amadeo-child-of-the-renaissance:

//As somebody who got their last mark/grade on all of their egyptology exams at the University today and finally passed, I want to set my inner history nerd free:

(sources are to be found at the bottom or within the text)

Enkil is supposed to be a predynastic King.

So what is the Predynastic Era to begin with?
According to most historians that would be the Neolithic period (a.k.a. New Stone Age!), beginning ca. 6000 BC, with the first human settlements known in the area and ending around 3100 BC, with the first Pharaoh (= Narmer/Menes).

That’s right. Enkil’s reign as a predynastic king could very roughly(!) be placed somewhere in between 6000 BC to 3100 BC.
For reference and amusement:  the creation of writing is roughly to be sat about 5000 years ago (which marks the beginning of history).

Now, we can’t have the Father of all Vampires be Stone Age man, can we?
Let’s try to narrow that time frame down a bit:

I think, since Anne Rice describes some sort of a holding of court, we are pretty safe in ruling the time of the earliest settlements out (little mud brick houses consisting of only one window-less room for a whole family and the earliest form of homo sapiens as subject just don’t make for an epic court to rule over.)

Egyptologists speak of a so called Naqada culture, spanning from ca. 4400 BC to 3000 BC, which can be divided into the following three parts:

1. Naqada I (4400-3500 BC) -> almost no refined artwork/craftsmanship
2. Naqada II (3500-3200 BC) -> first metalworking (meteoritical iron)
3. Naqada III (3200-3000 BC)

We can skip the first two Naqada periods, since there wasn’t really any (known) form of sovereignty comparable to the rule of a king.

Which leads us to Naqada III:
Naqada III is also referred to as Dynasty 0 or the Protodynastic Period.

Here is the issue with chronology within the subject of Egyptology: When the early egyptologists tried to name dynasties there were multiple debates and, like every time when too many big egos are involved, things went wrong. To make things short:
There is now a time called “Zero Dynasty” (which comes before the 1st dyn.), which might be characterized as Predynastic by some and Early Dynastic by others.

There were kings in Naqada III, but they weren’t part of a dynasty yet (hence Protodynastic or Predynastic). Most of them were most likely not related (a dynasty is the succession of kings of the same blood line), but fighting for dominion with each other.
The above mentioned King Narmer (aka Menes) is thought to be the last King of that period and the first Pharaoh of the 1st dynasty (He had been the first known King to unify Egypt).

In conclusion, Enkil’s reign should precede Narmer, but still be set in Naqada III, around 3200-3100 BC.

(We managed to narrow his reign down to 100 years, yay!)

There are, actually, some known Kings from that time that could give us an example for Enkil’s reign, or – which I find very interesting – a possible alias. Stay with me for a bit longer.

9 of them ruled in Lower Egypt, but only one can be placed in Naqada III for sure (forgive me for leaving out the rest):
That King is known as “Double Falcon”, after the depiction of his crest (they didn’t use cartouches by then but crests known as serekh and the historians named them after the depicted animals). Some say he might also have ruled in Upper Egypt.
3 kings are known to have ruled Upper Egypt during Naqada III:
“Elephant”, “Bull” and “Scorpion I.”

Bull was probably the predecessor of Scorpion I., whose successor is believed to have been Double Falcon and later a king names Iry-Hor (late 32th dynasty.Iry-Hor is the earliest ruler of Egypt known by name and possibly the earliest historical person known by name).
No one knows for sure where to place Elephant.
All of them are believed to have lived during the early 32th century BC (which allows us to place them near the year 3200 BC to 3150 BC).

Iry-Hor was succeeded by “Ka”/”Sekhen”, who was probably succeeded by “Scorpion II.” or, more probable, by Narmer himself.

Now we have a sorry excuse of a chronology of rulers close to Enkil’s mortal years, ending with Narmer:

• Bull
• Scorpion I.
• Double Falcon
• Iry-Hor
• Ka (Sekhen)
• Scorpion II. or Narmer (Menes)

As you can see, there is a line of succession, albeit not one you should bet on, since egyptologists are still not 100% sure about the line of succession.
BUT: Where to place Elephant?

Elephant (maybe read as Pen-abw) is the provisional name of a predynastic ruler. But since the incarved rock inscriptions and ivory tags showing his name are either drawn sloppily, or lacking any royal crest, the reading and thus whole existence of king “Elephant” are highly disputed.

Egyptian Kings had many different names:

• Horus name
• Nebty-name
• Golden Horus name
• Throne name
• their personal name

Here is a headcanon for you:

Enkil was the Pharaoh, whose throne-name was Pen-abu (“Great one from the (throne) seat”) how fitting.
Historians how call him “Elephant” and he was the predecessor of “Bull”, one of the earliest rulers of Naqada III period, in the early 32. dynasty.

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