Shery is the name of an Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

ian official who lived in the Old Kingdom

Old Kingdom

Old Kingdom is the name given to the period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement – the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley .The term itself was...

, in the Fourth Dynasty.

Sources

Shery is known from his mastaba

Mastaba

A mastaba, or "pr-djt" , is a type of ancient Egyptian tomb in the form of a flat-roofed, rectangular structure with outward sloping sides that marked the burial site of many eminent Egyptians of Egypt's ancient period...

 at Saqqara

Saqqara

Saqqara is a vast, ancient burial ground in Egypt, serving as the necropolis for the Ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. Saqqara features numerous pyramids, including the world famous Step pyramid of Djoser, sometimes referred to as the Step Tomb due to its rectangular base, as well as a number of...

 that was found and partly recorded in the nineteenth century AD. His wife was called Khentetek; a second woman appearing in his tomb decoration was called Inet and may have been a second wife (or mother?). Shery held the title “Overseer of all wab-priests of king Peribsen

Seth-Peribsen

Peribsen is the serekh name of an early Egyptian king who ruled during the 2nd dynasty. Unlike many other pharaohs of this dynasty, Peribsen is well-attested in the archaeological records...

 in the necropolis

Necropolis

A necropolis is a large cemetery or burial ground, usually including structural tombs. The word comes from the Greek νεκρόπολις - nekropolis, literally meaning "city of the dead"...

 of king Senedj”, “Great One of the Ten of Upper Egypt” and “God´s Servant of Senedj”. Senedj´s name is written in archaic

Archaic

Archaic may refer to a period of time preceding a "classical period":*List of archaeological periods**Archaic Greece**Archaic period in the Americas**Early Dynastic Period of Egypt*Archaic Homo sapiens, people who lived about 300,000 to 30,000 B.P...

 form and set in a cartouche, which is an anachronism

Anachronism

An anachronism—from the Greek ανά and χρόνος — is an inconsistency in some chronological arrangement, especially a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other...

, since the cartouche itself was not yet used until the end of 3rd dynasty

Third dynasty of Egypt

For the Sumerian Renaissance, see Third Dynasty of Ur.The Third Dynasty of ancient Egypt is the first dynasty of the Old Kingdom. Other dynasties of the Old Kingdom include the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth...

 under king Huni

Huni

Huni was the last Pharaoh of Egypt of the Third dynasty. He was the successor to Khaba.-Family:Huni was the father of Hetepheres I, the wife of Sneferu who was the first king of the Fourth Dynasty...

. As the latter king is little known, the titles given to Shery are of special importance. The inscription for Shery suggests to Egyptologists, such as Wolfgang Helck

Wolfgang Helck

Hans Wolfgang Helck was a German Egyptologist, considered one of the most important Egyptologists of the 20th century. From 1956 until his retirement in 1979 he was a Professor at the University of Hamburg...

, that Peribsen died during the reign of Senedj and that the relationship between the two kings was a peaceful one.

Literature

• Michael Rice: Who is who in ancient Egypt. Routledge, London 1999, ISBN 0-4151-5448-0, page 181 and 190.
• Nicolas Christophe Grimal: A history of ancient Egypt. Wiley-Blackwell, Weinheim 1994, ISBN 0-6311-9396-0, page 55.
• Wolfgang Helck: Untersuchungen zur Thinitenzeit, Band 45. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1987, ISBN 3-447-02677-4, page 105 - 107