It might well seem that both the impulses to culture development in the
North and South came from Semitic inspiration, and that it was to
the Semitic invaders in North and South that the founding of the two
kingdoms was due. This may be true to some extent, but it is at the same
time very probable that the first development of political culture at
Hierakonpolis was really of pre-Semitic origin. The kingdom of Buto,
since its capital is situated so near to the seacoast, may have owed
its origin to oversea Mediterranean connections. There is much in
the political constitution of later Egypt which seems to have been of
indigenous and pre-Semitic origin. Especially does this seem to be so in
the case of the division and organization of the country into nomes. It
is obvious that so soon as agriculture began to be practised on a large
scale, boundaries would be formed, and in the unique conditions of
Egypt, where all boundaries disappear beneath the inundation every
year, it is evident that the fixing of division-lines as permanently as
possible by means of landmarks was early essayed. We can therefore with
confidence assign the formation of the nomes to very early times. Now
the names of the nomes and the symbols or emblems by which they were
distinguished are of very great interest in this connection.
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