They are
nearly all figures of the magic animals of the primitive religion, and
fetish-emblems of the older deities. The names are, in fact, those of
the territories of the Neolithic Egyptian tribes, and their emblems are
those of the protecting tribal demons. The political divisions of the
country seem, then, to be of extremely ancient origin, and if the nomes
go back to a time before the Semitic invasions, so may also the kingdoms
of the South and North.
Of these predynastic kingdoms we know very little, except from legendary
sources. The Northerners who were conquered by Aha, Narmer, and
Khasekhehiui do not look very much like Egyptians, but rather resemble
Semites or Libyans. On the "Stele of Palermo," a chronicle of early
kings inscribed in the period of the Vth Dynasty, we have a list of
early kings of the North,--Seka, Desau, Tiu, Tesh, Nihab, Uatjantj,
Mekhe. The names are primitive in form. We know nothing more about them.
Last year Mr. C. T. Currelly attempted to excavate at Buto, in order to
find traces of the predynastic kingdom, but owing to the infiltration of
water his efforts were unsuccessful. It is improbable that anything is
now left of the most ancient period at that site, as the conditions in
the Delta are so very different from those obtaining in Upper Egypt.
There, at Hierakonpolis, and at el-Kab on the opposite bank of the Nile,
the sites of the ancient cities Nekhen and Nekheb, the excavators have
been very successful.
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