me is also found at Abydos, is
mentioned. The only important historical event of Neneter's reign seems
to have occurred in his thirteenth year, when the towns or palaces of
_Ha_ ("North") and Shem-Ra ("The Sun proceeds") were founded. Nothing
but the institution and celebration of religious festivals is recorded
in the sixteen yearly entries preserved to us out of a reign of
thirty-five years. The annual height of the Nile is given, and the
occasions of numbering the people are recorded (every second year):
nothing else. Manetho tells us that in the reign of Binothris, who
is Neneter, it was decreed that women could hold royal honours and
privileges. This first concession of women's rights is not mentioned on
the strictly official "Palermo Stele."

More regrettable than aught else is the absence from the "Palermo Stele"
of that part of the original monument which gave the annals of the
earliest kings. At any rate, in the lines of annals which still exist
above that which contains the chronicle of the reign of Neneter no
entry can be definitely identified as belonging to the reigns of Aha
or Narmer. In a line below there is a mention of the "birth of
Khasekhemui," apparently a festival in honour of the birth of that king
celebrated in the same way as the reputed birthday of a god. This shows
the great honour in which Khasekhemui was held, and perhaps it was he
who really finally settled the question of the unification of North and
South and consolidated the work of the earlier kings.

As far as we can tell, then, Aha and Narmer were the first conquerors
of the North, the unifiers of the kingdom, and the originals of the
legendary Mena. In their time the kingdom's centre of gravity was still
in the South, and Narmer (who is probably identical with "the Scorpion")
dedicated the memorials of his deeds in the temple of Hierakonpolis. It
may be that the legend of the founding of Memphis in the time of "Menes"
is nearly correct (as we shall see, historically, the foundation may
have been due to Merpeba), but we have the authority of Manetho for
the fact that the first two dynasties were "Thinite" (that is, Upper
Egyptian), and that Memphis did not become the capital till the time of
the Hid Dynasty. With this statement the evidence of the monuments fully
agrees. The earliest royal tombs in the pyramid-field of Memphis date
from the time of the Hid Dynasty, so that it is evident that the kings
had then taken up their abode in