Khaba
| Khaba | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Huni ? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![Serekh of Khaba on a diorite bowl of unknown provenance, Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, UC 15800.[1]](/wiki/File:KhabaCloseUp.jpg) Serekh of Khaba on a diorite bowl of unknown provenance, Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, UC 15800.[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pharaoh | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reign | 6 years (Turin canon) ca. 2630 BC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor | Sekhemkhet or Sanakht | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Successor | Huni (most likely) or Sanakht, Qahedjet | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Burial | Layer Pyramid at Zawyet el'Aryan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monuments | Layer Pyramid | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dynasty | Later 3rd Dynasty | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Khaba (also read as Hor-Khaba) was an ancient Egyptian king (pharaoh) of 3rd dynasty during the Old Kingdom. His chronological position is highly unsure and it's also unclear, under which Hellenized name the ancient historian Manetho could have listed him. The only clear attestation on Khaba is his unfinished pyramid at Zawyet el-Aryan.
Reign
This king is mentioned in the Turin King List as Hudjefa, "missing" or "erased", which may imply that there were dynastic problems during his reign, or that the scribe working on this list was unable to fully decipher the name from the more ancient records being copied. It has also been suggested that Khaba may be the Horus name of the last king of the Third Dynasty, Huni, and that the two kings are the same person. However, the Egyptologist Jacques Kinnaer remarked that the Turin Canon assigns him a brief reign of 6 years when Huni is attributed over 20 years of reign.[2]
Khaba's name, typically displayed within a serekh rather than the more typical cartouche form established by the end of this dynasty, was written using the sign of a rising sun that had the sound value of kha, and a Saddle-billed Stork that had the sound value of ba. His name translates as "The Soul Appears."[3]
Pyramid
Khaba is commonly associated with the Layer Pyramid, located at Zawyet el'Aryan, about 2 km south of Giza. It is an unfinished pyramid whose construction is typical of Third Dynasty masonry and would have originally risen about 42-45m in height (it is now about 20m). While there were no inscriptions directly relating the pyramid to this king, he is attested in four or perhaps five sites and eight alabaster bowls inscribed with the king's serekh were discovered nearby in Mastaba Z-500 located just north of the pyramid.[4]
Finds associated to Khaba
-
Dolomite bowl bearing Khaba's serekh. Originally from Zawiyet el-Aryan, now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston -
Clay seal of Khaba UC 11755
