Nebre

Name of Nebre
Stele of the nebre; Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York
Horus name	Neb-Re Nb-Rˁ Lord of the Sun (of Horus)
Throne name	style = "text-align: center" style = "text-align: center"
Royal Papyrus Turin (No. II./21)	Kakau K3 k3w (bull) the bulls
List of Kings of Abydos (Seti I) (No.10)	Kakau K3-k3w
Saqqara King List (No.4)	Kakau K3-k3w
Greek Manetho variants:	Africanus : Kaiechos Eusebius : Kaichoos, Choos Eusebius, AV : Cechous

Nebre (also Hor-Nebre , Hor-Nebra , or, outdated, Ra-neb ) was the name of Horus of the second ancient Egyptian king ( Pharaoh ) of the 2nd Dynasty ( early Dynasty ), who lived around 2830 BC. Ruled.

The exact length of his reign is not known. While the annual entry in the Turin Royal Papyrus has broken down, the ancient chronicler Manetho reports 39 years of reign. However, this is probably an exaggeration or a reading of the year information. According to the current state of research, Nebre ruled for about 10 to 14 years.

About the name

Cartouche name of Nebre in the list of kings of Abydos.

Nebre's Horus name was often read as "Raneb", especially in earlier times. However, this reading has been questioned for some time. The reason for this is the observation that the sun was not so much the focus of religious worship during the early dynastic era. From the end of the Predynastic Epoch to the beginning of the Old Kingdom , the Egyptians' belief in the state concentrated on maintaining the dualistic equality of the two highest state deities Horus and Seth . At that time, the sun was still considered a celestial body that was controlled by Horus and was only a part of him. As an important indicator for this realization, Winfried Barta and Steven Quirke cite , among others , that the name "Re" for the sun deity only gradually appeared as a component of private personal names with the beginning of the 3rd dynasty under King Djoser (as in the high officials Hesire ) and only in the middle of the 4th dynasty under King Djedefre moves into the focus of religious cults and finally achieved independent status as a firmly established deity (Djedefre is the first king to dedicate his birth name specifically to the sun god Re ). The name of Horus from King Nebre may therefore only indicate the first changes in cosmological thinking, which promoted the increasing worship of the sun. Egypt may have experienced a further promotion of the sun cult under Seth-Peribsen . Jochem Kahl refers to several clay seal impressions that show the Seth animal together with the sun disk above the king's serech. The sun was now considered to be the heavenly body that was ruled by Seth. Until the reign of King Djoser, the sun was viewed as a mere daytime star ruled by the two state gods without a personality of its own. For this reason, a reading as “Raneb” (in English “Ra is my Lord”) would be misleading. In Egyptology, therefore, the reading "Neb-Re" or "Neb-Ra" (to English "Lord of the Sun") has prevailed.

Near an oasis near Armant there is a rock inscription with Nebre's name, which has an interesting spelling in Serech : here the characters " Sun " ( N5 ) and " Lord " ( V30 ) have been exchanged.

identity

Egyptology generally identifies King Nebre as the ruler "Kakau", who is given in Ramessid king lists as the second ruler of the 2nd dynasty and as the direct predecessor of King Ninetjer . The problem with this is the fact that this name, written in a cartouche , is not documented in a contemporary way, neither in this form nor in a similar variant. There are also no contemporary inscriptions in which another name of the ruler can be found, which the scribes of later epochs might have misunderstood.

Nebre is identical to Weneg

Fragment of the stone bowl of Ninetjer (BM EA 35556).

Egyptologist Jochem Kahl identifies Nebre with the contemporary documented and much-discussed throne name "Nisutbiti-Nebti Weneg ". He sees the volcanic rock fragment BM EA 35556 and its vessel engraving as the key to the solution in connection with the equation of "Raneb" and "Weneg". Both names were originally next to each other on the fragment, but were later overwritten. The throne name of Ninetjer , the third ruler of the 2nd dynasty , is legible in the center of the inscription . The hieroglyphs , with which Ninetjer's name is written, face the representation of the palace " Hut-sa-ha " of Nebre on the right side and are thus mirror-inverted. The representation of the palace and the name of the Nebre show partial destruction from abrasion. Kahl suspects that the already existing hieroglyph of the “Weneg flower” should be ground away and overwritten with the characters for the name “Ninetjer”. From this Kahl concludes an equation of the names "Weneg" and "Nebre". The reasons why the Horus name of Nebre should possibly also be deleted remain unclear. Kahl points out, however, that at least four of Weneg's names were added "on the shave", so Weneg himself had the names of his predecessors overwritten. As a further argument, he relies on the assumption that the name of Hor-Nebre can be read as "Raneb" (in German "Ra is my Lord") and that the deity Weneg was worshiped as the "son of Ra". Since he derived a common ground with regard to a beginning sun cult, he linked the names "Raneb" and "Weneg" with one another. As a third argument for equating the names "Nebre" and "Weneg", Kahl cites the so-called " gold name ", which appears in archaic form as early as the 1st dynasty and was later used as an honorary title for Ra. Kahl therefore assumes that Ra must have been a prominent deity as early as the 1st Dynasty.

Kahl's equation of the names "Nebre" and "Weneg" has meanwhile been welcomed by the majority of Egyptologists. The theories about the early dynastic existence of a sun god "Ra" are still viewed with skepticism. Ben Suelzle points out that the title "The Golden One" was also used as an honorific salutation for other deities, such as for Horus under King Qaa (1st Dynasty), where Horus is titled as "Golden One of the Godheads". Or for the crown goddesses Nekhbet and Wadjet under King Khasekhemwy (whose Nebtiname was "Coronation of the two powers of the Two Ladies, her body is made of gold"). As a third example, Suelzle cites the god Seth , who was also referred to as "The Golden" under King Peribsen . “The golden one” could therefore stand for practically every deity in Egypt. A gold name is therefore not a compelling indication of a worship of a "sun god Ra" in the early dynastic epochs, especially since the kings always viewed themselves as representatives of Horus and Seth, not Ra. Stephen Quirke adds that the term "Ra" (Egyptian r3 ) for the sun only appears in the names of high officials under King Djoser. A "sun god Rê" as an independent god with his own cult has not yet been proven under Nebre, it was only introduced under King Djoser.

Nebre is identical to Nubnefer

Jürgen von Beckerath and Battiscombe Gunn, on the other hand, suggest the Nisut-Biti name Nubnefer as a possible proper name. However, this equality is not uncontested, as "Nubnefer" is already a fixed birth name and possibly already belongs to another, independent ruler, especially since the kings of the first to third dynasties always used the same spelling for their Nisut-biti-Nebti names.

supporting documents

Abydos Giza Saqqara Armant

Locations

A fragment of a vessel made of slate , which was discovered in Mastaba S3014 in Saqqara , calls the festival “Hor wadjet sah” ( erecting the pillars of Horus ) in association with the name “Weneg” . This festival is mentioned extensively and often on vessels from the reign of kings Nebre and Ninetjer, the inscription on the vessel thus confirms at least a chronological proximity of Weneg to the beginning of the 2nd dynasty. Nebre's name also appears on unrolled seals from a large passage grave under the Unas pyramid , along with those of his predecessor Hetepsechemui . He is mentioned on various inscriptions on stone vessels from Abydos , Gizeh and above all Saqqara. Strangely enough, his name never appears alone, but always either together with the name of his predecessor (Hetepsechemui) or that of his successor (Ninetjer).

In addition, a memphis or Sakkara stele from Nebre has been preserved, which is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York . A statue of the priest Redjit was found in Memphis . An inscription on the shoulder of the figure names three kings: Hetepsechemui, Nebre and Ninetjer. As a priest, Redjit probably provided the cult of the dead for these three kings, as his statue can be dated stylistically to the end of the 3rd dynasty.

In the south of the Sinai Peninsula there are a total of three rock inscriptions with the Serech des Nebre. They are placed in three different wadis : Wadi Abu Madawi , Wadi Abu Koua and Wadi 'Ameyra . Their places of installation correspond to a certain route on which further rock inscriptions with the names of kings from the first four dynasties can be found. Presumably these are trade routes that lead from the west coast of Sinai inland to the copper and turquoise mines and back.

Reign

Vessel carving with the names of the kings Hetepsechemui and Nebre in front of the representation of the goddess Bastet

As mentioned in the introduction, the length of Nebre's reign is unknown. Reconstructions on a fragment of the Palermostein and on the Kairostein indicate a duration of 38 to 39 years for Hetepsechemui and Nebre together, from which two possibilities can be derived: Either both ruled for 19 years or Hetepsechemui ruled for 29 years and Nebre 10 years. The latter is preferred by the majority of Egyptology.

Little is known about the course of Nebre's reign either. Only Manetho knows about Nebre (whom he calls "Kaichoos") to report that he ruled for 38 years; under that the gods were Apies , Menevus and the goat to Mendes introduced . Egyptologists are suspicious of this story, as the Apis cult was already celebrated under King Anedjib and the deity Apis himself has been attested since the beginning of the 1st Dynasty .

In connection with the name Weneg, the inscriptions on the stone vessels are of special interest. The two most common inscriptions mention ship names, both "Hor-seba-taui" ( Horus, star of the two countries ) and "Sema" ( wild bull ). Both names of the festivals appear for the first time under Weneg and appear with the same name in Ninetjer . Since the 1st dynasty, as royal ships, the festival barges played the central role in the inspection of the escort of Horus . It remains unclear whether it is a further use under Ninetjer or a new building.

Possible burial site

Some Egyptologists consider gallery grave B under the Unas access road in Saqqara to be Nebre's possible burial place. Based on the clay seal inscriptions found there, Wolfgang Helck believes that the said grave belongs more to Nebre and that of his predecessor, Hetepsechemui , is not yet located elsewhere in this area.

literature

General

• Jürgen von Beckerath : Handbook of the Egyptian king names . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 1884, ISBN 3-422-00832-2
• Jürgen von Beckerath: Chronology of the pharaonic Egypt. von Zabern, Mainz 1997, ISBN 3-8053-2310-7
• Peter A. Clayton: The Pharaohs . Bechtermünz, Augsburg 1994, ISBN 3-8289-0661-3 .
• Walter B. Emery : Egypt, History and Culture of the Early Period, 3200-2800 BC Chr. Fourier, Munich 1964
• Wolfgang Helck : Economic history of ancient Egypt in the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC Brill, Leiden 1975, ISBN 90-04-04269-5
• Jochem Kahl : Inscriptional Evidence for the relative Chronology of Dyns. 0-2 . In: Erik Hornung , Rolf Krauss , David A. Warburton: Ancient Egyptian chronology. Brill, Leiden 2006, ISBN 90-04-11385-1 , pp. 94-115 ( online ).
• Jochem Kahl: "Ra is my Lord": Searching for the Rise of the Sun God at the Dawn of Egyptian History. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 3-447-05540-5
• George Andrew Reisner : Mycerinus - The temple of the third pyramid at Giza . Martino Publishing, 1998, ISBN 1-57898-145-X .
• Pierre Lacau , Jan-Phillip Lauer: La Pyramide a Degrees IV. - Inscriptions Gravees sur les Vases: Fouilles à Saqqarah. Service des antiquités de l'Égypte, Cairo 1936
• Peter Munro : The Unas cemetery north-west / 1, topographical-historical introduction, the double grave of the queens Nebet and Khenut. von Zabern, Mainz 1993, ISBN 978-3-8053-1353-7 .
• Hermann A. Schlögl : Ancient Egypt. History and culture from the early days to Cleopatra. Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-54988-8
• Thomas Schneider : Lexicon of the Pharaohs. Albatros, Düsseldorf 2002, ISBN 3-491-96053-3
• Rainer Stadelmann in: Mélanges Mokhtar. Institut français d'archéologie orientale du Caire, Cairo 1985, ISBN 2-7247-0019-8
• Rainer Stadelmann: The Egyptian pyramids. From brick construction to the wonder of the world (= cultural history of the ancient world . Volume 30). 2nd, revised and expanded edition. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1991, ISBN 3-8053-1142-7 .
• Dietrich Wildung : The role of Egyptian kings in the consciousness of their posterity. Part I. Posthumous sources on the kings of the first four dynasties. In: Munich Egyptological Studies Vol. 17, Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin, 1969
• Toby AH Wilkinson: Early Dynastic Egypt . Routledge, London / New York 1999, ISBN 0-415-18633-1

To the unwinding of the seal

• Eva-Maria Engel: The unwinding of the seals from Hetepsechemui and Raneb from Saqqara. In: Ernst Czerny, Irmgard Hein, Hermann Hunger, Dagmar Melman, Angela Schwab: Timelines: Studies in honor of Manfred Bietak. Peeters, Leuven 2006, ISBN 90-429-1730-X .
• Eva-Maria Engel, Vera Müller: Closures of the early days. Creation of a typology. In: Göttinger Miszellen (GM) 178, Göttingen 2000, pp. 31-44.
• Wolfgang Helck: Investigations on the Thinite Age (= Ägyptologische Abhandlungen. (ÄA) Vol. 45). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1987, ISBN 3-447-02677-4 .
• Jochem Kahl: The system of the Egyptian hieroglyphic writing 0.-3. Dynasty . In: Göttinger Orientforschungen, I. series of principles and results. (GOF) IV, 24, Wiesbaden 1994.
• Peter Kaplony : Inscriptions of the early Egyptian period, vol. 3. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1963.
• Gaston Maspero : Notes sur les objets recueillis sous la pyramide d'Ounas In: Annales du Service des Antiquités de l´Egypt. (ASAE) Vol. 3, Le Caire 1902, pp. 185-190.

Web links

Commons : Nebre  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• The Ancient Egypt Site (English)
• touregypt.net www.touregypt.net (English)
• Nebra at Francesco Raffaele's on xoomer.virgilio.it (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Alan H. Gardiner: The royal canon of Turin. Plate 1.
2. ↑ With a name ideogram for a king representing the Horus falcon.
3. ↑ Term of office: 39 years.
4. ↑ ^{a b Duration of} government: No information.
5. ↑ Dietrich Wildung: The role of Egyptian kings in the consciousness of their posterity. Pp. 31-33.
6. ↑ Jochem Kahl: Ra is my Lord. Pp. 2-7.
7. ↑ Steven Quirke: Ancient Egyptian Religions. P. 22.
8. ^ HA Winkler: Rock Drawings of Southern Upper Egypt I. Sir Robert Mond Desert Expedition, Season 1936-1937, Preliminary Report I. London 1938, p. 10, plate 11.4
9. ^ Walter Bryan Emery: Egypt. Early history and culture . Pp. 103 & 274.
10. ↑ Jochem Kahl: Ra is my Lord. P. 8.
11. ↑ Jochem Kahl: Ra is my Lord. Pp. 4-14.
12. ↑ See, for example, Stephen Quirkes book review of Jochem Kahl's "Ra is my Lord" in: Journal of Egyptian Archeology , 95th Edition 2009. Egypt Exploration Society, London, ISSN  0307-5133 , pp. 299-300.
13. ↑ See also Hartwig Altenmüller's book review of Jochem Kahl's “Ra is my Lord” in: Lingua Aegyptia - Studia monographica , Volume 16. Seminar for Egyptology and Coptology, Göttingen 2008, pp. 331–333.
14. ↑ see Ben Suelzle's book review by Jochem Kahl: "Ra is my Lord." In: Eras. 10th edition, November 2008, Monash University Press, Melbourne 2008, ISSN  1445-5218 , pp. 2 & 3, PDF version ( Memento of March 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (English).
15. ↑ Steven Quirke: Ancient Egyptian Religions. P. 22.
16. ^ Battiscombe Gunn: Annales du service des antiquités de lÉgypte - Súppleménts. 28th edition. Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, Cairo 1938, p. 152.
17. ↑ Jürgen von Beckerath: Handbook of the Egyptian king names. Pp. 48-49.
18. ^ Toby AH Wilkinson: Early Dynastic Egypt. P. 87.
19. ↑ Eva-Maria Engel: The unwinding of the seals from Hetepsechemui and Raneb from Saqqara. In Ernst Czerny, Irmgard Hein, et al. (Ed.): Timelines - Studies in Honor of Manfred Bietak (= Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta. (OLA) Vol. 149). Leuven, Paris, Dudley 2006, II, pp. 28-29, Figures 6-9.
20. ↑ Kahl: Ra is my lord. Pp. 21-26.
21. ^ Henry George Fischer: An Egyptian Royal Stela of the Second Dynasty. In: Artibus Asiae. Vol. 24, No. 1, 1961, ISSN  0004-3648 , Institute of Fine Arts, Ascona / Boston 1961, pp. 45-56.
22. ^ Henry George Fischer: Artibus Asiae. Vol. 24, No. 1, 1961, Fig. 1.
23. ↑ Pierre Tallet, Damien Laisnay: Iry-Hor et Narmer au Sud-Sinaï (Ouadi 'Ameyra), un complément à la chronologie des expéditios minière égyptiene. In: Bulletin de l'Institut Français D'Archéologie Orientale (BIFAO) 112th edition 2012, pp. 389–398 ( online ).
24. ↑ Pierre Lacau & Jan-Phillip Lauer: La Pyramide a Degrees IV. Fig. 58.
25. ↑ Wolfgang Helck: Comments on the Annalenstein. In: Communications from the German Archaeological Institute, Cairo Department. (MDAIK) Vol. 30, German Archaeological Institute, Orient Department (Ed.), De Gruyter, Berlin 1974, ISSN  0342-1279 , p. 31.
26. ↑ Werner Kaiser: Some remarks on the early Egyptian period. II. On the question of an Egyptian historical tradition that goes beyond Menes. In: Journal for Egyptian Language and Antiquity. Vol. 86. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1961, ISSN  0044-216X , p. 39.
27. ↑ 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. Vol. 108. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1981, ISSN  0044-216X , p. 11.
28. ^ Walter Bryan Emery: Egypt. Early history and culture. Pp. 103 & 274.
29. ↑ Weneg. with Francesco Raffaele
30. ↑ Wolfgang Helck: Economic history of ancient Egypt in the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC P. 21–32.
31. ↑ Peter Munro : The Unas Cemetery Northwest I. 1993, I.

predecessor	Office	successor
Hetepsechemui	King of Egypt 2nd Dynasty	Ninetjer