Bull (Pharaoh)

Bull is the makeshift name for a predynastic petty ruler, from around 3250 BC,[1] the existence of which is highly controversial. He is considered a ruler of the late pottery neolithic Naqada III culture of southern Egypt.

If “Taurus” actually represents a ruler's name, it is mainly known from ivory tablets from the Abydenian tomb U-j of Umm El Qa'ab and from a rock carving on the Gebel Tjauty mountain.

Egyptologist Günter Dreyer deduced the existence of King “Taurus” from incisions on a statue of the god Min, which he interpreted as rulings. He suspected that the grave goods, which were intended for King Scorpion I, came from the domain goods of King "Bull" and thus the bull symbol originated from the name of the latter.[2][3]

Further confirmation of the existence of this ruler is the interpretation of a rock drawing discovered in 2003 on the Gebel Tjauty in the desert west of Thebes. It therefore represents a successful campaign by King Scorpion (I) against King "Taurus". This battle was possibly part of the concentration of power in late prehistoric Egypt: Scorpion I, operating from Thinis, conquered the Taurus area in the Naqada area.[4][5]

However, since the bull sign is never accompanied by a horus falcon or a gold rosette – both secure rulers already in the pre-dynastic period – part of the research doubts its existence as a king. For example, the writing expert Ludwig D. Morenz and the Egyptologist Jochem Kahl point out that Egyptian hieroglyphic writing was still in the early stages of development during the pre-dynastic period and that it was extremely unsafe to assign individual pictorial symbols. The reason for this is the fact that in this early writing development phase no fixed determinatives for "locality", "Gau" and "region" existed. A representation of a bull could represent the king as an attacking force, but it could also be part of a name for a certain place or district (e.g. for the mountain bull district). There were also depictions of bulls in connection with the archaic ceremony "Catching the wild bull" as a pre-form for the later Apis run. A bull representation therefore does not necessarily confirm a king's name.[6][7]

References
  1. Jürgen Schraten, Zur Aktualität von Jan Assmann: Einleitung in sein Werk (Springer-Verlag, 11.11.2010) page 59.
  2. Günter Dreyer: Umm el-Qaab I .: the predynastic royal tomb U-j and its early documents (= Umm el-Qaab, 1st volume). von Zabern, Mainz 1998, ISBN 3-8053-2486-3., pp. 87 & 176.
  3. Ludwig David Morenz: picture letters and symbolic signs. The development of the writing of the high culture of ancient Egypt (= Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 205). Friborg 2004, ISBN 3-7278-1486-1., pp. 130-134, 172, 190-193.
  4. Gregory Phillip Gilbert: Weapons, warriors and warfare in early Egypt. 2004, (= BAR international series. Volume 1208). Archaeopress, 2004, ISBN 1-84171-571-9. pp. 93 & 94.
  5. Ludwig David Morenz: picture letters and symbolic signs. The development of the writing of the high culture of ancient Egypt (= Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 205). Friborg 2004, ISBN 3-7278-1486-1., pp. 130-134, 172, 190-193.
  6. Wolfgang Helck: Studies on the Thinite period (= Egyptological treatises. (ÄA) Vol. 45). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1987, ISBN 3-447-02677-4, (restricted online version), pp. 147 & 153.
  7. Ludwig David Morenz: picture letters and symbolic signs. The development of the writing of the high culture of ancient Egypt (= Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 205). Friborg 2004, ISBN 3-7278-1486-1., pp. 130-134, 172, 190-193.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.