Semerkhet

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Persondata
NAME	Semerkhet
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

Preceded by:
Anedjib

Pharaoh of Egypt
1st Dynasty

Succeeded by:
Qa'a

Semerkhet

Reign

9 years

Horus name

Semerkhet

Issues

Qa'a?

Burial

Tomb in Umm el-Qa'ab, Abydos

Major
Monuments

Tomb in Umm el-Qa'ab

Semerkhet was the sixth king of Ancient Egypt's First Dynasty who ruled around 2950 BC. Although little is known of his reign, Semerkhet seems to have had a difficult time as king judging by the records of Manetho.

Manetho states that there were numerous disasters in Semerkhet's reign but he alleges that this was due to the fact Semerkhet was an usurper to the throne. Semerkhet deliberately scrubbed Anedjib's name from numerous artifacts, but Semerket's own name was later omitted from the Saqqara King List. He did, however, manage to build a much larger royal tomb than Anedjib despite his short 9 year reign. Semerkhet is only known otherwise from one or two contemporary artifacts and, more importantly, in the Palermo Stone Annals.

1 Reign Length
2 Further reading
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Reign Length

Although the third BCE Egyptian priest Manetho records that this king ruled Egypt for 18 years, this figure apparently included an otiose decade to his reign. Toby Wilkinson in his analysis of the Palermo Stone in Royal Annals of Ancient Egypt, specifically notes that Cairo Fragment One register III of this document gives "Semerkhet 8 1/2 years (this figure is certain, since the entire reign is recorded [here]." (Wilkinson: pp.78 & 258) Semerkhet's royal name, written in a serekh, was also preserved in this section of the document--hence the 9 year reign can only belong to him. Wilkinson concludes that this king had a reign of 9 full or partial years based on the 5th Dynasty Palermo Stone Annal which would have provided more accurate figures for the reign of the 1st and 2nd Dynasty kings. (Wilkinson: p.80)

Semerkhet is buried in Tomb U of the royal necropolis at Umm el-Qa'ab, near Abydos.

[edit] Further reading

Toby A. H. Wilkinson, Early Dynastic Egypt, Routledge, London/New York 1999, ISBN 0-415-18633-1, 79-80
Toby Wilkinson, Royal Annals of Ancient Egypt: The Palermo Stone and Its Associated Fragments, (Kegan Paul International), 2000.