Narmer's Palette
As Egypt grew and flourished to a powerful and rich nation, it left behind for today's historians, clues and artifacts of a once distinctive, well established and structured society. Proof of this is clearly depicted in king Narmer's Palette. This Palette shows historians the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, which signified the beginnings of a civilized era centred around the
Nile.
The unification of Egypt occurred around 3100 B.C., under the
First Dynasty of Menes(3100-2850 B.C.). This age is commonly know as the Protodynastic era, which is known for the establishment of a firm political structure of the land which was unified in the hands of the king. The glorification of Lower and Upper Egypt uniting was portrayed in Narmer's Palette, which was found in the ancient southern capital of Hierakonpolis. The general function of
Narmer's Palette was to commemorate a victory over his human foes.
With Narmer's victory, the Palette also depicts his successful claim and conquest of all of Egypt, thus establishing unification of Lower and Upper Egypt under his rule. The dominant them however, is the victory of the god incarnate over the forces of evil and chaos. The Narmer Palette, while depicting several social aspects and tendencies of the Egyptian society, also reveals and emphasizes their structured positions within a hierarchy of command. Both sides of the Palette reveal, at the top, the name of king Narmer, which first documents, in the written history of Egypt, that we now are dealing with a civilized state. When the scribes wanted to write king Narmer's name, they placed a small fish called a 'nar' over a chisel, pronounced 'mer'. This combination of the words gave them 'Narmer'. The Palette also depicts king Narmer(probably the legendary Menes) wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt and the
White Crown of Aphroditopolis, which represented Upper Egypt.
Since Narmer had claimed victory over the northern king,
Nile.
The unification of Egypt occurred around 3100 B.C., under the
First Dynasty of Menes(3100-2850 B.C.). This age is commonly know as the Protodynastic era, which is known for the establishment of a firm political structure of the land which was unified in the hands of the king. The glorification of Lower and Upper Egypt uniting was portrayed in Narmer's Palette, which was found in the ancient southern capital of Hierakonpolis. The general function of
Narmer's Palette was to commemorate a victory over his human foes.
With Narmer's victory, the Palette also depicts his successful claim and conquest of all of Egypt, thus establishing unification of Lower and Upper Egypt under his rule. The dominant them however, is the victory of the god incarnate over the forces of evil and chaos. The Narmer Palette, while depicting several social aspects and tendencies of the Egyptian society, also reveals and emphasizes their structured positions within a hierarchy of command. Both sides of the Palette reveal, at the top, the name of king Narmer, which first documents, in the written history of Egypt, that we now are dealing with a civilized state. When the scribes wanted to write king Narmer's name, they placed a small fish called a 'nar' over a chisel, pronounced 'mer'. This combination of the words gave them 'Narmer'. The Palette also depicts king Narmer(probably the legendary Menes) wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt and the
White Crown of Aphroditopolis, which represented Upper Egypt.
Since Narmer had claimed victory over the northern king,