QAA

Male - Yes, date unknown


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  • Name QAA  
    Gender Male 
    _UID 9785FF6BC8E7E8468F15D36C1BD811FB4599 
    Death Yes, date unknown 
    Notes 
    • Personal name meaning, his arm is raised. 8th King of the 1st Egyptian Dynasty, Qa’a, meaning "His Arm is Raised," succeeded Semerkhet, and was the last king of this 1st dynasty and reigned for 26 years. Qaa built the last tomb and funerary enclosure at Abydos until the last two kings of the 2nd Dynasty returned to build their own tombs there. Several large mastabas at North Saqqara are dated to his reign, and a fragment of a siltstone bowl from Saqqara which mentions the king’s second Sed-festival, suggesting Qaa’s reign may have been a long one.

      Year labels discovered at his tomb record events from the royal progress to the collection of timber, from the foundation of a religious building to the celebration of cultic festivals, such as the running of the Apis bull and the festival of Sokar.

      A rock-cut inscription near the city of el-Kab in Upper Egypt shows Qaa’s serekh facing a figure of the regnal goddess Nekhbet.

      Most scholars believe that Qa'a was the last king of the 1st dynasty. We may also see his name as Kaa, or several other variations. Though Egyptologists often disagree on dating, our current best guess is that he lived from about 3100 to 2890 BC.

      While this information on Qa'a is highly limited, until Dreyer and Kaiser analysis their data and provide us with more information, little else is known of this early Egyptian Pharaoh.. He was probably buried in Tomb Q at Abydos, where two typical royal funerary stelae bearing his name were found on the east side of the tomb. This tomb has been excavated on a number of different occasions, first by Emile Amelineau in the 1890s, then Flinders Petrie and in 1991, by Gunther Dreyer and Werner Kaiser. The work done by this later German team revealed many small artifacts and architectural details that had been overlooked by earlier excavations. These include thirty inscribed labels that describe the delivery of oil, probably made from berries or tree resins, and probably from the Syria-Palestine area.

      Seal impressions and artifacts have also been discovered in Tomb Q with the name of Hetepsekhemwy, the first pharaoh of the second dynasty. This suggests that Hetepsekhemwy completed Tomb Q, and that there was no real break between the first and second dynasties of Egypt. The change in dynasties from the first to the second was originally reported by Manetho without explanation.

      We also know of four tombs in Saqqara that date to this kings reign. The lower part of two wooden statues were found in one of these tombs in a set of rooms on the north side. Some scholars believe this may have been an offering chapel, and that the mortuary temple in pyramid complexes may have evolved from this structure.

      Egyptologists have also discovered the stelae of two of Qa'a's officials, Merka and Sabef. These stelae have more complex inscriptions then earlier hieroglyphics, and may have signaled in increasing sophistication in the use of this writing.
    Person ID I4858  z-Bible Genealogy
    Last Modified 24 Dec 2007 

    Family ID F2073  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 29 Jul 2019