| Horus-Ba | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ba, Hor-Ba | ||||||||||||||||||||||
 Serekh of Horus-Ba | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pharaoh | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor | Nynetjer? | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Successor | Unknown | |||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dynasty | Uncertain, possibly theFirst,Second orThird Dynasty | |||||||||||||||||||||
Ba, also known asHorus Ba, is theserekh-name of anearly Egyptian orancient Egyptianking who may have ruled at the end of the1st Dynasty, the latter part of2nd Dynasty or during the3rd Dynasty. Neither the exact length of his reign nor his chronological position is known.
The only sure name sources for a king "Ba" are a fragment of greenschist, found in the underground galleries beneath thePyramid of Djoser atSakkara, and the (6th Dynasty)mastaba tomb of the high officialNy-Ankh-Ba.[1][2]
Very little is known about king Ba. The fewarchaeological evidences only assure the existence of such a ruler, but they give no further information.
In 1899 the scientist Alessandro Ricci published a drawing of aserekh with a single leg (Gardiner-signD58) ashieroglyph inside. The picture was seen in Volume No. 35 of theZeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde series. According to Ricci theserekh was found in a rock inscription atWadi Maghareh,Sinai. The EgyptologistsJaroslav Černý andMichel Baude found out, that Ricci was referring to the rock inscription of the 3rd Dynasty kingSanakht. Ricci simply had misinterpreted the signs used for Sanakht's name – an upright sign of a rope loop, the zig-zag shaped sign for water and a branch-sign below – as a single leg-symbol.[3]
Egyptologists such as Černý andPeter Kaplony think that king Ba might be identical to the likewise sparsely attested kingHorus Bird. This ruler wrote his name with the sign of a goose-like bird, but since the depiction of the bird-sign in question lacks artistic details allowing any identification, Egyptologists are disputing the correct reading and meaning of Horus Bird's name. Černý and Kaplony think that both king's names have the same transcription: "Ba". In this case Horus Ba and Horus Bird would be the same historical figure. Černý and Kaplony's theory is not commonly accepted.[4]
In contrast, Egyptologists such asNabil Swelim think that Horus Ba was an immediate successor of the 2nd Dynasty kingNynetjer. He points to the name form of Nynetjer in theAbydos kinglist, which begins with the same hieroglyphic sign (aram; Gardiner-signE11) like theserekh name of Horus Ba. Swelim therefore believes that the Horus name of Ba was erroneously intermingled with the birth name of Nynetjer.[5]
Ba's burial site is unknown.
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