Commemorating an expedition to the turquoise mines Rock inscription of Hor Sanakht /From Wadi Maghara, Sinai / 3rd Dynasty / BM (EA 691) The rectangle with a hawk on top is a serekh, a container for the kings Horus name. To the right is the earliest example of the Egyptian word for turquoise. Later expedition inscriptions might include a list of the members of the expedition and a description of their activities, but this is not the case in this early example. From the Early Dynastic Period onwards, the Egyptians were active outside their traditional borders. Sinai to the east was valued because of its mineral resources, primarily turquoise and copper. The mines at Wadi Maghara were a source of turquoise at least until the New Kingdom. Quarrying expeditions sent by the state often left an official record inscribed on the nearby rocks. This example is one of the earliest of these royal inscriptions (that is, in the kings name, not his presence). It shows Sanakht, the first king of the Third Dynasty, smiting a figure (now destroyed) of an enemy chief. Relatively little is known about Sanakht, the predecessor of the more famous Netjerychet (Djoser). He seems to have been buried in a large mud-brick tomb at Beit Khallaf, north of Abydos in Upper Egypt.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 12:03:20 +0000
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