Anedjib

Pharaoh Infobox | Alt= Enezib, Andjyeb, Africanus: Miebidos, Eusebius: Niebaïs
Name= Anedjib|

Caption= A clay seal impression with the name of Anedjib, on display at the British Museum.
Horus= Safe is His Heart
HorusHiero= N36:ib
Reign= 10 years
Predecessor= Den
Successor= Semerkhet
Spouse= Betrest
Children=
Burial= Tomb in Umm el-Qa'ab, Abydos
Monuments= Tomb in Umm el-Qa'ab
Dynasty=1st Dynasty
As the fifth ruler of the First Dynasty, Anedjib is poorly known and fairly obscure from the monumental records. His name Anedjib (or Enezib,or Adjib, or Andjyeb) means "The Man with the Bold Heart". [Grimal, Nicolas. A History of Ancient Egypt. p53. Blackwell Books, 1992. ISBN 0-631-19396-0] It is also translated as "Safe is his Heart." [Peter Clayton, "Chronicle of the Pharaohs", Thames & Hudson Ltd. 2006 paperback, p.16]

Length of Reign

While the 3rd century BC priest Manetho states that he ruled Egypt for 26 years, virtually all Egyptologists reject this figure in favour of a far shorter reign, due to the relatively small number of attestations known for this king in the monumental record. Toby Wilkinson's reconstruction of the near-contemporary Palermo Stone shows that Anedjib's reign length was only "10 complete or partial years." [Wilkinson, Toby A. H. Early Dynastic Egypt. p.79 Routledge, London/New York 1999, ISBN 0-415-18633-1] Anedjib's penultimate and final year is recorded in Cairo Fragment One register III. [Wilkinson, Toby A. H. Royal Annals of Ancient Egypt: The Palermo Stone and Its Associated Fragments. p.258 Kegan Paul International 2000, ISBN 0-415-18633-1] While Anedjib is known to have "celebrated a Sed-festival, something which does not normally take place until a king had been on the throne for some considerable time," this was presumably due to the fact "that Anedjib was elderly when he succeeded Den, and that the celebration of a Sed-Festival was considered auspicious to renew the powers of a king past his prime." [Wilkinson, Toby A. H. Early Dynastic Egypt. p79. Routledge, London/New York 1999, ISBN 0-415-18633-1]

Reign

Anedjib's predecessor and presumed father, Den, enjoyed a long reign of 30+ years, implying that his successor Anedjib was elderly when he assumed power. Contemporary records suggest that he ruled Egypt during a time of political instability and dynastic conflict between Lower and Upper Egypt. Anedjib himself is thought to have originated from an area of the Upper Egyptian city of Abydos known as This since he is recorded (as "Merbiapen") as a Thinite king on the Saqqara King List from the tomb of Thunery. [Clayton, op. cit., p.24] Anedjib was forced to put down several uprisings in Lower Egypt. Numerous stone vases bearing his royal name had their inscriptions erased under his successor, Semerkhet, which suggests that Semerkhet deposed Anedjib. [Clayton, op. cit., p.24]

Anedjib's tomb, Tomb 10, at Umm el-Qa'ab in Abydos affirms the impression of the crisis filled nature of his short reign. It is considered to be "one of the worst built and smallest [tomb] among the Abydos royal tombs, [at] a mere 53.75 X 29.5 ft (16.4 X 9 m)." [Clayton, op. cit., p.25] His burial chamber was built entirely of wood rather than stone, and was of poor construction quality while "the surrounding 64 graves of retainers were also of low standard." [Clayton, op. cit., p.25]

Notes and references

ee also

* Pharaoh
* List of Pharaohs
* First dynasty of Egypt

External links

* [http://www.ancient-egypt.org/kings/01/0106_anedjib/titulary.html Titulary of Anedjib]
* [http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/anedjib.htm Anedjib]