Neferkaseker

Cartouche of Neferkaseker
After Sened three kings do not appear on the Abydos list, and Neferkaseker is one of them. In the lists from Sakkara (from the tomb of Áaka) and in the royal Canon from the Turin papyrus he is attested by his neswy-bity name, but his Horus-name within a serek has not been base. A cylinder seal opinion from him base in a unknown place in the Nile Valley points good similarities in style and composition to the one of Peribsen from Milan, a piece that has been questioned. If this impression containing two cartouches with his name written in different ways (picture above right) is genuine and modern, it would be the second oldest known cartouche with a king's name found in Egypt so far.

Being a pharaoh not so well known (i.e. more or less unknown), Egyptologists have found a remarkable papyrus fragment from the second century A.D. written by demotic hieroglyphs.  It deals with prospecting a temple in the Faiyum area and has a visible though damaged text that has been interpreted as: Na w-nfr-ka-skr by some scholars (picture left). The roll of the king in this text is not quite detectable, but the preparation of the building can have been guided by a sketch or depiction from Neferkaseker's time as a prototype. If so, that means an impressive persistence in the archives from the Department of Royal Constructions, spanning for 3000 years.

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