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Torso of a man with the Horus name of King Scorpion below the left breast. Anorthositic gneiss, Protodynastic period, circa 3200 BCE. Munich, Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst, ÄS 7149
Name
King Scorpion's name and title are of great dispute in modern Egyptology. His name is often introduced by a six- or seven-leafed goldenrosette or flower sign. This emblem can be found on numerous objects from theDynasty 0 andDynasty I periods; it vanishes until the end of theThird Dynasty, when it re-appears under high-ranked officials, such asKhabawsokar andA'a-akhty (both dated to the end of the Third Dynasty). Its precise meaning has been intensely discussed; the most common interpretation is that of an emblem meaning 'nomarch' or 'high lord'. During the protodynastic and early dynastic eras, it was evidently used as a designation for kings; in much later periods, it was bestowed on high-ranked officials and princes, especially on those who served as priests for the goddessSeshat. Thus, the golden rosette became an official emblem of Seshat.[2] The reading of the rosette sign is also disputed. Most linguists and Egyptologists read itNeb (for 'lord') orNesw (for 'king'), and they are convinced that the golden rosette was some kind of forerunner to the laterserekh.[3][4]
The scorpionfetish, which underlies the name of Scorpion II, is generally linked to the later-introduced goddessSelket, but Egyptologists and linguists such asL.D. Morenz,H. Beinlich,Toby Wilkinson andJan Assmann have pointed out that the goddess was introduced no earlier than the lateOld Kingdom period. In this view, the scorpion fetish of the protodynastic period should not be associated with Selket. Morenz points out that, in cases where a fetish animal is included in a ruler's name, the animal generally has a different, rather cultic and political meaning. The scorpion animal commonly stood for dangerous things, such as 'poison' and 'illness', but it could also mean 'bad breath', or in military contexts 'storm' or 'attack'. Since it is unclear what actual meaning was reserved for theserekh animal of Scorpion II, scholars usually refer to him as 'King Scorpion II'.[3][5][6]
Historical figure
There are several theories regarding his identity and chronological position. Some Egyptologists, such asBernadette Menu, argue that, because Egyptian kings of theFirst Dynasty seem to have hadmultiple names, Scorpion was the same person asNarmer, simply with an alternative name, or additional title. They also argue that the artistic style seen on the macehead of Scorpion II shows conspicuous similarities to that on the famousNarmer macehead.[7] Other scholars, including T. H. Wilkinson,Renée Friedman andBruce Trigger, have identified king Scorpion II as the 'Gegenkönig' (opponent ruler) ofNarmer andKa (orSekhen). At the time of Scorpion II, Egypt was divided into several minor kingdoms that were fighting each other. It is likewise conjectured that Narmer simply conquered the realms of Ka and Scorpion II, thus unifying the whole of Egypt for the first time.[6]
TheScorpion Macehead depicts a single, large figure wearing theWhite Crown of Upper Egypt. He holds ahoe, which has been interpreted as a ritual either involving the pharaoh ceremonially cutting the first furrow in the fields, or opening the dikes to flood them. The use and placement of the iconography is similar to the depiction of the pharaohNarmer on theobverse side of theNarmer Palette. The king is preceded by servants, the first in row seems to throw seeds from a basket into the freshly hacked ground. A second servant (his depiction is partially damaged) wears a huge bundle of grain sheafs, which strengthens the interpretation of a seed sowing ceremony, possibly connected to theSed festival or a founding ceremony. Scorpion II may have been the founder ofNekhen orButo, which would explain why the macehead was found in Hierakonpolis. Above the servants, a row of standard bearers, who carry the same standards as seen on the Narmer palette, precede the king. Below the royal servants, a road and a landscape with people and houses is preserved.[10][11]
An individual with offerings, on King Scorpion's Minor Macehead
Behind the king (on the left side) two fan bearers follow the king. Left of the fan bearer, bundles of papyrus groves are depicted. Behind these, in the upper section, a group of dancers and a priest are visible; the priest guards aRepw.t-palanquin. The lower section is lost due to damage. The festive parade looks into the opposite direction of the king and his standard bearers; an outstretched complete view reveals that both processions meet each other in the center of the whole macehead relief scene. In this very center, scholars such as K. M. Ciałowicz, E. J. Baumgärtel and T. H. Wilkinson believe that they see the tiny traces of the feet and the coil of theRed Crown; a second golden rosette is clearly visible. The traces strengthen the presumption that the scene on the Scorpion macehead once contained the depiction of a second figure of the king, wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt. In this case, the Scorpion macehead would show king Scorpion II as the ruler of the whole of Egypt.[10][11]
The uppermost scene on the macehead shows a row of divine standards. Each standard is surmounted by a god (Set,Min andNemty, for example) or nome crest. The original number of standards is unknown, but it is clearly visible that one half shows hangedlapwings, the other shows hanged hunting bows. Both standard rows face each other. Lapwings stood for 'Lower Egyptian folks' or 'common folks' and the bows stood for 'folk of archers', pointing to hostile Asian tribes. Their hanging is interpreted as evidence that Scorpion II began the attacks on Lower Egypt and Egyptian enemies at the border lands, which eventually resulted in Narmer's victory and unification of the country.[10]
Ivory tags
Numerous small ivory tags showing the depiction of a scorpion were found. They come from Abydos,Minshat Abu Omar andTarkhan. Some of them show the scorpion holding the hieroglyphic sign for "nome/garden/land" (Gardiner sign N24) and it is disputed, if this clear sign combination has a deeper meaning: the scorpion could represent King Scorpion II in his role as a ruler of a certain (but unnamed) nome. Some other tags show the scorpion close over aswallow sign, which reads 'the scorpion is great'. One unique tag shows the scorpion holding a long stick, smiting an enemy. Since many of the tags show a shrine with aheron on the roof at the backsite, it is thought that Scorpion II originated from Buto.[12][13][14]
Rock and vessel inscriptions
Clay mark with the name of king Scorpion II (after Dietrich Wildung)[15]
AtTarkhan andMinshat Abu Omar, several stone and clay vessels were found. They have royalserekhs incarved at their bellies and the reading of the name inside is disputed. Several Egyptologists (including Thomas Schneider, Dietrich Wildung and Herman TeVelde) are convinced that theserekhs present a strongly stylized figure of a scorpion. Others, such as Günter Dreyer and Wolfgang Helck, are not so sure and read it as a sloppily drawn version of the name of King Ka.[12][13][14]
At the second cataract of theNile, not far from theNasser-reservoire at Gebel Sheikh Suliman (Sudan), a large rock cutting depicts a big scorpion figure striding over killed enemies. Their death is demonstrated by depicting them standing upside-down and being hit by arrows; two further figures are still holding their own bows and shooting. The enemies can be identified as Nubians, due to theirostrich feathers and bows, since ostrich feathers and bows were the typical attributes for Egyptians to mark Nubians. The scorpion faces a human figure with an artificial beard and ceremonial knife in a belt; the figure holds a long cord, to which capturedNubians are tied. The whole scene is interpreted as representing King Scorpion II celebrating his victory against the hostile Nubians.[16][17]
Numerous artifacts with relief decoration and pottery markings made of blackink point to a flourishing trade economy at the time of Scorpion's rulership. For the first time, the inscriptions give the hieroglyphic writings for 'Lower Egypt' and/or 'Upper Egypt'. Therefore, both parts of Egypt slowly started to work together. But, since it seems clear that Egypt was divided into at least two coexisting kingdoms, scholars wonder on which kind of power factor the rulership of protodynastic kings was based. Conquering and warfare had to be economically promoted, warriors and guardians had to be fed. Based on this cognition, scholars such as K. M Ciałowitz, T. H. Wilkinson, Karl Butzer and Michael A. Hoffman point to the irrigation systems, which were founded in huge quantities. Numerous palettes (such as theHunters Palette, theLibyan Palette, and theNarmer Palette, for example) and the maceheads of Scorpion II and Narmer show depictions of rivers, plants, trees and several different animals (birds, mammals, and fishes) in surprising natural detail. Alongside these motifs, human figures performing agricultural work are depicted. Ciałowitz, Wilkinson, Butzer and Hoffman see the power source of the protodynastic kings in these agricultural developments. Irrigation systems allowed increasing settlements, cattle possessions and vegetable cultivation. The scholars wonder if the kings kept the irrigations scarce on purpose, to ensure their power, influence and wealth.[10][21][22]
Religious and cultic situation
The numerous decorations on the artifacts also depict large numbers of fetishes and standards, surmounted by gods, which reveals an already very complex religion and cult system. Since the standards often guide the battle scenes, battles and conquests might have been seen as cultic events as well. The earliest recognizable gods areHorus,Seth,Min,Nemty,Nekhbet,Bat, andWepwawet. But it is unknown where these gods had their cultic centers and shrines, because the hieroglyphs depicting the place names were not introduced yet.[10][11][21][23]
Another aspect of cultic and religious beliefs under Scorpion II are the numerous depictions of mythical creatures, such as theserpopard and the winged chimera. The serpopard appears on theNarmer palette and theTwo Dogs Palette. He was namedSwdja, which means "undestroyable". In Egyptian mythology the serpopard was described as "the one who moves the sun". On the Narmer palette, two serpopards are entwining their necks. This picture is thought to be an allegoric display of the unification of Egypt. Under Scorpion II, two serpopards are lacerating a gazelle, which might imply that the serpopards were under the control of the king (they attack on command).[10][11][21][23][24]
The "winged chimeras" were namedSefer in Egyptian and they represent chaos and violence. They appear on the Two-dogs-palette and on several ivory artifacts. Scholars point to the fact that creatures such as the chimera and the serpopards were ofMesopotamian origin.[10][11][21][23][24]
A further motif of Scorpion's era, clearly of Mesopotamian origin, is that of a warrior fighting two lions with his bare hands. He holds one lion in each hand, both at his sides. A similar motif shows the warrior with twogiraffes. In later dynasties, this motif became a hieroglyph, registered asGardiner A38 andGardiner A39. It readsQjs and it was used as the emblem of the city ofCusae.[10][11][21][23][24]
Possible Mesopotamia–Egypt trade routes from the 4th millennium BCE[25][26]
All listed motifs and emblems, but also tomb architecture and traded items (such as tools, bead collars and cylinder seals) prove a surprisingly strong and extensive influence of Mesopotamian culture and religion to the early Egyptians. This cognition is promoted by the evaluations of architectural developments, visible at burial places such as Minshat Abu Omar, Hierakonpolis and Naqada. The architectural methods used for building complex and stable tombs were clearly copied from Mesopotamian buildings.
It is not fully clarified why the Egyptians fostered their amicable relationship with Mesopotamia so intensively; proponents of theDynastic race theory believe that the first Egyptian chieftains and rulers were themselves of Mesopotamian origin, but this view has been abandoned among modern scholars.[27][28]
The current position of modern scholarship is that the Egyptian civilization was an indigenous Nile Valley development and that the archaeological evidence "strongly supports anAfrican origin"[29] of the ancient Egyptians.[27][30][31][32] During the rulership of King Scorpion II and his immediate successors, the influence seems to decrease and Egypt begins to foster its own, more independent culture. This surely was a further important step toward Egypt's future as a powerful and wealthy kingdom.[10][11][21][23][24]
Hierakonpolis ivory cylinder with kneeling men, with impression (drawing)
Tomb
The exact burial place of Scorpion II is unknown. There are two tombs that are both seen as candidates. The first one is registered as Tomb B50 and lies atUmm El Qa'ab (close to Abydos). It is a nearly quadratic chamber divided into four rooms by a simple, cross-shaped mud wall. Several ivory tags with scorpion figures were found here. The second one is located at Hierakonpolis and is registered as Tomb HK6-1. It measures 3.5 m × 6.5 m, has a depth of 2.5 m, and is strengthened with mud. Several ivory tags with scorpion figures were found here.[33]
The 2007 children's novelPharaoh byJackie French deals with events in the court of King Scorpion, and the rivalry between his sons Narmer and Prince Hawk.
^abLudwig David Morenz:Bild-Buchstaben und symbolische Zeichen: Die Herausbildung der Schrift der hohen Kultur Altägyptens. (=Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis, vol. 205). Fribourg 2004,ISBN3-7278-1486-1, pp. 151–154.
^abcdefghiKrzysztof Marek Ciałowicz:La naissance d'un royaume: L'Egypte dès la période prédynastique à la fin de la Ière dynastie. Institute of Archaeology,Jagiellonian University, Kraków, 2001,ISBN83-7188-483-4, pp. 97–98.
^abcdefgElise Jenny Baumgärtel, Ludwig David Morenz: "Scorpion and Rosette and the Fragment of the Large Hierakonpolis Macehead". In:Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde (ZÄS), Vol. 93. Akademie-Verlag Berlin 1998, pp. 9–13.
^abThomas Schneider:Lexikon der Pharaonen. Albatros, Düsseldorf 2002,ISBN3-491-96053-3, p. 276.
^abGünter Dreyer: "Horus Krokodil: Ein Gegenkönig der Dynastie 0". In: Renee Friedman, Barbara Adams:The Followers of Horus: Studies dedicated to Michael Allen Hoffman, 1949–1990. Oxford 1992,ISBN0-946897-44-1, pp. 259–263.
^abPeter Kaplony:Die Inschriften der ägyptischen Frühzeit. Bd. 2 (=Ägyptologische Abhandlungen. Bd. 8, 2). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1963, p. 1090.
^abcdefMichael Allan Hoffman:Egypt before the pharaohs: The prehistoric foundations of Egyptian Civilization. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London 1980,ISBN0-7100-0495-8, pp. 312–326.
^Jochem Kahl: "Ober- und Unterägypten: Eine dualistische Konstruktion und ihre Anfänge". In: Rainer Albertz (Hrsg.):Räume und Grenzen: Topologische Konzepte in den antiken Kulturen des östlichen Mittelmeerraums. Utz, München 2007,ISBN3-8316-0699-4, p. 16.
^abcdeWhitney Davis: Masking the Blow: The Scene of Representation in Late Prehistoric Egyptian Art. Berkeley, Oxford (Los Angeles) 1992,ISBN0-5200-7488-2, pp. 67, 97–113.
^abcdBéatrix Midant-Reynes:The prehistory of Egypt. From the first Egyptians to the first pharaohs. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford 2000,ISBN0-6312-1787-8, pp. 240–242.
^Redford, Donald B.Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times. (Princeton: University Press, 1992), p. 22.
^abWilkinson, Toby (1999).Early dynastic Egypt. London: Routledge. p. 15.ISBN0415186331.
^*Pg84-85 "major burial sites of those founding locales of ancient Egypt in the fourth millennium BCE, notably El-Badari as well as Naqada, show no demographic indebtedness to the Levant. They reveal instead a population with cranial and dental features with closest parallels to those of other longtime populations of the surrounding areas of northeastern Africa, such as Nubia and the northern Horn of Africa".Ehret, Christopher (20 June 2023).Ancient Africa: A Global History, to 300 CE. Princeton: Princeton University Press. pp. 83–86,167–169.ISBN978-0-691-24409-9.
^Yurco, Frank (1996). "An Egyptological Review". (1996).Black Athena revisited. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. pp. 62–100.ISBN0807845558.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^Zakrzewski, Sonia R. (2007).Population continuity or population change: Formation of the ancient Egyptian state. Highfield, Southampton: Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton.
^*Pg33-"Early Nile Valley populations were primarily coextensive with indigenous African populations. Linguistic and archaeological data provide key supporting evidence for a primarily African origin".Shomarka Keita and A.J. Boyce "The Geographic and Origins and Population Relationships of Early Ancient Egyptians". Celenko Theodore (ed). (1996).Egypt in Africa. Indianapolis, Ind.: Indianapolis Museum of Art. pp. 20–33.ISBN0936260645.
^Michael Allan Hoffman: "Before the Pharaohs: How Egypt Became the World's First Nation-State". In:The Sciences. New York Academy of Sciences, New York 1988, pp. 40–47.
Hannig, Rainer (2006).Großes Handwörterbuch Ägyptisch-Deutsch: (2800–950 v. Chr.): die Sprache der Pharaonen. Kulturgeschichte der antiken Welt (in German). Vol. 64. Mainz: Philip von Zabern.ISBN978-3-80-531771-9.
Kaiser, Werner; Dreyer, Günter (1982). "Umm el-Qaab: Nachuntersuchungen im frühzeitlichen Königsfriedhof. 2. Vorbericht".Mitteilungen des Deutschen archäologischen Instituts (MDAIK). Abteilung Kairo. (in German).38. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern.ISBN978-3-80-530552-5.
Menu, Bernadette (1996). "Enseignes et porte-étendarts".Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale (in French).96. Cairo: Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale:339–342.
Moortgat, Anton (1994). "Die Goldrosette – ein Schriftzeichen?".Altorientalische Forschungen (in German).21. Berlin: Institut für Orientforschung:359–371.
Needler, Winifred (1967). "A Rock-drawing on Gebel Sheikh Suliman (near Wadi Halfa) showing a Scorpion and human Figures".Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt.6. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns:87–91.doi:10.2307/40000735.JSTOR40000735.
Shaw, Ian; Nicholson, Paul (1995).The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt. London: The British Museum Press.ISBN978-0-71-411909-0.
Wildung, Dietrich (1981).Ägypten vor den Pyramiden – Münchner Ausgrabungen in Ägypten (in German). Mainz: Philipp von Zabern.ISBN978-3-80-530523-5.
Bibliography
Clayton, Peter A (2006).Chronicle of the Pharaohs: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Rulers and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson.ISBN0-500-28628-0.
Edwards, IES (1965). "The Early Dynastic Period in Egypt". In Edwards, IES; et al. (eds.).The Cambridge Ancient History. Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press.
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