second Dynasty of Egypt

{{redirect|Second Dynasty|other uses|Second Dynasty (disambiguation)}}

{{Infobox Former Country|conventional_long_name=Second Dynasty of Egypt|era=Bronze Age|government_type=Absolute monarchy|nation=|image_map=Khasekhemwy statue Ashmolean.JPG |image_map_caption=Statue of Khasekhemwy, Ashmolean Museum|image_flag=|flag=|flag_type=|year_start={{circa|2890 BC}}|year_end={{circa|2686 BC}}|p1=First Dynasty of Egypt|flag_p1=|s1=Third Dynasty of Egypt|flag_s1=|capital=Thinis|common_languages=Egyptian language|religion=ancient Egyptian religion|event_start=|event_end=}}

The Second Dynasty of ancient Egypt (or Dynasty II, {{circa|2890}} – {{circa|2686 BC}}{{cite book |editor-last=Shaw |editor-first=Ian |editor-link=Ian Shaw (Egyptologist) |title=The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt |year=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-815034-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordhisto00shaw/page/480 480] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordhisto00shaw/page/480 }}) is the latter of the two dynasties of the Egyptian Archaic Period, when the seat of government was centred at Thinis. It is most known for its last ruler, Khasekhemwy, but is otherwise one of the most obscure periods in Egyptian history.

Though archaeological evidence of the time is very scant, contrasting data from the First and Third Dynasties indicates important institutional and economic developments during the Second Dynasty.{{cite book| last= Romer| first= John | author-link = John Romer (Egyptologist)|title=A History of Ancient Egypt| volume= 1| year= 2013 |orig-year=2012| publisher = Penguin Books | location= London, ENG | isbn= 978-1-8-4614377-9| pages= 221–222| chapter= Chapter 18 – The Lost Dynasty | quote= Whatever else was taking place at the court of the Second Dynasty of kings, it is clear that the fundamental institutions of pharaonic government, its systems of supply, not only survived throughout that century and a half, but flourished to the extent that, when the kings emerge into the light of history again with the pyramid builders of the Third Dynasty, the state on the lower Nile was more efficient than it had ever been: that there was, therefore, strong institutional continuity.}}{{cite book |last1= Bard|first1=Kathryn A.|author-link=Kathryn A. Bard |editor1-first=Ian |editor1-last=Shaw |editor1-link=Ian Shaw (Egyptologist)|type=paperback|title=The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt|edition=1st|year=2002|orig-year=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford|isbn= 978-0-19-280293-4|page=85|chapter=Chapter 4 – The Emergence of the Egyptian State |quote=There is much less evidence for the kings of the 2nd Dynasty than those of the 1st Dynasty until the last two reigns (Peribsen and Khasekhemwy). Given what is known about the early Old Kingdom in the 3rd Dynasty, the 2nd Dynasty must have been a time when the economic and political foundations were put in place for the strongly centralized state, which developed with truly vast resources. Such a major transition, however, cannot be demonstrated from the archaeological evidence for the 2nd Dynasty. }}

Rulers

For the first three pharaohs, sources are fairly close in agreement and the order is supported by an inscription on the statuette of Hetepdief, who served in the mortuary cults of these three kings.{{cite book|last=Wilkinson|first=Toby A. H.|title=Early Dynastic Egypt|publisher=Routledge|year=1999|isbn=0-415-26011-6|page=83}}

class="wikitable"

! Name

! Years Reigned

! Burial

Hotepsekhemwy

| 70px

| 25–29

| Gallery Tomb A, Saqqara?

Nebra (also known as Kakau)

| 70px

| 10–14

| Gallery Tomb A, Saqqara?

Nynetjer

| 70px

| 40

| Gallery Tomb B, Saqqara

But the identity of the next few rulers is unclear. Surviving sources might be giving the Horus name or the Nebty name and the birth names of these rulers. They may also be entirely different individuals, or could be legendary names. This might never be resolved.

It has been theorised that following the reign of Nynetjer, the country was split and ruled by two successors due to the overly complex state administration of the whole of Egypt.Nicolas Grimal: A History of Ancient Egypt. Wiley-Blackwell, Weinheim 1994, {{ISBN|978-0-631-19396-8}}, p. 55.

The following list contains various king names from different sources:

class="wikitable"

! Name

! Years reigned
(Manetho){{Cite web |last=Lundström |first=Peter |title=The Dynasties of Manetho |url=https://pharaoh.se/ancient-egypt/kinglist/manetho-king-list/ |access-date=2024-11-05 |website=Pharaoh.se |language=en}}

! Notes

! Burial

Weneg / Wadjenes

| 70px

| 17

| Listed as the fourth king of the dynasty on the Turin, Saqqara and Abydos king lists.
Only attested in Lower Egypt.{{cite book|last=Wilkinson|first=Toby A. H.|title=Early Dynastic Egypt|publisher=Routledge|year=1999|isbn=0-415-26011-6|page=88}}
Weneg is generally accepted as a nebti (or throne) name and it is unknown what his horus name was.{{cite book|last=Wilkinson|first=Toby A. H.|title=Early Dynastic Egypt|publisher=Routledge|year=1999|isbn=0-415-26011-6|page=87}}
Theorised to be the same person as Raneb,{{Citation|author-link1=Jochem Kahl | last = Kahl | first = Jochem | contribution = Ra is my Lord | title = Searching for the Rise of the Sun God at the Dawn of Egyptian History | place = Wiesbaden | year = 2007}} Sekhemib-PerenmaatWolfgang Helck: Untersuchungen zur Thinitenzeit. Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1987, {{ISBN|978-3-447-02677-2}}, pp. 103–107. or a completely separate king from the others of the Second dynasty.
Known as Tlas in Manetho's Aegyptica.

Senedj

| 70px

| 41

| Listed as the fifth king of the dynasty on the Turin, Saqqara and Abydos king lists.
Horus name unknown.
May be identifiable with Horus Sa.{{Citation | first = Thomas | last = Von der Way | title = Zur Datierung des "Labyrinth-Gebäudes" auf dem Tell el-Fara'in (Buto) | journal = Göttinger Miszellen | volume = 157 | year = 1997 | pages = 107–111}}
Known as Sethenes in Manetho's Aegyptica.

Khaires

| 17

| Mentioned in Manetho's Aegyptica.
Unknown which historical king this name refers to.

Neferkara I

| 25

| Only attested in later documents dated long after the time period of the Second dynasty.
Listed as the sixth king of the dynasty in the Saqqara and Turin King lists, but omitted from the Abydos King List.
May have only ruled Lower Egypt.
Known as Nephercheres in Manetho's Aegyptica.

Neferkasokar

| 70px

| 48

| Only attested in later documents dated long after the time period of the Second dynasty.
Listed as the seventh king of the dynasty in the Saqqara and Turin King lists, but omitted from the Abydos King List.
May have only ruled Lower Egypt.
Known as Sesochris in Manetho's Aegyptica.

Hudjefa I

| ?

| Name literally means "erased" or "missing", showing that this king's name was unknown or lost by the Nineteenth Dynasty.
Listed as the eighth king of the dynasty on the Saqqara Tablet, but omitted from the Abydos King List.
May have only ruled Lower Egypt.
Theorised to be the same person as Peribsen and may have been deliberately omitted.Wolfgang Helck: Untersuchungen zur Thinitenzeit: Ägyptologische Abhandlungen., Volume 45. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 1987, {{ISBN|3-447-02677-4}}, p. 125.

Seth-Peribsen

| 70px

| ?

| Name connected to Seth deity rather than the traditional Horus.
Attested by contemporary inscriptions, but not on later king lists.
Only attested in Upper Egypt.{{cite book|last=Wilkinson|first=Toby A. H.|title=Early Dynastic Egypt|publisher=Routledge|year=1999|isbn=0-415-26011-6|page=89}}

| Tomb P, Umm El Qa'ab

Sekhemib-Perenmaat

| 70px

| ?

| Attested by contemporary inscriptions, but not on later king lists.
May be the same person as Seth-PeribsenWalter Bryan Emery: Ägypten – Geschichte und Kultur der Frühzeit. Fourier, Munich 1964, p. 106. or his immediate successor.Wolfgang Helck: Untersuchungen zur Thintenzeit. (Ägyptologische Abhandlungen, Volume 45), Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1987, {{ISBN|3-447-02677-4}}, pp. 104–111, 183.Hermann A. Schlögl: Das Alte Ägypten. Geschichte und Kultur von der Frühzeit bis zu Kleopatra. Verlag C. H. Beck, München 2006, {{ISBN|3-406-54988-8}}, p. 78.

| Tomb P, Umm El Qa'ab (?)

Nubnefer

| 70px

| ?

| Birth name of a king, unknown placement.
Name does not appear on any known official king lists.
May be birth name of RanebI. E. S. Edwards: The early dynastic period in Egypt; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1964; p. 25. or a completely separate ephemeral king who ruled at some point following Nynetjer's reign.{{cite book|last=Wilkinson|first=Toby|title=Early Dynastic Egypt|publisher=Routledge|year=1999|isbn=0-415-26011-6|page=89}}

With the last ruler, the sources return to an agreement:

class="wikitable"

! Name

! Years Reigned

! Notes

! Burial

! Consort(s)

Khasekhemwy

| 70px

| 17–18

| Known as Kheneres in Manetho's Aegyptica.
Reigned for 30 years according to Manetho.

| Tomb V, Umm El Qa'ab

| Nimaathap

Manetho states Thinis was the capital, as in the First Dynasty, but the first three kings were buried at Saqqara, suggesting the center of power had moved to Memphis. Beyond this, little can be said about the events during this period as the annual records on the Palermo stone only survive to the end of the reign of Nebra and for parts of Nynetjer's. One important event, the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, might have occurred during the reign of Khasekhemwy as many Egyptologists read his name as "the Two Powers arise".