Hotepsekhemwy is 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 nam ...

of an early Egyptian king who was the founder of the

Second Dynasty of Egypt The Second Dynasty of ancient Egypt (or Dynasty II, c. 2890 – c. 2686 BC) is the latter of the two dynasties of the Egyptian Archaic Period, when the seat of government was centred at Thinis. It is most known for its last ruler, ...

. The exact length of his reign is not known; the

Turin canon 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 av ...

suggests an improbable 95 yearsAlan H. Gardiner: ''The royal canon of Turin''. Griffith Institute of Oxford, Oxford (UK) 1997, ; page 15 & Table I. while the ancient Egyptian

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

Manetho Manetho (; grc-koi, Μανέθων ''Manéthōn'', ''gen''.: Μανέθωνος) is believed to have been an Egyptian priest from Sebennytos ( cop, Ϫⲉⲙⲛⲟⲩϯ, translit=Čemnouti) who lived in the Ptolemaic Kingdom in the early third ...

reports that the reign of "Boëthôs" lasted for 38 years.William Gillian Waddell: ''Manetho (The Loeb Classical Library, Volume 350)''. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.) 2004 (Reprint), , page 37–41. Egyptologists consider both statements to be misinterpretations or exaggerations. They credit Hotepsekhemwy with either a 25- or a 29-year rule.

Name sources

Hotepsekhemwy's name has been identified by archaeologists at Sakkara,

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 9.2 ...

, Badari and Abydos from clay seal impressions, stone vessels and bone cylinders. Several stone vessel inscriptions mention Hotepsekhemwy along with the name of his successor

Raneb Nebra or Raneb is the Horus name of the second early Egyptian king of the 2nd Dynasty. The exact length of his reign is unknown since the Turin canon is damaged and the year accounts are lost.Alan H. Gardiner: ''The royal canon of Turin''. G ...

.Wolfgang Helck: ''Untersuchungen zur Thinitenzeit (Ägyptologische Abhandlungen)'', Vol. 45, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1987, Eva-Maria Engel: ''Die Siegelabrollungen von Hetepsechmui und Raneb aus Saqqara''. In: Ernst Czerny, Irmgard Hein, Hermann Hunger, Dagmar Melman, Angela Schwab: ''Timelines: Studies in Honour of Manfred Bietak''. Peeters, Leuven 2006, , page 28–29. The

of Hotepsekhemwy is the subject of particular interest to Egyptologists and historians, as it may hint at the turbulent politics of the time. The Egyptian word "

Hotep Hotep (; also rendered ''hetep'') is an Egyptian word that roughly translates as "to be satisfied, at peace". The word also refers to an "offering" ritually presented to a deity or a dead person, hence "be pleased, be gracious, be at peace". ...

" means "peaceful" and "to be pleased" though it can also mean "conciliation" or "to be reconciled", too. So Hotepsekhemwy's full name may be read as "the two powers are reconciled" or "pleasing in powers", which suggests a significant political meaning. In this sense, "the two powers" could be a reference to

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

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, ...

as well as to the major deities

Horus Horus or Heru, Hor, Har in Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as god of kingship and the sky. He was worshipped from at least the late prehistoric Egypt until the P ...

and

Seth Seth,; el, Σήθ ''Sḗth''; ; "placed", "appointed") in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mandaeism, and Sethianism, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, their only other child mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible. A ...

. From the reign of Hotepsekhemwy onward it became a tradition to write the Horus name and the

Nebty name The Nebty name (also called the Two-Ladies-name) was one of the "ancient Egyptian royal titulary, great five names" used by Egyptian pharaohs. It was also one of the oldest royal titles. The modern term "Two-Ladies-name" is a simple derivation fro ...

in the same way. It is thought that some kind of

philosophic Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some s ...

background affected that choice, since the Horus name reveals a clearly defined, symbolic meaning in its translation. Horus- and nebty names being the same might also indicate, that the Horus name was adopted after ascending the throne.

Family

The name of Hotepsekhemwy's wife is unknown. A “son of the king” and “priest of Sopdu” named

Perneb Perneb is the name of an ancient Egyptian prince and priest, who lived at the beginning of the 2nd Dynasty. Identity Perneb's name is preserved on several clay seals found in the gallery tomb A at Saqqara, which is attributed to two kings (ph ...

might have been his son, but since the clay seals providing his name and titles were found in a gallery tomb which is attributed to two kings equally (Hotepsekhemwy and his successor,

), it is uncertain whose son ''Perneb'' really was.

Identity

Hotepsekhemwy is commonly identified with the

Ramesside The New Kingdom, also referred to as the Egyptian Empire, is the period in ancient Egyptian History of Ancient Egypt, history between the sixteenth century BC and the eleventh century BC, covering the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Eighteenth, Ni ...

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 ...

names ''Bedjau'' from the Abydos king list, ''Bedjatau'' from Giza, ''Netjer-Bau'' from the Sakkara king list and the name ''Bau-hetepju'' from the royal canon of Turin. Egyptologist

Wolfgang Helck Hans Wolfgang Helck (16 September 1914 – 27 August 1993) was a German Egyptologist, considered one of the most important Egyptologists of the 20th century. From 1956 until his retirement in 1979 he was a professor at the University of Hamburg. H ...

points to the similar name ''Bedjatau'', which appears in a short king list found on a writing board from the

mastaba A mastaba (, or ), also mastabah, mastabat or pr- djt (meaning "house of stability", " house of eternity" or "eternal house" in Ancient Egyptian), is a type of ancient Egyptian tomb in the form of a flat-roofed, rectangular structure with inwar ...

tomb G1001 of the high official Mesdjeru. "Bedjatau" means "the foundryman" and is thought to be a misreading of the name "Hotepsekhemwy", since the

hieroglyph A hieroglyph ( Greek for "sacred carvings") was a character of the ancient Egyptian writing system. Logographic scripts that are pictographic in form in a way reminiscent of ancient Egyptian are also sometimes called "hieroglyphs". In Neoplatoni ...

ic signs used to write "Hotep" in its full form are very similar to the signs of a pottery kiln and a chick in

hieratic Hieratic (; grc, ἱερατικά, hieratiká, priestly) is the name given to a cursive writing system used for Ancient Egyptian and the principal script used to write that language from its development in the third millennium BC until the ris ...

writings. The signs of two ''Sekhem'' sceptres were misread as a leg and a drill. A similar

phenomenon A phenomenon ( : phenomena) is an observable event. The term came into its modern philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be directly observed. Kant was heavily influenced by Gottfried W ...

might have occurred in the case of 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 Shune ...

, where the two sceptres in the Horus name were misread as two leg-symbols or two drill-signs. The Abydos king list imitates this

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 Fourth ...

name form of “Bedjatau”. The names "Netjerbau" and "Bau-hetepju" are problematic, since Egyptologists can't find any name source from Hotepsekhemwy's time that could have been used to form them.

Reign

Little is known about Hotepsekhemwy's reign. Contemporary sources show that he may have gained the throne after a period of political strife, including ephemeral rulers such as Horus Bird and

Sneferka Sneferka was an Early Dynastic Period of Egypt, early Egyptian pharaoh, king who may have ruled at the end of the First Dynasty of Egypt, 1st Dynasty. The exact length of his reign is unknown, but thought to have been very short and his chronologi ...

(the latter is also thought to be an alternate name used by king Qaa for a short time). As evidence of this, Egyptologists Wolfgang Helck,

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: Dietric ...

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 ...

point to the tomb of king Qaa, which was plundered at the end of 1st Dynasty and was restored during the reign of Hotepsekhemwy. The plundering of the cemetery and the unusually conciliatory meaning of the name Hotepsekhemwy may be clues of a dynastic struggle. Additionally, Helck assumes that the kings Sneferka and Horus Bird were omitted from later king lists because their struggles for the Egyptian throne were factors in the collapse of the first dynasty.Peter Kaplony: ''„Er ist ein Liebling der Frauen“ – Ein „neuer“ König und eine neue Theorie zu den Kronprinzen sowie zu den Staatsgöttinnen (Kronengöttinnen) der 1./2. Dynastie''. In: Manfred Bietak: ''Ägypten und Levante''. Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien 2006 ; page 126–127. Seal impressions provide evidence of a new royal residence called "Horus the shining star" that was constructed by Hotepsekhemwy. He also built a temple near

Buto Buto ( grc, Βουτώ, ar, بوتو, ''Butu''), Bouto, Butus ( grc, links=no, Βοῦτος, ''Boutos'')Herodotus ii. 59, 63, 155. or Butosus was a city that the Ancient Egyptians called Per-Wadjet. It was located 95 km east of Alexandri ...

for the little-known deity ''Netjer-Achty'' and founded the "Chapel of the White Crown". The

white crown Hedjet ( egy, ḥḏt "White One") is the formal name for the White Crown of pharaonic Upper Egypt. After the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, it was combined with the Deshret, the Red Crown of Lower Egypt, to form the Pschent, the double cro ...

is a symbol of

. This is thought to be another clue to the origin of Hotepsekhemwy's dynasty, indicating a likely source of political power. Egyptologists such as

Nabil Swelim Nabīl or Nabeel ( ar, نبيل) is a male given name of Arabic origin, meaning " noble".Online translati ...

point out that there is no inscription from Hotepsekhemwy's reign mentioning a

Sed festival The Sed festival (''ḥb-sd'', conventional pronunciation ; also known as Heb Sed or Feast of the Tail) was an ancient Egyptian ceremony that celebrated the continued rule of a pharaoh. The name is taken from the name of an Egyptian wolf god, ...

, indicating the ruler cannot have ruled longer than 30 years (the Sed festival was celebrated as the anniversary marking a reign of 30 years). Saqqarah Hotepsekhemoui

The ancient Egyptian historian

called Hotepsekhemwy ''Boëthôs'' (apparently altered from the name ''Bedjau'') and reported that during this ruler's reign "a chasm opened near

Bubastis Bubastis ( Bohairic Coptic: ''Poubasti''; Greek: ''Boubastis'' or ''Boubastos''), also known in Arabic as Tell-Basta or in Egyptian as Per-Bast, was an ancient Egyptian city. Bubastis is often identified with the biblical ''Pi-Beseth'' ( he ...

and many perished". Although Manetho wrote in the 3rd century BC – over two millennia after the king's actual reign – some Egyptologists think it possible that this anecdote may have been based on fact, since the region near

is known to be seismically active.

Tomb

The location of Hotepsekhemwy's tomb is unknown. Egyptologists such as

Flinders Petrie Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Flinders Petrie, was a British Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. He held the first chair of Egypt ...

Alessandro Barsanti Alessandro Barsanti (1858–1917) was an Italian architect and Egyptologist who worked for the Egyptian Antiquities Service. He excavated throughout Egypt (most notably he 'discovered' the tomb of Akhenaten in 1891–1892). He was also in ...

and

Toby Wilkinson Toby Alexander Howard Wilkinson, (born 1969) is an English Egyptologist and academic. After studying Egyptology at the University of Cambridge, he was Lady Wallis Budge Research Fellow in Egyptology at Christ's College, Cambridge (1993 to 199 ...

believe it could be the giant underground ''Gallery Tomb A'' beneath the funeral passage of the

Unas Unas or Wenis, also spelled Unis ( egy, wnjs, hellenized form Oenas or Onnos), was a pharaoh, the ninth and last ruler of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt during the Old Kingdom. Unas reigned for 15 to 30 years in the mid-24th century BC (circa 23 ...

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 ...

at Saqqara. Many seal impressions of king Hotepsekhemwy have been found in these galleries. Egyptologists such as Wolfgang Helck and

Peter Munro Peter Daniel Munro (born June 14, 1975) is a former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball. He played with the Toronto Blue Jays (–) and Houston Astros (–). He batted and threw right-handed. Career After being selected by the Boston Red ...

are not convinced and think that ''Gallery Tomb B'' is instead the burial site of king

, as several seal impressions of this ruler were also found there.Peter Munro: ''Der Unas-Friedhof Nordwest I''. Von Zabern, Mainz 1993, page 95. The more accepted theory is that Hotepsekhemwy and his son

shared Tomb A.

References

External links

Francesco Raffaele: Hotepsekhemwy - Hotep
{{Second Dynasty of Ancient Egypt 29th-century BC Pharaohs Pharaohs of the Second Dynasty of Egypt 3rd-millennium BC births 3rd-millennium BC deaths