Narmer

Narmer
Menes
Close-up view of Narmer on the Narmer Palette Close-up view of Narmer on the Narmer Palette
Pharaoh
Reign	c. 31st century BC(?) (1st Dynasty)
Predecessor	Ka (most likely) or Scorpion II
Successor	Hor-Aha
Royal titulary
Children	Hor-Aha ?
Burial	Chambers B17 and B18, Umm el-Qa'ab

Narmer was an ancient Egyptian king of the Early Dynastic Period. Probably the successor to the Protodynastic kings Scorpion and/or Ka, some consider him the unifier of Egypt and founder of the First Dynasty, therefore the first king of a unified Egypt.

The identity of Narmer is the subject of ongoing debate, although mainstream Egyptological consensus identifies Narmer with the First Dynasty pharaoh Menes, who is also credited with the unification of Egypt, as the first pharaoh. This conclusion is based on the Narmer Palette which shows Narmer as the unifier of Egypt and the two necropolis seals from the necropolis of Abydos that show him as the first king of the First Dynasty.

The approximate date of Narmer/Menes is mostly estimated as close to the 31st or 32nd century BCE, although recent Egyptological literature comprises estimates of anywhere between the 34th and the 30th centuries BCE.

Reign

The famous Narmer Palette, discovered by James E. Quibell in 1898 in Hierakonpolis, shows Narmer displaying the insignia of both Upper and Lower Egypt, giving rise to the theory that he unified the two kingdoms. Since its discovery, it has been debated whether the Narmer Palette represents a historic event or was purely symbolic. In 1993, however, Günter Dreyer discovered in Abydos a year label of Narmer depicting the same event as that on the Narmer Palette which clearly shows that the Narmer Palette depicts an actual historic event.

The mainstream Egyptological consensus identifying Narmer with Menes is by no means universal. This has ramifications for the agreed history of ancient Egypt. Some Egyptologists hold that Menes is the same person as Hor-Aha 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 a mud seal impression found in Abydos in conjunction with the gameboard hieroglyph for "mn", which appears to be a contemporary record of the otherwise unattested king.

Another possible theory is that Narmer was an immediate successor to the king who did manage to unify Egypt (perhaps the King Scorpion whose name was found on a macehead also discovered in Hierakonpolis), but he adopted symbols of unification that had already been in use for perhaps a generation.

Two necropolis mud sealings listing kings recently found in the tombs of Den and Qa'a (both in Abydos) show Narmer as the founder of the First Dynasty, who was then followed by Hor-Aha. The Qa'a sealing shows all eight kings of the First Dynasty in the correct sequence beginning with Narmer. Menes is not mentioned on either list of kings because at that time the name generally used on the monuments was the Horus name, while Menes was a personal name.

Until January 2016, Narmer's wife was thought to have been Neithhotep, whose name means "Neith is satisfied". In this theory, she would have been a princess of Lower Egypt. Inscriptions bearing her name were found in tombs belonging to Narmer's immediate successors Hor-Aha as well as Djer, which Egyptologists took to suggest that she was the mother of Hor-Aha. However, the discovery in January 2016 of rock inscriptions in Sinai during an expedition under the authority of Pierre Tallet prove that Neithhotep was actually a queen regent early during Djer's reign, and thus possibly one of Hor-Aha's wives.

Tomb and artifacts

Chambers B17 and B18 in the Umm el-Qa'ab constitute the tomb of Narmer.

Narmer's tomb is composed of two joined chambers (B17 and B18) found in the Umm el-Qa'ab region of Abydos. It is located next to the tomb of Ka, who ruled Upper Egypt just before him.

Narmer is well attested throughout Egypt and southern Canaan. In Egypt his serekh has been found at 12 sites: three in Upper Egypt (Hierakonpolis, Naqada, and Abydos), seven in Lower Egypt (Tarkhan, Helwan, Zawyet el'Aryan, Tell Ibrahim Awad, Ezbet el-Tell, Minshat Abu Omar, and Kafr Hassan Dawood), and one each in the Eastern Desert (Wadi el-Qaash), and the Western Desert (Kharga Oasis).

During Narmer's reign, Egypt had an active economic presence in southern Canaan. Pottery sherds have been discovered at several sites, both from pots made in Egypt and imported to Canaan and others made in the Egyptian style out of local materials. The latter discovery has led to the conclusion that Egypt's presence in Canaan was in the form of a colony rather than just the result of trade. While Egypt's presence in Canaan has been explained as the result of a military invasion, this view is not generally accepted. Fortifications at Tel es-Sakan dating to this period and almost entirely Egyptian in construction suggest a military presence, if not a military invasion.

The extent of Egyptian activity in southern Canaan is shown by the discovery of 33 serekhs on pottery sherds at sites in Canaan dating from the Protodynastic Period to the beginning of the First Dynasty. Thirteen of these belong to Narmer, and came from six different sites: Tel Arad, En Besor (Ein HaBesor), Tel es-Sakan, Nahal Tillah (Halif Terrace), Tel Erani, and Lod. An additional serekh from Lod is attributed to Narmer's probable predecessor, Ka. Significantly only one is attributable to Narmer's successors, to Hor Aha, his immediate successor. The remainder of the serekhs either have no name on them or have a name not attributable to any known pharaoh. Narmer's serekh, along with those of other Predynastic and Early Dynastic kings, has been found at the Wadi 'Ameyra in the southern Sinai, where inscriptions commemorate Egyptian mining expeditions to the area.

During the summer of 1994, excavators from the Nahal Tillah expedition, in southern Israel, discovered an incised ceramic sherd with the serekh sign of Narmer. The sherd was found on a large circular platform, possibly the foundations of a storage silo on the Halif Terrace. Dated to c. 3000 BCE, mineralogical studies of the sherd conclude that it is a fragment of a wine jar which had been imported from the Nile valley to Canaan.

After about 200 years of active presence in Canaan, Egyptian presence peaked during Narmer's reign and quickly declined after that.

Gallery of images

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  Alabaster statue of a baboon divinity with the name of the pharaoh Narmer inscribed on its base, on display at the Ägyptisches Museum Berlin.

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  A mud jar sealing indicating that the contents came from the estate of the pharaoh Narmer. Originally from Tarkhan, now on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

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  The Narmer Macehead, on display at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK.

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  Pottery sherd inscribed with the serekh and name of the pharaoh Narmer, on display at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

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  Narmer wearing the Deshret crown of Lower Egypt on the Narmer Palette.

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  Incised inscription on a vessel found at Tarkhan (tomb 414), naming king Narmer; Petrie Museum UC 16083.

See also

• List of Pharaohs
• Narmer Palette
• Menes
• Thinis

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