Osorkon II Mery-Amun User-Maat-Re Setep-en-Amun (878-854 BC). Horus name: Mery-Maat/Khaemwaset. Nebty name: Zema-pesesh-timi-zaa-set. Golden Falcon name: Wer-pehti Hui-mentiu. Prenomen: User-Maat-Re Setep-en-Amun. Nomen: Osorkon. Osorkon II succeeded Takelot I as pharaoh in 878 BC at much the same time that his cousin Harsiese succeeded his father (Sheshonq II) as High Priest of Amun at Karnak. There are inscriptions in the hypostyle hall of the Luxor temple that indicate that there was a very high inundation of the Nile during the third year of his reign. The inscription says, "All the temples of Thebes were like marshes." Problems arose in Year 4 of Osorkon when Harsiese declared himself king in the south. Although he was only king in name, when Harsiese died Osorkon II consolidated his own position by appointing one of his sons, Nimlot, as High Priest at Karnak and another son, Sheshonq, as High Priest of Ptah at Memphis. Osorkon thereby had the two major priesthoods of Egypt in his family's grasp as a political move rather than from any religious motivation. David Rohl (Test of Time, 1996) suggests that HPA Psusennes (21st Dynasty) had died by the 5th year of Osorkon II. Major buildings worked were undertaken in the reign, especially at Bubastis temple of the tutelary cat-goddess Bastet. There Osorkon built a monumental red granite hall decorated with fine reliefs of himself and his wife Karamama I celebrating his jubilee (heb-sed) in Year 22. Other buildings in his name were constructed at Memphis, Tanis, Thebes, and Leontopolis (to become the seat of the succeeding dynasty).
      In the outside world of the Near East a growing menace was coming from Assyria, who turned her attentions towards the Levant after over-coming northern Mesopotamia and Syria, and with an eventual eye for Egypt. The Assyrian king Salmanassar III (858-828 BC) continued his father Ashur-nasir-pal II's campaigns into Syria/Palestine. In 857 Egypt was forced to confront the threat by aligning with Israel and neighboring kingdoms, including her old ally Byblos; together they halted the Assyrian advance at the battle of Qarqar on the Orontes. His tomb has been found at Tanis. It was constructed of large stones with several chambers inside. Several other bodies were found inside such as King Takelot II. The argument that Osorkon II had usurped an older tomb (perhaps that of pharaoh Smendes) is mere speculation. An inscription in Tomb I clearly states that Kapes (inappropriately stated as Karamama in his father's article), the mother of Osorkon II, had built this tomb for her son [A Test of Time, p. 98]. Moreover, if an older tomb had existed south of Tomb III, Psusennes' architects would have added the two extra chambers (of Wendjabaendjed and Ankhefenmut) on the northern side of the structure and not the south. However, they were unable to do this because there was an existing monument already there occupying the ground: the First Pylon of the Temple of Amun built by Osorkon II! Three genealogies support the proposition that the time between the New Kingdom and the 22nd Dynasty has to be shorter: the Khnemibre Genealogy from the Wadi Hammamat; the Memphite Priest List (which in turn can be linked to the Persian period by way of another genealogy); and the famous Ankhefenkhons Genealogy.