The First Dynasty (3200-2980 B.C.)Den -Anedj-ib -Semerkhet -Qa'a Hotepsek--Ninetjer Raneb - hemwy -Per-ib-sen -Khasekhemwy
Den
His Horus name Den
means "Horus Who Strikes". He was the 4th King of the First Dynasty. He
may have come to the throne at an early age, with his mother, Merneith, acting
as regent.
He left a
number of labels and inscriptions on stone vases which cite the king, including
events during his reign. We have found seals impressions and inscriptions in a
number of tombs at Saqqara and Abu Rawash.
He probably the
first king to adopt a nsw-bity name (King of Upper and Lower
Egypt ),. According to Manetho, he had a reign of 20 years.
However, he may have celebrated a Sed-festival, which usually occurred in the 30 year of
rule, and some Egyptologists believe he may have reigned for longer.
Den's label from Abydos
The reign of Den
was apparently a glorious and prosperous one. Den apparently limited the power
of high officials and achieved some progress in the centralization of the state
administration. He created a new post of "chancellor of the King of Lower
Egypt: given to a man named Hemaka.
Hemaka is a
well known figure of this time who built an important tomb at Saqqara .
The contents of this tomb provide us with our most comprehensive collection of
1st Dynasty funerary equipment. It is also from this tomb that we find
possible evidence for Den's Sed-festival. Another evidence is the label found
at Abydos , depicting the earliest known king
wearing the double crown of Egypt
Den also recorded
some military campaigns. An interesting ivory label found at Abydos
Den's tomb is the
Tomb T at Abydos Aswan
The stairway, the
first we find in an Egyptian tomb, was sealed with a wooden door, and just
before the burial chamber was a barrier to block grave robbers. A small room to
the south-west, with its own small stairway, may have been an early serdab,
which was a chamber built to hold statues of the deceased. A German team who
excavated the ruins (after a number of earlier excavations) revealed that grave
goods or fragments included pots with seal impressions, stone vessels,
inscribed labels and other carved objects in ivory and ebony, as well as inlays
from boxes and furniture. A long side chamber probably held jars of wine. Near
the tomb were found 136 subsidiary burials.
However, one
of his queens was probably buried at Giza
Anedj-ib
Anedjib is
recorded as a Thinite king on the Saqqara King List from the tomb of Thunery.
He was the 5th rulerof the 1st Dynasty. Anedjib was this king's
Horus name, which means "Safe is His Heart". According to Manetho, he
may have ruled Egypt
Anedjib was
probably the first king to have a nebty (Two Ladies) title and the neswt-bity
(He of the sedge and bee) name in his royal titulary, although the neswt-bity title (without a name) had
already been introduced in the reign of Den. This title reunited the north and
south in the person of the king. There were apparently problems during
Anedjib's rule, especially with Lower Egypt . Semerkhet, was probably responsible for
erasing Anedjib's name from a number of inscriptions on stone vases and other
objects. However, Semerkhet's name was omitted from the Saqqara King
List, so it is sometimes thought that Semerkhet may have usurped the throne of Egypt
Tomb X of Anedjib
at Abydos
Anedjib
built a tomb (Tomb X) at Abydos Saqqara ). Anedjib is
also attested to by seal impressions from this tomb.
Semerkhet
Semerkhet was the
6th king of the 1st Dynasty, he ruled Egypt
Semerkhet was the
king's Horus name, and means "Thoughtful Friend" or "companion
of the gods". He may have had a priestly role prior to his ascending the
throne of Egypt
His tomb is
located at Abydos (Tomb U). It is considerably larger and of
superior quality compared to Anedjib's tomb. Semerkhet's tomb has a brick lined
burial chamber. The entrance ramp was saturated up to one meter deep with
aromatic oil, which, after 5,000 years, still filled the entire tomb with
scent.
The names of Semerkhet and Qa'a
The only object
from Semerkhet's reign is a black granite funeral stela found in his tomb. It
had originally belonged to a pair erected outside his monument, a tradition
from the very beginning of the dynasty. Semerkhet probably conducted trade with
the east (Palestine
Qa'a
Qa'a was the last
king of the 1st dynasty. He was
probably buried in Tomb Q at Abydos, where two typical royal funerary stelae
bearing his name were found on the east side of the tomb. The German team
lately excavating this tomb revealed many small artifacts and architectural
details that had been overlooked by earlier excavations. These include thirty
inscribed labels that describe the delivery of oil, probably made from berries
or tree resins, and probably from the Syria-Palestine area.
Tomb Q at Abydos
Seal impressions
and artifacts have also been discovered in Tomb Q with the name of
Hetepsekhemwy, the first king of the second dynasty. This suggests that
Hetepsekhemwy completed Tomb Q, and that there was no real break between the
first and second dynasties of Egypt
Four tombs in Saqqara may date back to
the reign of Qaa. The lower part of two wooden statues were found in one of
these tombs in a set of rooms on the north side. Some scholars believe
this may have been an offering chapel, and that the mortuary temple in pyramid
complexes may have evolved from this structure.
Egyptologists have
also discovered the stelae of two of Qa'a's officials, Merka and Sabef.
These stelae have more complex inscriptions then earlier hieroglyphics, and may
have signaled in increasing sophistication in the use of this writing.
The Second Dynasty (2990-2778 B.C.)
It would seem that
the 2nd Dynasty must have been a time when the economic and political
foundations were put in place for a strong centralized state, though our lack
of archaeological evidence does not support this conclusion.
More than six
kings are known to have reigned over the united Egypt during this Dynasty, but
unfortunately very little is known about them since their monuments, so far
discovered, are very few in number.
Hotepsekhemwy
Basically we know
the names of the first three rulers of the 2nd Dynasty, Hotepsekhemwy, Raneb
and Nynetjer, from inscriptions on the back of a statue (now in the Egyptian Antiquities Museum) of a priest
named Hotep-dif.
Statue of
Hotep-dif
Of the first of
these rulers, little is known. Hotepsekhemwy (Hetepsekhemwy) was this king's
Horus name, which means "the two powers (of Horus and Seth) were pleased".
His birth name was Hotep which passed in the royal titulary as both Nesut-bity
and Nebty name of the Horus Hotepsekhemui. We are told that his nebty name
meant, "the Two Mistresses are at peace", which implies that perhaps
Upper and Lower Egypt was once more united after a period of trouble. On the
other hand, it may have also been a proclamation of desire, wishing the two
powers to be at peace.
Inscription bearing the serekh of
Hotepsekhemwy
At this time, a
disastrous earthquake is said to have occurred in Lower
Egypt , near Tell-Basta. It is fairly clear that later in the
dynasty, some troubles might have existed between northern and southern Egypt
Evidence exists
that Hotepsekhemwy probably developed some changes in both religion and the
administration of Egypt
The entrance to a possible tomb
belonging to Hotepsekhemwy at Saqqara
Other items
attesting to this king include a bone cylinder, perhaps from Helwan, now in the
Brooklyn Museum Giza
•
Neither has a tomb for
Hotepsekhemwy been found at Abydos Cairo
•
However, some scholars believe that
there were rulers in between Qa'a and Hotepsekhemwy, which would change the above
assumptions. 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
•
An earthquake took place in Bubastis
Raneb
Hotepsekhemwy was
succeeded by Reneb, where we first
find the inclusion of the sun god into the king's name. From there, the
religion of Egypt
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).
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
Manetho believed
that Raneb reigned for some 39 years as king of Egypt
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. We also find 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.
Ninetjer
Ninetjer
(Nynetjer) was this kings Horus name,
and simply means "godlike", or "He Who Belongs to the God".
The term god probably in this instance references Re, the
sun god.
•
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
•
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.
The Palermo Stone
records a significant drop in the average height of the annual inundation
of the Nile River,
and therefore it is possible that ecological factors may have produced tensions
and for a while, at least towards the end of the Dynasty, Egypt may have even
been divided. Yet, up until and through the reign of Ninetjer, the Two
Lands seems to have been ruled as one.
•
A small statue of Ny-netjer is of
considerable significance, both to the king's history and especially to the
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.
Per-ib-sen
The name of Peribsen
(Seth-Peribsen), unusually referring to 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
•
Seth-Peribsen may have ruled for
around 17 years.
•
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 (P)
at Abydos
with a burial chamber lined with mudbrick, of which only the substructure
survives.
Khasekhemwy
The last king of
this Dynasty is Khaa-sekhemwy, whose
tomb was found at Abydos 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
His wife, Ne-Maat-hap, was the mother of king Djoser, the founder of the Third Dynasty.
She was a northern princess that he married apparently to cement the control he
gained over northern Egypt Nekhet. Egypt
Statue of King Khaesekhemwi (2nd Dyn.)
It is also
important to note that the earliest inscriptional evidence of an Egyptian king
at the Lebanese site of Byblos
Khasekhemwy
apparently undertook considerable building projects upon the reunification of Egypt Abydos
Tomb of Khaa-Sekhemwy at Abydos
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. 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 dried raisins), 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.
ليست هناك تعليقات:
إرسال تعليق