" In The Name of Allah, The Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful"

nd

2 Lecture Of The Specialized Course in tourist guide

Prepared By/ Omar El Sanhoty
Nar mr / Narmer / Great Hierakonpolis Palette
- Now, We are standing in front of nar mr Palette / Great Hierakonpolis Palette Which
is considered one of the most significant artifacts of ancient Egypt Because :
It is the first historical document in the world .
It contains some of the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions Ever Found .
It commemorates Victories of the King Narmer Over Lower Egypt.
- King Narmer was the first king of the first dynasty who unified the two lands ( Upper &
Lower Egypt ) and founded the city of ( inb HD - The White Wall ) The first capital of
united Egypt.
- In the Pre-dynastic period, Palettes were used for grinding cosmetics by its cavity in
order to use it for beautification of eyes to protect them from the hard rays of the sun
- then in the Early-Dynastic Period, Palettes were used for registering and
commemorating important events like a king's Victory, hunting scenes, and
Foundation of new cities.
- This Palette is made of siltstone which was brought from Wadi-El Hammamat at the
eastern desert .
- It measures 64 cm in height , 42 cm in width , and 2.5 cm in thickness.

It was found at Hierakonpolis " C.O.F " "EL-KOM EL AHMAR" nowadays By Quibell
and Green .

- It is carved in Raised bas Relief and has 2 sides ( The Frontal and Reverse side )
- The frontal side represents The victory of the king Narmer Over his Enemies.
- The reverse side represents the celebration of this victory.
- The frontal side is divided into 3 registers :

In the middle, we can see a rectangular shape called ( srx )

( The First register - Upper Register ) :

in hieroglyphs contains 2 signs :

( The cat fish called nar) & ( The Chisel called mr )

( nar mr ) means the Chisel Of Goddess nar " which smites the enemies "
The ( srx ) is flanked by Two Human-faced bovine heads with 2 horns and 2 ears represent goddess
bAt "goddess of Heaven" and "patron goddess of the 7th Nome of Upper Egypt" (Naga Hammadi
nowadays) .
Bat is depicted here dually because there is an important utterance said by Bat in the Pyramid Texts
as follows ( I'm Bat with two faces , I'm the sun and the moon ) so, The artist depicts her here to
represent the sun and the moon.
( The 2nd register - Middle register ) :

We can see the King Narmer who is depicted :

in a large size to reflect his high rank .
1

wearing the white crown Of Upper Egypt, royal false beard, and a tunic which is fastened over
his left shoulder with the bulls tail hanging down from the back to express power and fertility
and decorated with 4 bundles of reed stalks represents the goddess Bat .
wielding a mace-head and he is about to smite a Kneeled, bearded and long haired Prisoner who
wears a belt around his hip made of leaves.

Behind Prisoner's head, we can see to two signs

( harpoon called wa ) and the ( lake called
S) so, ( wa S ) Means the one of the lake and he maybe the chieftain of harpooners of north-western
Delta .
Above the prisoner, we can see the Falcon Horus :
perched above 6 papyrus flowers, the symbol of Lower Egypt .
holds a rope which is attached to the nose of a man's head that emerges from the land of
papyrus flowers.
Each papyrus flower represents the number 1000 indicating that 6,000 enemies were Suppressed
in this battle.
Behind the King , We can see his sandal Bearer wears a pectoral hung over his neck and holds the
sandals and the jar which maybe contains Water or perfume for the purification Process of the king
before Entering the battle.

( The Third Register - Lower Register )

we can see 2 naked, bearded men who are running as they fear of the force of the king
and There is a hieroglyphic sign to the left of the head of each man as follows :
the first sign ( py ) Represents a walled town refers to Buto ( nowadays Tell al-Faraain
"Kafr el-Sheikh "
The second sign(sAw) Represents a knot, refers to Sa el-Hagar " sAb mH " 5th Nome of Lower Egypt
probably indicating the name of defeated towns

The Reverse side is divided into 4 registers :

( The first Register ) is the same First Upper register of the frontal side .
( The Second Register ) called ( procession Scene ) we can see the King is depicted :
-

in a large size to reflect his high rank.

wearing the Red crown Of Lower Egypt and he wears the same style like in previous scene but here
He holds a macehead and flail.
Behind him we can see the sandal-bearer and the same hieroglyphic inscription in the frontal side.
In front of the pharaoh, we can see a long-haired man with the tools of scribe, accompanied by a
hieroglyphic word that can be read as

and it means Vizier and maybe, this is the first form

of the complete title of

which appeared in the 4th dynasty.
In front of him, we can see four standard-bearers and The standards are endowed with falcons, dog
and placenta.
These standards represent :
Coptos ( Qift nowadays ) 5th Nome of upper Egypt.
Lykopolis ( Asyiut nowadays ) 13th nome of Upper Egypt.
Leontopolis ( Tell El-Muqdam nowadays ) 13th nome of Lower Egypt.
In front of them, we can see ten statues of enemies with hands tied up and cut off heads which
are put between their legs and this is a presentation of

On its board ( cabin, bulls head or a jar with

Above the dead figures, we can see a Boat

two handles).
2

To the left of the Boat, there are two signs which is read
door maybe refers to the temple of Buto.

Above the boat is falcon sitting on harpoon called (

) which means Sole Horus.

( The Third Register ) :

which means Horus

we can see two serpopards with their necks entwined and restrained with ropes by two men
forming a circle and in ancient Egypt The circle was the symbol of unification Between the 'two
lands' or the sun.
Their necks are held in two ropes by two bearded men may be they were the enemies of this
important political Event .

( The forth Lower Register )

we can see a bull treading upon Naked, bearded enemy and attacking a city or fortress
surrounded by walls and this scene is a presentation of the title
the strong Bull ).

We can see The name of this city inside the walls maybe as ( mDd )

With My best wishes for continued excellence and success

See You in the 3rd Lecture.
Omar El Sanhoty
Researcher in Egyptology
( 01117929271 )

kA nxt ( which means