| Setka in hieroglyphs | |||||
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Setka St k3 His Ka is in its place | |||||
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Setka is the name of an ancient Egyptian crown prince. He is known for his statuette in the shape of a seated scribe. He is also the subject of a theory that claims he was pharaoh of Egypt for a very short time.
Setka was the eldest son and crown prince of pharaoh Djedefre. He lived and worked during the 4th Dynasty. His family life is unknown, the names of his wives and children are lost. Since the names of three other sons of Djedefre, namely Baka, Harnit and Nykau-Djedefre, are archaeologically detected, these should be Setka's brothers or half-brothers. The daughters of Djedefre, Hetepheres III and Neferhetepes, would be Setka's sisters or half-sisters. His mother is unknown, too. It could be one of Djedefre's wives, Khentetka or Hetepheres II, but this is highly uncertain. [1] [2]
According to the inscription on the podest of his statuette, Setka was Member of the elite, Eldest bodily son of the king, High lector priest of his father, Provost of the morning house and Head of the palace. [3]
According to Egyptologist Aidan Dodson, it is possible that Setka was pharaoh in Egypt for a very short time (maybe one or two years). His assumption is based on the so-called Unfinished Northern Pyramid of Zawyet el'Aryan, which is located at Zawyet el'Aryan. This unfinished pyramid shaft was abandoned shortly after beginning and only a great sum of red and black ink inscriptions left by the workmen were found. These provide a royal cartouche name, which remains partially illegible. The first sign can be identified as a Ka-sign, but the first, introducing sign was copied by the pyramid excavator so fuzzy, that it remains undecipherable. Aidan Dodson is convinced of the depiction of a sitting Seth-animal, reading the royal name as Seth-Ka ("Seth is mine Ka"). In this case, Setka had actually followed his father onto the throne. [2] Additionally, some scholars believe that Setka and his father Djedefre started some kind of family feud when he ascended the throne. This would explain why any contemporary document mentioning him was destroyed, except for his statuette, which was already placed in Djedefre's pyramid as a grave good. It could also explain why Djedefre and Setka chose their own burial sites at a remarkable distance from the Giza necropolis. [4]
Dodson's theory is not commonly accepted, though. Egyptologists such as Rainer Stadelmann and George Reisner propose prince Baka as the owner of the unfinished pyramid. According to their theory, Baka (whose name was written with the signs of a ram and the Ka) simply used the original name form due his lifetime, but it was changed after his death into Bakarê ("soul and Ka of Râ"). In ancient Greek chronics Baka's name was hellenized into Bikheris. For this reason, the unfinished tomb shaft at Zawyet el'Aryan is also called "Pyramid of Bikheris". [5]
Setka is known to scholars only by his statuette. It was found during the winter of 1901 by French archaeologist Émile Chassinat in Abu Rawash, when he excavated the Pyramid of Djedefre. Today the statuette is on display at the Louvre museum at Paris under its inventory number E 12639. Setka's statuette is the eldest known model of the so-called seated scribe typus. The artifact is made of polished granite and 30 cm high, 23 cm wide and 17 cm deep. The figure is shown in a cross-legged position, holding a papyrus sheet in its lap and an imaginary writing bulrush. The podest of the statue is made of polished limestone, its surface is engraved with Setka's name and titles. The papyrus sheet is decorated with the title Bodily son of the king. [3]
Khufu or Cheops was an ancient Egyptian monarch who was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, in the first half of the Old Kingdom period. Khufu succeeded his father Sneferu as king. He is generally accepted as having commissioned the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, but many other aspects of his reign are poorly documented.
Khafre was an ancient Egyptian King (pharaoh) of the 4th Dynasty during the Old Kingdom. He was the son of Khufu and the successor of Djedefre. According to the ancient historian Manetho, Khafre was followed by king Bikheris, but according to archaeological evidence he was instead followed by king Menkaure. Khafre was the builder who made the second largest pyramid of Giza. The view held by modern Egyptology at large continues to be that the Great Sphinx was built in approximately 2500 BC for Khafre. Not much is known about Khafre, except from the reports of Herodotus, writing 2,000 years after his life.
Hetepheres II was a Queen of Ancient Egypt during the 4th Dynasty.
Djedefre was an ancient Egyptian king (pharaoh) of the 4th Dynasty during the Old Kingdom. He is well known by the Hellenized form of his name Rhatoisēs (Ῥατοίσης) by Manetho. Djedefre was the son and immediate throne successor of Khufu, the builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza; his mother is not known for certain. He is the king who introduced the royal title Sa-Rê and the first to connect his cartouche name with the sun god Ra.
Hetepheres is the name of several queens, princesses and noble women from the Fourth dynasty of Egypt.
Huni was an ancient Egyptian king and the last pharaoh of the Third Dynasty of Egypt during the Old Kingdom period. Following the Turin king list, he is commonly credited with a reign of 24 years, ending c. 2613 BC.
Khaba was a pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, active during the 3rd Dynasty of the Old Kingdom period. The exact time during which Khaba ruled is unknown but may have been around 2670 BC, and almost definitely towards the end of the dynasty.
Zawyet El Aryan is a town in the Giza Governorate, located between Giza and Abusir. To the west of the town, just in the desert area, is a necropolis, referred to by the same name. Almost directly east across the Nile is Memphis. In Zawyet El Aryan, there are two pyramid complexes and five mastaba cemeteries.
The Layer Pyramid is a ruined step pyramid dating to the 3rd Dynasty of Egypt and located in the necropolis of Zawyet El Aryan. Its ownership is uncertain and may be attributable to pharaoh Khaba. The pyramid architecture, however, is very similar to that of the Buried Pyramid of king Sekhemkhet and for this reason is firmly datable to the 3rd Dynasty.
Nebka is the throne name of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Third Dynasty during the Old Kingdom period, in the 27th century BCE. He is thought to be identical with the Hellenized name Νεχέρωχις recorded by the Egyptian priest Manetho of the much later Ptolemaic period.
Ankhhaf was an Egyptian prince and served as an overseer during the reign of the Pharaoh Khufu, who is thought to have been Ankhhaf's half-brother. One of Ankhaf's titles is also as a vizier, but it is unknown which pharaoh he would have held this title under. He lived during Egypt's 4th Dynasty.
Sneferu, well known under his Hellenized name Soris, was the founding pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt during the Old Kingdom. Estimates of his reign vary, with for instance The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt suggesting a reign from around 2613 to 2589 BC, a reign of 24 years, while Rolf Krauss suggests a 30-year reign, and Rainer Stadelmann a 48-year reign. He built at least three pyramids that survive to this day and introduced major innovations in the design and construction of pyramids.
Kawab is the name of an ancient Egyptian prince of the 4th Dynasty. He was the eldest son of King Khufu and Queen Meritites I. Kawab served as vizier and was buried in the double mastaba G 7110–7120 in the east field which is part of the Giza Necropolis.
Neferhetepes was an ancient Egyptian princess of the 4th Dynasty; a daughter of Pharaoh Djedefre who ruled between his father Khufu and his brother Khafre. Her mother was Hetepheres II.
Khentetka or Khentetenka was a Queen of Egypt; the wife of King Djedefre during the 4th Dynasty.
The Third Dynasty of ancient Egypt is the first dynasty of the Old Kingdom. Other dynasties of the Old Kingdom include the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth. The capital during the period of the Old Kingdom was at Memphis.
This page list topics related to ancient Egypt.
Bikheris is the Hellenized name of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, who may have ruled during the 4th Dynasty around 2570 BC. Next to nothing is known about this ruler and some Egyptologists even believe him to be fictitious.
The Unfinished Northern Pyramid of Zawyet El Aryan, also known as Pyramid of Baka and Pyramid of Bikheris is the term archaeologists and Egyptologists use to describe a large shaft part of an unfinished pyramid at Zawyet El Aryan in Egypt. Archaeologists are generally of the opinion that it belongs to the early or the mid-4th Dynasty during the Old Kingdom period. The pyramid owner is not known for certain and most Egyptologists, such as Miroslav Verner, think it should be a king known under his hellenized name, Bikheris, perhaps from the Egyptian Baka. On the contrary, Wolfgang Helck and other Egyptologists doubt this attribution.
Baka is the name of an ancient Egyptian prince. He is known for his destroyed statuette. He is also the subject of a theory that claims he was pharaoh of Egypt for a very short time. Thus, he might be identical to a scarcely known king named Bikheris.
