Khaba and the Unfinished Experiments of Egypt’s Third Dynasty
Khaba or Hor-Khaba was a pharaoh of Ancient Egypt and active during the 3rd Dynasty of the Old Kingdom period. The exact time during which Khaba ruled is unknowng but may have been around 2670 BC and almost definitely towards the end of the dynasty. King Khaba is considered to be difficult to assess as a figure of ancient Egypt. His name is archaeologically well-attested by stone bowls and mud seal impressions. Khaba’s reign is securely dated to the Third Dynasty. Because of the contradictions within Ramesside king lists and the lack of contemporary, festive inscriptions, his exact chronological position within the dynasty remains disputed.
These problems originate in part from contradictory king lists, which were all compiled long after Khaba’s death, especially during the Ramesside era (which is separated from the Third Dynasty by 1,400 years). It is also a matter of debate as to where Khaba might have been buried. Many Egyptologists and archaeologists propose that an unfinished Layer Pyramid at Zawyet el’Aryan belongs to him. Others believe instead that his tomb is a large mastaba close to the Layer Pyramid, where numerous stone vessels bearing Khaba’s serekh have been found.
Khaba Village
Attestations or Evidences
Khaba’s name appears on nine polished stone bowls, variously made of magnesite, travertine, and diorite, which were found at the archaeological locales of Zawyet el’Aryan, Abusir, and Naga-ed-Deir. The bowls were found mostly intact; they show only the king’s serekh name on their polished surfaces. As was conventional at the time they were made, they contain no additional inscriptions for context.
Khaba
His name also appears on several mud seal impressions found at Quesna (in the Delta), Zawyet el’Aryan, Hierakonpolis, and Elephantine. Most of the mud seals were excavated at modern-day Elephantine; more of them may lie under the garden of the current museum of Elephantine. These seal impressions bear more inscriptions than the stone bowls, most of the seals are only preserved as small fragments and their surfaces have been roughened over the years.
The Identity and Name of Khaba
His Royal name
He is known primarily through his Horus name, which appears on stone vessels and seal impressions. Unlike later kings, he is absent from most complete king lists, making his placement within the Third Dynasty a subject of scholarly debate.
Some historians say that he is the same person as Hudjefa and some take him to be a different, short-lived king. What remains consistent is that Khaba was recognized as a legitimate ruler during his lifetime, with royal titulary and administrative control.
His name is inscribed in a serekh that is surmounted by the Horus falcon, thereby validating his position as a completely recognized pharaoh in the conventional hierarchy of kings.
He is known by his serekh and Golden Horus name only. His Nisut-Bity title and his Nebty name are unknown. Additionally, Khaba is one of the very few kings from Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom times with an archaeologically proven Gold name, a likely predecessor to the Golden Horus name, which Khaba may also have introduced. Aside from Khaba, the only kings with Gold names who lived before King Sneferu, founder of the 4th dynasty, were Djer, Den, Nynetjer, Khasekhemwy, and Djoser.
From Snefru onward, the Golden Horus name became a fixed royal title to any ruling king, no matter how long the king ruled. Khaba’s Golden Horus name can be found on several seal impressions, although its correct reading and translation are disputed. Thomas Schneider and Jürgen von Beckerath, in contrast, see Khaba’s Golden Horus as Netjer-nub, which means “golden falcon”. Khaba’s Gold name is the first to show the infinitive form of the royal Gold name.
Khaba Reign
The chronological place of Khaba is contentious due to the contradiction of Ramesside king lists and the absence of contemporary inscriptions (festal). Egyptologist Nabil Swelim thinks that he might have been the immediate successor of the previous king Khasekhemwy who was the final ruler of the 2 nd dynasty. His assumptions are made on similarities between the two names: both of them start with the kha syllable. He uses as an analogy the names Netjerikhet (Djoser) and Sekhemkhet (Djoserteti), which equally exhibit this sort of similarity and which are generally thought to have reigned one after the other.
Nevertheless, Swelim’s theory is not widely accepted. Grimal, Helck, Wilkinson and Stadelmann point out that during the 3rd dynasty it became a fashion that royal stone bowls with polished surfaces showed only Horus names, without any guiding inscriptions. This is also the case for the stone bowls of King Khaba. This decor style was practised still under Sneferu, the founder of the 4th dynasty. Thus, Khaba is thought to have reigned close to the end of the Third Dynasty.
The correct duration of Khaba’s reign is also unknown. Should he be identical to the Ramesside cartouche names Sedjes (meaning “omitted”) and Hudjefa (meaning “erased”), he might have ruled for six years, as the Turin Canon suggests. If he was identical to King Huni, he might have ruled for 24 years.
The current archaeological situation allows no closer evaluation of Khaba’s reign. The seal impressions from Elephantine only prove that this island seems to have been an important place to visit in Khaba’s time. The inscriptions reveal that the seals and their belonging vessels originated from Thinis and that they were registered by the governor of Elephantine. Other seals show the depiction of the goddess Bastet. The Hierakonpolis seal was found in early dynastic ruins of a local Horus temple. It shows traces of the image of a god, possibly Ash.
The Layer Pyramid at Zawyet el-Aryan
Khaba Tomb
He has a popular belief of constructing the Layer Pyramid which is situated at Zawyet el’Aryan and is located some 8 km south-west of Giza. The pyramid is typical of masonry in the Third Dynasty masonry in which the layers of the insides of the pyramid are built with mudbricks in an array around a core that is composed of rough blocks of the local bedrock.
The pyramid was intended to measure between 42 and 45 metres (138 to 148 ft) in height; however, it currently measures 17 metres (56 ft). Although it is not clear whether a part of the pyramid has been eroded through time, or whether its construction was yet to be completed. While there are no inscriptions directly relating the pyramid to Khaba, his serekh appears on stone bowls that were discovered in a nearby mastaba, known as Mastaba Z500.
Alternatively, he could have been interred in the aforementioned mastaba, which is located about 200 m (660 ft) north of the pyramid. Indeed, excavations of the mastaba yielded several stone bowls inscribed with Khaba’s Horus name as well as two seal fragments of him. Although this is generally taken as proof that he was the pyramid owner, it could equally imply that the mastaba was Khaba’s tomb and the pyramid that of another, yet unknown king.
Architectural Significance of the Layer Pyramid
The Layer Pyramid occupies an important place in the evolution of Egyptian architecture. Its construction method shows that the pyramid design was not yet standardized.
Unlike Djoser’s step pyramid, which combined careful planning with symbolic design, Khaba’s pyramid appears more technical in focus. Builders were testing how stone could be layered and supported.
These experiments informed later developments. Even unfinished monuments contributed to architectural knowledge that benefited later kings.
The Pyramid Complex and Surroundings
Little remains of the broader pyramid complex that likely surrounded Khaba’s pyramid. There is no clear evidence of a completed enclosure wall, causeway, or mortuary temple.
This absence supports the idea of a short reign or sudden interruption. However, preliminary work suggests that a full complex was planned. Khaba’s pyramid should be understood as part of an architectural process rather than an isolated failure.
Other buildings from Khaba’s reign
1- Mastaba Z500
Only two large mastaba tombs can be securely dated to Khaba’s reign. The first one is known as Mastaba Z500, which is located at Zawyet el’Aryan. It lies around 200m north of the Layer Pyramid and has a south–north-orientation. The mastaba is made of mudbricks, its outer wall is niched and it contains only two large chambers without any typical tomb architecture elements.
Because of this, Egyptologists such as Nabil Swelim believe that Mastaba Z500 was in fact a mortuary temple, belonging to the funerary complex of the Layer Pyramid. The dating of the building into Khaba’s reign is based on numerous diorite and dolomite vessels and mud seal fragments, bearing the serekh name of King Khaba.
2- Quesna Tomb
In 2010, an unknown mudbrick mastaba was discovered in Quesna, an archaeological site located in the Monufia Governorate (in the Nile Delta). The mastaba used to be 14m long and 6m wide. It has a 3m wide corridor chapel as its substructure which is divided into three architectural parts. The first (northern) part is full of rubble, the second (central) one houses a double room as the burial chamber and the last (southern) has a burial shaft in the centre. A fragment of a mud seal with the name of the king was found inside in 2014. The real owner of the tomb is however unknown yet archaeological excavations are in progress.
Khaba and the End of the Third Dynasty
The reign of Khaba took place near the end of the Third Dynasty which came to an end with the reign of Huni. The origins of Old Kingdom kingship had been firmly laid by this time. He did not disrupt this trajectory. Instead, his reign fits within a broader pattern of continuity.
The transition to the Fourth Dynasty, with its emphasis on smooth-sided pyramids, would build upon lessons learned during Khaba’s time.
Conclusion
Khaba was a ruler during an experimental but stable period of the Third Dynasty of Egypt. His pyramid was never completed and probably he was not the ruler long enough but the impact on the development of architecture and continuity of the administration was real.
He serves to remind us that history is not only made of titanic achievement but made as well of failures upon which current successes are built. Pieces of stone and half-finished plans of Khaba are left, but they are an essential part of the history of ancient Egypt.
