King Narmer
King Narmer | Egyptian Pharaohs Kings - First Dynasty of Egypt

King Narmer | History King Menes, Facts First Egyptian Pharaohs kings.

Secrets of the first pharaoh in the Ancient Egypt civilization and the founder of the First Dynasty of Egypt, an explanation of the Narmer Palette, what are his Pharaonic achievements and monuments, what is the truth about his killing by a Hippopotamus, and more about Ancient Egypt History.

King Narmer Facts

  • The first king of the First Dynasty of Egypt.
  • Ruling period: 3273 to 2987 BC.
  • Burial place: Tomb of King Narmer No. B18 in Umm El Qa’ab Tombs, Abydos, Sohag.
  • King Narmer took over the reins of Ancient Egyptian Government after the death of King Scorpion II of the Egyptian Dynasty 0 in the Predynastic Period, known as Naqada III, which was dominated by chaos and division between the regions of Upper and Lower Egypt. Then after the death of King Narmer, King Hor-Aha followed him in power. “There are speculations.” and theories by Egyptologists that he is his son and the legitimate heir to the country, as will be followed after that through the ages within the traditions of the transfer of rule between kings and princes, known as the Coronation of the Pharaohs”.
  • King Narmer married Queen NeithhotepFemale Pharaohs“, the daughter of the ruler of the city of Naqada in southern Egypt, in order to strengthen the military alliance in addition to supporting the military campaign with funds and logistical support, as the regions of southern Egypt were prosperous and rich in mineral resources, including gold and silver “Ancient Egyptian Metallurgy” and the development of Agriculture in Ancient Egypt and Ancient Egyptian science from the rest of the regions of Upper Egypt.
  • King Narmer Mummy, his Pharaonic Ancient Egyptian Coffins, or even the Funerary Equipment furniture that was buried in his royal tomb “Egyptian Tombs” at Abydos were not found. It was likely that they were stolen by Ancient Egyptian Grave Robbers.
  • Among the characteristics of King Narmer is that he was a brave warrior, strong in body and muscles, and was distinguished by military intelligence and mastery of martial arts and horsemanship, as in Ancient Egyptian Sport, in addition to the quality of killing his enemies in battle and killing prisoners of war without mercy, and this is what was depicted on the archaeological painting of Narmer.
  • During King Narmer reign, he was interested in rebuilding the infrastructure of all regions of Egypt according to the Geography of ancient Egypt, relying on mineral wealth and prosperity and prosperity in agricultural crops. He built wheat grain stores, built funerary Mortuary Temples and royal palaces, and developed architectural engineering and Architecture in ancient Egypt in building large cities such as the city of Memphis in the north and the city of NekhenHierakonpolis, el-Kōm el-Aḥmar” in the south.

The Family:

  • Wife: Queen Nehotep “Pharaonic Queens of Egypt”
  • Son: Prince Hor Aha

What is the real name of King Menes?

Yes, King Menes is King Narmer and unified the regions and provinces of Upper and Lower Egypt under his leadership, and this was proven by his stone tablet that was discovered.

The Greek historian Herodotus and the historian Manetho confirmed that King Narmer is the same as King Menes, and they are the same person, as Herodotus collected all the names of the Egyptian Pharaohs kings, and the first king of the Pharaohs was named King Menes, and with studies, it has been proven that he is the same King Narmer.

The English Egyptologist and archaeologist Flinders Petrie confirmed that King Narmer is the same as King Menes, and that King Narmer is the first king of Pharaoh and the founder of the First Egyptian Dynasty, while the name Menes was an honorary title that he obtained after assuming the reins of government over all the regions of Egypt.

How did king Narmer die?

There is an unconfirmed story and theory from the Greek historian Manetho that King Narmer died due to a fight with a hippopotamus in the jungles of Africa, as the king had a hobby of hunting lions and hippopotamuses like the ancient Pharaohs kings when hunting in the wild.

Achievements:

  1. Ancient Egyptian Language scripts and writing symbols were developed and used in financial transactions in the government of ancient Egypt.
  2. Establishing the city of Memphis in the center to later become the capital of ancient Egypt, beginning with the Second Dynasty of Egypt, to connect the Delta regions on the banks of the Nile River with foreign trade routes to the Levant and Syria.
  3. Establishing and building a new administrative system to manage the affairs of the country containing different classes, senior officials, priests, ministers and the army and Military of ancient Egypt.
  4. Conducting military campaigns on Egypt’s southern borders to protect it from attacks by the people of Nubia and Sudan, and from the west by the Libyan Bedouin tribes.
  5. Among his best achievements is the unification of all regions and provinces of Egypt by 80%, the spread of internal security and stability among the general public and classes of people, and the beginning of the formation of Social Structure in Ancient Egypt and ancient Egyptian society.
  6. The king was interested in improving foreign relations with neighbors and Trade in Ancient Egypt by importing materials from southern Canaan, to improve the pottery industry in the ancient Egyptian civilization, as well as in Industry in ancient Egypt.
  7. King Narmer was interested in religious rituals, as in Ancient Egyptian religion, and the use of religious symbols specific to the period of his rule developed, such as the Djed symbol and the Ankh symbol, “the symbol of life.”
    Interest in developing the art of fashion and Clothing in ancient Egypt, where it was introduced that the king would wear magic sandals and the royal beard, adding the shape of a golden cobra to the unified royal crown, and wearing a fake bull’s tail among the upper body clothing.

King Narmer antiquities:

The Narmer Palette:

Where is the original Narmer Palette?

Narmer’s Victory Palette is displayed in The Egyptian MuseumMuseums in Cairo” in Tahrir Square.

The length of the Great Hierakonpolis Palette is 64 cm

Why is the Narmer Palette so important?

The Narmer Palette was discovered between 1897 and 1898 AD among the Pharaonic Egyptian Antiquities discovered next to the Temple of Horus in the archaeological city of Nekhen “Egypt Archaeological Sites” in southern Egypt near the Temple of Edfu in Aswan by a British mission led by the English Egyptologist Dr. James Edward Quibell.

Palette of Narmer was carved and painted during the reign of King Narmer to record his victory over his enemies and the unification of the regions of Upper and Lower Egypt, in addition to telling us the extent of the development of the art of Sculpture in Ancient Egypt.

Great Hierakonpolis Palette made of green schist stone is considered one of the oldest and first historical stone panels.

The Narmer Palette Description:

First side:

  • God Hathor, the most famous of the Egyptian deities “Ancient Egyptian gods and Goddesses”, was drawn on top of the painting in the form of the face of two women and had the horns of a bull, and between them was a drawing of the shape of the facade of the royal palace, and inside it was an inscription with the name of King Narmer.
  • King Narmer was drawn wearing royal clothes and the white crown, the symbol of Upper Egypt, and holding in his hand a war hammer with which he struck his enemies from the northern regions. Behind him was a man carrying the king’s sandals and water. In front, the god Horus was drawn in the form of a falcon, presented to him by a prisoner of war from the northern regions, topped with a papyrus plant.
  • Two people were drawn fleeing in fear of the brutality and power of King Narmer, and they represent the regions of Bhutto and Sais in northern Egypt.
  • God Horus was drawn giving legitimacy to King Narmer’s leadership of the Delta regions, while people were drawn defeated to indicate his control over the forts and castles in the regions of Upper Egypt.

Second side:

  • Above is the same drawing of the first face of the goddess Hathor in ancient Egypt, between them is the Pharaonic serekh, including the name of the king.
  • A scene was carved depicting the king victorious over the northern regions, the end of the internal wars, and the beginning of the coronation ceremonies and the celebration of “Festivals in Ancient Egypt” within a royal procession heading to the temple of the city of Buto, “the most important funerary Egyptian Temples in ancient Egypt.”
  • The king was drawn wearing the red crown, the symbol of the Delta regions, with a servant behind him, and in front of him was the minister, “representing the government, senior state officials, and the royal court,” then a group of flags, then the bodies of prisoners of war.
  • In the middle, the shape of two animals was drawn within the myths of the Pharaohs and Egyptian Mythology, to indicate the king’s strength and courage.
  • Below, King Narmer was drawn in the form of a powerful bull with large, huge horns, with his enemies under his feet, to indicate his strength in defeating anyone who tried to approach the borders of Egypt, in addition to the fact that the bull was one of the sacred animals in the religion.

Tomb of King Narmer:

The mummy of King Narmer was buried in his royal tomb within the Umm El Qa’ab Tombs in Abydos, Sohag. The design of the tomb is very simple, which indicates that the architecture was in its early stages, as the tomb consists of only two rooms underground.

More than 12 archaeological sites have been discovered containing inscriptions and artifacts indicating the period of King Narmer’s rule in ancient Egypt and his complete control over all regions, which are…

  • 3 archaeological sites in southern Egypt, “Nekhen, Naqada, and Abydos.”
  • 7 archaeological sites in northern Egypt: “Zawyet El Aryan Tombs in Saqqara, Abu Omar Manshat and the Tal Ibrahim Awad District in Sharqia, the Helwan Archaeological Area, the village of Tora and the Tombs of Tarkhan on the banks of the Nile River in Giza, and the Hassan Daoud Archaeological Tell in Ismailia.”
  • An archaeological site in the Eastern Desert
  • An archaeological site in the Western Desert within the areas of Kharga Oasis, The Oasis Baharaya in New Valley.

The archaeological discovery of “33 Pharaonic serekhs on sherds engraved on pottery vessels” was discovered in 1992 AD in an archaeological area in Canaan, Palestine, illustrating the extent of commercial and economic communication between the two countries in the era of the First Egyptian Dynasty.

Egyptian Monuments outside Egypt in Museums:

  • A monkey-shaped statue made of alabaster representing the god Baboon. The king’s name was carved on the base. It is now displayed in the Berlin Museum, Germany, in the Egyptian section.
  • Part of an ancient Pharaonic clay jar inscribed with the name of King Narmer, which was discovered during the excavations of the tombs of Tarkhan in Giza, and is now on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States of America.
  • Part of a pottery vessel carved with the name of the king and the royal serkh, now on display at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA.
  • The tomb of King Narmer, inscribed with drawings showing the king victorious and uniting the regions of Upper and Lower Egypt, is now on display in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, England.
  • Pottery vessels inscribed with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, discovered in the tombs of Tarkhan, are now displayed in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, London, England.

Egyptologists’ Theories:

  • It has been confirmed from many studies and research by Egyptologists that not all of the regions of Egypt were completely unified under the control of King Narmer or even his son, King Hor-Aha, around 3100 BC. Accordingly, King Khasekhemwy, the last king of the Second Egyptian Dynasty, around 2680 BC, attempted to unify all the regions.
  • Under his leadership, but he could not, as there were regions and provinces on the ancient Egyptian borders that declared their rebellion and independence until all regions were unified by 100%, the beginning of the rule of King Djoser of the Third Dynasty of Egypt and the beginning of the Old Kingdom period in Pharaonic Egypt.
  • The regions of Upper and Lower Egypt were unified after a series of internal wars due to the desire of each regional ruler to keep his city and not bow down and submit to the control of another ruler, King Narmer. In the end, the king was victorious and became in control of all the regions and provinces of ancient Egypt.
  • The name of King Narmer was discovered as the first Pharaonic king through the name engraved in the Palermo stone and now preserved in the Palermo Museum, Italy. “There are pieces displayed in the museums of Egypt and London.”

What does the Narmer Meaning and Origin?

The word Narmer in the ancient Egyptian language means writing ancient Hieroglyphic texts in the form of symbols and carving them on the following stones…

Its name literally means chisel fish.

Linguistically, the meaning of the name Narmar is = angry catfish.

Naar = catfish

MR = hammer

The name is pronounced in Arabic as Narmer or Marwanar, and it is known as Narmer.

 

 

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Tamer Ahmed
Eng. Tamer Ahmed | Researcher in Ancient Egypt History and Egyptology. Faculty of Science, Mansoura University, 2004 Tourism and E-marketing Expert I love Egypt and I strive to develop tourism. Booking Your Tours Online Whatsapp: +201112596434