Narmer

Narmer was an ancient Egyptian king of the Early Dynastic Period. Probably the successor to the Protodynastic kings Scorpion and/or Ka, some consider him the unifier of Egypt and founder of the First Dynasty, therefore the first king of a unified Egypt.

The identity of Narmer is the subject of ongoing debate, although mainstream Egyptological consensus identifies Narmer with the First Dynasty pharaoh Menes, who 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 the necropolis of Abydos that show him as the first king of the First Dynasty.

The approximate date of Narmer/Menes is mostly estimated as close to the 31st or 32nd century BCE, although recent Egyptological literature comprises estimates of anywhere between the 34th and the 30th centuries BCE.

Reign

The famous Narmer Palette, discovered by James E. Quibell 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. Since its discovery, it has been debated whether the Narmer Palette represents a historic event or was purely symbolic. 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.