Second Dynasty of Egypt
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Template:Infobox Former Country Template:Egyptian Dynasty list The Second Dynasty of ancient Egypt (or Dynasty II, c. Template:TrimScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". – c. Template:TrimScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".[1]) is the latter of the two dynasties of the Egyptian Archaic Period, when the seat of government was centred at Thinis. It is most known for its last ruler, Khasekhemwy, but is otherwise one of the most obscure periods in Egyptian history.
Though archaeological evidence of the time is very scant, contrasting data from the First and Third Dynasties indicates important institutional and economic developments during the Second Dynasty.[2][3]
Writing
The Second Dynasty of Egypt sees the advent of the first known complete sentences in Egyptian hieroglyphs. Probably the first known such sentence is a seal impression from Peribsen's tomb, at the end of the Second Dynasty, dating to ca. 2660–2650 BC. The sentence relates to the unification of Egypt: “Sealing of everything of Ombos (i.e., Naqada): He of Ombos has joined the Two Lands for his son, the Dual King Peribsen.”[4][5]
Conflicts
The base of a lime statue of king Khasekhemwy has depictions of killed enemies on its four sides, recording a military campaign against the 'northern rebels', referring to the inhabitants of the Nile Delta.[6] On the front, the number of slain enemies is given as 47,209 dead, with a symbol generally considered as designating "Libyans".[6][7][8] This scene seems to record the victory of King Khasekhem over a northern Egyptian population led by their ruler, Besh.[9] The name Besh may be a variation or nomen of Peribsen, or more probably the name of a Libyan northern tribe near the Fayum.[10] This iconography of the king crushing enemies at his feet would remain a central theme of royal iconography for the next three millennia.[6]
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Rulers
For the first three pharaohs, sources are fairly close in agreement and the order is supported by an inscription on the statuette of Hetepdief, who served in the mortuary cults of these three kings.[11]
| Name | Years Reigned | Burial | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hotepsekhemwy | File:Hetepsekhemwy cropped.jpg | 25–29 | Gallery Tomb A, Saqqara? |
| Nebra (also known as Kakau) | File:Raneb-Stela MetropolitanMuseum.png | 10–14 | Gallery Tomb A, Saqqara? |
| Nynetjer | File:Statue of Ninetjer Rijksmuseum van Oudheden 03 (cropped).jpg | 40 | Gallery Tomb B, Saqqara |
But the identity of the next few rulers is unclear. Surviving sources might be giving the Horus name or the Nebty name and the birth names of these rulers. They may also be entirely different individuals, or could be legendary names. This might never be resolved.
It has been theorised that following the reign of Nynetjer, the country was split and ruled by two successors due to the overly complex state administration of the whole of Egypt.[12]
The following list contains various king names from different sources:
| Name | Years reigned (Manetho)[13] |
Notes | Burial | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weneg / Wadjenes | File:Abydos KL 02-04 n12.jpg | 17 | Listed as the fourth king of the dynasty on the Turin, Saqqara and Abydos king lists. Only attested in Lower Egypt.[14] Weneg is generally accepted as a nebti (or throne) name and it is unknown what his horus name was.[15] Wadjenes is believed to have been a Ramesside misinterpretation of the hieroglyphic sign for Weneg. Theorised to be the same person as Raneb,[16] Sekhemib-Perenmaat[17] or a completely separate king from the others of the Second dynasty. Known as Tlas in Manetho's Aegyptica.[13] |
|
| Senedj | File:Abydos KL 02-05 n13.jpg | 41 | Listed as the fifth king of the dynasty on the Turin, Saqqara and Abydos king lists. Horus name unknown. Theorised to be the same person as Horus Sa[18] or Peribsen.[19][20] Known as Sethenes in Manetho's Aegyptica.[13] |
Tomb P, Umm El Qa'ab (?) |
| Neferkara I | File:Neferkarsakkara.png | 17 | Only attested in later documents dated long after the time period of the Second dynasty. Listed as the sixth king of the dynasty in the Saqqara and Turin King lists, but omitted from the Abydos King List. May have only ruled Lower Egypt. Known as Khaires in Manetho's Aegyptica.[13] |
|
| Neferkasokar | File:Neferkasokarsakkara.png | 25 | Only attested in later documents dated long after the time period of the Second dynasty. Listed as the seventh king of the dynasty in the Saqqara and Turin King lists, but omitted from the Abydos King List. May have only ruled Lower Egypt. Known as Nephercheres in Manetho's Aegyptica.[13] |
|
| Hudjefa I | File:Hudjefa.png | 48 | Name literally means "erased" or "missing", showing that this king's name was unknown or lost by the Nineteenth Dynasty. Listed as the eighth king of the dynasty on the Saqqara Tablet, but omitted from the Abydos King List. May have only ruled Lower Egypt. Theorised to be the same person as Peribsen and may have been deliberately omitted.[21] Known as Sesochris in Manetho's Aegyptica.[13] |
|
| Seth-Peribsen | File:Peribsen.jpg | ? | Name connected to Seth deity rather than the traditional Horus. Attested by contemporary inscriptions, but not on later king lists. Only attested in Upper Egypt.[22] |
Tomb P, Umm El Qa'ab |
| Sekhemib-Perenmaat | File:CalciteVesselFragmentNameOfSekhemibPerenmmat-BritishMuseum-August21-08 retouched.jpg | ? | Attested by contemporary inscriptions, but not on later king lists. May be the same person as Seth-Peribsen[23] or his immediate successor.[24][25] |
Tomb P, Umm El Qa'ab (?) |
| Nubnefer | File:Nubnefer.png | ? | Birth name of a king, unknown placement. Name does not appear on any known official king lists. May be birth name of Raneb[26] or a completely separate ephemeral king who ruled at some point following Nynetjer's reign.[27] |
With the last ruler, the sources return to an agreement:
| Name | Years Reigned | Notes | Burial | Consort(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Khasekhemwy | File:Limestone statue of Khasekhemwy.jpg | 17–18 | Known as Kheneres in Manetho's Aegyptica.[13] Reigned for 30 years according to Manetho.[13] His serekh name is unique for presenting both Horus and Set, as it commemorates his achievement of reunifying Egypt. He was one of Egypt's first master builders, his funerary enclosure known as Shunet-ez-Zebib is a colossal mudbrick structure.[28] |
Tomb V, Umm El Qa'ab | Nimaathap |
Manetho states Thinis was the capital, as in the First Dynasty, but the first three kings were buried at Saqqara, suggesting the center of power had moved to Memphis. Beyond this, little can be said about the events during this period as the annual records on the Palermo stone only survive to the end of the reign of Nebra and for parts of Nynetjer's. One important event, the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, might have occurred during the reign of Khasekhemwy as many Egyptologists read his name as "the Two Powers arise".
Comparison of regnal lists
The surviving Turin, Abydos and Saqqara king lists, all from the New Kingdom of Egypt, provide a list of kings of this dynasty, though the Abydos list omits Neferkara, Neferkasokar, and Hudjefa I.
| Historical Pharaoh | Abydos King List | Saqqara Tablet | Turin King List | Manetho[13] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hotepsekhemwy | Bedjau | Baunetjer | Baunetjer | Boethos |
| Nebra | Kakau | Kakau | Kakau | Kaiekhos |
| Nynetjer | Banetjer | Banetjeru | Banetjer | Binothris |
| Weneg | Wadjnas | Wadjlas | [...]s | Tlas |
| Senedj | Sendi | Senedj | Sened[...] | Sethenes |
| Neferkara I | – | Neferkare | Neferka | Khaires |
| Neferkasokar | – | Neferkasokar | Neferkasokar | Nephercheres |
| Hudjefa | – | Hudjefa | – | Sesochris |
| Khasekhemwy | Djadjay | Bebti | Bebti | Kheneres |
See also
References
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- ↑ Nicolas Grimal: A History of Ancient Egypt. Wiley-Blackwell, Weinheim 1994, Template:ISBN, p. 55.
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- ↑ Wolfgang Helck: Untersuchungen zur Thinitenzeit. Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1987, Template:ISBN, pp. 103–107.
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- ↑ Kenneth Anderson Kitchen: Ramesside Inscriptions. page 234–235
- ↑ Jürgen von Beckerath: Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen.. Deutscher Kunstverlag, München/Berlin 1984, Template:ISBN, page 171.
- ↑ Wolfgang Helck: Untersuchungen zur Thinitenzeit: Ägyptologische Abhandlungen., Volume 45. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 1987, Template:ISBN, p. 125.
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- ↑ Walter Bryan Emery: Ägypten – Geschichte und Kultur der Frühzeit. Fourier, Munich 1964, p. 106.
- ↑ Wolfgang Helck: Untersuchungen zur Thintenzeit. (Ägyptologische Abhandlungen, Volume 45), Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1987, Template:ISBN, pp. 104–111, 183.
- ↑ Hermann A. Schlögl: Das Alte Ägypten. Geschichte und Kultur von der Frühzeit bis zu Kleopatra. Verlag C. H. Beck, München 2006, Template:ISBN, p. 78.
- ↑ I. E. S. Edwards: The early dynastic period in Egypt; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1964; p. 25.
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