Start of pharoah dynasty age.

The first Pharaohs King for united Egypt.


     King Menes, Also called Mina and Narmer as we

King Menes ( Narmer ) Was great king had a great vision about unifying Upper & Lower Egypt to Make the greatest Civilization overall the world.





King Menes Chronology.

     King Menes ( Narmer ) (3rd Century BC Around 3150 BC), The Turin King List, and the Palermo Stone as well as from some scant archaeological evidence such as ivory engravings. In the early days of Egyptology, Menes was accepted as the first historical king based upon the written records. As time went by, however, and archaeological excavations failed to turn up any evidence of such a king.

Menes (c. 3150 BCE) is that the legendary first king of Egypt who is assumed to possess united Upper and Lower Egypt through conquest and founded both the primary Dynasty and therefore the great city of Memphis. His name is understood from sources like Manetho's Chronology (3rd century BCE), The Turin King List, and therefore the Palermo Stone also as from some scant archaeological evidence like ivory engravings. within the youth of Egyptology, Menes was accepted because of the first historical king based upon the written records. As time glided by, however, and archaeological excavations did not happen any evidence of such a king, scholars began to question whether he had actually existed or was, perhaps, a composite figure drawn from the memory of the reigns of other kings.

The Egyptologist Flinders Petrie (1853-1942 CE) concluded that the name 'Menes' was actually an honorific title meaning "he who endures", not a private name, and therefore the first historical pharaoh of Egypt was Narmer (c. 3150 BCE) whose existence was firmly established both by the written account and archaeological evidence (most notably, the Narmer Palette, a siltstone engraving depicting Narmer's victory over Lower Egypt). within the modern-day, Petrie's claim is that the most generally accepted and Menes is related to Narmer (though there are some scholars who associate the name with Narmer's son Hor-Aha). The legend of Menes, however, took on a lifetime of its own quite independent of regardless of the king Narmer may or might not have done. Narmer allegedly united the 2 lands of Egypt peacefully over time, married a princess to consolidate his power, then began building projects and further developing trade with other cultures. These accomplishments, however, weren't grand enough for the primary king of Egypt who not only needed to be larger than life but also to symbolize a key concept in Egyptian culture: duality.


 Duality in Egyptian Belief

For the Egyptians, life was a matter of balance and needed to be lived consistently with the principle of ma'at (harmony). This belief permeated every aspect of Egyptian culture including the office of the king. Manetho's Chronology begins by listing the various gods who ruled Egypt before Menes and when it reaches the primary king, makes clear that this man balanced Egypt by conquering the forces of chaos and presiding over a land of order. Whether this actually happened wasn't as important as what it symbolized.

The story of Menes' unification of Egypt is taken into account a symbol of this duality so central to Egyptian culture. before Menes there was a conflict between the town states of Upper and Lower Egypt leading to chaos; then came the good king who brought order and, from that order, prosperity. it had been understood that chaos could return, however, then the king needed to be vigilant and, even as importantly, had to be a mighty warrior who could subdue the forces of chaos when the necessity arose

Menes is claimed to possess united the 2 lands through conquest and, afterward, instituted policies which brought peace and order. As noted, it's now thought that Narmer was liable for these advances and 'Menes' was his honorific; but whatever facts on Narmer's reign were available to the first historians, they were discarded or embellished upon to make the legend of the good king Menes.
Menes: The Legend

Story of King Menes ( Narmer )



Menes came from the town of Hierkanpolis (though it's also claimed he came from Thinis) and conquered the neighboring cities of Upper Egypt, Thinis and Naqada, before embarking on the campaign to subdue Lower Egypt . Manetho credits him with expanding the borders of his kingdom by marching across the frontiers, bringing order out of chaos. He was an excellent warrior but also highly cultured and later writers (such because the Roman historian Pliny) claimed he invented written script.

Once Egypt was unified and asleep , he instituted religious practices and formalized beliefs. His reign was so prosperous (lasting 62 years) that the Egyptians didn't need to work as hard as they won't to and developed hobbies like carving, sculpting, sports, brewing beer, cultivating private gardens and living in luxury. In fact, the later writer Diodorus Siculus claims Menes invented the concept of luxury.

He rode on the rear of a crocodile to flee rabid hunting dogs (founding the town of Crocodilopolis), founded the good city of Memphis, and established his capital there. consistent with Herodotus, he built Memphis after constructing a dam on the Nile to divert water faraway from the chosen site of his city and created his great palace and
administrative buildings ashore which had been under

water (which accounted for the fertility of the encompassing plains). He instituted the practice of sacrificing to the gods and ensured that harmony was observed throughout the land. After an extended and prosperous reign, he was carried off (or killed) by a hippopotamus.

It is not surprising that a hippopotamus should feature in Menes' end. The hippopotamus in Egyptian culture was a fearsome creature who was regularly hunted and killed and death by hippopotamus was considered among the worst. Further, the animal was related to the god of chaos, Set, the primary murderer who had killed his brother Osiris and been defeated by Osiris' son Horus. keep with the principle of duality, however, Set had a consort, Taweret, pictured as a lady with the top of a hippopotamus who was considered a protector. the twin nature of those two entwined gods were derived from the Egyptians' observations of the hippopotamus: the females protected and nurtured their young while the males were more aggressive and destructive.



Menes' death by hippopotamus could are interpreted by an audience as meaning chaos had come and carried him away and, if such a thing could happen to so great a king, it could happen to anyone; people, therefore, should remain vigilant in the least times. Tawaret wasn't related to universal protection but only of mothers and youngsters so it's unlikely that Menes' death would are seen as a protective gesture by the gods who took him from the earth at the acceptable time, but the association of the hippo with protection may have encouraged such an interpretation.
Menes: The History




However Menes' death was viewed, his reign was considered a sort of golden age for Egypt when life was good and therefore the land prosperous.
The actual king who most likely united the 2 lands of Egypt was Narmer who was almost certainly from the town of Things. Narmer established himself as supreme king of Upper and Lower Egypt and married the princess Neithhotep of Naqada in an alliance to strengthen ties between the 2 cities. Although he's thought to possess united Egypt peacefully, there's evidence he did so through military conquest. The Narmer Palette clearly depicts this king subduing Lower Egypt by force; though whether the inscriptions on the palette should be read as history or symbollically continues to be debated. Even so, he presumably led military expeditions through Lower Egypt to place down rebellions and, like the Menes' legend, crossed the frontiers and expanded his territory into Canaan and Nubia. He initiated large building projects and therefore the small cities of the Predynastic Period of Egypt grew in size and scope.Narmer wouldn't have instituted religious practice but presumably formalized it. He certainly is liable for the buildings dated to his time which, like all people who followed, expressed the religious beliefs of the Egyptians through their architecture. When Narmer was born or how he died is unknown but it's quite clear that such a king existed whereas an equivalent can't be said for Menes.Unification of Egypt, whether completed or only initiated by Narmer, was probably a slow process which took a few years . The turmoil evident during the Second Dynasty (c. 2980 - c. 2670 BCE) supports the claim that unification wasn't accomplished during a single stroke by one king. Egyptian culture, however, needed the legend of Menes and therefore the refore the unification of Egypt so as to determine a connection between the primary king and the enduring concept of duality. The legend of Menes served to symbolize that whole. an excellent king capable of wonderful feats who established a harmonious golden age at the start of recorded history was much more meaningful to later generations than a mere man who may or might not have unified the country. like all founding father of a nation throughout history, Menes served as a perfect of the culture's values and what it aspired to. Whether an actual man named Menes existed was irrelevant; what mattered was what his story meant to the people of his country.

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