King Scorpion

Scorpion, or Selk, also King Scorpion or Scorpion II refers to the second of two kings so-named of Upper Egypt during the Protodynastic Period. Their names may refer to the scorpion goddess Serket. The name of the queen who was his consort was Shesh I, the mother of Narmer and the great-grandmother of another queen, Shesh II.

The only pictorial evidence of his existence is the so-called Scorpion Macehead that was found in the Main deposit by archeologists James E. Quibell and Frederick W. Green in a temple at Nekhen (Hierakonpolis) during the dig season of 1897/1898. It is currently on display at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. The stratigraphy of this macehead was lost due to the methods of its excavators, but its style seems to date it to the very end of the Predynastic Period. Though badly damaged, the visible parts are extraordinary records from this early time in Egyptian history. He is believed to have lived just before or during the rule of Narmer at Thinis for this reason, and also because of the content of the macehead.