Khendjer c. 1756–1751 BC
A 13th Dynasty king who reigned for about five years, his dates only approximate. He built a small pyramid at South Saqqara, and its black granite capstone, carved with his names and found broken by Gustave Jéquier, is in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. His name may be a foreign word, often read as "boar", which has led some scholars to think his family came from western Asia.
Throne name: Userkare
wsr-kꜣ-rꜥ: “The ka of Ra is strong”
Sign by sign
- Sun N5rꜥ The sun, the sun god Ra. Day.
- Head and neck of a canine F12wsr Strong, powerful.
- Folded cloth S29s The sound s.
- Raised arms D28kꜣ The ka, a person's life force.
Birth name: Khendjer
ḫnḏr: “Boar”
Probably a foreign word. The meaning "boar" is a scholars' guess.
Sign by sign
- Placenta Aa1ḫ The sound ḫ.
- Ripple of water N35n The sound n. Also means 'of, to'.
- Bundle of flax stems M36ḏr The sound ḏr, as in ḏr 'since, limit'.
- Mouth D21r The sound r. Also means 'mouth'.
Where to see Khendjer's name today
Egyptian Museum, Cairo
The Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square holds some of the most important inscribed objects in Egypt, from the Narmer Palette, with one of the first royal names, to the Merneptah Stela, with the first mention of Israel. You can follow the script here from its beginnings to long New Kingdom texts.
SiteSaqqara
Saqqara has the oldest religious texts carved in Egypt, the Pyramid Texts of Unas, and Old Kingdom tombs whose walls are covered with captioned scenes of daily life. It is the best place in Egypt to read hieroglyphs from the age of the pyramids.
MuseumLouvre, Paris
The Louvre's Department of Egyptian Antiquities, mostly in the Sully wing, holds a whole Old Kingdom tomb chapel, the cartouches of several kings on one sphinx and a painted stela you can read sign by sign. Champollion himself was its first curator.
Names of gods (Ra, Amun, Ptah) are written first out of respect, even when they are read later. Dates are approximate; we follow Ian Shaw (ed.), The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000).