Second Dynasty of Egypt
Second Dynasty of Egypt | |||||||||
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c. 2890 BC–c. 2686 BC | |||||||||
Capital | Thinis | ||||||||
Common languages | Egyptian language | ||||||||
Religion | ancient Egyptian religion | ||||||||
Government | Absolute monarchy | ||||||||
Historical era | Bronze Age | ||||||||
• Established | c. 2890 BC | ||||||||
• Disestablished | c. 2686 BC | ||||||||
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Periods and dynasties of ancient Egypt | ||
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All years are BC | ||
XXXIII | 305–30 |
The Second Dynasty of
Though archaeological evidence of the time is very scant, contrasting data from the First and Third Dynasties indicates important institutional and economic developments during the Second Dynasty.[2][3]
Rulers
For the first three pharaohs, sources are fairly close in agreement and the order is supported by an inscription on the statuette of Hetepdief, who served in the mortuary cults of these three kings.[4]
Name | Years Reigned | Burial | |
---|---|---|---|
Hotepsekhemwy | 25–29 | Gallery Tomb A, Saqqara? | |
Nebra (also known as Kakau)
|
10–14 | Gallery Tomb A, Saqqara? | |
Nynetjer | 40 | Gallery Tomb B, Saqqara |
But the identity of the next few rulers is unclear. Surviving sources might be giving the Horus name or the Nebty name and the birth names of these rulers. They may also be entirely different individuals, or could be legendary names. This might never be resolved.
It has been theorised that following the reign of Nynetjer, the country was split and ruled by two successors due to the overly complex state administration of the whole of Egypt.[5]
The following list contains various king names from different sources:
Name | Notes | Burial | |
---|---|---|---|
Weneg / Wadjenes | Listed as the fourth king of the dynasty on the or a completely separate king from the others of the Second dynasty. | ||
Senedj | Listed as the fifth king of the dynasty on the Turin, Saqqara and Abydos king lists. Horus name unknown. May be identifiable with Horus Sa.[10] |
||
Neferkara I | Only attested in later documents dated long after the time period of the Second dynasty. Listed as the sixth king of the dynasty in the Saqqara and Turin King lists, but omitted from the Abydos King List. May have only ruled Lower Egypt. |
||
Neferkasokar | Only attested in later documents dated long after the time period of the Second dynasty. Listed as the seventh king of the dynasty in the Saqqara and Turin King lists, but omitted from the Abydos King List. May have only ruled Lower Egypt. |
||
Hudjefa I | Name literally means "erased" or "missing", showing that this king's name was unknown or lost by the Nineteenth Dynasty. Listed as the eighth king of the dynasty on the Saqqara Tablet, but omitted from the Abydos King List. May have only ruled Lower Egypt. Theorised to be the same person as Peribsen and may have been deliberately omitted.[11] |
||
Seth-Peribsen | Name connected to Seth deity rather than the traditional Horus. Attested by contemporary inscriptions, but not on later king lists. Only attested in Upper Egypt.[12] |
Tomb P, Umm El Qa'ab | |
Sekhemib-Perenmaat | Attested by contemporary inscriptions, but not on later king lists. May be the same person as Seth-Peribsen[13] or his immediate successor.[14][15] |
Tomb P, Umm El Qa'ab (?) | |
Nubnefer | Birth name of a king, unknown placement. Name does not appear on any known official king lists. May be birth name of |
With the last ruler, the sources return to an agreement:
Name | Years Reigned | Burial | Consort(s) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Khasekhemwy | 17–18 | Tomb V, Umm El Qa'ab | Nimaathap |
Manetho states
See also
References
- ISBN 0-19-815034-2.
- ISBN 978-1-8-4614377-9.
Whatever else was taking place at the court of the Second Dynasty of kings, it is clear that the fundamental institutions of pharaonic government, its systems of supply, not only survived throughout that century and a half, but flourished to the extent that, when the kings emerge into the light of history again with the pyramid builders of the Third Dynasty, the state on the lower Nile was more efficient than it had ever been: that there was, therefore, strong institutional continuity.
- ISBN 978-0-19-280293-4.
There is much less evidence for the kings of the 2nd Dynasty than those of the 1st Dynasty until the last two reigns (Peribsen and Khasekhemwy). Given what is known about the early Old Kingdom in the 3rd Dynasty, the 2nd Dynasty must have been a time when the economic and political foundations were put in place for the strongly centralized state, which developed with truly vast resources. Such a major transition, however, cannot be demonstrated from the archaeological evidence for the 2nd Dynasty.
- ISBN 0-415-26011-6.
- ISBN 978-0-631-19396-8, p. 55.
- ISBN 0-415-26011-6.
- ISBN 0-415-26011-6.
- ^ Kahl, Jochem (2007), "Ra is my Lord", Searching for the Rise of the Sun God at the Dawn of Egyptian History, Wiesbaden
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ISBN 978-3-447-02677-2, pp. 103–107.
- ^ Von der Way, Thomas (1997), "Zur Datierung des "Labyrinth-Gebäudes" auf dem Tell el-Fara'in (Buto)", Göttinger Miszellen, 157: 107–111
- ISBN 3-447-02677-4, p. 125.
- ISBN 0-415-26011-6.
- ^ Walter Bryan Emery: Ägypten - Geschichte und Kultur der Frühzeit. Fourier, Munich 1964, p. 106.
- ISBN 3-447-02677-4, pp. 104–111, 183.
- ISBN 3-406-54988-8, p. 78.
- ^ I. E. S. Edwards: The early dynastic period in Egypt; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1964; p. 25.
- ISBN 0-415-26011-6.