Hor-Aha

The commonly used name Hor-Aha is a rendering of the pharaoh's Horus-name, an element of the royal titulary associated with the god Horus, and is more fully given as Horus-Aha meaning Horus the Fighter.[1]

Manetho's record Aegyptiaca (translating to History of Egypt) lists his Greek name as Athothis, or "Athotís".

For the Early Dynastic Period, the archaeological record refers to the pharaohs by their Horus-names, while the historical record, as evidenced in the Turin and Abydos king lists, uses an alternative royal titulary, the nebty-name.[1][2] The different titular elements of a pharaoh's name were often used in isolation, for brevity's sake, although the choice varied according to circumstance and period.[2]

Mainstream Egyptological consensus follows the findings of Flinders Petrie in reconciling the two records and connects Hor-Aha (archaeological) with the nebty-name Ity (historical).[1][2][3]

Inscription bearing Hor-Aha's serekh together with a Nebty-name expressed with the game-board hieroglyph, which could be read mn.

The same process has led to the identification of the historical Menes (a nebty-name) with Narmer (a Horus-name) evidenced in the archaeological record (both figures are credited with the unification of Egypt and as the first pharaoh of Dynasty I) as the predecessor of Hor-Aha (the second pharaoh).[1][2][3]

There has been some controversy about Hor-Aha. Some[4] believe him to be the same individual as the legendary Menes and that he was the one to unify all of Egypt. Others claim he was the son of Narmer, the pharaoh who unified Egypt. Narmer and Menes may have been one pharaoh, referred to with more than one name. Regardless, considerable historical evidence from the period points to Narmer as the pharaoh who first unified Egypt (see Narmer Palette) and to Hor-Aha as his son and heir.

Seal impressions discovered by Günter Dreyer in the Umm El Qa'ab from Den and Qa'a burials identify Hor-Aha as the second pharaoh of the first dynasty.[5] His predecessor Narmer had united Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt into a single kingdom, Upper and Lower Egypt. Hor-Aha probably ascended the throne in the mid 31st century BC.

Hor-Aha seems to have conducted many religious activities. A visit to a shrine of the goddess Neith is recorded on several tablets from his reign.[6] The sanctuary of Neith he visited was located in the north-west of the Nile Delta at Sais.[7] Furthermore, the first known representation of the sacred Henu-barque of the god Seker- was found engraved on a year tablet dating from his reign.[8]

Mastaba attributed to Neithhotep which is believed to have been built by Hor-Aha.

Vessel inscriptions, labels and sealings from the graves of Hor-Aha and Queen Neithhotep suggest that this queen died during the reign of Aha. He arranged for her burial in a magnificent mastaba excavated by Jacques de Morgan.[9] Queen Neithhotep is plausibly Aha's mother[10] The selection of the cemetery of Naqada as the resting place of Neithhotep is a strong indication that she came from this province. This, in turn, supports the view that Narmer married a member of the ancient royal line of Naqada to strengthen the domination of the Thinite kings over the region.[7] However, in January 2016, a rock inscription has demonstrated that Neithhotep was actually a queen regent early during the reign of Djer, Hor-Aha's successor.[11] Therefore, the cemetery evidence above only proves that Neithhotep did live during the reign of Hor-Aha but succeeded him into Djer's reign.

Most importantly, the oldest mastaba at the North Saqqara necropolis of Memphis dates to his reign. The mastaba belongs to an elite member of the administration who may have been a relative of Hor-Aha, as was customary at the time.[7] This is a strong indication of the growing importance of Memphis during Aha's reign.

Few artifacts remain of Hor-Aha's reign. However, the finely executed copper-axe heads, faience vessel fragments,[12] ivory box and inscribed white marbles all testify to the flourishing of craftsmanship during Aha's time in power.[7]

Inscription on an ivory tablet from Abydos suggests that Hor-Aha led an expedition against the Nubians. On a year tablet, a year is explicitly called 'Year of smiting of Ta-Sety' (i.e. Nubia).[13]

During Hor-Aha's reign, trade with the Southern Levant seems to have been on the decline. Contrary to his predecessor Narmer, Hor-Aha is not attested outside of the Nile Valley. This may point to a gradual replacement of long-distance trade between Egypt and its eastern neighbors by a more direct exploitation of the local resources by the Egyptians. Vessel fragment analysis from an Egyptian outpost at En Besor suggests that it was active during Hor-Aha's reign. Other Egyptian settlements are known to have been active at the time as well (Byblos and along the Lebanese coast). Finally, Hor-Aha's tomb yielded vessel fragments from the Southern Levant.[14]

According to the Egyptian priest Manetho (who lived over 2,600 years after Hor-Aha's reign), Aha built a palace in Memphis and was a skilled physician who wrote multiple books on anatomy.[15]