Inscription bearing the serekh of Hotepsekhemwy
Inscription bearing the serekh of Hotepsekhemwy
Hotepsekhemwy, also known as Bedjau or Baunetjer, was the first king of the Second dynasty of Egypt.
His name is a reference to the gods Horus and Seth "The Two Mighty Ones at Rest".
Little is known about his reign.
Manetho gave him a reign of 38 years, though little has been found to substantiate this claim, and there is little to show for such a long reign. According to some modern sources, his reign may have lasted for 15 to 25 years, with the absolute dates being 2845 until 2825 BC.
During his era, an earthquake hit the vicinity of Bubastis in the Nile Delta.
It is possible that Pharaoh Hotepsekhemwy reached office by marriage to a princess. Thus we do not know if he was related to the old Thinite line of rulers or not.
He is not thought to be the son of Pharaoh Qa'a, but possibly his son-in-law. Regardless, he made offerings in memory of the man and was possibly responsible for Qa'a's funeral. While Manetho provides no reason for the dynastic change between Qa'a and Hotepsekhemwy, it may have been the result of a shift in the royal power center to Memphis.
Evidence exists that Hotepsekhemwy probably developed somewhat subtle and reasonable changes in both religion and the administration of Egypt.
Some historians say that his brother started a military coup and threw him out of power.
Sealings with the name of "Hotepsekhemwy" have been found outside the tomb of Qa'a at Abydos.
He is named in a Greek form as Boethos and the Egyptian king lists calls him Bezau and Neter-bau. He is also attested by many inscriptions on stone vessels from the underground magazines under Djoser's pyramid. His name is also cut in to a granite statue of a long-lived priest and caretaker of his mortuary cult, who served under his two successors as well.
His tomb has been identified in Saqqara; the substructure has survived but there are no remains of a superstructure. Not only did he change place of burial - he made a totally new type of tomb with a revolutionary new design for his last resting place. It was a huge complex of underground galleries hewn out in the bedrock, a gigantic work of a type that never had been done in Egypt or anywhere else on Earth before. Indeed this was a total change and break through in the technique of stone cutting and a milestone in human progress. It was found merely by accident in 1902 a bit south of the Djoser complex by the Italian archaeologist Barsanti. In the almost empty tomb numerous seals with the king's name could be rescued, and thereby identifying the owner.
The monument seems to be in an unfinished stadium though the grave chamber and its side room were completed. Around 20 minor rooms around the king's bedroom just might have been made for his staff of servants, but this is very hypotetical. Above ground nothing is left of a superstructure (if there ever existed one) and later buildings have been built upon it perhaps unaware of its existence.
After measuring the monument in 1902 it was closed and sealed, and it still awaits a real examination. The map drawn of its plan seem to be too symmetrical to be entirely correct.
Almost all Egyptologists firmly believe that a king by the name of Raneb (or Nebra) succeeded the first king of Egypt's 2nd Dynasty, Hotepsekhemwy. There is little information about Raneb, his reign is important to us because of its chronological position during the Egyptian empire's formative years. Presumably, Raneb was Hotepsekhemwy's son, or perhaps his brother, but there is little evidence to prove such. Raneb, which was probably this king's birth name, means "Re is the Lord", but many believe, because there seems to have been no specific mention of the god Re prior to this time, that it should more appropriately be read as Nebra, meaning "Lord of the Sun". There is evidence from later King lists that his birth name was probably Kakaw (or Kakau).
Manetho, the great historian of ancient Egypt, believed that Raneb reigned for some 39 years. However, many modern scholars believe that his reign was much shorter, lasting between ten and nineteen years years. In fact, some scholars seem to believe that Raneb's reign and that of his predecessor, Hotepsekhemwy, should together be 38 or 39 years, with both therefore having shorter reigns then provided by Manetho.
His reign is attested to by various sources, including finding from the enormous middle Saqqara tomb A (cylinder seal impressions) south of Djoser's temenos south wall and the inscription on a statuette of Redjit.
There are references to Nebra on a Memphite stela now located in the Metropolitan Museum, a statuette, and a rock graffiti near Armant in the western desert (and possibly another at site 40 in the Eastern Desert), close to an ancient trade route linking the Nile with the western Oasis.
Manetho also tells us that Raneb introduced the worship not only of the sacred goat of Mendes, but also of the sacred bull of Mnevis at the old sun-worship center of Heliopolis, and the Apis bull at Memphis. However, scholars now appear to believe that the cult of the Apis bull was established by a former king, which is attested on a stele dating from the rule of Den (Udimu). Irregardless, it would seem that his name, whether stated as Raneb or Nebra, indicates a significant shift of worship to the sun god, which would have a very important impact on much of Egypt's remaining history.
Apparently at the end of the 1st Dynasty, there was considerable rebellion, presumably problems held over from the empires initial unification. We are told that Hotepsekhemwy reunited the two lands of Northern (Lower) and Southern (Upper) Egypt, so if follows that Raneb perhaps ruled during a period of a tentative peace. We are not certain of his burial place. 1st Dynasty kings appear to have mostly been buried at Abydos, but his seal impressions at Saqqara suggest that he could have been buried there, though there is absolutely no certainty on that matter. Regardless, future excavation may eventually reveal more to us on this interesting and important era of early Egyptian history and this relatively unknown king.
Raneb was succeeded by Ninetjer (Nynetjer), though once again, we have no real information on this latter king's relationship to Raneb.
Ninetjer was the third king of the 2nd Dynasty. Memphis was his capitol. Ninetjer is actually by far the best attested king of the early 2nd Dynasty. Given the position of his titulary on the Palermo Stone, he must have ruled Egypt for at least thirty-five years, though Manetho gives him forty-seven. In fact, most of what we know of this king is derived from the annals recorded on the Palermo Stone, where the whole fourth register records events between his fifth or sixth year through his twentieth or twenty-first. However, the king is also evidenced by three fine tombs in the elite cemetery at North Saqqara containing sealings of Ninetjer, as well as one across the Nile in the Early Dynastic necropolis at Helwan. There were additionally five different jar-sealings of the king discovered in a large mastaba near Giza. However, more sealings of Ninetjer eventually led to the identification of the king's own tomb at Saqqara (though some scholars doubt that this is clearly his tomb).
From the Palermo Stone, we learn of the foundation of a chapel or estate named Hr-rn during the king's seventh year on the throne. Otherwise, most of the events evidenced on that record are regular ritual appearances of the king and various religious festivals. A festival of Sokar apparently was held every six years during his reign, and the running of the Apis bull was recorded twice during years nine and fifteen of his reign.
Most of the festivals recorded during his reign were held in the region of Memphis, with the exception of a ceremony associated with the goddess Nekhbet of Elkab during year nineteen. The fact that most activity associated with this king occurred in the region of Memphis may be important. Little evidence of the king is found outside of this region and it may be that his activities was largely, if not completely confined to Lower Egypt. Towards the end of his reign, there was a good deal of internal tension in Egypt, perhaps even civil war.
The Palermo Stone tantalizes us with the possibility of this beginning in Ninetjer's thirteenth year. It records the attack of several towns including one who's name means "north land" or "House of the North" (the other city was Shem-Re). Some have interpreted this entry in the Palermo Stone to mean that Ninetjer had to suppress a rebellion in Lower, or Northern Egypt.
Unfortunately, the Palermo Stone ends with the nineteenth year of his reign. However, inscriptions on stone vessels, which probably date to the latter part of his reign, appear to record several other events, such as a four occurrence of the Sokar Festival, which probably took place in year twenty-four, and the "seventeenth occasion of the [biennial] census", which may have occurred in his thirty-fourth year on the throne.
Other than the various inscribed stone vessels, only two other artifacts have been unearthed that bear the king's name. One of these is a small ivory vessel from the Saqqara area, but the other is a small statue of considerable significance, both to the king's history and especially Egyptian art. The statuette is made of alabaster, depicting the king on his throne and wearing the close fitting robe associated with the Sed-festival. Upon his head rests the White Crown of Lower Egypt. This crude stone statuette of unknown provenance, now in the Georges Michailides Collection, represents the earliest complete and identifiable example of three-dimensional royal statuary from Egypt.
It also provides evidence that the king celebrated at least one Sed-festival, which would have been likely given the apparent long reign of Ninetjer. While no contemporary inscriptions evidence this celebration, there was also a stock of stone vessels discovered in the Step Pyramid galleries that may have been prepared for this event. Some scholars theorize that this further evidences the difficulties late in the king's reign, suggesting that these were never distributed due to domestic unrest which disrupted communications and weakened the authority of the central administration. Hence, the stone vessels were later appropriated by subsequent kings of the late 2nd and early 3rd Dynasties.
The name of Ninetjer's successor to the throne, Peribsen (Seth-Peribsen), unusually referencing the god Seth, is another piece of evidence indicating unrest. However, it is likely that Peribsen did not directly replace Ninetjer. It is likely that as many as two or more shadowy rulers (Weneg, Sened and Nubnefer) took the throne of perhaps a divided Egypt in the interim. However, most modern kings' lists do not reference all of them, and some list only one or two.
After Ninetjer something happened to the Egyptian society that made many centralised functions collapse or decline. During this period of unrest a few names pop up on scanty fragments and among them a king called Weneg.
He was probably the pharaoh preceding Ninetjer at least in Lower Egypt, because a division of the country for a short period cannot be excluded.
The Turin Canon has an entry with an unreadable name possibly to be his with no figure of his regin but one for his age: 54 years.
His Horus-name (in a serek) is not known, but remaining form are found in a dozen inscriptions, most of them from Sakkara. Though his reign probably was a very short one (perhaps not more then a couple of years) his name is recorded in later king lists like from the temple in Abydos
and the Sakkara list.
This indicates that despite the lack of earthly remains he probably had a position in the legends for later generations, when they were commemorating the pharaohs from the passed.
The scribes at that time misread his flower-sign (to be read: WNG) and replaced it with a papyrus plant making the sound: Wadj-nes, meaning "fresh of tongue".
This was translated into Greek language (ougot-las) by Manetho, who gave the king the name Tlas. In other words - a corruption on more than one occasion during the flow of time.
Because he had a very short reign we can hardly expect that his tomb is a mass of underground galleries like some of his prede- cessors. If he hasn't taken over an older construction and made it his own we can look for a monument of more modest size, maybe a mastaba of substance.
The area where to look for his tomb is probably around the other galleries east of the pyramid of king Sekhemhkhet. This monument lies where the topography is unsuitable.A good guess might be that the area to the east already was occupied by superstructures (mastaba-like?) from dynasty 2 tombs, and that these were removed in later times.
The substructures should then still be detectable, but this place has not been properly investigated. There are candidates to be his tomb and in one mastaba (S3014) may reveal Weneg's name.
Senedj was a pharaoh during the Second dynasty of Egypt who ruled for 20 years.
When pharaoh Sened was in power Egypt was probably divided once again into its southern and northern parts, with him as the king in North (Lower) Egypt from the capital Memphis.
In the Turin Canon the length of his reign is lacking but a notation of (at least) 70 years indicates his age when he died.
There are no contemporary remains of him, not even the smallest writing is found so far. A possible exception is a block of stone with his name on it, that was found and reused as building material in the mortuary temple of fourth dynasty king Khafre (Khefren) at Giza. This piece might just be of second dynasty origin and thus contemporary to Sened.
Another artifact with his name is from a private fourth dynasty tomb in Sakkara where a man called Shery has a title that tells that he is connected with the cult commemorating king Sened. This is a couple of hundred years after his death. The text also mentions king Peribsen who probably was Sened's counterpart in the southern part of the country at the same time.
All other material sources science have about him are made in later times and one remarkable object in a statuette from 2,000 years after his death made in the 800s BC.
His name appears on the king list, the Abydos list, and in the canon from a private tomb in Sakkara where he is depicted simply by a plucked goose. He is mentioned in the Canon of Turin as well, also there as a plucked goose.
Manetho gives him a reign of 41 years and calls him Sethenes. If that name has something to do with the god Seth we don't know, but Egyptian records refer to him as Sened.
His tomb has not as yet been identified.
Peribsen was the fourth king of the 2nd Dynasty. He was actually not the legitimate heir of Nintejer. In fact, many historians believe that the king was an outsider who instigated coup against King Nintejer. King Peribsen used the designation of seth in his titles. Unfortunately, nothing from Peribsen's era is well documented except for his mortuary complex near Abydos.
He made sweeping political changes. The serekhs bearing the royal names are not surmounted by Horus anymore but by his religious rival, Set, who became the primary royal patron deity.
In ancient Egypt, we find what sometimes appears to be almost a primeval struggle between good and evil. This conflict between the followers of Seth (Set) and the followers of Horus is very ancient and may very well form a component of our modern theological concepts. Yet there may have, during the predynastic period, actually been a battle between real rulers, symbolically or otherwise associated with these two gods, over control of Egypt. In the end, the followers of Horus seem to have (more or less) triumphed, and in general, Seth as a god, appears to us as the more sinister of the two, even though one might say he was never really completely vilified.
At a few points in Egyptian history, normally when we see conflicts between the north and south, Seth appears to gain favor with the Egyptian royalty. As an example, we have the 4th (or possible the 6th) king of Egypt's 2nd Dynasty. This king originally ascended the throne as Sekhemib, meaning "Powerful in Heart".
However, for the first time since the beginning of the 1st Dynasty, he specifically broke from tradition, associating his name with Seth rather than Horus. His name was changed from Sekhemib to Seth-Peribsen (Peribsen meaning "Hope of all Hearts").
It should be noted at this point, that apparently a minority of Egyptologists believe that Sekhemib and Seth-Peribsen were two different kings. Furthermore, some would have him changing his name from Seth Peribsen to Horus Sekhemib, though in our context of earlier Egyptian kings, this seems less likely.
Apparently, the rivalry between Upper and Lower Egypt sparked a period of internal unrest within the country, when seemingly, the followers of Seth gained an upper hand that would take at least some hold on the country through the end of this Dynasty.
Most of the 1st and early 2nd Dynasty kings are better attested to in the north of Egypt, while the later kings of the 2nd Dynasty are better known from the south.
However, some argue that the reign of Seth Peribsen was not nearly as violent as we might believe, and that his name change was more politically motivated in order to assure peace. Others see it as a period when upper and lower Egypt may have simply separated due to the difficulties in administering such a large state.
Egyptologists seem ready to admit that the events of the second dynasty are extremely uncertain, if not the most uncertain in Egyptian history. It is entirely possible that the events surrounding Peribsen's name change are related to religious and theological motivations that remain unknown, due to the complex mythology surrounding Horus and Seth.
It is likely that if conflicts did occur during this period, it was eventually settled by Khasekemwy, the last king of the dynasty, though perhaps not without compromise (together with no small amount of bloody conflict).
His serekh (a palace facade containing his name) is surmounted by both the Jackal of Seth and the falcon of Horus. By the 3rd Dynasty, all of the kings reverted back to the Horus title.
Even though Seth-Peribsen was considered a legitimate king by later generations of ancient Egyptians, it is clear that the followers of Horus (at least in relationship to the followers of Seth) dominated Egyptian history.
If indeed the struggle was originally not between gods, but rather mortal men under the leadership of ancient kings, two things seem clear. First, during at least the early dynasties, Seth (as a god) was not seen to be nearly as sinister as in later times.
However, as time passed and the worship of Horus and his association with the King grew ever stronger, the attributes of Seth suffered.
We know Seth today as a god of confusion, the spirit of disorder and the personification of violence, as well as bad faith. Yet in the Egyptian spirit of balance and duality, he was a necessary component of their religion.
Seth-Peribsen may have ruled for around 17 years.
His predecessor is often listed as Nynetjet, though there is evidence and some acceptance among Egyptologists that two rulers, named Weneg and Sened, may have reigned between these two kings.
We know that Egyptian power extended as far south as Elephantine during his reign, for seal impressions bearing his name were discovered there in 1985. Apparently, there was a temple dedicated to Seth on the Island during later times.
Seth Peribsen apparently built a fairly small tomb at Abydos with a burial chamber lined with mudbrick, of which only the substructure survives. As might be expected, there has been no tomb of his found at Saqqara, were many of the 1st Dynasty kings were buried.
Khasekhemwy is perhaps the best attested ruler of the 2nd Dynasty, a period that we know very little about in general.
Khasekhemwy (d. 2686 BC; sometimes spelled Khasekhemui) was the 5th and final Pharaoh of the Second dynasty of Egypt, ruling for 30 years. Little is known of Khasekhemwy, other than that he led several significant military campaigns and built several monuments, still extant, mentioning war against the Northerners.
Egyptologists have normally placed him as the successor of Seth-Peribsen, though Manetho lists three kings between them, consisting of Sethenes (Sendji), Chaires (Neterka) and Nebhercheres (Neferkara). However, there is no archaeological evidence for these kings and almost no other information to verify their existence.
However, some Egyptologists believe he had another immediate predecessor named Khasekhem, with an obviously similar name, though other scholars believe Khasekhem and Khasekhemwy were in fact the same person. They argue that Khasekhem changed his name to Khasekhemwy after he squashed a rebellion, thus reuniting Upper and Lower Egypt. His new Horus name means "The Two Powerful Ones appear". Afterwards, the rendering of his name on his serekh was surmounted by both the Horus falcon and Seth jackel, marking it as unique in Egyptian history.
Perhaps Khasekhemwy's use of both the Horus and Seth god's representations in his name was an act of reconciliation. We might even assume a politically inspired unification of the country, were it not for evidence to the contrary. He in fact is believed to have married a northern princess, but apparently only to cement the control he gained through battle.
On a stone vase, we find recorded, "The year of fighting the northern enemy within the city of Nekhet." Nekhet, now known as el-Kab, lies on the eastern bank of the Nile across from the ancient capital, Nekhen, known to the Greeks as Hierakonpolis. Hence, this was a major and dramatic battle between Upper and Lower Egyptians. On the base of two seated statues of Khasekhemwy, we are told that some 47,209 northerners were killed, a huge number considering the relatively small population of Egypt during the early dynastic period.
The Northern princess that Khasekhemwy married, a woman named Nemathap (Nimaatapis), who jar sealings reveal as "The King-bearing Mother". She probably mothered the earliest rulers of Egypt's 3rd Dynasty including Djoser.
It is also important to note that the earliest inscriptional evidence of an Egyptian king at the Lebanese site of Byblos belonged to the reign of Khasekhemwy.
Khasekhemwy apparently undertook considerable building projects upon the reunification of Egypt. He built in stone at el-Kab, Hierakonpolis and Abydos. He apparently built a unique, as well as huge tomb at Abydos, the last such royal tomb built in that necropolis (Tomb V). The trapezoidal tomb measures some 70 meters (230 ft) in length and is 17 meters (56 ft) wide at its northern end, and 10 meters (33 ft) wide at its southern end. This area was divided into 58 rooms.
Prior to some recent discoveries from the First Dynasty, its central burial chamber was considered the oldest masonry structure in the world, being built of quarried limestone. Here, the excavators discovered the king's scepter of gold and sard, as well as several beautifully made small stone pots with gold leaf lid coverings, apparently missed by earlier tomb robbers. In fact, Petrie detailed a number of items removed during the excavations of Amelineau. Other items included flint tools, as well as a variety of copper tools and vessels, stone vessels and pottery vessels filled with grain and fruit. There were also small, glazed objects, carnelian beads, model tools, basketwork and a large quantity of seals.
However, probably more impressive is a structure located in the desert about 1,000 yards from the tomb. Known as the Shunet el-Zebib (storehouse of the Dates), it was a huge rectangular structure measuring 123 x 64 meters (404 x 210 ft). The mudbrick walls of the structure, with their articulated palace facade, were as much as 5 meters (16 ft) thick and as high as 20 meters (66 ft). Incredibly, fragments of these mudbrick walls have survived for nearly 5,000 years.
Some Egyptologists believe that the complex of buildings within this enclosure may have functioned in a capacity similar to a mortuary temple. In fact, it had much in common with the enclosure of Djoser's Step Pyramid at Saqqara. Besides the niched inner walls of the parameter, a large mound of sand and gravel covered with mud brick, approximately square in plan, was discovered within the enclosure. Located in a similar position within the enclosure as the Step Pyramid in Djoser's complex, this mound may have been a forerunner of the step pyramids.
Khasekhemwy's structures are seen as an important evolutionary stage of the ancient Egyptian mortuary complex. Khasekhemwy died in about 2686 BC.
References:
ANCIENT AND LOST CIVILIZATIONS INDEX
ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF ALL FILES