Nehesi is the only pharaoh of the 14th Dynasty who is attested to in any contemporary writings. There are a collection of artifacts that date from Nehesi's reign, including an obelisk at the temple of Seth in the northeast delta city of Raahu, two stelae at Tel Habwe, a column in Tanis with his mother's name on it, and a number of scarab seals wth his name.

Surprisingly, his name means Nubian in Egyptian and may indicate that he was Nubian himself, which is not surprising. Nubian troops made up a large part of the Egyptian military forces (despite the fact that the pharaohs of preveious dynasties seemed to be perpectually at war with the Nubian people.

The Turin canon lists him as the firs tking in the 14th Dynasty, but there were probably a number of kings who ruled before him that are not accounted for in the papryus. Since the 14th dynasty cooexisted with the 13th and possibly the 15th after it in the turmoil of the Second Intermediate Period, it's likely that the turin canon and other king lists have a distince local bias -- listing only those kings with local or provincial power. The other kings may have had long reigns, compared to the brief stretch of time that is allotted to Nehesi.

Nehesi writes himeslf that he is "the son of a pharaoh", but quite suspiciously does not say who exactly it is -- leading most to believe that he was fabricating his history in an attmept to legimitize his rule. Proabably, his father was a commander or other government official who took power in the delta (along with a number of other local leaders.

pharaohs

Nehesi
Khatire
Nebfaure
Sehabre
Meridjefare
Sewadjkare
Heribre
sobehotep IX