Which egyptian goddess is present on the palette of narmer

These include the way the figures are represented, the scenes being organized in regular horizontal zones known as registers, and the use of hierarchical scale to indicate relative importance of the individuals. In addition, much of the regalia worn by the king, such as the crowns, kilts, royal beard, and bull tail, as well as other visual elements, including the pose Narmer takes on one of the faces where he grasps an enemy by the hair and prepares to smash his skull with a mace, continue to be utilized from this time all the way through the Roman era more than years later.

The king is represented twice in human form, once on each face, followed by his sandal-bearer. In addition to the primary scenes, the palette includes a pair of fantastic creatures, known as serpopards—leopards with long, snaky necks—who are collared and controlled by a pair of attendants.

Their necks entwine and define the recess where the makeup preparation took place. The lowest register on both sides include images of dead foes, while both uppermost registers display hybrid human-bull heads and the name of the king. The frontal bull heads are connected to a sky goddess known as Bat and are related to heaven and the horizon. The name of the king, written hieroglyphically as a catfish and a chisel, is contained within a squared element that represents a palace facade.

As mentioned above, there have been a number of theories related to the scenes carved on this palette. Some have interpreted the battle scenes as a historical narrative record of the initial unification of Egypt under one ruler, supported by the general timing as this is the period of the unification and the fact that Narmer sports the crown connected to Upper Egypt on one face of the palette and the crown of Lower Egypt on the other—this is the first preserved example where both crowns are used by the same ruler.

Other theories suggest that, rather than an actual historical representation, these scenes were purely ceremonial and related to the concept of unification in general. It may also be related to the daily journey of the sun god that became a central aspect in the Egyptian religion in the subsequent centuries. The two rows of prone bodies are placed below an image of a high-prowed boat preparing to pass through an open gate.

This may be an early reference to the journey of the sun god in his boat. In later texts, the Red Crown is connected with bloody battles fought by the sun god just before the rosy-fingered dawn on his daily journey and this scene may well be related to this. It is interesting to note that the foes are shown as not only executed, but rendered completely impotent—their castrated penises have been placed atop their severed heads.

The White Crown is related to the dazzling brilliance of the full midday sun at its zenith as well as the luminous nocturnal light of the stars and moon. This fascinating object is an incredible example of early Egyptian art.

The imagery preserved on this palette provides a peek ahead to the richness of both the visual aspects and religious concepts that develop in the ensuing periods. It is a vitally important artifact of extreme significance for our understanding of the development of Egyptian culture on multiple levels. The earliest representation of them being worn by the same ruler is on the Narmer Palette, signifying that the king was ruling over both areas of the country.

The implication is that Narmer controls the servants who, in turn, control the cats—another declaration of authority. Narmer appears in the bottom scene in the guise of a bull Egyptian gods could also change their shape and crushes a rebellious town. Corey Prize Raymond J. Cunningham Prize John H. Klein Prize Waldo G. Marraro Prize George L. Mosse Prize John E. Palmegiano Prize James A. Schmitt Grant J. Beveridge Award Recipients Albert J.

The Narmer Palette is 64 centimeters 25 inches long, and its shield shape is the same as that used for the domestic tool called a palette, which was used to hold cosmetics. Plainer, smaller domestic cosmetic palettes had been made by Egyptians for at least a thousand years before the date of the Narmer Palette.

That's not unusual in Egyptian iconography—the Narmer Palette is one of a series of elaborately carved, portable objects dated to the formative period of Dynastic culture in Egypt, around the turn of the third millennium BCE.

Many of these objects are ceremonial replicas of long-used domesticate objects. Other examples of large carved objects depicting the deeds of Old Kingdom pharaohs include the Narmer Macehead, which illustrates the presentation of animals and people to a seated ruler, likely Narmer; a flint knife with an ivory handle showing a scene of combat found at Gebel el-Arak; and a slightly later ivory comb bearing the name of a different king of the First Dynasty.

Egyptian dynastic civilization began over 5, years ago with the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt into a single Upper Egyptian Polity based at Hierankopolis, that unification attributed to Narmer in historical Egyptian records.

Numerous later Egyptian writings claim Narmer as the conqueror of all the societies along the length of the Nile River , but some scholarly doubt persists. Narmer's own tomb has been identified at Naqada. A depression on such palettes was used to grind pigments , which were then mixed into a colored paste and applied to the body. The Narmer Palette was probably never used for that purpose, but there is a circular depression on it.

That depression is what makes this side the "obverse" or front of the palette; despite that fact, the most often reproduced image is that of the back. Carved into the top scrolls on both sides of Narmer's palette are cows with human faces, sometimes interpreted as the goddesses Bat and Hathor.

Between the two is a serekh, a rectangular box containing hieroglyphs of the main protagonist, Narmer. The main central relief of the reverse side of the palette shows King Menes wearing the white crown and dress of Upper Egypt kings and raising his mace to smite a kneeling prisoner.

A falcon representing the Egyptian sky god Horus perches on a rebus listing countries defeated by Menes and a human arm coming from the falcon holds a rope securing a prisoner's head. On the front or obverse side, the king, wearing the red crown and costume of Lower Egypt, marches out to view the stacked and dismembered bodies of his slain enemies, preceded by the souls of the kings of Lower Egypt.

To the right of his head is a catfish, the schematic representation of his name Narmer N'mr. Below that and twining around the depression are the long necks of two mythical creatures, serpent-leopards borrowed from Mesopotamian imagery. Some scholars such as Millet and O'Connor have argued that this scene functions as a year label—the palette represents events that happened during the Year of Smiting the North Land.

At the bottom of obverse side, the figure of a bull probably representing the king threatens an enemy. In Egyptian iconography, Narmer and other pharaohs often are illustrated as animals. Narmer is illustrated elsewhere as a bird of prey, a scorpion, a cobra, a lion or a catfish: His Horus name "Narmer" could be translated as "mean catfish," and his name glyph is a stylized catfish.