preview

The Narmer Palette Summary

Decent Essays

The Narmer Palette in chapter 1 image 1.26 is One of the most famous artefacts found in ancient Egypt, that is carved from a slab of carved greenish siltstone. The stone is tough enough to carve without flaking and well consolidated and comes from a quarry used since pre-dynastic times at Wadi Hammamat. The stone has some of the earliest examples of hieroglyphics carved on its shaped surface, along with a series of pictures whose interpretation has proved controversial. It dates from 3,100 to 4500 BCE depending on which source you read. Some believe it to commemorate the unification of the two kingdoms of Upper (southern) and Lower (northern) Egypt around this time, since the pharaoh is depicted wearing the crown of one half of the empire …show more content…

It is hard to know as many interpretations have come from the tablet. One suggests that Egypt is much older than originally thought and is said to show the taming of Dinosaurs for agriculture and construction purpose's on one side and Trepanation and brain surgeries on the other. But in other interpretations it is said that this is a representation of the unifications of upper and lower Egypt by the king Narmer who is ether the son of or the Scorpion king himself. No matter what interpretation you buy into the piece has a great visual lore to it. It is hard to believe that a culture 5 to 10,000 years ago was able to carve such a beautiful …show more content…

The Narmer palette like any other palette has two sides: the recto (front side) and the verso (back side). Each of them is divided into several registers and all the scenes commemorate the victory of Narmer over the Delta people. The upper register on the rectro side is surmounted by two bovine heads represented in frontal view, flanking the "Serekh" that contains the king's name where is written by the hieroglyphic sign of the catfish. The central scene stands as a clear evidence of the magnificence of the art in acient Egypt. This pose would become typical in ancient Egyptian art to represent the king's triumph over his enemies. The Egyptian sculptor wanted to show the ancient Egypt arts of Narmer as triumphant

Get Access