Theories
There are several theories regarding his identity. Some argue that, because Egyptian kings of the First Dynasty seem to have had multiple names, Scorpion was the same person as Narmer, simply with an alternative name. Others have identified the king Scorpion with Narmer's predecessor, Ka (or Sekhen); Edwards in 1965 considered Ka's glyph, the outstretched arms of the ka sign, as simply a stylistically different version of a scorpion. The historian Susan Wise Bauer maintains that Scorpion II and Narmer were indeed two separate kings, but that Scorpion II reigned in 3200 BC, a century before Narmer. Because Scorpion II is not attested at Abydos, he could be a contemporary king to Narmer, who eventually lost or bequeathed Nekhen to Narmer.
A British television programme proposed that the macehead was a tribute by Narmer to King Scorpion I (whose tomb at Abydos is known). According to this theory, there was only one protodynastic king Scorpion, rather than two as is commonly maintained.
Read more about this topic: King Scorpion
Famous quotes containing the word theories:
“The theories and speculations of men concern us more than their puny accomplishment. It is with a certain coldness and languor that we loiter about the actual and so-called practical.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Philosophers of science constantly discuss theories and representation of reality, but say almost nothing about experiment, technology, or the use of knowledge to alter the world. This is odd, because ‘experimental method’ used to be just another name for scientific method.... I hope [to] initiate a Back-to-Bacon movement, in which we attend more seriously to experimental science. Experimentation has a life of its own.”
—Ian Hacking (b. 1936)
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—D.H. (David Herbert)