Archaic or Tinite Period of Egypt – Universal History

The Archaic or Tinite Period of Egypt ranges from the I Dynasties to the II Dynasties. Dynasty I spanned from the years 3050 BC to 2860 BC in which the most important character was Narmer. All these periods are included in the culture of ancient Egypt.

Dynasties of the Archaic or Tinita Period

The I Dynasty (Nagada III C1, 2, 3) (3050-2860 BC)

Narmer is one of the most widespread royal names of the Archean Dynastic (examples have even been found in Palestine). He has been considered as the founder of the First Dynasty and originated the legendary figure of Menes.
It is associated with the beginnings of the phase Nagada IIIc (1st Dynasty). It seems that he solved the problem of the rivals of Hierakompolis, although how he did it is speculation. At the moment, there is no news of military victories from Abydos over Hierakompolis, (Nekhen) with which it could be said that the problem was resolved peacefully, recognizing the authority of Nekhen with concessions from the king to the powerful local families. This aspect of the unification of Egypt, like many others, continues to be investigated, and will gradually become clearer with the following Dynasties.
The eight pharaohs of the First Dynasty ruled at a time of prosperity. The kings of this Dynasty begin to wear what is called degree either protocol traditional royal, conferred on the pharaoh in the coronation ceremony, which from the Old Kingdom involved five fixed titles, which introduced, either by a single name or a short phrase, variants for each pharaoh. At least three of these ritual titles were used by 1st Dynasty pharaohs.

God Horus

Titles in the I Dynasty

1. Horus name of the pharaoh, inscribed on a rectangle or serekh, image of the royal palace, with a falcon on top, symbol of royal power. It is translated by the Horus X…. This title was carried by the eight pharaohs of the First Dynasty.
2. This second title is made up of the phrase n(y)swt-bity which translates as the one that belongs to the reed (swt) and to the bee (bity)being the reed (or reed) the symbol of Upper Egypt and the bee of Lower Egypt”’, whence the usual translation of the title as the king of Upper and Lower Egypt. In the original 1st Dynasty inscriptions this title is used alone, absolutely. In classical times, the title nesutbity preceded the pharaoh’s main name or birth name, which was enclosed in a cartouche, which was never enclosed in the first two dynasties.
3. The third title of the protocol was that of the Two Ladies or Nebty, due to the probable reading of the groups of signs that were gathered to write it: the vulture, which represented the goddess Nekhbet of el-Kab, and the cobra, tutelary divinity of Dep (Buto), both on the basket sign neb, which means lady. As both cities were, one in the north and one in the south, this title is related, like that of Nesutbity, to the northern and southern kingdoms.

The Pharaohs of the First Dynasty

Narmer Palette

To the first pharaoh, narmer, the Manetonian tradition attributes to him from thirty to sixty years and having disappeared carried away by a hippopotamus, the founding of Memphis and its temple, the first, of the god Path. He seems to have founded Crocodilepolis, the ancient Egyptian Shedet.
His successor was Aha, the fighter, known from numerous documents from Abydos, Saqqara and other places, which attribute campaigns against Nubia and Libya and relations with Byblos and Lebanon. A human sacrifice is known from his time before the royal palace. His wife was Queen Neithotep. to which is attributed a great tomb in Nagada and the regency of her son, teti. This was an ephemeral pharaoh, who only lasted a year and forty-five days, although sometimes Kenkénes appears, Manetho’s Horus Djer, Iti in the Palermo Stone, whose name appears enclosed in a cartouche. Two large tombs of this pharaoh are preserved, one in Abydos and the other in Saqqara. In Abydos there are around 338 subsidiary tombs that are supposed to be occupied by members of the court sacrificed to accompany the king forever, mainly women.
An ivory tablet with the name of Djer/ Dyer discovered in Abydos alludes to the heliacal rise of Sothis, which would show that at this time the Egyptians associated the star with the flood and the beginning of the solar calendar, adopted at the time of the Second Dynasty, a few centuries later.
The next king. Vadyi, is known as King-Snake. He reigned about ten years, and during his rule an expedition entered the eastern desert. His contemporary is Queen Merneith, attested in numerous written documents but whose position in the 1st Dynasty or even the 2nd Dynasty is uncertain. She does not appear in the Royal Lists or in Manetho. Next to the masculine form of the name Merneith There is also the feminine form: Mer(y)tneith, so she is considered a queen. She would be the mother of giveexercising the regency in his name at the beginning of his reign, his tomb in Abydos was surrounded by 77 subsidiary graves, which testifies to his great importance and that perhaps he reigned as the only Egyptian monarch, being the first queen-king of this country, precedent for many others.
In Den’s time it is supposed that at least two chapters from the Book of the Dead. he happened to him Miebis or Adjib already this one Semerkhet. The eighth would be Horus Ka or Kaawith which, according to Manetho, the 1st Dynasty ended, without knowing the reasons for the coming to power of the 2nd Dynasty, of Tinite origin, like the 1st, which included nine kings.

Horus of Semerkhet Fragment

2nd Dynasty

The names and the order number of these pharaohs is uncertain, since the sources, the seal-cylinders, the ivory tablets, the Palermo Stone, the Royal Lists and the Turin Papyrus do not coincide and contradict each other from the seventh century onwards. Pharaoh, and only the names and the order of succession of the first four are certain, who are estimated to have reigned between 2930-2890 BC. c.

The Pharaohs of the Second Dynasty

The first was Hotepsekhemuy/ Hotepsejemuy. It happened to him Nebré or Raneb the Kalau of the Royal Lists of the New Kingdom. His name is the first real name compounded with that of the Sun god of Heliopolis.
the third pharaoh, nineteris known thanks to the Palermo Stone, happened to him uneg and after him the news is confused, with pharaohs like Sekhemib or Peribsen. The Serekb of the latter is under a Sethian animal, instead of the traditional Horus, which is interpreted as a political change that would force the king to leave Memphis and take refuge in the south, where he would change his name from Horus to Seth- Peribsen. His successor was Khasekhem or Jasejem, of whom war activities are verified and he is represented killing prisoners from North. His successor, Khasekhemuy/Jasejemuy, whose name means The two powers (of Horus and Seth) suggests the reconciliation of both gods and their supporters. With him this Tinita Period ended.

Characteristics of the Tinita period

Apart from more or less contrasted theories, and as happens with the divisions established by historians, ancient or modern, Vercoutter recalls that the break between the archaic era and the Old Empire is artificial and except for the place of residence of the sovereigns, the The III Dynasty succeeded the II without rupture and the new pharaoh who started this III Dynasty was a grandson of jasejemuy.

The monarchy

At the end of the II Dynasty, the characteristics of the pharaonic monarchy were established. The rites of royal coronation and its renewal (Sed festival) were fixed and developed in the same way until Ptolemaic times, among them the inheritance from father to son, the royal title and the important role of queens.

The gods

At this time, the existence of most of the divinities of the classical Egyptian Pantheon is attested, either with animal forms or represented by their symbols and also with anthropomorphic forms:

Anubis (jackal)Apis (bull)Hathor (cow)Horus (falcon)IsisKhnoumMaátMinNeithNekhbet (vulture)OsirisPathRa (the Sun)Sobek (crocodile)Sekhmet (lioness)SeshatSeth (setian animal and serpent)SokarisThoth (ibis)Tueris (hippopotamus)Wadjet ( cobra) Temple of the gods

Writing

The appearance of hieroglyphic writing as we know it is one of the achievements attributed to the first two Dynasties. Although a Mesopotamian origin has been sought, it is clear that from Amratian times, around 3800 BC. C., signs of writing on vases are known and true hieroglyphs have been found since the end of this Amratian period, around 3500 BC. C., like the sign of the red crown that is known from a red vessel with a black rim found in Nagada, developing progressively throughout the Geerzense (Nagada II). By the end of Dynasty 0 more than 30 signs were known, attested on monuments and papyri are known as early as Den’s reign.
The three Egyptian scripts were Hieroglyphic, Hieratic, and Demotic.

funeral rites

The pottery found in the Amratian and Geerzean tombs shows a decoration that is interpreted as intended to ensure life in the dead for the deceased. Beyond and to the protection of the divinities represented by their symbols, while the writing magically maintains the person’s name and its eternal permanence.

Main cities

The traditional theory that Memphis was founded around 3100 BC is accepted. C, by the first king of the I Dynasty, who unified Egypt, after having conquered the north by force, constituting a homogeneous kingdom under the authority of the city of Buto (present-day Tell-el-Pharain), in the extreme northwest of the Delta, proven extremes, although the violent conquest does not seem to be proven at an archaeological level so far. Recent archaeological excavations qualify this simplistic interpretation based only on Partial sources, highlighting the importance of agglomerations such as Hierakonpolis (Nekhen) and Nagada (Ombos).