Den, also known as
Hor-Den,
Dewen and
Udimu, is the
Horus name of an
early Egyptian king who ruled during the
1st dynasty. He is the best
archaeologically attested ruler of this period. Den is said to have brought prosperity to his realm and numerous innovations are attributed to his reign. He was the first to use the title
King of Lower- and Upper Egypt, and the first depicted as wearing the double crown (red and white). The floor of his
tomb at
Umm el-Qa'ab near
Abydos is made of red and black
granite, the first time in Egypt this hard stone was used as a building material. During his long reign he established many of the patterns of court ritual and royalty used by later rulers and he was held in high regard by his immediate successors.
Length of reign[edit]
Name sources[edit]
Den's
serekh name is well attested on earthen seal impressions, on ivory labels and in inscriptions on vessels made of
schist,
diorite and
marble. The artifacts were found at Abydos,
Sakkara and
Abu Rawash.
[4] Den's name is also attested in later documents. For example, the
Medical Papyrus of Berlin (
Ramesside era) discusses several methods of treatment and therapies for a number of different diseases. Some of these methods are said to originate from the reign of Den, but this statement may merely be trying to make the medical advice sound traditional and authoritative.
[5] Similarly, Den is mentioned in the
Papyrus of Ani (also dated to Ramesside times) in chapter 64.
[6]
Identity[edit]
Fragment of an ivory label showing pharaoh Den wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. Discovered in the tomb of Den, now in the
Egyptian Museum.
Den's serekh name was "Den" or "Dewen", most likely meaning "he who brings the water". This is consistent with his
birth name, which was “Khasty”, meaning “he of the two deserts”. Egyptologists such as
Toby Wilkinson and
Francesco Tiradritti think that the birth name refers to the eastern and the western desert – both surrounding Egypt like protective shields - or to
Lower and
Upper Egypt. This is in accord with the introduction of the
Nisut-Bity-title by Den. This royal title was designed to legitimise the ruler´s power over whole of Egypt.
[7][8]
Den's family has been the subject of significant research. His mother was queen
Meritneith; this conclusion is supported by contemporary seal impressions and by the inscription on the Palermo Stone. Den´s wives were the queens
Semat,
Nakht-Neithand, possibly,
Qua-Neith. He had also numerous sons and daughters, his possible successors to his heirs could have been king
Anedjib and king
Semerkhet.
[4][9]
Den's
royal court is also well researched. Subsidiary tombs and palatial
mastabas at Sakkara belonged to high officials such as
Ipka, Ankh-ka, Hemaka, Nebitka, Amka, Iny-ka and
Ka-Za. In a subsidiary tomb at Den´s
necropolis, the rare stela of a dwarf named
Ser-Inpu was found.
[3]
Ebony label
EA 32650 from Den's tomb. The upper right register depicts king Den twice: at the left he is sitting in his Hebsed pavilion, at the right he is running a symbolic race around D-shaped markings. This ceremony is connected to the so-called "race of the Apis bull". The middle right section reports about the raid of the city "beautiful door" and about a daughter of Den suffering from an unknown disease. The lower right section reports about the visitation of the "souls of Peh" at the royal domain "Wenet". The left part of the label describes the content of the vessel that once belonged to the label and mentions the high official
Hemaka, who was obviously responsible for the delivery of the labeled jar.
Beginning[edit]
According to archaeological records, at the very beginning of his reign, Den had to share the throne with his mother Meritneith for several years. It seems that he was too young to rule himself. Therefore Meritneith reigned as a regent or
de facto pharaoh for some time. Such a course of action was not unusual in ancient Egyptian history. Queen
Neithhotep may have taken on a similar role before Meritneith, while queens such as
Sobekneferu and
Hatshepsut were later female Egyptian rulers. Den's mother was rewarded with her own
tomb of royal dimensions and with her own mortuary cult.
[4][9]
An important innovation during Den's reign was the introduction of numbering using
hieroglyphs. Prior to this, important year events were merely depicted in signs and miniatures, sometimes guided by the hieroglyphic sign of a bald palm
panicle (
renpet), meaning “year”. From Den's reign onwards, the Egyptians used numbering hieroglyphs for a range of purposes including calculating
taxcollections and for annotating their year events.
[11]
Den is the first Egyptian king attested with rock reliefs in
Sinai. Two or perhaps even three reliefs are showing the standing king and some of his officials.
[12]
Most religious and political happenings from Den's reign are recorded in the numerous ivory tags and from the Palermo Stone inscription. The tags show important developments in
typography and arts. The surface is artistically parted into sections, each of them showing individual events. For example, one of these tags reports on an
epidemic then affecting Egypt. The inscription shows the figure of a
shaman with an undefined vessel or urn at his feet. A nearby inscription begins with “Henu...” but it is unclear, if that means “provision” or if it is the first syllable of the name “Henu-Ka” (a high official).
[3]
Another tag, known as the “MacGregor Label”, shows the first complete depiction of an Egyptian king with the so-called
Nemeshead dress. The picture shows Den in a gesture known as “smiting the enemy”. In one hand Den holds a smashing sceptre, in the other hand he grabs a foe by his hair. Thanks to the
dreadlocks and the conic beard the foe has been identified as of Asian origin. The hieroglyphs at the right side say “first smiting of the east”. At the left side the name of the high official
Iny-Ka is inscribed. It seems that Den sent troops to
Sinai and the eastern desert a number of times. Plundering
nomads, known by the early Egyptians as
Iuntju (“peoples with hunting bows”), were regular foes of Egypt, often causing trouble. They are again mentioned in a rock inscription at Sinai under king
Semerkhet, one of Den´s successors.
[3][13][14]
year 18–22 at the recto of the Cairostone fragment
C5
More events are reported on the Palermo Stone fragments. The Oxford fragment records the following events:
- 4th year: First time for counting gold.
- 5th year: Escort of Horus; 2nd census of cattle count.
- 6th year: ...(section damaged)... of the Rehyt.
- 7th year: Escort of Horus; 3rd census of cattle count.[15]
The Cairo-Stone fragment C5 reports:
- 18th year: The making of a statue for Wer-Wadjet.
- 19th year: Smiting of the Setjet people.
- 20th year: Creation of the Mafdet-fetish; raising of the Sentj-pillars.
- 21st year: Smiting of the Tjesem people.
- 22nd year: Visit to the royal domain of Semer-Netjeru; first celebration of the Hebsed.[16]
The Palermo Stone main fragment reports:
- 28th year: Visit to the temple of Ptah... (rest is missing).
- 29th year: Smiting of the Iuntju people.
- 30th year: Appearance of the king of Lower- and Upper Egypt; 2nd celebration of the Hebsed.
- 31st year: Planning for the construction of the eastern and western canals through the districts of the Rehyts.
- 32nd year: 2nd celebration of the Djet-festival.
- 33rd year: Stretching the cords (a foundation ceremony[17]) for the divine fortress Isut-Netjeru (“thrones of the gods”).
- 34th year: Stretching the cords for the royal palace of the divine fortress Isut-Netjeru by the high priest of Seshat.
- 35th year: Inauguration of the sacred lakes at the divine fortress Isut-Netjeru; royal hippopotamus hunt.
- 36th year: Residing at Nenj-nesw (Herakleopolis Magna) and at the lake of the god Heryshaf.
- 37th year: Sailing trip to Sah-Setni; foundation/destruction of the city Wer-Ka.
- 38th year: Creation of a statue for the god Sed.
- 39th year: Appearance of the king of Lower- and Upper Egypt; 1st race of the Apis-Bull.
- 40th year: Creation of a statue for the goddesses Seschat and Mafdet.
- 41st year: Appearance of the king of Lower- and... (rest is missing) [11][18]
The second celebration of the
Hebsed (a throne jubilee) is affirmed by several stone vessel inscriptions from Den´s necropolis.
[19]
The reconstructed entrance to "Tomb T" at Umm el-Qa'ab in Abydos, the tomb of Den
Den was interred within a tomb ("Tomb T") in the
Umm el-Qa'ab area of Abydos, which is associated with other first dynasty kings.
[20] Tomb T is among the largest and most finely-built of the tombs in this area, and is the first to feature a staircase and a floor made of granite.
[21]
His was the first tomb to have a flight of stairs leading to it, those of earlier kings being filled directly above from their roofs. It is possible that the tomb may have used as a storehouse for surplus produce during the king's lifetime, while also making it easier to add grave goods for later use in the afterlife by Den.
[22]
Tomb T is also the first tomb to include architectural elements made of stone rather than mud-brick.
[23] In the original layout for the tomb, a wooden door was located about half-way up the staircase, and a
portcullis placed in front of the burial chamber, designed to keep out tomb robbers.
[24] The floor of the tomb was paved in red and black granite from Aswan, the first architectural use of such hard stone on a large scale.
Twenty labels made of ivory and ebony were found in his tomb, 18 of them were found by
Flinders Petrie in the spoil heaps left by the less thorough archaeologist
Émile Amélineau[25] Among these labels are the earliest known depictions of a pharaoh wearing the double-crown of Egypt (see above), as well as running between ritual stele as part of the Sed festival.
[26] Also found are
seal impressions that provide the earliest confirmed king list.
Tomb T is surrounded by the burial sites of 136 men and women
[27] who were buried at the same time as the king. Thought to be the king's retainers, an examination of some of the skeletons suggests they were strangled, making this an example of
human sacrifice which is considered to be common with the pharaohs of this dynasty. This practice which seems to have ceased by the conclusion of the dynasty with
shabtis taking the place of the bodies of actual people to aid the pharaohs with the work expected of them in the afterlife.
[28]
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