Inroduction and Index of the EARLY DYNASTIC EGYPT Web-site by Francesco Raffaele

http://xoomer.virgilio.it/francescoraf/hesyra/intro.htm

 

INTRODUCTION AND INDEX
of the
LATE PREDYNASTIC and
EARLY DYNASTIC EGYPT
Websit

e

 

The purpose of this site is to discuss all the cultural aspects of a particular period of the Ancient Egyptian History. These aspects -History, Archaeology, Epigraphy/ Language, Arts, Religion/ Mythology, Economy/ Administration- will help us to reconstruct the events, the monuments and the mentality of the Ancient Egyptian. The period in object, which covers my main interest in Egyptology, stretches from Naqada I/II to the Old Kingdom. Some of these aims have not yet been discussed, but with time you will see this site continuously grow up: give a look at the Updates page to see how frequently I add new material, and to be informed of future plans. I have always loved archaeology and history in general, but especially those of Ancient Egypt and Mesoamerica. The Archaic or Early Dynastic, is one of the most puzzling and obscure periods of the history of Ancient Egypt. We can find many characteristics of the later dynastic period developing in their earliest forms just in the 3 'Naqada phases', in the Thinite period and in the Early Old Kingdom. On the other hand some features (artistic styles, dreadful funerary practices, types of monuments) will suddenly disappear or slowly develop into the later and better known forms of the classic Old Kingdom. Although I am caught by the whole predynastic and dynastic periods, my attention and study of Egyptian history is focused here on the first three dynasties and on the Late Predynastic which immediately preceded them. Therefore you won't find many mentions of the late Old Kingdom reigns and still less of the Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom and Later Period; with few exceptions, these will only appear in discussions dealing with the first c. 30 kings of the dynastic period like N.K. king lists and papyri, myths and later mentions of ancient sovereigns whose memory was sometimes still handed down up to the reigns of Sethi I, Ramses II, the Ethiopic and Saite rulers, or the Lagids during the first two of whose (Ptolmis I-II) the 'historian' Manetho did live. If you are searching for informations about Neferkara Pepi, Nebhepetra Montuhotep, Sekenenra Taa, Nebpehtyra Ahmose, Ankhkheprura Smenkhkara, Nebkheprura Twtankhamon, Usermaatra Setepenra Ramses, go elsewhere. The EARLY DYNASTIC PERIOD is the nest of the Old Kingdom; the giant pyramids of Giza are 'in the egg' of the royal tombs of the Dynasty 1, 2 and 3; G.A. Reisner was one of the first archaeologists to trace (in 1936) the various stages of the evolution of the funerary monuments of the ancient Egyptian kings; J. P. Lauer, W.Kaiser, B.J. Kemp, J. Brinks, R.Stadelmann, D. O'Connor have continued the work and added, through their important studies, many contributes which have now enlightened the role of the funerary enclosures, of tomb superstructures, of palace facade walls; in a similar way the dedication of the philologists added more and more knowledge on the meaning and contents of hieroglyphic texts, and the names, events, myths and cerimonies which the texts hided; in the meantime archaeologists like Petrie, Junker, Reisner, Lauer, Emery opened the way with their great discoveries to the disputes about the many problems of these archaic ages, with the Saqqara - Abydos royal tombs, the pottery seriations, the New Race invasions and Mesopotamian influences, the hard efforts to estabilish the chronologies of the early dynasties, with their protagonists like Narmer - Menes - Hor Aha, Den, Peribsen, Khasekhemwy, Djoser and the ephemeral sovereigns who almost left no trace of themselves. New streams of thought, theory and practice have, since the seventies, brought fresh new air in an Egyptology which was beginning to be too conservative; thanks to the contributions of the anthropologists or anthropology influenced american archaeologists we have become more open to multidisciplinary theoretical and practical approaches, and the structuralism and functionalism have followed the evolutionist methods, posing new objectives and newer ways to pursue and realize them in the field of Egyptological researches. The discovery of the period in object was made by de Morgan, at the end of '800. Petrie was just going to start his excavations at Naqada. In the next years Abydos, Hierakonpolis, and Saqqara became the pivotal centers of the researches on the Early Dynastic Period. Many more added in those years and later (Koptos, Bet Khallaf, Tura, Naga ed Deir, Tarkhan, Abu Rawash, Armant, Helwan, Elephantine, Buto; cfr Hoffmann 1979, Wilkinson 1999). But now we are ready to sink in the waves among the sprinkles of these sources which began to spring circa 5500 years ago; we will float on these waters for one millenium, thus landing on the shores of the pyramids harbours. Francesco Raffaele, Napoli 31 Luglio 2001

INDEX

ABBREVIATIONS => EGYPTOLOGY PUBLICATIONS: ABBREVIATIONS
ABYDOS BOATS (Funerary Early Dynastic Boats, discovered by David O' Connor in North Abydos)
ABYDOS NORTH (Royal Enclosures/ Talbezirke)
ADJIB (First Dynasty King; only an introduction, in Italian); LABELS
AHA (First Dynasty King; only an introduction, in Italian); LABELS
ANIMALS (Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt representations of animals)
ANNALS (New Annals of the Vth Dynasty, the 'South Saqqara Stone'). PALERMO STONE
ARTICLES (List of important articles on Early Dynastic Period and related subjects)
ARTICLES (of mine)
ASHMOLEAN PALETTE, DOGS PALETTE, HIERAKONPOLIS PALETTE
BA (Third Dynasty ephemeral king, uncertain chronological position)
BASTET (Goddess, incised name on a stone vessel fragment in a private collection)
BATTLEFIELD PALETTE, VULTURES PALETTE, LION PALETTE
BIRD (First - Second Dynasty I.P. ephemeral king, uncertain name reading)
BULL PALETTE
CORPUS => LABELS; => STONE VESSELS INSCRIPTIONS; => PALETTES
CHRONOLOGY (Predynastic - Early Dynastic)
DEN , WDJMW , DWN (First Dynasty King; only an introduction, in Italian) LABELS
DJER , ZER , SEKHTY (First Dynasty King; only an introduction, in Italian) LABELS
DJET , WADJET , SERPENT (First Dynasty King; only an introduction, in Italian) LABELS
DJOSER, NETERYKHET (Third Dynasty King; to be completed)
DJOSER' S COMPLEX, FOTOS
DJOSERTY ANKH => SEKHEMKHET
"DYNASTY" (On the term...)
DYNASTIES
DYNASTY "00"
DYNASTY 0
DYNASTY 1
DYNASTY 2
DYNASTY 3
EGYPTOLOGICAL BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ABBREVIATIONS (Link to another Website)
EMERY, WALTER BRYAN (1903-1971)
ENCLOSURES (Talbezirke, Open Courts, 'Forts'): => Abydos North, => Saqqara
FRANCESCO RAFFAELE E-MAIL (E-mail address of the author of this website, Napoli - Italy)
GEBELEIN PAINTED LINEN / TEXTILE (Naqada IIa-b)
HELWAN
HEMAKA LABEL
HESYRA (HEZYRA, HESIRE)
HIERAKONPOLIS TOMB 100 (Painted Decoration)
HOME PAGE, MAIN PAGE http://members.xoom.it/francescoraf/
HOTEPSEKHEMUY , HOTEP (Second Dynasty King)
HUNI , NISWTEH (Third Dynasty King)
HUNTERS PALETTE
IMAGE GALLERIES, INDEX
IMAGE GALLERIES, MY PHOTOGRAPHS
IMAGE GALLERIES, MAP AND PLANS
IMAGE GALLERIES, ARCHAIC SCULPTURE
IMAGE GALLERIES, CONTEMPORARY INSCRIPTIONS AND LATER KINGS-LISTS
IMAGE GALLERIES, CORPUS OF LATE PREDYNASTIC DECORATED PALETTES
IMAGE GALLERIES, EARLY DYNASTIC MONUMENTS FROM THE WEB
IMAGE GALLERIES, ARCHAIC RELIEFS (STELAE, DOOR JAMBS, FALSE DOORS)
IMAGE GALLERIES, VARIOUS OBJECTS
IMAGE GALLERIES, KNIFE HANDLES, IVORY COMBS, MACE-HEADS
IMAGE GALLERIES, STONE VESSELS INSCRIPTIONS (NARMER TO SNOFRU)
INSCRIPTIONS ON LABELS
INSCRIPTIONS ON STONE VESSELS => STONE VESSELS INSCRIPTIONS
IRY HOR (Dynasty 0 King)
IRY NETJER NEBTY => SEMERKHET
KA , SEKHEN (Dynasty 0 King)
KHABA (Third Dynasty King)
KHASEKHEMUY NETJERWYHOTEPIMEF (Second Dynasty King)
KHASETY, KHASTY => DEN
KNIFE-HANDLES (Decorated)
LABELS CORPUS
LABELS : EXAMPLE OF TRANSLATION
LAYER PYRAMID (Khaba)
LINKS (Other Websites Urls)
LOUVRE PALETTE
MACEHEADS (Scorpion and Narmer)
MENES (=> Narmer, Aha)
MERBIAPE, MERPUBIA => ADJIB
MERNEITH / MERETNITH (First Dynasty Queen)
NAQADA PHASES
NARMER (First Dynasty King) LABELS
NARMER PALETTE
NEBKA (Third Dynasty King)
NEBKARA NEBTAUY (Third Dynasty ? ephemeral King)
NEBRA (Second Dynasty King)
NEFERKA (Third Dynasty ephemeral King)
NEFERKARA (Second Dynasty ephemeral King)
NEFERKASOKAR (Second Dynasty ephemeral King)
NETJERYKHET, DJOSER (Third Dynasty King)
NEWS (About Important Early Dynastic Recent Discoveries)
NEWS (of this Website)
NINETJER , NINETER (Second Dynasty King)
NWBNEFER, NEBWNEFER, NEBNEFER (Second Dynasty ephemeral King)
ORIGIN OF THE STATE: PREDYNASTIC AND EARLY DYNASTIC EGYPT (Cracow 2002 Conference)
PALERMO STONE, RECONSTRUCTION
PALETTES (Corpus of Late Predynastic Decorated Palettes)
PERIBSEN (Second Dynasty King)
PERENMAAT SEKHEMIB (Second Dynasty King)
PREDYNASTIC
PREDYNASTIC AND EARLY DYNASTIC (Synthesis, Model, Chronologies)
PRINCESSES, QUEENS (early attestations for Royal Women in Dynasties 0-3)
QA'A , SEN NEBTY , SHOTEP NEBTY (First Dynasty King; only an introduction, in Italian) LABELS
QA HEDJET (Third Dynasty King)
RANEB , NEBRA (Second Dynasty King)
SANAKHT (Third Dynasty King)
SAQQARA (Plan and monuments)
SCORPION (II) (Dynasty 0 Hierakonpolis King)
SEKHEMIB PERENMAAT (Second Dynasty King)
SEMERKHET (First Dynasty King; only an introduction, in Italian) LABELS
SENED, SENEDJ (Second Dynasty ephemeral King)
SEREKHS (Palace façade device containing the royal name, generally surmounted by the falcon-god Horus)
SHUNET EZ-ZEBIB (Khasekhemwy's mudbrick enclosure at Abydos North)
SNEFERKA, SENEFERKA (First - Second Dynasty I.P. ephemeral King)
SOUTH SAQQARA ANNALS DYNASTY 6
STATE FORMATION: THE ORIGINS OF EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION (lecture scheme)
STONE VESSELS INSCRIPTIONS (Narmer to Snofrw)
TAGS, LABELS CORPUS
TEHENU PALETTE, LYBIAN BOOTY PALETTE, TOWNS PALETTE
TURTLES/ TORTOISES
UNIFICATION OF EGYPT (SEE ALSO: DYNASTY 0)
UPDATES OF THIS SITE
WEST SAQQARA
WNEG, UNEG (Second Dynasty ephemeral King)
ZA => WNEG (Second or Early Third Dynasty ephemeral King)
ZANAKHT (Third Dynasty King)