Serech
| Serech in hieroglyphics | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
srḫ Serech |
||||||
Hor-neb-ah Ḥr nb-ˁḥ Horus , lord of the palace |
||||||
 |
||||||
Serech is the name for the stylized palace facade , which contains the name of Horus of the king ( Pharaoh ).
Details
As a symbol , the serech is a long rectangle on which a standing falcon is enthroned. While the upper part represents the courtyard or the house, the lower part is decorated with the facade of the royal palace, which is divided into niches . At the beginning of Egyptian history, the palace facade was the hallmark of royal and princely buildings.
The serech encloses the name of Horus in the middle as the cartouche encloses the throne and proper name of the Pharaoh . It is an integral part of the name of Horus.
meaning
The meaning of the Serech for the name Horus is not certain. There is a possibility that the title was initially either read as “Horus of the palace” (Ḥr-ˁḥ) , or that the building itself - as with the King 's Ring - only served as a frame.
variants
The name of Scorpio I is already documented by ink inscriptions on two cylindrical clay vessels in the serech and with the falcon. King Narmer's name can also be found in a serech on the Narmer palette .
A not too common variant shows the animal of Seth (also Seth animal) on the Serech instead of the Horus falcon , which is due to the temporarily higher meaning of the god Seth in the symbolism of kings.
There is also a rare variant that shows both Horus falcon and Seth animal, presumably to symbolize the union of the two parts of the empire by the respective ruler. This is so far only known from Chasechemui .
A predynastic ruler is passed down through a serech with two Horus falcons, due to which this ruler was given the name " double falcon ".
Serech des Wadji with Horus Falcon
Serech des Peribsen with Seth animal
Serech des Chasechemui with Horus falcon and Seth animal
Serech of the " double falcon" with two Horus falcons
literature
- Rolf Gundlach : "Horus in the Palace" - legitimation, form and mode of operation of the political center in pharaonic Egypt . In: Werner Paravicini: The housing of power: The space of rule in an intercultural comparison of antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the early modern era (communications from the Residences Commission of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, special issue 7). Christian Albrechts University, Kiel 2005, pp. 15–26.
- Rolf Gundlach: Horus in the Palace: The center of State and Culture in pharaonic Egypt . In: Rolf Gundlach, John H. Taylor: Egyptian royal Residences: 4th Symposium on the Egyptian royal ideology (4, 2004, London) . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-447-05888-9 , pp. 45-68.
- Jürgen von Beckerath : Handbook of the Egyptian king names . Munich Egyptological Studies . Vol. 49. Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1999, ISBN 3-8053-2591-6