King Hor-Aha, Builder of Memphis

He did take up a second royal name, Men... which might be the reason that he is associated with King Menes. This means that he may have been the one who actually unified Egypt.

Once again, these are all theories that have not been proven. Egyptologists offer a few different theories after studying historical records and artifacts. The most widely accepted theory may not be the truth, but it's what most historians have agreed on so far.

So the theory that he may be Menes may mean that King Narmer may have started the process, but left it for his son to finish. If that's the case, then King Hor-Aha has a huge accomplishment under his belt...

...but here's another accomplishment that is considered one of the greatest in Egyptian history: he was the founder of the city of Memphis.

Memphis was the capital city of ancient Egypt for many years, and is considered one of the most important cities of ancient times altogether. It was chosen based on its location, between Upper and Lower Egypt.

The king of course was married, and it is thought that his queen's name was Berner-Ib. His successor is known as King Djer. And although King Djer is thought to have reigned for 57 years, not much is known about him.

In Manetho's historical records he mentions the reign of King Hor-Aha lasted 62 years until death by hippopotamus at an old age. Hippo and crocodile hunting were popular in ancient Egypt, and there are still more human deaths caused by hippos in Africa than by big cats (like lions).

But the Nile now is much safer after the building of the high dam. Which reminds me, another accomplishment under this king's belt was the building of a dam to divert the Nile's flow in order to build Memphis on parts of land that were covered by water before.

And of course, as with most of the ancient kings, he had to prove himself not just by building stuff... he had to prove himself also by conquest. He had to fight and go on war campaigns like most other Egyptian kings!

His tomb is at Abydos, with his queen's close by.

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