Historical studies

Map iii may have been the state at the beginning
of the Old Kingdom, some of the other nomes appear
during that age. We find between the iiird and vith
dynasties
—
Delta ii (l.D. II, 3 ; M.M.D. 3.)
iii (L.D. II, 3 ; 34.)
V (L.D. II, 3.)
vi ? (l.D. II, 5 ; 27, Kkas-ament?)
vii (l.D. II, 3 ; Sebek was worshipped in the
Delta in three nomes ; iii and iv were
western ;
stated.)
only vii could be eastern as
viii (l.D. II, 3. This tiefer nome would ap-
pear more likely to be vii, but that
seems to be already specified as sebek.)
ix (Maspero, Etudes Egyptologiqiies, 248.)
x-xii (L.D. II, 3, 5 ; only the bull without dis-
tinctions. Other instances are the
bull with heseb (?), xi nome, in M.M.G. e ;
and the bull with two feathers in
M.M.D. 5, which is otherwise un-
known.)
xvi (L.D. II, 3, s.)
Upper iii (D.G. 3, 17; Gebrawi.)
v??(M.M.B. 14 ;
X (M.M.D. II ; Brit. Mus. 1223.)
xii (D.G. 17, 18 ; Gebrawi.)
this may only be Horus.)
xiv (Ann. Serv. II, 258 ; 111,252.)
XV (l.D. II, 112/5; \\i,b,c.)
xvi (l.D. II, 1 10 //.)
xix (m.m.a. 2.)
XX (P. Deshasheh, xxix.)
These references are collected in the ist volume
of the Studies, M. A. Murray, Names and Titles of the
Old Kingdom.
54. Other indications, which though very imper-
fect, yet are valuable for their early age, are those
given by the carved slate palettes. The earliest of
these with standards seems to be that with the towns.
This shews as the attacking parties the Hawk, Lion,
Scorpion, and two Hawks. The single hawk is pro-
bably that of the iind nome of Upper Egypt (Edfu)
the two hawks are certainly the standard of the vth
nome (Koptos) ; the lion and scorpion tribes do not
seem to have localised their standards later. The
next slate in style is that with the bull and enemy, on
the top. The standards are two Jackals, Ibis, Hawk,
and Min sign ; these represent, in Upper Egypt, the
xiiith nome (Asyut), the xvth (Hermopolis), the iind
;
THE EARLY NOMES 29
(Edfu), and the ixth (Panopolis). The latest slate is
that of Nar-Mer, shewing the Hawk, Hawk, Jackal,
and piece of flesh ; these represent the iind nome
(Edfu), the xviiith (Hibeh), the xiiith (Asyut) or
xviith (Kynopolis), and the iind nome of Lower
Egypt (Letopolis). We can see thus how the con-
quering league was extending its resources, first only
from Edfu to Koptos, next down to Hermopolis, and
by the time of Mena down to Letopolis.
55. In the maps of the Delta here there is marked
on No. I B,B, for two places known as Behut, either
of which might be the Sam-bchud capital of the
xviith nome ; the eastern is the more probable.
Brugsch names also a town Sam-behud which he
places at Tell es Semut, here marked S. In the
Map i of Upper Egypt will be seen two sites marked
S, of Sam-hudet places in the Koptite region. All
of these names are certainly prehistoric, as they
shew the towns which were " united to Behudet,"
the hawk god of Edfu, that is to say the allies of
the hawk worshippers in their conquest of Egypt,
as the shenisu Hor.
In Map v of the Delta it should be observed how
nearly all the new divisions (marked by names here)
are in the low lands toward the coast. This points to
the coast districts not having been fully occupied in
the earlier periods ; thus we see that the expansion
of Egypt took eiifect in the draining and reclaiming
of the lower marshes. The extra names were not so
much due to a subdivision of government, as to the
creation of fresh centres of cultivation.
A general feature is that the nome capitals are
usually at the forking of the branches of the river,
often close together but parted by the stream. Such
are iv and v, ix and xii, xiv and xv, xviii and xx,
ii and xiii. This shews that the rivers were the
boundaries of nome territories, and that we should not
usually expect to find nomes extending across a river.
These positions of the river must be ancient, as two
capitals would not be placed so near together unless
there lay a river between them.
In Map vi of Upper Egypt the Phaturite nome
is not placed at Thebes as usual, because Pliny
(who alone names it) gives also Hermonthis, Thebes,
and Koptos, leaving no room for it in that region.
It may perhaps not represent Pa-ta-res, "the south
land," as a name of the Thebaid, but rather Pa-ta-
rtct, " the fresh or green land," now Derut where the
land is made green by the Bahr Yusuf branching from
the Nile.