PREHISTORIC EGYPT (as of approx 1900) (15)

The ancient temple, which was probably one of the earliest seats of Egyptian civilization, was situated on a mound, now known as el-Kom el-ahmar, "the Red Hill," from its colour. The chief feature of the most ancient temple seems to have been a circular mound, revetted by a wall of sandstone blocks, which was apparently erected about the end of the predynastic period. Upon this a shrine was probably erected. This was the ancient shrine of Nekhen, the cradle of the Egyptian monarchy. Close by it were found some of the most valuable relics of the earliest
Pharaonic age, the great ceremonial mace-heads and vases of Narmer and "the Scorpion," the shields or "palettes" of the same Narmer, the vases and stelas of Kh?sekhemui, and, of later date, the splendid copper colossal group of King Pepi I and his son, which is now at Cairo. Most
of the 1st Dynasty objects are preserved in the Ashmo-lean Museum at Oxford, which is one of the best centres for the study of early Egyptian antiquities. Narmer and Khesekhemui are, as we shall see, two of the first monarchs of all Egypt. These sculptured and inscribed mace-heads,
shields, etc., are monuments dedicated by them in the ancestral shrine at Hierakonpolis as records of their deeds. Both kings seem to have waged war against the Northerners, the Anu of Heliopolis and the Delta, and on these votive monuments from Hierakonpolis we find
hieroglyphed records of the defeat of the Anu, who have very definitely Semitic physiognomies.

On one shield or palette we see Narmer clubbing a man of Semitic appearance, who is called the "Only One of the Marsh" (Delta), while below two other Semites fly, seeking "fortress protection." Above is a figure of a hawk, symbolizing the Upper Egyptian king, holding a rope
which is passed through the nose of a Semitic head, while behind is a sign which may be read as "the North," so that the whole symbolizes the leading away of the North into captivity by the king of the South. It is significant, in view of what has been said above with regard to the
probable Semitic origin of the Heliopolitan Northerners, to find the people typical of the North land represented by the Southerners as Semites. Equally Semitic is the overthrown Northerner on the other side of this well-known monument which we are describing; he is being trampled under the hoofs and gored by the horns of a bull, who, like the hawk, symbolizes the king. The royal bull has broken down the wall of a fortified enclosure, in which is the hut or tent of the Semite, and the bricks lie about promiscuously.