Читать книгу A History of Ancient Egypt - Marc Van De Mieroop - Страница 40

The formation of the Egyptian state happened when Egypt emerged from prehistory – the invention of writing is one of the characteristics of the early state – and the written evidence perforce is very limited. Most of our data are archaeological, and within that record cemeteries dominate by far. Moreover, Upper Egypt is much better known archaeologically than the Delta.

Writing itself only slowly expanded into a rendering of the Egyptian language, and its usages grew gradually to include more areas of activity. The first complete sentence written in Egyptian may only date to the late 2nd dynasty. Earlier inscriptions, often found on seals that were impressed on clay, were terse and provided little beyond people’s names and titles. Royal names appear on a large number of objects, however. Wooden and ivory labels containing an image of the king, his name, and some other information are plentiful.

As is true for all of ancient Egyptian history, we reconstruct dynasties on the basis of later king lists. The names that appear there do not fully correspond to those on Early Dynastic objects, which use different names and include many additional kings. Hence modern scholars developed the concept of a dynasty 0 to fit names attested epigraphically only. The annals on the Palermo Stone (see Chapter 1) cover some kings of this period, and provide a year‐by‐year account of mostly ritual actions. The identification of the kings involved is not always certain, and the information provided is extremely terse.

There exists a very rich visual record for this period. Numerous stone palettes and other objects were decorated. The representations were often only animals, but some depict the king in action as a warrior, for example. The “reading” of such scenes is not easy, but they did present an important message the kings wanted to communicate. While in the past scholars saw scenes like the one on Narmer’s palette (see Figure 2.3) as a commemoration of a specific event, today they tend to see them as a generic portrayals of a royal act. Such a reading changes the historical use of the object radically.

Summary of dynastic historyLate Predynastic–Early Dynastic Period (ca. 3400–2545)
ca. 3400–3000	Late Naqada period
Growth of regional centers at Naqada, Hierakonpolis, and Abydos
Monumental tombs at Abydos
ca. 3200–3000	Dynasty 0
Kings Scorpion, Narmer, etc.
First attempts at full unification of Egypt
End of A‐group culture in Nubia
ca. 3000–2890	1st dynasty
Definitive unification of Egypt
Capital at Thinis (near Abydos cemetery)
Establishment of Memphis near junction of Upper and Lower Egypt
ca. 2890–2686	2nd dynasty
First royal tombs at Saqqara (alongside Memphis)
First known writing of entire Egyptian sentences