King Scorpion

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“Scorpion King” redirects here. For the 2002 film, see The Scorpion King.

Persondata
NAME	Scorpion
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	{{{Alt}}}
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Pharaoh of Egypt
DATE OF BIRTH	{{{Birth}}}
PLACE OF BIRTH	Ancient Egypt
DATE OF DEATH	{{{Death}}}
PLACE OF DEATH	Ancient Egypt

Scorpion
Preceded by: Ka?	Pharaoh of Egypt Protodynastic	Succeeded by: Narmer?

Burial	Possibly Tomb U-j, Umm el-Qa'ab, Abydos

Scorpion, also translated as King Scorpion, or rarely as Serqet, refers to the second of two kings so-named of Upper Egypt during the Protodynastic Period. His name may refer to the goddess Serket.

The only pictorial evidence of his existence is a macehead found in the main deposit in a temple at Nekhen. The stratigraphy of this macehead was lost due to the methods of its excavators, but its style seems to date it to the very end of the Predynastic Period.^[1]. Scorpion II is the king famous for his two ceremonial mace-heads made of stone, found in the 1890s in the so-called Main Deposit within the old temple area of Hierakonpolis. Though badly damaged, the visible parts are extraordinary records from this early time in Egyptian history. He is believed to have lived just before or during the rule of Narmer at Thinis for this reason, and also because of the content of the macehead. Protodynastic hieroglyphics are difficult to read, but the dead lapwings (meaning Egyptians) and the nine bows (meaning the traditional enemies of Egyptians) found on the macehead are interpreted as evidence that he began the attacks on Lower Egypt which eventually resulted in Narmer's victory and unification of the country.^[2]

Some would argue that because Egyptian kings of the First Dynasty seem to have had multiple names, that Scorpion was the same person as Narmer, simply with an alternate name. Others have argued that the name of his predecessor, Ka, is simply a stylistically different version of a scorpion, and that both kings are the same person, who would have been named Sekhen.^[3]

Recently a 5000 year old graffito has been discovered by Professor John Darnell of Yale University that also bears the symbols of King Scorpion and depicts his defeat of another predynastic ruler. The image was recorded and shown in a History Channel special.[1]

[edit] In popular culture

Serket's name was borrowed for the 2002 film The Scorpion King.
William Golding's novel The Scorpion God is loosely based upon this period of Egyptian History.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Shaw, Ian; and Nicholson, Paul. The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt. p. 254. The British Museum Press, 1995
^ Edwards, I.E.S., The Early Dynastic Period in Egypt. in The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 1, part 2, ed. Edwards, I.E.S, et al. p. 6. Cambridge University Press, 1965.
^ Edwards, I.E.S., The Early Dynastic Period in Egypt. in The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 1, part 2, ed. Edwards, I.E.S, et al. p. 3. Cambridge University Press, 1965.