Hetepsekhemwy-2dy

Although the Second Dynasty is reported to have been -as the First Dynasty- of Thinite origin (by Manetho), most of its kings are better attested in the Saqqara necropolis than at Abydos. When A. Barsanti found (1901-2) the galleries under the Unas pyramid complex at Saqqara, the only known IInd Dynasty kings were those named on the Umm el Qaab seal impressions and stone vessels inscriptions (found in those years in large number by Amelineau and then by Petrie) and the two owners of tombs P and V in the same Abydos necropolis. Later, with the discoveries at Saqqara in the first half of the XXth century, the sources became more numerous in the northern cemetery thanks to the finds of North Saqqara mastabas and especially for the immense quantity of stone vessels from Netjerykhet/Djoser funerary complex (originally more than 40.000 vases, with some hundreds inscriptions; cf. Firth - Quibell, Step Pyramid, 1935, 119ff., pl. 88-91, 96-107; Lauer, Pyr. Deg. III,1939). Only the last two rulers of the dynasty still remain better known for their Upper Egyptian archaeological evidence than for the northern meagre attestations.

Hotepsekhemwy is considered the founder of the Second Dynasty; even if some of Manetho's dynastic breaks do seem groundless (cf. F. Raffaele, BASADE 1, 2003), that's not the case: Hotepsekhemwy probably buried Horus Qa'a but the possibility that at least two kings ruled between them (Seneferka and Bird, known from Djoser's complex stone vessels inscriptions and S3505 vessels and a sealing), has been advanced by some scholars (N. Swelim , P. Kaplony , W. Helck); the epigraphic contents of the inscriptions (espec. the funerary domain name, Hwt Za-Ha-Neb and the Qaw-Netjerw "Götterfestung") fits better with a collocations of these ephemeral sovereigns between the first and the second dynasty than in the second. Discovered in the Memphite necropolis, these kings appear of Lower Egyptian origin; yet they must have held the throne for a very short period, and in the case of Sneferka this could have been a queen's name (see my page). On the other hand the seal impressions of Hotepsekhemwy found on the entrance of Abydos Umm el-Qaab Q (Qa'a) and, possibly, the Sehetep-Nebty prince name (?) on some labels from the last years of Qaa's reign (cf. labels corpus nr. 9 and nr. 19) could have indicated that Hotepsekhemwy was a (young?) successor of the last legitimate king of the First Dynasty. This latter's heir Sen-Nebty [*] would die before the c. 35 years reign of Qaa came to an end, thus creating some problems to the succession of Shotep-Nebty (s-Hotep is the causative verbal form of Htp: this name Shotep-Nebty is quite similar to Hotepsekhemwy's personal name Hotep-Nebty known on many inscriptions: cf. here, below).Finally the reasons for a markedly propagandistic name as 'the two powers are in peace', would find a chronologically and geographically closer reason to be if we hypothesize any political disruption or royal family troubles at the court of Qaa, rather than in earlier reigns (i.e. Semerkhet).

The Horus Name (Hotepsekhemwy) was the royal titulary most important name in this period; it was received at the accession.
His birth name was Hotep-Nebty (or Sehotep-Nebty, cf. above). Probably Nebty was still an infix in the name, rather than a royal title [later in the OK it will be used in princesses' names, as Sekhemkhet's Djesertj-Nebty (Ankh) on a textiles-list label from Saqqara or the Elephantine late Third Dynasty ink inscribed vessels with the name of a wrt-Hts Djefat-Nebty].
Manetho states that during the 38 years reign of Boethos a chasm opened at Bubastis and many perished . Boethos (Africanus) and Bochos (Eusebius) are taken as misinterpretations of the name Bedjaw (Abydos king list , 9th name) and the same name Bedjaw is in turn likely an earlier misinterpretation of the real name Hotep (owing to hieratic sign similarities).
A 43 columns inscription from Mastaba G 1011 (Giza, writing board) was brought in the Cairo Museum by Reisner at the beginning of '900; it named Bedjaw and other later Old Kingdom kings (Wildung 'Die Rolle Agyptischer konige...' 1969 p. 39 tav. 2,3).
Baw-netjer is the name attested both on the Turin Papyrus (2.20) and on the Saqqara list (3rd name). It has never been found on monuments or on contemporary inscriptions.
Given the very probable Memphite origin of the Turin Papyrus and of the Saqqara Tjuloy tomb king-list, I think that the name Bawnetjer could perhaps refer to one of the ephemeral kings whose scarce traces have been found at Saqqara and who have been placed in a chronological frame between Qa'a and Hotepsekhemwy (cf. above); one of these rulers' name is written with a bird sign which could have been (mis-?) interpreted as Ba (yet to be distinguished from a possible Horus Ba of the Third Dynasty): this could be the individual whose birth-name has been handed down by the cited sources as Bawnetjer. [Also note that the signs in the serekhs of a seal impression from S3505 = IAF 742 and on a Saqqara stone vase (Pyr. Deg. IV, nr. 97) might both represent a bird: cf. the ruler names *Sekhet in my page of Sneferka].
If this theory was correct Kakaw could be applied to Hotepsekhemwy and no mention would be made for Nebra; but this is quite a hypothesis and it has no more probabilities to be true than the common one which links Bawneterw to Hotep-Nebty.
The Horus name "Hotepsekhemui" has an evident similitude with that of Khasekhemwy, last ruler of the same dynasty.
Although in much minor scale than with Khasekhemui, Hotepsekhemwy's name has also been regarded as part of a programmatical intent to declare the re-union of the Upper and Lower Egypt, or, more likely, aiming to definitively seal the succession after the turmoils of his father's reign conclusion.

The most famous object bearing this king's name is the statuette of a kneeling priest (Cairo C.G.1) once called Hotepdief and now more probabily identifiable as Redjit . The material is pink granite, the provenance Memphis (Mit Rahina). The base has an inscription (Helck, Thinitenzeit, 1987, 240) relating to the 'Chief of the incensers, who makes an offering, beloved by Ntr-Akhty, Redjit'; the god Netjer Akhety is a phoenix atop a stand or perch; this could also have relationship with the city of Buto; fragments of stone vessels have the names of Hotepsekhemwy and Nebra associated with Bastet the goddess of Per Bast (Bubastis) or 'She of the ointment jar' (Wilkinson E.D.E. p. 282); the bird on the top of a conical object appears also on the same statuette' s shoulder before the Horus names of the first three kings of the second dynasty. (Redjit inscriptions) (Wildung suggests to interpret the bird hieroglyph in question as the god Dbawty). Redjit was therefore a funerary priest of these three kings' cult in the Memphite necropolis during the mid or late 2nd dynasty (see also H.G. Fischer, in: Artibus Asiae 24, 1961, 46, fig.1; D. Wildung, Die Rolle..., 1969, 36-40). This latter author, and more recently M. Eaton-Krauss and H. Sourouzian (both in: Grimal ed., Les Criters de datation stilistiques... 1998) date the statuette to the late Third Dynasty for the unusual location of the inscription on the shoulder and especially on the base of the circular headdress which in similarto that of the statue of Metjen.

A bone cylinder perhaps from Helwan is at the Brooklyn Museum (Needler 1984, p.379) and might be part of a furniture. It displays the serekh of Hotepsekhemwy in simplified but sharp drawing.
The king in question is known at Abydos by 4 stone bowls fragmentary inscriptions found by Petrie in the Umm el Qaab tomb P (Peribsen) and one found in the tomb V (Khasekhemwy) at the same site. (Tomb P : Petrie R.T. II tav. 8,8 - 8,11; tomb V : Kahl, Das System, 1994, Quelle 2047; Amelineau, N.F. II, 1902, pl. 21,6). Two of these inscriptions refer to the possible Ka-House (Hwt Ka) of Hotepsekhemwy; the piece in tav. 8,11 names the god Akhty which has lead Helck (cit. above) to read Ntjer-Akhty the two bird figures on the Cairo C.G.1 statuette of Redjit. More than twenty inscribed fragments of stone vessels from the Step pyramid complex are dated to Hotepsekhemwy (Lacau-Lauer, PD IV.1, 1959, pl. 10-12, 15, 17, nr.79-83; PD IV.2, 1961, 29-32, 39-40; Kahl, op. cit., 310-11).
Other inscriptions on Stone vessels from private collections are in Kaplony Z.A.S.88,1962, fig. 5, 8, 9 and id.,1965, fig. 48, 49. They mention this king's Memphite and Butish palaces, the Bastet foundation, the Upper and Lower Egypt crowning-temple, the Hwt-Ka of Hotepsekhemwy and the Hwt-Ka of Netjer Akhety, the Hwt 'Za-ha-ka' and 'iz mehyt'. (cfr. also Helck, in: ZAS 106, 1979, 122; id., Thinitenzeit, 117, 124, 194-5,204,217). (Stone Vessels inscript. fig.2)
Two inscribed stone bowls of Hotepsekhemwy were found by Reisner in Menkaura' s pyramid complex at Giza .
An alabaster vessel fragment also bearing his serekh has been found by Brunton in the grave 3112 of Badari.
Lastly few other unprovenanced pieces (among which a black granite cup) have this king's name on them (Kahl cit. p. 312).Some of the inscriptions on stone vessels were engraved on older ones. The sherd BM 35556 (cf. Spencer, Catalogue, 1980, 42, nr. 275 = Petrie RT II, pl. 8.12; good photo in: Donadoni Roveri - Tiradritti eds., Kemet. Alle Sorgenti del Tempo, 1998, 251; see also Kahl, 2007) might have been reused for two kings (not including Nebra, whose name appears in the Hwt-Ka rectangle on the right) and in my opinion Nswtbity Htp(-Nebty) was the first name engraved on it (the htp sign can be detected underneath the nTr hieroglyph of Njnetjer's name). J. Kahl (in: »Ra is my Lord«. Searching for the Rise of the Sun God at the Dawn of Egyptian History, Wiesbaden, 2007, 12) proposes instead that Ninetjer erased Wneg's name, therefore the latter one was Nebra's Nswtbity Nebty name. He doesn't see any other late 1st Dyn. or Early 2nd Dyn. Horus name on that vessel shard.