King Den's sandal label
From Abydos, Egypt, Early Dynastic period,
mid-1st Dynasty, around 2985 BC
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.
Labels such as these 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.
The name of the king is written in the rectangular frame in
front of his face, with the figure of a falcon, a symbol of
royalty, above. The hieroglyphs behind the king give the name of
one of his high officials, Inka.
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 right-hand side of the label read 'first
occasion of smiting the East'. That the enemy is an Easterner is
indicated by his long locks and pointed beard. The gravel-spotted
desert which serves as a ground-line rises to a hill on the right,
suggestive of Egyptian depictions of foreign lands.
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.
Ancient Egypt
