Serekh
| Serekh in hieroglyphs | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(Unicode: 𓊁 ) srḫ/ serekh façade (of the palace) | |||||
In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a serekh is a rectangular enclosure representing the niched or gated façade of a palace surmounted by (usually) the Horus falcon, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The serekh was the earliest convention used to set apart the royal name in ancient Egyptian iconography, predating the later and better known cartouche by four dynasties and five to seven hundred years.
Appearance
A serekh was an ornamental vignette combining a view of a palace façade and a plan (top view) of the royal courtyard. The term serekh derives from the Egyptian word for "façade". Different serekhs on different types of object display countless variations of the façade decor in its complexity and detail. It seems that no strict artistic rules for the design of the serekh itself existed.[1][2][3]
History
The serekh first appears as an ornamental miniature during the late Gerzeh culture, when it was used as a royal crest only. From the Old Kingdom period onward, the first uses of the full written word appear in old papyri.[1][2][3]
A serekh was normally used as a royal crest, accentuating and honouring the name of the pharaoh. Its use can be dated back as early as the Gerzeh culture (c. 3400 BC). The hieroglyphs forming the king's name were placed inside a rectangular extension atop the serekh, which represented the royal courtyard. Additionally, the falcon of the god Horus, or in a few cases the Set animal, topped the serekh, showing the celestial patron of the named king.[1][2][3]
If the word "serekh" was written in full letters (as shown in the infobox above), sometimes accompanied by a miniature of the serekh, it could also be used in text.[1][2][3]
One of the most important elements of royal display and identity in ancient Egypt was the king's name, important as pharaohs were concerned that future generations remain aware of their reigns.[5] These were first seen from rulers as early as those of Dynasty 0 and continued to be used by kings throughout the history of ancient Egypt.[6] For example, a serekh of Senusret I, who was a king during the Twelfth Dynasty, has been found and is now displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The serekhs of kings from the 30th Dynasty can also be seen.[7] The serekh represented the king's palace shown in a combination of plan and elevation. The rectangular enclosure represented the plan while the patterned area represented the elevation of the façade.[8] A serekh incised or painted in ink on a vessel denoted that the contents were the produce and/or property of the royal court.[9] The serekh containing the king's name was used on a variety of objects and made a fundamental statement of royal ideology.[10] The king's name was written in hieroglyphs and the Horus falcon, in reference to the sky god Horus, usually surmounted it.[5]
The Horus name is the first of five royal titles that were in use by the Fifth Dynasty. The second title is the (He of the) Two Ladies, representing the king as manifesting, and under the protection of, the goddesses Nekhbet of Elkab and
Horus
The king's name was written in hieroglyphs and the Horus falcon, in reference to the god Horus, usually surmounted it.[5] As a result, the king's name in the serekh came to be known by Egyptologists as his 'Horus name.'[8] The writing of the king's name within the serekh symbolized the king in his palace as the center of royal administration and power. The serekh as a whole was therefore a symbol of kingship. The presence of the Horus falcon showed that the living king was a manifestation of the god.[8] Additionally, the Horus names of several First Dynasty kings expressed the aggressive authority of Horus, perhaps reflecting the coercive power of kingship at this early stage of Egyptian statehood. Examples of such names are 'Horus the fighter' (Hor-Aha), 'Horus the strong' (Djer), and 'arm-raising Horus' (Qa'a). All of these names reveal the warlike iconography of the earliest royal monuments from the period of state formation. They emphasize an authority based upon military strength and the power of life and death.[14] The emphasis in the Second Dynasty, however, began to change possibly due to the periods of instability that the kings faced, though the exact reason is still disputed. This led to a slight alteration in the structure of the serekh, solely during the reigns of Peribsen and Khasekhemwy. Since this alteration only occurred during these two reigns, it is seen as an exception, as the succeeding kings returned to the previous iconography.
Progression
The earliest serekhs were empty because the symbol alone relayed the necessary message of royal power. Over time, the king began to write an epithet within the serekh.[15] These serekhs were dominated by the symbol of Horus. During the Second Dynasty only, changes in the formulation of the Horus name to a Seth-name and then a Horus-and-Seth name were seen.[14] These changes occurred merely during the Second Dynasty and are viewed as an exception to the typical use of the Horus name as is evidenced by the continued use of Horus in the serekhs of the Egyptian kings before and after Peribsen and Khasekhemwy.[15] Many propositions have been made as to why this change occurred, though the exact reason is still disputed.
Peribsen and Khasekhemwy
For reasons which remain unclear,
Peribsen thus made a visual statement that he was the earthly embodiment of
While the validity of this proposal is debatable, Khasekhemwy's epithet from seal impressions supports this notion. It is interpreted as 'the Two Lords are at peace in him' which can be viewed as though he resolved some internal conflict, especially if 'Two Lords' are seen as referring to
The change of the deity image on a serekh was significant: While the king's name sometimes appeared in a serekh without an image of a deity above, no deity other than Horus is so far known to have occurred on the serekh of a king until the reign of Peribsen.[18] However, the serekhs of some queens had other deities above. And example is Neithotep's, whose serekh had the goddess Neith's emblems above it.[21] Due to evidence that Peribsen's stelae were subjected to erasure of the Seth animals, it has been inferred that whatever reasons Peribsen had for substituting his falcon failed to win acceptance among royal generations after Khasekhemwy.[18]
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 3-8053-2591-6, p. 7-9.
- ^ ISBN 978-3-447-05888-9, p. 45–68.
- ^ ISBN 0-415-18633-1, p. 56-57, 201–202.
- ISBN 978-0-521-83586-2p.207
- ^ a b c d Kathryn A. Bard, An Introduction to the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt (Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2008), p. 114.
- ^ Ian Shaw, The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (New York: Oxford University Press Incorporated, 2000), p. 6.
- ^ Stephen Quirke, Who Were The Pharaohs?: A history of their names with a list of cartouches (London: British Museum Publications Limited, 1990), p. 29.
- ^ a b c d Gay Robins, The Art of Ancient Egypt (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000), p. 33.
- ^ Toby A.H. Wilkinson, Early Dynastic Egypt (New York: Routledge, 2000), p. 44.
- ^ a b Robins (2000), p. 36.
- ^ a b c Bard (2008), p. 123.
- ^ Wilkinson (2000), p. 200.
- ^ Quirke (1990), p. 11.
- ^ a b Wilkinson (2000), p. 202.
- ^ a b Wilkinson (2000), p. 201.
- ^ a b Wilkinson (2000), p. 295.
- ^ a b c Bard, Kathryn A. (2000). "The Emergence of the Egyptian State (c. 3200–2686 {{sc}BC}})". In Shaw, Ian (ed.). The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 86.
- ^ a b c Robins (2000), p. 37.
- ^ Wilkinson (2000), p. 91.
- ^ Wilkinson (2000), p. 92.
- ^ Toby A. H. Wilkinson: Early Dynastic Egypt - Strategy, Security and Society. Routledge, London 1999, ISBN 0-415-26011-6, p. 70 & 291
