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Menes is the name of the Egyptian king credited with founding the First dynasty
First dynasty of Egypt

The first dynasty of Ancient Egypt is often combined with the Second dynasty of Egypt under the group title, Early Dynastic Period of Egypt. At that time the capital was Thinis....
, sometime around 3100 BC. Menes was seen as a founding figure for much of the history of Ancient Egypt, and was possibly a mythical founding king similar to Romulus and Remus
Romulus and Remus

Romulus and Remus are the traditional Founding Fathers of Rome, appearing in Roman mythology as the twin sons of the Vestal Virgin Rhea Silvia, fathered by the god of war, Mars ....
 for Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
.

Ancient Egyptian legend credits a pharaoh by this name with uniting Upper and Lower Egypt
Upper and Lower Egypt

File:Ancient Egypt map-en.svgAncient Egypt was divided into two regions, known as Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. To the north was Lower Egypt where the Nile stretched out with its several branches to form the Nile Delta....
 into in a single, centralized monarchy. However, his name does not appear on extant pieces of the Royal Annals (Cairo Stone and Palermo Stone
Palermo stone

The Palermo Stone is a large fragment of a stela called the Royal Annals of the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. It contains the clearest inscriptions of the records of the pharaohs of the first dynasty through the fifth dynasty....
), which is a now-fragmentary king's list that was carved onto a stela sometime during the Fifth dynasty
Fifth dynasty of Egypt

The Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, Old Kingdom....
.






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Menes is the name of the Egyptian king credited with founding the First dynasty
First dynasty of Egypt

The first dynasty of Ancient Egypt is often combined with the Second dynasty of Egypt under the group title, Early Dynastic Period of Egypt. At that time the capital was Thinis....
, sometime around 3100 BC. Menes was seen as a founding figure for much of the history of Ancient Egypt, and was possibly a mythical founding king similar to Romulus and Remus
Romulus and Remus

Romulus and Remus are the traditional Founding Fathers of Rome, appearing in Roman mythology as the twin sons of the Vestal Virgin Rhea Silvia, fathered by the god of war, Mars ....
 for Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
.

Ancient Egyptian legend credits a pharaoh by this name with uniting Upper and Lower Egypt
Upper and Lower Egypt

File:Ancient Egypt map-en.svgAncient Egypt was divided into two regions, known as Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. To the north was Lower Egypt where the Nile stretched out with its several branches to form the Nile Delta....
 into in a single, centralized monarchy. However, his name does not appear on extant pieces of the Royal Annals (Cairo Stone and Palermo Stone
Palermo stone

The Palermo Stone is a large fragment of a stela called the Royal Annals of the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. It contains the clearest inscriptions of the records of the pharaohs of the first dynasty through the fifth dynasty....
), which is a now-fragmentary king's list that was carved onto a stela sometime during the Fifth dynasty
Fifth dynasty of Egypt

The Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, Old Kingdom....
. He typically appears in later sources as the first human ruler of Egypt, directly inheriting the throne from the god Horus
Horus

Horus is a god of the Ancient Egyptian religion, most commonly known by the Greek language version Horus, of the Egyptian language Heru/Har....
. He also appears in other, much later, king's lists, always as the first human pharaoh of Egypt. Two king's lists of the 19th dynasty
Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt

The Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, New Kingdom....
 (13th century BC) call him Meni, the 3rd century BC Egyptian historian Manetho called him Menes, and the 5th century BC Greek historian Herodotus
Herodotus

Herodotus of Halicarnassus was a Greeks historian who lived in the 5th century BC and is regarded as the "Father of History" in Western culture....
 referred to him as Min
Min (god)

Min is an Ancient Egyptian god whose cult originated in predynastic times . He was represented in many different forms, but was often represented in male human form, shown with an erect penis which he holds in his left hand and an upheld right arm holding a flail....
.

Menes is also credited with the foundation of Memphis
Memphis, Egypt

Memphis was the ancient capital of the first Nome of Lower Egypt, and of the Old Kingdom of Egypt from its foundation until around 2200 BC and later for shorter periods during the New Kingdom, and an administrative centre throughout ancient history....
, which he established as the Egyptian capital. According to Manetho
Manetho

Manetho was an Egyptian historian and priest from Sebennytos who lived during the Ptolemaic dynasty, ca. 3rd century BC. Manetho wrote the Aegyptiaca ....
, Menes reigned for 62 years and was killed by a hippopotamus
Hippopotamus

The hippopotamus or hippo is a large, mostly herbivore African mammal, one of only two Extant taxon species in the scientific classification Hippopotamidae ....
 or a crocodile.

Archeological evidence


The discovery of the Narmer Palette
Narmer Palette

The Narmer Palette, also known as the Great Hierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC, and containing some of the earliest Egyptian hieroglyphsic inscriptions ever found....
 in the late 19th century depicting the hitherto unknown pharaoh Narmer
Narmer

Narmer was an Ancient Egypt Pharaoh who ruled in the 31st century BC. Thought to be the successor to the Predynastic Egypt King Scorpion and/or Ka , he is considered by some to be the unifier of Egypt and founder of the First dynasty of Egypt, and therefore the first king of all Egypt....
, possibly pre-dating Menes, wielding the symbols of both Upper and Lower Egypt, cast doubt on the traditional account. The general scholarly consensus is that Narmer and Menes (or his successor Hor-Aha
Hor-Aha

Hor-Aha is considered the second pharaoh of the First dynasty of Egypt of Ancient Egypt in current Egyptology. He lived around the 31st century BC....
) are in fact the same person. Others hold that Menes inherited an already-unified kingdom from Narmer; still others believe that Menes completed a process of unification started either unsuccessfully or only partially successfully by Narmer. In any case, while there is extensive archeological evidence of there being a pharaoh named Narmer, the only indisputable evidence for Menes is an ostracon
Ostracon

An ostracon is a piece of pottery , usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In archaeology, ostraca may contain scratched-in words or other forms of writing which may give clues as to the time when the piece was in use....
 which contains his name under the Nebty symbols. There is a general suspicion that Menes either was a name of Narmer, Narmer's predecessor, or of Narmer's successor, Hor-Aha
Hor-Aha

Hor-Aha is considered the second pharaoh of the First dynasty of Egypt of Ancient Egypt in current Egyptology. He lived around the 31st century BC....
. Some people also believe that this may have been a legend created by the Egyptians to tell what happened. Others think that Narmer may have been the father of Menes.

See also

  • Min (god)
    Min (god)

    Min is an Ancient Egyptian god whose cult originated in predynastic times . He was represented in many different forms, but was often represented in male human form, shown with an erect penis which he holds in his left hand and an upheld right arm holding a flail....
  • Narmer
    Narmer

    Narmer was an Ancient Egypt Pharaoh who ruled in the 31st century BC. Thought to be the successor to the Predynastic Egypt King Scorpion and/or Ka , he is considered by some to be the unifier of Egypt and founder of the First dynasty of Egypt, and therefore the first king of all Egypt....
  • Hor-Aha
    Hor-Aha

    Hor-Aha is considered the second pharaoh of the First dynasty of Egypt of Ancient Egypt in current Egyptology. He lived around the 31st century BC....
  • Thinis
    Thinis

    Thinis is the mythological city from where Egypt, according to Manetho's chronological list, were united by the Thinnite Confederacy. It is said to have happened during the reign of the Pharaoh Menes....


External links