| Pe and Nekhen | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The souls of Nekhen (jackal) and Pe (falcon) kneeling atopNome standards | |||||||
| Name inhieroglyphs |
| ||||||
TheSouls of Pe and Nekhen, mentioned first in thePyramid Texts,[2] refer to the ancestors of the ancient Egyptian kings.Nekhen (Greek Hierakonpolis) was the Upper Egyptian centre of the worship of the godHorus, whose successors the Egyptian pharaohs were thought to be.Pe (Greek Buto) was a Lower Egyptian town, not known for its Horus worship,[3] butRa had awarded the town to Horus after his eye was injured in the struggle for the throne of Egypt.[4]
The approbation of their predecessors, even as mythological and nameless as theSouls of Pe and Nekhen, was important to the Egyptian kings, who referred to them in many inscriptions. Even the Kushite pharaohs saw themselves as descendants of the Souls of Pe and Nekhen.[5]
It appears that theSouls of Heliopolis comprised the Souls of Pe and Nekhen.[6]
The followers of Horus in ancient Egyptian is "Shemsu-Her".
