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Narmer - Menes was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Early Dynastic Period           (c. 31st century BC).

 

Menes reigned  Egypt from 3407 to 3346 B.C

 

Probably the successor to the Protodynastic pharaohs Scorpion and/or Ka, some consider him the unifier of Egypt and founder of the First Dynasty, therefore the first pharaoh of unified Egypt.

The identity of Narmer is the subject of ongoing debate, although mainstream Egyptological consensus identifies Narmer with the First Dynasty pharaoh Menes. Menes is also credited with the unification of Egypt, as the first pharaoh. This conclusion is based on the Narmer Palette which shows Narmer as the unifier of Egypt and the two necropolis seals from the necropolis of Abydos that show him as the first king of the First Dynasty

Menes was seen as a founding figure for much of the history of Ancient Egypt, similar to Romulus in Ancient Rome.

Manetho records that Menes "led the army across the frontier and won great glory.

Manetho in stating that Menes founded the city of Memphis as his capital after diverting the course of the River Nile through the construction of a dyke.

Diodorus Siculus stated that Menes had introduced the worship of the gods and the practice of sacrifice as well as a more elegant and luxurious style of living. For this latter invention, Menes' memory was dishonoured by the Dynasty XXIV pharaoh Tefnakht, and Plutarch mentions a pillar at Thebes on which was inscribed an imprecation against Menes as the introducer of luxury.

In Pliny's account, Menes was credited with being the inventor of writing in Egypt.

Diodorus Siculus recorded a story of Menes, related by the priests of the crocodile-god Sobek at Crocodilopolis, in which the pharaoh Menes, attacked by his own dogs while out hunting, fled across Lake Moeris on the back of a crocodile and, in thanks, founded the city of Crocodilopolis.

According to Manetho, Menes reigned for 62 years and was mauled to death by a hippopotamus

With the Upper and Lower Kingdoms continuing to stabilize as a single culture, the Memphites took advantage of the security of the capital and the superb farming conditions there to amass an unprecedentedly large surplus of food, a luxury which historians believe was the key to the rapid advancement of government institutions and the phenomenal leaps in technology that occurred at Memphis over the next thousand years.

With easy access to the Mediterranean, the surplus food could be dearly traded with the Syria-Palestinians, Libyans, and Mesopotamians, and the Memphites quickly progressed from the elegant, sumptuous way of living introduced by Menes to the opulent displays of wealth and achievement that they are known for today.