Ta-Seti

Ta-Seti (Ancient Egyptian: tꜣ-sty, likely meaning "Land of the Bow") was the first nome (administrative division) of Upper Egypt.^[1] Situated at the southern border with Nubia, Ta-Seti played a crucial role in trade, military operations, and cultural exchange between Egypt and Nubia. The term "Ta-Seti" could also broadly refer to the Nubian region itself, highlighting close association between the two.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]}

Ta-Seti in hieroglyphs

Each nome was governed by a nomarch (provincial governor), who reported directly to the pharaoh. The size of Ta-Seti was approximately 5.5 hectares (2 cha-ta) in area and 112 kilometers (10.5 iteru) in length, likely referring to its extent along the Nile.^[8] The main city (Niwt) was Abu (Elephantine, modern Aswan), and other significant cities included Philae (P'aaleq), Syene (Sunet, modern Aswan), and Kom Ombo (Pa-Sebek). Each major city had a Het net (temple) dedicated to the chief deity and a Heqa het (nomarch's residence), reflecting the administrative and religious importance of these centers.^[9]

The primary deity of Ta-Seti was Horus, with other major deities including Anuket, Arensnuphis, Hathor, Isis, Khnum, Mandulis, Satet, and Sobek. These deities reflect a blend of Egyptian and Nubian religious traditions, indicative of the region's cultural synthesis. For instance, Anuket and Satet were particularly important due to their association with the Nile and its life-giving properties.^[10] Today, the area is part of the Aswan Governorate.

The Prophecy of Neferti, a literary text from the Middle Kingdom, mentions that Amenemhat I's mother, founder of the Twelfth Dynasty, was from Ta-Seti (Elephantine). Some scholars interpret this to suggest a possible Nubian origin,^[11] based on Elephantine's location and cultural interactions.^[12][13] Other scholars such as Frank Yurco have interpreted the portraiture of Twelfth Dynasty pharaohs as evidence of strong, Nubian features.^[14]

In the 1960s, excavations at Qustul, a site in Lower Nubia (now south Egypt), uncovered royal tombs and artifacts predating Egypt’s First Dynasty. Among these discoveries was the Qustul incense burner, which features an image of a Nubian king wearing the White Crown of Upper Egypt, suggesting that the royal symbolism of Egyptian pharaohs originated in Ta-Seti rather than in Egypt itself.^[15][16]

Some scholars suggest that Ta-Seti was part of an early Nubian civilization that predated Ancient Egypt, with claims of a unified monarchy existing as early as 3800 BC.^[17][18] Archaeologist Bruce Williams (1986) argued that Nubian polities, including Ta-Seti, developed centralized leadership before Egypt and that early Egyptian rulers may have adopted Nubian traditions rather than the other way around. This challenges traditional narratives that separate Egypt from its Nubian origins.^[19][20]

This theory has been directly contradicted by more recent discoveries at Abydos in Upper Egypt which prove that the Egyptian monarchy predates the tombs at Qustul, and that the Qustul rulers probably adopted/emulated the symbols of Egyptian pharaohs.^{[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]} The archaeological cemeteries at Qustul are no longer available for excavations since the flooding of Lake Nasser.^[29] According to David Wengrow, the A-Group polity of the late 4th millenninum BCE is poorly understood since most of the archaeological remains are submerged underneath Lake Nasser.^[30]

In 2023, historian Christopher Ehret re-examined the archaeological findings of Bruce Williams. He argued that William’s findings were challenged at the time of discovery due to long-held assumptions of ancient Egypt “as somehow in but not of Africa”. Ehret cited recent work which revealed the Qustul state was more influential than initially suggested by Williams.^[31] Ehret also wrote that:

“The Qustul elite and ruler in the second half of the fourth millennium participated together with their counterparts in the communities of the Naqada culture of southern Egypt in creating the emerging culture and paraphernalia of pharaonic culture”.^[32]

The genealogy below lists nomarchs from the 12th Dynasty. The nomarchs are underlined. The exact relationships between these nomarchs are not fully known, and the genealogy is based on interpretations of inscriptions and historical records.^[33]

• About the nomoi of Egypt
• Detailed map of the nomois
• Hieroglyphs of the nomoi Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine