iry-hor

”So what about Iry-Hor?”I peeked at the next name in the king list.

”Who?” Mr Mummific clearly had no idea what I was talking about.

”Well it says here there that before the actual dynastic time there was a king with that name”, I pointed at the screen,  as if Mr Mummific could read a word of our writing.

Well, he still tried to look as if he could, as it would have been embarrassing for a pharaoh to show ignorance. 

writing of iry-hor's name

”Hmm… ”Mr Mummific tapped his chin with his finger (of course there was no real sound, both the finger and the chin being wrapped in linen), ”Not sure I know of him. You know the kings’ names were written in a serekh in the early days… And I have never seen his name written in one.” ”But his name was written with the falcon Horus hieroglyph like kings’ names used to be…” I pointed out. ”Quite… Also in the earliest times the style of writing was not quite as settled as it was later. Whatever the case, I have heard he lives in the oldest parts of the Duat, and complains the younger folks understand nothing of old values, and doesn’t want to be much in contact with them. I never went to meet him. If he wants to live alone without the company of younger people, then let him”,  Mr Mummific said.

Mr Mummific and Iry-Hor's name

I tried not to smile at the “younger” mummy in the chair.

”Also he is peeved about the fact his tomb in Abydos did not do well with time – only a few jar fragments survived, with his name written on them, Mr Mummific pondered, "He was buried near Ka and Narmer and other First Dynasty kings, and I think he might have been the predecessor of Ka.  But why his tomb had shards of pottery with the names of Ka and Narmer I don’t know. Maybe tomb robbers  brought them there, the damned ones…”

And this was the end of our discussion of this pharaoh, as Mr Mummific was clearly upset about tomb robbers and started swearing under his dry breath and calling them all sorts of names, which I am sure were horrible and insulting, but as I did not understand his language that well, the finer nuances of the insults eluded me.

(I will not write here more of the curses Mr Mummific continued to say about the tomb robbers in a language I could understand. I do wish to keep this a family friendly site, and as the curses were rather expressive, and of a rather foul language even Captain Haddock would have envied, we shall just move on to the next king, which is Ka / Sekhen.)

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The photograph of Iry-Hor's name held by Mummific is from Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iry_Hor_name.jpg, and shared under Creative Commons lisence.