Ivory label for King Den's sandals

From Abydos, Egypt
Early Dynastic period, mid-1st Dynasty, around 2985 BC

Probably originally attached to a pair of sandals

Most ivory plaques dating to the First Dynasty were made as labels; the pair of sandals incised on the back of this one indicates that it was a label for sandals, which were extremely prestigious items. Such labels were usually decorated with representations of important events and this example shows Den, the fifth king of the First Dynasty, about to bring his mace down on the head of his vanquished enemy.

This label is one of the few sources for information about activity inside or outside Egypt in the Early Dynastic period. The hieroglyphs on the label read 'first occasion of smiting the East'. That the enemy is an Easterner is indicated by his long locks and pointed beard. Such illustrations are a standard way of depicting kings and do not necessarily mean that any such campaign ever took place. Kings are shown, over a period of 2,000 years, smiting Libyan chiefs - all with the same name! However, all standard motifs must have a prototype, and, being one of the earliest known, this example may very well refer to a real historical event.

E.R. Russmann, Eternal Egypt: masterworks of (University of California Press, 2001)

R. Parkinson, Cracking codes: the Rosetta St (London, The British Museum Press, 1999)

A.J. Spencer, Catalogue of Egyptian antiqu-4 (London, The British Museum Press, 1980)

A.J. Spencer, Early Egypt, The rise of civil (London, The British Museum Press, 1993)

S. Quirke and A.J. Spencer, The British Museum book of anc (London, The British Museum Press, 1992)