Proto-kingdom of Nekhen

Origins

Nekhen, the Greek Hierakonpolis, lay on the west bank of the Nile in southern Upper Egypt and was among the largest settlements of the Naqada period. By c. 3500 BCE it had a ceremonial precinct, breweries, pottery kilns and an elite cemetery, and its chiefs controlled trade with Nubia and along desert routes to the south.

Rule and society

Nekhen was the cult centre of Horus, the falcon god later embodied by every Egyptian king. Its Tomb 100, the 'Painted Tomb', bears the earliest known Egyptian wall painting, with boats, hunting scenes and a figure smiting captives. Excavations have revealed an oval ceremonial court and an elite cemetery with buried animals, including elephants, hippopotami and baboons, signs of an ambitious ruling ideology.

Decline and legacy

Around 3150 BCE its rulers seem to have merged with, or been overtaken by, the kings of the Proto-kingdom of Thinis. The town remained a royal religious centre: the Narmer Palette and the Scorpion Macehead were found in its temple's Main Deposit, and Nekhen stayed the symbolic capital of Upper Egypt.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.