Read the Narmer palettes: The highlight of Palettes

Highlight of the Narmer palette

The Narmer pharaohs on the palette all have fake beard. For the ancient Egyptians, the beard had a divine connection with God. This is because I thought the gods had beautiful beard made of turquoise. Pharaoh, who existed as a god itself until the early days of the ancient kingdom, was called the son of God after the 4th Dynasty, and although his status changed, he always reigned over the Egyptians as a surreal being and ruler with a divine representation of God. So the pharaoh appeared in public with this fake beard, which is a sign of divinity.

<Death mask of Tutankhamun> (Image by Tarekheikal/Public domain)

There is one interesting fact here. The living pharaoh has a blunt, straight, and elongated beard, but the pharaoh, who died and went to the afterlife, has a beard that has been braided thin and rolled out in a circle. If you look at the widely known Death Mask of the Tutankhamun Pharaoh, you can see a beard with a rounded tip. This was a symbolic meaning that announced the existence of a pharaoh who became a god in the afterlife, not an existing king.

Going back to the panel, observing the procession of five people in front of the Narmer pharaoh, you can see a long-haired man in leopard or animal skin and four attendants with long bars. Horus and jackal-shaped decorations were placed on the bars, which represented the four Egyptian provinces (Nomos). The Egyptian state, traditionally called Nomos, had its own name and decorations symbolizing the god of worship.
A person with long hair and animal skin is inscribed with “𓍿, T" in hieroglyphics. Characteristic of the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, which represented only consonants, it was a word that meant a high-ranking official or the eldest son of a king. They are standing in front of 10 decapitated prisoners, which is also a clear indication of the conquest of Egypt by the Narmer pharaoh.

The scene, which can be said to be the highlight of Narmer Palette, depicts a fierce beast resembling a lion or a leopard wrapped around their snake-long necks. And they appear to have been suppressed by tying their necks with a rope. This symbolizes the unification and domination of Upper and Lower Egypt by the Narmer pharaohs. The two beasts wrapped around each other's necks were given the name Serpopard by scholars, a combination of Serpent, which means a snake, and Leopard, which means a leopard. And the round part of the neck of these two Serpopard was the part of the decorative plate used to change the eye makeup powder. For this reason, the Narmer Memorial Stone was named "Narmer Palette". In addition, at the bottom of the Palette, a scene of Narmer Pharaoh defeating the enemy in the form of a horned bull was engraved.

Part of Amenemhet III's Temple, 12th Dynasty (British Museum)

The Narmer palette is a relic that tells modern people the origin of unified Egypt and also shows how long hieroglyphics have been used. The Narmer palette, which shows the footsteps of ancient Egyptian civilization in its most perfect form even now, 5,000 years later, is a valuable relic that informs mankind of the origin of civilization.