Menes (fl.c. 3200–3000 BC;[1]/ˈmeɪneɪz/;Ancient Egyptian:mnj, probably pronounced */maˈnij/;^[6]Ancient Greek:Μήνης^[5] and Μήν^[7]) was apharaoh of theEarly Dynastic Period ofancient Egypt, credited by classical tradition with having unitedUpper and Lower Egypt, and as the founder of theFirst Dynasty.^[8]

Menes
Africanus: Mênês Eusebius: Mênês Narmer (?) Hor-Aha (?)
Thecartouche of Menes on theAbydos King List
Pharaoh
Reign	c. 3200–3000 BC[1]
Successor	Hor-Aha(possibly) Djer(possibly)
Royal titulary Nomen Menes[2][3][4] Mnj He who endures[5]
Burial	Umm El Qa'ab chambers B17 and B18 (Narmer’s burial) Umm El Qa'ab chambers B10/B15/B19 (Hor-Aha’s burial)
Dynasty	First Dynasty

The identity of Menes is the subject of ongoing debate, although mainstream Egyptological consensus inconclusively identifies Menes with theNaqada III rulerNarmer^[2][3][4][9] or his successor, the First DynastypharaohHor-Aha.^[10]

The nameMenes is first documented in the work ofManetho, an Egyptian historian and priest of the relatively latePtolemaic period. Manetho noted the name in Greek as Μήνης (transliterated:Mênês).^[5][11] An alternative Greek form, Μιν (transliterated:Min), was cited by the fifth-century-BC historianHerodotus,^[12] but this variant appears to be unrelated, the result of contamination from the name of the godMin.^[13] The Egyptian form,mnj, is taken from theTurin andAbydos King Lists, which are dated to theNineteenth Dynasty, whose pronunciation has been reconstructed as*/maˈnij/. By the earlyNew Kingdom, changes in the Egyptian language meant his name was already pronounced*/maˈneʔ/.^[14] The namemnj means "He who endures", which,I.E.S. Edwards (1971) suggests, may have been coined as "a mere descriptiveepithet denoting a semi-legendary hero [...] whose name had been lost".^[5] Alternatively, the name may conceal the collective identity of theNaqada III rulers:Ka,Scorpion II andNarmer, or may simply refer to a functional leadership role.^[5]

The almost complete absence of any mention of Menes in the archaeological record^[5] and the comparative wealth of evidence ofNarmer, a protodynastic figure credited by posterity and in the archaeological record with a firm claim^[3] to the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, has given rise to a theory identifying Menes with Narmer.

The chief archaeological reference to Menes is anivory label (from the townNaqada) which depicts theroyal titleAha (the pharaohHor-Aha) next to a building, and within this is theroyal titlemn,^[15] generally taken to be Menes.^[5][a] From this, various theories on the nature of the building (a funerary booth or a shrine), the meaning of the wordmn (a name or the verbendures) and the relationship between Hor-Aha and Menes (as one person or as successive pharaohs) have arisen.^[2]

The Turin and Abydos king lists, generally accepted to be correct,^[2] list thenesu-bit-names of the pharaohs, not their Horus-names,^[3] and are vital to the potential reconciliation of the various records: thenesu-bit-names of the king lists, the Horus-names of the archaeological record and the number of pharaohs in Dynasty I according to Manetho and other historical sources.^[3]

Flinders Petrie first attempted this task,^[3] associatingIti withDjer as the third pharaoh of Dynasty I,Teti (Turin) (or anotherIti (Abydos)) with Hor-Aha as second pharaoh, and Menes (anebty-name) with Narmer (a Horus-name) as first pharaoh of Dynasty I.^[2][3] Lloyd (1994) finds this succession "extremely probable",^[3] and Cervelló-Autuori (2003) categorically states that "Menes is Narmer and the First Dynasty begins with him".^[4] However, Seidlmayer (2004) states that it is "a fairly safe inference" that Menes was Hor-Aha.^[10]

Two documents have been put forward as proof either Narmer orHor-Aha was Menes. The first is the "Naqada Label" found at the site of Naqada, in the tomb of Queen Neithhotep, often assumed to have been the mother of Horus Aha.^[16] The label shows aserekh of Hor-Aha next to an enclosure inside of which are symbols that have been interpreted by some scholars as the name "Menes". The second is the seal impression from Abydos that alternates between aserekh of Narmer and the chessboard symbol, "mn", which is interpreted as an abbreviation of Menes. Inconclusive arguments have been made with regard to each of these documents in favour of Narmer or Hor-Aha being Menes.^[b]

The second document, the seal impression from Abydos, shows the serekh of Narmer alternating with the gameboard sign (mn), together with its phonetic complement, then sign, which is always shown when the full name of Menes is written, again representing the name "Menes". At first glance, this would seem to be strong evidence that Narmer was Menes.^[20] However, based on an analysis of other earlyFirst Dynasty seal impressions, which contain the name of one or more princes, the seal impression has been interpreted by other scholars as showing the name of a prince of Narmer named Menes, hence Menes was Narmer's successor, Hor-Aha, and thus Hor-Aha was Menes.^[21] This was refuted byCervelló-Autuori 2005, pp. 42–45 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFCervelló-Autuori2005 (help); but opinions still vary, and the seal impression cannot be said to definitively support either theory.^[22]

Herodotus, having mentionedMin as the first king of Egypt, wrote thatLinus, or EgyptianManeros, was "the only son of the first king of Egypt" and that he died untimely.^[23]

Egyptologists, archaeologists, and scholars from the 19th century have proposed different dates for the era of Menes, or the date of the first dynasty:^[24][c]

• John Gardner Wilkinson (1835) – 2320 BC
• Jean-François Champollion (Published posthumously in 1840) – 5867 BC
• August Böckh (1845) – 5702 BC
• Christian Charles Josias Bunsen (1848) – 3623 BC
• Reginald Stuart Poole (1851) – 2717 BC
• Karl Richard Lepsius (1856) – 3892 BC
• Heinrich Karl Brugsch (1859) – 4455 BC
• Franz Joseph Lauth (1869) – 4157 BC
• Auguste Mariette (1871) – 5004 BC
• James Strong (1878) – 2515 BC
• Flinders Petrie (1887) – 4777 BC

Modern consensus dates the era of Menes or the start of the first dynasty between c. 3200–3030 BC; some academic literature uses c. 3000 BC.^[1]

Ancient tradition ascribes to Menes to uniting Upper and Lower Egypt into a single kingdom^[25] and becoming the first pharaoh of the First Dynasty.^[26] Although Menes does not appear on extant pieces of the Royal Annals (Cairo Stone andPalermo Stone), his name appears in later sources as the first ruler of Egypt. Some sources credit him as directly inheriting the throne from the godHorus.^[27] He also appears in later dated king's lists, always as the first human pharaoh of Egypt. Menes appears in demoticnovels of theHellenistic period, demonstrating that, even that late, he was regarded as an important figure.^[28]

Menes was seen as a founding figure for much of the history of ancient Egypt, similar toRomulus inancient Rome.^[29] Manetho records that Menes "led the army across the frontier and won great glory".^[11][26]

Manetho associates the city ofThinis with the Early Dynastic Period and, in particular, Menes, a "Thinite" or native of Thinis.^[11][26] Herodotus contradicts Manetho in stating that Menes founded the city ofMemphis as his capital^[30] after diverting the course of theNile through the construction of alevee.^[31] Manetho ascribes the building of Memphis to Menes' son, Athothis,^[26] and calls no pharaohs earlier thanThird Dynasty "Memphite".^[32]

Herodotus and Manetho's stories of the foundation of Memphis are probably later inventions: in 2012 a relief mentioning the visit to Memphis byIry-Hor—a predynastic ruler of Upper Egypt reigning before Narmer—was discovered in theSinai Peninsula, indicating that the city was already in existence in the early32nd century BC.^[33]

Diodorus Siculus stated that Menes had introduced theworship of the gods and the practice of sacrifice^[34] as well as a more elegant and luxurious style of living.^[34] For this latter invention, Menes' memory was dishonoured by theTwenty-fourth Dynasty pharaohTefnakht andPlutarch mentions a pillar atThebes on which was inscribed an imprecation against Menes as the introducer of luxury.^[34]

In Pliny's^{[clarification needed]} account, Menes was credited with being the inventor of writing in Egypt.

Diodorus Siculus recorded a story of Menes related by the priests of thecrocodile godSobek atCrocodilopolis, in which the pharaoh Menes, attacked by his own dogs while out hunting,^[35] fled acrossLake Moeris on the back of a crocodile and, in thanks, founded the city of Crocodilopolis.^[35][36][37]

Gaston Maspero (1910), while acknowledging the possibility that traditions relating to other kings may have become mixed up with this story, dismisses the suggestions of some commentators^[38] that the story should be transferred to theTwelfth Dynasty pharaohAmenemhat III and sees no reason to doubt that Diodorus did not correctly record a tradition of Menes.^[35] Later, Edwards (1974) states that "the legend, which is obviously filled with anachronisms, is patently devoid of historical value".^[36]

According to Manetho, Menes reigned for either 30, 60 or 62 years and was killed by ahippopotamus.^[11][39]

Alexander Dow (1735/6–79), aScottishorientalist andplaywright, wrote the tragedySethona, set in ancient Egypt. Thelead part of Menes is described in thedramatis personæ as "next male-heir to the crown" now worn bySeraphis, and was played bySamuel Reddish in a 1774 production byDavid Garrick at theTheatre Royal, Drury Lane.^[40]

InHobby Japan'sQueen's Blade media franchise, there is a character namedMenace. Her name is a play on the ancient Egyptian ruler Menes. She is depicted wearing an outfit inspired by Ancient Egyptian fashion.^[41]

• First Dynasty of Egypt family tree
• Hor-Aha
• Min (god)
• Minos, king of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa
• Mannus, ancestral figure inGermanic mythology
• Manu (Hinduism), Progenitor of humanity

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