Though archaeological evidence of the time is very scant, contrasting data from theFirst andThird Dynasties indicates important institutional and economic developments during the Second Dynasty.[2][3]
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.[4]
But the identity of the next few rulers is unclear. Surviving sources might be giving theHorus name or theNebty 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 ofNynetjer, the country was split and ruled by two successors due to the overly complex state administration of the whole of Egypt.[5]
The following list contains various king names from different sources:
Listed as the fourth king of the dynasty on theTurin,Saqqara andAbydos king lists. Only attested inLower Egypt.[7] Weneg is generally accepted as anebti (or throne) name and it is unknown what hishorus name was.[8] Theorised to be the same person asRaneb,[9]Sekhemib-Perenmaat[10] or a completely separate king from the others of the Second dynasty. Known asTlas inManetho'sAegyptica.[6]
Listed as the fifth king of the dynasty on theTurin,Saqqara andAbydos king lists. Horus name unknown. May be identifiable withHorus Sa.[11] Known asSethenes inManetho'sAegyptica.[6]
Khaires
17
Mentioned in Manetho'sAegyptica.[6] Unknown which historical king this name refers to.
Only attested in later documents dated long after the time period of the Second dynasty. Listed as the sixth king of the dynasty in theSaqqara andTurin King lists, but omitted from theAbydos King List. May have only ruledLower Egypt. Known asNephercheres in Manetho'sAegyptica.[6]
Only attested in later documents dated long after the time period of the Second dynasty. Listed as the seventh king of the dynasty in theSaqqara andTurin King lists, but omitted from theAbydos King List. May have only ruledLower Egypt. Known asSesochris in Manetho'sAegyptica.[6]
Name literally means "erased" or "missing", showing that this king's name was unknown or lost by theNineteenth Dynasty. Listed as the eighth king of the dynasty on theSaqqara Tablet, but omitted from theAbydos King List. May have only ruledLower Egypt. Theorised to be the same person asPeribsen and may have been deliberately omitted.[12]
Name connected toSeth deity rather than the traditionalHorus. Attested by contemporary inscriptions, but not on later king lists. Only attested inUpper Egypt.[13]
Birth name of a king, unknown placement. Name does not appear on any known official king lists. May be birth name ofRaneb[17] or a completely separate ephemeral king who ruled at some point followingNynetjer's reign.[18]
With the last ruler, the sources return to an agreement:
Manetho statesThinis was the capital, as in the First Dynasty, but the first three kings were buried atSaqqara, suggesting the center of power had moved toMemphis. Beyond this, little can be said about the events during this period as the annual records on thePalermo stone only survive to the end of the reign ofNebra and for parts ofNynetjer's. One important event, the unification ofUpper andLower Egypt, might have occurred during the reign ofKhasekhemwy as many Egyptologists read his name as "the Two Powers arise".
^Romer, John (2013) [2012]. "Chapter 18 – The Lost Dynasty".A History of Ancient Egypt. Vol. 1. London,ENG: Penguin Books. pp. 221–222.ISBN978-1-8-4614377-9.Whatever else was taking place at the court of the Second Dynasty of kings, it is clear that the fundamental institutions of pharaonic government, its systems of supply, not only survived throughout that century and a half, but flourished to the extent that, when the kings emerge into the light of history again with the pyramid builders of the Third Dynasty, the state on the lower Nile was more efficient than it had ever been: that there was, therefore, strong institutional continuity.
^Bard, Kathryn A. (2002) [2000]. "Chapter 4 – The Emergence of the Egyptian State". InShaw, Ian (ed.).The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (paperback) (1st ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 85.ISBN978-0-19-280293-4.There is much less evidence for the kings of the 2nd Dynasty than those of the 1st Dynasty until the last two reigns (Peribsen and Khasekhemwy). Given what is known about the early Old Kingdom in the 3rd Dynasty, the 2nd Dynasty must have been a time when the economic and political foundations were put in place for the strongly centralized state, which developed with truly vast resources. Such a major transition, however, cannot be demonstrated from the archaeological evidence for the 2nd Dynasty.
^Wilkinson, Toby A. H. (1999).Early Dynastic Egypt. Routledge. p. 83.ISBN0-415-26011-6.
^Nicolas Grimal:A History of Ancient Egypt. Wiley-Blackwell, Weinheim 1994,ISBN978-0-631-19396-8, p. 55.
^Wilkinson, Toby A. H. (1999).Early Dynastic Egypt. Routledge. p. 88.ISBN0-415-26011-6.
^Wilkinson, Toby A. H. (1999).Early Dynastic Egypt. Routledge. p. 87.ISBN0-415-26011-6.
^Kahl, Jochem (2007), "Ra is my Lord",Searching for the Rise of the Sun God at the Dawn of Egyptian History, Wiesbaden{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Wolfgang Helck:Untersuchungen zur Thinitenzeit. Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1987,ISBN978-3-447-02677-2, pp. 103–107.
^Von der Way, Thomas (1997), "Zur Datierung des "Labyrinth-Gebäudes" auf dem Tell el-Fara'in (Buto)",Göttinger Miszellen,157:107–111
^Wolfgang Helck:Untersuchungen zur Thinitenzeit: Ägyptologische Abhandlungen., Volume 45. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 1987,ISBN3-447-02677-4, p. 125.
^Wilkinson, Toby A. H. (1999).Early Dynastic Egypt. Routledge. p. 89.ISBN0-415-26011-6.
^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,ISBN3-447-02677-4, 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,ISBN3-406-54988-8, p. 78.
^I. E. S. Edwards:The early dynastic period in Egypt; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1964; p. 25.
^Wilkinson, Toby (1999).Early Dynastic Egypt. Routledge. p. 89.ISBN0-415-26011-6.