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Narmer

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Narmer
Menes
Close-up view of Narmer on the Narmer Palette
Close-up view of Narmer on the Narmer Palette
Pharaoh
Reign31st century BC
PredecessorKa (most likely) or Scorpion II
SuccessorHor-Aha
Royal titulary
Horus name
Hor-Narmer
Ḥr-nˁr-mr
Fierce catfish of Horus
G5
U23

Second Horus name: Hor-Narmer-Tjai
Ḥr-nˁr-mr-ṯ3j
Manly catfish of Horus
G5
U23G47
ConsortNeithhotep
ChildrenHor-Aha ?
BurialChambers B17 and B18, Umm el-Qa'ab
Dynasty1st Dynasty


Narmer was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Early Dynastic Period (c. 31st century BC).[1] He is thought to be the successor to the Protodynastic pharaohs Scorpion (or Selk) and/or Ka, and he is considered by some to be the unifier of Egypt and founder of the First Dynasty, and therefore the first pharaoh of unified Egypt.

The identity of Narmer is the subject of ongoing debate, although mainstream Egyptological consensus[2][3][4] identifies Narmer with the First Dynasty pharaoh Menes. Menes 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 Abydos that show him as the first king of the First Dynasty (see discussion below).

Reign

The famous Narmer Palette, discovered by James E. Quibell in 1898 in Hierakonpolis,[5] shows Narmer displaying the insignia of both Upper and Lower Egypt, giving rise to the theory that he unified the two kingdoms.[6] Since its discovery, there has been debate over whether the Narmer Palette represented an historic event [6][7] or was purely symbolic.[8][9] 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.[10]

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;[11] 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 mythical king.[12]

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.[13]

Two necropolis sealings listing kings recently found in the tombs of Den and Qa'a (both found in Abydos, and both mud sealings) 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.[14] 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[15]

His wife is thought to have been Neithhotep (literally: "Neith is satisfied"), a princess of northern Egypt. Inscriptions bearing her name were found in tombs belonging to Narmer's immediate successors Hor-Aha and Djer, implying that she was the mother of Hor-Aha.[16]

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.[17]

Narmer is well attested throughout Egypt and southern Canaan. In Egypt his serekh has been found at 13 sites: three in Upper Egypt (Hierakonpolis, Naqada, and Abydos), eight in Lower Egypt (Tarkhan, Helwan, Zawiyet el-Aryan, Tell Ibrahim Awad, Ezbet el-Tell, Minshat Abu Omar, Tell el-Farkha, and Kafr Hassan Dawood), and one each in the Eastern Desert (Wadi el-Qaash), and the Western Desert (Kharaga Oasis).[18]

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 [19] While Egypt's presence in Canaan has been explained as the result of a military invasion,[20] this view is not generally accepted.[21][22] Fortifications at Tel es-Sakan dating to this period and almost entirely Egyptian in construction suggest a military presence, if not a military invasion.[23]

The extent of Egyptian activity in south 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 .[24] 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.[25] An additional serekh from Lod is attributed to Narmer's probable predecessor, Ka.[26] 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.[27]

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 same individual whose ceremonial slate palette was found by James E. Quibell in Upper Egypt. The sherd was found on a large circular platform, possibly the foundations of a storage silo on the Halif Terrace. Dated to c.3000 BC, 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.[28]

After about 200 years of active presence in Canaan,[29] Egyptian presence peaked during Narmer's reign and quickly declined after that.[30]

See also

References

  1. ^ Wilkinsonn 1999: 67
  2. ^ Lloyd 1994: 7
  3. ^ Edwards 1971: 13
  4. ^ Cervelló-Autuori 2003: 174
  5. ^ Quibell 1898:81-84,pl. XII-XIII
  6. ^ a b Gardiner 1961:403-404
  7. ^ Edwards 1961: 41-43
  8. ^ Baines 1995:117
  9. ^ O'Connor 2011
  10. ^ Dreyer 2000: 6-7
  11. ^ Midant-Reynes,2000:243-250
  12. ^ Gardiner, op.cit., 404-405
  13. ^ Schulman 1991/1992 : 85
  14. ^ Cervelló-Autuori 2005:31-37.
  15. ^ Seidlmayer 2010:25
  16. ^ Tyldesley 2006:26-29
  17. ^ Dreyer 1999: 110-111.
  18. ^ All but two of these serekhs are listed in Jiménez-Serrano 2007,372-373, Table 9 . The other two are from Tell el-Farkha (Ciałowicz 2011:63) and Kafr Hassan Dawood (Hassan 2000:39).
  19. ^ Porat 1986/1987 , 119.
  20. ^ Yadin 1995,193-155
  21. ^ Campagno 2008, 695-696
  22. ^ Porat 1986/1987, 109
  23. ^ de Miroschedji 2008:2028-2029.
  24. ^ Anđelković 2011, 31 ,
  25. ^ Jiménez-Serrano 2007,372-373, Table 9
  26. ^ Jiménez-Serrano 2007, 370, Table 8
  27. ^ Anđelković 2011,31.
  28. ^ Levy et al 1995:26-35
  29. ^ Anđelković 1995, 72
  30. ^ Anđelković 2011, 31

Bibliography

  • Anđelković, B. 1995. The Relations Between Early Bronze Age I Canaanites and Upper Egyptians. Belgrade: Faculty of Philosophy, Center for achaeological Research.
  • Anđelković, B. 2011. "Political Organization of Egypt in the Predynastic Period". in Teeter, E. (ed.) Before the Pyramids.Chicago. University of Chicago .
  • Baines, J. 1995 " Origins of Egyptian Kingship" in. In O’Connor, D., and Silverman, D.P. (eds.) Ancient Egyptian Kingship. Leiden, New York, Cologne : E.J. Brill .95-156.
  • Braun, E. 2011. "Early Interaction Between Peoples of the Nile Valley and the Southern Levant". in Teeter, E. (ed.)Before the Pyramids. Chicago. University of Chicago.
  • Campagno, M. 2008. "Ethnicity and Changing Relationships between Egyptians and South Leavantines during the Early Dynastic Period ". in Midant-Reynes and Tristant, Y. (eds.) Egypt at its Origins 2.Leuven.Peeters Publishers
  • Cervelló-Autuori, Josep (2003). "Egyptology at the dawn of the twenty-first century: proceedings of the Eighth International Congress of Egyptologists, Cairo, 2000" (Document). Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press. {{cite document}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |editor-last= and |editor-first= (help); Unknown parameter |contribution= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |volume= ignored (help).
  • Cervelló-Autuori, Josep, "Was King Narmer Menes?" in Archéo-Nil, No. 15, 2005.
  • Ciałowicz, K.M. 2011. "The Predynastic/Early Dynastic Period at Tell el-Farkha". Before the Pyramids,Teeter, E. (ed.) Chicago:Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. 55-64.
  • Dodson, Aidan. Hilton, Dyan. The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Egypt, Thames & Hudson 2004.
  • Dreyer, G. 1999. "Abydos,Umm el-Qa'ab". in Bard, K.A. and Shubert, S.B. (eds.) Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt. New York: Routledge.
  • Dreyer, G. 2000. "Egypt's Earliest Event". Egyptian Archaeology 16.
  • Edwards, I. E. S. (1971). "The Cambridge Ancient History" (Document). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{cite document}}: Unknown parameter |contribution= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |volume= ignored (help).
  • Edwards,W.B. 1961. Archaic Egypt: Culture and Civilization in Egypt Five Thousand Years Ago . London: Penguin Books.
  • Gardiner, Alan. Egypt of the Pharaohs., Oxford University Press, 1961.
  • Hassan,F.A. 2000. "Kafr Hassan Dawood". Egyptian Archaeology 16:37-39 .
  • Jiménez-Serrano 2007.Los Primeros Reyes y la Unification de Egypto. Jaen( Spain) Universidad de Jaen.
  • Kinnaer, Jacques. "What is Really Known About the Narmer Palette?", KMT: A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt, Spring 2004.
  • Lloyd, Alan B. ([1975] 1994). Herodotus: Book II. Leiden: E. J. Brill. ISBN 90-04-04179-6. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Levy, T.E., E.C.M. van den Brink, Y. Goren, and D. Alon. 1995. "New Light on King Narmer and the Protodynastic Egyptian Presence in Canaan". the Biblical Archaeologist 58,no 1: 26-35.
  • Midant-Reynes,B. The Prehistory of Egypt, 2000.
  • de Miroschedji, P. 2004. "Sakan, Tell Es-" in Stern, E, Geva, H. and Paris, A. (eds.).The new Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land 5 Supplementary Volume
  • O'Connor, David. 2011. "The Narmer Palette: A New Interpretation" in Teeter, Emily (ed.) Before the Pyramids. Chicago: The University of Chicago.
  • Porat,N. 1986/1987. "Local Industry of Egyptian Pottery in Southern Palestine during the Early Bronze Period". Bulletin of the Egyptological Seminar 8.
  • Quibell,J.E. "Slate Palette from Hierakonpolis" in Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde 36 (1898).
  • Schulman, A. R. " Narmer and the Unification: A Revisionist View" Buletin of the Egyptological Seminar 11, 1991/1992.
  • Seidlmayer, S. " The Rise of the Egyptian State to the Second Dynasty", in Schulz, R. and Seidel,M. (eds.) Egypt: The World of the Pharaohs, 2010.
  • Shaw, Ian. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt., Oxford University Press, 2000.
  • Tyldesley, Joyce Chronicle of the Queens of Egypt, Thames & Hudson (London) 2006.
  • Wilkinson,T.A.H. 1999.Early Dynastic Egypt. London;New York : Routlege
  • Yadin, Y. 1995."The Earliest record of Egypt Military Penetration into Asia ?". in Israel Exploration Journal 5, no.1.

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