According to ancient sources, Menes was the founder of a unified Egypt, the first king of the 1st Dynasty. Actually, Menes is the Greek form of the name provided by the third century BC Egyptian historian, Manetho. Alternative forms include Min (provided by Herodotus), Minaios (provided by Josephus), and Menas (provided by Diodorus Siculus), and there are other variations as well.
It seems almost certain that the various Greek forms of the name render the Egyptian name Mni, found in the Abydos and Turin king lists, although the etymology of the name is problematic. Some have proposed a connection with the verb, "to endure", while others wish to connect it with the Egyptian indefinite pronoun mn, meaning "so-and-so", that is, a substitute for a forgotten name. One scholar, James Allen, has sought to link the name Meni with the Egyptian name of the city of Memphis (Mn-nfr), which Menes is said to have founded.
According to Menetho, Menes founded a dynasty of eight kings from this. Manetho gives Menes a reign of about sixty years (sixty-two years according to Africanus, sixty according to Eusebius). His principal achievement is said to have been the foundation of Memphis, on land reclaimed from the Nile by means of the construction of an immense dike. Manetho reports that Menes campaigned abroad, which we now know is very possible. Diodorus Siculus says that he was the first law-giver and that it was he would establish the divine cults in Egypt. He is also said by Pliny to have invented writing, which is highly improbable. Manetho also tells us that Menes was eventually carried off by a hippopotamus.
What seems clear to us is that Menes must have been another name given to one of the better attested kings of the 1st Dynasty, if he indeed was not a legendary figure composed of several of them. Many scholars do believe that he represents a specific king, but who exactly this might be is an argument almost as old as Egyptology itself. Today, the two primary candidates are Narmer and Aha. We are more certain, though not entirely, that these two individuals reigned successively, with Narmer preceding Aha. If Narmer is considered to be Menes, then Aha would be the second ruler of the 1st Dynasty. Otherwise, Narmer would be the last ruler of the Predynastic Period, or as some have suggested, Dynasty 0.
Perhaps the most important aspect of this discussion is to remember that there has been no absolutely conclusive proof that either of these individuals was Menes, even though many scholars will and have voiced absolute opinions, because their absolute opinions are not unified. We do not know with any certainty who Menes actually was, and we may never have the answer to this question. Furthermore, opinions over the years have swung to and fro.
Narmer's claim rests largely on his earlier historical position and on the Narmer Palette, which has been interpreted as showing the king in the act of conquering Lower (Northern) Egypt.
In 1897 J.E. Quibell had been digging at El-Kab, an important site on the east bank some distance to the north of Edfu. Here the local goddess was the vulture Nekhbet who shared with the cobra Wadjet of Buto in the Delta the honor of providing the Pharaoh with his Two-Ladies title. Nekhbet was representative of upper Egypt, while Wadjet that of Lower Egypt. That year, he found little success, but the next, while just across the river at Kom el-Ahmar, he had more luck. This was known to be the ancient Nekhen mentioned in certain Old Kingdom official titles, and the Greek Hierakonpolis on account of the falcon-god Horus who was the principal deity worshipped there. The great prize he found was the famous slate palette of Na'rmer. It needed but little study to recognize in this object an indisputable link between the late predynastic and the earliest dynastic periods. Apparently, though there is some confusion in the published work of Quibell at Hierakonpolis, he also found in the same deposit fragments of a ceremonial mace head belonging to Narmer and some other mace head fragments inscribed with the name of Scorpion, one of Narmer's predecessors.
The size, weight and decoration all suggest that it was a ceremonial palette, rather than an actual cosmetics palette for daily use. The titulary of Horus Narmer appears on both of its relatively flat faces. The top of both sides are decorated in a similar manner. His name is inscribed in the form of a serekh, situated between two bovine heads. It has been suggested that these heads represent cows, and are an early reference to a Hathor-like cult, but they could also easily be bulls heads, certainly symbolic of Egyptian kingship. Nevertheless, they more likely represent a Hathor goddess, who in some mythology was the mother of Horus, the falcon god who was, at least in later times, manifested in the form of the king. .
It seems almost certain that the various Greek forms of the name render the Egyptian name Mni, found in the Abydos and Turin king lists, although the etymology of the name is problematic. Some have proposed a connection with the verb, "to endure", while others wish to connect it with the Egyptian indefinite pronoun mn, meaning "so-and-so", that is, a substitute for a forgotten name. One scholar, James Allen, has sought to link the name Meni with the Egyptian name of the city of Memphis (Mn-nfr), which Menes is said to have founded.
According to Menetho, Menes founded a dynasty of eight kings from this. Manetho gives Menes a reign of about sixty years (sixty-two years according to Africanus, sixty according to Eusebius). His principal achievement is said to have been the foundation of Memphis, on land reclaimed from the Nile by means of the construction of an immense dike. Manetho reports that Menes campaigned abroad, which we now know is very possible. Diodorus Siculus says that he was the first law-giver and that it was he would establish the divine cults in Egypt. He is also said by Pliny to have invented writing, which is highly improbable. Manetho also tells us that Menes was eventually carried off by a hippopotamus.
What seems clear to us is that Menes must have been another name given to one of the better attested kings of the 1st Dynasty, if he indeed was not a legendary figure composed of several of them. Many scholars do believe that he represents a specific king, but who exactly this might be is an argument almost as old as Egyptology itself. Today, the two primary candidates are Narmer and Aha. We are more certain, though not entirely, that these two individuals reigned successively, with Narmer preceding Aha. If Narmer is considered to be Menes, then Aha would be the second ruler of the 1st Dynasty. Otherwise, Narmer would be the last ruler of the Predynastic Period, or as some have suggested, Dynasty 0.
Perhaps the most important aspect of this discussion is to remember that there has been no absolutely conclusive proof that either of these individuals was Menes, even though many scholars will and have voiced absolute opinions, because their absolute opinions are not unified. We do not know with any certainty who Menes actually was, and we may never have the answer to this question. Furthermore, opinions over the years have swung to and fro.
Narmer's claim rests largely on his earlier historical position and on the Narmer Palette, which has been interpreted as showing the king in the act of conquering Lower (Northern) Egypt.
In 1897 J.E. Quibell had been digging at El-Kab, an important site on the east bank some distance to the north of Edfu. Here the local goddess was the vulture Nekhbet who shared with the cobra Wadjet of Buto in the Delta the honor of providing the Pharaoh with his Two-Ladies title. Nekhbet was representative of upper Egypt, while Wadjet that of Lower Egypt. That year, he found little success, but the next, while just across the river at Kom el-Ahmar, he had more luck. This was known to be the ancient Nekhen mentioned in certain Old Kingdom official titles, and the Greek Hierakonpolis on account of the falcon-god Horus who was the principal deity worshipped there. The great prize he found was the famous slate palette of Na'rmer. It needed but little study to recognize in this object an indisputable link between the late predynastic and the earliest dynastic periods. Apparently, though there is some confusion in the published work of Quibell at Hierakonpolis, he also found in the same deposit fragments of a ceremonial mace head belonging to Narmer and some other mace head fragments inscribed with the name of Scorpion, one of Narmer's predecessors.
The size, weight and decoration all suggest that it was a ceremonial palette, rather than an actual cosmetics palette for daily use. The titulary of Horus Narmer appears on both of its relatively flat faces. The top of both sides are decorated in a similar manner. His name is inscribed in the form of a serekh, situated between two bovine heads. It has been suggested that these heads represent cows, and are an early reference to a Hathor-like cult, but they could also easily be bulls heads, certainly symbolic of Egyptian kingship. Nevertheless, they more likely represent a Hathor goddess, who in some mythology was the mother of Horus, the falcon god who was, at least in later times, manifested in the form of the king. .
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