Iry-Hor
Iry-Hor | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ro, Irj-Hor, Iri(-Hor) | ||||||||
Pharaoh | ||||||||
Reign | Early to Late 32nd century BC[1] | |||||||
Predecessor | uncertain; Crocodile? Scorpion I? Double Falcon? | |||||||
Successor | Ka | |||||||
| ||||||||
Burial | Chambers B1, B2, Umm el-Qa'ab | |||||||
Dynasty | Dynasty 0 |
Iry-Hor (or Ro[2]) was a predynastic pharaoh of Upper Egypt during the 32nd century BC.[1] Excavations at Abydos in the 1980s and 1990s[3][4][5] and the discovery in 2012 of an inscription of Iry-Hor in Sinai confirmed his existence.[1] Iry-Hor is the earliest ruler of Egypt known by name and is sometimes cited as the earliest-living historical person known by name.[6]
Name
Iry-Hor's name is written with the Horus falcon hieroglyph (
Given the archaic nature of the name, the translation proved difficult and, in the absence of a better alternative, Ludwig D. Morenz proposed that the literal translation be retained, giving "Horus mouth".[9]
In the 1990s, Werner Kaiser and Günter Dreyer translated Iry-Hor's name as "Companion of Horus".[3]
Two other attempts at translations presuppose that Iry-Hor was not a king, since his royal status was still controversial at the time of their publication. The Egyptologists Jürgen von Beckerath and Peter Kaplony proposed that the known inscriptions referred to a private person whose name is to be read Wer-Ra, wr-rꜣ (lit. "great mouth"), i.e. reading the bird above the mouth-sign as the swallow hieroglyph G36 rather than the Horus falcon. They translated the name as "Spokesman" or "Chief".[10] Toby Wilkinson, considering the person in question to have been a slave of a king, translated the signs as "Property of the king".[11]
Identity
Controversy regarding his social status
Until 2012, the name of Iry-Hor had not been found in or next to a serekh, so the identification of Iry-Hor as a king was controversial. Toby Wilkinson contended that Iry-Hor was not a king, but a slave of a king.[11] Egyptologists Jürgen von Beckerath and Peter Kaplony also initially rejected the identification of Iry-Hor as a king and proposed instead that the known inscriptions refer to a private person whose name is to be read Wer-Ra, wr-rꜣ (lit. "great mouth"), i.e. reading the bird above the mouth-sign as the swallow hieroglyph G36 rather than the Horus falcon. They translated the name as "Spokesman" or "Chief".[10]
Egyptologists Flinders Petrie,[2] Laurel Bestock[8] and Jochem Kahl[12] nonetheless believed that he was indeed a real ruler.
Following the excavations at Abydos and the discovery of an inscription of Iry-Hor in the Sinai in 2012, Wilkinson's hypothesis is now rejected by most Egyptologists and Iry-Hor is widely accepted as a predynastic king of Egypt.[1][13][14]
Resolution
Dreyer's excavations of the necropolis of Abydos revealed that Iry-Hor was in fact well attested there with over 27 objects bearing his name and that his tomb was of royal proportions.[15] Furthermore, in 2012 an inscription mentioning Iry-Hor was discovered in the Sinai, the inscription comprising furthermore an archaic empty serekh on the right of Iry-Hor's name.[1] The inscription mentions the city of Memphis, pushing back its foundation to before Narmer and establishing that Iry-Hor was already reigning over it. Following this discovery, most Egyptologists, including G. Dreyer and the discoverers of the inscription, Pierre Tallet and Damien Laisney, now believe that Iry-Hor was indeed a king.[1] Continuing excavations of Iry-Hor's tomb at Abydos by Dreyer established that the tomb was of similar dimensions and layout as those of Ka and Narmer and must, therefore, have belonged to a king. This was consequently accepted by von Beckerath and Iry-Hor is now the first entry in the latest edition of von Beckerath's Handbook of Egyptian Pharaohs.[16]
Reign and attestations
Iry-Hor was most likely
He was buried in the royal cemetery of
Tomb
Iry-Hor's tomb is the oldest tomb of the Abydos necropolis B in the
See also
- Naqada III, also called Dynasty 0
- Kushim
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i P. Tallet, D. Laisnay: Iry-Hor et Narmer au Sud-Sinaï (Ouadi 'Ameyra), un complément à la chronologie des expéditios minière égyptiene, in: BIFAO 112 (2012), 381-395, available online
- ^ a b c Flinders Petrie (1900). The Royal tombs of the earliest dynasties. pp. 29 & 30.
- ^ ISSN 0342-1279.
- ^ Werner Kaiser; Günter Dreyer (1993). "Umm el-Qaab. Nachuntersuchungen im frühzeitlichen Königsfriedhof 5./6. Vorbericht". Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Kairo (MDAIK) (49): 56.
- ^ Werner Kaiser; Günter Dreyer (1996). "Umm el-Qaab. Nachuntersuchungen im frühzeitlichen Königsfriedhof 7./8. Vorbericht". Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Kairo (MDAIK) (52): 48–57 and taf. 9.
- ^ Odenwald, Sten (August 15, 2014). "Who Was the First Named Human?". Huffpost. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
- ^ W. M. F. Petrie: Abydos I, pp. 4–6.
- ^ ISBN 978-3-447-05838-4.
- ^ Ludwig D. Morenz: Bildbuchstaben und symbolische Zeichen, p. 88
- ^ a b Kaplony, Peter (1963). Inschriften der Ägyptischen Frühzeit. Vol. 1. p. 468.
- ^ ISSN 0307-5133.
- ^ Jochem Kahl: Das System der ägyptischen Hieroglyphenschrift in der 0.-3. Dynastie, pp.96–101.
- ISBN 978-0-7141-0999-2.
- ^ van den Brink, Edwin C. M (2001). "The incised serekh signs of Dynasties 0–1. Part II: Fragments and Additional Complete Vessels" (PDF). 11. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^ ISBN 978-3-447-05816-2
- pp. 9, 36–37
- ^ Winfried Barta: Zur Namensform und zeitlichen Einordnung des Königs Ro, in: GM 53, 1982, pp. 11–13.
- ^ Owen Jarus, Live Science, Early Egyptian Queen Revealed in 5,000-Year-Old Hieroglyphs, [1] [2]
- ^ ISBN 978-1-905299-37-9, 2008, p. 156
- James E. Quibell, Flinders Petrie: Hierakonpolis. Part I. Plates of discoveries in 1898 by J. E. Quibell, with notes by W. M. F. P[etrie], London 1900, available online
- ^ ISSN 1017-5474.
- S2CID 201840428.