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© Copyright 1998, Jim Loy
I bought a beautiful atlas of ancient Egypt (Atlas of Ancient Egypt, by Baines and Malek). In the beginning of the book, it says that Egypt was often called "The Two Lands." That is correct. In fact that was probably the most commonly used name for Egypt, in ancient Egypt. The atlas goes on to say that the Two Lands are the east bank and the west bank of the Nile. Wrong. I can't provide very strong evidence, myself. But apparently there is plenty of evidence (writing and inscriptions) that the two lands are Upper Egypt (in the south) and Lower Egypt (mainly the Nile delta).
Traditionally, Menes, the first king of the first dynasty, united Upper and Lower Egypt, giving the great kingdom its start. Off and on, a few of the kings were said to be kings of Lower Egypt or Upper Egypt alone. Most were Lord of the Two Lands.