Horus Bird (Pharaoh)
| Horus Bird (Pharaoh) in hieroglyphs | |||||||||||||
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| Reign: unknown | |||||||||||||
| Predecessor: unknown Successor: unknown |
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Serekh-name |
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Horus Bird, also known as Horus-Ba, is the serekh-name of a pharaoh who may have had a very short reign between the 1st dynasty and 2nd dynasty.
Name sources
There are very few reliable name sources for Horus-Bird. The first known attestion of this king may be a serekh with an undetailed bird found by F. Petrie in the tomb of Qa'a at Abydos. Another more legible inscription showing a serekh with a bird was later found on a vessel fragment PD IV n.108 in Djoser's pyramid complex at Saqqara. An inscription on shist vase P.D. IV n97 from Djoser's pyramid complex could also refer to Horus-Bird.[1]
Since the hieroglyphic sign is written in such an erratic way, the possibly correct reading remains uncertain. Whilst egyptologists such as Wolfgang Helck and Peter Kaplony see a depicting of a goose, they read the name as Sa (which would make it a “Son of Horus”) or as Geb(eb) (which would make it a “Heir of Horus”).[1] Egyptologist Nabil Swelim instead sees an depicting of a sattle-billed stork and reads Ba (making it a “Soul of Horus”).[2]
Identity
Very little is known about king Horus-Bird. The few archaeological evidences point to the existence of one or more ephemeral rulers following Qa'a's death and before Hotepsekhemwy of which Horus-Bird may have been one.
Egyptologists such as Černý and Peter Kaplony think that Horus-Bird could be identical to the likewise sparsely attested king Horus-Ba. Indeed, this ruler wrote his name with the leg sign or the leg and ram signs, which read "Ba". Černý and Kaplony think that the bird in the serekh of Horus-Bird is the goose sign with the same transcription, "Ba".[3] In this case Horus-Ba and Horus "Bird" could be the same historical figure. Černý and Kaplony's theory is not commonly accepted, the presence of Horus-Bird serekh in the tomb of Qa'a pointing rather to an interregnum with Horus-Bird between the first and second dynasties.
Horus-Bird's burial site is unknown.
External links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Wolfgang Helck: Geschichte des Alten Ägypten. Brill, Leiden 1981, ISBN 9789004064973, page 34-35.
- ↑ Nabil Swelim: Some Problems on the History of the Third Dynasty. In: Archaeological and Historical Studies, vol. 7. The Archaeological Society of Alexandria, Alexandria 1983
- ↑ Peter Kaplony: Horus Ba?. In: Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Institut Kairo. Volume 20. von Zabern, Mainz 1965, page 3 & 4.
| Preceded by | Pharaoh of Egypt | Succeeded by Hotepsekhemwy |
