This masterpiece of relief carving in stone captures the regal aspect of the falcon. It also offers some insight into what the gateway of a palace might have looked like.
Djet was the fourth king of the First Dynasty. His name was written with the hieroglyph of a rearing cobra—pronounced “djet” or “wadjet.” I have been told by those who know that there are few sites more frightful than a rearing cobra, the largest of which can rise to the eye level of a grown man. Thus “Djet” falls into the familiar pattern of early Egyptian kings with names of stinging and biting creatures.
This naming convention is unique to the late Predynastic period and the beginning of the First Dynasty but continues in other forms, such as the uraeus, or rearing cobra, mounted to the crown of pharaohs in later periods.
The tombs of the First Dynasty were not grand by later Egyptian standards. Their underground burial chambers were roofed over with timber and covered by sand, just like Tomb 16 and Tomb 1000 at Hierakonpolis or Tomb U-j in Cemetery U nearby. The mound of sand heaped over the tomb was probably meant to imitate the primaeval mound of creation upon which, according to the earliest Egyptian cosmogonies, life arose of its own accord. By building his tomb inside a mound sand, the king sought to participate in the cosmic magic associated with this symbol of generation.1Wilkinson 1999, 220-221 The only other visible marker above ground was a pair of stele erected next to the tomb that functioned like tombstones. Stelae were also placed next to subsidiary burials, although these were not nearly so finely cut.
These rustic tomb stones were placed above the subsidiary tombs which belonged to the king’s retainers.
The Palace
As you may recall, it was customary for the name of the king to be written inside a serekh—the Egyptian hieroglyph for “palace.” The close association enjoyed by the king with his palace continued into the New Kingdom period when rulers assumed the title pharaoh, which literally means “great house.”
The Horus falcon was customarily shown perched atop the serekh. The anatomical details captured by the sculptor of the falcon on the Stele of Djet makes the stele the finest recovered so far from the cemetery. It also affords a glimpse of how the facade of an Egyptian palace might have looked during this period. The facade is quite tall, with two gates flanked by three towers. The entire structure was constructed with vertical buttresses and niches.
Given the importance of the palace in ancient Egypt, you’d expect for archaeologists to have found many examples in ancient Egypt. However, since Egyptian palaces were made of unbaked mudbrick, very few examples of this type of architecture have been preserved. This makes the monumental gateway discovered at Hierakonpolis all the more exceptional. Although only the footprint is preserved, vertical buttresses and niches were clearly incorporated into its design. The width of the opening is also remarkably narrow for such a monumental structure. This also matches what is depicted on the Stele of Djet.
The gateway at Hierakonpolis probably dates to the Early Dynastic period and is therefore roughly contemporary with the Stele of Djet.
The kings name was written inside a ‘serekh’ — the Egyptian hieroglyph for ‘palace’.
A monumental gate constructed with a niched facade like the one displayed on the Stele of Djet. The gate led to a courtyard with a raised platform that probably supported a throne.
Left: A closer view of the niched facade of the gateway at Hierakonpolis. Right: The niched facade of the White Temple in Uruk.
Left: Adapted from Kemp, Ancient Egypt : Anatomy of a Civilization, Fig. 2.9. Link , Right: Adapted from Eichmann, Uruk Architektur I, Von den Anfangen bis zur fruhdynastischen Zeit.Although the niched gate excavated at Hierakonpolis may no longer be seen today, the Shunet el-Zebib at Abydos (Dynasty II) preserves a good example of a niched facade from a slightly later period. Its niched walls were covered with white plaster in a fashion reminiscent of the White Temple of Uruk. Not only did the niched facade fulfill a structural need, it added a decorative element to an otherwise flat brick wall. The style seems to have been introduced from Mesopotamia where it has a long history (cf. The White Temple). The niched facade will remain an important feature of Egyptian architecture during the Old Kingdom period.
The niched walls of this enclosure were covered with white plaster which is still visible along the base of the wall.
Frankfort, H.
The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient.
Harmondsworth, Middlesex : Penguin Books, 1954.
Kemp, B. J.
Ancient Egypt : Anatomy of a Civilization.
New York: Routledge, 2006. Link
Kemp, Barry. “Photographs of the Decorated Tomb at Hierakonpolis.” The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 59 (1973): 36–43. Link
Wilkinson, Toby.
Early Dynastic Egypt.
London and New York: Routledge, 1999.