Qahedjet (also Hor-Qahedjet) could be the

Horus name The Horus name is the oldest known and used crest of ancient Egyptian rulers. It belongs to the " great five names" of an Egyptian pharaoh. However, modern Egyptologists and linguists are starting to prefer the more neutral term "serekh name". T ...

of an

ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

ian king (

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pr ꜥꜣ, pr ꜥꜣ''; Meroitic language, Meroitic: 𐦲𐦤𐦧, ; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') was the title of the monarch of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty of Egypt, First Dynasty ( ...

), who may have ruled during the 3rd Dynasty or could be a voluntarily archaistic representation of

Thutmose III Thutmose III (variously also spelt Tuthmosis or Thothmes), sometimes called Thutmose the Great, (1479–1425 BC) was the fifth pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. He is regarded as one of the greatest warriors, military commanders, and milita ...

.Jean-Pierre Pätznick: ''L'Horus Qahedjet: souverain de la 3eme dynasty ?'', Proceedings of the Ninth Congress of Egyptologists, Orientalia Lovaniensa Analecta, Ch. 2.1, p. 1455
Online
/ref> Since the only artifact attesting to the ruler and his name is a small

stela A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

made of polished

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

of uncertain origin and authenticity,Chr. Ziegler: ''Catalogue des steles, peintures et reliefs egyptiens de l'Ancien Empire et de la Premiere Periode Intermediaire, Musee du Louvre'', Paris 1990, pp. 54-57

Egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ) is the scientific study of ancient Egypt. The topics studied include ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end ...

s are discussing the

chronological Chronology (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , , ; and , ''wikt:-logia, -logia'') is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. Consider, for example, the use of a timeline or sequence of events. It is also "the deter ...

position and

historical figure A historical figure is a significant person in history, who may have made important cultural, social, political, scientific or technological impacts on humanity. They are often widely known for their achievements, whether favourably or unfavoura ...

of Qahedjet.

The stela

Description

The stela of king Qahedjet is high, wide and thick and made of finely polished limestone. It was bought in 1967 by the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where it is now on display. The front shows king Qahedjet embracing an

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...

form of the god

Horus Horus (), also known as Heru, Har, Her, or Hor () in Egyptian language, Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as the god of kingship, healing, protection, the sun, and t ...

. King Qahedjet wears the White crown of

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ', shortened to , , locally: ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the Nile River valley south of the delta and the 30th parallel North. It thus consists of the entire Nile River valley from Cairo south to Lake N ...

and an artificial king's beard, and looks directly into Horus' eyes, both figures being the same height. His face looks remarkable with his crooked nose, the bulging lips and his square chin. The king wears a kilt with a

dagger A dagger is a fighting knife with a very sharp point and usually one or two sharp edges, typically designed or capable of being used as a cutting or stabbing, thrusting weapon.State v. Martin, 633 S.W.2d 80 (Mo. 1982): This is the dictionary or ...

in a belt. In his left hand, he holds a mace while in his right hand he holds a staff with a wing-like mark at middle height. Horus has laid his right arm around Qahedjet's shoulder and holds Qahedjet's elbow in his left hand. The hieroglyphic inscription describes the king's visit to the northern

shrine A shrine ( "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred space">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...: ''escri ...

of the god Ra at Heliopolis.Jean-Pierre Pätznik, Jacques Vandier: ''L’Horus Qahedjet: Souverain de la IIIe dynastie?''. page 1455–1472.

Authenticity

The authenticity of Qahedjet's stela is questioned by Egyptologists such as Jean-Pierre Pätznik and Jacques Vandier. They point to several stylistic

contradiction In traditional logic, a contradiction involves a proposition conflicting either with itself or established fact. It is often used as a tool to detect disingenuous beliefs and bias. Illustrating a general tendency in applied logic, Aristotle's ...

s that can be found within the relief motif. Firstly, they stress that the earliest known depiction of an anthropomorphic Horus is found in the pyramid temple of

Sahure Sahure (also Sahura, meaning "He who is close to Ra, Re"; died 2477 BC) was a pharaoh, king of ancient Egypt and the second ruler of the Fifth dynasty of Egypt, Fifth Dynasty ( – BC). He reigned for around 13 years in the early 25th&nbs ...

, second pharaoh of the 5th Dynasty. Secondly, they argue that the motif of a king embracing a god (or a god embracing a king) would be highly unusual for the

Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning –2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth Dynast ...

, since the king was then seen as the living representation of Horus (and

Seth Seth, in the Abrahamic religions, was the third son of Adam and Eve. The Hebrew Bible names two of his siblings (although it also states that he had others): his brothers Cain and Abel. According to , Seth was born after Abel's murder by Cain, ...

), but not seen on a par with them in this way. Depictions showing a king in an intimate pose with a god would therefore be heretical and provocative at the same time. Qahedjet detail of the stela

Further arguments of Pätznik and Vandier concern the inscriptions right of Qahedjet's ''

serekh In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a serekh is a rectangular enclosure representing the niched or gated façade of a palace surmounted by (usually) the Horus falcon, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The serekh was the earliest conven ...

''. The

hieroglyph Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs ( ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined ideographic, logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with more than 1,000 distinct characters. ...

ic signs are unusually shifted to the right and they are not square in arrangement. This contradicts the Egyptian rules of

calligraphy Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an e ...

on royal

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

s. Additionally, the details on the owl-sign (value ''m'') of the stele do not appear before the first half of the

18th Dynasty The Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XVIII, alternatively 18th Dynasty or Dynasty 18) is classified as the first dynasty of the New Kingdom of Egypt, the era in which ancient Egypt achieved the peak of its power. The Eighteenth Dynasty ...

and the stele would represent the earliest formulation ''Horus + m + toponym''. Finally, ''serekh'' names involving a royal crown as a hieroglyphic symbol are otherwise only known from king

of the

onwards, and Pätznik and Vandier remark that ''Qahedjet'' is known to be a variant of Thutmose III's Horus name, so that the stele, if authentic, could be an archaistic work of the New Kingdom. Alternatively, the square face of Qahedjet, resembling that of king Djoser may represent an archaistic production from the much later Saite period. During this era reliefs with clear hommages to the art of the Old Kingdom were seen as “en vogue”. As an example, Pätznik and Vandier point to a '' naos'' of Djoser found at Heliopolis (now in fragments), that shows Djoser sitting on a '' Hebsed''-throne. Djoser appears nearly identical in the reliefs of his

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

Saqqara Saqqara ( : saqqāra ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is an Egyptian village in the markaz (county) of Badrashin in the Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for ...

, but a small guiding inscription reveals that the naos was built in the 7th-6th century BCE, during the Saitic period. Their last argument concerns the word ''Hut-a'a'' (meaning "great palace"), the place which Qahedjet is represented visiting. The way ''Hut-a'a'' is written on the stela is known not to be in use before the very end of the Old Kingdom and become common only from the time of king Senwosret I of the

12th Dynasty The Twelfth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (Dynasty XII) is a series of rulers reigning from 1991–1802 BC (190 years), at what is often considered to be the apex of the Middle Kingdom (Dynasties XI–XIV). The dynasty periodically expanded its terr ...

onwards. Furthermore, ''Hut-a'a'' is generally identified with the temple of Ra in Heliopolis, which is located in Lower Egypt while Qahedjet wears the

crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, parti ...

of Upper Egypt. On the other hand, reliefs from Djoser's pyramid complex always depict the king wearing the crown corresponding to the places he is shown visiting. Thus, the several contradictions in the relief's artistic program make Jaques Vandier and Jean-Pierre Pätznik wonder if the stela is authentic or just a modern fake. The uncertain origins of the stela, which was acquired by the Louvre in 1967 from a private antique dealer in Cairo only lends more weight to this possibility.

Identity of Qahedjet

Assuming its authenticity, Jacques Vandier proposed in his first study of the stele in 1968 that it be dated to the 3rd Dynasty on stylistic grounds, suggesting that Qahedjet be identified with king

Huni Huni (original reading unknown) was an ancient Egyptian king, the last pharaoh of the Third Dynasty of Egypt during the Old Kingdom period. Based on the Turin king list, he is commonly credited with a reign of 24 years, ending c. 2613 BC. ...

, the last ruler of the dynasty. Toby A.H. Wilkinson and Ian Shaw are of the same opinion: they think that "Hor-Qahedjet" was the ''

'' name of Huni, although this assumption is only based on that Huni is the only king of this dynasty whose Horus name is unknown (the name "Huni" is a

cartouche upalt=A stone face carved with coloured hieroglyphics. Two cartouches - ovoid shapes with hieroglyphics inside - are visible at the bottom., Birth and throne cartouches of Pharaoh KV17.html" ;"title="Seti I, from KV17">Seti I, from KV17 at the ...

name only). Thus, their theory is not commonly accepted. Similarly,

Jürgen von Beckerath Jürgen von Beckerath (19 February 1920 – 26 June 2016) was a German Egyptology, Egyptologist. He was a prolific writer who published countless articles in journals such as '':fr:Orientalia, Orientalia'', ''Göttinger Miszellen'' (GM), ''Journa ...

Rainer Stadelmann Rainer Stadelmann (24 October 1933 – 14 January 2019) was a German Egyptology, Egyptologist. He was considered an expert on the archaeology of the Giza Plateau. Biography After studying in Neuburg an der Donau in 1953, he studied Egyptology, ...

and Dietrich Wildung considered Qahedjet to have ruled toward the end of the 3rd Dynasty. Again, their theory is based on the stylistic resemblances between Qahedjet's face and that of king

Djoser Djoser (also read as Djeser and Zoser) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the 3rd Dynasty during the Old Kingdom, and was the founder of that epoch. He is also known by his Hellenized names Tosorthros (from Manetho) and Sesorthos (from Euse ...

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

s from his pyramid complex.Thomas Schneider: ''Lexikon der Pharaonen.'' Albatros, Düsseldorf 2002, . page 315. Peter Kaplony dated the stela to the

First Intermediate Period The First Intermediate Period, described as a 'dark period' in ancient Egyptian history, spanned approximately 125 years, c. 2181–2055 BC, after the end of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old Kingdom. It comprises the seventh Dynasty, Seventh (altho ...

of Egypt. Pierre Tallet argued that Qadedjet is king Snofru.Pierre Talletː ''Qahedjet = Snéfrou'', in ''BIFAO'' 124 (2024), pp. 429-439�
online
/ref>

References

{{authority control 27th-century BC pharaohs Pharaohs of the Third Dynasty of Egypt