The Serekh as an Aspect of the Iconography of Early Kingship

Abstract

What is a serekh? The straightforward answer is that it is a way of writing the king's name. It (usually) consists of three elements: at the bottom, a section of niched facade; above this, a panel in which the king's name is written and, sitting on top of all this, a falcon. This is the classic design.1 At times the falcon is joined by a Seth animal or replaced by one, or is entirely absent, or is joined by a second falcon.2 This might seem a straightforward motif, as the involvement of each element is fairly easy to explain. The niched facade probably represents a large building associated with the king his palace perhaps, or his tomb; and either would serve to represent the monarch's wealth, power and authority. These associations would be easily and rapidly understood by the viewer. The panel above is space in which to write the name itself, but probably goes back to an architectural element (if we ar to assume that the serekh is a represe tation of some kind of building as mentioned above and to be discussed further be-

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