Weneg (or Uneg), also known as Weneg-Nebty, is the throne name of an early Egyptian king who ruled during the Second Dynasty. Although his chronological position is clear to Egyptologists, it is unclear how long King Weneg ruled. It is also unclear which of the archaeologically identified Horus-kings corresponds to Weneg.
Name sources and contradictions
The name “Weneg” is generally accepted as a nebti- or throne name, introduced by the crest of the Two Ladies (the goddesses Nekhbet and Wadjet) and the sedge-and-bee-crest. Weneg’s name appears in black ink inscriptions on alabaster fragments and in inscriptions on schist vessels. Seventeen vessels bearing his name have been preserved; eleven were found in the underground galleries beneath the step pyramid of king Djoser at Sakkara. Egyptologists such as Wolfgang Helck and Francesco Tiradritti point out that all the inscriptions are made in the place of existing inscriptions, which means that the names initially placed on the vessels were completely different.
The symbol used to write Weneg’s name is the object of significant dispute between Egyptologists today. The so-called “weneg flower” is rarely used in Egyptian writing. Mysteriously, the weneg flower is often guided by six vertical “strokes, ” three on each side of the flower bud. The meaning of these strokes is unknown. After Weneg’s death, his heraldic flower was not used again until king Teti (6th dynasty), when it was used in his pyramid texts to name a “Weneg” like a sky and death deity, which was addressed with “Son of Ra” and “follower of the deceased king”. So it seems that the weneg flower was somehow connected with the Egyptian sun and death cult. But the true meaning of the flower as a king’s name remains unknown.
Identification
Since Weneg’s name first became known to Egyptologists, scholars have tried to match the nebti name of Weneg to contemporary Horus-kings. The following sections discuss some of the theories.
Weneg corresponds to Hor-Nebre (or Raneb)
Egyptologist Jochem Kahl argues that Weneg was the same person as king Raneb, the second ruler of the 2nd dynasty. He points to a vessel fragment made from an igneous material, which was found in the tomb of king Peribsen (a later ruler of the 2nd dynasty) at Abydos. He believed he had found weak but unmistakable traces of the weneg flower on the pot shard beneath the inscribed name of king Nynetjer. On the right side of Ninetjer’s name, the depiction of the Ka house of king Raneb is partially preserved. The complete arrangement led Kahl to conclude that the weneg flower and Raneb’s name were connected, and king Ninetjer later replaced the inscription. Kahl also points out that king Ninetjer wrote his name mirrored so that his name points in the opposite direction to Raneb‘s name. Kahl’s theory is the subject of continuing debate since the vessel inscription is badly damaged and thus leaves plenty of room for varying interpretations.
Weneg corresponds to Hor-Sekhemib-Perenmaat
Egyptologists such as Nicolas Grimal, Wolfgang Helck and Walter Bryan Emery identify Weneg with king Sekhemib-Perenmaat and the Ramesside royal cartouche-name Wadjenes. Their theory is based on the assumption that Sekhemib and Seth-Peribsen were different rulers and that both were the immediate successors of king Ninetjer. But this theory is not commonly accepted because clay seals of Sekhemib were found in the tomb of King Khasekhemwy, the last ruler of the 2nd dynasty. The clay seals set Sekhemib’s reign close to Khasekhemwy’s, whilst the Ramesside name “Wadjenes” is placed near the beginning of the 2nd dynasty.
Weneg as an independent ruler
Egyptologists such as Peter Kaplony and Richard Weill argue that Weneg was a separate king from other kings of the period. They suggest that Weneg succeeded Ninetjer, and his name is preserved in Ramesside king lists under the name “Wadjenes”. Their assumption is firstly based on the widely accepted theory that Ramesside scribes interchanged the weneg flower with the papyrus haulm, changing it into the name “Wadjenes”. Secondly, Kaplony and Weill’s approach is based on the inscription on the Cairo stone. They believe that the name “Wenegsekhemwy” is preserved over the third line of year events. This theory is also not widely accepted, as the Cairo stone is badly damaged, and the fragile traces of the hieroglyphs leave too much room for different interpretations.
Reign of Weneg
Little is known about Weneg’s reign. The vessel inscriptions mentioning his name only show reports about ceremonial events, such as the “raising of the pillars of Horus”. This feast is frequently reported on vessels from Ninetjer’s reign, which brings Weneg’s chronological position very close to that of Ninetjer.
The length of Weneg’s rulership is unknown. If he was the same person as king Wadjenes, he ruled (according to the Royal Canon of Turin) for 54 years. If Weneg was the same person as king “Tlas”, mentioned by the historian Manetho, he ruled for 17 years. But modern Egyptologists have doubts about both statements and evaluate them as misinterpretations or exaggerations. If Weneg was a separate ruler, as Richard Weill and Peter Kaplony believe, he may have ruled for 12 years, depending on their reconstructions of the Cairo stone inscriptions.
One theory suggests that Egypt’s once unified kingdom was divided into two parts after Ninetjer’s death. Consequently, for a period after king Weneg’s death, two kings ruled at the same time over Egypt, suggesting that Weneg was an independent ruler. This assumption is based on the observation that both the Thinite and Memphite king lists of the Ramesside era mention the names “Wadjenes” and “Senedj” as the immediate successors of king Ninetjer. The Abydos king lists, for example, mention only six kings for the 2nd dynasty, whilst all the other king lists cite nine kings. So Weneg may have been the last king who had ruled over the whole of Egypt before sharing his throne (and control over Egypt) with another king. It remains unclear who the other king may have been. Weneg’s successor may have been Senedj, but even that is uncertain in this shadowy period of the 2nd dynasty of Egypt.
