A coronation was an extremely important ritual in early and ancient Egyptian history, concerning the change of power and rulership between two succeeding pharaohs.

[1][2][3] The earliest depictions of rites and ceremonies concerning an accession to the throne may be found on objects from the reign of the predynastic king Scorpion II, circa 3100 BC.

This is similar to the military action taken by enemies of Egypt in later history: for example, upon hearing the news of Hatshepsut's death, the king of Kadesh advanced his army to Megiddo in the hope that Thutmose III would not be in a position to respond.

The stone also records various events during a king's reign, such as the creation of statues, city and domain foundations, cattle counts and religious feasts such as the Sed festival.

[1][2][3][4] As already mentioned, the coronation included several, long lasting festivals, rites and ceremonies the king had to celebrate first, before they were allowed to wear the crown(s) of Egypt.

Another symbolic depiction of the unification feast appears on a throne relief dating to the reign of king Senusret I, second pharaoh of the 12th Dynasty.

According to legends, the "White Walls", in Egyptian Inebu Hedj, today's Memphis, were erected by the mythical king Menes as the central seat of government of Egypt.

Early dynastic rulers, for which at least one Sed feast is archaeologically attested, include Narmer, Den, Qa'a, Nynetjer and possibly Wadjenes.

Rare depictions of rites associated to the Sed festival come from Old Kingdom reliefs found in galleries beneath Djoser's step pyramid at Saqqara, as well as from Dashur, dating to the reign of Sneferu (the founder of the 4th Dynasty).

[5] It is worth mentioning a possible case of peaceful throne succession via interfamiliar negotiation which may have happened at the end of Nynetjer's rule.

[5] In this context, Egyptologists such as Sue D'Auria, Rainer Stadelmann and Silke Roth point to a problem mostly ignored by mainstream of scholars: There have demonstrably been crown princes, especially during the Old Kingdom period, who held the highest imaginable honorary and functionary titles at their lifetimes, but they never became kings, despite the fact, that they definitively survived their ruling fathers.

[5][6] Rainer Stadelmann points to an ancient society within the Egyptian elite, which existed as early as the predynastic time: the "Great Ten of Upper Egypt/Lower Egypt".

These two societies consisted of altogether twenty elite officials of unknown origin, who possibly were responsible for the solving of any political and dynastic problem.