Thinis/This

The main problem with Thinis is that the location of a Predynastic and Early dynastic main settlement for the Abydos area has not yet been found by archaeologists and so some confusion exists.

Manetho mentions a 'Thinite period' during which the early rules of Dynastic Egypt were supposedly seated at the city of Thinis, which then would hold the important position of capital city of the unified kingdom.

A fragment of an inscribed statue mentioning Thinis is said to have been found nearby el-Birba a little bit west of the modern town of Girga on the western bank of the Nile, which is the place where Thinis is thought to have been located. The main deity of Thinis is said to be Anhur.

There is also the cemetary of Naga ed-Deir, located opposite of Thinis, which seems to have functioned as the main burial ground for this period. Here was found a pitgrave with a curled up body, preserved naturally by the dryness of the sand. The grave goods, placed around the body, included clay jars for food and drink and a slate palette for cosmetics, all to be used in the Afterlife.

Apart from this, there are no hard evidence that Thinis existed. If it did, it probably existed at least from the Naqada I period, being at its height of power as capita during the late predynastic period with Naqada and Hierakonpolis (Nekhen) being the other two. But already in the 1st Dynasty, MenNefer (Memphis) was founded and the center of power soon shifted here, leaving Thinis to the role of a regional city.

Nekhen/Hierakonpolis

Situated 80 km south of Luxor in Upper Egypt, ancient Nekhen ('City of the Hawk' - Greek Hierakonpolis and modern Kom e-Ahmar), is one of the largest Predynastic sites in ancient Egypt encountered sofar. It flourished around 3500 bc and must have been a city already at that period. Among the remains are houses, temples, administrative buildings and artisans´ areas.

Nekhen displays some finds of great importance for the understanding of early Egypt; the Narmer palette and macehead was found here along with the so called 'Scorpion' macehead. The site was first excavated by James Quibell and F.W. Green in a less than adequate way and doucmentation is poor. The most finds were made at the so called 'Main Deposit', a stratum located between two walls near an Old Kingdom temple but exact location is unknown due to lack of accurate plans. The finds were mostly Predynastic ceremonial objects, among them the Narmer palette and the 'Scorpion' macehead.

Another significant find which has been lost to present day researchers is Tomb 100 from the Predynastic cemetery. This was the first Egyptian tomb to be decorated with wallpaintings but the location of it is now unknown.

Later excavations in the 1970´s and 1980´s revealed Predynastic sites in the desert outside of the town and the sofar only known Predynastic shrine.

Nekhen is by its name associated with the falcon deity Horus. There might have been an earlier falcon deity, Nekheny, which became assimilated by Horus already in the early dynastic period. Of this we are not sure but the earliest signs of Horus (Her or Har in Egyptian) come from hieroglyphs and serekhs from the Predynastic period. From Nekhen comes also the well known golden Horus head crowned with two plumes which comes from a statue in the Old Kingdom temple.

Worth mentioning in this context is the city of Nekheb, on the opposite bank of the Nile, where the vulture goddess Nekhbet was much revered by the royals of Nekhen.

Hierakonpolis Online - worth a visit.

Buto - Edjo - Pe - Per Wadjet

The modern name Tell el-Farain means 'Mound of hte Pharaohs'. Situated in the northwestern Delta, some 95 km east of Alexandria, the ancient city of Buto has left traces of occupation from the Predynastic times into the Roman period. From textual material the location is identified as the semi-mythical twin capitals Pe and Dep of the Predynastic period. At the site are three mounds of which two showed town remains and the third a temple enclosure, which fits in with the idea of a twin-city.

Buto, or Pe, was the northern counterpart cult center in Lower Egypt to Nekhen (Hierakonpolis) in Upper Egypt, which was the southern one. These cult centers are believed to have acted as national shrines with a political function of unifying the two areas Upper and Lower Egypt. They are reflected in the hieroglyphs O18 and O20 from the Gardiner sign list, Per-wer for Nekhen and Upper Egypt and Per-nu for Buto and Lower Egypt. At first, the scarcity of finds from Buto led egyptologists to doubt the site had been peopled at all during the earlyiest times, and not until excavations since 1985 by the German Archaeological Institite in Cairo, have evidence been found from both the Predynastic, Early Dynastic and the early Old Kingdom period. The excavations were carried out under extremely difficult conditions far below the water table. The finds indicate that the Predynastic period here was replaced with the Naqada II/III culture of Upper Egypt, which supports the old theory that Lower Egypt at one point was subjugated by Upper Egypt, and that this might have led to the unufication of the Two Lands.

While the word Nekhen means 'city of the falcon', and several finds indicate that Horus, or an early form of Horus, was the cult deity here, the deity which was worshipped at Pe remains obscure as nothing has sofar been found of the earliest shrine. In the Book of Going Forth By Day, chapter 112, it is told that the Delta city of Pe was given to Horus as a compensation for Set injuring his eye, but as these texts are from the New Kingdom and only some spells go back to possibly the Middle Kingdom, we are not much helped. Is this tradition speaking or is it construction of a later date? On pure speculation until more evidence might surface, maybe we could play with the thought that Horus was the worshipped deity here too as well as at Nekhen, on the grounds that the King was considered the acclaimed personification of the 'Living Horus' which is indicated from his name being inscribed within the serekh surmounted with a falcon, and forthwith in the Pyramid Texts being referred to this epiteth. It was probably vital for him in order to keep the two lands of Upper and Lower Egypt together as one country under one ruler, to establish himself as the 'Living' ruler of both.

Buto has a second association as the name of Per-Wadjet indicates. This is the ancient center of the cobra goddess Wadjet, or Edjo, who functioned as a tutelary goddess to the king, together with the southern counterpart Nekhbet, the vulture goddess of Nekheb (el-Kab), situated on the opposite bank of the Nile from Nekhen. The name means 'she of Nekheb. The shrine of Wadjet, the Per-nu or Per-neser, meaning the 'house of flame', is attested from predynastic times, and at el-Kab the shrine of Nekhbet, the Per-wer, meaning 'the Great House', is attested by her possible presence at the Narmer macehead. Probably due to the close proximity of the capital city of Nekhen oppsite the Nile, her connection to the king made Nekhbet one of the tutelary goddesses together with Wadjet, and she came to symbolize the White Crown of Upper Egypt, while Wadjet at Buto symbolized the Red Crown of Lower Egypt.

How far back in time the origin of this concept reaches is uncertain but the first scriptual evidence of Nekhbet and Wadjet as tutelary mothers of the king, is to be found in the Pyramid Texts. Thus it must have held enough significance at the time to be included in these rituals, which purpose was to make safe the rebirth of the king in the Afterlife, and thus it is likely that the two goddesses go even further back in time. The symbolic importance of Buto in ancient times is more reflected in titulary and ceremony of kingship and the complementary character of the two lands Upper and Lower Egypt, as it comes down to us in texts and mythology, than in finds from the area.

The concept of the ancestor spirits, the so called 'Souls of Nekhen and Pe' originated in these early periods and lasted throughout Egyptian history. Read more about them here.