This interpretation is supported by the decorations from the Temple of Khonsu at Karnak where Herihor's wall reliefs here are immediately followed by those of Pinedjem I with no intervening phase for Piankh and also by the long career of Pinedjem I who served as High Priest of Amun and later as king at Thebes.

Pinedjem strengthened his control over both Middle and Upper Egypt and asserted his kingdom's virtual independence from the Twenty-first Dynasty based at Tanis.

He married Duathathor-Henuttawy, a daughter of Ramesses XI, to cement his relations with the other powerful families of the period.

[6] His parents Piankh and Nodjmet had several children; three brothers (Heqanefer, Heqamaat, Ankhefenmut) and one sister (Faienmut) of Pinedjem I are known.

[11] Other than Psusennes, Pinedjem had four other sons, whose mother is unidentified, but one or more of them must have been born to Duathathor-Henuttawy:[9] Masaharta, Djedkhonsuefankh, Menkheperre (all of whom became High Priests of Amun)[12] and Nesipaneferhor, a God's Father (priest) of Amun, whose name replaced that of a son of Herihor in the Karnak temple of Khonsu.