Details

Object type

jar fragment

Place Associated

Africa, Egypt, Upper Egypt, Abydos (place found)

Date

Protodynastic Period, Dynasty 0, reign of Ka, circa 3150 BC

Materials

pottery

Dimensions

overall: 202 mm x 91 mm

Description

Through membership of the Egypt Exploration Fund, Glasgow Museums acquired objects from the royal tombs of the 1st Dynasty, excavated by Flinders Petrie at Abydos. Some of the kings named on these objects preserve names that are not known from the 1st Dynasty king lists. These have been included by Egyptologists in a Dynasty 0 which predates Dynasty 1 and the unification of Egypt.

This piece of a broken cylindrical pot consists of three sherds that have been stuck together in modern times. It has hieroglyphs painted on it that record the name of a king Ka. Though somewhat smudged and faint, they can be read as 'king Ip, the Horus Ka'. The king’s Horus name is enclosed in a partly striped rectangular frame known as a serekh, which imitates the façade of a palace of the time. Kings were given the title, 'the Horus', because they identified with and were protected by the falcon god Horus. Ka probably ruled about 3150 BC, immediately before Menes/Narmer, the first king of the 1st Dynasty.

This is therefore the earliest example of writing in the ancient Egypt collection and was inscribed at a time when hieroglyphs had just been invented. The individual signs are early versions of their later standardised forms.

Credit Line/Donor

Gifted by the Egypt Exploration Fund, 1901

ID Number

1901.78.d

Location

In storage