Horus Khasekhem - Horus Seth Khasekhemwy Khasekhemui Khasekhemoui - HotepNetjerwyimef / Nebwyhotepimef - NwbKhetsen / Nebkhetsen (Chasechemui, Khasekhemuy, Hotep-neterui-imef)

INTRODUCTION

Khasekhemwy was certainly one of the most relevant characters of the Early Dynastic Egyptian History.
According to some scholars, he managed to re-unify Egypt after a critical period (corresponding with the middle part of the Second Dynasty) when Egyptian state would be perhaps splitted into two realms.
The name change from [Horus] Khasekhem to [Horus-Seth] Khasekhemwy Nebwyhotepimef (Hetep-Netjerwy-imef) would mark the successful restoration of the Egyptian dual crown and throne achieved by this king.
Even wanting to keep less extreme positions, it should be nonetheless explained why did Khasekhem and his predecessor chose the Abydos royal cemetery as their burial ground, in place of the Memphite necropolis which had hosted the other Second Dynasty kings' burials (after the Abydos Umm el-Qaab royal cemetery had been abandoned for unknown reasons at the end of the First Dynasty).
The reign of Khasekhemwy witnessed a clear return to the old splendour of the Egyptian State, introducing it into what will be a truly majestic age, that of his (direct?) follower Horus Netjerykhet (Djoser), early in the IIIrd Dynasty.
I am trying to resume (and reexhume) sketches of life of a great ruler of the Egyptian political and cultural history.
One of the most apparent innovations of late IInd dynasty was the massive introduction of stone masonry for the main building projects (Gisr el Mudir walls at Saqqara, Abydos tomb V funerary chamber, Hierakonpolis lintels) although the mudbrick constructions were still if not more important than ever (mastaba tombs at Saqqara, Bet Khallaf, Abydos and, most of all, the Shunet ez Zebib, the Hierakonpolis "Fort" and the niched monumental gateway in the town of Nekhen).
Despite his apparently outstanding role, objects bearing the names Khasekhem / Khasekhemwy have been found in a few centers only: Hierakonpolis/ElKab, Abydos, Saqqara and Byblos; yet the attestations from the former three places refer to different contexts, monuments and sites within each area; there are also some unprovenanced objects inscribed with K.'s name, plus a pair of relief fragments from Gebelein (with no royal name preserved) which have been dated to the (late?) Second Dynasty.
The first part of the Second Dynasty seems to have been characterized by an abrupt end of foreign relations, both commercial and military ones, possibly due to the inner tensions which Egypt would suffer at that time. With Khasekhem (thus especially in the early years of reign) there are clues about possible battles against Libyans and Nubians as well as indications of a reprise in the other relations with northern and southern territories (the latter thing occurred already with Peribsen's reign). The king had acquired enough power to start his ambitious building program.
The end of K.'s reign on Palermo stone line V (right hand), which mentions a copper statue built for this king in his 15th regnal year, was previously considered to refer to Nebka, but recent studies tend to reconstruct that portion of the Royal Annals as Khasekhemwy's own reign (immediately followed by Djoser's one).
Finally, it has been recently advanced the hypothesis that the inscriptions writted in ink on stone vessels found gathered in galleries VI-VII of Netjerykhet's complex infrastructures, might mostly date to Khasekhemwy's own reign, rather than to Ninetjer's one as hitherto generally accepted, after W. Helck's 1979 study (cf. I. Regulski, 2004).

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND PAST STUDIES

.........

NAMES (KING-LISTS AND ANNALS)

......... (D. Wildung, Die Rolle ägyptischer Könige im Bewußtsein ihrer Nachwelt, 1969, 52-53)

		Seal Impressions Abydos tomb V: pl. IIIa - Petrie pl. IIIb - Dreyer N. Abydos, Shunet; Saqqara & elsewhere

pl. VI Objects from Khasekhemwy's tomb, Abydos	pl. VIIa-b 5th Dynasty Annals (Palermo stone) 5th Dynasty Annals (London U.C.)	pl. VIIIa-b NK King lists 'Royal Canon'