Second dynasty of Egypt

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Second dynasty of Egypt

The Second Dynasty of ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an Ancient history civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile in what is now the modern nation of Egypt....
is often combined with the First dynasty

First dynasty of Egypt

The first dynasty of Ancient Egypt is often combined with the Second dynasty of Egypt under the group title, Early Dynastic Period of Egypt. At that time the capital was Thinis....
under the group title, Early Dynastic Period of Egypt

Early Dynastic Period of Egypt

The Archaic or Early Dynastic Period of Egypt immediately follows the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt c. 3150 BC. It is generally taken to include the First dynasty of Egypt and Second dynasty of Egypt Dynasties, lasting from the Protodynastic Period of Egypt until 2686 BC, or the beginning of the Old Kingdom....
. The capital at that time was Thinis

Thinis

Thinis is the mythological city from where Egypt, according to Manetho's chronological list, were united by the Thinnite Confederacy. It is said to have happened during the reign of the Pharaoh Menes....
.

names of the actual rulers of the Second Dynasty are in dispute. For the first five kings, the sources are fairly close in agreement. Known rulers, in the History of Egypt

History of Egypt

The history of Egypt is the longest continuous history, as a unified state, of any country in the world. The Nile valley forms a natural geographic and economic unit, bounded to the east and west by deserts, to the north by the sea and to the south by the Cataracts of the Nile....
, for the Second Dynasty are as follows:

However, the identity of the next two or three rulers is unclear: we may have both the Horus

Horus

Horus is a god of the Ancient Egyptian religion, most commonly known by the Greek language version Horus, of the Egyptian language Heru/Har....
-name or Nebty (meaning two ladies) -name and their birth names for these rulers; they may be entirely different individuals; or they may be legendary names.

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The Second Dynasty of ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

First dynasty of Egypt

Early Dynastic Period of Egypt

Thinis

Rulers

The names of the actual rulers of the Second Dynasty are in dispute. For the first five kings, the sources are fairly close in agreement. Known rulers, in the History of Egypt

History of Egypt

Name	Years Reigned
Hotepsekhemwy Hotepsekhemwy Hotepsekhemwy, , was the first king of the Second dynasty of Egypt. His name means "Pleasing in Powers." Little is known about his reign.It is possible that Pharaoh Hotepsekhemwy reached office through marriage with a princess....	38
Raneb Raneb Raneb was a pharaoh during the Second dynasty of Egypt. The Egyptian priest Manetho, calls him Kaiechos and states that he ruled Egypt for 39 years but such a high figure is not confirmed from the few contemporary objects known from his reign.... (now identified with Weneg)	39
Nynetjer Nynetjer Nynetjer or Ninetjer was the third king of the Second dynasty of Egypt. His name translates as "Godlike" in English. Ninetjer is mentioned on the Palermo Stone and is known from mud sealings found in an underground gallery at Saqqara which may have also been his tomb....	40
Senedj Senedj Senedj was a pharaoh of the Second dynasty of Egypt who ruled for 20 years. He resided at Memphis . A chapel to one of his successors, Peribsen, was erected in Senedj's funerary temple ...	20

However, the identity of the next two or three rulers is unclear: we may have both the Horus

Horus

Manetho

Manetho was an Egyptian historian and priest from Sebennytos who lived during the Ptolemaic dynasty, ca. 3rd century BC. Manetho wrote the Aegyptiaca ....
's Aegyptica:

Proposed Ruler	Manetho's List
Seth-Peribsen Seth-Peribsen Seth-Peribsen was a pharaoh during the Second dynasty of Egypt who ruled for seventeen years. He is considered to be the predecessor of Khasekhemwy and was buried in Umm el-Qa'ab in Abydos, Egypt, where a seal impression contains the first full sentence written in hieroglyphs....	Kaires
	Nepherkheres
Sekhemib-Perenmaat Sekhemib-Perenmaat Sekhemib-Perenmaat, a poorly attested pharaoh of the Second dynasty of Egypt, may have been the same individual also known as Seth-Peribsen, or, more likely, was a separate king who ruled Lower Egypt at the same time that Peribsen ruled Upper Egypt....	Sesokhris

With the last ruler, we return to an agreement:

Name	Years Reigned
Khasekhemwy Khasekhemwy Khasekhemwy was the fifth and final Pharaoh of the Second dynasty of Egypt. Little is known of Khasekhemwy, other than that he led several significant military campaigns and built several monuments, still extant, mentioning war against the Northerners....	17–18

Although Manetho

Manetho

Manetho was an Egyptian historian and priest from Sebennytos who lived during the Ptolemaic dynasty, ca. 3rd century BC. Manetho wrote the Aegyptiaca ....
states the capital was at Thinis

Thinis

First dynasty of Egypt

The first dynasty of Ancient Egypt is often combined with the Second dynasty of Egypt under the group title, Early Dynastic Period of Egypt. At that time the capital was Thinis....
, at least the first three kings were buried at Saqqara

Saqqara

Saqqara or Sakkara, Saqqarah is a vast, ancient burial ground in Egypt, serving as the necropolis for the Ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis, Egypt....
, suggesting the center of power had moved to Memphis

Memphis, Egypt

Memphis was the ancient capital of the first Nome of Lower Egypt, and of the Old Kingdom of Egypt from its foundation until around 2200 BC and later for shorter periods during the New Kingdom, and an administrative centre throughout ancient history....
. Beyond this, little can be said about the events during this period; the annual records on the Palermo stone

Palermo stone

The Palermo Stone is a large fragment of a stela called the Royal Annals of the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. It contains the clearest inscriptions of the records of the pharaohs of the first dynasty through the fifth dynasty....
only survive for the end of the reign of Raneb

Raneb

Raneb was a pharaoh during the Second dynasty of Egypt. The Egyptian priest Manetho, calls him Kaiechos and states that he ruled Egypt for 39 years but such a high figure is not confirmed from the few contemporary objects known from his reign....
and for parts of Nynetjer

Nynetjer

Nynetjer or Ninetjer was the third king of the Second dynasty of Egypt. His name translates as "Godlike" in English. Ninetjer is mentioned on the Palermo Stone and is known from mud sealings found in an underground gallery at Saqqara which may have also been his tomb....
's. One important event possibly happened during the reign of Khasekhemwy

Khasekhemwy

Khasekhemwy was the fifth and final Pharaoh of the Second dynasty of Egypt. Little is known of Khasekhemwy, other than that he led several significant military campaigns and built several monuments, still extant, mentioning war against the Northerners....
: many Egyptologists read his name ("the Two Powers are Crowned") as commemorating the union of Upper

Upper Egypt

File:Ancient Egypt map-en.svgUpper Egypt is a narrow strip of land that extends from the Cataracts of the Nile section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Asyut is sometimes known as Middle Egypt....
and Lower Egypt

Lower Egypt

Lower Egypt is the northern-most section of Egypt. It refers to the Fertile Crescent Nile Delta region, which stretches from the area between El-Aiyat and Zawyet Dahshur, south of modern-day Cairo, and the Mediterranean Sea....
s.