| Wadjenes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wadjlas, Ougotlas, Outlas, Tlas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Cartouche name of Wadjenes in the Abydos King List (cartouche no. 12) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pharaoh | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reign | length of reign unknown | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor | Nynetjer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Successor | Senedj | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dynasty | 2nd Dynasty; around 2740 B.C. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wadjenes (ancient EgyptianWadj-nes, which means "fresh of tongue"), also known asWadjlas,Ougotlas andTlas, was anearly Egyptianking who may have ruled during the2nd Dynasty. Since the name form "Wadjenes" is not contemporarily attested as the name of a king, but frequently appears inRamesside kinglists, Egyptologists to this day are trying to connect Wadjenes with contemporaryHorus-kings.
The king's name "Wadjenes" is attested only in the Ramesside kinglists, where he is always presented as the immediate successor of kingNynetjer and as the predecessor of kingSenedj. The same goes for theRoyal Canon of Turin, where the entry for his name is damaged so only the years of rulership are preserved.[1][2]
Whilst all kinglists match each other regarding thechronological position of Wadjenes, Egyptologists are uncertain as to the origin of the name "Wadjenes". Egyptologists andhistorians such asWinfried Barta,Bernhard Grdseloff andIorwerth Eiddon Stephen Edwards believe that thepapyrus haulm, the first symbol in Wadjenes's name, is a misinterpretation of thehieroglyphic sign of a flower calledWeneg (also read asUneg), which is rarely used in Egyptian writing. A kingWeneg (also written as "Weneg-Nebti") is also contemporarily identified by blackink-inscriptions onalabaster-shards and as incised writings onschist vessels originating from the underground galleries beneath the step pyramid of kingDjoser atSakkara. It is possible that Ramesside scribes interchanged the Weneg flower with the papyrus haulm, since both signs are very similar to each other inhieratic script.[3][4][5]
Besides the artefacts with the name "Weneg-Nebti", further objects made of alabaster show the personal name "Wadj-sen" in connection with theSed festival. Egyptologists such asWolfgang Helck think that Wadj-sen was a crown prince, since the titularyWer-ma'a ("he who sees the greatest") was always reserved for the eldest son of a king and so it is also connected with Wadj-sen's name. However, Egyptologists such asPeter Kaplony andJürgen von Beckerath believe that Weneg-Nebti and Wadjenes are identical and that Wadjenes's Horus name wasSekhemib-Perenmaat orHorus Sa.[6]
The ancient Egyptian historianManetho called Wadjenes "Tlas". This name distortion may be based on theCoptic rewriting of the name "Wadjenes" as "Ougotlas", meaning ″fresh of tongue″.[7]
Very little is known about Wadjenes's reign. TheTurin King List lists Wadjenes as ruling for 54 years, whilst Manetho assigns 17 years to him. Egyptologists evaluate both lists as misinterpretations by Ramesside scribes or as an exaggeration. If Wadjenes was an independent ruler (asRichard Weill and Peter Kaplony believe) he was evidently the last to rule over a unified realm, since his name is found in bothMemphite andThinite royal chronicles. It is largely accepted by Egyptologists that the immediate successor of king Nynetjer left a divided Egypt, which was headed by two kings who ruled at the same time. The theory is based on the unusualserekh name of a king calledPeribsen, who succeeded Nynetjer and who placed the crest animal ofSeth above his name. Since the deity Seth was ofOmbite origin, king Peribsen was probably of Ombite origin, too, and he definitely ruled only inUpper Egypt. His name is missing from the Ramesside Memphite kinglists, because they were all written by Memphite priests and they did not accept any non-Memphite ruler as a rightful ancestor.[2][3][4][5]
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