Sedjes is an ancient Egyptian cartouche "name" for a king (

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...

), who is said to have ruled during the

3rd Dynasty The Third Dynasty of ancient Egypt (Dynasty III) is the first dynasty of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old Kingdom. Other dynasties of the Old Kingdom include the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, Fourth, Fifth Dynasty of Egypt, Fifth and Sixth Dynasty of ...

( Old Kingdom period). The lexeme appears only once, in the Abydos King List, as cartouche No.18. It is presented as if it were the name of the direct follower of king

Sekhemkhet Sekhemkhet (also read as Sechemchet) was an ancient Egyptian king (pharaoh) of the 3rd Dynasty during the Old Kingdom. His reign is thought to have been from about 2648 BC until 2640 BC. He is also known under his later traditioned birth name D ...

(here named ''Teti'') and the direct predecessor of king

Neferkara I Neferkare or Nefkara may refer to: Pharaohs * Neferkara I, 2nd Dynasty * Pepi II Neferkare, 6th Dynasty * Neferkare II, 8th Dynasty * Neferkare Neby, 8th Dynasty * Neferkare Khendu, 8th Dynasty * Neferkare Tereru, 8th Dynasty * Neferkare Pepi ...

. In the 19th century it was thought by Egyptologists and Historians to be the name of a king, because the scribes had placed the word ''sedjes'' inside a royal

cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the fea ...

. But as knowledge about Ancient Egyptian phrasing and grammars advanced, scholars realized its true meaning. ''Sedjes'' means "omitted" or "missing" and the scribes used the word as a

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

replacing a now illegible name of a king. They encircled it with a royal cartouche to mark it as a king's name, but following generations of scribes erroneously took it as the actual birth name of the to-be listed king. A similar case can be observed with the ominous cartouche name

Hudjefa Hudjefa is an ancient Egyptian word meaning "missing" or "erased". It was used by the royal scribes of the Ramesside era during the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt, when the scribes compiled king lists such as the Abydos King List, the royal table o ...

, also used as a pseudonym for missing royal names. Today, it is passionately disputed, which king of 3rd Dynasty was meant to be denoted in cartouche No.18.Iorwerth Eiddon Stephen Edwards: ''The Cambridge Ancient History'' Vol. 1, Pt. 2: ''Early history of the Middle East'', 3rd volume (Reprint). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2006, , page 35.Jürgen von Beckerath: ''Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen''.

Deutscher Kunstverlag The Deutscher Kunstverlag (DKV) is an educational publishing house with offices in Berlin and Munich. The publisher specializes in books about art, cultural history, architecture, and historic preservation. History Deutscher Kunstverlag was fo ...

, München/Berlin 1984, page 49.

References

{{Pharaohs Egyptian words and phrases