Crocodile (pharaoh)
Crocodile | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Shendjw | ||||||||||||||||||||
Pharaoh | ||||||||||||||||||||
Reign | Naqada III | |||||||||||||||||||
Predecessor | unknown | |||||||||||||||||||
Successor | Iry-Hor? | |||||||||||||||||||
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Burial | TT 1549, Tarkhan (?) | |||||||||||||||||||
Dynasty | Predynastic Egypt |
Crocodile (also read as Shendjw[1]) is the provisional name of a predynastic ruler, who might have ruled during the late Naqada III epoch. The few alleged ink inscriptions showing his name are drawn very sloppily, and the reading and thus whole existence of king "Crocodile" are highly disputed. His tomb is unknown.
Name sources
The proposed existence of Crocodile is based on Günter Dreyer's and Edwin van den Brink's essays. They are convinced that Crocodile was a local king who ruled at the region of Tarkhan. According to Dreyer, Crocodile's name appears in black ink inscriptions on burnt earthen jars and on several seal impressions found in tomb TT 1549 at Tarkhan and tomb B-414 at Abydos. He sees a crawling crocodile and a rope curl beneath it and reads Shendjw ("the subduer").[1] Van den Brink thinks alike and reads Shendjw, too, but sees only a large rope curl sign inside the serekh.[2]
Reign and datation
Almost nothing is known about Crocodile's reign. If he existed, he might have had his capital at Tarkhan, where his proposed tomb was excavated. Dreyer places him in a time shortly before the kings Iry-Hor, Ka and Narmer. He points to guiding inscriptions on the jars mentioning a Hen-mehw ("brought from Lower Egypt"). This specific diction of designations of origin is archaeologically proven for the time before three mentioned kings, from King Ka onward, it was Inj-mehw (with the same meaning).[1]
One artifact that possibly depicts King Crocodile, was found at
A clay seal impression from
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 0946897441.
- ^ a b Edwin van den Brink (1992). The Nile Delta in Transition - from 4th - 3rd Millennium BC. Tel Aviv: Institute of Archaeology and Arabic Studies. pp. 28–35.
- ISBN 9780856680038.
- ISBN 1134664206.
- ISBN 978-88-6244-115-5.)
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