Second Horus name: Khasekhemwy Ḫꜥj-sḫm.wj Horus, he whose two powers appear
Horus-Seth-name Hor-Set Khasekhemwy (Ḥr -Stẖ) ḫꜥj sḫm.wj He whose two powers appear
Full Horus-Seth-name Hor-Set Khasekhemwy Netjerwy Hetepimef (Ḥr -Stẖ) ḫꜥj sḫm.wj ḫtp nṯrwj jm=f He whose two powers appear, The two powers are at peace within him
Seal of "Khasekhemwy" with the symbol of unification with the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt being worn both by Horus and Seth, on a container of state treasury warehouse for the redistribution of agricultural production.[3]
Khasekhemwy (ca. 2690 BC;Ḫꜥj-sḫm.wj, alsorenderedKha-sekhemui) was the lastPharaoh of theSecond Dynasty of Egypt. Little is known about him, other than that he led several significant military campaigns and built the mudbrick fort known asShunet El Zebib.
HisHorus nameḪꜥj-sḫm.wj can be interpreted as "The Two Powerful Ones Appear",[4] but the name is recorded in many variants, such asḤr-Ḫꜥj-sḫm (Horus, he whose power appears),ḫꜥj sḫm.wj ḥtp nṯrwj jm=f (the two powers appear in that the ancestors rest within him) (etc.)[5][a] He is also known under his latertraditionedbirth nameBebti (which is also one of the names of the godHorus) and under hisHellenized nameCheneres (byManetho; derived fromKhasekhemwy).
Khasekhemwy ruled for close to 18 years, with afloruit in the early 27th century BC. The exact date of his reign inEgyptian chronology is unclear but would fall roughly in between 2690–2670 BC.
According toToby Wilkinson's study of thePalermo Stone inRoyal Annals of Ancient Egypt, this near contemporary 5th dynasty document assigns Khasekhemwy a reign of 17.5 or nearly 18 full years.[6] Wilkinson suggests that a reign of 18 "complete or partial years" can be attributed to Khasekhemwy since the Palermo Stone and its associated fragments record Years 3-6 and Years 12-18 of this king and notes that his final year is recorded in the preserved section of the document.[7] Since thecattle count is shown to be regularly biennial during the second dynasty from the Palermo Stone (the year of the 6th, 7th and 8th count is preserved on the document plus full years after these counts respectively), a figure of c. 18 years is likely correct for Khasekhemwy. (or c. 18 years 2 months and 23 days from the main fragment of the Palermo Stone)
In addition, Manetho states Khasekhemwy ruled Egypt for thirty years, while theTurin King List states it was only twenty-seven years.[8] However, both are considered unreliable as they were written long after Khasekhemwy's death whereas the Palermo Stone was carved 200 years after Khasekhemwy's death and is thought to be more accurate.[9]
Khasekhemwy is normally placed as the successor ofSeth-Peribsen, though someEgyptologists believe that he was the successor ofSekhemib-Perenmaat and that another Pharaoh, Khasekhem, ruled between them. Most scholars, however, believe that Khasekhem and Khasekhemwy are, in fact, the same person.[10] Khasekhem may have changed his name to Khasekhemwy after he defeated Seth-Peribsen and reunitedUpper andLower Egypt following acivil war between the followers of the godHorus led by himself and the followers of the godSeth led by Peribsen. Others believe Khasekhemwy only defeated Seth-Peribsen after returning to Egypt from putting down a revolt inNubia. Either way, he ended the infighting of the Second dynasty and reunited Egypt.
Khasekhemwy is unique in Egyptian history as having both the symbols ofHorus andSeth on hisserekh. At the beginning of his reign he adopted theHorus name Khasekhem,"The powerful one has appeared", which clearly showed his allegence to Horus. Later, however, after defeating Peribsen, he added the symbol of Seth next to Horus and added the epithet to his royal serekh, / and accordingly changed his name to the dual form Khasekhemwy,"The two powers have appeared", along with the addition"The two powers are at peace with him". Some Egyptologists believe that this was an attempt to unify the two factions; but after his death, Seth was dropped from the serekh permanently. He was the earliest Egyptian king known to have built statues of himself.[11][12]
Khasekhemwy apparently undertook considerable building projects upon the reunification of Egypt. He built in stone atel-Kab,Hierakonpolis, andAbydos. Khasekhemwy built enclosures atNekhen, and atAbydos (now known asShunet ez Zebib) and was buried there in the necropolis atUmm el-Qa'ab. He may also have built theGisr el-Mudir atSaqqara.
An inscription on a stone vase records him “fighting the northern enemy withinNekheb”. This means that Lower Egypt may have invaded and almost taken the capital ofNekhen.[13]
Khasekhemwy's wife was QueenNimaathap, mother of the King's Children. They were the parents ofDjoser and Djoser's wifeHetephernebti.[14] It is also possible that Khasekhemwy's sons wereSekhemkhet,Sanakhte, andKhaba, the three kings succeeding Djoser.[15][16]Nimaathap was a northern princess who he titled “King bearing mother”.[13]
A lime statue of king Khasekhemwy, one of the earliest known statues of an Egyptian pharaoh,[note 1] is on display in theAshmolean Museum (AN1896-1908 E.517).[17] The statue comes from the "Main Deposit" atHierakonpolis, and is dated to about 2700-2686 BC. It was discovered byFlinders Petrie in 1896.[17]
Statue of Khasekhemwy, Hierakonpolis, 2700-2686 BC (Ashmolean Museum)
The king wears the White Crown of Upper Egypt, and is dressed in a long robe. His right fist is drilled so as to attach a separate object, possibly a mace handle or a scepter. The king's name is inscribed in front of his feet. It is inscribed within a representation of the palace façade (theserekh), and the falcon godHorus stands on top.[17][18]
The base of the statue has depictions of killed enemies on its four sides, recording a military campaign against the 'northern rebels', referring to the inhabitants of theNile Delta.[17] On the front, the number of slain enemies is given as 47,209 dead, with a symbol generally considered as designating "Libyans".[17][19][20] This scene seems to record the victory of King Khasekhem over a northern Egyptian population led by their ruler, Besh.[18] The name Besh may be a variation or nomen of Peribsen, or more probably the name of a Libyan northern tribe near the Fayum.[21] This iconography of the king crushing enemies at his feet would remain a central theme of royal iconography for the next three millennia.[17]
Khasekhemwy's enclosure, Shunet el-Zebib, inAbydos (Tomb "V" belongs to Khasekhemwy). Circa 2700 BCE.
He apparently built a unique, as well as huge, tomb at Abydos, known asShunet el-Zebib, the last such royal tomb built in theUmm el-Qa'ab necropolis (Tomb V). The trapezoidal tomb measures some 70 meters (230 ft) in length and is 17 meters (56 ft) wide at its northern end, and 10 meters (33 ft) wide at its southern end. This area was divided into 58 rooms. Prior to some recent discoveries from the 1st dynasty, its central burial chamber was considered the oldest masonry structure in the world, being built of quarried limestone. Despite being entered and looted by ancient tomb robbers, the excavators discovered the king's scepter of gold andsard inside the central burial chamber, as well as several beautifully made small stone pots with gold leaf lid coverings, apparently missed by earlier tomb robbers. In fact,Petrie detailed a number of items removed during the excavations ofAmélineau. Other items included flint tools, as well as a variety of copper tools and vessels,stone vessels and pottery vessels filled with grain and fruit. There were also small, glazed objects, carnelian beads, model tools, basketwork and a large quantity of seals.
The second half of the2nd dynasty, especially starting from the reign ofPeribsen, the targeted unification of Egypt under a central administration, the development of the economy, trade and culture, created the conditions for the dynamic onset of the3rd dynasty. This is evidenced by the constructions that were realised, which in their increasingly massive size determined the development of construction technologies and their logistical support, including the necessary administrative structures associated with it. It was also the development of the craft of producing objects, as evidenced by the objects exhibited in museums, partially preserved from the funerary equipment in the tomb of Khasekhemwy. There is no doubt that his sonsSanakht,Netjerikhet andKhaba had enough inspiring ideas for their own reigns.[22]
The era of Khasekhemwy's rule is therefore, in a historical context, an important phase in the development of Egypt's statehood. Increasing Egyptian involvement in neighbouring areas and the imposition of political control over territory beyond Egypt's borders,[note 2] are important indicators of growing self-confidence. The intensity of Egypt's foreign relations in theEarly Dynastic period is a complex mixture of ideology and practical economics, illuminating some of the problems and priorities faced by Egypt's early rulers.[23]
^Flinders Petrie, The Royal tombs ef the earliest dynasties Part II., The Royal tombs ef the earliest dynasties Part II., The Egypt Exploration Fund, London 1901, Pl. XXIII/197
^Peter Clayton, Chronicle of the Pharaohs, Thames and Hudson Ltd, 2006 paperback, p. 26
^Jürgen von Beckerath,Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen (1999).
^Toby Wilkinson, Royal Annals of Ancient Egypt, (Columbia University Press:2000 -ISBN0-7103-0667-9), p. 258
^Toby Wilkinson, Royal Annals of Ancient Egypt, (Columbia University Press:2000 -ISBN0-7103-0667-9), pp. 78–79 & 258
^Hugo Müller,Die formale Entwicklung der Titulature Ägyptischen Könige, J.J. Augustin, Hamburg 1938, p.26-29[1]
^Grdseloff Bernhard, Jaroslav Černý,Notes d’épigraphie archaïque, in:Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Égypte, Imprimerie de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, Cairo 1944
^Dodson, Aidan; Hilton, Dyan (2004).The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson.ISBN0-500-05128-3., p. 48
^Silke Roth:Die Königsmütter des Alten Ägypten von der Frühzeit bis zum Ende der 12. Dynastie (=Ägypten und Altes Testament, vol. 46). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2001,ISBN3-447-04368-7, p. 59-61 & 65–67.
^Toby A. H. Wilkinson:Early Dynastic Egypt. Routledge, London 2001,ISBN0415260116, p. 80 - 82, 94 - 97.
^abKemp, Barry John (2018).Ancient Egypt: anatomy of a civilization (3rd ed.). New-York (NY): Routledge. p. 32/44, Fig.2.18.ISBN978-0415827263.Incised designs on the base of a seated limestone statue of King Khasekhem from Hierakonpolis. The design shows the bodies of the slain, the plant motif above one symbolizing the north of Egypt, and the numerals 42,209. The name Khasekhem is on the top surface of the base, beside the king's feet; hence its reversal. After Quibell and Petrie, Hierakonpolis I, Pl. XL (redrawn by M. Bertram). Both designs seem to record the victory of King Khasekhem/Khasekhemwy over a northern Egyptian population and their ruler, Besh.
^The Cambridge Ancient History 3rd Edition. p. 43.The interpretation of Besh is, however, extremely problematical; at different times it has been explained as the personal name of the king, as the name of a Libyan people dwelling in the neighbourhood of El-Kab, and as a more northern Libyan tribe domiciled near the Faiyum. The title of the scene, 'The Year of fighting and smiting the Northerners', favours the last interpretation, but no final proof is yet forthcoming.
^Miroslav Korecký, Objevy pod pyramidami, Odeon Prague, 1983
^Toby Wilkinson, Early Dynastic Egypt, Random House, New York 1999, p.75-109
and accordingly changed his name to the dual form Khasekhemwy,"The two powers have appeared", along with the addition"The two powers are at peace with him".
Some Egyptologists believe that this was an attempt to unify the two factions; but after his death, Seth was dropped from the serekh permanently. He was the earliest Egyptian king known to have built statues of himself.[11][12]
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