Setka is the name of an
ancient Egyptian crown prince. He is known for his statuette in the shape of a seated scribe. He is also the subject of a theory that claims he was
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 ...
of
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
for a very short time.
Identity
Setka was the eldest son and crown prince of pharaoh
Djedefre
Djedefre (also known as Djedefra and Radjedef – Modern Greek: ) was an ancient Egyptian king (pharaoh) of the 4th Dynasty during the Old Kingdom. He is well known by the Hellenized form of his name Rhatoisēs (Ῥατοίσης) by Manetho. ...
. He lived and worked during the
4th Dynasty
The Fourth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (notated Dynasty IV) is characterized as a "golden age" of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. Dynasty IV lasted from to 2494 BC. It was a time of peace and prosperity as well as one during which trade with other ...
. His family life is unknown, the names of his wives and children are lost. Since the names of three other sons of Djedefre, namely
Baka, Harnit and Nykau-Djedefre, are archaeologically detected, these should be Setka's brothers or half-brothers. The daughters of Djedefre,
Hetepheres III {{Use dmy dates, date=May 2012
Hetepheres is the name of several queens, princesses and noble women from the Fourth dynasty of Egypt.
* Hetepheres I, wife of Pharaoh Sneferu and mother of Khufu
* Hetepheres A, daughter of Sneferu, wife of Ankhhaf ...
and
Neferhetepes
Neferhetepes (''nefer-hetep-es''; '' nfr-ḥtp- s,'' "Her Peace/Grace Is Beautiful") was an ancient Egyptian princess of the 4th Dynasty; a daughter of Pharaoh Djedefre who ruled between his father Khufu and his brother Khafre. Her mother was He ...
, would be Setka's sisters or half-sisters. His mother is unknown, too. It could be one of Djedefre's wives,
Khentetka
Khentetka or Khentetenka (fl. 26th century BCE) was a Queen of Egypt; the wife of King Djedefre during the 4th Dynasty.
Biography
Khentetka's titles include ''King's Beloved Wife'' (''ḥm.t-nỉswt mrỉỉt=f''), ''She who sees Horus and Set ...
or
Hetepheres II
Hetepheres II was a Queen of Ancient Egypt during the 4th Dynasty.
Biography
Birth and family
Queen Hetepheres II may have been one of the longest-lived members of the royal family of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, which lasted from ca. 2723 ...
, but this is highly uncertain.
[Aidan Dodson: ''On the date of the unfinished pyramid of Zawyet el-Aryan''. In: ''Discussion in Egyptology'', vol. 3. University Press, Oxford (UK) 1985, p. 21–24.]
Office and career
According to the inscription on the podest of his statuette, Setka was ''Member of the elite'', ''Eldest bodily son of the king'', ''High lector priest of his father'', ''Provost of the morning house'' and ''Head of the palace''.
[
]
Possible reign as pharaoh
According to Egyptologist Aidan Dodson
Aidan Mark Dodson (born 1962) is an English Egyptologist and historian. He has been honorary professor of Egyptology at the University of Bristol since 1 August 2018.
Academic career
Dodson, born in London on 11 September 1962, studied at Langle ...
, it is possible that Setka was pharaoh in Egypt for a very short time (maybe one or two years). His assumption is based on the so-called Unfinished Northern Pyramid of Zawyet el'Aryan, which is located at Zawyet el'Aryan
Zawyet El Aryan () is a town in the Giza Governorate, located between Giza and Abusir. To the west of the town, just in the desert area, is a necropolis, referred to by the same name. Almost directly east across the Nile is Memphis. In Zawyet E ...
. This unfinished pyramid shaft was abandoned shortly after beginning and only a great sum of red and black ink
Ink is a gel, sol, or solution that contains at least one colorant, such as a dye or pigment, and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing or writing with a pen, brush, reed pen, or quill. Thi ...
inscriptions left by the workmen were found. These provide a royal cartouche name, which remains partially illegible. The first sign can be identified as a ''Ka''-sign, but the first, introducing sign was copied by the pyramid excavator so fuzzy, that it remains undecipherable. Aidan Dodson is convinced of the depiction of a sitting Seth-animal, reading the royal name as ''Seth-Ka'' ("Seth is mine Ka"). In this case, Setka had actually followed his father onto the throne.[ Additionally, some scholars believe that Setka and his father Djedefre started some kind of family feud when he ascended the throne. This would explain why any contemporary document mentioning him was destroyed, except for his statuette, which was already placed in Djedefre's pyramid as a grave good. It could also explain why Djedefre and Setka chose their own burial sites at a remarkable distance from the Giza necropolis.
Dodson's theory is not commonly accepted, though. Egyptologists such as ]Rainer Stadelmann
Dr. Rainer Stadelmann (24 October 1933 – 14 January 2019) was a German Egyptologist. He was considered an expert on the archaeology of the Giza Plateau.
Biography
After studying in Neuburg an der Donau in 1933, he studied Egyptology, orientali ...
and George Reisner
George Andrew Reisner Jr. (November 5, 1867 – June 6, 1942) was an American archaeologist of Ancient Egypt, Nubia and Palestine.
Biography
Reisner was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. His parents were George Andrew Reisner I and Mary Elizabeth ...
propose prince Baka as the owner of the unfinished pyramid. According to their theory, Baka (whose name was written with the signs of a ram and the Ka) simply used the original name form due his lifetime, but it was changed after his death into ''Bakarê'' ("soul and Ka of Râ"). In ancient Greek chronics Baka's name was hellenized into ''Bikheris''. For this reason, the unfinished tomb shaft at Zawyet el'Aryan is also called "Pyramid of Bikheris".[Rainer Stadelmann: ''Die Ägyptischen Pyramiden: vom Ziegelbau zum Weltwunder'' ( = ''Kulturgeschichte der antiken Welt'', vol. 30). von Zabern, Mainz 1985, , p. 77, 140-145.]
Setka's statuette
Actually, Setka is known to scholars only by his statuette. It was found during the winter of 1901 by French archaeologist Émile Chassinat
Émile Gaston Chassinat (5 May 1868 - 26 May 1948) was a French Egyptologist. Director of the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology in Cairo in Cairo from 1898/9 to 1911/2, Chassinat acquired two of the Amarna tablets in 1903.
Publications
...
in Abu Rawash
Abu Rawash (also spelled ''Abu Roach'', Abu Roash; ar, ابو رواش , , , "flesh of sensual pleasures"), north of Giza, is the site of Egypt's most northerly pyramid, also known as the lost pyramid – the mostly ruined Pyramid ...
, when he excavated the Pyramid of Djedefre
The pyramid of Djedefre consists today mostly of ruins located at Abu Rawash in Egypt. It is Egypt's northernmost pyramid and is believed to have been built by Djedefre, son and successor to king Khufu.
Theories
Though some Egyptologists in th ...
. Today the statuette is on display at the Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
museum at Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
under its inventory number ''E 12639''. Setka's statuette is the eldest known model of the so-called ''seated scribe typus''. The artifact is made of polished granite and 30 cm high, 23 cm wide and 17 cm deep. The figure is shown in a cross-legged position, holding a papyrus sheet in its lap and an imaginary writing bulrush. The podest of the statue is made of polished limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
, its surface is engraved with Setka's name and titles. The papyrus sheet is decorated with the title ''Bodily son of the king''.[Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.): ''Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids''. Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ontario/New York 1999, , p. 250.]
References
{{Authority control
Heirs to the ancient Egyptian throne
Princes of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt
Djedefre
Heirs apparent who never acceded