Menes The Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh,and How to manipulate ,and fix his picture with photoshop.

King Menes is traditionally believed to have begun Egyptian history.

Ancient tradition ascribed to Menes the honour of having united Upper and Lower Egypt into in a single kingdom and becoming the first pharaoh of Dynasty I

The original picture of Menes 

The Photoshop manipulated picture 

 Menes

Who is Menes ?  Please read more down.

 Actually, Menes is the Greek form of the name provided by the third century BC Egyptian historian, Manetho.The name, Menes, means "He who endures" ,denoting a semi-legendary hero .

Menes was the founding king of the 1st Dynasty, and was the first king to unify Upper and Lower Egypt into one kingdom. Ancient Egypt's most predominant form of civilization began with his crowning, and did not end permanently until the beginning of the  Roman era, which started with Augustus Caeser. Menes founded the city of Memphis, and chose as its location an island in the Nile, so that it would be easy to defend. He was also the founder of Crocodopolis. During his time, the Egyptian army performed raids against the Nubians in the south and expanded his sphere of influence as far as the First Cataract.

However, his name does not appear on extant pieces of the Royal Annals (Cairo Stone and Palermo Stone), which is a now-fragmentary king's list that was carved onto a stela during the Fifth dynasty. He typically appears in later sources as the first human ruler of Egypt, directly inheriting the throne from the god Horus. He also appears in other, much later, king's lists, always as the first human pharaoh of Egypt. Menes also appears in demotic novels of the Graeco-Roman Period, demonstrating that, even that late, he was regarded as important figure.

Who is Menes ?

Menes and Narmer 

The almost complete absence of any mention of Menes in the archaeological record, and the comparative wealth of evidence of Narmer, a protodynastic figure credited by posterity and in the archaeological record with a firm claim to the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, has given rise to a theory identifying Menes with Narmer.

Aha (the pharaoh Hor-Aha)

The relationship between Hor-Aha and Menes (as one person or as successive pharaohs) have arisen.

The Palermo stone, inscribed on both sides of a black basalt slab, dates from the  Fifth Dynasty and records names of the kings of the 1-5th Dynasties. The first three dynasties consist almost exclusively of events that give the years their names.

The King-list on this stone mentions several pre-dynastic kings as well as the name of Narmer, Menes, and Aha.

Some states that "Menes is Narmer and the First Dynasty begins with him". However,some others states that it is "a fairly safe inference" that Menes was Hor-Aha.

His Family :

His chief wife was Queen Berenib, though she was not the mother of his heir, King Djer, and his mother was probably Neithotepe, if that lady was not also his wife. His death is a mystery, for, according to legend he was attacked by wild dogs and  Nile crocodiles in the  Faiyum . Aha's tomb resides at Saqqara, the famed necropolis of Memphis.

Capital

Manetho associates the city of Thinis with the first dynasties (Dynasty I and Dynasty II) and, in particular, Menes, a "Thinite" or native of Thinis. Herodotus contradicts Manetho in stating that Menes founded the city of Memphis as his capital after diverting the course of the River Nile through the construction of a dyke. Manetho ascribes the building of Memphis to Menes' son, Athothis, and calls no pharaohs earlier than Dynasty III "Memphite".

His Death

Menes, we are told ruled for about 62 years, led the army across the frontier and won great glory. He was killed by a crocodile.

How to manipulate the picture ?

Open the picture in Photoshop .

1 - To adjust the color levels, open the Adjustments Panel [from Window]- select Levels [ the second icon from the left] drag the sliders at the right and left to the middle . 

2 - Now to change the background color, select the white color of the background select it with the Quick Selection Tool then delete it with the delete key .

With the Paint Bucket Tool add the color you like to the deleted background.

3 - Add new layer under the background layer and increase its size from canvas [ Image -Canvas]and do as the illustration below .

 4 - Add the same color of the background to the new layer with the Paint Bucket Tool[ select the layer then apply the color].

5 - Apply style you like to the layer from the Styles Panels to give the effect of frame [ Window - Styles].

6 - Type the name and apply the same Style to it .

7 - Save your work. 

Thanks

Manal Raafat

MR