Biography of Horus Djet

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A comb bearing the name of Djet.

Little is known about Horus Djet, the fourth king of the 1st Dynasty and the successor of Horus Djer.
Only a few year labels have survived from his reign, one referring to the festival of the god Sokar, and another to a ritual in the shrine of the Two Mistresses, Nekhbet and Uto, the patron goddesses of Egypt.
He is not mentioned on the remaining fragments of the Annals Stone, which also hints at a fairly short reign. 

He is assumed to have been the son of his predecessor Djer. The name of his mother is not known. With Merneith identified as the mother of Horus Den, Djet’s successor, it can be assumed that Den was Djet’s son.
He may have had at least one more wife, Ahaneith, whose name has been found on a stela in his tomb.

He founded an estate named Wadj-Her which was administered by Iri-aawi and Sewadjka
Pottery from Palestine found in tombs at Tarkhan and Saqqara, both in the Memphite region, dated to Djet’s reign bear witness to intensive trading between Egypt and Palestine. His name has also been found near Aswan, in the south of Egypt, which may have been part of a trading route to the Red Sea.

Djet was buried in a tomb, now labeled as Tomb Z at Umm el-Qa’ab, to the southwest of the tomb of his predecessor. The actual tomb is slightly smaller and follows a similar layout to Djer’s, but it is surrounded by more subsidiary graves.


© Jacques Kinnaer 1997 - 2023