Ka (Sekhen)

Predynastic king of dynasty 0, immediate predecessor of Narmer, attested by serekhs (primitive royal cartouches) engraved on jars found in Upper Egypt (Tarkhan, Helwan), in the Delta and even in southern Palestine (Tel Lod, Tel Erani). His tomb (B7-B9) at Abydos predates that of Narmer in the same necropolis. First king whose name appears systematically in a serekh — a graphic invention that would structure Egyptian royal titulature for three thousand years. His presence in Canaan foreshadows the Egyptian-Canaanite contacts that would form, a thousand years later, the backdrop of Joseph's sojourn and the exodus from Egypt.