The
Abydos King List lists the third pharaoh as Iti, the
Turin King List lists a damaged name, beginning with It..., while
Manetho lists Kenkenês.
Jürgen von Beckerath in the Handbuch der ägyptischen Königsnamen (1999) translates the hieroglyphs of the name Djer as "Defender of Horus."[5]
Length of reign
Although the Egyptian priest Manetho, writing in the third century BC, stated that Djer ruled for 57 years, modern research by Toby Wilkinson in Royal Annals of Ancient Egypt stresses that the near-contemporary and therefore, more accurate
Palermo Stone ascribes Djer a reign of "41 complete and partial years."[6] Wilkinson notes that years 1–10 of Djer's reign are preserved in
register II of the Palermo Stone, while the middle years of this pharaoh's reign are recorded in register II of Cairo stone fragment C1.[7]
Reign
Djer's reign was preceded by a regency controlled by
Neithhotep, possibly his mother or grandmother.
Inscription of his name (of questioned authenticity, however) at
Wadi Halfa,
Sudan
The inscriptions, on
ivory and wood, are in a very early form of
hieroglyphs, hindering complete translation, but a label at Saqqarah may depict the First Dynasty practice of
human sacrifice.[14] An ivory tablet from
Abydos mentions that Djer visited
Buto and
Sais in the
Nile Delta. One of his regnal years on the Cairo Stone was named "Year of smiting the land of Setjet", which often is speculated to be Sinai or beyond.
Manetho claimed that Athothes, who is sometimes identified as Djer, had written a treatise on
anatomy that still existed in his own day, over two millennia later.[15]
Djer was a son of the pharaoh
Hor-Aha and his wife
Khenthap.[citation needed] His grandfather was probably
Narmer. Djer fathered
Merneith, wife of
Djet and mother of
Den. Women carrying titles later associated with queens such as Great One of the Hetes-Sceptre and She who Sees/Carries Horus were buried in subsidiary tombs near the tomb of Djer in
Abydos or attested in Saqqara. These women are thought to be the wives of Djer and include:
Herneith, possibly a wife of Djer. Buried in Saqqara.[17]
Seshemetka, buried in
Abydos next to the king.[18] She was said to be a wife of Den in Dodson and Hilton.[17]
Penebui, her name and title were found on an ivory label from Saqqara.[16]
bsu, known from a label in Saqqara and several stone vessels (reading of name uncertain; name consists of three fish hieroglyphs).[16]
Tomb
Similarly to his father Hor-Aha, Djer was buried in
Umm el-Qa'ab at
Abydos. Djer's tomb is tomb O of Petrie. His tomb contains the remains of 318 retainers who were buried with him.[19] At some point, Djer's tomb was devastated by fire, possibly as early as the
Second Dynasty.[20] During the
Middle Kingdom, the tomb of Djer was revered as the tomb of
Osiris,[20] and the entire First Dynasty burial complex, which includes the tomb of Djer, was very important in the Egyptian religious tradition. An image of Osiris on a funerary
bier was placed in the tomb, possibly by the
Thirteenth dynasty pharaoh
Djedkheperu.[20]
Several objects were found in and around the tomb of Djer:[21]
Labels mentioning the name of a palace and the name of
Meritneith.
Fragments of two vases inscribed with the name of Queen
Neithhotep.
Bracelets of a Queen were found in the wall of the tomb.
In the subsidiary tombs, excavators found objects including stelae representing several individuals, ivory objects inscribed with the name of
Neithhotep, and various ivory tablets.[21]
Manetho indicates that the First Dynasty ruled from
Memphis – and indeed
Herneith, one of Djer's wives, was buried nearby at
Saqqara.
Gallery
Small ivory label of Djer mentioning the name of a fortress or domain of the king "Hor-Djer-ib".
Seal impression with the
serekh of Djer found in Abydos, on display at the
British Museum
Ceremonial flint knife with the Horus name of Djer inscribed on its gold handle, on display at the
Royal Ontario Museum.
Close-up view of Djer's serekh on the ceremonial flint knife of the
Royal Ontario Museum.
^
abcW. Grajetzki: Ancient Egyptian Queens: a hieroglyphic dictionary
^
abcDodson and Hilton: The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, 2004
^W. M. Flinders Petrie: The Royal Tombs of the Earliest Dynasties, 1901, Part II, London 1901, pl. XXVII, 96
^Thomas Kühn: Die Königsgräber der 1. & 2. Dynastie in Abydos. In: Kemet. Issue 1, 2008.
^
abcBaker, Darrell D. (2008). Encyclopedia of the Pharaohs Volume 1: Predynastic to the Twentieth DYnasty 3300-1069 BC. Egypt: The American University in Cairo Press. p. 93.
^
abB. Porter and R.L.B. Moss. Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs, and Paintings, V. Upper Egypt: Sites. Oxford, 1937
Bibliography
Toby A. H. Wilkinson, Early Dynastic Egypt, Routledge, London/New York 1999,
ISBN0-415-18633-1, 71-73
Toby Wilkinson, Royal Annals of Ancient Egypt: The Palermo Stone and Its Associated Fragments, (Kegan Paul International), 2000.