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Narmer was an Egyptian
Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an Ancient history civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile in what is now the modern nation of Egypt....
 Pharaoh
Pharaoh

Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. In antiquity this title began to be used for the ruler who was the religious and political leader of united ancient Egypt, only during the New Kingdom, specifically, during the middle of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt....
 who ruled in the 31st century BC. Thought to be the successor to the predynastic
Predynastic Egypt

The Predynastic Period of Egypt is traditionally the period between the Early Neolithic and the beginning of the Pharaonic monarchy beginning with King Narmer....
 Scorpion
King Scorpion

Scorpion, also King Scorpion or Scorpion II refers to the second of two kings so-named of Upper Egypt during the Protodynastic Period of Egypt....
 and/or Ka
Ka (Pharaoh)

Ka, also Sekhem Ka , was a Predynastic Egypt pharaoh of Upper Egypt. He ruled over Abydos, Egypt in the late 32nd or early 31st century BC and was buried at Umm el-Qa'ab....
, he is considered by some to be the unifier of Egypt and founder of 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....
, and therefore the first king of all Egypt. There is a growing consensus that Scorpion and Narmer are identical, but no identification with any early king can yet be definitively proven. Narmer's name is represented phonetically by the hieroglyphic
Egyptian hieroglyphs

Egyptian hieroglyphs was a formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians that contained a combination of logographic and alphabetic elements....
 sign for a catfish (n'r) and that of a chisel (mr).






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Narmer was an Egyptian
Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an Ancient history civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile in what is now the modern nation of Egypt....
 Pharaoh
Pharaoh

Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. In antiquity this title began to be used for the ruler who was the religious and political leader of united ancient Egypt, only during the New Kingdom, specifically, during the middle of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt....
 who ruled in the 31st century BC. Thought to be the successor to the predynastic
Predynastic Egypt

The Predynastic Period of Egypt is traditionally the period between the Early Neolithic and the beginning of the Pharaonic monarchy beginning with King Narmer....
 Scorpion
King Scorpion

Scorpion, also King Scorpion or Scorpion II refers to the second of two kings so-named of Upper Egypt during the Protodynastic Period of Egypt....
 and/or Ka
Ka (Pharaoh)

Ka, also Sekhem Ka , was a Predynastic Egypt pharaoh of Upper Egypt. He ruled over Abydos, Egypt in the late 32nd or early 31st century BC and was buried at Umm el-Qa'ab....
, he is considered by some to be the unifier of Egypt and founder of 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....
, and therefore the first king of all Egypt. There is a growing consensus that Scorpion and Narmer are identical, but no identification with any early king can yet be definitively proven. Narmer's name is represented phonetically by the hieroglyphic
Egyptian hieroglyphs

Egyptian hieroglyphs was a formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians that contained a combination of logographic and alphabetic elements....
 sign for a catfish (n'r) and that of a chisel (mr). Modern variants of his name include "Narmeru" or "Merunar", but scholarly convention favours "Narmer".

Narmerpalette Rom Gamma
The famous 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....
, discovered in 1898 in Hierakonpolis, shows Narmer displaying the insignia of both Upper
Upper Egypt

File:Ancient Egypt map-en.svgUpper Egypt is a narrow strip of land that extends from the Cataracts of the Nile section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Asyut is sometimes known as Middle Egypt....
 and Lower Egypt
Lower Egypt

Lower Egypt is the northern-most section of Egypt. It refers to the Fertile Crescent Nile Delta region, which stretches from the area between El-Aiyat and Zawyet Dahshur, south of modern-day Cairo, and the Mediterranean Sea....
, giving rise to the theory that he unified the two kingdoms in c. 3100 BC. Traditionally, Menes
Menes

Menes is the name of the Egyptian king credited with founding the First dynasty of Egypt, 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 for Ancient Rome....
 is credited with that unification, and he is listed as being the first king in 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 ....
's list of kings, so this find has caused some controversy.

Some Egyptologists hold that Menes
Menes

Menes is the name of the Egyptian king credited with founding the First dynasty of Egypt, 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 for Ancient Rome....
 and Narmer are the same person; some hold that Menes is the same person as 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....
 and that he inherited an already-unified Egypt from Narmer; others hold that Narmer began the process of unification but either did not succeed or succeeded only partially, leaving it to Menes to complete. Arguments have been made that Narmer is Menes because of his appearance on several ostraca
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....
 in conjunction with the gameboard hieroglyph, Mn, which appears to be a contemporary record to the otherwise mythical king. However, there are inconsistencies within every ostracon which mentions Menes, precluding any definitive proof to his identity.

Another equally plausible theory is that Narmer was an immediate successor to the king who did manage to unify Egypt (perhaps the King Scorpion
King Scorpion

Scorpion, also King Scorpion or Scorpion II refers to the second of two kings so-named of Upper Egypt during the Protodynastic Period of Egypt....
 whose name was found on a macehead
Scorpion Macehead

The Scorpion mace head refers to a decorated ancient Egyptian mace head found by United Kingdom archeologists James E. Quibell and Frederick W....
 also discovered in Hierakonpolis), and adopted symbols of unification that had already been in use for perhaps a generation. The king lists recently found in Den
Den (Pharaoh)

Den was the fourth Egyptian Pharaoh of the First dynasty of Egypt. He was the son of Queen Merneith and presumably Djet. Early Egyptian records mention battles against Bedouin tribes in the Sinai Peninsula during his reign....
's and Qa'a
Qa'a

Qa'a was the last king of the First dynasty of Egypt. He had a fairly large tomb in Abydos, Egypt which measures 98.5 X 75.5 feet or 30 X 23 meters....
's tombs both list Narmer as the founder of their dynasty who was followed by 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....
 (Menes was not mentioned).

His wife is thought to have been Neithhotep A, a princess of northern Egypt. Inscriptions bearing her name were found in tombs belonging to Narmer's immediate successors 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....
 and Djer
Djer

Djer is the second or third pharaoh of the first dynasty of Egypt, which dates from approximately 3100 B.C. Djer's Horus name means "Horus who succours"....
, implying that she was the mother of Hor-Aha.

His tomb is to be composed of two joined chambers (B17 and B18) found in the Umm el-Qa'ab
Umm el-Qa'ab

Umm el-Qa`ab is the necropolis of the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt kings at Abydos, Egypt, in Egypt. Its modern name means 'Mother of Pots', as the whole area is littered with the broken pot shards of offerings made in later times ....
 region of Abydos
Abydos, Egypt

Abydos , one of the most ancient cities of Upper and Lower Egypt, is about 11 km west of the Nile at latitude 26? 10' N. The Egyptian name of both the eighth Nome of Upper Egypt and its capital city was Abdju, technically, 3bdw as in the hieroglyphs shown to the right, the hill of the symbol or reliquary, in which...
. It is located near Ka
Ka (Pharaoh)

Ka, also Sekhem Ka , was a Predynastic Egypt pharaoh of Upper Egypt. He ruled over Abydos, Egypt in the late 32nd or early 31st century BC and was buried at Umm el-Qa'ab....
's tomb who ruled 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....
 just before him.

During the summer of 1994, excavators from the Nahal Tillah expedition in southern Israel
Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
 discovered an incised ceramic shard
Sherd

In archaeology, a sherd is commonly a history or prehistory fragment of pottery, although the term is occasionally used to refer to fragments of stone and glass vessels as well....
 with the serekh
Serekh

The serekh is the earliest form used in ancient Egypt to write the royal name. It is a rectangular design with the king?s name in hieroglyphs that was possibly shaped as such to symbolize the niched fa?ade or gateway of a king?s palace....
 sign of Narmer, the same individual whose ceremonial slate 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....
 was found by James E. Quibell
James E. Quibell

James Edward Quibell was a United Kingdom Egyptology, born in Newport, Shropshire.He was educated at Adams' Grammar School and Christ Church, Oxford....
 in Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt

File:Ancient Egypt map-en.svgUpper Egypt is a narrow strip of land that extends from the Cataracts of the Nile section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Asyut is sometimes known as Middle Egypt....
. The inscription was found on a large circular platform, possibly the foundations of a storage silo on the Halif Terrace. Dated to ca. 3000 BC, mineralogical studies of the shard conclude that it is a fragment of a wine jar which was imported from the Nile
Nile

The Nile is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the List of rivers by length in the world.The Nile has two major tributary, the White Nile and Blue Nile, the latter being the source of most of the Nile's water and silt, but the former being the longer of the two....
 valley to Israel some 5000 years ago.

Narmer had Egyptian
Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an Ancient history civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile in what is now the modern nation of Egypt....
 pottery produced in southern Canaan
Canaan

Canaan is an ancient term for a region encompassing modern-day Israel and Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, plus adjoining coastal lands and parts of Jordan, Syria and northeastern Egypt....
 — with his name stamped on vessels — and then exported back to Egypt
Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an Ancient history civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile in what is now the modern nation of Egypt....
. Production sites included Arad
Tel Arad

Tel Arad or 'old' Arad is located west of the Dead Sea, about 10km west of modern Arad, Israel in an area surrounded by mountain ridges which is known as the Arad Becken....
, En Besor
Besor

Besor is a river in ancient Palestine.In the Old Testament Besor was a ravine or brook in the extreme south-west of Judah, where 200 of David's men stayed behind because they were faint, while the other 400 pursued the Amalekites ....
, Rafiah
Rafah

File:Location Rhafa.pngRafah is a Palestinian people city in the southern Gaza Strip, but also extends into the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. Located south of Gaza, Rafah's population of 71,000 is overwhelmingly made up of Palestinian refugees....
, and Tel Erani.

Gallery of images


See also

  • List of Pharaohs
    List of pharaohs

    This article contains a list of the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, from the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt before 3000 BC through to the end of the Ptolemaic dynasty, when Egypt became a province of Ancient Rome under Augustus Caesar in 30 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....