The 2nd and 3rd dynasty in ancient Egypt

The 2nd and 3rd dynasties in ancient Egypt 

From the end of the 1st dynasty, there is evidence of rival claimants to the throne. One line may have become the 2nd dynasty, whose first king’s Horus name, Hetepsekhemwy, means “peaceful in respect of the two powers” and may allude to the conclusion of strife between two factions or parts of the country, to the antagonistic gods Horus and Seth, or to both. Hetepsekhemwy and his successor, Reneb, moved their burial places to Ṣaqqārah; the tomb of the third king, Nynetjer, has not been found. The second half of the dynasty was a time of conflict and rival lines of kings, some of whose names are preserved on stone vases from the 3rd Dynasty Step Pyramid at Ṣaqqārah or inking lists. Among these contenders, Peribsen took the title of Seth instead of Horus and was probably opposed by Horus Khasekhem, whose name is known only from Kawm al-Aḥmar and who used the programmatic epithet “effective sandal against evil.” The last ruler of the dynasty combined the Horus and Seth titles to form the Horus-and-Seth Khasekhemwy, “arising in respect of the two powers,” to which was added, “the two lords are at peace in him.” Khasekhemwy was probably the same person as Khasekhem after the successful defeat of his rivals, principally Peribsen. Both Peribsen and Khasekhemwy had tombs at Abydos, and the latter also built a monumental brick funerary enclosure near the cultivation.

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There were kinship links between Khasekhemwy and the 3rd dynasty, but the change between them is marked by a definitive shift of the royal burial place to Memphis. Its first king, Sanakhte, is attested in relief from Maghāra in Sinai. His successor, Djoser (Horu's name Netjerykhet), was one of the outstanding kings of Egypt. His Step Pyramid at Ṣaqqārah is both the culmination of an epoch and—as the first large all-stone building, many times larger than anything attempted before—the precursor of later achievements. The pyramid is set in a much larger enclosure than that of Khasekhemwy at Abydos and contains reproductions in stone of ritual structures that had previously been built of perishable materials. Architectural details of columns, cornices, and moldings provided many models for later development. The masonry techniques look to brickwork for models and show little concern for the structural potential of the stone. The pyramid evolved through numerous stages from a flat mastaba (an oblong tomb with a burial chamber dug beneath it, common at earlier nonroyal sites) into a six-stepped, almost square pyramid. There was a second, symbolic tomb with a flat superstructure on the south side of the enclosure; this probably substituted for the traditional royal burial place of Abydos. The king and some of his family were buried deep under the pyramid, where tens of thousands of stone vases were deposited, a number bearing inscriptions of the first two dynasties. Thus, in perpetuating earlier forms in stone and burying this material, Djoser invoked the past in support of his innovations.

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Djoser’s name was famous in later times, and his monument was studied in the Late period. Imhotep, whose title as a master sculptor is preserved in the Step Pyramid complex, may have been its architect; he lived on into the next reign. His fame also endured, and in the Late period, he was deified and became a god of healing. In Manetho’s history, he is associated with reforms of writing, and this may reflect a genuine tradition, for hieroglyphs were simplified and standardized at that time.

Djoser’s successor, Sekhemkhet, planned a still more grandiose step pyramid complex at Ṣaqqārah, and a later king, Khaba, began one at Zawyat al-ʿAryan, a few miles south of Giza. The burial place of the dynasty's last king, Huni, is unknown. It has often been suggested that he built the pyramid of Maydūm, but this probably was the work of his successor, Snefru. Inscribed material naming 3rd-dynasty kings is known from Maghāra to Elephantine but not from the Middle East or Nubia.

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The organizational achievements of the 3rd dynasty are reflected in its principal monument, whose message of centralization and concentration of power is reinforced in a negative sense by the archaeological record. Outside the vicinity of Memphis, the Abydos area continued to be important, and four enormous tombs, probably of high officials, were built at the nearby site of Bayt Khallaf; there were small, nonmortuary steps pyramids throughout the country, some of which may date to the 4th dynasty. Otherwise, little evidence comes from the provinces, from which wealth must have flowed to the center, leaving no rich local elite. By the 3rd dynasty the rigid structure of the later nomes, or provinces, which formed the basis of Old Kingdom administration, had been created, and the imposition of its uniform pattern may have impoverished local centers. Tombs of the elite at Ṣaqqārah, notably those of Hezyre and Khabausokar, contained artistic masterpieces that look forward to the Old Kingdom.