It may well be
that the attribution of a Thinite origin to the Ist and IId Dynasties
was due simply to the fact that the kings of these dynasties were buried
at Abydos, which lay within the Thinite nome. Manetho knew that they
were buried at Abydos, and so jumped to the conclusion that they lived
there also, and called them "Thinites."
[Illustration: 060.jpg PROF. PETRIE'S CAMP AT ABYDOS, 1901.]
Their real place of origin must have been Hierakonpolis, where the
pre-dynastic kingdom of the South had its seat. The Hid Dynasty was no
doubt of Memphite origin, as Manetho says. It is certain that the
seat of the government of the IVth Dynasty was at Memphis, where the
pyramid-building kings were buried, and we know that the sepulchres
of two Hid Dynasty kings, at least, were situated in the necropolis of
Memphis (Sakkara-Medum). So that probably the seat of government was
transferred from Hierakonpolis to Memphis by the first king of the Hid
Dynasty. Thenceforward the kings were buried in the Memphite necropolis.
The two great necropoles of Memphis and Abydos were originally the
seats of the worship of the two Egyptian gods of the dead, Seker and
Khentamenti, both of whom were afterwards identified with the Busirite
god Osiris. Abydos was also the centre of the worship of Anubis, an
animal-deity of the dead, the jackal who prowls round the tombs at
night.
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