Narmer

Narmer
Menes
Close-up view of Narmer on the Narmer Palette
Pharaoh
Reign	c. 31st century BC(?) (1st Dynasty)
Predecessor	Ka (most likely), or possibly Scorpion II
Successor	Hor-Aha
Royal titulary
Consort	Uncertain: possibly Neithhotep
Children	Uncertain: probably Hor-Aha ♂ Uncertain: possibly Neithhotep ♀
Burial	Chambers B17 and B18, Umm el-Qa'ab

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, and in turn the first king of a unified Egypt.

Narmer's identity is the subject of ongoing debate, although mainstream Egyptological consensus identifies Narmer with the First Dynasty pharaoh Menes, who is also sometimes 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 date commonly given for the beginning of his reign is c. 3100 BC. Other mainstream estimates using both the Historical Method and Radiocarbon dating are in the range 3273 - 2987 BC.

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. On one side of the Palette, Narmer is shown wearing a false beard. This is the first unambiguous representation of the royal false beard, an iconic symbol of kingship throughout Ancient Egyptian history. 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.