Ancient Egyptian civilisation—as defined by the use of monumental hieroglyphics and the institution of divine kingship—endured over a period of some three millenniums. With such a long stretch of time to study, Egyptologists have found it necessary to divide Egyptian history into broader periods. These tend to follow the known pattern of internal political developments, corresponding to eras of unified government and the intervening periods of political fragmentation. The time-span that concerns us here is the first such period, standing at the beginning of the Egyptian historical sequence. The formative phase of Egyptian civilisation is sometimes referred to as the ‘Archaic’ period (Emery 1961). However, the term ‘archaic’ implies a value-judgement based upon hindsight. Moreover, it seems an unfair label to apply to the dynamic and sophisticated early culture of the Nile valley, and its use is waning amongst Egyptologists who study the period (for example, Spencer 1993). Hence, the more neutral and descriptive term, ‘Early Dynastic’, is preferred here.
For convenience, Egyptologists have adopted the finer division of Egyptian history into dynasties drawn up by the third-century BC historian, Manetho. Although based upon the ancient sources available to Manetho at the time, in most cases the dynasties are not divisions which would have been recognised by the ancient Egyptians themselves. The composition and demarcation of Manetho’s dynasties have been continually modified as scholarly understanding of Egyptian history has improved.
The pyramids of the Memphite necropolis have struck Egyptologists, both ancient and modern, as the most characteristic, and awesome, ancient Egyptian monuments. The construction of the first pyramid, under King Netjerikhet/Djoser of the Third Dynasty, has therefore been regarded as a major turning point in Egyptian history. For this reason, the Third Dynasty is often assigned to the Pyramid Age, more usually termed the Old Kingdom (for example, Trigger et al. 1983; Malek 1986:124; Kemp 1989:14). This view of the past—whereby the pyramids were seen as the beginning of the first major flowering of Egyptian civilisation—relegated Manetho’s first two dynasties to a dimly known and poorly studied position at the beginning of the dynastic age. Dramatic advances in our understanding of early Egypt have taken place in the last half-century. No longer is the formative phase of Egyptian civilisation a half-understood ‘dark age’. Important though they are, the royal mortuary complexes (including the pyramids) no longer constitute the sole landmark or index of achievement from third millennium BC Egypt. Our appreciation of Egyptian culture in a broader sense continues to deepen and, as it does so, the similarities between the Third Dynasty and the preceding period become increasingly apparent. Despite the innovation of pyramid-building, Egyptian civilisation of the Third Dynasty shares more in common with the First and Second Dynasties than with the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth, the age of true pyramids. For this reason, a number of recent studies have placed the Third Dynasty in the Early Dynastic period, beginning the Old Kingdom with the Fourth Dynasty (for example, Quirke and Spencer 1992:33 and 36; cf. Shaw and Nicholson 1995:89). Although a scholarly convenience with little ancient relevance, this view seems to accord much better with the evidence for early Egyptian civilisation, and is adopted here.
Although, for our purposes, the end of the Early Dynastic period is fixed at the accession of King Sneferu—the first king of the Fourth Dynasty—the precise beginning of the period is, and is likely to remain, impossible to define. As we have seen, we now know of several kings who lived and reigned before the beginning of Manetho’s First Dynasty. A new chronological term had to be found to describe these rulers, and logic dictated ‘Dynasty 0’. Although this is a rather unsatisfactory term on many accounts, it has been widely adopted. It is fairly certain that at least some of the rulers assigned to ‘Dynasty 0’ exercised only regional power. Although a few of the kings at the end of the sequence—and therefore on the threshold of the First Dynasty—may have ruled over much or all of Egypt, it is as yet impossible to pin-point the exact moment at which the country was first unified politically under a single king. For this historical outline, the beginning of the First Dynasty, and more specifically the reign of Narmer, will be taken as a starting-point.
World History
