HistoryThe Early Dynastic Period and the Old Kingdom

The First Dynasties

Kings of Dynasties 1 and 2 ruled from Memphis, were buried at Abydos, and built the tools of the state: writing, taxes and royal titles.

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The joining of the Two Lands gave Egypt one king. The next three centuries, Dynasties 1 and 2 (c. 3000–2686 BC), built the machinery that kept the country together. Pyramids were still in the future; this was the age of mud brick, of seals and labels, and of the first royal titles.

Key idea

Kings of the 1st and 2nd Dynasties (c. 3000–2686 BC) ruled from Memphis, near the meeting point of the valley and the Delta, and were buried at Abydos. They built the tools of the state: writing for records, taxes counted by royal officials, and the king's titles.
The Early Dynastic Period, before the Old Kingdom.

Why it works

Memphis sits where the narrow valley opens into the Delta. From there a king could watch the river traffic between south and north and reach both halves quickly. Abydos, in the south, was the old burial ground of the rulers from whom the kings came, so they kept burying there.

The tools of the state

  • Writing and seals: jar labels and seal impressions record goods, estates and officials.
  • Year names: each year was named after a major event ("the year of smiting the north"), the beginning of records like the Palermo Stone.
  • Counting wealth: a regular royal tour, the "following of Horus", was linked to assessing the land and its herds for taxes.
  • Royal titles: the king's Horus name in a serekh; by the reign of Den, the title nsw-bjt, "King of Upper and Lower Egypt".

Tombs at Abydos and Saqqara

The kings were buried at Abydos, in brick-lined pits with many rooms, and each had a big walled enclosure nearer the town. At Saqqara, overlooking Memphis, huge mud-brick tombs called mastabas (from the Arabic word for a bench) held the great officials of the court. In the 2nd Dynasty, King Peribsen put the god Seth instead of Horus above his name, and Khasekhemwy built a vast enclosure at Abydos; his reign leads into the age of stone.

Worked example: Mud brick before stone

The first royal tombs are of mud brick and wood. The Step Pyramid, of stone, comes in the 3rd Dynasty. Which came first?
  1. Dynasties 1 and 2 are the Early Dynastic Period, c. 3000–2686 BC.
  2. The Step Pyramid belongs to Djoser of the 3rd Dynasty, the start of the Old Kingdom.
  3. So two dynasties of brick tombs came before any pyramid.

Answer: The brick tombs of Dynasties 1 and 2.

Common mistake

Thinking the pyramids came first. Two dynasties of mud-brick tombs, about three centuries of them, came before the first pyramid. A check: the Old Kingdom starts with the 3rd Dynasty; anything earlier is not a pyramid.

Practice

Pass with 3 right answers, the last 2 in a row. Each right answer earns 2 XP.

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Sources and further reading

  • Ian Shaw, ed., The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (Oxford, 2000), ch. 4
  • Wikipedia, "Early Dynastic Period (Egypt)"
  • Wikipedia, "Umm El Qaab"
  • Wikipedia, "Mastaba"
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