Egypt, A.D. 3050. The first Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, Narmer, united the Egyptian territories and I. He founded the dynasty. The details of this union have come to us in a simple everyday object, contained in a cosmetic palette.

On the top of the palette, Narmer is shown inspecting the battlefield, in front, parked in two rows, with a set of decapitated enemies. The members of the Pharaoh’s entourage wear banners from several provinces, and below you can see Narmer, a torus turned into a trampling on the rival of the Asian trunk.

In the background, the pharaoh has a human appearance and is beating the enemy who kneels under the god Horus. Between Horus and the enemy there is a symbol of the Nile Delta to indicate that this territory was under the control of God and therefore of Pharaoh. At the bottom appear two human beings previously dominated by Pharaoh. All these rear rivals have long curly hair and a beard; in Egyptian iconography these are characteristics of the Libyans.

But not all palette messages are linked to battle issues. On the top Narmer wears the so-called “red crown”, which is the crown of Lower Egypt. At the bottom the Pharaoh has in his head a crown with another shape, called the “white crown”, which indicates that he dominated Upper Egypt. This message of unity is reinforced by the main image of the upper part, which shows two felines with long and twisted collars crossed. The allegory of this image is clear: the two kingdoms, Upper and Lower Egypt, under a single king, are under Pharaoh Narmer. And in fact, this is the most useful part of the palette, as they used the circle formed by the necks to mix makeup powders.

As a result, the most enduring empire in history was launched and that momentous moment in history was captured in a banal object linked to make-up.