Scope: Here we see Egypt become the first nation in history. We will also consider the first historical document in the world. From the time of the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt by King Narmer (Menes), it would take only a few hundred years to build a power that would dominate the Near East for thousands of years. We will show why the political structure of ancient Egypt made this possible and how the Narmer Palette tells this story.
Outline
I. Egypt was originally divided into separate kingdoms: Upper and Lower Egypt. By 3200 BC, they appear to have been ruled by different kings.
A. The crown was a symbol of royal power. In the south (Upper Egypt), it was white and conical in shape; in the north (Lower Egypt), it was red with a peak at the back.
1. No crown has ever been found for the two kingdoms.
2. The crowns were believed to have magical powers. It was the one thing that a pharaoh couldn’t take with him to the next world.
B. Communication between the two kingdoms was probably limited, making unification more of a labor. Travel, whether by donkey or boat, was difficult.
II. Egypt was united from the separate kingdoms into one nation about 3150 BC, when King Narmer from the south conquered the north.
A. The Narmer Palette, the world’s first historical document (3150 BC), was discovered north of Aswan in 1897. A ceremonial palette made of slate, it was not intended for cosmetic use in daily life. It may have been used to grind cosmetics for offerings at a shrine to the gods.
1. The Narmer Palette shows the beginning of writing, the first real hieroglyphs.
2. Artistic conventions appear: The king was portrayed as the symbol of Egypt, and hierarchical proportions were used to distinguish kings from commoners.
3. The palette contains a complete story. Narmer, wearing the white crown and holding a mace in one hand, is about to smite his enemy, whom he is holding by the hair with the other hand. That enemy may have been the king of the north.
4. The enemy has a ring through his nose that is tied by a string to the falcon, symbol of the pharaoh.
5. “Registration” is recognizable on the palette—figures stand on defined planes or registers, rather than float haphazardly.
6. On the other side of the palette, we have the conclusion of the story. In the victory procession, we see the red crown on Narmer—representing the unification of Egypt—and the headless enemies vanquished by the new king.
7. Beneath Narmer are two fantastic beasts. Perhaps the intertwined necks of the beasts—panthers or leopards—are a symbol of the unification of Egypt.
8. Beneath them is a fortress being broken down by a bull, another symbol of Narmer.
B. The palette was probably carved by two different people, one doing each side. After all, the figures on each side are done in different styles. We may, in fact, have been reading the two sides in the wrong order, a mystery for future Egyptologists to ponder.
C. Why is the palette so important? For the story it tells. Now Egypt has a single king, a god on earth, Horus on earth. Other ancient nations had kings but not kings that were gods.
III. There are important benefits of a unified Egypt, as Narmer became the first king of the First Dynasty.
A. The all-powerful ruler, from Egypt to Plato’s Republic to Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan, can do great things. (We give up our rights to a strong central government so that we will be safe.) Egypt, beginning with Narmer, could now rule the entire Mideast.
B. A standing army was possible, because centralization focuses resources where they are needed most.
C. The annual flooding of the Nile could now be turned to public advantage. Irrigation projects could be organized with large numbers of people working for the common good. Workers coaxed the Nile from its banks by irrigation ditches.
D. Egypt was the first nation in history with a powerful centralized government. The government would collapse at times, but the people would always go back to the “divine order” of a centralized government ruled by a pharaoh.
E. Such monuments as the pyramids were possible only because of a centralized government that facilitated the tradition of massive public works projects. The Egyptians used people, not beasts of burden, for large architectural undertakings.
F. It would take just a few hundred years after Narmer’s conquest to begin the building of the great pyramids.
Essential Reading:
Michael Rice, Egypt's Making, Chapter 3.
Supplementary Reading:
Peter Clayton, Chronicle of the Pharaohs, pp. 14-19.
Questions to Consider:
1. What is the story told by the Namier Palette?
2. What are the advantages of nationhood?