Menes (fl. c. 3200–3000 BC; ; egy, mnj, probably pronounced *; grc, Μήνης) was a

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until th ...

of the Early Dynastic Period of ancient Egypt credited by classical tradition with having united Upper and Lower Egypt and as the founder of the First Dynasty. The identity of Menes is the subject of ongoing debate, although mainstream Egyptological consensus identifies Menes with the Naqada III ruler

Narmer Narmer ( egy, Wiktionary:nꜥr-mr, nꜥr-mr, meaning "painful catfish," "stinging catfish," "harsh catfish," or "fierce catfish;" ) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Early Dynastic Period (Egypt), Early Dynastic Period. He was the successor ...

or First Dynasty

Hor-Aha Hor-Aha (or Aha or Horus Aha) is considered the second pharaoh of the First Dynasty of Egypt by some Egyptologists, while others consider him the first one and corresponding to Menes. He lived around the 31st century BC and is thought to have ...

. Both pharaohs are credited with the unification of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

to different degrees by various authorities.

Name and identity

The commonly-used name ''Menes'' derives from

Manetho Manetho (; grc-koi, Μανέθων ''Manéthōn'', ''gen''.: Μανέθωνος) is believed to have been an Egyptian priest from Sebennytos ( cop, Ϫⲉⲙⲛⲟⲩϯ, translit=Čemnouti) who lived in the Ptolemaic Kingdom in the early third ...

, an Egyptian historian and priest who lived during the Ptolemaic Kingdom. Manetho noted the name in Greek as Μήνης ( transliterated: ''Mênês'').Manetho, Fr. 6, 7a, 7b. Text and translation in ''Manetho'', translated by W.G. Waddell (Cambridge: Harvard University, 1940), pp.26–35 An alternative Greek form, Μιν (transliterated: ''Min''), was cited by the fifth-century-BC historian

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria (Italy). He is known fo ...

, but this variant is no longer accepted; it appears to have been the result of contamination from the name of the god

Min Min or MIN may refer to: Places * Fujian, also called Mǐn, a province of China ** Min Kingdom (909–945), a state in Fujian * Min County, a county of Dingxi, Gansu province, China * Min River (Fujian) * Min River (Sichuan) * Mineola (Amtr ...

. The Egyptian form, ''mnj'', is taken from the

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

and Abydos King Lists, which are dated to the Nineteenth Dynasty, whose pronunciation has been reconstructed as . By the early

New Kingdom New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

, changes in the Egyptian language meant his name was already pronounced . The name ''mnj'' means "He who endures", which, I.E.S. Edwards (1971) suggests, may have been coined as "a mere descriptive

epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

denoting a semi-legendary hero ..whose name had been lost". Rather than a particular person, the name may conceal collectively the Naqada III rulers: Ka, Scorpion II and

Narmer and Menes

The almost complete absence of any mention of Menes in the archaeological record and the comparative wealth of evidence of

, a protodynastic figure credited by posterity and in the archaeological record with a firm claim to the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, has given rise to a theory identifying Menes with Narmer. The chief archaeological reference to Menes is an

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals i ...

label from

Naqada Naqada ( Egyptian Arabic: ; Coptic language: ; Ancient Greek: ) is a town on the west bank of the Nile in Qena Governorate, Egypt, situated ca. 20 km north of Luxor. It includes the villages of Tukh, Khatara, Danfiq, and Zawayda. Ac ...

which shows the royal Horus-name ''Aha'' (the pharaoh

) next to a building, within which is the royal ''nebty''-name ''mn'', generally taken to be Menes. From this, various theories on the nature of the building (a funerary booth or a shrine), the meaning of the word ''mn'' (a name or the verb ''endures'') and the relationship between Hor-Aha and Menes (as one person or as successive pharaohs) have arisen. The Turin and Abydos king lists, generally accepted to be correct, list the ''nesu-bit''-names of the pharaohs, not their Horus-names, and are vital to the potential reconciliation of the various records: the '' nesu-bit''-names of the king lists, the Horus-names of the archaeological record and the number of pharaohs in Dynasty I according to Manetho and other historical sources.

Flinders Petrie Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Flinders Petrie, was a British Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. He held the first chair of Egyp ...

first attempted this task, associating ''Iti'' with

Djer Djer (or Zer or Sekhty) is considered the third pharaoh of the First Dynasty of ancient Egypt in current Egyptology. He lived around the mid- thirty-first century BC and reigned for c. 40 years. A mummified forearm of Djer or his wife was disco ...

as the third pharaoh of Dynasty I, ''Teti'' (Turin) (or another ''Iti'' (Abydos)) with Hor-Aha as second pharaoh, and Menes (a ''nebty''-name) with Narmer (a Horus-name) as first pharaoh of Dynasty I. Lloyd (1994) finds this succession "extremely probable", and Cervelló-Autuori (2003) categorically states that "Menes is Narmer and the First Dynasty begins with him". However, Seidlmayer (2004) states that it is "a fairly safe inference" that Menes was Hor-Aha. Two documents have been put forward as proof either that Narmer was Menes or alternatively

was Menes. The first is the "Naqada Label" found at the site of Naqada, in the tomb of Queen Neithhotep, often assumed to have been the mother of Horus Aha. The label shows a serekh of Hor-Aha next to an enclosure inside of which are symbols that have been interpreted by some scholars as the name "Menes". The second is the seal impression from Abydos that alternates between a ''serekh'' of Narmer and the chessboard symbol, "''mn''", which is interpreted as an abbreviation of Menes. Arguments have been made with regard to each of these documents in favour of Narmer or Hor-Aha being Menes, but in neither case is the argument conclusive. The second document, the seal impression from Abydos, shows the serekh of Narmer alternating with the gameboard sign ('' mn''), together with its phonetic complement, the ''n'' sign, which is always shown when the full name of Menes is written, again representing the name “Menes”. At first glance, this would seem to be strong evidence that Narmer was Menes. However, based on an analysis of other early First Dynasty seal impressions, which contain the name of one or more princes, the seal impression has been interpreted by other scholars as showing the name of a prince of Narmer named Menes, hence Menes was Narmer's successor, Hor-Aha, and thus Hor-Aha was Menes. This was refuted by ; but opinions still vary, and the seal impression cannot be said to definitively support either theory.

, after having mentioned the first king of Egypt, ''Min'', he wrote that ''Linus'', called by the Egyptians ''Maneros'', was "the only son of the first king of Egypt" and that he died untimely.

Dates

Egyptologists, archaeologists, and scholars from the 19th century have proposed different dates for the era of Menes, or the date of the first dynasty: *

John Gardner Wilkinson Sir John Gardner Wilkinson (5 October 1797 – 29 October 1875) was an English traveller, writer and pioneer Egyptologist of the 19th century. He is often referred to as "the Father of British Egyptology". Childhood and education Wilkinson ...

(1835) – 2320 BC *

Jean-François Champollion Jean-François Champollion (), also known as Champollion ''le jeune'' ('the Younger'; 23 December 17904 March 1832), was a French philologist and orientalist, known primarily as the decipherer of Egyptian hieroglyphs and a founding figure in t ...

(Published posthumously in 1840) – 5867 BC *

August Böckh August Böckh or Boeckh (; 24 November 1785 – 3 August 1867) was a German classical scholar and antiquarian. Life He was born in Karlsruhe, and educated at the local gymnasium; in 1803 he left for the University of Halle, where he studied t ...

(1845) – 5702 BC *

Christian Charles Josias Bunsen Christian Charles or Karl Josias von Bunsen (25 August 1791 – 28 November 1860), also known as , was a German diplomat and scholar. Life Early life Bunsen was born at Korbach, an old town in the German principality of Waldeck. His fa ...

(1848) – 3623 BC *

Reginald Stuart Poole Reginald Stuart Poole (27 January 18328 February 1895), known as Stuart Poole, was an English archaeologist, numismatist and Orientalist. Poole was from a famous Orientalist family as his mother Sophia Lane Poole, his uncle Edward William Lane an ...

(1851) – 2717 BC *

Karl Richard Lepsius Karl Richard Lepsius ( la, Carolus Richardius Lepsius) (23 December 181010 July 1884) was a pioneering Prussian Egyptologist, linguist and modern archaeologist. He is widely known for his magnum opus '' Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Äthiopie ...

(1856) – 3892 BC *

Heinrich Karl Brugsch Heinrich Karl Brugsch (also ''Brugsch-Pasha'') (18 February 18279 September 1894) was a German Egyptologist. He was associated with Auguste Mariette in his excavations at Memphis. He became director of the School of Egyptology at Cairo, producin ...

(1859) – 4455 BC * Franz Joseph Lauth (1869) – 4157 BC *

Auguste Mariette François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette (11 February 182118 January 1881) was a French scholar, archaeologist and Egyptologist, and the founder of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities, the forerunner of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. Early ...

(1871) – 5004 BC * James Strong (1878) – 2515 BC *

(1887) – 4777 BC Modern consensus dates the era of Menes or the start of the first dynasty between c. 3200–3030 BC; some academic literature uses c. 3000 BC.

History

By 500 BC,

myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

ical and exaggerated claims had made Menes a

culture hero A culture hero is a mythological hero specific to some group ( cultural, ethnic, religious, etc.) who changes the world through invention or discovery. Although many culture heroes help with the creation of the world, most culture heroes are impo ...

, and most of what is known of him comes from a much later time. Ancient tradition ascribed to Menes the honour of having united Upper and Lower Egypt into a single kingdom and becoming the first pharaoh of the First Dynasty. However, his name does not appear on extant pieces of the Royal Annals (Cairo Stone and Palermo Stone), which is a now-fragmentary king's list that was carved onto a stela during the Fifth Dynasty. He typically appears in later sources as the first human ruler of Egypt, directly inheriting the throne from the god

Horus Horus or Heru, Hor, Har in Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as god of kingship and the sky. He was worshipped from at least the late prehistoric Egypt until the ...

. He also appears in other, much later, king's lists, always as the first human pharaoh of Egypt. Menes also appears in demotic

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

s of the

Hellenistic period In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

, demonstrating that, even that late, he was regarded as an important figure. Menes was seen as a founding figure for much of the history of ancient Egypt, similar to

Romulus Romulus () was the legendary founder and first king of Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus and his contemporaries. Although many of these ...

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom ...

. Manetho records that Menes "led the army across the frontier and won great glory".

Capital

associates the city of

Thinis Thinis (Greek: Θίνις ''Thinis'', Θίς ''This'' ; Egyptian: Tjenu; cop, Ⲧⲓⲛ; ar, ثينيس) was the capital city of the first dynasties of ancient Egypt. Thinis remains undiscovered but is well attested by ancient writers, incl ...

with the Early Dynastic Period and, in particular, Menes, a "Thinite" or native of Thinis. Herodotus contradicts Manetho in stating that Menes founded the city of Memphis as his capital after diverting the course of the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest riv ...

through the construction of a

levee A levee (), dike (American English), dyke (Commonwealth English), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is a structure that is usually earthen and that often runs parallel to the course of a river in its floodplain or along low-lying coastli ...

. Manetho ascribes the building of Memphis to Menes' son, Athothis, and calls no pharaohs earlier than Third Dynasty "Memphite". Herodotus and Manetho's stories of the foundation of Memphis are probably later inventions: in 2012 a relief mentioning the visit to Memphis by Iry-Hor—a predynastic ruler of Upper Egypt reigning before Narmer—was discovered in the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a ...

, indicating that the city was already in existence in the early 32nd century BC.

Cultural influence

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history '' Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which ...

stated that Menes had introduced the worship of the gods and the practice of sacrifice as well as a more elegant and luxurious style of living. For this latter invention, Menes' memory was dishonoured by the Twenty-fourth Dynasty pharaoh Tefnakht and

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...

mentions a pillar at Thebes on which was inscribed an imprecation against Menes as the introducer of luxury. In Pliny's account, Menes was credited with being the inventor of writing in Egypt.

Crocodile episode

Diodorus Siculus recorded a story of Menes related by the priests of the

crocodile Crocodiles (family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to include all extant me ...

god

Sobek Sobek (also called Sebek or Sobki, cop, Ⲥⲟⲩⲕ, Souk) was an ancient Egyptian deity with a complex and elastic history and nature. He is associated with the Nile crocodile or the West African crocodile and is represented either in its f ...

Crocodilopolis Faiyum ( ar, الفيوم ' , borrowed from cop, ̀Ⲫⲓⲟⲙ or Ⲫⲓⲱⲙ ' from egy, pꜣ ym "the Sea, Lake") is a city in Middle Egypt. Located southwest of Cairo, in the Faiyum Oasis, it is the capital of the modern Faiyum ...

, in which the pharaoh Menes, attacked by his own dogs while out hunting, fled across

Lake Moeris Lake Moeris ( grc, Μοῖρις, genitive Μοίριδος) is an ancient lake in the northwest of the Faiyum Oasis, southwest of Cairo, Egypt. In prehistory, it was a freshwater lake, with an area estimated to vary between and . It persists ...

on the back of a crocodile and, in thanks, founded the city of Crocodilopolis.Diodorus: 45

Gaston Maspero Sir Gaston Camille Charles Maspero (23 June 1846 – 30 June 1916) was a French Egyptologist known for popularizing the term "Sea Peoples" in an 1881 paper. Maspero's son, Henri Maspero, became a notable sinologist and scholar of East Asia ...

(1910), while acknowledging the possibility that traditions relating to other kings may have become mixed up with this story, dismisses the suggestions of some commentators that the story should be transferred to the Twelfth Dynasty pharaoh

Amenemhat III :''See Amenemhat, for other individuals with this name.'' Amenemhat III ( Ancient Egyptian: ''Ỉmn-m-hꜣt'' meaning 'Amun is at the forefront'), also known as Amenemhet III, was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the sixth king of the Twelfth D ...

and sees no reason to doubt that Diodorus did not correctly record a tradition of Menes. Later, Edwards (1974) states that "the legend, which is obviously filled with anachronisms, is patently devoid of historical value".

Death

According to Manetho, Menes reigned for 62 years and was killed by a

hippopotamus The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two exta ...

In popular culture

Alexander Dow Alexander Dow (1735/6, Perthshire, Scotland – 31 July 1779, Bhagalpur) was a Scottish Orientalist, writer, playwright and army officer in the East India Company. Life He was a native of Crieff, Perthshire. Alexander Dow's father worked at the ...

(1735/6–79), a Scottish orientalist and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, wrote the tragedy ''

Sethona ''Sethona'' is a 1774 tragedy by the British writer Alexander Dow.Nicoll p.257 It is set in Ancient Egypt at a time when Menes is heir to the crown. The original Drury Lane cast included Spranger Barry as Serapis, Samuel Reddish as Menes, Fra ...

'', set in ancient Egypt. The

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cut, ...

part of Menes is described in the '' dramatis personæ'' as "next male-heir to the crown" now worn by Seraphis, and was played by

Samuel Reddish Samuel Reddish (1735–1785) was a theatre manager and an actor in England. He made a reputation with Mossop's company in Smock Alley, Dublin in the seasons of 1761-2 and appeared at Drury Lane Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundar ...

in a 1774 production by

David Garrick David Garrick (19 February 1717 – 20 January 1779) was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of European theatrical practice throughout the 18th century, and was a pupil and friend of Sa ...

at the

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Dr ...

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * . * * * . * . * . * . * . * . Available online . *. * . *. *. * . * . * . * . * . * . * .

External links

* . * . * . * {{Authority control 31st-century BC Pharaohs 32nd-century BC Pharaohs Deaths due to hippopotamus attacks Egyptian mythology Hunting accident deaths People whose existence is disputed Pharaohs of the First Dynasty of Egypt Accidental deaths in Egypt ca:Narmer