Narmer and Khasekhemui are, as we shall see, two of the
first monarchs of all Egypt. These sculptured and inscribed mace-heads,
shields, etc., are monuments dedicated by them in the ancestral shrine
at Hierakonpolis as records of their deeds. Both kings seem to have
waged war against the Northerners, the _Anu_ of Heliopolis and the
Delta, and on these votive monuments from Hierakonpolis we find
hieroglyphed records of the defeat of the _Anu_, who have very
definitely Semitic physiognomies.
On one shield or palette we see Narmer clubbing a man of Semitic
appearance, who is called the "Only One of the Marsh" (Delta), while
below two other Semites fly, seeking "fortress-protection." Above is a
figure of a hawk, symbolizing the Upper Egyptian king, holding a rope
which is passed through the nose of a Semitic head, while behind is a
sign which may be read as "the North," so that the whole symbolizes the
leading away of the North into captivity by the king of the South. It
is significant, in view of what has been said above with regard to the
probable Semitic origin of the Heliopolitan Northerners, to find the
people typical of the North-land represented by the Southerners as
Semites. Equally Semitic is the overthrown Northerner on the other
side of this well-known monument which we are describing; he is being
trampled under the hoofs and gored by the horns of a bull, who, like the
hawk, symbolizes the king.
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