at the head of an immense army ; and after having taken the fortified places, advanced against Jerusalem. Satisfied with the submission of Rehoboam, and with the immense spoils of the Temple, the king of Egypt withdrew without im posing any onerous conditions upon the humbled, grandson of David (1 Kings xiv. 25, 26 ; 2 Chron. xii. 2-9). Shishak has been identified as the first king of the 22d or Dio:politan dynasty, the Seson– chis of profane history. His name has been found on the Egyptian monuments in the form of She shonk. He is said to have been of Ethiopian origin, and it is supposed that, with the support of the military caste, he dethroned the Pharaoh who gave his daughter to Solomon (i Kings iii. In
the palace-temple of Karnak there still exists a large bas-relief representing Sesonchis, who bears to the feet of three great Theban gods the chiefs of vanquished nations. To each figure is attached an oval, indicating the town or district which he re presents. One of the figures, with a pointed, beard and a physiognomy which some decide to be Jew ish, bears on his oval characters which M. Cham pollion interprets Yooda Melchz; or 'kingdom of Judah,' a name whose component letters agree with the hieroglyphics, though Sir J. G. Wilkinson and others think that the place it holds is not sufficiently marked to satisfy the scruples of a rigid sceptic. It is well to observe that this fig-ure has not, as some have hastily conceived, been alleged to repre sent the king, but to personify the kingdom of Judah (Champollion, Systeme Hieroglyph: p. 2o5 ; Rosellini, Monumenti Storici, i. 85; Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt. i. 37 ; Cory, Chronological Inquiry, p. 5) ECHRONOLOGY1-j. K.