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 - Yes, date unknown
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| Name |
SEMERKHET |
| Gender |
Male |
| _UID |
5150D2C45DE124479C82715914892E089B3E |
| Death |
Yes, date unknown |
| Notes |
- Personal name meaning, thoughtful friend. 7th King of the 1st Egyptian Dynasty, Manetho records that in the reign of King Semerkhet a great calamity came to Egypt. It has been suggested that he was a usurper with a dubious title to the kingship, though he was the first to use the "Two Ladies" or nbty name, of Irynetjer. His tomb at Abydos contained a number of stone vessels originally inscribed with the name of Anedjib, that were re-inscribed for Semerkhet. However, stone vessels from Djoser’s Step Pyramid in the 3rd Dynasty are inscribed with the kingly sequence of Den-Anedjib-Semerkhet-Qaa; that is, Semerkhet’s name was not omitted, as was Merneith’s name later on, for example (or Hatshepsut’s as a New Kingdom example.)
Semerkhet reigned for only nine years. Though the royal annals preserved a complete record of his reign, the events listed are nothing more than the biennial royal progress (if that is the correct interpretation of the "following of Horus," of ritual "appearances of the king," and of dedicating divine images. Trade continued between the Near East and Egypt, evidenced from fragments from 10 or 11 imported Syro-Palestinian vessels found in Semerkhet’s tomb, and from a grave dated to the same period, found at Abusir, in the form of a painted, handled flask typical of Early Bronze Age vessels also from Syro-Palestine.
According to the limited information we have on Semerkhet, the traditional 6th king of Egypt's 1st Dynasty, he ruled Egypt for about nine years. This is from the Palermo Stone, but Manetho records his reign as 18 years, and notes that there were numerous disaster during his reign. This is probably due to the problems with his succession and predecessor, as it has been suggested that Semerkhet usurped the throne. He destroyed the name of his predecessor, Anedjib, on a number of stone vessels, and it would seem in return, was himself omitted from the Saqqara King list.
His tomb is located at Abydos (Tomb U). It measures 29 x 31 meters (95 x 101 3/4 feet), which makes it considerably larger then that of his predecessor. It is also of superior quality to Anedjib's tomb. Semerkhet's tomb has a brick lined burial chamber and is surrounded by well built servants' graves. Petrie investigated Semerkhet's tomb at Abydos, and found the entrance ramp saturated up to "three feet" deep with aromatic oil, which, after some 5,000 years, still permeated the entire tomb with scent. Archaeologists have not discovered a mastaba tomb from his reign at North Saqqara, though his predecessors seem to have mostly built tombs there as well.
The only object of substance to have survived from Semerkhet's reign is a black granite funeral stela found by his tomb in 1898. It had originally belonged to a pair erected outside his monument, a tradition from the very beginning of the dynasty.
Semerkhet probably conducted trade with people who lived in the Palestinian territories, judging from seal impressions found at a building bearing his, along with other 1st Dynasty kings. However, very little else is known about this king.
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| Person ID |
I4857 |
z-Bible Genealogy |
| Last Modified |
24 Dec 2007 |
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