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Ancient Egyptian ruler

Seth Peribsen (also known as Ash Peribsen, Peribsen and Perabsen) is the serekh name of an early Egyptian monarch (pharaoh), who ruled during the Second Dynasty of Egypt (c. 2890 – c. 2686 BC). Peribsen's name is unusual, in that Set, not Horus, was his patron deity. This goes against the Egyptian tradition of a king choosing the falcon shaped deity Horus as his royal patron. Peribsen's tomb was discovered in 1898 at Abydos. It was well preserved and showed traces of restoration undertaken during later dynastic periods.

The serekh for Peribsen was found pressed in earthen jar seals made of clay and mud and in inscriptions on alabaster, sandstone, porphyry and black schist vessels. These seals and vessels were excavated from Peribsen's tomb and at an excavation site in Elephantine. One clay seal with Peribsen's name was found inside the mastaba tomb K1 at Beit Khallaf. Two large tomb stelae made of granite were found at his burial site. Their shape is unusual and they appear unfinished and rough. Egyptologists suspect that this was done deliberately, but the reasons are unknown. A cylinder seal of unknown provenance shows Peribsen's name inside a cartouche and gives the epithet Merj netjeru ("beloved of the gods"). This arrangement leads Egyptologists and archaeologists to the conclusion that the seal must have been created later, in memoriam, because the use of royal cartouches began long after Peribsen's reign. Another seal of the same material shows Peribsen's name without a cartouche, but with the royal title Nisut Bity ("king of Upper and Lower Egypt") instead.

Existing skeptical views about Peribsen's existence are based on New Kingdom Ramesside king lists, such as the Abydos King List, the Saqqara King List and the Royal Canon of Turin, which all omit Peribsen's name. These, however, are known to have been created nearly 1,500 years after his death and several Fourth Dynasty tombs of priests performing the funerary cult for Peribsen have been uncovered. These tombs report Peribsen's name correctly and their existence demonstrates that Peribsen was seen as a legitimate pharaoh, not subject to damnatio memoriae as Akhenaten later would be. Historians and Egyptologists therefore consider the possibility that Peribsen's name was actually forgotten over time or that his name was preserved in a distorted, misspelled form.

Peribsen's royal name is a subject of curiosity for Egyptologists because it is connected to the deity Seth rather than Horus, as was traditional for the name of a pharaoh. Traditionally, the Horus name of the king was written within a serekh: the image of the facade of the royal palace beneath a falcon representing the god Horus (see Egyptian hieroglyphs). Instead, Peribsen chose to have the Set animal, representing Seth, on his serekh. Although Peribsen is the only known pharaoh to have the Set animal preside alone over his serekh, he is not the only king to associate himself with Seth. Examples include the 13th Dynasty pharaoh Seth Meribre, the 19th Dynasty rulers Seti I and Seti II and the 20th Dynasty king Setnakhte. The debate continues over why Peribsen chose this name. Earlier theories favoured the idea that Egypt was split into two realms during Peribsen's time or that he was a heretic who sought to start a new monotheistic religion with Seth as the only worshipped god. Peribsen's choice of patron, and his rule during the shadowy period of the mid Second Dynasty, have led Egyptologists and historians to search for possible explanations for both his name and the troubled times he lived in. The following sections discuss some of the theories that they have put forth.

The earlier theories of Newberry, Černý and Grdseloff Francesco Tiradritti and Wolfgang Helck point to the once palatial and well preserved mastaba tombs at Saqqara and Abydos belonging to high officials such as and Nefer Setekh. These are all dated from the reign of Nynetjer to that of Khasekhemwy, the last ruler of the Second Dynasty. Egyptologists consider the archaeological record of the mastabas' condition and the original architecture as proof that the statewide mortuary cults for kings and noblemen operated successfully during the entire dynasty. If true, their preservation is inconsistent with the theory of civil wars and economic problems during Peribsen's reign. Rice, Tiradritti and Helck think that Nynetjer decided to leave a divided realm because of private or political reasons and that the split was a formality sustained by Second Dynasty kings. Peribsen is thought to have gained the Thinite throne and ruled only Upper Egypt, whilst other rulers held the Memphite throne and ruled Lower Egypt. This theory is debatable; , Wolfgang Helck, Peter Kaplony and Jochem Kahl argue that the clay seals were only found at the entrance area of Peribsen's tomb and none of them depict Peribsen and Sekhemib's names together in one inscription. Furthermore, they remark that it was customary for a pharaoh to bury his predecessor and seal his tomb; the presence of Sekhemib's seals shows the line of dynastic inheritance. Similar inferences can be drawn from the ivory tablets of king Hotepsekhemwy found at the entrance of king Qa'a's tomb and the clay seals of Djoser found at the entrance of Khasekhemwy's tomb. Schlögl, Helck, Kaplony and Kahl are convinced that the discovery of Sekhemib's seals support the view that Sekhemib immediately succeeded Peribsen and buried him. Scholars Toby Wilkinson and Helck believe that Peribsen and Sekhemib could have been related. Their theory is based on the stone vessel inscriptions and seal impressions that show strong similarities in their typography and grammar. The vessels of Peribsen show the notation "ini setjet" ("tribute of the people of Sethroë"), whilst Sekhemib's inscriptions have the notation "ini khasut" ("tribute of the desert nomads"). A further indication that Peribsen and Sekhemib were related is their serekh names; they both used the syllables "Per" and "ib" in their names. The false door inscription of Shery might indicate that Peribsen is identical with king Senedj ("Senedj" means "the frightening") and that this name was used in the king lists by proxy, as the Seth name was forbidden to mention. In contrast, Dietrich Wildung and Wolfgang Helck identify Peribsen with the Ramesside cartouche name Wadjenes. They think it is possible that the name Per ib sen was misread from a sloppy hieratic inscription of Wadj sen.

As some archaeological records support the view that the Egyptian state was divided during Peribsen's reign, there is continued debate as to why his predecessors decided to divide the realm, and whether Peribsen ruled part or all of Egypt.

Scholars such as Herman TeVelde, and Toby Wilkinson The administrative titles of scribes, seal bearers and overseers were adjusted to correspond to the divided bureaucratic state administration. For example, titles like "sealer of the king" were changed into "sealer of the king of Upper Egypt". This bureaucratic reform may indicate an attempt by Peribsen to limit the power of these officials, further evidence for a bloated and unwieldy state administration under Nynetjer. Inscriptions on stone vessels also mention an "ini setjet" ("tribute of the people of Sethroë"), which might indicate that Peribsen founded a cult centre for the deity Seth in the Nile Delta. This may suggest Peribsen ruled over the whole of Egypt, or, at least, that he was accepted as king across all of Egypt. One official from Peribsen's reign, Nefer Setekh ("Seth is beautiful"), the "wab priest of the king", is known to Egyptologists by his stela. His name may highlight the appearance and popularity of Seth as a royal deity. In Peribsen's tomb at Abydos, clay seals were found that demonstrate the first complete written sentence in recorded Egyptian history. The inscription reads:
"The golden one/He of Ombos hath unified/handed over the two realms for/to his son, the king of Lower and Upper Egypt, Peribsen". The title "The golden one", also read as "He of Ombos", is considered by Egyptologists to be a religious form of address to the deity Seth.

Despite his alignment with Seth, numerous deities were worshipped by the populace under Peribsen. Numerous clay seal impressions and jar inscriptions mention the gods Ash, Horus, Nekhbet, Min, Bastet and Kherty. The depictions of the deities are followed by the name of the place or town where they had their principal cult center. On the Cairo stone, a statue of Ash and a fetish of Seth are credited to Peribsen, complementing the clay seal impressions. Curiously, several seal impressions show a sun disc over the Seth chimera atop the royal serekh: the ancient symbol for the god Ra. There is no archaeologic proof that the sun god Ra was part of the Egyptian pantheon at this early date; the appearance of the disc may be the first evidence of the evolving sun cult and theistic change. The sun disc appears in connection to one of the state patrons (for example, under Peribsen's predecessor Raneb the sun was connected to Horus); under Peribsen it was connected to Seth. Under king Khasekhemwy the sun finally received its own name (ra) and, at the time of throne change between Khasekhemwy and his follower Djoser, several priests and officials also connected their name to Ra.

Peribsen was buried in the tomb P of the royal cemetery at Umm el Qa'ab near Abydos. The first excavation of the tomb started in 1898 under the supervision of French archaeologist and Egyptologist Émile Amélineau. This first foray was followed by excavations in 1901 and 1902 under the supervision of British archaeologist Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie. The tomb's construction is straightforward and, compared to the size of other royal tombs in the same area, surprisingly small. The design model was the tomb of king Djer (third pharaoh of the First dynasty), thought to be the 'Tomb of Osiris' from the Middle Kingdom. The architecture of Peribsen's tomb is similar to the residential palace. The tomb measures x and comprises three independent structures nested into one another: in the center is the main burial chamber, measuring x , and which is made of mud bricks, reeds, and wood. On the north, east and west sides the burial chamber is surrounded by nine small storage rooms leading into one another; on the south face is a long antechamber. A passageway runs between the inner structures and the outer wall.

The tomb had been extensively plundered by tomb robbers during antiquity, yet numerous stone vessels and earthen jars remained. Some of the stone vessels had copper coated rims and are similar to the better known finds from tomb of Khasekhemwy. Vessels from preceding rulers such as Nynetjer and Raneb were also found. Beads and bracelets made of fayence and carnelian and tools made of copper were excavated. Special findings include a silver needle engraved with the name of king Hor Aha and clay seal fragments with the name of king Sekhemib. The two stone stelae from the entrance, common to burial chambers of the First and Second dynasties, are now on display in two different museums. The tradition of burying the family and court of the king when he died was abandoned at the time of Qa'a, one of the last rulers of the First dynasty.