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Senedj (also known as Sened and Sethenes) was an early Egyptian 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 th ...
), who may have ruled during the 2nd Dynasty. His historical standing remains uncertain. His name is included in the kinglists of the Ramesside era, although it is written in different ways: While the Abydos King List imitates the archaic form, the
Royal Canon of Turin The Turin King List, also known as the Turin Royal Canon, is an ancient Egyptian hieratic papyrus thought to date from the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II, now in the Museo Egizio (Egyptian Museum) in Turin. The papyrus is the most extensive list ...
and the Saqqara King List form the name with the hieroglyphic sign of a plucked
goose A goose (plural, : geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family (biology), family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera ''Anser (bird), Anser'' (the grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (the black geese). Some o ...
. It is unknown how long Senedj ruled over Egypt. The Royal Canon of Turin credits him with 70 years of rulership, the ancient Egyptian historian Manetho states that ''Séthenes'' (as he calls Senedj) ruled for 41 years.


Name sources

The possibly only known contemporary inscription from Senedj's reign was found in 1909 by Egyptologist Uvo Hölscher, who assisted the excavations at the Khephren- and Menkaura temple at
Giza Giza (; sometimes spelled ''Gizah'' arz, الجيزة ' ) is the second-largest city in Egypt after Cairo and fourth-largest city in Africa after Kinshasa, Lagos and Cairo. It is the capital of Giza Governorate with a total population of 9. ...
. Hölscher found a small, thin-walled and polished
diorite Diorite ( ) is an intrusive igneous rock formed by the slow cooling underground of magma (molten rock) that has a moderate content of silica and a relatively low content of alkali metals. It is intermediate in composition between low-sil ...
shard, which once belonged to a flat bowl. At the left breakline an incised inscription gives the reading: "The king of Upper- and Lower Egypt, Senedj". The inscription goes from the right to the left and exceeds the breakline, but the king's name remains reconstructable. The precious artifact was published in 1912. It was also examined by George Andrew Reisner, who mentioned it shortly in his book ''Mycerinus, the Temples of the Third Pyramid at Giza''. The next source referring to king Senedj dates back to the beginning or middle of the 4th Dynasty. The name, written in a
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 fe ...
, appears in the inscription on a false door belonging to the mastaba
tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immuremen ...
of the high
priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
Shery at
Saqqara Saqqara ( ar, سقارة, ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is an Egyptian village in Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital, Memphi ...
. Shery held the title “overseer of all wab-priests of king Peribsen in the
necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...
of king Senedj”, “overseer of the ka-priests of king Senedj” and “god's servant of Senedj”. Senedj's name is written in
archaic Archaic is a period of time preceding a designated classical period, or something from an older period of time that is also not found or used currently: *List of archaeological periods **Archaic Sumerian language, spoken between 31st - 26th cent ...
form and set in a cartouche, which is an anachronism, since the cartouche itself was not used until the end of
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 ...
under king
Huni Huni (original reading unknown) was an ancient Egyptian king and the last pharaoh of the Third Dynasty of Egypt during the Old Kingdom period. Following the Turin king list, he is commonly credited with a reign of 24 years, ending c. 2613&n ...
. Egyptologist
Dietrich Wildung Dietrich () is an ancient German name meaning "Ruler of the People.” Also "keeper of the keys" or a "lockpick" either the tool or the profession. Given name * Dietrich, Count of Oldenburg (c. 1398 – 1440) * Thierry of Alsace (german: Dietr ...
points to two further priests and possible relatives of Shery, who both also participated the funerary cult of Senedj, ''Inkef'' and ''Siy''. Senedj is also mentioned in papyrus P. Berlin 3038, which contains medical prescriptions and therapies for numerous diseases. One of these gives instructions for treating foot
cramp A cramp is a sudden, involuntary, painful skeletal muscle contraction or overshortening associated with electrical activity; while generally temporary and non-damaging, they can cause significant pain and a paralysis-like immobility of the af ...
s, and closes with the claim that the recipe for the ointment originates from a "book of vessels". This book is claimed to originate from the time of king Usáphais (identical with king Horus Den of Dynasty I). King Senedj allegedly received the book as an inheritance gift. The latest mention of Senedj's name appears on a small bronze statuette in the shape of a kneeling king wearing the White Crown of
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 wikt:downriver, upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. ...
and holding incense burners in its hands. Additionally, the figurine wears a belt which has Senedj's name carved at the back.Dietrich Wildung: ''Die Rolle ägyptischer Könige im Bewusstsein ihrer Nachwelt''. Part I (Münchener Ägytologische Studien 17). Deutscher Kunstverlag, München/Berlin 1969, page 45 Egyptologist Peter Munro has written a report about the existence of a mud seal inscription showing the cartouche name ''Nefer-senedj-Ra'', which he thinks to be a version of “Senedj”. But since the finding was never photographed nor drawn and the alleged object meanwhile got lost, Munro's claim is highly questioned by many scholars.


Identity

The
horus name The Horus name is the oldest known and used crest of ancient Egyptian rulers. It belongs to the " great five names" of an Egyptian pharaoh. However, modern Egyptologists and linguists are starting to prefer the more neutral term: the "serekh na ...
of Senedj remains unknown. The false door inscription of Shery might indicate that Senedj is identical with king Seth-Peribsen and that the name "Senedj" was brought into the kinglists, because a seth-name was not allowed to be mentioned. Other Egyptologists, such as Wolfgang Helck and Dietrich Wildung, are not so sure and believe that Senedj and Peribsen were different rulers. They point out that the false door inscription has the names of both strictly separated from each other. Additionally, Wildung thinks that Senedj donated an offering
chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common typ ...
to Peribsen in his necropolis. This theory in turn is questioned by Helck and Hermann A. Schlögl, who point to the clay seals of king Sekhemib found in the entrance area of Peribsen's tomb, which might prove that Sekhemib buried Peribsen, not Senedj.


Reign

Egyptologists such as Wolfgang Helck, Nicolas Grimal, Hermann Alexander Schlögl and Francesco Tiradritti believe that king Nynetjer, the third ruler of 2nd dynasty, left a realm that was suffering from an overly complex state administration and that Nynetjer decided to split Egypt to leave it to his two sons (or, at least, two chosen successors) who would rule two separate kingdoms, in the hope that the two rulers could better administer the states. In contrast, Egyptologists such as Barbara Bell believe that an economic catastrophe such as a
famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accom ...
or a long lasting drought affected Egypt. Therefore, to better address the problem of feeding the Egyptian population, Nynetjer split the realm into two and his successors founded two independent realms until the famine came to an end. Bell points to the inscriptions of the Palermo stone, where, in her opinion, the records of the annual Nile floods show constantly low levels during this period. Bell's theory is refuted today by Egyptologists such as Stephan Seidlmayer, who corrected Bell's calculations. Seidlmayer has shown that the annual Nile floods were at usual levels at Nynetjer's time up to the period of the
Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourt ...
. Bell had overlooked that the heights of the Nile floods in the Palermo stone inscription only takes into account the measurements of the nilometers around Memphis, but not elsewhere along the river. Any long-lasting drought can therefore be excluded. It is also unclear if Senedj already shared his throne with another ruler, or if the Egyptian state was split at the time of his death. All known kinglists such as the Sakkara list, the Turin King List and the Abydos table list a king Wadjenes as predecessor of Senedj. After Senedj, the kinglists differ from each other in respect of the successors. While the Sakkara list and the Turin canon mention the kings Neferka(ra), Neferkasokar and Hudjefa I as immediate successors, the Abydos list skips them and lists a king ''Djadjay'' (identical with king
Khasekhemwy Khasekhemwy (ca. 2690 BC; ', also rendered ''Kha-sekhemui'') was the last Pharaoh of the Second Dynasty of Egypt. Little is known about him, other than that he led several significant military campaigns and built the mudbrick fort known as Shu ...
). If Egypt was already divided when Senedj gained the throne, kings like Sekhemib and Peribsen would have ruled Upper Egypt, whilst Senedj and his successors, Neferka(ra) and Hudjefa I, would have ruled Lower Egypt. The division of Egypt was brought to an end by king Khasekhemwy.


Tomb

It is unknown where Senedj was buried. Toby Wilkinson assumes that the king might have been buried at Saqqara. To support this view, Wilkinson makes the observation that mortuary priests in earlier times were never buried too far away from the king for whom they had practised the mortuary cult. Wilkinson thinks that one of the Great Southern Galleries within the Necropolis of King
Djoser Djoser (also read as Djeser and Zoser) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 3rd Dynasty during the Old Kingdom, and was the founder of that epoch. He is also known by his Hellenized names Tosorthros (from Manetho) and Sesorthos (from Euseb ...
(
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 ...
) was originally Senedj's tomb.Toby Wilkinson: ''Early Dynastic Egypt''. Routledge, London/New York 1999, , page 88 - 89.


References


External links


Sened/Senedj
{{authority control 28th-century BC Pharaohs Pharaohs of the Second Dynasty of Egypt