Turin King List
papyurs of the Egyptian Dynasty 19 (1292-1191 BCE), New Kingdom of Egypt, in the collection of Museo Egizio, Turin, Italy, from Thebes/Deir el-Medina (?)
The Turin King List, also known as the Turin Royal Canon, is an ancient Egyptian hieratic papyrus thought to date from the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II (r. 1279–1213 BC), now in the Museo Egizio (Egyptian Museum) in Turin. The papyrus is the most extensive list available of kings compiled by the ancient Egyptians, and is the basis for most Egyptian chronology before the reign of Ramesses II. The list records more than 200 kings, but not all names have survived.
Creation and use
The king-list is written on the reverse of a discarded tax register dating to the reign of Ramesses II, the third pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty, during the middle of the New Kingdom.
The beginning and ending of the list are now lost; there is no introduction, and the list does not continue after the 19th Dynasty. The composition may thus have occurred at any subsequent time, from the reign of Ramesses II to as late as the 20th Dynasty. The document itself is a sloppy copy of a much more detailed original, which is in turn based on much older sources. For example, only the pharaohs of the First and Second dynasties feature both their length of reign and age at death.
The papyrus lists the names of rulers, the lengths of reigns in years, with months and days for some kings. In some cases they are grouped together by family, which corresponds approximately to the dynasties of Manetho's Aegyptiaca.
The public source identifies “Turin King List” as papyurs of the Egyptian Dynasty 19 (1292-1191 BCE), New Kingdom of Egypt, in the collection of Museo Egizio, Turin, Italy, from Thebes/Deir el-Medina (?). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Turin, King and List.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Turin King List”, the useful work is to connect “papyurs of the Egyptian Dynasty 19 (1292-1191 BCE), New Kingdom of Egypt, in the collection of Museo Egizio, Turin, Italy, from Thebes/Deir el-Medina (?)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q622770. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1279 and 1213.
Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Turin King List”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Turin King List primary sources, Turin King List archive and Turin research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Turin King List” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.