Menes - the one who endures - is believed to be the first mortal pharaoh of Egypt to be credited with the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt.
It is believed that Menes-aka Narmer received the throne of Ancient Egypt directly from the God Horus.
According to historical records, Menes was the first pharaoh of the first dynasty, from which the human history of Egypt began; He was "placed on the throne" directly by the gods, with whom he was allegedly associated.
Along with the unification of upper and lower Egypt, this historic event also brought writing, art, agriculture and craft technology to the land of the pharaohs.
Obviously, such processes were much slower than the myth tells us; in particular, political unification was the end result of a long struggle to impose central authority on the decentralism of local communities. The last phase was the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, that is, the unification of the valley and the Nile delta.
The latter was the work of Narmer, the pharaoh of Upper Egypt, who was named by the legendary mortal pharaoh Menes. Narmer appears before us as the conqueror of enemies in the famous "Narmer Palette", also known as the Palette of the Great Hierakonpolis or Narmer's Palette, found in Hierakonpolis.
The date usually given for the beginning of Menes' reign is 3100 BC.
Other major estimates that use both historical method and radiocarbon analysis include it in the 3273-2320 range. BC.
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This Palette contains what experts believe are the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found, and depicts the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under Pharaoh Narmer.
On one side of the Palette, we see the Pharaoh depicted wearing the bulbous White Crown of Upper Egypt. The other side of the stone depicts a Pharaoh wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt.
According to experts, the Narmer Palette provides one of the earliest known depictions of an Egyptian ruler.
In addition to the Narmer Palette, an ivory board excavated at Nakada bears both the names "Aha" and "Menes"
But despite the fact that Menes has proven his existence, his true identity is a matter of debate, although the general consensus on the Egyptologist identifies Narmer with the Pharaoh Menes of the 1st Dynasty, who is also credited with the unification of Egypt as the first pharaoh. This conclusion is based solely on the aforementioned Palette.
Narmer or Menes?
History tells us that perhaps they are one and the same historical person.
If we look at the work of Maneto, the Egyptian historian of the 3rd century BC, we find that he refers to the first (mortal) Pharaoh of Egypt as Menes. In addition, the Greek historian of the 5th century BC Herodotus referred to Menes as Min, and two lists of indigenous peoples of the 19th Dynasty (13th century BC) call him Meni.
Modern scholars, however, have unequivocally identified the legendary Menes with one or more archaic Egyptian pharaohs named Scorpio, Narmer, and Agha.
According to the Turin Papyrus and the History of Herodotus, he is also the founding father of Memphis, the capital of ancient Egypt during the Old Kingdom.
Ancient Egyptian priests told the Greek writer Herodotus, who considers himself the founder of history as a scientific discipline, that in order to build the city, Menes ordered the withdrawal of the Nile canal and the construction of a dam.
One of the most astonishing details about the kingdom of Menes was recorded by Herodotus, who claimed that Menes was responsible for draining the plain of Memphis and building the Egyptian capital there. According to Maneto, Menes ruled for 62 years and was killed by a hippopotamus.
It is also believed that Menes introduced the worship of gods and sacrifice to ancient Egypt.
If we look at Pliny's work, we can see that he attributes Menes as a guide to Ancient Egypt.