Ba (king)

Names of Ba (king)
	Basalt tablet fragment with a name of Horus attributed to King Ba (detail).

Ba (aka Hor-ba ) is the Horus name of an ancient Egyptian king ( Pharaoh ) of the 2nd or 3rd Dynasty ( Old Kingdom ).

So far nothing is known about the exact reign, duration of the rule and relationships with other rulers of the 2nd and 3rd dynasties. Bas's historical figure is very sparsely documented and therefore hardly researched.

supporting documents

The only potentially tangible evidence of the existence of Pharaoh Ba are a broken basalt tablet (10034 object) and a green slate fragment from the pyramid complex of Pharaoh Netjerichet in Saqqara , and the Mastaba of a priest named Nianchba seemed that in the 6th Dynasty.

research

Serech with the name of King Ba

In 1899, the researcher MS Ricci presented a drawing in Magazines for Egyptian Language and Archeology No. 35 in which a serech with a single leg symbol ( Gardiner symbol D58 ) could be seen. According to Riccis, the Serech came from Wadi Maghara in Sinai . Miroslav Cerny and Michel Baude found out, however, that it was a misinterpretation by Ricci: The latter had actually signed King Sanacht's Serech , the upright Sa symbol and the two horizontal signs N35 and M34 were drawn into a leg Fused icon.

Peter Kaplony and Miroslav Cerny think it is possible that King Ba is identical to King “ Vogel ”. Your thesis is based on a possible reading of the name of King "Vogel" as "Horus Ba". Since the Aries symbol in King Ba's name has the same reading (“Ba”), the two assume that both Horus names refer to the same historical person. However, this thesis is viewed with skepticism by the majority of research.

The Egyptologists Winfried Barta , Jochem Kahl and Wolfgang Helck see in King Ba a ruler who could have ruled for a very short time towards the end of the 3rd dynasty. In doing so, they rely on the aforementioned mastaba of the priest Nianchba , who must have performed the funeral service for King Ba. This cult seems to have died out immediately after Nianchba's death, which is typical for rulers with a very short reign.

The Egyptologist Nabil Swelim, however, considers Pharaoh Ba to be a lightning ruler of the 2nd dynasty who came to power for a very short time after King (Pharaoh) Ninetjer . He relies on the Abydenic name of Ninetjer - Ba-Netjer - and suspects that the Aries symbol in Bas' name could have accidentally flowed into the Ninetjer's maiden name.

Other scholars such as Jürgen von Beckerath and Winfried Barta consider Ba to be the Horus name of Huni , the last ruler of the 3rd dynasty. However, this theory is based only on the fact that Huni's Horus name has not yet been determined.

literature

Karl Richard Lepsius : Book of Kings of the Ancient Egyptians . Besser, Mainz 1858
Jochem Kahl : The system of the Egyptian hieroglyphic writing . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1994, ISBN 3-447-03499-8
Nabil Swelim : Some Problems on the History of the Third Dynasty. In: Archaeological and Historical Studies. Volume 7. The Archaeological Society of Alexandria, Alexandria 1983, pp. 27-32, 180 and 219.
Zakaria Goneim : Saqqara Register of Antiquities; Obj. No.S-10034. In: Egyptian Stone Vessels. von Zabern, Mainz 1978, ISBN 3-8053-0318-1

Individual evidence

↑ Lacau-Lauer: Pyramide Degrees , Volume II, p. 97 Fig. 6
↑ Jürgen von Beckerath : Handbook of the Egyptian king names . 1984, p. 49.
^ Nabil Swelim: Some problems on the History of the Third Dynasty . Pp. 182-183, 185.
↑ Zakaria Goneim: Saqqara Register of Antiquities; Object no.10034
↑ ^a ^b Karl Richard Lepsius: Book of Kings of the Ancient Egyptians . P. 18, fig. 905.
↑ Nabil Swelim: The Dry moat of the Netjerikhet complex. 1988, pages 12-22
↑ Michel Baude: Djeser et la IIIe dynastie . P. 20.
↑ Peter Kaplony: Horus Ba? . In: Communications from the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo. 20th edition. von Zabern, Mainz 1965, p. 3.
↑ Jochem Kahl: The system of the Egyptian hieroglyphic writing . Pp. 7-10.
↑ Cecil Mallaby Firth , James Edward Quibell : The Step Pyramid . P. 125.
^ Nabil Swelim: Some Problems on the History of the IIIrd Dynasty . Pp. 67-77.
↑ Winfried Barta: The chronology of the 1st to 5th dynasty according to the information on the reconstructed Annalenstein. In: Journal for Egyptian Language and Antiquity. (ZÄS) No. 108, 1981, pp. 11-12.

predecessor	Office	successor
unsure	Pharaoh of Egypt 3rd Dynasty	unsure

personal data
SURNAME	Ba
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	ancient Egyptian king of the 3rd dynasty
DATE OF BIRTH	around 2650 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	27th century BC BC or 26th century BC Chr.

[1] Lacau-Lauer: Pyramide Degrees , Volume II, p. 97 Fig. 6

[B-2] Jürgen von Beckerath : Handbook of the Egyptian king names . 1984, p. 49.

[3] Nabil Swelim: Some problems on the History of the Third Dynasty . Pp. 182-183, 185.

[ZG-4] Zakaria Goneim: Saqqara Register of Antiquities; Object no.10034

[CRL-5] Karl Richard Lepsius: Book of Kings of the Ancient Egyptians . P. 18, fig. 905.

[6] Nabil Swelim: The Dry moat of the Netjerikhet complex. 1988, pages 12-22

[7] Michel Baude: Djeser et la IIIe dynastie . P. 20.

[8] Peter Kaplony: Horus Ba? . In: Communications from the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo. 20th edition. von Zabern, Mainz 1965, p. 3.

[9] Jochem Kahl: The system of the Egyptian hieroglyphic writing . Pp. 7-10.

[10] Cecil Mallaby Firth , James Edward Quibell : The Step Pyramid . P. 125.

[11] Nabil Swelim: Some Problems on the History of the IIIrd Dynasty . Pp. 67-77.

[12] Winfried Barta: The chronology of the 1st to 5th dynasty according to the information on the reconstructed Annalenstein. In: Journal for Egyptian Language and Antiquity. (ZÄS) No. 108, 1981, pp. 11-12.