Whenever the topic of Ancient Egypt is broached, some generic topics are immediately brought up: perhaps it is the pyramids, King Tut's tomb, perhaps even the Exodus? Before Egypt became the Egypt that almost everyone knows now, it was a wildly disjointed and disunited preamble to the great empire for which it became famous. King Narmer was the factor that finally changed the situation. Unifier of Egypt and founder of the First Dynasty, Narmer set in motion a series of events that ultimately transformed Egypt into the modern republic it is now. In this episode of “A History of the World in 101 Objects,” we will delve into the history behind this legendary stele, explore the ancient and current significance of such production, and attempt to lift the veil on topics such as the consolidation of Menes with Narmer. Looking at this palette, it is not difficult to see how ancient Egyptian subjects were so fascinated by their leaders and how this compares to our modern views. Where we view politicians and leaders as a stern bunch, always keeping an eye on them lest today is the day they raise their daggers against us, the ancient Egyptians viewed their leaders as infallible, divine beings to be trusted, obeyed and worship. Standing just over 2 feet tall and 1.4 feet wide, this palette was carved from a majestic shade of grey-green siltstone, almost shield-like in appearance. Both sides are exquisitely carved, each uniquely decorated but both sides contain a central serekh used to identify and in this case even confirm the subject as real. This serekh contains the symbols n'r and mr, which as you may have noticed, is phonetically spelled Narmer. These symbols are surrounded by two bovine heads, which could represent the goddess Hathor or the bat. The front......center of the card......oken found at Abydos with the hieroglyph for "mn" found next to the aspect of Menes which strongly suggests that the otherwise mythical king was in fact a real identity. Another widespread belief is that Narmer only began the process of unifying Upper and Lower Egypt, while Menes completed the rest. Finally, there are those who believe that Narmer simply inherited a unified Egypt, perhaps brought about by the Scorpion King, and was simply using symbols that had become common a generation earlier. However, mud seals have been discovered listing the order of the kings of the First Dynasty and which list Narmer as the founder of this period. This, combined with the fact that Menes does not appear in the list at all, but lists the other seven in the correct order, adds a lot of credibility to the Menes/Narmer theory, postulating that Menes was simply a personal name of his..