Sechemib

Name of Sechemib
Diorite fragment with the Nisut-Bitj name of the Sechemib (far right).
Horus name	Sechem -ib Sḫm-jb With a mighty will Sechem-ib-per-en-maat Sḫm-jb-pr-n-m3ˁt With mighty will going out for the mate
Sideline	Sechem-ib-per-en-maat Sḫm-jb-pr-n-m3ˁt With mighty will going out for the mate
Proper name	Sechemib (Sechem ib) Sḫm jb With mighty will
Greek Manetho variants:	Africanus : missing Eusebius : missing Eusebius, AV : missing

Sechemib (also Sechemib-Perenmaat ) is the Horus name of an ancient Egyptian king ( pharaoh ) of the 2nd dynasty , whose reign is unknown. His name is of not inconsiderable interest for Egyptology , as it contains an epithet and possibly indicates religious upheavals under Sechemib's rule.

For identity and historical position of Sekhemib-Perenmaat in the traditional ruler list, there are controversial discussions and views within the research because contemporary , archaeological discoveries provide equally unclear and sometimes contradictory statements. In particular , there are divergent theses regarding a possible equation of Sechemib with his predecessor or successor, King Peribsen . Added to this is the possible lack of Sechemib's name in posthumous sources and Ramessid king lists. It is also not known who was Sechemib's predecessor and who was his successor during the 2nd Dynasty.

In the reign of Sechemib, however, significant and extensive, economic and administrative innovations in the state system can be demonstrated.

supporting documents

King Sechemib is best known for numerous clay seals that bear his name. The majority of these seals were found in fragments in the tomb of King Peribsen at Abydos .

Another part of the finds from Sechemib's reign were found in the underground tomb galleries of the Djoser complex in Saqqara . There are also several breccia and calcite - alabaster vessels with the name of the Sechemib engraved on them from both sites . Another variety of clay seal fragments comes from Elephantine .

Excavations at the Abydenean cult area of King Chasechemui - known as " Fort Shunet el-Zebib" - uncovered the remains of a very small cult building, which is attributed to Sechemib on the basis of clay seals found. The name of the cult building is lost. The building was never completed because Sechemib probably died prematurely. According to the location of the find, the cult building of Chasechemui was demolished and built over.

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  Seal imprint of the Sechemib; British Museum , London

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  Vessel inscription of the Sechemib (badly damaged), on the left the title of a Rech-nesu

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  Vessel inscription of the Sechemib with the note Inj-chasut

Name and identity

Problems and contradictions have arisen in the course of research with regard to the identity and chronological position of Sechemib. The reason for this is the discovery of Sechemib's seals, which were deposited in the grave of Peribsen and which are named "Hor-Sechemib" or "Hor-Sechemib-Perenmaat". The position of the find and the inscriptions surrounding the king's name have led to opposing views among scholars.

Walter Bryan Emery , Kathryn A. Bard and Flinders Petrie believe that Sechemib changed his name from "Hor-sixem-ib" to "Seth-per-ib-sen" and is therefore identical to the latter. As an argument in favor of an equality between Sechemib and Peribsen, the researchers cite that so many clay seals with Sechemib's name were found in the burial area of ​​Peribsen, while the grave of Sechemib has not yet been located.

Seal imprint with the name of Horus of the Sechemib and the name of the high official Nebhetep

Hermann A. Schlögl , Wolfgang Helck , Peter Kaplony and Jochem Kahl , on the other hand, are convinced that Sechemib and Peribsen were two individual rulers and that Sechemib Peribsen succeeded the throne. The reason for this assumption is the observation that Sechemib's name never appears on the same object together with Peribsen's. They compare the discovery of Sechemib's clay seals in the cult area and in the entrance area of ​​Peribsen's grave with the find situation of the ivory labels of King Hetepsechemui (founder of the 2nd dynasty ) in the grave area of King Qaa (probably the last ruler of the 1st dynasty ). For Schlögl, Helck, Kaplony and Kahl, the clay seals therefore prove that Sechemib had his predecessor Peribsen buried.

Toby Wilkinson posits that Sechemib could at least have been closely related to Peribsen. The indications he cited are grammatical and typographical similarities that come to light in vessel and clay seal inscriptions: The inscription Jnj-sṯt ("Ini-setjet"; in German "Tribute of Sethroë " ) can be found repeatedly under Peribsen , while the Inscriptions under Sechemib Inj-ḫ3s.t ("Ini-chaset"; in German " Tribut der Fremdländer" ) read. Another indication of a closer connection between Peribsen and Sechemib are the name elements pr and jb , which are represented in both king names.

Wolfgang Helck and Dietrich Wildung think it is conceivable that Sechemib is identical with the Ramessid cartouche name Wadjenes . This explanation is based on the assumption that the Weneg flower was misinterpreted by the hieratic script and rewritten as "Wadjenes". Weneg would therefore have been the Nisut-Biti name of Sechemib. Alternatively, Helck and Wildung consider equating Wadjenes with Peribsen.

According to Jürgen von Beckerath, Sechemib is seen as the counter-regent to the rulers Seneferka , Ba and " Vogel ", and according to Schlögl as the counter-king to the rulers Neferkare / Aaka , Neferkasokar and Hudjefa .

Reign

Temporal classification of Sechemib

Porphyry vessel fragment with the figurative representation of Seth

Alabaster vessel with the name of Sechemib-Perenmaat (detail)

Seal fragment from Elephantine

Herman A. Schlögl, Wolfgang Helck and Jürgen von Beckerath suspect that Sechemib - like Peribsen - only ruled in Upper Egypt. The background to this view is a presumed division of the empire at the time of King Ninetjer's death . After a drought lasting several years , Ninetjer is said to have split Egypt into two independent halves and divided it among its heirs in order to counteract the drought-related economic conflicts. In Sechemib's time, Egypt would have consisted of two halves of the country, of which the southern part was dominated by kings like him and Peribsen , while kings like Neferkare / Aaka, Neferkasokar and Hudjefa ruled in the north . The division of the empire was ended under King Chasechemui . Siegfried Schott also refers to a co-reign of Sechemib in the last few years of Peribsen, which can be deduced from records in the government calendar. Sechemib's chronological position is therefore increasingly dated to the end of the 2nd dynasty, since finds and evaluations of tax calendars point to Sechemib as the successor to Peribsen. Finds of clay seals with Sechemib's name in the Abydenean tomb of Chasechemui, the last ruler of the 2nd dynasty, make a chronological position of Sechemib near the end of the 2nd dynasty also more likely. The exact duration of his reign is unknown, however, modern research generally allows six to eight years for him.

Political and cultural events

There is only limited information available on domestic political activities. The administration and supply center was relocated to Elephantine under Peribsen and Sechemib . Clay seal inscriptions suggest that deliveries received from here (in the form of tribute payments ) were first received, then recorded , stored and redistributed. Inscriptions such as "Tribute from Lower Egypt" and "Tribute from the foreign countries" suggest that the division of the empire did not influence the functioning of the administrative system. It is also obvious that the infrastructure of the administrative system, as introduced by King Ninetjer, has basically not changed, it has only been adapted to the political situation. As a result, the administrative center - referred to as the “White Treasure House” (pr-hḏw) on seal prints - was re-established on Elephantine and placed under an administrator with the title “Head of all things” (3dj-mr-iz-ḏf3᾿) . In addition, there were now specialized officials who controlled and managed deliveries from Asia . They were titled as "scribes of foreign countries" (š3.w-smjw.t) . Further clay seals also attest to reforms with regard to the official titles, which were now visibly aligned with the half of the country ruled by Peribsen and Sechemib: They were now explicitly renamed "Administrators of Upper Egypt" and "Sealers of Upper Egypt". The split of the administrative headquarters of Egypt ended with Chasechemui, where it was combined and reunified under the new central administration "House of the King" (pr-nsw) . Since Sechemib, a clear administrative hierarchy has been documented, which was successfully perfected under Chasechemui: the “House of the King” was subordinate to the “Supply Department” (iz-ḏf3) and the “Treasury” was subordinate to it. The hierarchy of the administrative departments is therefore as follows: House of the King → Supply Management → Treasure House → Manor → Vineyards → Individual Vineyard. Moreover, the king's house different domains were subject to duty, such as the domain " seat of the harpooning Horus ' ". Inichnum , Nebhetep and Maapermin , among others , officiated under Sechemib .

On the other hand, there are uncertainties regarding the state-religious situation in Egypt under Sechemib. Emery and Petrie consider a state crisis of faith and religious, nationwide unrest to be possible, which were triggered by Peribsen's presumed turning away from the Horus cult to the Seth cult , as well as the accompanying change of name from "Sechemib" to "Seth-Peribsen". The background to this explanation is the already described equation of Sechemib with Peribsen, as well as the fact that Peribsen's grave was a victim of arsonists and iconoclasts towards the end of the Old Kingdom . Toby Wilkinson adds that Sechemib dedicated his serechname to the god Horus, but the figurative representation of the god Seth is preserved in vessel inscriptions next to the serech of Sechemib, together with the note nwb.t (“Nubti”; in German “der von Ombos " ). Wolfgang Helck and Herman te Velde refer to the inscription "Tribute from Asia" (Inj setjet), which was frequent under Peribsen, and conclude from this that the deity Seth received his nickname "who conquered the foreign country" at the time of Peribsen's reign. However, they have doubts about the thesis that the Sethname of Peribsen triggered nationwide unrest, because a grave inscription by the high official Scheri in Saqqara proves a cult of Seth up to the middle of the 4th Dynasty . In their opinion, Sechemib's double name could rather indicate that the equality of Horus and Seth only served to clarify that the power of the king can be effective in both halves of the country. The name of Sechemib's successor Chasechemui may also indicate the desire for dual , equal power.

Significant further developments in the writing system can be observed under Peribsen and Sechemib (but especially under Peribsen). While inscriptions on vessels and clay seals in the 1st and early 2nd dynasties were mainly limited to descriptions of goods and cultural events, the first complete set has been preserved on a clay seal from the grave of Peribsen.

literature

• Jürgen von Beckerath : Handbook of the Egyptian king names . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich Berlin 1984, ISBN 3-422-00832-2 , p. 48.
• Walter B. Emery: Egypt, History and Culture of the Early Period, 3200–2800 BC Chr. Fourier, Munich 1964.
• Alan Gardiner: History of Ancient Egypt . Weltbild, Augsburg 1994, ISBN 3-89350-723-X .
• Wolfgang Helck : Investigations into the thinite age . (= Egyptological treatises, vol. 45 ). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1987, ISBN 3-447-02677-4 .
• Jochem Kahl : Inscriptional Evidence for the Relative Chronology of Dyn. 0-2. In: Erik Hornung, Rolf Krauss, David A. Warburton (eds.): Ancient Egyptian Chronology (= Handbook of Oriental studies. Section One. The Near and Middle East. Volume 83). Brill, Leiden / Boston 2006, ISBN 978-90-04-11385-5 , pp. 94-115 ( online ).
• Werner Kaiser : On the mention of Sened and Peribsen in Saqqara B3. In: Göttinger Miszellen (GM) No. 122, Article: Contributions to the Egyptological discussion. Egyptological seminar at the University of Göttingen, Göttingen 1991, ISSN  0344-385X .
• Peter Kaplony : Inscriptions of the early Egyptian period. Vol. III, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1963, ISBN 3-447-00052-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.
• 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 .
• Jeoffrey A. Spencer: Early Dynastic Objects. In: Catalog of Egyptian antiquities in the British Museum. Vol. 5, British Museum Publications, London 1980, ISBN 0-7141-0927-4 .
• Georg Steindorff : Documents of Egyptian antiquity. Hinrichs, Leipzig 1961, ISBN 3-05-000193-3 .
• Herman te Velde: Seth, God of Confusion: a study of his role in Egyptian mythology and religion. Brill, Leiden 1977, ISBN 90-04-05402-2 .
• Jean Vercoutter : L'égypte et la Vallée du Nil, tome I. Presses Universitaires de France, Paris 1992, ISBN 2-13-044157-2 .
• Toby AH Wilkinson: Early Dynastic Egypt. Routledge, London / New York 1999, ISBN 0-415-18633-1 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Jürgen von Beckerath: Handbook of the Egyptian king names. 2nd ed., Von Zabern, Mainz 1999, ISBN 3805325916 , pp. 44-49.
2. ^ ^{A b c} William Matthew Flinders Petrie, Francis Llewellyn Griffith: The Royal tombs of the earliest dynasties: 1901. Part II (= Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund. Volume 21). Egypt Exploration Fund et al., London 1901 ( digitization ), pp. 7, 14, 19, 20 and 48.
3. ^ ^{A b} Pierre Lacau and Jan-Phillip Lauer: La Pyramide a Degrees IV. - Inscriptions Gravees sur les Vases: Fouilles à Saqqarah . Service des antiquités de l'Égypte, Cairo, 1936. pp. 18 and 91, plate 39; See also Jeoffrey A. Spencer: Early Dynastic Objects . Figure No. 278.
4. ^ ^{A b} Toby Wilkinson: Early Dynastic Egypt. Pp. 90-91; see also: Walter Bryan Emery: Egypt - history and culture of the early days. P. 106.
5. ↑ ^{a b} Wolfgang Helck: Investigations on the thinite age. Pp. 103-111.
6. ^ Pierre Lacau and Jan-Phillip Lauer: La Pyramide a Degrees IV. Object No. 92.
7. ^ Pierre Lacau and Jan-Phillip Lauer: La Pyramide a Degrees IV. Object No. 93.
8. ^ ^{A b} Walter Bryan Emery: Egypt - history and culture of the early days . P. 106.
9. ^ Kathryn A. Bard: The Emergence of the Egyptian State . In: Ian Shaw among others: The Oxford history of ancient Egypt. P. 86.
10. ↑ Peter Kaplony: Inscriptions of the early Egyptian times . Plate X., clay pan No. 804.
11. ↑ ^{a b c} Herman Alexander Schlögl: The old Egypt . P. 78.
12. ↑ Dietrich Wildung: The role of Egyptian kings in the consciousness of their posterity. Pp. 45 & 46.
13. ↑ Wolfgang Helck: Investigations into Manetho and the Egyptian king lists . P. 13 & 14.
14. ^ Jürgen von Beckerath: Handbook of the Egyptian king names. S. 148, on Seneferka see also: Kim Ryholt: King Seneferka in the King-lists and His Position in the Early Dynastic Period . In: Journal of Egyptian History. No. 1, Brill, Leiden 2008, ISSN  1874-1657 , pp. 159-173.
15. ↑ Jeoffrey Spencer: Early Dynastic Objects . Figure No. 277.
16. ↑ Peter Kaplony: Inscriptions of the early Egyptian times. Plate X., clay seal No. 466.
17. ↑ Kenneth Anderson Kitchen: Ramesside Inscriptions . P. 234–235 with reference to Jürgen von Beckerath: Handbuch der Ägyptischen Könignames . P. 171.
18. ↑ Barbara Bell: Oldest Records of the Nile Floods. In: Geographical Journal. Vol. 136, 1970, pp. 569-573; compare Hans Goedike: King Ḥwḏf3? In: Journal of Egypt Archeology. Vol. 42, 1998, p. 50.
19. ^ ^{A b} Siegfried Schott: Ancient Egyptian festival dates. Verlag der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Mainz / Wiesbaden 1950, p. 55.
20. ^ Gunter Dreyer et al .: Umm el-Qaab. Follow-up examinations in the early royal cemetery: 13./14./15. Preliminary report (= communications from the German Archaeological Institute, Cairo Department. (MDAIK) Vol. 59) German Archaeological Institute, Orient Department (ed.), De Gruyter, Berlin 2003, p. 115, Fig. 42b.
21. ^ ^{A b} Jean-Pierre Pätznick: The seal unrolling and cylinder seals of the city of Elephantine in the 3rd millennium BC Chr. Pp. 211-213; see also: Jean-Pierre Pätznick: On the unrolled seals from the early fortress. (= Communications from the German Egyptological Institute, Cairo Department. (MDAIK) Vol. 55) German Archaeological Institute, Orient Department (ed.), De Gruyter, Berlin 1999, pp. 90–92.
22. ^ ^{A b c} Christian E. Schulz: Writing implements and scribes in the 0th to 3rd dynasties . Pp. 9-15.
23. ↑ Peter Kaplony: The inscriptions of the early Egyptian times. Pp. 406-411.
24. ↑ Peter Kaplony: The inscriptions of the early Egyptian times. Pp. 472 and 479.
25. ↑ Pierre Lacau and Jan-Phillip Lauer: La Pyramide a Degrees IV. Pp. 104-109
26. ^ Toby Wilkinson: Early Dynastic Egypt. P. 295.
27. ^ Herman te Velde: Seth, God of Confusion. Pp. 72, 73 and 110.

predecessor	Office	successor
Peribs ? Ninetjer ?	King of Egypt 2nd Dynasty	Peribs ? Chasechemui ?

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on March 2, 2010 .