03C Menes Narmer (c. 3150 BCE) is the legendary first king of Egypt

Menes (c. 3150 BCE) is the legendary first king of Egypt who is thought to have united Upper and Lower Egypt through conquest and founded both the First Dynasty and the great city of Memphis. His name is known from sources such as Manetho's Chronology (3rd century BCE), The Turin King List, and the Palermo Stone as well as from some scant archaeological evidence such as ivory engravings. In the early days of Egyptology, Menes was accepted as the first historical king based upon the written records. As time went by, however, and archaeological excavations failed to turn up any evidence of such a king, scholars began to question whether he had actually existed or was, perhaps, a composite figure drawn from the memory of the reigns of other kings.

The Egyptologist Flinders Petrie (1853-1942 CE) concluded that the name 'Menes' was actually an honorific title meaning "he who endures", not a personal name, and the first historical pharaoh of Egypt was Narmer (c. 3150 BCE) whose existence was firmly established both by the written record and archaeological evidence (most notably, the Narmer Palette, a siltstone engraving depicting Narmer's victory over Lower Egypt). In the modern day, Petrie's claim is the most widely accepted and Menes is associated with Narmer (though there are some scholars who associate the name with Narmer's son Hor-Aha). The legend of Menes, however, took on a life of its own quite independent of whatever the king Narmer may or may not have done. Narmer allegedly united the two lands of Egypt peacefully over time, married a princess to consolidate his power, and then began building projects and further developing trade with other cultures. These accomplishments, however, were not grand enough for the first king of Egypt who not only needed to be larger than life but also to symbolize a key concept in Egyptian culture: duality.