Chapter 43: The First Dynasty of Egypt
readx;? The pharaohs established powerful royal power to legitimize their control over the land, labor, and resources of the state that were essential for the survival and development of ancient Egyptian civilization. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
The pharaohs' ever-expanding power and wealth were reflected in their elaborate stone chamber tombs and elaborate burial rituals that were used to glorify the pharaohs who had been deified after death. The Egyptians were primarily concerned with death, and they believed that the souls of the dead were going to Hades, where Orisses was to judge them according to their earthly lifestyle. They thought that the soul would eventually return to the body, which gave rise to mummies and lavish mausoleum buildings.
After unifying Upper and Lower Egypt, Menes carried out a large-scale conquest of North Africa.
Menes, who reigned for 62 years, is said to have been killed by a hippopotamus during a hunting trip.
In fact, there is a problem here, Menes was already a successful king of Upper Egypt before the unification of Egypt, and after 62 years of his reign in Egypt, he was at least 82-100 years old, so does he still have the ability to hunt? From the perspective of ordinary people, at this age, he will only stay in the palace, and even if he goes out to hunt and relax, he will not go into battle himself, and no one will save him.
Does this mean something else: Menes has always regarded the city of Memphis as the capital of all Egypt after it was founded, but in fact Memphey is in the traditional region of Lower Egypt. In his later years, Menes led a small army out of the city to hunt, but was discovered by the underground resistance in Lower Egypt and launched an ambush, and Menes was defeated and died. Since the documents of the time were all textual similar to pictures. Then the image of the resistance in Lower Egypt is a hippopotamus. The hippopotamus is the embodiment of the god Seth, who represents Lower Egypt.
The attack on Menes represents a major turning point in Egyptian history, before Memphis was declared the official capital of Egypt, but successive Egyptian kings chose the safer Tinis in Upper Egypt as the capital, and Memphis was vacant, but Memphis was built on the scale of the capital, and its magnificence was extremely magnificent, making Memphis gradually become the center of Lower Egypt's power, and bought time for the re-independence of Lower Egypt in the Second Dynasty.
Table of the First Dynasty of Egypt:
Menes, reigned 62, 3152-3090 BC. If you start from the unification of Egypt, it is 50 years, that is, BC3140-3090.
His wife was a princess in northern Egypt, Neithhoteb-a-a. His name was found in Hol Aha's grave, which means she was Hol Aha's mother.
Hal Aha, reigned 32 BC, 3090-3058 BC.
In 3090 BC, Menes' son, Hor Aha, succeeded to the throne of the First Dynasty of Egypt.
Aha was the second king of the First Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. Aha means "fight", "warrior" or "war falcon". Hol-Ahab, whose birth name was Itis, was born in 3120 BC, and Ahab, whose Horus name, became king at the age of thirty and ruled Egypt until he was sixty-two.
Legend has it that he was brought up by a hippopotamus, the embodiment of Seth in Egyptian mythology. It means that he grew up in Memphis and was served by people of Lower Egyptian origin.
At the time of Menes' death, he was only 30 years old as the youngest son of Menes, and the other sons had already become old men, so they were able to succeed to the throne. After Menes was killed, Aha feared for his safety and moved the capital back to Tinis. After that, the main forces were concentrated in the south of Upper Egypt.
During his reign, Aha led an expedition to Nubia in the south, extending Egypt's power to the first falls of the Nile. Archaeologists have found an ebony frieze commemorating his expedition to Nubia in Abydos, as well as an artifact with an inscription that reads "Get Upper and Lower Egypt" with a scene of capture. It can be seen that its influence covers the entire area of the Nile River valley from the first waterfall to the Mediterranean.
Trade with the southeastern Mediterranean seems to have been declining during the reign of Hol Aha, probably because its neighbors in the southeastern Mediterranean used local resources to replace long-distance trade with the Egyptians compared to the time of the previous king, Narmay.
Legend has it that he was taken by a hippopotamus, the incarnation of the god Seth. But Hor Aha is the legendary Menes, and another story goes like this: Hor Aha was attacked and killed by a hippopotamus while hunting.
The tomb of Hol Aha is located in the tomb of the first dynasty of the king in Abydos, called 'ab. It consists of three large chambers B10B15 and B19 directly adjacent to the tomb of Narmai. The chambers are rectangular and dug directly in the desert, and their walls are lined with mud bricks. The tombs of Narmer and Ka have only two adjacent chambers, while the tomb of Hol Aha consists of three chambers that have not yet been separated. The reason for this construction is that it is difficult when building a large ceiling. In addition, timber for these structures often had to be imported from Palestine.
A striking innovation of the Mausoleum of Hor Aha is the burial of the pharaohs of the royal family. It is unclear whether they were killed or committed suicide. Among those buried, there were servants, dwarfs, women, and even dogs. The tombs of the 36 sons were placed in three parallel rows to the east of the main chamber of Hol Aha. As a royal Hol-Aha symbol even acquired a batch of young lions.
In addition, he ordered the construction of the temple of Nit, the goddess worshipped by the inhabitants of Seis, in the Nile Delta, and Aha was built in the hope of pacifying Lower Egypt and easing tensions since Menes.
According to legend, he was attacked by wild dogs and Nile crocodiles in Faiyum and died, but this is the way ordinary people die, how can a high-ranking king be killed by a beast. At that time, there was only a limited amount of information that could be recorded in the written texts, and the descriptions of any of the forces were depicted by depicting local gods or specialties to represent the local powers. The main source of the Nile crocodile is Lower Egypt, and the way of its death may have been in battle during a rebellion with Lower Egypt. Its mausoleum is in the Saqqara shrine of Abydos. Aha's queen is most likely Bene Libi, whose name is "on some fragments of the B14 tomb, side by side with Aha", and the B14 tomb is located right next to the Aha tomb.
Since the 18th Dynasty, the burial ground of Aha has been worshipped as the tomb of Osiris, and the area (including the tomb of Zar) was of great importance to the ancient Egyptian religious tradition.