There is considerable confusion amongst scholars as to who the first Egyptian
Pharaoh was, who ruled over all of Egypt from his capital at Memphis. According
to the kings list made a thousand years after his time, his name was Men, Meni
or Mena. The reason for using different vowels is because in Egyptian writing
vowels are not written (as at times in Arabic) and these have to be guessed.
The Greek historian Manetho of 200 BC who was known for developing meticulous
historical records, called him Menes in Greek. That is the most popular way
Mene is mentioned in modern literature. This pharaoh is the legendary king that
came from the town of Tinis in Upper Egypt and took over Lower Egypt (the
North) by force. He then became the first king over the whole country and
founded a new capital for united Egypt - Memphis, just where the two states
bordered on each other. According to archaeological dating this was around 3200
BC. For thousands of years, King Menes was thought to be the first king of
Egypt. Ancient Egyptian records clearly identify him as the first king of the
first dynasty.
However since then much else has been discovered by archeological findings
that has led to some confusion. In the last decade of the 1900s the old royal
tombs in Abydos were re-excavated. Two seal impressions were found from the
tombs of Den and Qaa, the fifth and eighth ruler of the first dynasty. The
motif was a line of kings in a successive order, and both had Narmer as the
founder of the first dynasty. This record should be an authentic one since it
comes from a time much before Manetho or even the Kings list. Most of all, it
was prepared by the descendents of Narmer himself. Some scholars postulated
that Menes and Narmer may be the same person. Was it really so? The matter
requires further enquiry. The seal impressions of Den and Qaa describe the kings
of the first dynasty as:
Narmer,
Aha,
Djer,
Djet,
Den
Thus it is clear that Aha was the son and successor of Narmer. King Aha, on
the other hand, was the first pharaoh who built monuments of substance over the
whole country, and his large tomb constructions (with buried retainers for the
first time) were in dimensions that far overshadowed his predecessors including
Narmer his father. He has also left a written sign interpreted as the name
"Mene" written beside his ordinary name on one occasion. This at once
indicates that he is the same as king Mene (or its Greek form Menes). Thus
available evidence indicates that it was Aha and Menes who were one and the
same person and not Narmer and Menes.
Confusion may have arisen in interpreting historic records because both
Narmer (Also known popularly as the scorpion King) and Menes together united
Upper and Lower Egypt. The credit of unification would go to Narmer as the
father and this is indeed supported by a later archeological find the -Narmer
Palette. Menes or Aha on the other hand was the first king to build substantial
monuments in Egypt and may have been regarded by many as the first real Pharaoh
of Egypt, thus leading to the confusion.
Narmer's Palette found at the temple of Hierakonpolis shows that behind the
king is his sandal-bearer, a high dignitary, possibly his son, who is
identified by a rosette (seven petalled) the divine or royal emblem. This son
is likely to be the legendary Menes who accompanied Narmer in the conquests.
Both may have ruled different parts of Egypt together for a period after the
conquest with the younger Menes focusing more on the building of a new Capital
at Memphis. Thus it may be concluded that Narmer was the first king of united
Egypt and his son Menes the first king that ruled over all of Egypt from
Memphis. After the establishment of dynastic rule in Egypt, the villages of
Egypt were transformed from members of a loosely organized society in which
autonomous chieftains and merchants played the most significant roles, to one
under the centralized control of an imperial king.
The kings list of later dynasties appears to have focused on listing the
kings of Memphis and thus correctly listed Menes as the first king to rule from
that capital, ignoring the father who affected the unification. The second
dynasty of Egypt had different roots from the first one. When they came to
power they replaced the falcon symbol of the first dynasty by the symbol of a
dog. The descendents of Narmer himself would not however ignore their ancestor in
developing their own list of kings and listed Narmer as the first king.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/314530
I am not Indiana Jones, but I just lived in Egypt and I saw more about it. For me the king Narmer was the thirst one to unificate the Nile countries. I'm not an archeolist, I'm an italian who read egyptian in hieroglyphs. For me in the Palette, where Narmer have the white crown of South, there is the first rappesentation of the Spinx of Giza. The solar falcon upon its head is going to give a new language, indeed the Sphinx have not arms, almost in sands next to the papyrus. Germany staff of archeologist have translate a papyrus in 2009 and they found a judaic temple of persian period at Elefantina, in High Egypt. From the Holy Bible no one can tell us about that ancient period as like as the escaves. We know now that Yaho was Yehowah, but I know that we can translate His name in Who comes (Yah) with the sceptre (Was) is me the God of Gods. Perhaps it is why they called Him Elohim. Many thoughts about King Narmer will not found a better solution. Respects. F.M.G.
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