The founding king of the first dynasty in Egypt. He unified Egypt, opened the era of Pharaoh's rule, and established a far-reaching and brilliant kingdom in the history of human civilization.
Character file
Last name: menes (Mina, Narmai)
Date of birth and death: about 3 100 BC (exact time is unknown).
Place of birth: Tynys.
Nationality: Ancient Egypt
Status: King
Time background
About 1000 years ago, residents of North Africa moved to the Nile. They worked hard and constantly improved their farming techniques, thus turning the Nile valley into a famous granary in ancient times. In 3500 BC, Egypt entered a class society and the country developed. But at that time, Egypt had not yet formed a unified country, and there were more than a dozen tribes in the country. Because of their different beliefs, they often quarrel endlessly. These tribes are called "Nome" by the Greeks (also translated as countries). They all have their own names, capitals, political power and armies, and they are actually independent kingdoms. In the long-term annexation war, the narrow Nile Valley was divided into two independent kingdoms, the north and the south. In the north is the lower Egypt dynasty, where the king wears a red crown, the snake is the protector and the bee is the national emblem. The southern part is the Upper Egyptian Dynasty, with the king wearing a white crown, the eagle as the protector and Bai Baihe as the national emblem. For centuries, the Kingdom of Upper Egypt and the Kingdom of Lower Egypt have been in a state of division until around 3 100 BC, when they were finally unified under the leadership of Pharaoh menes.
Chronicle of life
Menes was born in Tinis, Upper Egypt. At first, he was a tribal leader in Tynys and later became the king of Upper Egypt. After reunification in Egypt, he continued to wage war abroad. About 3 100 BC, he conquered Lower Egypt, initially unified the whole of Egypt into one country, and created the first dynasty of ancient Egypt. He ruled Egypt with flexible skills, and established the new capital Baicheng, later Memphis, at the southern tip of the Nile Delta (near Cairo today) as the capital of Egypt.
After the unification of upper and lower Egypt, menes launched the conquest war. According to historians, the conqueror depicted in the famous Egyptian Slate of Narmai is menes. It is said that menes was in power for 26 years, and he died in a hunting accident.
Political strategy
Menes was the founder of the first Egyptian dynasty. He was the first to complete the unification of Egyptian history, which played a positive role in promoting the development of Egypt and the progress of civilization in the region.
As a pioneer of a dynasty and the founder of a unified country, menes made a large-scale conquest in North Africa. Generally speaking, the heyday of menes was around 3 100 BC, because according to historical records, menes conquered Egypt around 3 100 BC, which is undoubtedly the greatest achievement of menes's life.
After menes unified Egypt, he adopted a more flexible ruling strategy to stabilize his rule. Because Lower Egypt is relatively rich, the people of Lower Egypt are not without complaints about the conquest of menes, so menes made some concessions to consolidate the country's long-term stability. Before the unification of the kingdom, the rulers of Upper Egypt wore a white crown, with the eagle as the protector and Bai Baihe as the national symbol. The ruler of Lower Egypt wears a red crown, with snakes as the protector and bees as the national symbol. This difference between the two regions led menes to be crowned in Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt respectively after reunification, and he called himself "the king of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt". Since then, successive kings have used this title for more than ten years, and they must have dual identities at the same time. After two coronations, they held two different ceremonies. In addition, in view of the different economic development conditions in Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, menez has set up state coffers in these two regions and implemented independent financial management. At the same time, during the reign of menes, Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt kept their respective religious centers and established the Holy City. All this shows that when menez was in power, Egyptian unification was only preliminary and not consolidated.
Menes was also an outstanding ruler. He took some measures to strengthen his control over Lower Egypt. The most important thing is to establish a new capital in lower Egypt and put the political and military center of the country in lower Egypt, so as to achieve the goal of being controlled by the upper system. So in the Nile Delta (near Cairo today), he established a new capital-Baicheng. Later, Baicheng was renamed Memphis. Memphis is also called Jigaput, which means "the palace of Puta God", so the Greek name of Egypt is "Putuos", which is also the source of Egypt's national title.
The first Egyptian dynasty initiated by menes had eight kings and lasted for 250 years. Among them, by the fifth king, Egypt entered the period of autocratic rule and the society developed to its peak. Kings in this period regarded land as their own property and people as their slaves, and all administrative, military and judicial powers were concentrated on themselves. The king claimed to be phoebus apollo and was regarded as inviolable. Later, the king of Egypt was gradually called Pharaoh. In ancient Egypt, Pharaoh originally meant "palace", just as ancient China called the emperor "Your Majesty".
Menes menes, Pharaoh of ancient Egypt (about 3 100 BC).
Egyptian civilization is the gift of the Nile-Herodotus
Among the ancient emperors who left their names today, menes in ancient Egypt may be the earliest one. He was the founder of the first dynasty in ancient Egypt and the founder of national unity in ancient Egypt. Ancient Egypt is an ancient country in the world, and menes is a special person who stood at the beginning of all this.
The periodic flooding of the Nile from July to June 165438+ 10 every year brings fertile black soil, which is a generous gift to its people. This fertile land has bred more and more people, so there is agriculture, writing, temples, wisdom, private ownership and continuous war. It is generally believed that ancient Egypt, like the two river basins, first entered the civilized era around 3500 BC.
After constant melee, ancient Egypt formed two regional kingdoms. The valley in the south is Upper Egypt and the delta in the north is Lower Egypt. The dividing line is Cairo today. Upper Egypt advocates white, the king wears a white crown, and the Ministry of Finance calls it the White House, dedicated to the eagle god Horus; Lower Egypt worships red, and the king wears a red crown on his head. The Ministry of Finance calls it the Red Room, and worships the god of bees or cobra.
Before menes, his predecessor, Scorpion King, had waged a war to unify Egypt and Egypt, but the results were not great. Menes became the king of upper Egypt around 3 100 BC, and he launched a large-scale war to conquer lower Egypt. The tragic scene of the war and the epic heroic deeds during the war were lost in the long history of 5,000 years, but the result was recorded in history forever. Menes conquered the kingdom of Lower Egypt and became the first monarch to win the title of "King of Upper and Lower Egypt".
In order to consolidate the rule of Lower Egypt, menes established a fortress city-Baicheng, which was later called Memphis by the Greeks and located at the junction of the valley and the delta, that is, the junction of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. The site is now near Cairo. Menes also built a long dam to prevent the Nile from flooding. The main purpose of building this city is to strengthen the control of Lower Egypt and prevent the counterattack from the Delta.
The reunification of Egypt is of great significance in history, which makes the Egyptian people less devastated by war, strengthens the overall economic and cultural exchanges in Egypt, and at the same time makes Egypt gradually form a relatively perfect and stable national system. History has proved that Egyptian civilization has developed rapidly after reunification, surpassing the civilization of the two river basins and has been in constant controversy. The 3 1 dynasty in ancient Egypt began here, as long as the Nile. However, it is generally believed that the real integration of upper and lower Egypt went through a very long process and was finally completed at the end of the second dynasty.
At present, there is no archaeological evidence to prove the existence of menes, but many historians believe that menes and the ancient emperor Narmai, who have been confirmed by cultural relics, are the same person through the analysis of hieroglyphics' phonetic notation, life years and life stories.
The cultural relics left by Nalmai to future generations include Nalmai palette, Nalmai title, Libyan tribute palette, etc., which just shows his achievements and deeds to future generations.
In Narmai's palette, the commanding ruler was wearing a white crown and killed a Delta leader's prisoner kneeling in front of him with a token, while Horus, the eagle god, stood in front of him and blessed him. Narmai, wearing a red crown on his back, was reviewing the captive whose head was killed with his attendants, and a bull was destroying the enemy's wall with horns. The color palette fully reflects the history of Nalmai's conquest of Egypt and the change of his identity: at the front, he is conquering Egypt. At this time, he wore a white crown, indicating that he was still the king of Upper Egypt, while on the back, he was the king of Lower Egypt after his victory.
The head of Nalmai's power is carved with Nalmai wearing a red crown, sitting on the nine steps, holding something symbolizing kingship in his hand, wearing a canopy on his head, and his attendants carrying umbrellas and shoes, surrounded by a guard of honor. To the infinite speculation of future generations, there was a princess sitting in the sedan chair in front of him. It is generally believed that this princess is his bride after he conquered Egypt.
Libya's tribute palette is engraved with many animals digging the city wall, and each city wall has hieroglyphics indicating the name of the city. Because this palette is considered to come from Libya, it also confirms the history of Narmai's expedition to Libya.
Almost all the emperors' lives in this list are accurate, except menes. Although menes's image is vague because of its long history, the historical change he established is very clear, that is, he unified upper and lower Egypt, which made Egypt stand on the world historical stage as a whole and led the trend of world civilization for nearly 3,000 years. This is why menes is included in this list, while the legendary emperors of many other nationalities are ignored.
Hint: menes is an emperor who has left us for more than 5,000 years. Most of his wonderful deeds have been submerged in the dust of history, but his important position in history has never been doubted, just because he did one thing: reunifying upper and lower Egypt. It doesn't matter whether the Narmai palette and the Narmai title are his relics. Menes is a typical example, which shows that if an emperor wants to live forever, sometimes it is enough to do one thing well.
Impact review
Egypt is one of the four cradles of human civilization. In a very early period, Egypt produced a highly developed civilization. Egypt's role in the history of human civilization is eternal. It first lit the lamp of world civilization and took a decisive step in the history of human civilization.