Narmer palette

Narmer palette

Historical informations about Narmer

Egypt was divided into two kingdoms:

Upper Egypt is in the south and its kings were wearing the white crown.

Lower Egypt is in the north, and its kings wore the red crown.

Narmer was the king of Upper Egypt who defeated Lower Egypt and unified the two lands, then established the first dynasty.

Some Egyptologists believe that Narmer was the founder of the new capital (Mn Nefer - Memphis), which located in a distinctive place between the south and north, and was called the White Fort, while other Egyptologists says that his son Aha was the one who built it.

There have been several names for the first king who unified Egypt. through which we see the development of the pronunciation of the name over the ages, including (Narmer, Na'rmer, Mni, Mna, Mina) as mentioned in the history of Manetton the Samnudi, the Turin Papyrus, and the list of Abydos that the first king is "Mina" which means the immortal or the founder.

I'd like to mention that the name "Mina" is still used in modern Egypt for men.

Egyptian Crowns

 Description of Narmer palette

the palette have two faces

Front face

.divided into three parts

first part

The top of the palette is decorated in a similar manner on both sides: the name of the king is inscribed in a so-called serekh between two bovine heads. The animals' heads are drawn from the front, which is rather uncharacteristic of later Egyptian art. In most publications, these heads have been described as cows' heads, which is usually interpreted as an early reference to the cow-goddess, Bat or perhaps Hathor the goddess of love, music, beauty and motherhood

second part

Most of the palette's back side is decorated with a scene showing the king about to strike down a foe, whom he grabs by the hair. This is the oldest known example of a type of scene that would continue to be used until the end of the Egyptian culture, even by kings who do not seem to have waged any wars at all. As such, the historical value of this type of scene can be doubted.

The king wears a short skirt decorated with bovine heads and an animal's tail. He also wears the White Crown which is usually associated with Upper Egypt. It is, however, not certain whether in Narmer's time, this crown already had its traditional geographical significance, or whether it was associated more with a specific part of the king's overall responsibilities.

Narmer's victim is shown kneeling in front of him, the upper part of his arms close to his body, as if to indicate that he was bound. Apart from a girdle, he is represented naked. The contrast between the naked victim and the clad king perhaps denotes that the victim was considered as barbaric.

Behind the king an apparently bald person holds a pair of sandals in his left hand and a basket in his right. Of the two hieroglyphic signs that are written behind the man's head, the lower one can be read as 'servant'

The upper right part is a depiction of a land, and from its beginning the head of an enemy comes out, and behind it there are 6 papyri. On top of the papyri, the falcon god, Horus apears with a human hand holding his enemy from his nose with a stick, As a symbol of the king Narmer's victory and authority on the north. There is an opinion that states that each papyrus means 1000 prisoners, meaning that the number of defeated enemies is 6000 and this is considered a kind of exaggeration.

third part

Below this central scene, underneath the king's feet, lie two overthrown, naked enemies. One of their arms is raised up, the other is drawn behind their backs. Their legs are sprawling and their entire posture indicates that they are fallen enemies. To the left of each victim, a hieroglyphic sign is drawn, the left-most representing a wall and the other some sort of knot. Both signs are usually interpreted as names of places that have been captured by Narmer.

Back face

.divided into four parts

first part

The top of the palette is decorated in a similar manner on both sides: the name of the king is inscribed in a so-called serekh between two bovine heads. The animals' heads are drawn from the front, which is rather uncharacteristic of later Egyptian art. In most publications, these heads have been described as cows' heads, which is usually interpreted as an early reference to the cow-goddess, Bat or perhaps Hathor the goddess of love, music, beauty and motherhood.

Exactly like the front face.

second part

A scene of religious celebration that celebrates the king's victory over his enemies.

The king wears the red crown of Lower Egypt and holds the head of a scepter and a wheat scythe as a sign of authority.

He wears a short skirt with a bull's tail as a sign of strength, and the left foot provided on the right foot and the name of the king recorded behind him consisting of chisel and catfish fish.

Behind the king there is a sandal holder carrying sandals and a jar, and behind it there are two hieroglyphic signs that mean the royal servant.

Above the sandal stand there is a rectangular form which reads "Bed", which may refer to the city "Bed", the religious city of Lower Egypt, and may have been where they started the procession.

In front of the king there is a high official holding a tool used for writing, and before his head there are two hieroglyphics that may refer to an ancient hieroglyphic word which means "minister".

After the minister, there are four people, two of them carrying flags with the falcon "Horus", 

and the third carrys a shape that indicates a local god in "Assiut", most likely "Anobo",

and the fourth depicting an oval shape similar to the poster symbol of the god "Khonsu".

The four people refer to a declaration King's victory to the four corners of the world.

In front of the four men, there are two rows of enemies, with heads cut off and placed between their feet.

All enemies are depicted with arched feet except for two of them, who may be their bosses or leaders.

Above the enemies there is a depiction of the falcon god Horus standing on a gate, perhaps intended as an idea that the king enters through the gate of "Buto", the capital of Lower Egypt.

Falcon Horus stands on a spear and there is a boat, the spear refers to the weapon used by Falcon Horus and the boat represents the means of transportation of the gods on religious journeys.

third part

It shows two legendary animals with a lion's head and a long nested neck. There are two men (who are likely to be enemies of Egypt) carrying the heads of animals with a rope in reference to Upper and Lower Egypt after the union and that none of Egypt's enemies can separate or defeat them.

fourth part

The king in the form of a strong bull destroying the castle of the enemies, and under the bull there is a kneeling enemy without clothes in a frightening and humiliating position is likely to be in one of the fortresses of "Fayoum".

Who Unified The Two Lands, The Lord Of The Two Lands, The Owner Of The Two Crowns, The Eagle Of South And The Snake Of North ... those were King Narmer's titles.

The success of King Narmar in the unification of the two lands had a great value for the Egyptians, as they considered that the unification of Egypt was a strong step that resulted in all subsequent events.

The unification of the two lands by King Narmar was not just a historical event, but we can say that King Narmar somehow made the history or laid the solid foundation stone which Egypt was built on and history was built with it, and by this we can realize why the Egyptians loved this king so much and was considered as a spiritual father to Egypt and to all Egyptians.

Narmar's name "Mina", which means the immortal and the founder over the thousands of years, was mentioned several times over eras as the first king and the founder as we found in the history of Manetton the Samnudi, the Turin Papyrus, and the list of Abydos, until it became a myth passed on for generations as an expression of the importance of unity.

As for the King Narmar's palette, it has great importance. In the pre-unification, we found that the usual use of the palettes was for grinding the eyeliner, which is used to beautify eyes and protect it from sunlight, but then it was used to record important events such as victories. This schist stone palette is one of the first recordings in human history.

The Egyptian artist has created it with very simple tools, but he could embodying the scenes of war and celebration which were at 3200 B.C, to convey events to us as if we were there.