Khasekhemwy I (Pharaonic Survival)

Khasekhemwy I the Unifier
Pharaoh of Egypt
Reign	27 November 2732 - 1 May 2719
Predecessor	Kingdom Reunited
Successor	Djoser I
King of Upper Egypt
Reign	8 February 2737 - 1 May 2719
Predecessor	Peribsen
Successor	Kingdom Reunited
Born	September 30, 2776(2776-09-30) B.C. Tjenu, Egypt
Died	May 1, 2719(2719-05-01) B.C. (aged 56)
Spouse	Nimaathap I, Menka
Issue	Djoser I Hetephernebti Nebka I Shepset-ipet
Full name
Horus Name: Hor-Seth Khasekhemwy Netjerwy Hetepimef Nebty Name: Khasekhemwy Nebwkhetsen Golden Horus Name: Djadjay Praenomen: Bebety Nomen: Khasekhemwy
House	Khasekhemwy (founder)
Dynasty	Hotepsekhemwyid Dynasty
Father	Peribsen
Mother	Seshemkhet II
Religion	Kemetism

Khasekhemwy (19 October 2769 - 1 May 2719) 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 Perka.

His Horus name Ḫꜥj-sḫm.wj can be interpreted "The Two Powerful Ones Appear", but the name is recorded in many variants, such as Ḥr-Ḫꜥj-sḫm (Horus, he whose power appears), ḫꜥj sḫm.wj ḥtp nṯrwj jm=f (the two powers appear in that the ancestors rest within him) (etc.)

Biography

During the reign of Peribsen , the latent rivalry between the north and south of the country is said to have flared up once again, ushering in a period of unrest. The conflict, of a politico-religious nature, was apparently legitimized by the divine struggle between the gods Horus and Seth for control of Egypt. It would seem, according to Peribsen's change of title, that Seth's supporters initially prevailed over their adversaries. An inscription on a vase records the battles: "the year of the fight against the enemies of the north in the city of Nekheb, is located on the east bank of the Nile, on the opposite side to Hierakonpolis , the ancient capital of the kings of the south placed under the protection of the goddess Nekhbet .

Khasekhemwy I was as the successor of Seth-Peribsen, ruling as Pharaoh Khasekhem for the first five years of his reign, Khasekhem changed his name to Khasekhemwy after he reunited Upper and Lower Egypt after a civil war between the followers of the gods Horus and Set. He defeated the reigning king in the north, Neferkasokar II, after returning to Egypt from putting down a revolt in Nubia. Ending the infighting of the Second dynasty and reuniting Egypt for the first time since the death of Ninetjer 86 years earlier.

Khasekhemwy is unique in Egyptian history as having both the symbols of Horus and Set on his serekh. Some Egyptologists believe that this was an attempt to unify the two factions; but after his death, Set was dropped from the serekh permanently. He was the earliest Egyptian king known to have built statues of himself.

Khasekhemwy apparently undertook considerable building projects upon the reunification of Egypt. He built in stone at Nekhen, Hierakonpolis, and Abydos. He apparently built a unique, as well as huge, tomb at Abydos, the last such royal tomb built in that necropolis (Tomb V). The trapezoidal tomb measures some 70 meters (230 ft) in length and is 17 meters (56 ft) wide at its northern end, and 10 meters (33 ft) wide at its southern end. This area was divided into 58 rooms. Prior to some recent discoveries from the 1st dynasty, its central burial chamber was considered the oldest masonry structure in the world, being built of quarried limestone. Here, the excavators discovered the king's scepter of gold and sard, as well as several beautifully made small stone pots with gold leaf lid coverings, apparently missed by earlier tomb robbers. In fact, Petrie detailed a number of items removed during the excavations of Amélineau. Other items included flint tools, as well as a variety of copper tools and vessels, stone vessels and pottery vessels filled with grain and fruit. There were also small, glazed objects, carnelian beads, model tools, basketwork and a large quantity of seals.

Khasekhemwy built enclosures at Nekhen, and at Abydos (now known as Perka) and was buried there in the necropolis at Upokre. He may also have built the Men-Khasekhemwy at Mekhattawy. An inscription on a stone vase records him “fighting the northern enemy within Nekheb”. This means that Lower Egypt may have invaded and almost taken the capital of Nekhen.

Khasekhemwy moved the capital to Hierakonpolis in the south of the country, and it was the first and last time that Egypt was governed from that city. He reaffirmed the nationalist sentiment and reestablished the cult of Horus , together with that of Seth , which was propagated by Perenmaat during the time of crisis. He was buried in the royal necropolis of Upokre , in Abydos ; in Khasekhemwy's tomb many seals were found with the name of Djoser I, who was responsible for the funeral rites (he could have been his son or son-in-law). With Khasekhemwy the second dynasty ends, and with it, the archaic period of Egypt , or the Thinite period.

Tomb

The tomb of the ruler is found in Upokre near Abydos . His valley district is closer to the edge of the fruit and is today called Perka (“raisin barn”) by the locals. The 5.35 m thick main wall of the valley district measures 123 m × 64 m on the outside and is surrounded by a second, thin outer wall. The main wall is divided by simple niches on three sides, only towards the Nile is each multi-level niche accompanied by a group of three simple niches. The wall fronts are pierced by doorways. Near the eastern corner stood a small building measuring 18.3 m × 15.5 m. This complex is possibly the forerunner of a funerary temple complex such as the one (his son?) Djoser built in the 3rd Dynasty with the Djoser pyramid complex . Inside, the building consists of small chambers with winding entrances.

The tomb itself is located in a pit measuring 69 m × 12.2 m with 54 storage chambers. The burial chamber in the center is 1.98 m deep; the walls and floor are clad with limestone blocks. Günter Dreyer also refers to seal impressions of Sechemib from the tomb of Khasekhemui, which were found north of the burial chamber in Upokre in rooms 31 to 33. The name Sechem[...]-Perien-[....] is preserved in fragments on the seals, which can easily be expanded to Sechemib-perien-maat.

Rainer Stadelmann suspects that there is a Lower Egyptian second tomb of Khasekhemui in the western massifs of the Djoser complex in Mekhattawy , which was usurped by his successor .  This view is not generally accepted, as grave usurpations in the Old Kingdom are not known to date. The stone enclosure Menkhasekhemwy in Mekhattawy is also attributed to Khasekhemui by some researchers, since on the one hand the dating to the end of the 2nd Dynasty is consistent and on the other hand a stone building by Khasekhemui called Men-Netjeret is documented on the Palermo Stone. However, archaeological confirmation of this attribution is still pending.

The southeast walls of chambers V 56/58 were completely dismantled after they were uncovered during the Middle Kingdom . However, the entrance area was rebuilt with bricks during the Middle Kingdom, as the cult that was still going on was apparently limited to the northernmost chambers of the tomb. Excavation reports also revealed that the corridor between chambers V 55/57 and V 56/58 must have been covered. At one point the complex was the target of grave robbers, who probably entered through the east wall of chamber V 56.

The corridor initially rose slightly towards the south, then rose steeply between the entrance walls of V 57/58, and finally apparently became a 28 m long ramp that led to the edge of the burial pit. Next to it, a false door was discovered as an exit to the underworld, which had also been present in burial sites of the 1st Dynasty . In the area leading to the ramp, there were numerous sacrificial bowls on the desert floor. Based on this finding, the tomb exit must have been visible in the late period as well . The striking extension of the tomb to the south suggests that the tomb was initially intended to be extended further south. When the king died, the complex could probably no longer be extended as intended due to lack of time, which is why only the four southern narrow chambers V 52-56 were added.