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Ancient Egypt: The beginning - Ancient Man and His FirstCivilizationsAncientEgypt

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Ancient Man and His First CivilizationsEgypt-1

Naqada IIIIn the next period, known as Naqada III, Egypt has by now, been split-up into manyadministrative/territorial divisions, known as Nomes. Each nome has it 's own sacredanimal or plant that became the totem, or emblem of that nome. This emblem was usuallydepicted on the pottery of each nome. It is also at this t ime that we see Egypt ref erred toas - Upper and Lower Egypt - with twenty nomes in Lower Egypt and twenty-two in UpperEgypt. Each nome had its own ruler, but perhaps with an over-all ruler. It is not knownwhat the original polit ical make-up was, or how many times if any, there was unity andthen a break-up.

There were thirteen or so rulers in (Upper Egypt), of which only the last f ew have been identif ied (though theseare by no means certain):

Horus "Crocodile"Horus Hat-HorHorus Iry-HorHorus KaHorus "Scorpion"Horus Narmer "Balef ul Catf ish"

King ScorpionThe rulers who named themselves af ter animals, were probably attempting to identif y themselves with thedivinity that their religion associated with these animals. The rulers became the personif ication of the namedanimal-god. As later on, the pharaohs were known as, the "Son of Ra" or son of some other God. In UpperEgypt these rulers wore the "white crown" of Upper Egypt and were depicted as superhuman f igures, giantswho towered above mortal men. They were also depicted as being war- like, Scorpion's macehead hints at thenature of these Upper Egyptian rulers.

In this mace-head, Scorpion is apparently perf orming a ceremony using a hoe. Perhaps he is opening theirrigation dykes to begin f looding the f ields, or perhaps he is cutting the f irst f urrow f or a temple or perhapseven a city that is to be built. Even today, removing the f irst shovel- f ull of dirt in a f oundation ritual, is a kinglyprerogative. The decorative f rieze around the remaining top of the mace-head, has lapwing birds hanging bytheir necks f rom vertical standards. In hieroglyphics these rekhyts have been interpreted to represent thecommon people of Egypt, and the f rieze seems to indicate that they were conquered by King Scorpion.However, some authorit ies have interpreted the rekhyt symbol as only later, representing the Egyptianpopulation, whereas bef ore in early pre-dynastic history, the rekhyts ref erred to f oreigners or non-Egyptiansinstead. Thus the Scorpion mace-head and Narmer palette may represent the respective rulers havingsuccessf ully def eated f oreigners.

Although a f our-chambered tomb in Abydos, designated asB50, has been speculated as being Scorpions burial place.No conclusive evidence of Scorpions existence has yet beenf ound at Abydos, where the tombs of several f irst Dynastykings, and even some preceding Dynasty 0 kings have beenf ound. Some scholars are not even sure Scorpion actuallyexisted, (perhaps Scorpion was a tit le; perhaps the Scorpionsign did not signif y the persons name at all).

Speculating f urther - he may have come f rom the royal houseof Hierakonpolis, rather than f rom Thinis, the origin city ofthe Thinite dynasty, f rom whence came his later successorNarmer, the Catf ish King. Then again, perhaps Thinis andHierakonpolis each were the centers of rival chief doms, andwhen Scorpions reign ended, Thinis assumed anuncontested posit ion as sovereign of Egypt. Then there isthe issue of whether Narmer is the same king as Menes or ifthey were separate kings. The point is, none of this pre-dynastic stuf f is certain.

In Lower Egypt, a more commercial system ran the state.There the centers of wealth were ruled over by importantf amilies or groups in each town, rather than by a single king.Ma'adi, Buto and Tell Farkha (modern names f or these sites),were the larger towns of the state, with the capital probablyat Buto. By the Naqada III period, Buto's pottery was 99%f rom Upper Egypt, and so was thought to have been"Naqada-ised" by that t ime.

The rulers of Lower Egypt, (they wore the red crown), mayhave been: (taken f rom the Palermo Stone)

SkaH`yw TyuTshshNhbWadjhaMch

There is not much known about these rulers, other than theirnames. Some believe that there was never one ruler overLower Egypt in pre-dynastic t imes, because of a lack ofevidence of such rulers.

Dynasty One

Pharaoh Narmer/MenesAccording to the stella of Pharaoh Narmer, {see below},it was he who managed to def eat the king of LowerEgypt and take over the state. The f amous Narmerpalette shows him on one side wearing the white crownof Upper Egypt, and on the other side, wearing the redcrown of Lower Egypt. It also shows the hawk emblemof Horus, (the Upper Egyptian god of Nekhem),dominating the symbol of Lower Egypt, (the papyrusplant). From this, Narmer is believed to have unif iedEgypt.

However, Manetho attributes the unif ication of Egypt,to Aha "Fighter" Menes. It is he who has been listed asthe f irst pharaoh of the f irst Dynasty by Manetho, butMenes and Narmer may be one in the same man. Meneswas f rom Thinis, in the south of Upper Egypt, but hebuilt his capital at Memphis, according to Diodorus.

In any event, there is general agreement that Narmershould be credited as the unif ier of Egypt, and hencethe f irst Pharaoh of the f irst Dynasty. Whether or not,this is the f irst unif ication of Egypt is unknown. Duringthe Early Dynastic period, the king of ancient Egyptalready had much of the trappings of royal regaliaf amiliar f rom later t imes, including the double crownsof Upper and Lower Egypt and various scepters.These crowns, scepters and other elements, of f eredand represented power and protection. They also setthe king apart f rom everyone else and conveyed hisauthority, both secular and religious.

The ancients of ten used Stele, palettes, and otherobjects to commemorate military victories or otherimportant occurrences. Please click here f or a menuof enlarged photographs of many such objects.

Notes:A f ew acknowledgments here: Egypt's status as the Superpowerof the eastern Mediterranean lands is unquestioned. Theref ore,there is no need to dwell on Egyptian military campaigns, or themilitary aspects of Egyptian lif e. Our course as with all ancientcivilizations, Egypt was of ten at war.

The Egyptians, like all the other ancient civilizations, enslavedsome of the people that they conquered. Taking slaves was partof the "Booty" of conquest. However there is no indication thatthey enslaved any particular people in a discriminating way.Additionally, archeological evidence indicates that slaves wereNOT involved in building Pyramids and the like.

Please visit the "Addit ional Material Area" for manymore photographs of each civilizat ion, and relatedmaterial

Ancient Egypt: The beginning - Ancient Man and His First CivilizationsMAP

Ancient Man and His First CivilizationsEgypt-1Naqada IIIKing Scorpion

Dynasty OnePharaoh Narmer/MenesNotes:Please visit the "Additional Material Area" for many more photographs of each civilization, and related material