Ancient Egyptian Religion

Hor-Aha

 

Hor-Aha (or Aha or Horus Aha) is considered the second pharaoh of the first dynasty of ancient Egypt in current Egyptology. He lived around the thirty-first century BC. The commonly-used name Hor-Aha is a rendering of the pharaoh's Horus-name, an element of the royal titulary associated with the god Horus, and is more fully given as Horus-Aha meaning Horus the Fighter.

For the Early Dynastic Period, the archaeological record refers to the pharaohs by their Horus-names, while the historical record, as evidenced in the Turin and Abydos king lists, uses an alternative royal titulary, the nebty-name. The different titular elements of a pharaoh's name were often used in isolation, for brevity's sake, although the choice varied according to circumstance and period. Mainstream Egyptological consensus follows the findings of Petrie in reconciling the two records and connects Hor-Aha (archaeological) with the nebty-name Ity (historical).

The same process has led to the identification of the historical Menes (a nebty-name) with the Narmer (a Horus-name) evidenced in the archaeological record (both figures are credited with the unification of Egypt and as the first pharaoh of Dynasty I) as the predecessor of Hor-Aha (the second pharaoh).

There has been some controversy about Hor-Aha. Some believe him to be the same individual as the legendary Menes and that he was the one to unify all of Egypt. Others claim he was the son of Narmer, the pharaoh who unified Egypt. Narmer and Menes may have been one pharaoh, referred to with more than one name. Regardless, considerable historical evidence from the period points to Narmer as the pharaoh who first unified Egypt and to Hor-Aha as his son and heir.

Seals impressions discovered by G. Dreyer in the Umm el-Qa'ab from Merneith and Qa'a burials identify Hor-Aha as the second pharaoh of the first dynasty. His predecessor Narmer had united Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt into a single kingdom. Hor-Aha probably ascended the throne in the late 32nd century BC or early 31st century BC. According to Manetho, he became pharaoh at about the age of thirty and ruled until he was about sixty years old.

Hor-Aha seem to have conducted many religious activities. A visit to a shrine of the goddess Neith is recorded on several tablets from his reign. The sanctuary of Neith he visited was located in the north-east of the Nile Delta at Sai. Furthermore, the first known representation of the sacred Henu-barque of the god Sokar was found engraved on a year tablet dating from his reign.

Vessel inscriptions, labels and sealings from the graves of Hor-Aha and Queen Neithhotep suggest that this queen died during the reign of Aha. He arranged for her burial in a magnificent mastaba excavated by de Morgan . Queen Neithhotep is plausibly Aha's mother . The selection of the cemetery of Naqada as the resting place of Neithhotep is a strong indication that she came from this province. This, in turn, supports the view that Narmer married a member of the ancient royal line of Naqada to strenghten the domination of the Thinite kings over the region.

Most importantly, the oldest mastaba at the North Saqqara necropolis of Memphis, dates to his reign. The mastaba belongs to an elite member of the administration who may have been a relative of Hor-Aha as was customary at the time. This is a strong indication of the growing importance of Memphis during Aha's reign.

Few artifacts remain of Hor-Aha's reign. However, the finely executed copper-axes heads, faience vessel fragments , ivory box and inscribed white marbles all testify to the flourishing of craftsmanship during Aha's time in power.

Inscriptions on ivory tablet from Abydos suggest that Hor-Aha led an expedition against the Nubians. On a year tablet, a year is explicitely called 'Year of smiting of Ta-Sety' (i.e. Nubia). During Hor-Aha's reign, trade with the Southern Levant seem to have been on decline. Contrary to his predecessor Narmer, Hor-Aha's is not yet attested outside of the Nile Valey. This may point to a gradual replacement of long-distance trade between Egypt and its eastern neighbors by a more direct exploitation of the local ressources by the Egyptians. Vessel fragments analysis from an egyptian outpost at En Besor suggests that it was active during Hor-Aha's reign. Other egyptian settlement are know to have been active at the time as well (Byblos and along the Lebanese coast). Finally, Hor-Aha's tomb yielded vessel fragments from the Southern-Levant.

Legend had it that he was carried away by a hippopotamus, the embodiment of the deity Seth. Provided that Hor-Aha was the legendary Menes, another story has it that Hor-Aha was killed by a hippopotamus while hunting.

The tomb of Hor-Aha is located in the necropolis of the kings of the 1st Dynasty at Abydos, known as the Umm el-Qa'ab. It comprises three large chambers B10 B15 and B19 which are directly adjacent to Narmer's tomb. The chambers are rectangular, directly dug in the desert floor, their walls lined with mud bricks. The tombs of Narmer and Ka had only two adjacent chambers, while the tomb of Hor-Aha comprises three substantially larger yet separated chambers. The reason for this architecture is that it was difficult at that time to build large ceiling above the chambers. Moreoever timber for these structures often had to be imported from Palestine. 

A striking innovation of Hor-Aha's tomb is that members of the royal household were buried with the Pharaoh. It is unclear if they were killed or committed suicide. Among those buried, were servants, dwarfs, women and even dogs. A total of 36 subsidiary burials were laid out in three parallel rows east of Hor-Aha's main chambers. As a symbol of royalty Hor-Aha was even given a group of young lions.