Early Dynastic Egypt Read online

  EARLY DYNASTIC EGYPT

  EARLY DYNASTIC EGYPT

  Toby A.H.Wilkinson

  London and New York

  First published 1999 by Routledge

  11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

  Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge

  29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

  Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

  This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.

  © 1999 Toby A.H.Wilkinson

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data

  Wilkinson, Toby A.H.

  Early Dynastic Egypt/Toby A.H.Wilkinson

  p. cm.

  Includes bibliographical references (p.378) and index.

  1. Egypt—History—To 332 B.C. I. Title DT85.W49 1999

  932′.012–dc21 98–35836 CIP

  ISBN 0-203-02438-9 Master e-book ISBN

  ISBN 0-203-20421-2 (Adobe e-Reader Format) ISBN 0-415-18633-1 (Print Edition)

  For Benjamin

  CONTENTS

  List of plates ix

  List of figures x

  Prologue xii

  Acknowledgements xvii

  PART I INTRODUCTION

  Egyptology and the Early Dynastic Period 2

  Birth of a Nation State 23

  Historical Outline 50PART II

  THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AUTHORITY

  Administration 92

  Foreign Relations 127

  Kingship 155

  Royal Mortuary Architecture 198

  Cults and Shrines 225PART III

  THE DIVERSITY OF LOCAL EXPERIENCE

  The Rise of Urbanism 280

  The Regions of Egypt 297

  Epilogue 316

  Glossary 317

  Bibliography 327

  Index 356

  PLATES

  ‌

  The Umm el-Qaab at Abydos 3

  Mastaba K1 at Belt Khallaf 5

  The Early Dynastic cemetery at Tarkhan 7

  An élite First Dynasty tomb at North Saqqara 8

  The Early Dynastic necropolis at Helwan/el-Maasara 10

  Tell el-Fara’in 17

  Abu Rawash 64

  King Ninetjer 73

  The emblem of the Sed-festival 184

  Palace-facade architecture, 2 196

  The tomb of Qaa 204

  The unfinished step pyramid complex of Sekhemkhet at Saqqara 218

  8.1 Markers of the royal cult 240

  FIGURES

  ‌

  Map 1

  Map of Egypt and Nubia showing sites mentioned in the text

  xviii

  Map 2

  Map of the Near East showing sites mentioned in the text

  xx

  Chronological chart of the late Predynastic and Early Dynastic periods

  22

  2.1

  Early centres of kingship

  31

  2.2

  Trade, ownership and power

  35

  2.3

  Kings before the First Dynasty

  44

  3.1

  Rulers of the First Dynasty: contemporary lists

  53

  3.2

  Royal annals

  55

  3.3

  Year label of Semerkhet

  67

  3.4

  Ephemeral rulers, 1: Weneg and Nubnefer

  74

  3.5

  The Third Dynasty: a problem solved

  83

  3.6

  Ephemeral rulers, 2: Khaba

  85

  4.1

  Royal domains

  100

  4.2

  Estates

  102

  4.3

  The treasury and its functions

  107

  4.4

  Taxation

  108

  4.5

  The titles of the vizier

  117

  4.6

  The structure of Early Dynastic administration

  123

  5.1

  Campaigns against southern Palestine

  132

  5.2

  Activity in Egypt’s desert margins

  142

  5.3

  Campaigns against Nubia

  151

  6.1

  The staff of office

  159

  6.2

  The red crown

  164

  6.3

  The white crown

  166

  6.4

  Standards on early royal monuments

  169

  6.5

  The Two Ladies

  174

  6.6

  Hunting the hippopotamus

  185

  6.7

  Year labels

  188

  6.8

  Palace-façade architecture, 1

  194

  7.1

  The royal cemetery at Abydos

  200

  7.2

  The royal cemetery at Saqqara

  208

  Depictions of deities 227

  Human sacrifice 230

  Divine images 232

  Royal cult statues 238

  Early Dynastic cult dedications 242

  The goddess Mafdet 250

  Festivals involving a divine bark 261

  Early Dynastic shrines and temples 266

  Early cult at Buto, 1: the sacred bull 275

  Early cult at Buto, 2: the Djebaut shrine 277

  9.1 Elkab 287

  Map of the Hierakonpolis region showing sites mentioned in the text 300

  Map of the Abydos region showing sites mentioned in the text 305

  Map of the Memphite region showing sites mentioned in the text 310

  PROLOGUE‌

  Ancient Egypt holds a unique fascination. No other civilisation of the ancient world has such popular appeal, none is as significant for the history of human society and its organisation. The valley of the River Nile witnessed the world’s first example of that enduring and now omnipresent political structure, the nation state. Today, practically the entire land surface of the earth is divided among nation states, which number nearly two hundred. But the origins of this phenomenon go back five thousand years, to the formation of a unified territory and government in Egypt. Moreover, that government, centred on the royal court and the person of the king, succeeded in creating and promoting an élite culture which expressed itself on a grand scale. Hence, ancient Egyptian civilisation has left an unparalleled series of monuments to allure and intrigue countless generations of visitors.

  The pyramids of the Old Kingdom are perhaps the most remarkable, and certainly the most captivating, of Egyptian monuments. Those at Giza were hailed as one of the wonders of the ancient world; to modern eyes they are perhaps the quintessential symbol of the ancient Egyptians’ extraordinary creativity and craftsmanship. Yet the cultural and political developments which led to the construction of the pyramids have been comparatively neglected. Without central control of the economy, the royal court would not have had the resources to engage in monumental building projects. Without the ability to command the necessary manpower, the pyramids could not have be
en raised. Without the religious and ideological motivation, the construction of huge funerary monuments would, quite literally, never have got off the ground. All these prerequisites for pyramid-building have their roots in the Early Dynastic period. Hence to understand the most potent symbols of ancient Egypt, we must look at what went before. Five hundred years separate the birth of the Egyptian state and the erection of the pyramids. This half-millennium constitutes the formative period of civilisation in the Nile valley, when Egypt’s early kings developed the mechanisms of rule and the élite culture that were to characterise their country for the next three thousand years. This crucially important formative stage is the subject of the current work.

  The chapters that follow seek to explain not only the background to the formation of the Egyptian state, but also the means by which its early rulers controlled the people, the land and its resources. Central authority, however, is only one side of the coin. At all periods, Egypt’s governing élite strove to convey the impression that the nation was unified politically and culturally, that all its institutions revolved around the king and took their lead from the royal court. The true picture is rather more complex: in reality, local and regional concerns were important, and often had a direct impact on the pace and direction of change. Egypt was never a monolithic state, despite the wishes and protestations of its rulers. The current work addresses this interesting question, examining the character of Early Dynastic Egypt at the provincial level.

  The evidence for local and regional variation is by no means straightforward; but here, as elsewhere in the study of early Egypt, recent scholarship has led to major advances in

  understanding. Indeed, research into the formative period of ancient Egyptian civilisation has intensified exponentially over the past thirty years. The re-evaluation of material from old excavations has been accompanied by dramatic new discoveries. Record numbers of archaeological expeditions have been concentrating their efforts on illuminating the remotest periods of Egyptian history, and in particular the processes which led to the formation of the Egyptian state. As a result of this new information, a comprehensive study of the Early Dynastic period can now be attempted for the first time.

  Early Dynastic Egypt has traditionally suffered from being squeezed between two, more obviously glamorous, neighbours. On the one hand, the prehistoric origins of ancient Egypt and the unification of the country at the beginning of the historic period have intrigued scholars, attracting much comment and debate. On the other hand, the glories of the pyramid age, combined with a wealth of artistic and written evidence, have given the Old Kingdom an undeniable appeal for professionals and public alike. While the Predynastic period and the Old Kingdom have been intensively studied, the intervening phase of Egyptian history—the Early Dynastic period—has been comparatively neglected. The current work seeks to redress the imbalance, giving the first three dynasties the attention they deserve as a period of great innovation and lasting importance, a period, moreover, which paved the way for the familiar glories of ancient Egypt.

  This book is arranged in three parts. Part I forms an introduction to the study of Early Dynastic Egypt. The re-discovery of Egypt’s remote past, although very much a feature of the last three decades, began more than a century ago. A long line of distinguished archaeologists and scholars have added pieces to the puzzle, although the picture is by no means complete. Chapter 1 tells the extraordinary story of how ‘Egypt before the pyramids’, once an obscure dark age, has emerged from the shadows into the spotlight of academic inquiry and popular interest.

  The formation of a unified state marks the beginning of Egyptian history and this pivotal development is examined in detail in Chapter 2. The roots of the process lie far back in prehistory, in the period called ‘Predynastic’ (that is, before the dynasties). Southern (Upper) Egypt was the heartland of social change, since it was here that hierarchies and social divisions based upon inherited status first developed. During the second half of the fourth millennium BC, political and economic power came to be concentrated in the hands of a few ruling élites. Advances in technology and an intensification of trade benefited some centres more than others, and at these favoured sites the local rulers began to adopt the trappings of royalty. As these trends accelerated, Egypt was transformed and a nation was born.

  The five centuries which followed comprise a fascinating period of Egypt’s history, but one which is all too often glossed over in standard books on the subject. Chapter 3 presents the first ever, detailed, reign-by-reign account of the period, drawing on the results of the latest research by an international community of experts. The discussion includes an evaluation of the historical sources for the first three dynasties, and examines the splendid achievements of Egypt’s early kings.

  With Part I, the scene is thus set for an in-depth analysis of Early Dynastic Egypt.

  The dominant themes of early Egyptian civilisation are examined in Part II, which forms the core of the book. Subtitled The establishment of authority’, Part II analyses the

  various mechanisms by which Egypt’s early rulers first developed and then exercised authority over a newly unified country. The word ‘establishment’ has been deliberately chosen for its dual meaning: the setting up of an ideology of rule, and the institutional structures by which this ideology was put into effect. The most obvious facet of the ‘establishment’ is the administration, the governmental apparatus which allowed the royal court to supervise and control Egypt and its resources. Very little has been written about early Egyptian administration, mainly because the source material is fragmentary and difficult to interpret. However, a close look at the surviving evidence for administrative practices indicates that—in ancient Egypt as in countries today—control of the economy lay at the heart of the government’s activities. The court itself comprised a bewildering array of officials, and there are tantalising glimpses of how political power was exercised at this earliest period of Egyptian history. Of course, control of the national economy was dependent upon control of the various provinces; provincial government seems to have developed initially as an adjunct to economic supervision, later taking on a life of its own (as the history of the Old Kingdom demonstrates). Chapter 4 examines all these aspects of Early Dynastic administration, and seeks to draw a coherent picture of how early Egypt was governed.

  Egypt was not alone in the ancient world. To the north and south were other lands and cultures, and contact with them was unavoidable. If the continued supply of commodities to the court lay at the heart of Egyptian administration, it also formed the backdrop to early Egypt’s foreign relations. In its quest for raw materials and prestige goods, the royal court had to look beyond the Nile valley to the adjoining desert regions and other lands further afield. The desire to gain access to trade routes with Palestine and Nubia may have been a key factor in the process of state formation. Once Egypt had been unified, mere access to foreign imports was no longer sufficient: direct control of foreign trade or of the commodity sources themselves became both desirable and feasible. Economic interest provided grounds for political expansionism. There is evidence that Early Dynastic kings launched military campaigns against neighbouring lands, and the motive is likely to have been largely economic, even if such activities were dressed in a cloak of ideology. Egypt’s foreign relations during the Early Dynastic period highlight both the concerns of the early state and the ways in which these affected, and were affected by, the geo-politics of the wider region. The complex interaction between the Nile valley, Egypt’s desert margins, and neighbouring lands is discussed in Chapter 5.

  In order to control Egypt and its people, the early kings followed a number of different strategies. Together with the overt political and economic control attested in administrative records, more subtle psychological means were deployed to ensure the loyalty and subservience of the population. Perhaps the most powerful and pervasive ideology in ancient Egyptian culture was the ideology of divine kingship: the belief that the kin
g was the earthly incarnation of the supreme deity, a channel of communication between the divine and human spheres, and the unifying force that held Egypt together, without whom chaos would ensue. Such an ideology obviously suited the system of government since it ensured strong support for the status quo and made any return to the political fragmentation of the Predynastic period unthinkable. Divine kingship is often cited as the defining characteristic of ancient Egyptian civilisation. Yet its success and longevity as an ideology of rule owes much to the efforts of the Early Dynastic kings, who formulated and promoted it. The origins and early development of this most

  fundamental aspect of Egyptian culture are explored in Chapter 6. The nature of early kingship—how the rulers saw themselves and their office—can be gauged from a variety of sources, in particular the names and titles adopted by successive monarchs, and the activities deemed worthy of record in the royal annals. The means by which kingship ideology was promulgated are equally fascinating. They included a repertoire of symbols (iconography) which became indelibly associated with royal authority, and whose preponderance in official art constantly reinforced the message that Egypt depended on the king for its well-being. Ceremonies and rituals provided the early Egyptian kings with carefully controlled, symbolically charged occasions on which they could demonstrate their legitimacy and authority. Finally, the potency of architecture to express ideas of status was appreciated from an early stage. Through the development of an explicitly royal architectural style the Early Dynastic kings sought to secure their position by appealing to the Egyptian psyche.