Early Dynastic Egypt (63 page)

Heliopolis

Fragments of limestone relief from a small shrine were found within the ancient enclosure at Heliopolis (Weill 1911–12:9); they are now in the Egyptian Museum in Turin (W.S.Smith 1949:133–7, figs 48–53). The building from which the reliefs came was badly destroyed but it was probably a small shrine. The decoration appears to be connected with the celebration of a Sed-festival and may also have shown the Heliopolitan ennead, the group of nine gods involved in the Heliopolitan creation myth. Two fragments bear the name of the king, Netjerikhet. Another fragment shows the king seated with the ladies of his family gathered around his feet (W.S.Smith 1949:133, fig. 48). The women are shown as tiny figures, two (the king’s daughter and the queen) in front of the king’s legs, and a third (whose name is illegible) behind with her arm around his leg. An unpublished fragment from the Heliopolis shrine shows

the seated king with clenched hands held to his breast, one of them grasping two staves and the other perhaps the flail. A small attendant places his hand on the king’s elbow. This would appear to be the scene where the king is seated on the Heb-Sed throne while one of the officiants arranges his dress.

(W.S.Smith 1949:136)

A fragment of fine limestone relief in the Cairo Museum may also have come from the same shrine at Heliopolis (W.S.Smith 1949:136). On one side the king wears the tight- fitting garment associated with the Sed-festival, on the other side he wears the red crown. The beginning of royal patronage in the temple area at Heliopolis suggests official support for the local solar cult, which subsequently became the major state cult in the Fourth Dynasty.

Tell Ibrahim Awad

The site of Tell Ibrahim Awad in the north-eastern Delta has been the focus of excavations since the late 1980s (van den Brink 1992b). In the last few seasons, a number of deposits of pottery and votive objects have been found beneath the foundations of the

Middle Kingdom temple (van Haarlem 1995, 1996). The deposits of offering-pottery probably date to the late Old Kingdom or early First Intermediate Period, but the non- ceramic material is likely to be rather earlier. Some of the small votive objects of glazed composition, ivory and stone have close parallels from the Satet temple at Elephantine, suggesting that the Tell Ibrahim Awad objects are also Early Dynastic in date (van Haarlem 1995:46). The largest deposit of votive material, discovered in 1996, comprised some 212 items. Unique objects included an oryx of glazed composition, a diorite palette and the figure of a dwarf made from cornelian. In total, the number of early votive objects recovered so far from Tell Ibrahim Awad equals the collection from Elephantine. Moreover, Tell Ibrahim Awad is the only documented site north of Abydos where such material has been found to date. Excavations in 1996 reached the deepest temple strata, just above the water-table. They have been dated preliminarily to the end of the Early Dynastic period or early Old Kingdom, and must represent the building where the votive objects were originally dedicated (van Haarlem 1996:32). Tell Ibrahim Awad is the only example of an Early Dynastic provincial shrine yet excavated in the Delta.

Buto

Excavations in the late 1980s at the site of Tell el-Fara‘in/Buto in the north-western Delta have revealed mudbrick buildings of the Early Dynastic period which may have served a cultic purpose (von der Way 1993:288–9). The complex which dominates the Early Dynastic level excavated so far consists of a labyrinth of corridors and interconnecting rooms (von der Way 1996). At the heart of the building lie two rooms; in one of these a limestone platform stood against one wall. Its original function remains a mystery, although the excavator suggested that it may have supported a throne or statue (von der Way 1992:7). The peculiar layout of the building as a whole would seem to indicate that it served a special purpose, perhaps as a royal residence or a building associated with the royal cult. An adjacent building, dated to the reign of Narmer, may also have served a sacred purpose. In front of a simple, rectangular building, a large pottery vessel had been sunk into the ground. On the inside of the vessel two stylised bull figures had been marked in the wet clay (von der Way 1989:295, fig. 12.1–2), giving rise to the suggestion that the vessel was perhaps a feeding trough for a divine bull worshipped at Buto (see Figure 8.9). A wooden label of Aha from Abydos offers possible confirmation for this theory. The label apparently records the king’s visit to important Delta shrines (Petrie 1901: pl. IIIA.5; Emery 1961: fig. 12). The second register depicts a round-topped sanctuary surmounted by a bird, almost certainly the shrine at Buto known as
b wt
(see below, and Figure 8.10). In front of this shrine is a bull inside an enclosure. If the same location applies to both shrine and bull, it suggests the worship of a sacred bull at Buto in the early First Dynasty.

The motif of a shrine with a rounded or pitched roof surmounted by a bird, depicted on the Aha label, is first attested on the Narmer macehead from Hierakonpolis (Quibell 1900: pl. XXVIB). Here, the shrine is shown behind the enthroned king. The fact that Narmer is shown wearing the red crown may be significant, perhaps indicating that the event depicted took place in Lower Egypt (Millet 1990:54, 56). A bone label

Figure 8.9
Early cult at Buto, 1: the sacred bull.

Indications of a bull cult practised at Buto in the Early Dynastic period: (1) a rectangular mudbrick building, excavated by the German Archaeological Institute expedition to Tell el-Fara‘in/ Buto in 1988; in front of the building, which dates to the very beginning of the First Dynasty, a large pottery basin had been sunk into the floor (after von der Way 1989:284, fig. 7.b); (2) the pottery basin was incised on the interior with two schematic bulls, giving rise to speculation that it may have

served as the feeding trough of a sacred bull kept at Buto (after von der Way 1989:295, fig. 12.1–2); (3) wooden label of Aha from Abydos recording a royal visit to the north-western Delta; the enclosure with a bull may refer to a sacred precinct at Buto, if the heron-topped building next to it represents the Djebaut shrine (after Emery 1961:52, fig. 12). Not to same scale.

from the late Predynastic tomb U-j at Abydos shows a similar motif, consisting of a rectangular, panelled building with a flat roof, surmounted by a long-beaked bird, possibly a heron (Dreyer 1993a: pl. 7.j). An identical label was excavated in the tomb of Aha (Petrie 1901: pl. III.12). In an entry on the Palermo Stone for the reign of Userkaf, a hieroglyph showing a heron on a perch is used as the determinative for the place-name
b wt
(Schäfer 1902:34). This locality is mentioned in the Pyramid Texts, and has been securely identified as a sacred area in the vicinity of Buto (Gauthier 1929:127; Erman and Grapow 1931:567; Faulkner 1969:327). It is perhaps noteworthy that the same heron-on- a-perch hieroglyph (Gardiner 1957: sign-list G32) is also used as an
ideogram
or determinative in the verb
b hỉ,
‘to be inundated’. This may have an ancient connection with the marshy, inundated nature of the land around Buto. The significance of the bird shown atop the shrine is not clear, but possibly the sanctuary at
b wt
was dedicated to

the worship of a heron deity.

A second feature of the sacred landscape at
b wt/
Buto recorded on early inscriptions was a complex comprising buildings and palm trees either side of a wavy canal (Bietak 1994, plus references). Two identical labels of Djer, one from Abydos (Amélineau 1904: pl. XV.19; Legge 1907: no. 4 [Berlin 18.026]) and one from Saqqara (Quibell 1923:6, pl. XI.2–3; cf. Weill 1961:351), record the visit of the king to this place. The same locality is shown on relief fragments from a number of Old Kingdom royal monuments, in conjunction with the heron standard of
b wt,
whilst a virtually identical scene from the Palace of Apries at Memphis (Petrie 1909:8–11, pl. VI; Mogensen 1930: pl. CII; cf. Weill 1961:351) clearly identifies the locality as
b wt.
Judging from similar scenes in Old Kingdom private tombs and the New Kingdom Theban tomb of Rekhmira, it is possible that a palm tree was originally planted
in front of
each shrine, and that the apparent alternation of shrines and palm trees on the Djer labels simply reflects the conventions of Egyptian artistic representation (Bietak 1994:3). Several different interpretations have been offered for the buildings and palm trees at Buto: chapels, house-burials or temporary buildings erected for a specific royal occasion (Wallert 1962:114–28; H.Altenmüller 1975; Bietak 1994:5).

Figure 8.10
Early cult at Buto, 2: the Djebaut shrine.

Depictions of the distinctive shrine surmounted by the figure of a heron: (1) bone label from tomb U-j at Abydos, dating to the late Predynastic period (after Dreyer 1993: pl. 14.j); (2) similar label from the tomb of Aha at Abydos (after Petrie 1901: pl. III.12); (3) the shrine as shown on the ceremonial macehead of Narmer from Hierakonpolis (after Quibell 1900: pl. XXVIB); (4) detail from a label of Aha recording a royal visit to the north- western Delta (after Petrie 1901: pl. X.2);

(5) the name of the Djebaut shrine as recorded on the Palermo Stone, in an entry for the reign of Userkaf (after Schäfer 1902:34). Not to same scale.

The discovery of tree pits in front of an Early Dynastic mastaba at North Saqqara (Emery 1949:73) and the excavation of similar pits in front of late Middle Kingdom tombs at Tell

ed-Daba tend to favour the interpretation of the Buto complex as a sacred cemetery, perhaps the burial place of the Predynastic rulers of Buto (Bietak 1994).

Excavations at Buto have proved the site’s importance from early Predynastic times. The attention paid by Early Dynastic kings, especially those of the early First Dynasty, to the various sacred precincts at Buto suggests that the site may have played a key role in the process of state formation, and that due reverence for its temples was an important part of the programme designed to cement and strengthen the unity of Egypt.

Saïs

A label of Aha apparently records a visit by the king to the shrine of Neith (Petrie 1901: pl. IIIA.5; Emery 1961: fig. 12). Since the other motifs on the label suggest a Delta location, it is likely that the cult centre of Neith was already located at Saïs in the north- western Delta. This was the site of a major temple to Neith in later periods of Egyptian history (cf. Lichtheim 1980:36–41), although no evidence for an Early Dynastic building has yet come to light from Saïs itself. (Presumably, the Early Dynastic levels now lie beneath the water-table, as they do at nearby Buto.)

PART III

THE DIVERSITY OF LOCAL EXPERIENCE

CHAPTER NINE THE RISE OF URBANISM‌

Egypt during the first three dynasties was not the monolithic state the royal court may have wished it to be: there was significant local and regional variation. The pace and character of urbanism is one of the areas in which this variation is most discernible.

An urban centre may be defined as ‘a geographical and cultural central place exercising regional political control, with a relatively large and dense population, a complex division of labour, and internal social stratification’ (Hoffman
et al.
1986:175). The migration of people from small, scattered villages to larger, more densely populated settlements marks a fundamental change in the nature of society (Kemp 1995:687). Urbanism—the concentration of population in such settlements—is an important stage in the structural evolution of a state (cf. Hoffman 1980:310), reflecting the ‘interaction between central organisation and local communities’ (Seidlmayer 1996b: 127). Consequently, urbanism is one of the defining characteristics of complex societies, and of early states in particular. The process of state formation in Egypt seems to have been accompanied by the nucleation of settlements in several areas of Upper Egypt (Kemp 1977; F.A.Hassan 1988:161). The process is directly attested by the rapid expansion of certain settlements, and is also reflected in the mortuary record by the simultaneous abandonment of several small cemeteries in a single region. The best evidence for these phenomena comes from the Abydos region, Naqada and Hierakonpolis.