Narmer Unifies Egypt
The unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under Narmer around 3100 BCE is recorded on the Narmer Palette, a ceremonial cosmetic palette discovered at Hierakonpolis in 1898. One face shows Narmer wearing the White Crown of Upper Egypt, smiting a kneeling enemy; the other shows him in the Red Crown of Lower Egypt, inspecting rows of decapitated enemies. Whether the event was a single military campaign or the culmination of a longer process of unification remains debated. What is certain is that by the First Dynasty the two lands were administered as one, with a capital at Memphis at the apex of the Nile Delta. This act created the conditions for one of history's most durable civilisations.
- Year: 3100 BCE
- Category: Political
