The MacGregor Plaque is an artefact that probably derives from the mastaba tomb of the ancient Egyptian king Den, and dated circa 2985 BCE. According to its inscriptions, the plaque was originally attached to the king's sandal. The artifact appears in McGregor's A History of the World in 100 Objects.
Origin and description
The artefact was probably found in the tomb of King Den at Abydos – it derives from the excavations of FrencharchaeologistCoptologist and EgyptologistÉmile Amélineau. Today the plaque is displayed in the British Museum with the inventory number BM EA 55586. It was acquired by the museum in 1922; before that it was part of the MacGregor collection. The tablet is made of carved ivory and measures 4.5 cm x 5.4 cm; it is about 0.2 cm thick. Images are engraved and fired into it. On the front side, king Den is depicted. He wears a loincloth, a nemes headdress with a Uraeus-snake and an animal tail which hangs down from the back of his skirt. Den is labelled with his Horus name. His pose belongs to the motif of the "slaying the enemy": the king has his right hand raised, holding a mace; with his left hand, Den holds an enemy in place with his hair. The enemy is already on his knees, but attempts to ward off the king's blow. He can be identified as an Asiatic on account of his hairstyle. Along the plaque we find a hieroglyphic inscription, with a left to right reading direction: "I was the one who completed the first strike to the east," accompanied by the jackal standard of the god Wepwawet. This inscription is telling us that king Den himself conducted his first victory against the easterners. The fact that it is very important to state that it is the "first victory" is telling us that more battles will come, that other battles were lost, and that other first dynasty kings were engaged in protecting and expanding Egypt's frontiers and territories: from Nubia with the A-group to the Easteners in the north. In the Palermo stone, in its third row that it is considered to belong to Horus Den, appears in the second register "Smiting the bedouins", that it could refer to this label, but with all likelihood it refers to subsequent campaigns, since this one happened in the second half of Den's reign. Remarkable to learn is that in this plaque we have the earliest attestation for the long head-dress known as the khat-head-dress. Horus Den is also the first king known to display the double crown, indicating us that he was an innovative and active developer of royal iconography. On the other side of the plaque, a pair of sandals are depicted, although the left part is severely damaged by abrasion.
