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Unity between Upper and Lower Egypt

Unity between Upper an
Region: Egypt
Created: Nov 16, 2009, modified: Jan 13, 2012, overall rating: 2.500

The history starts with Narmer whom some scholars feel should beidentified with the mythical king Menes who unified the two kingdoms. This isthe beginning of the first of the thirty one dynasties which sat on the Egyptianthrone until 332 B.C., the year that Egypt was conquered by Alexander the Great.« A breaker of heads he is... he does not spare » is what one can read in anancient inscription about king Narmer. In fact this is how he is depicted on thefamous « Narmer stele », a slate tablet about 74 centimeters high, dating fromabout 3100 B.C. and originating from Hier Kannapolis (the ancient Nekneb, thepresent day El Kab), a city considered sacred in the prehistory of Up­perEgypt. On this stele which had a cosmetic purpose, on one side we see thepharaoh with one hand grasping the hair of an enemy and the other a club. Onthis side of the stele the king wears the conical crown of Upper Egypt while onthe other side he is depicted, in front of a large number of his decapitatedenemies wearing the crown of Lower Egypt.

There were in fact three crowns: the White Crown of the North, the RedCrown of the South and the Dou­ble Crown, consisting of the two previousones com­bined, which symbolized the United Kingdom. Similar­ly thevulture was the symbol of Upper Egypt and the cobra that of LowerEgypt.

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