Khasekhemwy · Lablypedia

His Horus name Ḫꜥj-sḫm.wj can be interpreted as "The Two Powerful Ones Appear", but the name is recorded in many variants, such as Ḥr-Ḫꜥj-sḫm (Horus, he whose power appears), ḫꜥj sḫm.wj ḥtp nṯrwj jm=f (the two powers appear in that the ancestors rest within him) (etc.) He is also known under his later traditioned birth name Bebti (which is also one of the names of the god Horus) and under his Hellenized name Cheneres (by Manetho; derived from Khasekhemwy).

Reign

Length of Reign

Khasekhemwy ruled for close to 18 years, with a floruit in the early 27th century BC. The exact date of his reign in Egyptian chronology is unclear but would fall roughly in between 2690–2670 BC.

According to Toby Wilkinson's study of the Palermo Stone in Royal Annals of Ancient Egypt, this near contemporary 5th dynasty document assigns Khasekhemwy a reign of 17.5 or nearly 18 full years. Wilkinson suggests that a reign of 18 "complete or partial years" can be attributed to Khasekhemwy since the Palermo Stone and its associated fragments record Years 3-6 and Years 12-18 of this king and notes that his final year is recorded in the preserved section of the document. Since the cattle count is shown to be regularly biennial during the second dynasty from the Palermo Stone (the year of the 6th, 7th and 8th count is preserved on the document plus full years after these counts respectively), a figure of c. 18 years is likely correct for Khasekhemwy. (or c. 18 years 2 months and 23 days from the main fragment of the Palermo Stone)

In addition, Manetho states Khasekhemwy ruled Egypt for thirty years, while the Turin King List states it was only twenty-seven years and a lifespan of forty years. However, both are considered unreliable as they were written long after Khasekhemwy's death whereas the Palermo Stone was carved 200 years after Khasekhemwy's death and is thought to be more accurate.

Events

Khasekhemwy is normally placed as the successor of Seth-Peribsen, though some Egyptologists believe that he was the successor of Sekhemib-Perenmaat and that another Pharaoh, Khasekhem, ruled between them. Most scholars, however, believe that Khasekhem and Khasekhemwy are, in fact, the same person. Khasekhem may have changed his name to Khasekhemwy after he defeated Seth-Peribsen and reunited Upper and Lower Egypt following a civil war between the followers of the god Horus led by himself and the followers of the god Seth led by Peribsen. Others believe Khasekhemwy only defeated Seth-Peribsen after returning to Egypt from putting down a revolt in Nubia. Either way, he ended the infighting of the Second dynasty and reunited Egypt by his 12th year on the throne, since the Palermo Stone first refers to him as "the Dual King" by his 13th year.

Khasekhemwy is unique in Egyptian history as having both the symbols of Horus and Seth on his serekh. At the beginning of his reign he adopted the Horus name Khasekhem, "The powerful one has appeared", which clearly showed his allegiance to Horus. Later, however, after defeating Peribsen, he added the symbol of Seth next to Horus and added the epithet to his royal serekh, / and accordingly changed his name to the dual form Khasekhemwy, "The two powers have appeared", along with the addition "The two powers are at peace with him". Some Egyptologists believe that this was an attempt to unify the two factions; but after his death, Seth was dropped from the serekh permanently. Khasekhemwy was the earliest Egyptian king known to have built statues of himself.

Khasekhemwy apparently undertook considerable building projects upon the reunification of Egypt. He built in stone at el-Kab, Hierakonpolis, and Abydos. Khasekhemwy built enclosures at Nekhen, at Abydos (a structure known as Shunet ez Zebib), and was buried in the necropolis at Umm el-Qa'ab in Tomb V. He may also have built the Gisr el-Mudir at Saqqara.

An inscription on a stone vase records him “fighting the northern enemy within Nekheb”. This means that Lower Egypt may have invaded and almost taken the capital of Nekhen.

Year-by-year records

The Palermo Stone records the events of the twelfth to final years of Khasekhemwy's reign, and the London Fragment records the events of his third to sixth years of reign.

London Fragment:

3rd year: first occasion of the census of gold [and fields]
4th year: Following of Horus; second occasion of the census [of gold and fields]
5th year: ...of the common people
6th year: Following of Horus; third [occasion of the census of gold and fields]

Palermo stone, main fragment:

12th year: Following of Horus; sixth occasion of the census [of gold and fields]
13th year: Appearance of the Dual King; construction in stone 'The Goddess Endures'
14th year: Following of Horus; seventh occasion of the census of gold and fields
15th year: Creation of the copper statue "High is Khasekhemwy"
16th year: Following of Horus; eighth occasion of the census of gold and fields
17th year: Fourth occasion of reaching the wall; ship-building in Duadjefa
year of death: 2 months and 23 days

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Family

Khasekhemwy's wife was Queen Nimaathap, mother of the King's Children. They were the parents of Djoser and Djoser's wife Hetephernebti. It is also possible that Khasekhemwy's sons were Sekhemkhet, Sanakhte, and Khaba, the three kings succeeding Djoser. Nimaathap was a northern princess who he titled “King bearing mother”.

Attestations

Khasekhemwy is attested by several artifacts.

Statue of Khasekhemwy

A lime statue of king Khasekhemwy, one of the earliest known life-size statues of an Egyptian pharaoh, is on display in the Ashmolean Museum (AN1896-1908 E.517). The statue comes from the "Main Deposit" at Hierakonpolis, and is dated to about 2700-2686 BC. It was discovered by Flinders Petrie in 1896.

The king wears the White Crown of Upper Egypt, and is dressed in a long robe. His right fist is drilled so as to attach a separate object, possibly a mace handle or a scepter. The king's name, Khasekhem, is inscribed in front of his feet. It is inscribed within a representation of the palace façade (the serekh), and the falcon god Horus stands on top.

The base of the statue has depictions of killed enemies on its four sides, recording a military campaign against the 'northern rebels', referring to the inhabitants of the Nile Delta. On the front, the number of slain enemies is given as 47,209 dead, with a symbol generally considered as designating "Libyans". This scene seems to record the victory of Khasekhemwy over a northern Egyptian population led by their ruler, Besh. The name Besh may be a variation or nomen of Peribsen, or more probably the name of a Libyan northern tribe near the Fayum. This iconography of the king crushing enemies at his feet would remain a central theme of royal iconography for the next three millennia.

Tomb

He was buried in Tomb V, the last such royal tomb built in the Umm el-Qa'ab necropolis. The trapezoidal tomb measures some 70 meters (230 ft) in length and is 17 meters (56 ft) wide at its northern end, and 10 meters (33 ft) wide at its southern end. This area was divided into 58 rooms. Prior to some recent discoveries from the 1st dynasty, its central burial chamber was considered the oldest masonry structure in the world, being built of quarried limestone. Despite being entered and looted by ancient tomb robbers, the excavators discovered the king's scepter of gold and sard inside the central burial chamber, as well as several beautifully made small stone pots with gold leaf lid coverings, apparently missed by earlier tomb robbers. In fact, Petrie detailed a number of items removed during the excavations of Amélineau. Other items included a tomb stele, flint tools, as well as a variety of copper tools and vessels, stone vessels and pottery vessels filled with grain and fruit. There were also small, glazed objects, carnelian beads, model tools, basketwork and a large quantity of seals.

Legacy

The second half of the 2nd dynasty, especially starting from the reign of Peribsen, the targeted unification of Egypt under a central administration, the development of the economy, trade and culture, created the conditions for the dynamic onset of the 3rd dynasty. This is evidenced by the constructions that were realised, which in their increasingly massive size determined the development of construction technologies and their logistical support, including the necessary administrative structures associated with it. It was also the development of the craft of producing objects, as evidenced by the objects exhibited in museums, partially preserved from the funerary equipment in the tomb of Khasekhemwy. There is no doubt that his sons Netjerikhet, Sekhemkhet, Sanakht and Khaba had enough inspiring ideas for their own reigns.

The era of Khasekhemwy's rule is therefore, in a historical context, an important phase in the development of Egypt's statehood. Increasing Egyptian involvement in neighbouring areas and the imposition of political control over territory beyond Egypt's borders, are important indicators of growing self-confidence. The intensity of Egypt's foreign relations in the Early Dynastic period is a complex mixture of ideology and practical economics, illuminating some of the problems and priorities faced by Egypt's early rulers.