the monument itself was made. It is a matter for intense regret that the
greater portion of this priceless historical monument has disappeared,
leaving us but a piece out of the centre, with part of the records
of only six kings before Snefru. Of these six the name of only one,
Neneter, of the lid Dynasty, whose name 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-Râ ("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
Khâsekhemui," 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 Khâsekhemui 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