Narmer palette

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Narmer palette
Narmer Palette.jpg
Narmer palette
material slate
Dimensions H. 64 cm;
origin Upper Egypt , Hierakonpolis
time Predynastic period , around 3000 BC Chr.
place Cairo , Egyptian Museum , CG 14716 / JE 32169
front
back

The Narmer palette is a world-famous palette . It got its name after the image of the early Egyptian king Narmer , whom some researchers equate with Menes .

Location and description

The Narmer range comes from Hierakonpolis . It is made of polished slate and is about 64 centimeters tall. The palette is decorated on both sides and almost completely undamaged. It is now on display in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo . There it bears the catalog number CG 14716 and the inventory number JE 32169 .

The upper end of the palette is decorated on both sides with the faces of the cow goddess Bat . King Narmer is depicted on both sides: once with the red crown (for Lower Egypt ), another time with the white crown (for Upper Egypt ). Narmer wears an apron made of panther skin and a cattle tail attached to a belt.

front

Narmer's victory celebration can be seen on the front of the pallet. Accompanied by the escort of Horus , shown as a progressing procession consisting of standard- bearers, he inspects the killed enemies. This time he is accompanied by a sandal carrier. In front of him is the oldest image of a panther skin carrier ( tjet ). It is interesting to see two " snake-necked panthers " in the section below, who represent Narmer as rulers of both parts of Egypt as part of the unification festival. Their necks, held by two servants with ropes, frame the field for rubbing the make-up . In the lowest section you can see a man and a damaged city ​​wall , both of which are overrun by a bull. The bull represents the king.

back

Narmer is the traditional slaying of an enemy , who - by two superimposed standing - in front of him kneeling on the ground hieroglyphs as washing ( W3s , titled) with a metal leg shown. In addition, papyrus bushes can be seen sprouting from the back of the enemy symbol above which a Horus falcon can be seen holding a cord in its claw that is pulled through the nose of the killed enemy. Behind Narmer you can see a sandal wearer following the king onto the battlefield. Toby Wilkinson thinks it is possible that the characters in the inscription (gold rosette and beating of the laundry) refer to the sandal wearer as Hem , a title that in later times describes the office of Hem-nesut ("servant of the king"). Wilkinson reads the gold rosette as a symbol for "King", which is why the full title of the sandal wearer would result from it: "Supreme Servant of the King". In the lower section are two people who, due to their posture, are seen as fleeing or already killed opponents.

literature

Web links

Commons : Narmer Palette  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hendrickx, Stan, 2017. "Narmer Palette Bibliography"
  2. ↑ James Edward Quibell: Service des antiquités de l'Égypte. Catalog général des antiquités egyptiennes du Musée du Caire. Nos 1101-1200 and 14001-14754. Archaic objects par M. Quibell. Volume 1, Imprimerie de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, Le Caire 1905, pp. 312-315, online at archive.org .
  3. ^ Nicolas-Christophe Grimal: A history of ancient Egypt. London 1996, p. 39.
  4. ^ Toby Wilkinson: The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt. eBook, Chapter "Crown and scepter".
  5. ^ Nicolas Christophe Grimal: A history of Ancient Egypt. London 1996, pp. 37 & 38.
  6. ^ Toby Wilkinson: Early Dynastic Egypt. London 1999, p. 191.