Serekh
Dissecting these components, it appears each element serves a purpose in its iconography of kingship. The recessed or niched façade, which appears at the bottom of the serekh, is often considered associated with the king’s ownership of large building such as a palace or tomb. This rendition would serve both to certify the king’s authority but also to acknowledge his possession of wealth. The panel, which exists between the niched façade and the falcon, is observed as the space where the king’s name is written. It’s underlying purpose is often debated, however, some claim it to be an allusion to early architectural elements such as the false doors in many pharaonic tombs. On top of this panel, as stated earlier, is often a falcon denoting the god Horus. Horus’s presence in the serekh suggests the name inscribed in the panel as being the king’s Horus name, but the god’s association with kingship often lends credibility to the monarch. Both the Seth and Horus animals can be shown wearing a red, white, or double crown of Egypt and in some instances, appear in control of weapons. Such personification indicates the larger role played by the serekh, and potentially the use of the animal god as a representation of the king. The king himself would often be known to contain or exemplify the ‘Ka’ of Horus, which was the internal spirit that was later removed following the kings death and transitioned to fill that of the succeeding king. This retention of a godly spirit would be then be used as the deciding testament for the kings right to the throne. This relationship between the king’s Ka and the Horus god in royal serekh’s can be traced to many of the earliest texts and coalesce with the development of early writing. Until Dynasty IV, serekhs served as the only means for royal identification and later become secondary to the cartouche.