Narmer, Pharaoh of Egypt

From:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narmer

Narmer was an Egyptian Pharaoh who ruled in the 32nd century BC. The successor to Hor-Aha (Kush) "Scorpion King", he is the unifier of Egypt and founder of the First dynasty, and therefore the first king of all Egypt.

Narmer was a son of Scorpion King. The famous Narmer Palette,(king of upper egypt) discovered 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 in c. 3100 BC.[3] Traditionally, Menes is credited with that unification, and he is listed as being the first king in Manetho's list of kings, so this find has caused some controversy.

Some Egyptologists hold that Menes and Narmer are the same person. Arguments have been made that Narmer is Menes because of his appearance on several ostraca in conjunction with the gameboard hieroglyph, Mn, which appears to be a contemporary record to the otherwise mythical king.[5] However, there are inconsistencies within every ostracon which mentions Menes, precluding any definitive proof to his identity.[6]

At the site of Nahal Tillah (see below) a pottery shard was found with the serekh of king Narmer, showing that the Egyptian kings had five royal names, one of which also included the signs for mn (Menes) without further title but adjacent to the Horus name of Narmer. This would lead to the conclusion that Menes' royal name included Narmer.However, there are inconsistencies within every ostracon which mentions Menes, precluding any definitive proof to his identity.[7] The kings lists recently found in Den's and Qa'a's tombs both list Narmer as the founder of their dynasty who was preceded by Hor-Aha (Menes was absent).

Another equally plausible 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), and adopted symbols of unification that had already been in use for perhaps a generation.[citation needed]

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. Narmer's name is represented phonetically by the hieroglyphic sign for a catfish (n'r) and that of a chisel (mr). Modern variants of his name include "Hor Narmeru" or "Hor Merinar" (Horus, beloved of Nar, hence perhaps Meni (Mn)?), but scholarly convention favors "Narmer". His tomb is composed of two joined chambers (B17 and B18) found in the Umm el-Qa'ab region of Abydos. It is located near Ka's tomb who ruled Thinis just before him.

During the summer of 1994, excavators from the Nahal Tillah expedition in southern Israel discovered an incised ceramic shard with the serekh sign of Narmer, the same individual whose ceremonial slate palette was found by James E. Quibell in Upper Egypt. The inscription was found on a large circular platform, possibly the foundations of a storage silo on the Halif Terrace. Dated to ca. 3000 BC, mineralogical studies of the shard conclude that it is a fragment of a wine jar which was imported from the Nile valley to Israel some 5000 years ago. Narmer had Egyptian pottery produced in southern Canaan — with his name stamped on vessels — and then exported back to Egypt.[9] Production sites included Arad, En Besor, Rafiah, and Tel Erani.