History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria in the Light of Recent DiscoveryKing, L. W. (Leonard William)
History
History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria in the Light of Recent Discovery
King, L. W. (Leonard William)
Egypt -- History -- To 332 B.C.; History, Ancient
Nor is this improbable. Manetho’s list is evidently based upon old
Egyptian lists derived from the authorities upon which the king-lists of
Abydos and Sakkâra were based. These old lists were made under the
XIXth Dynasty, when an interest in the oldest kings seems to have been
awakened, and the ruling monarchs erected temples at Abydos in their
honour. This phenomenon can only have been due to a discovery of Umm
el-Ga’ab and its treasures, the tombs of which were recognized as
the burial-places (real or secondary) of the kings before the
pyramid-builders. Seti I. and his son Ramses then worshipped the kings
of Umm el-Ga’ab, with their names set before them in the order, number,
and spelling in which the scribes considered they ought to be inscribed.
It is highly probable that the number known at that time was not quite
correct. We know that the spelling of the names was very much garbled
(to take one example only, the signs for _Sen_ were read as one sign
_Qebh_), so that one or two kings may have been omitted or displaced.
This may be the case with Narmer, or, as his name ought possibly to be
read, _Betjumer_. His monuments show by their style that he belongs to
the very beginning of the Ist Dynasty. No name in the Ist Dynasty list
corresponds to his. But one of the lists gives for the first king of the
IId Dynasty (the successor of “Qebh” = Sen) a name which may also be read
Betjumer, spelt syllabically this time, not ideographically. On this
account Prof. Naville wishes to regard the Hierakonpolite monuments of
Narmer as belonging to the IId Dynasty, but, as we have seen, they are
among the most archaic known, and certainly must belong to the beginning
of the Ist Dynasty. It is therefore probable that Khasekhemui Besh
and Narmer (Betjumer?) were confused by this list-maker, and the
name Betjumer was given to the first king of the IId Dynasty, who was
probably in reality Khasekhemui. The resemblance of _Betju_ to _Besh_
may have contributed to this confusion.
So Narmer (or Betjumer) found his way out of his proper place at the
beginning of the 1st Dynasty. Whether Aha was also called “Men” or not,
it seems evident that he and Narmer were jointly the originals of the
legendary Mena. Narmer, who possibly also bore the name of Sma, “the
Uniter,” conquered the North. Aha, “the Fighter,” also ruled both South
and North at the same period. Khasekhemui, too, conquered the North, but
the style of his monuments shows such an advance upon that of the days
of Aha and Narmer that it seems best to make him the successor of Sen
(or “Qebh “), and, explaining the transference of the name Betjumer
to the beginning of the IId Dynasty as due to a confusion with
Khasekhemui’s personal name Besh, to make Khasekhemui the founder of the
IId Dynasty. The beginning of a new dynasty may well have been marked
by a reassertion of the new royal power over Lower Egypt, which may have
lapsed somewhat under the rule of the later kings of the Ist Dynasty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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