Double Falcon (also possibly Dju and Nebwy) was a ruler of

Lower Egypt Lower Egypt ( ar, مصر السفلى '; ) is the northernmost region of Egypt, which consists of the fertile Nile Delta between Upper Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, from El Aiyat, south of modern-day Cairo, and Dahshur. Historically, ...

from Naqada III. He may have reigned during the

32nd century BC The 32nd century BC was a century that lasted from the year 3200 BC to 3101 BC. Events * c. 3190–3170 BC? reign of King Double Falcon of Lower Egypt. There is a strong possibility that he appears on the Palermo stone, although half his name ...

. The length of his reign is unknown.

Attestation

In 1910, Egyptologist M. J. Clédat discovered the first evidence of Double Falcon's existence. Clédat was excavating the site of el-Mehemdiah in the northeastern

Nile Delta The Nile Delta ( ar, دلتا النيل, or simply , is the delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Po ...

when a peasant brought him a jar and some incised fragments that he had uncovered during the planting of a palm-grove in nearby el-Beda. Investigating the site, Clédat soon discovered four '' serekhs'' of Double Falcon.Kaiser-Dreyer, in: Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo. (MDAIK) 38 (1982), Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Orient-Abteilung, p. 9. The next attestation of Double Falcon was discovered in 1912 during excavations by Hermann Junker on the site of Tura, where a tomb yielded a complete jar bearing a ''serekh'' topped by two falcons. More recently, ''serekhs'' of Double Falcon have been found in the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a l ...

Günter Dreyer Günter Dreyer (5 October 1943 – 12 March 2019) was an Egyptologist at the German Archaeological Institute. In southern Egypt, Dreyer discovered records of linen and oil deliveries which have been carbon-dated to between 3300 BCE and 3200 BCE, ...

, ''Ein Gefäss mit Ritzmarke des Narmer'', in: MDAIK 55, (1999), pp. 1–6 in Tell Ibrahim Awad in the eastern Delta,E. C. M. van den Brink, ''Pottery-incised Serekh-Signs of Dynasties 0–1, Part II: Fragments and Additional Complete Vessels'', in: Archéo-Nil 11, 2001 in Adaima and

Abydos Abydos may refer to: *Abydos, a progressive metal side project of German singer Andy Kuntz * Abydos (Hellespont), an ancient city in Mysia, Asia Minor * Abydos (''Stargate''), name of a fictional planet in the '' Stargate'' science fiction universe ...

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancient ...

, and in the Palmahim quarry in southern

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. The concentration of Double Falcon's ''serekhs'' in

and the north-western Sinai indicates that his rule may have been limited to these regions. Nonetheless, the wider geographic presence of his ''serekhs'', notably in Upper Egypt and the Southern Levant, suggests that the long-distance authority of the Naqada III kings had already commenced towards the end of the period, be it through trading or warfare. If the inscriptions on the ''recto'' side of the

Libyan Palette The Libyan Palette (also variously known as the City Palette,Lloyd 2010, p. 841. the Libyan Booty Palette, the Libyan Tribute Palette, the Siege Palette, the Tehenu- or Tjehenu Palette) is the surviving lower portion of a stone cosmetic palette bea ...

are indeed royal names, Double Falcon may be listed alongside either

Scorpion I Scorpion I was a ruler of Upper Egypt during Naqada III. His name may refer to the scorpion goddess Serket, though evidence suggests Serket's rise in popularity to be in the Old Kingdom, bringing doubt to whether Scorpion actually took his name ...

or Scorpion II in the second row of inscribed symbols.

Name

The ''serekh'' of Double Falcon is unique in its layout and composition. Firstly, it is the only ''serekh'' topped by two Horus falcons, facing each other. Secondly, the ''serekh'' does not have a name compartment, being filled by the vertical lines which usually represent the niched facade of a palace. The ''serekh'' also lacks the horizontal line that delimits the palace facade from the name of the ruler above. Finally, each falcon stands on its own peak. So-called "anonymous ''serekhs''" have been found somewhat frequently all over Upper and Lower Egypt, some even finding provenance in Rafah, located in southern

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. Many were discovered in the tombs of Abydos, namely in the tombs U-s and U-t. In addition to the original Double Falcon ''serekh'', M. J. Clédat also found a number of other similarly styled ''serekhs'' from artifacts at el-Beda, one of which he postulated represented a name of a queen, "Ka- Neith". As for Double Falcon, a ''pharaoh'', Clédat and fellow Egyptologists

and Edwin van den Brink suspect that a deeper symbolism explains these peculiarities. The two falcons could represent Lower Egypt and the Sinai, as it seems that Double Falcon reigned over both regions. Dreyer believes that the falcons stand on a representation of the "mountain sign" N26 of Gardiner's sign list: and reads the name as ''Dju'' (''ḏw''), so that the name of the king is represented by a pair of falcons on mountains above a plain ''serekh''. In contrast, Alejandro Jiménez Serrano reads the name as ''Nebwy'' (''nb.wy''), "the two lords", and sees a similarity with a much earlier

palette Palette may refer to: * Cosmetic palette, an archaeological form * Palette, another name for a color scheme * Palette (painting), a wooden board used for mixing colors for a painting ** Palette knife, an implement for painting * Palette (company), ...

on display in the

Barbier-Mueller Museum The Barbier-Mueller Museum, founded in 1977, is located at 10 rue Jean-Calvin, in Geneva, Switzerland. Its collection contains over 7,000 pieces and includes works of art from Tribal and Classical antiquity as well as sculptures, fabrics and orna ...

of Geneva.Jiménez-Serrano, 2000, pp. 123-124 ''apud'' Edwin van den Brink: ''The Pottery-Incised Serekh-Signs of Dynasties 0-1. Part II: Fragments and Additional Complete Vessels'', in: Archéo Nil 11, 2002, p. 33.

References

{{authority control 32nd-century BC Pharaohs Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown 1910 archaeological discoveries

Attestation

Name

See also

References