the irrigations scarce on purpose, to ensure their power, influence and wealth. Religious and cultic situation The numerous decorations on the artifacts also depict large numbers of fetishes and standards, surmounted by gods, which reveals an already very complex religion and cult system. Since the standards often guide the battle scenes, battles and conquests might have been seen as cultic events as well. The earliest recognizable gods are Horus, Seth, Min, Nemty, Nekhbet, Bat, and Wepwawet. But it is unknown where these gods had their cultic centers and shrines, because the hieroglyphs depicting the place names were not introduced yet. Another aspect of cultic and religious beliefs under Scorpion II are the numerous depictions of mythical creatures, such as the 'serpopard' and the 'winged chimera'. The "serpopard" (also named "snake neck panther") appears on the famous Narmer palette and the so-called Two dogs palette. He was named Swdja, which means "undestroyable". In Egyptian mythology the serpopard was described as "the one who moves the sun". On the Narmer palette, two serpopards are entwining their necks. This picture is thought to be an allegoric display of the unification of Egypt. Under Scorpion II, two serpopards are lacerating a gazelle, which might imply that the serpopards were under the control of the king (they attack on command). The "winged chimeras" were named Sefer in Egyptian and they represent chaos and violence. They appear on the Two-dogs-palette and on several ivory artifacts. Scholars point to the fact that creatures such as the chimera and the serpopards were of Mesopotamian origin. A further motif of Scorpion's era, that is clearly of Mesopotamian origin, is that of a warrior fighting two lions with his bare hands. He holds one lion in each hand, both at his sides. A similar motif shows the warrior with two giraffes. In later dynasties, this motif became a hieroglyph, registered as Gardiner A38 and Gardiner A39. It reads Qjs and it was used as the emblem of the city of Cusae. Mesopotamian influences under Scorpion II All listed motifs and emblems, but also tomb architecture and traded items (such as tools, bead collars and cylinder seals) prove a surprisingly strong and extensive influence of Mesopotamian culture and religion to the early Egyptians. This cognition is promoted by the evaluations of architectural developments, visible at burial places such as Minshat Abu Omar, Hierakonpolis and Naqada. The architectural methods used for building