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| Seth-Peribsen | ||||||||
| unknown till unknown | ||||||||
| 5. Pharaoh of the 2. Dynasty | ||||||||
Pharaonic names:
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Name SourcesActually, while there is no real doubt about his existence, the sources of his name are rare and a little unusual. The clearest impression stems probably from an earthen jar seal from Peribsen's tomb (Tomb P at Abydos). Similar seals were discovered on a number of vessels made from sandstone, alabaster and porphyry and sometimes black schist. However, all those vessels stem from his tomb as well or from another site at Elephantine. Outside of those two discrete sites, there is just one clay seal with his name inside mastaba tomb K1 at Beil Khallaf.When it comes to stelas, there are two dark gray granite ones bearing his name and of course, they are at his burial site, thus again indicating some localization. Those two tomb stelae are the reason why I said in the beginning, his name sources are a little unusual. Both stelae look rough, as if unfinished, but tool mark analysis and the fact, that inscriptions were already made, indicate, this was intentional. However, about the why, scholars still struggle. And with that, the quality of sources degrades quickly. A cylinder of unknown provenance shows his name in a cartouche and gives also the epithet Merj-netjeru (beloved of the gods) which, both in its own rights, shows, that this cylinder originates from a much later date because the cartouche appears only two dynasties later in the royal symbolic and the writing of the -netjeru in the epithet is a little inconsistent with the use of the time. Another cylinder seal shows Peribsen's name without cartouche and the royal title Nisut-Bity (king of Lower and Upper Egypt) which had to be more of a claim than reality.
The Seth in Seth-PeribsenUsually, pharaohs chose Horus, the falcon headed son of Osiris and Isis, as their patron deity. And this was a rule that strict, that we call this part of the royal titulary "Horus-name" up till today. You can see this in the Horus-whatever throne names which are thorough through all Egyptian history as long as pharaohs reigned at the Nile. Well, with two exceptions: Seth-Peribsen, one of them, chose Seth. Now, usually, the name of the pharaoh was written at that time in form of a Serekh, which was basically the Horus name over the stylized facade of the royal palace, thus indicating rulership. For Peribsen, we find insted the Seth-animal, which appears to be kind of a crossbreed between donkey and something with very little horns or very square ears. Nobody actually is sure, what it is. Above it usually there is a symbol consisting of two concentric circles. An sun, maybe. Or someone painted a target for arrow practice on the poor guy. No seriously, it is a sun symbol.Nevertheless, Seth was back in the days quite popular, just like Horus. At the lifetime of Peribsen, Seth hadn't become the dark chaotic God as which he would spook later generations. And actually, while he is the only one using Seth in his Serekh, he is not the only king associating himself with this deity. The next one would be Seth Merybre, but he ruled during the 13th dynasty, quite a bit later (aboutish 1000 years later) and the names of the 19th dynasty pharaohs Seti I and Seti II are derived from Seth as well, but then, those pharoahs used Horus Seti I and Horus Seti II as Horus names. As usual, unusual things lead to theories about which scholars can struggle for decades, sometimes centuries. Here are some of the ideas and my opinion about them:
Identity crisisNow, this doesn't mean he didn't know who he was. Of course he did. The point in question is basically, which other names are connected to him. Pharoahs had a lot of names and since the writers of king lists weren't too sure how to read some of them, got even long time after their death some new ones. This opens of course a wide room for scholarly theories. Some egyptologists for example claim, Peribsen would be identical to Sekhemib-Perenmaat. Which would be in my opinion a little problematic because most of the seals of Sekhemib were found in the entrance area of Peribsen's tomb, but not further in. That would indicate, Sekhemib buried Peribsen, which makes it almost impossible, that they could be the same person unless Peribsen buried himself, sealed the tomb and went then in again through the sealed and rock filled entrance tunnel to lay finally down. Even more problematic is, that no inscription and no seal was ever found, that would show both names together and thus indicate an identity. So, technically, it's not a theory, in a scientific sense, it is rather something popping out of the blue.However, similar use of typographic styles could indicate, Sekhemib and Peribsen were related. Which archaeologists also try to hand on the fact, that their complete names have some syllably in common. Well, err, no offense, but the next king after a dead one was usuallly his son or if he had none, a brother. I guess, we can take that as "kind of related", can we? Which makes the so-called "relationship-theory" very likely in fact. Just like the thory, things tend rather to fall down than up or the theorem, there will be next year a new reality show on TV. I mean, technically, we can sell things that will happen almost inevitable also as good future predictions that way. Now, nobody in the 2nd dynasty is complete without being at least once identified as the mysterious Wadjenes. It"s obviously some kind of posthumous status symbol for second-dynasty-kings. But lets keep in mind, this was a syllabil based writing. Per-Ib-Sen and Wadj-Sen are hard to mess up because a closer look would show the third syllabil in Per-Ib-Sen. So, maybe someone had a sloppy handwriting, maybe it was a hard to read papyrus, but to miss an additional sign, when there are anyway only three, that's a little tough. And we have another suspect: Pharaoh Senedj! The reason why some egyptologists think so, is easy. Both names appear in the tomb of the now several times mentioned priest Shery. He was the overseer of all Wab-priests of Peribsen in the necropolis, Senedj founded. The problem is, the inscription is clear. Since Peribsen couldn't be buried before the necropolis was founded, Senedj had to come first. And since the names are clearly separated, the also couldn't be the same person. So at the end of the egyptologist's identity crisis, it appears, Peribsen was just Peribsen.
ReignNow, some archeologists seem to think, Egypt was divided at Peribsen's time. Which makes me wonder, what gave the clue? Maybe the existence of a second autonome line of Memphite kings? But other scholars believe in a theory, Egypt wasn't actually divided at the time. Which supplies us with some spare kings, does it? Well, it's never a bad thing to have a king in spare like a vice president for example.But now serious. The reason some believe, Egypt wasn't divided hangs on exactly one piece of stone: The Cairo Stone shows in line IV a half destroyed Serekh, but one can, with a lot of imagination, recognize the legs. Whatever it was, it had legs, so it was no palace. And it had four legs, so it wasn't a bird like Horus. Now, the idea is, that the only royal crest animal with four legs was the Seth animal. And since Peribsen was the only one, they know, who used the Seth reference, this had to be Seth-Peribsen. Daring, without even one hieroglyph and only some barely recognizable legs left. Now, first of all, the Cairo Stone is part of the Annal Stone and it was written during the 5th dynasty. Some centuries after Peribsen lived. So there is some chance, someone messed it up because the writers back then did the same as our archaeologists today and compiled data from barely readable material. Only they did it without all the technical toys, they relied on what could be recognized with the unarmed eye. The result is for example the spooky Wadjenes nobody can say how he appeared in the lists. But even if they were right, Seth was mostly a Lower Egyptian deity. So while Peribsen was maybe the only one with a Seth reference in his name in Upper Egypt and we know, he was strong there, all except one of his name sources where found in Upper Egypt. In Lower Egypt, Seth would have beeen more of a must. One forgives me the butting in on the behavioral side, but it was a neccessity. The more hostile the situation between Upper and Lower Egypt became the more the need for an identification of 'us' and 'them' would arise. Upper Egypt would go for Horus (except for Peribsen of course) as documented in the king's names. The lower Egyptian rulers would go for Seth. And since in the end, Lower Egypt succumbed to Upper Egypt when Khasekhemwy reunited the country, it is not really surprising, there are no traces of the losers of this conflict left. The chances, there were more kings with Seth names in Lower Egypt are quite high, but the chance Peribsen was king of all of Egypt is quite a lousy one to bet on. Actually, Peribsen founded a new administrative centre called the white house of treasure and a royal residence called protection of Nubty not far from Kom Ombo (Nubty is the ancient Egyptian name for Naqqada). Titles were changed from "something of Egypt" to "something of Upper Egypt" for sealers, overseers of all kinds, basically all higher officials, to reflect the situation of a divided Egypt. All of that shows of course, Egypt was actually divided. Interesting is, that Peribsen's and Sekhemib's time show a clear and well identified hierarchy which would indicate a well ordered state and administration. So whatever his failures may have been, bad adminsitration appears to be none of them. Notable during Peribsen's reign is a busy construction activity. Actually, he founded several royal residences and even whole cities which would raise to some economical influence. Interesting here is Huj-setjet, the City of the Asians, which indicates by it's name some immigration via the Sinai which means through Lower Egypt. Notable is also an inscription on a stone vessel "ini-setjet" which is translated by most egyptologists as "tribute of the people of Sethroe". I admit, I don't follow here entirely. "ini;" means tribute or sometimes tax. !quot;Setjet" on the other hand refers either to the city of Sethroe in Lower Egypt or to "Asian". Given, that Peribsen founded Huj-setjet, the city of the Asians, which for sure wasn't named that way because he had there white Caucasians from England settle down, could it possibly be, his new immigrants from Asia paid a tribute to the king? Just such an idea? Because if he would have founded a cult centre for Seth in Lower Egypt as some Egyptologists think, he still wouldn't get tribute from a Lower Egyptian city, he would pay for his foundation there. Of course, it doesn't help the theory, that no cult center with Peribsen's seals all over it was found ever in Sethroe. Since Sethroe was the capital of the same-named 14th nome of Lower Egypt, there was some digging done already and archaeologists found a lot, but no cult centre Peribsen may could have founded. So my bet is, setjet is the same setjet as in Huj-setjet and that was the city payinf tribute or taxes to him. Also notable is a number of clay seal impressions that prove, several deities were worshipped in Upper Egypt under Peribsen's rule. The list includes, aside of Seth the deities Ash, Horus, Nekhbet, Min, Bastet and Kherty. Which in fact gives us quite a nice mix of originally Upper and Lower Egptian deities. Bastet, Kherty and of course Seth and his sister-wife Nekhbet appear to have been the strongest in the delta while Horus, Min and to a degree Ash were Upper Egyptian deities. Which of course doesn't say there was no trouble, only for deities the border was permeable. As anywhere and at any other time else. An interesting detail is the increasing number of sun depictions above the Horus and Seth pictures of the time, indicating, that, while Ra, the sun-god wasn't invented yet, the cult was on the way. Two generations later, under Khasekhemwy, Ra would officially enter the stage and do, what freshly invented Gods do: Propagate a states union. Nobody can even estimate how long Peribsen ruled. For sure, it had to be some years given the number of religious festivities he participated in. On an economical level, Upper Egypt was strong, maybe stronger than ever. The founding of a new city indicates, capital was available and the founding of several cities makes this a lot of wealth at the king's disposal. Add to that a whole list of new royal residences, extensive construction in older cities and the new immigrants from Asia, which were treated as new citizens rather than enemies, it appears as if Peribsen's economy had brought work and income to everyone, so much, that Upper Egypt needed additional workforce from the outside. Admittedly, there are no extraordinary leaps in technology or architecture, as far as we know from the limited archaeological record. So it was more a time of traders, builders and creators but of inventors. But the economy was in a boom as it appears. Which, funny as it sounds, makes unpopularity even more a likely reason why Peribsen disappeared before the king lists got hold of him. When people have money and jobs, when they don't have to worry about food on the table, they have time to come to the weirdest political misconclusions. The USA had under Bush jr also 4.6% unemployment and were scavaging the world for more qualified workforce. Still, unpopular wars made Bush unpopular and to give the masses jobs never counted for anything. Obama's unemployment numbers were as of yet between 200% and 300% higher than Bush's numbers, people don't know how to bring food on the table, millions and millions depend on food lines and still, Obama is more popular than Bush ever was. If you compare that to Peribsen, who did a good job on the economy and was granted oblivion by his grateful subjects for that, it appears somehow logical. Well, not really, lets rather call it familiar. The implication has to be clear. The next pharaoh of Upper Egypt came with some mortgage on the unpopularity of his dead daddy. Would be Sekhemib more of Bush, keeping the economy rolling and being cursed by those he gave food? Or more like Obama, full of empty promises and wild dreams that in reality would leave an incredible mess? When Peribsen died, his country was well, if maybe not as well as at his best peak times since he had ruled at least a number of years and things tend to fluctuate a little over the time of years. But time urged for a change in politics. People had to eat, now they wanted more ... and as usual, they had not the faintest idea, what "more" could be.
BurialsNo, that is no typo, I used a plural here because additional to the main burial in Umm el-Qa'ab near Abdoy exists a second tomb, a kenotaph, further north. Since that one is more relevant to Khasekhemwy, I will concentrate here on Tomb P, Peribsen's actual burial site. The tomb is quite ordinary in construction and with 52 by 43 feet small, compared to other royal tombs in the area. The basic model followed that of the tomb of Djer (1st Dynasty) and is similar to the king's palace in the outlines as it comprises basically three nested structures. The main burial chamber is with 24 by 9.5 feet the biggest room and constructed with mud bricks, reed and wood. On the walls to the North, East and West, nine small storage chambers held what the king would may need in his afterlife. The storage chambers are connected one to each other, thus allowing more or less to go around the main chamber. To the South, lies a third room, an elongated room designed as antechampber. The entrance is a passageway between this ensemble and the outer wall. Examinations by the DAIK, the Deutsches Archaeologisches Institut (German Archeological Institute) showed, this tomb was built in a hurry. The whole construction was done in one single phase, there is nothing of the change of plans and extension to original building phases that can be observed in other tombs. Tomb P was sketched down and built as it was planned without any changes during construction. The walls are plastered sloppy and rough and the whole construction collapsed several times. Then, during the Middle Kingdom, Peribsen's tomb was restored at least twice together with other surrounding burial monuments.The tomb had been plundered already in antiquity as most tombs in Abydos and whole Egypt at that. Still, stone vessels and clay jars which were obviously of little interest to the robbers, remained and were found by archaeologists at the beginning of the 20th century when the excavation started. Some of the vessels had copper coated rims, similar to those found in the tomb of Khasekhemwy. Which shows, at least a little progress was made, because this was a new development in Peribsen's time. Aside of vessels from Peribsen'e era, also vessels from the time of earlier pharaohs, namely Raneb and Nynetjer (probably father and grandfather of Peribsen) were found as well. Some bracelets and beards, obviously missed by the otherwise quite thorough grave robbers, and a small collection of tools made from copper almost complete the findings already. Some especially interesting items were a silver needle with the name of king Hor Aha on it and of course the afore mentioned seals of Sekhemib in the antechamber but neither the main burial chamber not the storage chambers. Outside of the tomb entrance the mentioned tomb stelae were found, quite in the usual position for a tomb of a first or second dynasty king. Remember, also those stelae were unusual rough and probably made under some time pressure. Outside, a little more than maybe half a mile distant, an enclosure made from mud bricks was found. Seals of Peribsen with his Serekh were found near the entrance and at the destroyed offering shrine. Today, in a common misunderstanding, this site is referenced to as "Middle Fort". Since this enclosure was next to Khasekhemwy's burial enclosure it was often wrongfully connected to this later king. The enclosure is with 354 by 180 feet much larger than the tomb itself, but contained only some cult buildings. Three entrances from East, South and North lead in the complex. The shrine was located in the south-east-corner and was with 40 by 32 feet relative small in comparison to other sites. Originally, the shrine comprised three small chapels. As usual with 2nd dynasty tombs, no subsidiary buryings were found since the practice of human sacrifices had been given up already since Qua'a. Or his successor or his successor or ... well, actually, the first tomb definitively without subsidiary burials and as definitively linked to exactly one king is Peribsen's because Qua'a had still twenty-six of his courtiers around him in death and after that, all tombs are either not found or not clearly linked to one king. So, human sacrifice was the past ... since yesterday at least. Egyptologists have discussed a lot about the two stelae and why they look so unfinished but obviously were finished because the inscriptions were already on them. Egyptologists discuss obviously a lot about those details. But looking at the greater picture, in this case the whole tomb, appearances change. Now by all means, this thing, even built in a hurry, wasn't just smashed together in a week ... even not with application of a lot of pressure. This took with the tools of the time some years to build. And usually, pharaohs started to plan for their burial the day after coronation, some even earlier. So what we actually see here, on a behavioral level, is a project considered very important, planned small and executed small because there was a knowledge behind it, the knowledge of death. Whoever planned this, and we can assume, it was Peribsen himself, he knew, he wouldn't rule for decades like some of his predecessors. He knew, he would have no time to build a bigger one, he knew he would need it earlier. And still, in the end, even the smaller projecr ran out of time. We can see that on the compromises. The step to smoothen out those stelae was skipped, the inscriptions were cut in the still relativ rough stone. The plaster in the main chamber was put on the wall in a hurry and without even enough time to dry out completely before the painters went to work. The nearer construction came to the end, the more the pressure becomes visible. So, despite all economic success as ruler, something else with him was not right. He ruled at least several years and he knew, he would die soon, therefore the hectic. This dismisses any sudden accident ideas, this leaves only one explanation: Pharaoh Peribsen was already a dying man, suffering from a disease that was already known in his time as deadly. And he planned basically his own funeral date based on the prognosis his healers could give him. Which is the reason why things were narrow in the end and plaster was just splashed on the walls in his tomb. So what would be a sickness that kills over years? Leukemia, some other cancers and some genetic disorders come to mind. True, the Egyptians didn't know about genetics, but they knew about those diseases at least what can be learned in an empiric way. But it couldn't be something so rare, only a handful cases appear on the whole world. It had to be something frequent enough to make the signs on the wall clear to the king, who planned and acted based on the knowledge, his time was limited. In a way, his tomb tells us more about the person Peribsen than his sparsely documented life. Sick people with power are often driven. Determined to write their names in the history books in only just a few years. Ready to risk and to invest and sometimes even to make big claims because they don't have the time to wait for a better chance. And thus, at the end, in the main burial chamber of Tomb P, all comes together. The Seth name, the hasty way of burying a king, the founding of cities and the big building rage that led to the construction of at least four new royal residences. And, also noteworthy, not one documented cult centre. What shimmers through here, is a driven man, probably bitter, quarreling with fate and even probably the gods themselves. Which would explain his ambivalence in favorite deities beyond the mere political implication, the lack of Seth, his alleged patron god, in his tomb, basically everything. In a way, it gives us a glimpse at his pain and his hopelessness, but then, also on the strength that was behind his projects. And as usual, a driven man is not a popular man, be he as successful as Peribsen was in many aspects. After he was dead, he was probably not only forgotten, he was probably slandered by those he gave work and food and for sure, he didn't get what he truely wanted, immortality in the books of history. | ||||||||
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