Elephant (maybe read as Pen-Abu) is the provisional name of a

Predynastic Prehistoric Egypt and Predynastic Egypt span the period from the earliest human settlement to the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period around 3100 BC, starting with the first Pharaoh, Narmer for some Egyptologists, Hor-Aha for others, with ...

ruler in Egypt. Since the incarved rock inscriptions and ivory tags showing his name are either drawn sloppily, or lacking any royal crest, the reading and thus whole existence of king "Elephant" are highly disputed.

Identity

The proposed existence of Elephant is based on

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, ...

's and

Ludwig David Morenz Ludwig David Morenz (born 4 April 1965) is German professor in Egyptology at the University of Bonn.Tait (2003), p. xi-x. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Leipzig and Habilitation from the University of Tübingen. His fields of research ...

's essays. They are convinced that Elephant was a local king who ruled at the region of Qustul. According to Dreyer, Elephant's name appears in incised rock inscriptions at Qustul and Gebel Sheikh-Suleiman, where the hieroglyphs are put inside a royal '' serekh''. On ivory tags found at

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, the Elephant appears without any other royal crest. Dreyer sees a cube-shaped throne seat and a walking elephant beneath it and reads ''Pen-Abu'' ("Great one from the (throne) seat"). Morenz thinks alike but is highly uncertain about the reading of the name. He prefers to use the neutral provisional name "King Elephant". Alternatively, he proposes a rhinoceros as a royal animal. Morenz points out that it became a remarkable fashion during the Naqada III epoch to choose dangerous and unpredictable animals (such as

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to inclu ...

s, elephants and rhinoceroses) for building up royal names. Other Egyptologists, such as

Peter Kaplony Peter Árpád Kaplony (June 15, 1933 in Budapest – February 11, 2011 in Zurich) was a Hungarian-born Swiss egyptologist. Life Kaplony, son of a Hungarian military officer, emigrated to Switzerland as a child in December 1944. He became a Swis ...

and Toby Wilkinson, are not so sure and propose different readings. Whilst Wilkinson sees a throne seat and the hieroglyph for "border", Kaplony sees a seat and a stand full of wine jars, the sign for "praised". Kaplony also mentions that the name of a certain 1st-dynasty palatinate named ''Hor-Sekhentydjw'' was also written with the wine-jar holder symbol. He believes that the name of the palatinate was created out of King Elephant's name.

Reign

Elephant might have ruled during the early Naqada III epoch. His tomb is unknown.Ludwig David Morenz: ''Bild-Buchstaben und symbolische Zeichen. Die Herausbildung der Schrift der hohen Kultur Altägyptens'' (= ''Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis'', vol. 205). Fribourg 2004, , p. 91.

References

Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Predynastic pharaohs {{AncientEgypt-bio-stub

Identity

Reign

See also

References