What dynastic changes marked the transition from the First to Second Dynasty?
We do not know the reasons that led to the change of the first dynasty or the events that took place in the days of Qa'a, which ended with the ascension of another family to the throne, and we also do not know the relationship between the two families if there was really a transfer of the king from one family to another, and we follow Manetho in his division of the dynasties, and no doubt he had sufficient documents to justify this division.
In fact, we do not see any change, nor do we feel any trace of a sudden transition, everything continued in its normal course, both in terms of artistic development and in the organization of the government in general.
There is a great difference between the ancient sources in the order of the kings of this dynasty, and the names mentioned by Manetho in their Greek versions are difficult to trace back to their Egyptian origin.
For more details about the First Dynasty in Ancient Egypt
First Dynasty of Ancient Egypt: Pharaohs, Timeline, and Legacy
First Dynasty of Ancient Egypt: Pharaohs, Timeline, and Legacy
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| Names of the kings of the Second Dynasty in the Abydos King List |
Where were the early royal tombs located and why did they shift?
no one found in Abydos the tombs of some of the kings of this dynasty, which suggests that they preferred the new northern capital, the White Castle, to be their residence during their lifetime, and also preferred to build their tombs in close proximity.
We see in what these kings left behind references to palaces built by the kings after the fourth year of their reign, and temples erected for various deities, especially Sokar, one of the greatest deities of the new capital, and we also see from the seals of their employees signs of the progress of governmental organization and the existence of various departments. From the study of the tables of the names of the kings, we see that we know at least eight of them, and there is no doubt about the order of the first three of them, namely
Hotepsekhemwy, Nebra and Nynetjer, and we are sure of the order of the last three, Seth-Peribsen, Sekhemib and Khasekhemwy.
What was the political and religious conflict between Horus and Set?
We also know that things in that family did not go smoothly and quietly, but were accompanied by many troubles, but we cannot specify these troubles or mention specific things, except when things reached the point of trying to change the general state system and revolt against the worship of Horus.
The god set had a major center in Upper Egypt But the spread of the worship of Horus almost overthrew him and the influence of his priests, especially when the kings before the beginning of the First Dynasty began to represent Horus and live in his shadow, and each of them attributed himself to him.
One of the things that complicated the situation - for Upper Egypt - is that the kings preferred the new capital at the meeting of the Delta with Upper Egypt, and it is also possible that they began to be influenced by the culture of the people of the north and showed interest in their idols.
In every time there is a group of conservatives who look forward to the old and see in it the ideal, and in every time there are also reactionaries who refuse to introduce any change as long as it affects their personal interests, and there are also in every time and place some clerics who refuse to see that people turn away from them and try to stir up emotions among different groups of people to maintain their influence, wealth, and control.
Who was King Seth-Peribsen and why did he reject Horus?
Therefore, there was a strong reaction against the idol Horus and against the influence of the new capital, and King Seth-Peribsen declared an open war on Horus, removing his name from his titles and replacing it with his old rival, the idol Set.
He even goes further and does what no one before or after him did, which is to place the symbol of Set above his name written inside a drawing representing the facade of the palace and declares that it is his symbol and that he represented in it and mentions in some of his monuments that Set is the one who handed over the country to him.
Seth-Peribsen did not stop there, but returned to Upper Egypt and returned to the old tradition of building his tomb in Abydos, not Saqqara.
Unfortunately, we do not know the reaction that occurred in the north, but this act was a strong departure from the traditions that Egypt has followed since at least the beginning of the first dynasty, as the representation of the king with Horus has been ingrained for generations.
Especially since the cornerstone of the continuation of the Egyptian civilization was based on the divinity of the king, who since he took over the country became Horus, and was worshiped by his people on this basis, and became one of the gods not different from his other brothers, and even distinguished from them that he was ruling the people on earth and maintaining order and justice and helping the people in Egypt to carry out their duty to worship him and his brothers of idols.
Seth-Peribsen revolted against Horus and the White Castle, and there is no doubt that many people from Upper Egypt, and the priests of Seth in particular, welcomed this change, but we do not know anything about a war or revolution against this king, and what has reached our hands hardly tells us anything except that his name was deleted from some of the names of the kings as a transgressor against the worship of Horus.
As the priests did more than a thousand and three hundred years later with Akhenaten and those who ruled after him from his family for trying to change the worship of Amun in the country and glorify Atun instead of him and other idols.
Ancient Egypt Before the Dynasties: The First Civilizations
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| Peribsen's funerary enclosure at Abydos |
How did Sekhemib respond to the religious rebellion?
We do not know for sure how many years he was on the throne and how his days ended, but we do know that the change did not last after his death and that the king who succeeded him, Sekhemib, returned to the worship and glorification of Horus
He also returned to the usual activity by conducting campaigns to put down any seditions that may have arisen in the north, because we read on the base of both his statues in the Cairo and Oxford Museums an inscription in which he tells us about his victory over his enemies and killing 47209 northern enemies who may have attacked Upper Egypt, as we know from the inscriptions on some of his vessels.
Sekhemib was related to King Seth-Peribsen, and was he his son, or was he a prince or a leader who had to face a fierce revolt in the north against what Seth-Peribsen had done?
The answer to these questions is no more than conjecture, because what we have from the documents of that era does not help us at all to answer, and if we return to Manetho, we find only a small quote in it, and if it is true that Sekhemib is the one called by Maniton, Sisu Khris, he was very tall, and perhaps his height was accompanied by physical strength, which helped him in his leadership and his wars that he waged to restore order to the country, and his war against the people of Libya to the west of Egypt.
What was the legacy of King Khasekhemwy in unifying Egypt?
Sitting on the throne of Egypt after Sekhemib, a strong and determined king who wanted to satisfy both the north and the south and put an end to that strife, so he took for himself an emblem, the two idols Horus and Set combined, and he put them together above his name, that is King Khasekhemwy, during whose reign Egypt made great progress in which the use of stone in buildings increased, and Egypt settled on its own artistic conditions, and completed most of its components.
His reign was characterized by calm and progress in all aspects of life, and his wife was called Nimaathap, the mother of King Djoser, the founder of the third dynasty
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| Detail of granite door jamb bearing the Horus and Seth name of Khasekhemwy in Hierakonpolis |
What do archaeological finds from Abydos and Saqqara reveal?
The excavations of Abydos, Hierakonpolis, Saqqara, Tarkhan and others revealed many of the monuments of that era, so we do not lack the necessary scientific material to study the extent of the progress of Egyptian arts and industries in those days, and we also received some monuments that contain writings, most of which are cylindrical seals or seal impressions on the stoppers of clay vessels, which usually contain only the names of their owners and their jobs, and in a few cases refer to some losses, buildings, and other works related to the work of employees with these seals.
There is also a large amount of inscriptions on small ivory plaques found alongside some of the vessels in the tombs of the First Dynasty in Abydos and Saqqara, as well as some large slate tablets and pinheads of these kings, as well as some stone vessels and what is inscribed on the Palermo Stone with information about the names of these kings that time has preserved.
The study of these objects allows us to know the names of the kings and the names of some of their employees and their functions, and we can also know the names of some palaces and temples and the gods for whom they were built, and the special works that some kings did, such as building canals, building ships, capturing some cities, and celebrating some festivals.
We also see in them the drawing of some of the temples or structures erected by the kings in that early era. If we want to know the manifestations of art or civilization in Egypt, or if we want to know some aspects of life among the people, there are enough artifacts from the Saqqara and Abydos excavations to give a picture of the progress made by the Egyptian artist since the days before the emergence of the First Dynasty.
How advanced were Egyptian arts and industries during the Early Dynastic Period?
The jewelry, the beautifully crafted vessels, the ivory household items, the playthings and the decorated caskets all prove this progress in art and in private life.
What do artifacts tell us about life, religion, and government in early Egypt?
If we study the finds from that era, we can learn quite a bit about some of their festivals and ceremonies, and we can also learn, to a limited extent, about their religions.
We also know a lot about the organization of government departments, and if we study some of the sources that were written in later times, we see that the ancient Egyptians refer to some of the kings of the First and Second Dynasties and link their names with the writing of some important papyri in medicine or wisdom.
The few generations before the beginning of the First Dynasty, and those four centuries during which the kings of the First and Second Dynasties ruled, were the period in which all the elements of civilization interacted in Egypt, it was the period of experiments and attempts spent by a strong people in the early days of their civilization until they finally settled on special conditions for themselves and found that they fully expressed what they wanted, whether in religion, art, or life in general, so they held onto them and maintained them; because their foundation was strong, solid and firm.
Sources:
1. Toby Wilkinson, *Early Dynastic Egypt*, Routledge, 1999.
2. W.G. Waddell, *Manetho*, Loeb Classical Library, 1940.
3. David O’Connor and David P. Silverman, *Ancient Egyptian Kingship*, Brill, 1995.
4. Bruce G. Trigger et al., *Ancient Egypt: A Social History*, Cambridge University Press, 1983.
