| Taurus | |
|---|---|
| Bull | |
| Pharaoh | |
| Reign | Unknown, existence disputed |
| Predecessor | Unknown |
| Successor | Scorpion I ? |
| Burial | Unknown |
| Dynasty | Dynasty 0 |
Taurus orBull is the provisional name for aPredynastic Egyptian ruler whose historicity is disputed. He is considered a ruler of the lateChalcolithicNaqada III culture of southernEgypt. If "Taurus" or "Bull" actually represents a ruler's name, it is mainly known fromivory tablets from the Abydos tomb U-j ofUmm El Qa'ab and from a rock carving on theGebel Tjauti mountain.
EgyptologistGünter Dreyer deduced the existence of King "Taurus" from incisions on a statue of the godMin, which he interpreted as line of succession. He suspected that the grave goods, which were intended for KingScorpion I, came from the state domain goods of King "Taurus" and thus the bull symbol originated from the name of the latter.[1][2]
Further evidence of the existence of this ruler is the interpretation of a rock drawing discovered in 2003 on theGebel Tjauti in the desert west ofThebes. It apparently representsa successful campaign by King Scorpion I against King Taurus. This battle was possibly part of the concentration of power in late prehistoric Egypt: Scorpion I, operating fromThinis,conquered Taurus' realm in the Naqada area.[2][3]
However, since the bull sign is never accompanied by ahorus falcon or a goldrosette – indicators of rulers in the pre-dynastic period – some researchers doubt that it refers to a king. For example, the writing expertLudwig David Morenz and the EgyptologistJochem Kahl point out that Egyptian hieroglyphic writing was still in the early stages of development during the pre-dynastic period and that it was extremely unsafe to assign individual pictorial symbols. The reason for this is the fact that in this early writing development phase no fixed determinatives for "locality", "nomes" and "region" existed. A representation of a bull could represent the king as an attacking force, but it could also be part of a name for a certain place or district (e.g. for the mountain bull district). There were also depictions of bulls in connection with the archaic ceremony "Catching the wild bull" as a pre-form for the laterApis run. A bull representation therefore does not necessarily confirm a king's name.[2][4]
