Taking a Djet to Djoser’s Famine

by Damien F. Mackey “Manetho states that during the reign of [King Djet], there was a great famine but the Palermo Stone, which reports the flood levels of the Nile … is broken precisely in correspondence with the reign of Djet”. Cairo Top Tours This article has had to be re-written in light of progress made (hopefully) in a sequence of new papers on the subject of the biblical Joseph and his Pharaoh. Suffice it largely to add some clarifying comments to what I had previously written. The original title can be retained, but with the different intention now of meaning, by Djoser (Zoser), not the Pharaoh, Horus Netjerikhet – who is generally considered to have been Djoser – but Joseph (Imhotep) himself. In my article: Enigmatic Imhotep - did he really exist? (3) Enigmatic Imhotep - did he really exist? | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu I showed that Imhotep, the favoured candidate for the biblical Joseph, was both Khasekhemwy-Imhotep and Sekhemkhet, who also had the name of Djoser (-ti). Thus Joseph, not Horus Netjerikhet, was Djoser (or Zoser). Thanks to the life-giving River Nile, famines were rare in ancient Egypt. There was a most significant one, though, at the time of Jacob and his son, Joseph, lasting for seven years, according to the Book of Genesis (41:54-57). That one has been identified by revisionist historians as having occurred during the reign of King Horus Netjerikhet, as recorded on the famous Famine Stela located on Sehel Island in the Nile near Aswan. This, a very late document, of Ptolemaïc times, recalls a seven-year famine: https://www.jasoncolavito.com/famine-stela.html In the year 18 of the king, Neterkhet, the divine incarnation, the ‘golden Horus,’ Djoser [sic], when Mesir was prince of the cities of the South land and director of the Nubians in Elephantine, this message of the king was brought to him: ‘I am sorrowing upon my high throne over those who belong to the palace. In sorrow is my heart for the vast misfortune, because the Nile flood in my time has not come for seven years. Light is the grain, there is lack of crops and of all kinds of food. Each man has become a thief to his neighbor. They want to hurry and cannot walk, the child cries, the youth creeps along and the old man, their souls are bowed. Their legs are bent together and drag along the ground and their hands rest in their bosoms. The counsel of the great ones of the coast is but emptiness. Torn open are the chests of provisions, but instead of contents there is air. Everything is exhausted. Then my soul, turning itself to the past, consulted a member of the staff of the Ibis, the chief script-sage, Imhotep, the son of Ptah South-of-His-Wall. Tell me, where is the birthplace of the Nile? Which god or which goddess dwells there as its great protector?’ …. King Djet and Hemaka Disc from the tomb of Hemaka Could this “king, Neterkhet”, or Horus Netjerikhet, be the same as the First Dynasty ruler, Horus Djet, during whose reign there occurred, according to Manetho, a great famine? Since posing this question, I have further identified Horus Netjerikhet, of Egypt’s Third Dynasty, with Mentuhotep II Netjerihedjet, of Egypt’s Eleventh Dynasty: Biblical King of the seven-year Famine (6) Biblical King of the seven-year Famine | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu In the name Netjerihedjet we do have that relevant element, djet. The name Djet could perhaps have been an abbreviated form (or hypocoristicon) of Netjerikhet. According to World History Encyclopedia’s “Djoser” (Joshua J. Mark): https://www.worldhistory.org/Djoser/ “His name Netjerikhet means "divine of body" and 'Djoser' is derived from the Djed symbol of stability”. But I am no longer trying to connect either Netjerikhet, or Djet, to Djoser. If, indeed, Djet were Netjerikhet, then a potential candidate for the biblical Joseph at the time could logically be Djet’s mighty Chancellor, and second self, Hemaka: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemaka “One of Hemaka's titles was that of "seal-bearer of the king of Lower Egypt" … effectively making him chancellor and second in power only to the king. …”. Compare Genesis 41:41-44: So Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt’. Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and people shouted before him, “Make way!” Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I am Pharaoh, but without your word no one will lift hand or foot in all Egypt’. Apart from tying Joseph, his Pharaoh, and the Famine, to both the Third Dynasty and the Eleventh Dynasty, I have also connected it to the First Dynasty, primarily through Den (Udimu): Joseph also as Den, ‘he who brings water’ (7) Joseph also as Den, 'he who brings water' | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu King Semerkhet and Henuka Hemaka, in turn, may have been the same as the important 1st dynasty Vizier, Henuka: http://www.mummies2pyramids.info/pharaohs-kings/semerkhet.htm “The king [Semerkhet] appointed Henuka as High Chancellor of Egypt (Vizier) to assist him with running the country”. A very Joseph-like responsibility. The Egyptian names Hemaka and Henuka seem, to me, to be easily interchangeable. The “king” in question here was one Semerkhet, possibly a variation on Neterkhet, especially considering that some claim that Semerkhet’s birth name was Iry-Netjer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semerkhet), quite like Netjerikhet, but also considering that Semerkhet appears to stand greatly in need of an alter ego, because: “Virtually nothing is known about Semerkhet's family. His parents are unknown, but it is thought that one of his predecessors, king Den, might have been his father”. Similarly, Khasekhemwy is thought to have been the father of Horus Netjerikhet. Khasekhemwy, as Joseph-Imhotep, was indeed a “Father to Pharaoh” (Genesis 45:8). Den (Udimu), or Usaphais, in which the Semitic name Yusef/Yosef (Usaph-), Joseph, is apparent, was Joseph, a veritable sub-Pharaoh to the primary ruler of Egypt: Joseph like a sub-Pharaoh to King Horus Netjerikhet (2) Joseph like a sub-Pharaoh to King Horus Netjerikhet | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu Manetho, without being helpfully specific, tells - as in the case of Djet (a great famine) – that, according to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semerkhet “[Semerkhet] became known through a tragic legend handed down by the historian Manetho, who reported that a calamity of some sort occurred during Semerkhet's reign. The archaeological records seem to support the view that Semerkhet had a difficult time as king …”. Was this calamity, again, the great famine? King Djer This name may recall Horus Netjerikhet/Mentuhotep II Netjerihedjet. For one who is supposed to have reigned for from 41-57 years: http://www.ancient-egypt.org/history/early-dynastic-period/1st-dynasty/horus-djer/biography-of-horus-djer.html “According to Manetho, Djer ruled for 57 year[s]. The Turin King-List has a lacuna at the spot where Djer would be listed. …. If the reconstruction of the Annals Stone based on its different fragments is correct, the reign of Djer may have lasted up to 41 years” …. we know very little about Djer. An alter ego is much needed for him and I would quickly suggest Horus Netjerikhet. King Den (Udimu) With Den (Udimu), whose proper relationship to his supposed predecessor, Djet, is not satisfactorily known, we encounter a more substantial First Dynasty king (sub-king?). And surely, too, in one of Den’s supposed nicknames, Usaphaïs/Usafaïs (Ousapahidos), we have a reproduction of Joseph’s Hebrew name Yosef, who was so close to the king: “The Ancient Egyptian historian Manetho called [Den/Udimu] “Oúsaphaîdos””: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Den_(pharaoh) Jimmy Dunn writes about: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/den.htm Den, the 4th King of Egypt's 1st Dynasty by Jimmy Dunn …. Though the reigns of Den's processor and successor seemed to have been troubled, the reign of Den was apparently a glorious and prosperous one. Yet beyond this prosperity, like Horus Djer before him, Den left behind an intellectual reputation. We believe that the spells found in the later funerary manual called the Book of the Dead was attributed to his time, as well as medical formulae that were preserved in New Kingdom papyri. …. Den apparently limited the power of high officials which had previously been allowed to grow dangerously strong during the reign of his predecessor. Such centralization always seems to have been key to a successful royal reign. ….