There were, and had been for thousands of years, two lands: Upper Egypt in the south and Lower Egypt in the north. Rulers of Upper Egypt wore a tall white crown called a hedjet, while in Lower Egypt kings donned a short red crown called a deshret. Around 3100 B.C., a king of Upper Egypt, known as Narmer, changed all that. When the two lands united, it marked not only the beginnings of a political state, but also the origins of a great cultural one. Beginning with Narmer, Egypt began developing its own distinctive visual style, one that would echo through the ages as the iconography and symbols embraced by Narmer and his successors took hold.

Source: The North Africa Journal June 10, 2022 04:48 UTC