Manning 1

Greg Manning

Peter Barr
Ancient Art - Palette of Narmer
October 21, 2015
Currently being displayed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, The Palette of King Narmer
is a very interesting ancient artifact within the contents of the kings story and, the stone slab
itself. Also known as The Great Hierakonpolis Palette, (because Hierakonpolis was where the
palette was found) is in fact made from siltstone at a height of 63.5cm (just over 2 feet). Because
of its larger size, this particular palette was most likely used for ceremonies in temples instead of
personal use of civilians. The imagery on both sides of the pallet describes king Narmer and his
story of uniting the Upper and Lower Egypt beautifully carved using a low relief sculpture
technique. Dating back from the 31st century B.C.E. this well conditioned artifact can tell us a
lot on the past due to the amount of etchings and details about the great King Narmer. As you can
see the Egyptians put a lot of time and information on this palette regarding Narmer. Throughout

Manning 2
this essay I will be breaking down every inch of the palette that historians have deciphered and
what has yet to be fully answered. Also, as beautiful as the palette may be, knowing the
conditions and what life was like in that time period and region is equally as important and
beneficial to know that will help give the reader a clear understanding of the Egyptian culture as
a whole.
Starting on what was known as the smiting side of the palette, the large character
wearing the crown of Upper Egypt and holding a mace in front of a kneeling man is in fact King
Narmer. Above them are two bull-like creatures with human faces that are called bovines. These
strange bulls are supposedly depicting the strength of Narmer and that he is almost as strong as
the Gods, while others say these are the images of the cow goddess Bat. In between the bull
heads is the signature of Narmers name which is a catfish and chisel in hieroglyphs. Below this
and to the left is a small man holding the kings sandals as Narmer punishes his enemy. As you
can already tell just from these few smooth relief carvings King Narmer is considered an
extremely important person. Especially when you look at him compared to all the other people
around him like the man holding Narmers sandals, he is much taller, indicating he is the most
relevant figure due to Hierarchy.
As you look to the right of King Narmer the falcon on the smiting side, is the God
Horus. In his clutches is said to be the soul of the head that is in the papyrus plants. There are a
total of six papyrus plants on this side of the palette, each papyrus indicating 1,000 soldiers. So it
is said that King Narmer and his army fought and defeated 6,000 enemies to unite the two
regions of Egypt (Upper and Lower). In small and intricate detail are a few hieroglyphs possibly
indicating the exact town that was defeated but no one is exactly sure. Moving on to the bottom
part of this side of the palette, there are two men in particularly awkward positions, this has

Manning 3
considered them to be deceased in Egyptian culture. With that being said, these people were
considered enemy that Narmer defeated. It is fascinating that so much can be found on just one
side of a palette.
As for the other side of the palette this half is called the Serpopard Side. It is called this
because in the center of this side of the palette there are two beasts with long entwining necks
called Serpopards. These mythical lion-like beasts are considered protectors in the Egyptian
culture. As for the men holding back the serpopards necks, it is currently unknown what it could
mean. Form my point of view I think the beasts are held back to form peace, other wise the two
protectors would fight each other to protect their land (Upper against Lower Egypt). As for the
physical purpose of the carving, specifically in the center circle of the tangled beasts on the right
image is used to put makeup on kings like Narmer for ceremonies.
Moving on to the other parts of the Palette, once again at the top two bull-like creatures
representing the goddess Bat are at the top, along with king Narmers name in-between them.
Below this is a very interesting scene: similar to the other side Narmer has a servant holding his
sandals behind him, and the king himself is bigger than all the other people but, this time is
wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt. There are also five men in front of Narmer almost as if
they were giving an offering to the gods. One man has a particular headset that makes him look
more of a leader, but not as important as Narmer because of his smaller size, while the other four
men have long poles which have a peculiar object on the top. Two have falcons, one with a dog,
and another with skin of unknown kind. On the palette these five men head in the direction of
multiple corpses with their heads in-between their legs indicating these must be more enemies
that King Narmer has slain. Now going below the serpopards comes the section of a bull

Manning 4
trampling a man while bashing through a wall. The bull is said to be Narmer showing that he
trampled his enemies and destroyed their homes to reunite Egypt.
Overall on the aesthetic part of the palette it is truly something to marvel at with all the
detail and thought put into this artifact. The Egyptians way of art and writing is undeniably
something that has been familiarized forever throughout the world. Although, Egypt itself and its
history has an equally important part in The Palette of Narmer.
During the Pre-Dynastic period there were a lot of extraordinary things happening during
that time. As for as we know, the 31st century B.C.E in Egypt was around the time hieroglyphs,
the first language ever, was discovered. Not only that, but based on those first hieroglyphs there
have been signs of political unification due to none other than King Narmer himself and thanks
to the Palette of Narmer. Narmer is so famous, it was also thought that he was considered to be
the last of the scorpien kings, which were special kings of the Pre-Dynastic Period before the
First Dynasty.
So as you have read the Palette of Narmer has a large portion of information within the
piece itself. From the hierarchy of king Narmer to the importance of the mythical Serpopards
there is a ton of information to take in from this ancient artifact. Looking beyond the piece itself
and viewing what was like during that time period only adds to the awe how astonishing this sort
of piece of history has come so far and how far mankind has changed.

Manning 5
Works Cited
Pre-Dynastic and Early Dynastic Periods. Egypt: Pre-Dynastic and Early Dynastic Period. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.