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BOSTON
PUBLIC
LIBRARY

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'^.B-CtARKE

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BooKSLLERS,55rAT,ojRs)

ParkSC.Church, Bostoni

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PUBLISHERS' NOTE
Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd., beg to
announce that they have still in stock a limited number of the
larger edition of the hieroglyphic text

and translation

of the

Book of the Dead, with the hieroWallis Budge, which appeared in

three volumes under the title " Chapter of Coming Forth
Theban Recension

of the

glyphic vocabulary by Dr.

BY Day,"

late in 1897.

Price for the Entire Worh,

10s.

Volume I. contains all the known Chapters of the Theban

Recension of the Book of the Dead, printed in hieroglyphic
type (pp. 1 517), and a description of the papyri in the British
Museum from which they have been edited, and a list of
Chapters, etc. (pp. i. xl.). This edition is the most complete

which has hitherto been published.

Volume

contains a full vocabulary (pp. 1 386) to all the

hieroglyphic texts of the Chapters of the Theban Recension of

the

Book

II.

of the

Dead and

to the supplementary Chapters from

the Saite Recension which are given therewith in

The volume contains about 35,000

Volume

III. contains

Volume

I.

references.

Preface and list of Chapters (i.-xxxvi.).

1. Introduction (pp. xxxvii.-cciv.)
This
Chap. I. The History of the Book of the Dead.
Chapter is accompanied by eighteen plates which illus:

trate the palaeography of the various Recensions of the

Book

of the

Dead from the Vth Dynasty

to the

Period.

VOL.

III.

Roman

Chap.

II.

Osiris and the Resurrection.

The Judgment of the Dead.

ly. The Elysian Fields or Heaven.

III.

With

extracts

from the Pyramid Texts.

v. The Magic of the Book of the Dead.
YI. The Object and Contents of the Book of the Dead.
VII. The Book of the Dead of Nesi-Khonsu, about

B.C.

1000 (English translation).

The Book of Breathings (English translation).

VIII.

IX.

The

Papyrus

of

Takhert-puru-abt

(English

translation).

Translation op the Book of the Dead

The volume also contains three scenes from the
famous Papyrus of Ani representing the Judgment Scene, the
Funeral Procession, and the Elysian Fields, which have been
2.

English

(pp. 1

354).

reproduced in

full

photo-lithographer.

colours by Mr.

W.

Griggs, the eminent

:SSoo\\s

on Bo^^pt anb dbal^aea

A HISTORY OF EGYPT
From the End of the Neolithic Period to
THE Death of Cleopatra VII.

Vol.

b.c.

III.

EGYPT UNDER THE

AMENEMHATS AND HYKSOS

30

JQwt an& Cbal&aea

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EGYPT

UNDER

THE AMENEMHATS AND HYKSOS

E. A.

WALLIS BUDGE,

M.A., Litt.D., D.Lit.

KEEPER OF THE EGYPTIAN AND ASSYRIAN ANTIQUITIES

THE BRITISH MUSEUM

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OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
AMERICAN BRANCH
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PREFACE

The

period of Egyptian history treated in the present

volume has been continued from the end of the reign of

Seankh-ka-Ea, the

last

the end of the reign of

2500

to

1550

B.C.

king of the Xlth Dynasty, to

Thothmes

This period

II.,

is

i.e.,

from about

one of the most

important in the history of Egypt, for during

its

course

the Egyptians founded their great colony in Nubia,

and defeated the Hyksos, and began

possessions into

the country

Western Asia.

now

to Thebes, the

We

to extend their

see the capital of

definitely transferred

from Memphis

result probably of the difficulty found

in ruling the warlike tribes of the south

from a city so

The great kings of the

Xllth Dynasty, the Amenemhats and the Usertsens,
having made firm their hold upon Nubia as far south
far to the north as

as the

Memphis.

head of the Third Cataract, turned their atten-

tion to increasing the material prosperity of the land,

which they had

re -organized,

and which they were

ruling with capable hands, by constructing systems ol

canals and other irrigation works, the greatest of which

PREFACE

Vlll

was the famous Lake Moeris.

doubt,

out by forced labour,

carried

complain of

works were, no

Siicli

this,

for

but few could

they were of public

utility,

benefited the

community

far

those mighty

monuments

of the great kings of the

and

more than the Pyramids,

lYth

The Pyramids, however, which

by the greatest kings of the Xllth Dynasty,

and Yth Dynasties.

were built

though smaller, prove that the hands of the architect

and the master-mason had not

The extension
brought with

into

it

Nubia

lost

of the

their

cunning.

kingdom of Egypt

serious responsibilities and wars with

which the immediate successors of the Amenemhats

were unable to cope,

and

XIYth Dynasties they had

during
the

the

Xlllth and

greatest difficulty in

maintaining the integrity of their kingdom against the

attacks of the nomadic Semitic tribes on the East, of

the Libyans on the West, and of the Nubians in the

South.

During the XYth and XYIth Dynasties we

find that the " filthy "

Hyksos took possession

of the

Delta, where they began the period of their rule by

the wanton destruction of the temples and their gods,

but where they finished by adopting Egyptian civilization,

and by adding the greatest of their

Sutekh,

to

the

companies

of

the

tribal gods,

Egyptian

gods.

Subsequently the ambition of the Hyksos kings aimed

at the sovereignty of the
to

whole country from the sea

Nubia, but the attempt wliich they made

was

foiled

defeated

to

gain

it

by the intrepidity of the Theban kings, who

them

in

more than one decisive engagement.

PREFACE

IX

and wlio eventually expelled tliem from

Tlieir

departure was the

from the Delta, and

first

became

it

and greatest Exodus

tlie

historic fact

which, in later centuries, the Hebrews

tions of their greatness in Egypt,

In

therefrom.

and their expulsion

Exodus during which the descendants

flee

tradi-

Josephus have

Exodus with that smaller

entirely confused this great

Jacob were obliged to

around

hung the

late writers like

fact,

country.

tlie

of the Patriarch

The kings

to Palestine.

of

XYIIIth Dynasty understood the serious danger

with which Egypt was threatened by the nomadic
the

Semitic tribes

of

her

steps immediately to

towns

Southern

in

control the

north-east

and took

frontier,

obtain possession of cities and

from which

Syria,

movements

of the

tribes in the neighbourhood.

restless

How

they could

and rebellious

they succeeded in

effecting their purpose is briefly described in this

in

the following

volume.

Chronologically,

the period treated in the present

difficulty,

and in the present

of the

lessly perplexed,

King

and

it

is

however,

section is

full of

state of Egyptological

knowledge no satisfactory account of

The compilers

and

it

can be given.

Lists were themselves hope-

evident that

many

parts of

their chronological systems are entirely artificial.

The

Turin Papyrus would probably have helped us out of this

difficulty,

but no reliance can be placed upon

it

as an

authority for constructing the chronology of Dynasties

XII.

XVII.

In spite of recent assertions to the

contrary, the remarks

by

Kosellini, de

Eouge, Birch,

PREFACE

and Wiedemann show that

because of

purposes,

first,

secondly,

because

the

fragments by Seyffarth
only hope that some

it

useless

is

tlie

lacunae in

re-joining
is

for

of

many

hopelessly wrong.

critical
it,

and

of

the

We

can

fortunate " find " of papyri

may

give to Egyptologists an unbroken copy of the work.

E. A.

Wallis Budge.

CONTENTS

I.
Amenemhat I. Palace conspiracy. His
CAPITAL ThET-TAUI. EXPEDITION TO NUBIA. HiS
BOOK OP Instructions. Story of Sa-nehat. Lake
OF Seneferu. His arrival at Qem-ur. Nearly

Chapter

dies of thirst. The prince of Tenu. Sa-nehat

FIGHTS A GIANT. HiS PROSPERITY. He RETURNS
TO Egypt. His pyramid tomb. Usertsen I. His

HiS PYRAMID AT LiSHT.

Expedition to Nubia and the Sudan. Amenemhat AND HIS OFFICIAL HaTHOR-SA. KhNEMUHETEP AT BeNI-HASAN. StATUE OF TeHUTI-HETEP.
Usertsen II. Khnemu-hetep II., governor of
Beni-hasan. a party of Aamu visit Egypt and
BRING EYE-PAINT.
PYRAMID AT IlLAHDN. UsERTSEN II. THE " SeSOSTRIS " OF MaNETHO. YoYAGES
OF Sesostris. Usertsen III. clears out a canal
IN the First Cataract.
Enamelled gold plate
OF Usertsen III. Conquest of Nubia. Forts at
Semneh and Kummeh. Pyramid of Dahshur.
AmenemiiIt III.
His mining works.
Plaque
OF Amenemhat III.
Nile levels at Semneh
OBELISKS AT HeLIOPOLIS.

AND Kummeh. Lake Moeris described.

The
Labyrinth described.
Pyramid of Hawara.
Pharaoh's Chairs.

-Sphinxes of

Amenemhat

III.

CONTENTS

Xll

PAGE

Mining works.

Amenemhat

Ea-sebek-neperut.

IV. and his sister

Au-ab-Ea and his tomb and

SCARABS

Chapter

Chronological
Thirteenth Dynasty.
DIFFICULTIES. TuRIN PaPYRUS AFFORDS NO DECISIVE
INFORMATION ABOUT THE PERIOD. 60 ThEBAN KiNGS
IN 453 YEARS.
Power of the Nubians, Libyans
AND AaMU. EeIGNS OF Ea-khu-taui, Ea-sekhemEa, ETC. Sebek-hetep I. King of all Egypt.
Sebek-hetep II. Nefer-hetep restores a temple
AT Abydos. Sebek-hetep III. His statues on
THE Island op Argo. Ea-nehsi. The reign of
Ab-aa

Chapter

II.

III.

Dynasties XI.

XIII.

Seat

Summary.

OF GOVERNMENT TRANSFERRED TO ThEBES.

of two COMPANIES OF EGYPTIAN SOLDIERS.

78

MoDELS
WORSHIP

Prosperity and power of Egypt.

etc.
reservoirs,
works,
canals,
Egypt and Punt. Position of the nobles. The
CULT OF Amen. The priests of Amen-Ea. Funeral
CEREMONIES AND THE Booh of the Bead. Art and
Literature in the XIIth Dynasty. Kahun and
Illahun. Birket al-Karun and Lake Moeris.
OF

Sebek.

Irrigation

Temple of Amen at Thebes and of Ea at

Heliopolis enlarged. Artistic development
.

Chapter IV.

Fourteenth Dynasty.

106

76 Kings in 184

OR 484 YEARS. Sebek-em-sa-f. Worship of Amsu

OR MiN. Sebek-em-sau-f. Eobbery of his tomb.
His queen Nub-kha-s. Settlement of Semites
.122
IN the Delta. Their power there
.

Chapter V. Fifteenth and Sixteenth Dynasties.

The Hyksos or Shepherds. Theories of Lepsius
UNTENABLE. ThE HyKSOS KING SaLATIS. GENERAL
MOVEMENT OF SYRIAN TRIBES TO EgYPT CAUSED BY

CONTENTS

Xlll

PAGE

coifQUEST OF

Babylon by Khammurabi.

Building

Its garrison 250,000 strong. The

Hyksos King according to Manetho. Meaning
of the name Hyksos. The Menti, Sati, and
Aamu.
Hyksos atrocities.
Hyksos
called
"Filthy." Hyksos adopt Egyptian civilization.
Set or Sutekh their god. The winged Sphinx.
Manetho's account of the Hyksos according to
JosEPHUs. Apepa I.
Apepa II. Nubti. The
TABLET OF FoUR HUNDRED YeARS.
KhIAN AND
HIS STATUES,
StONE LION OF KhIAN.
UaTCHET
AND Ipeq-Heru. Senbmaiu and Ra-Aa-seh

OF AvARis.

133

Chapter VI. The Seventeenth Dynasty. Theban and

Hyksos Kings reign contemporaneously. Quarrel
between Ra-seqenen of Thebes and Ra-Apepi of
the Delta. Ra-seqenen I. III. Tomb of Raseqenen AT Der al-Bahari. Discovery of royal
tombs in 1871. Ra-seqenen III. killed in battle.
Defeat of the Hyksos, Mummy of Ra-seqenen.
Reign of Ka-mes, Queen Aah-hetep. Her coffin
AND ORNAMENTS. SeNEKHT-EN-Ra AND AaHMES-SA-

FA-AR

165

Chapter YIL The Eighteenth Dynasty. Aah-mes

I.
AND his campaigns.
INSCRIPTION OF THE
GENERAL AaIIMES, CAPTURE OF AvARIS. DEFEAT
OF THE MeNTIU.
INVASION OF NUBIA.
ThE
GENERAL AaHMES PeN-NEKHEB.
TeTA-AN THE
REBEL.
Rebuilding of the temples of Ptah
AND Amen. The Fenkhu or " foreigners." Tomb
OF AaHMES I. AND HIS MUMMY. QuEEN AaHMESNEFERT-ARI.
HeR MUMMY DESCRIBED. CHILDREN
OF Aahmes I.
Amen-hetep I. His campaigns.
Invasion of Nubia and Libya. Amen-hetep the
BENEFACTOR OF THE PRIESTS OF AmEN. HiS TOMB
BROKEN INTO BY THIEVES.
ThOTHMES I. AND

CONTENTS

XIV

PAGE

EXPEDITION AGAINST THE

MOTHER SeNSENEB.
Nubians. Expedition to Western Asia. Obelisks
His mummy and
OP Thothmes T. at Karnak.
tomb. His wives Aahmes and Mut-nefert. His
DAUGHTER THE GREAT QUEEN HaTSHEPSET. ThOTHEXPEDITION INTO
MES II. AND HIS CONQUESTS.
Nubia. Mummy and tomb of Thothmes II. InThothmes II.
Oasis of Ul-'Ayun.
scription.
MARRIES HaTSHEPSET, HiS DAUGHTERS, El-NEFERU

HIS

AND HaTSHEPSET

184

LIST OF

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE
1.

Tablet of Khnemu-hetep.

2.

Enamelled gold plaque of Usertsen

3.

4.
5.

Eeion of Usertsen
II.

Arrival of a company of the Aamu

WITH eye-paint

27

Egypt

.29

III.

Stele of Usertsen
OVER the Nubians

his victory

III.

recording

to Thothmes III.

7.

Enamelled gold plaque of Amenemhat

8.

Portrait head of Amenemhat III

III. giving life

III.

Plan of the pyramid of Amenemhat III.

Human-headed sphinx of Amenemhat III. from
.

XIIIth Dynasty

Stele of Sekhem-ka-E1.

12.

Limestone shrine of Pa-suten.

of Egyptian soldiers

of

master's luggage.

luggage.

87

92

Two Companies
The Servant
The Servant

61

Eeign of Amen-

emhat III

15.

45

65

11.

14.

41

47

San

13.

36

39

Usertsen

10.

in

25

Enamelled gold plaque of Usertsen

6.

9.

II.

Pepi-en-ankh

carrying

his

(Front view)

110

of Pepi-en-ankh carrying his master's

(Back view)

16.

Statue op an official.

17.

The

XIIth Dynasty

official Ankh-p-khrat.

107

XIIth Dynasty

Ill

.113
.

115

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

XVI

18.

Black basalt statue of an

Dynasty

official.

XIIth
117

19.

Fowling Scene

20.

Sepulchral

Stele

119

of

the

scribe

Sebek-hetep

XIIIth Dynasty
21.

22.

127

Head of a portrait statue of an

XIVth Dynasty
The Stele of Four Hundred Years

official
131

157

Entrance to the Valley of the Tombs of the

Kings

175

24.

USHABTI figure OF AaHMES

185

25.

Head

23.

26.
27.
28.

mummy
Obelisks at Karnak
Head of the mummy
Stele of Anna
of the

of Thothmes

T.

202

204
of Thothmes

IT.

213
217

EGYPT
UNDER THE

AMENEMHATS AND HYKSOS.

CHAPTER

I.

THE TWELFTH DYNASTY. FEOM THEBES.

SEHETEP-AB, SOn of

tlie

Sun, AmeN-EM-HAT,

Amenemhat

I.,

Xllth Dynasty^

Ammen ernes,
(Cory, op.
years.

teen kings

first

king of the

to be identified with

who, according to Manetho

cit.,

He

is

tlie

'AfjU/JLeve/JLTj^.

p.

110), reigned sixteen

was, no doubt, one of the six-

who

are said to have reigned

for forty-three years,

and he was the

first

Nem-mestu,

theHorusnameof of the princcs of

^
Amenemnat I.

Thebcs who succeeded in

making himself actually king of the Nile

Yalley from the Mediterranean Sea to Aswan. He
adopted as his Horus name the words "Nem-mestu,"
i.e.,

"he who

VOL.

III.

repeats

births," the

allusion being to

AMENEMHAT

his cliaracter as the divine

god,

who

is

Horus of

born anew daily.

origin is certain,

[B.C. 2466

I.

gold,

i.e.,

That he was

official

such great works for Menthu-hetep II.

whom Amenemhat

Middle Empire, but

left

Egypt

of

the

Egypt

it

I.

as his successor.

sovereignty

of the

followers, in fact, the

no

Seankh-ka-

first

of the kings of

seems that when he died

in a very unsettled condition,

no idea how Amenemhat

is

did

succeeded, was a strong king,

I.

and he was certainly regarded as

he

who

but there

proof forthcoming in support of this view.

the

Theban

of

and Brugsch thought that he was a

descendant of the Amen-em-hat, the

Ka,

the Sun-

came

and we have

to ascend the throne

And when he had assumed

own immediate
own house, con-

country, his

members

of his

spired against him, and from a document which has been

preserved to us in two copies we

know

The king

nigh assassinated on one occasion.

to narrate the story himself,

night-season_,

and he

when darkness

that he was well-

reigned,

opportunity of taking an hour's

how he had gone

us

tells

rest,

made

is

how

in the

he seized

which

is

good

the
for

down on his bed

in his own chamber.
He was tired, and had hardly
begun to compose himself when he fell fast asleep, but
the heart, and

to lie

almost immediately he was awakened by the noise of the

weapons of a number of men who had conspired together

to kill him,

and who had burst into his room to carry

their purpose

into effect.

The king leaped from

his

couch and attacked his attackers to such good purpose

that, one after the other,

he put them to

flight,

and so

THE CONSPIRACY

B.C. 2466]

saved

we

own

liis

IN

When

life.i

THE PALACE

this conspiracy broke out,

are unfortunately not told, but

some think that

it

im-

mediately preceded the association of his son Usertsen

I.

with himself in the rule of the kingdom.

When Amenemhat

Egypt needed

things in

we

became king he found that many

setting in order, a fact

learn from an inscription in the

tomb

of

which

Khnemu-

hetep at Beni Hasan, where we read that the maternal

grandfather of this

official,

who

also bore the

name

of

Khnemu-hetep, had been appointed an er^m hd and a

governor of the Eastern Desert in the town of Menat-

Khufu.

The grandson who

to speaks of
evil,

Amenemhat

I.

built the
as

tomb now

referred

having come to do away

and as appearing in splendour even as the god

Temu

himself; he restored that which had been over-

thrown, and what one city had stolen from another he

gave back, and he marked out the frontiers of each

principality,
its

and arranged that each

own boundaries, and he

city should

know

re-established the old laws

in respect of the supply of water for irrigation purposes

to the various

districts,

according to what he found

written on the subject in the ancient registers.

This

he did because of the greatness of his love for justice.^

What

he did at Menat-Khufu

what he did everywhere, and

1

See Diimiclien, Aeg.

only an instance of

as far as

we can

tell

he

Birch, Egyptian
1874, p. 30
Maspero, Recueil, torn. ii. p. 70; Ee'-orcU of the Fast,
Les Origines, p. 465.
ii. pp. 9-16
Newberry, Beni Hasan, vol. i. p. 59.

Texts, ^. 16;
vol.

is

Zeiisclirift,

THE WORKS OF AMENEMHAT

endeavoured to rule

carried on in the

country according to

liis

what was right and

of

[B.C. 2466

I.

He

just.

caused work to be

Wadi Hanimamat, and

in Tura,

He

seems to have been used in sacred buildings.

for himself a building, half fortress, half palace,

was situated on the right or east bank of the

south of Memphis, and called " Thet-taui,"

and he followed the example

Memphis and

the

and

stone which he brought from the quarries there

the

of

ideas

liis

name

''

built a

Qa,"

built

which

Nile, to the
s=9P* ^=^^^

by the great Pharaohs

set

pyramid tomb, to which he gave

YA

remains of this pyramid

i.e.,

may

The

the "Exalted."

be seen at Lisht, not far

from the modern Kafr al-'Ayat, about thirty miles south

of Cairo.

Amenemhat was
gods,

for

he

not unmindful of the temples of the

on works

carried

of

and

restoration,

dedicated buildings or statues at Tanis and Bubastis in

the Delta, and at Crocodilopolis, Coptos, Abydos, and

Karnak

in

Upper Egypt.

In the twenty-ninth year of his reign, we learn from

an inscription published by Brugsch,^ he went to the
country of Uauat,
it,

and there

is

i.e..

no reason

cessful, especially as

Papyrus

(pll.

Northern Nubia,

we

to

to

overthrow

doubt that he was suc-

are told in the Second Sallier

2 and 3) that he conquered the Asiatics and

the Mfitchaiu Nubians,

1

.:^::^

'v\

[ (

^1^

Brugsch, Diet. Geog.,-p. 983.

Aeg. Zeitschrijt, 1882, vol. 30 ff.

J)
I

THE ''instructions" OF AMENEMHAT

B.C. 2466]

I.

In the twentieth year of his reign he associated with

who
Amenemhat

himself in the rule of the kingdom Usertsen

subsequently became a great and able king.^

wrote a number of " Instructions
his son,

"

I.,

or " Precepts " for

which were highly prized in Egypt and copied

by the

as classics

New

scribes of the

Empire.-

are very hard to understand at times, but

it

They

seems that

the king begins his instructions by warning his

against

making too many

against laxity of rule.

friends

among

Guard

thyself,

son

his people, and

is

the king's

motto, for friends are found to be wanting in the day of

He

calamity.

gave to the poor and the needy, he

treated the poor with the same consideration as the rich,

but

it

stirred

was the very folk

up

to

he had done good who

and those who put on his apparel and

strife,

used his spices were the

known

whom

curse him.

first to

His works

among men, but they are not

sufficiently heeded by the people, who seem to be like an
Then follows an
ox who hath forgotten yesterday.
are

of and seen

account of the conspiracy, which appears to have been

caused by the

Compare

n
ii.

of the

dissatisfaction

'000^
^^^^'wsA
(

JJ^

(I

O ^ LJ

^^-w.^

people

(V&

because

^ ^J

see Mariette, Ahydos, torn.

plate 22.

The

by Birch (Select Papyri, Sallier II.)

and Maspero,
70 and plates; the most recent
renderings are by Amelineau (Recueil, tom. x. pp 98-121) and by
2

texts are published

Recueil, II. p.

Griffith, Aeg. Zeitschrift, 1896, pp. 35-51.

HUNTING EXPEDITIONS OF AMENEMHAT

Amenemhat had

"

bend

upon the ends

I stood

over,

He made

man went hungry

throne

tlie

crocodiles,

of the earth

and I saw

corn to be plentiful, and

and

or thirsty in his time,

people were satisfied with his rule.

He hunted

all

and

lions

he vanquished the tribes of Nubia, Uauaiu,

4^

V\

L L

Mt^

fJv

and the Miltchaiu,

'^

and he made the Asiatics, Sati

|j;

follow

on

and I advanced the confines by wonderful

" deeds of strength."

no

sit

(Elephantine) and I returned to the Papyrus

Swamps;

" its

son to

liis

Further on the king says, " I advanced to

with him.

"Abu

made

not

[B.C. 2J66

I.

him

He

like dogs.

built a palace

^m

'

^^

ornamented

with gold and lapis-lazuli, and furnished with bronze

gates and bolts, and the walls thereof were built upon
well laid foundations

and with some

final

Usertsen individually the " Instructions

"

remarks to

come

to

an

end.

Belonging to this period, and of considerable value

as illustrating the condition of

Amenemhat

Egypt

in the reign of

now famous Story of Sa-nehat.^

It seems that Sa-nehat was the son of Amenemhat I.,
and that he was attached to the army which was under
the command of Usertsen I., who was engaged in war
I., is

the

against the Libyans

1

For the hieratic

104-107;

for

texts

one day a messenger came to

see

hieroglyphic

Lepsiiis,

transcript

Denlcmdier,

vi.

Melanges d'Archeologie, torn. iii. pp. 68-82

Egyptiens, pp. 105-134
Goodwin, /Story of Saneha, 1866
Les Papyrus de Berlin, p. 37 ff.
Maspero,

plates

and translations
;

see

Contes

Chabas,

THE STORY OF SA-NEHAT

B.C. 2466]

announce

to

Usertseu

the death of his father, and by

I.

chance Sa-nehat overheard the ncAvs, with the result

that he was seized with a

new king

the

of terror,

Egypt would

of

He was

self to flight.

fit

kill

when
a

arrived

^1, and

at

is

to

say,

Lake

the

at a certain

afraid of him,

and

at sunset

on the east bank of the

travelled

river,

came

and

to the

on the north-east frontier of

line of fortified outposts

Egypt

he arrived

town or hamlet, and he crossed the Nile in

directing his steps towards the north he

he hid among the bushes by day, and he

by night.

and then

At daybreak he arrived

set out for

he nearly died of thirst

want

cattle,

Seneferu,

of

on the ground that night;

slept

He was now

a boat.

for

towards

the day came he set out on his way, and overtook

man who was

/wvA/vv

and

his companions he directed

his steps towards the south, that

He

lest

him he betook him-

at that time in the Delta,

when he ran away from

Memphis.

and fearing

-^^

Qem-ur,

when he was

of water he suddenly

at Peten,

r^/^^

suffering

where

agony

heard the sounds of

and he saw a foreign man

whom

he begged

to

show him the road out of Egypt.

The stranger gave

him

for him,

water, and heated

took him to his tribe

stay with

and

him,

v^^

some time with

some milk

and then

but Sa-nehat had no desire to

therefore

When

escaped into Edom,

Sa-nehat had

the prince

of

the

been

Tenu

there

country,

REIGN OF AMENEMHAT

made

reference was one day

new king Usertsen,

Amenemhat,

to the death of

whereupon Sa-neliat began

the

[B.C. 2466

I.

song in honour of

to sing a

wdierein he ascribed all

and might and sovereignty

The prince

to him.

Tenu placed Sa-nehat among

gave him his eldest daughter

own

his

power

to wife,

of

children and

and gave him

permission to choose for himself certain territory of the

best which could be found in a neighbouring district
called

Aaa

were vines and

"^

^\

There in that country

r^^^ _^^ r^^"^^

fig trees, wine

was more abundant than

v\

'

water, honey existed in large quantities, and the olive

trees were very

numerous, wheat and

and there

plentiful,

The

flourished.

all

flour

kinds of beasts

prince of

Tenu was

for

many

years,

etc.

cattle

and he

tribe,

and wine, and roast meat, and

bread,

and game,

fowls^

and

so pleased with

Sa-nehat that he made him chief of a

daily enjoyed

were extremely

in this state of luxury he lived

and his children grew up and each be-

came the chief of a

tribe.

Meanwhile Sa-nehat's position gave him the opportunity

of

putting

down highway

robbers,

and the

made him the general of his

he marched where he liked, and did what he

prince of the country

army

liked,

hands.
of the
a day

and the power of

On

life

and death was in his

one occasion a mighty

man

of the people

country challenged Sa-nehat to combat, and

was

set

to the death.

apart for the duel, which was to be

At dawn on the appointed day

tribes flocked to see the fight,

all

the

and every man and every

THE STORY OF SA-NEHAT

B.C. 2466]

woman

feared for Sa-nehat, for tliey thoiiglit liim to be

no match

for the gigantic

Tenn man, who was armed

with a shield, a battle-axe, and a case of javelins.

When

the

Tenu man had come

forth and

hurl himself on Sa-nehat, this brave

man

was about

to

shot an arrow

from his bow which pierced the giant in the neck, and
straightway he

fell

Sa-nehat

headlong on his face;

rushed forward and plucked his spear from him, and

shouted his cry of victory from upon his back.

reward

for his

bravery the prince of the country gave

him everything which the dead man

text now makes the chief Sa-nehat

possessed.
to

position as head of a tribe with that in

himself

As

when he entered the

The

compare his

which he found

country, saying, " I was

" wandering about dying of thirst, and

" to give bread wheresoever I please.

now

I left

am

able

my country

now I am clothed with fine linen. Having

been a man who had taken to flight and who was withMy
out servants, I now possess numerous slaves.

" naked, and

"

"

" house is a fine one^

" of

me

and memorials

are established in the temple of all the gods."

In spite of
for

my territory is great,

all this,

he yearned to

however, Sa-nehat was not

visit

Egypt once more, and he seems

to quote part of a letter

Egypt asking
country, and
" his heart

which he wrote

to the

king

of

his permission to return to his native

" to see again in the

had

sati&fied,

lived/'

country in which
failing strength,

it

and

body the place where

to lay his

had been born.

body down in the

He

refers to his

and says that his arms and his legs

REIGN OF AMENEMHAT

10

and that wliat his eyes see

refuse to fulfil tlieir duties,

makes no impression on
rapidly approaching

and when he

his heart

in arms,

to beat,

will be taken to the everlasting habita-

and sent him

high honour the

letter

After referring to his

gifts,

Usert-

Osiris.

and Sa-nehat preserved in

which he received from the king.

own

exalted position, Usertsen

bids Sa-nehat to leave behind

to

Egypt and

''

" shalt be in the palace

" to

must cease

is

returned a favourable answer to his old comrade

I.

come

and that the day

become a follower of the god

tions and

sen

his brain,

when

[B.C. 2^66

I.

him

bow down

ground before Per-aa

the

and to

all his riches,

see the palace,

I.

and when thou

thyself with thy face

(literally,

the

'

Great

" House,' Pharaoh).

And thou

" the nobles thereof,

and behold^ as thou growest old

"

shalt be the chief of

day by day, and thou losest thy powers, and thou

" ponderest

upon the day of the

" at the state of happiness

" give thee,

" oil of

(i.e.,

death)

thou shalt arrive

when they

shall

on the night when they anoint thee with the

embalmment, the swathiDgs by the hand of the

" goddess Tait.^

" the

funeral,

They

shall follow thy funeral bier on

day of thy burial, with thy gilded mummy-case

head painted blue, and a canopy made of the

"

with

"

wood of the acacia

" shall

its

tree spread over thee.

draw thee along, and the mourners

shall go before

" thee uttering cries of lamentation for thee,

" seated at the door of thy

tomb

The oxen
and women

shall address prayers

^
This goddess is mentioned in the Pyramid Texts, where she
appears as the deity who provides bandages for the dead.

THE STORY OF SA-NEHAT

B.C. 2366]

" unto

II

They shall offer up the animals for

" sacrifice at the mouth of the corridor of thy tomb, and
" funeral stelae made of white stone shall be set up
among those of the royal family. Thou shalt have no
thee.

''

and no man shall

" equal,

rise to

thy rank

thou shalt

" not be buried in a sheepskin [only], for all people shall

" smite the earth

and lament over thy body as thou goest

"to the tomb."

When

Sa-nehat received this letter he was over-

come with

joy,

of his tribe

around him, he threw himself

upon

flat

stomach on the ground as a sign of his glad-

his

He

ness.

then sat down and wrote a

and homage
all

and then and there^ with the members

the

gods_,

ments, such

to

Usertsen

I.,

in

letter of

thanks

which he likened him

and uttered the most extravagant complias,

"

The sun

riseth at thy will, the waters

" of the canal water where thou pleasest, and the

" of heaven bloweth where thou wishest."

despatched, Sa-nehat

made a

which he handed over

children

and

to

to

his eldest son

him he gave

all

The

letter

great feast in Aaa, at

his

possessions

to

became the chief of his

his goods,

gardens, and his orchards.

wind

and his

cattle,

his

tribe,

and his

Accompanied by a number

of the soldiers

whom

south, and in

due time he arrived at the Egyptian

and was received by the

frontier,

Her-Heru.

The

arrival of Sa-nehat

set out for the

official

in charge,

was announced

to

who sent a boat laden with gifts for the

who had brought him to the confines of Egypt

the king,
soldiers

he had trained, he

RETURN OF SA-NEHAT TO EGYPT

12
in

Wlien

safety.

arrived

lie

the

at

received with the greatest respect by

official

and every

all,

in the presence

whelmed,

for

he

lost all

power of speech and his heart

The king then brought him

him.

queen and the royal family, some of

believe that the

man

of

was quite over-

the king, with whose kindness he

failed

he was

palace

hastened to do him honour and to perform his

At length he found himself

will.

[B.C. 2566

before the

whom

could not

them was Sa-nehat

before

when,

however, the king had assured them on this point, they

took their collars, and staves, and

sistra,

and sang a

song in honour of the king, and referred in

him

to the

The

honours which should be paid to Sa-nehat.

children then led

it

royal

into the private apartments of

the palace, in which a habitation was set apart for him,

and

food,

and raiment, and unguents, and

were provided

for

him

henceforth the aged

himself,

on to

at the expense of the king,

man had

and

and his physical well-being was assured.

The king next gave orders

built for Sa-nehat,

for a

workmen were chosen

thing was

pyramid-tomb

and the ablest and most

in course of time the building

finished,

be

skilful of

to carry out the

was

to

work

and every-

done to the satisfaction of this highly-

favoured old man.

What

know

is

not,

to scent himself,

wherewith to array himself, and a bed where-

sleep,

the royal

and

wherewith to anoint

oils

and perfumes wherewith

fine linen

scents, etc.,

but there

the end of Sa-nehat was we

no reason

funeral was carried out with

all

for

the

doubting that his

pomp and ceremony

USERTSEN

B.C. 2433]

due to a man

on

wlio,

OR SESONCHOSIS

I.

liis

13

father's side at least,

was of

Attempts have been made by Brugsch

royal parentage.

and Chabas and others

to identify the various places

mentioned in the story of Sa-nehat, but without much

success
far

that he was in some place in the Delta not

from Memphis

is

made

way

that he

his

The

desert route.
it

evident,
into

and there

is

Edom by some

no doubt

well-known

narrative bears upon every part of

the stamp of truth, for had the tale been one of pure

romance^ numbers of miraculous events and incidents

would have been introduced

statement in

one of

2-

as

it

stands, there

which may not be readily admitted

it

is

no

to

be

fact.

i Ul "^^fi

T ""1

Ra-khepee-

KA, son of the Sun, Usertsen, ^eaoyx^ocn^.

UsERTSEN

I.,

the

Sesonchosis

of

Manetho, was the son of Amenemhat

and as has been already

rh

associated

kingdom
reign

name

of Usertsen

I.

he was

with him in the rule of the

in

the twentieth

year of his

Manetho says that he

forty-six years,

AWKH-MESTtJ,
the Horus

said,

reigned

and as we know that he

undertook an expedition to the south in

the forty-third year of his reign^

statement

noted

is

I.,

probably correct.

number
1

of

Prof.

Wiedemann has

monuments dated

Aegyptische GescMchte,

this

p. 241.

in the various

WORKS OF USERTSEN

14

AT ANNU

I.

[B.C. 2533

years of his reign up to the forty-third, and these prove

that his reign was one of great activity.

In the third year of his reign Usertsen re-built, or

perhaps re-founded, the famous Temple of the Sun at

Annu, the On of the Hebrews, and the Heliopolis of

the Greeks.

This shrine had been a very famous one

for centuries,

but

it

seems that during the prolonged

struggle between the princes of Thebes and the kings

of Herakleopolis the whole place

into decay,

fell

worship of the Sun-god declined greatly.

decided to restore the "

House

and he

like its former greatness,

and

set out

edifice,

and

Sun

of the

with a cord the space

Usertsen

" to

laid the
for,

and the
I.

something-

foundation

apparently, a

new

which he dedicated to Horus-Ka, the rising sun,

to

Temu, the god of the setting sun, who had

become incarnate

in the

Mnevis

in laying the foundations

the day,

who

instructions,

bull.

He

was assisted

by the " Chief Keader

"

of

read from a roll of papyrus the necessary

and the ceremony took place in the presence

of all the nobles and counsellors of Pharaoh.^

Temple of the Sun, the

priests

of

Of

this

which were

for

centuries renowned for their learning, everything has

disappeared except

which Usertsen

I.

one
set

of the

two granite obelisks

up in front of

it

the city of

Heliopolis was destroyed before the Christian era, but

the temple was standing, and was in tolerably good

1

This account

is

found

on a leather

roll,

which was

first

translated and published by Stern in Aegyi^tisclie Zeitschrift, 1874,

p. 85 ff.

OBELISKS OF USERTSEN

B.C. 2433]

condition

when Strabo

15

I.

Tlie pyramidia

visited Egypt.

of both obelisks were provided with cases of copper, and,

Abd

according to

al-Latif,^ these

he saw them, about

wilfully

a.d.

1200

were

still

when

in situ

one of the obelisks was

thrown down by the Muhammadans before the

close of the

The remaining

Xlllth century.

sixty-six feet high,

obelisk

is

and the only

legible line of inscrip-

names and

Usertsen

tions left records the

titles of

I.,

and

says that he set up the obelisk at a commemoration of

thirty-years'

Usertsen

I. set

At Begig

festival.

up a remarkable granite

Fayyum

obelisk, about

which was rounded, and

forty- six feet high, the top of

from the marks which appear upon

to

the

in

it

the obelisk seems

have been provided with a pointed metal cap

it is

now broken into two pieces and lies on the ground.

The inscriptions are not strictly vertical, strange to say,
and they contain nothing but the names and
the king, and the names of the gods

Wall

of the South

titles of

Menthu and Ptah

the scenes represent Usertsen

I.

in the act of adoriug certain gods.

The king

carried on great architectural works in the

city of Tanis in the Delta,

as well as in

seem

to

many

other

and

at

cities.

Abydos, and Karnak,

The works

at

Abydos

have been under the direction of the high

Menthu-hetep, who, in his

Abydos,^

tells

stele

official

which was found

at

us that he was royal architect and general

De

The obelisk

See Mariette, Abydos, torn.

Sacy's translation, p. 181.

is

figured in Lepsius, Denlcmdler,

ii.

plate 23.

ii.

plate 119.

l6

ARCHITECTURAL WORKS OF USERTSEN

surveyor of

that

district,

tlie

lie

[B.C. 2433

I.

succoured

tlie

needy,

and protected the poor, and that he was a man both of

wisdom and

peace.

He

crushed the enemies of the king

in Egypt, he

subdued the

pacified those

who dwelt

made

Aamu and

the Heru-sha, he

in the Eastern Desert,

and he

the people of the south to pay tax and tribute.

At

the end of the inscription he says that he was the overseer

of

works

the Temple of Abydos, tha*t he built the

in

house of the god

command

Osiris,

and that he dug a well by the

of the majesty of the god Horus.

Brugsch has pointed

which Strabo

refers

out^ is

This, as

no doubt the fountain to

Memnonium,

in his account of the

wherein he says that the bottom of the well was reached

by a vaulted passage which was

roofed

monolithic stones, and was spacious

The buildings

of the

erected for the king

in the

and well

of Abydos,

built.

which were

by Menthu-hetep, were restored

Xlllth Dynasty by a governor of the Temple of

Abydos
official

Temple

over with

called Ameni-seneb,

we

and in the

stele of

this

are told that he cleaned the temple, both

inside and outside, that he cleared the court-yards, and

renewed the decorations of the building, and painted

the inscriptions, and renewed everything which Usertsen
I.

had

built."

At Karnak Usertsen

I.

continued the

work which his father had begun, and remains of

buildings to which he contributed are found at several

-^

Kat

KprjUT] if fiddei Keiixefrj

Brugsch, Egypt,

vol.

i.

xvii. 42.

142.

HIS PYRAMID AT LISHT

B.C. 2533]

places between Tliebes

stele

and the First Cataract.

which Champollion discovered

names

records the

of a

number

of

^^^

Nubian

and Shaat
rv-^-^

J^T^T

tribes that

I., e.g.,

*^

Khasaa

The

Wadi Haifa

at

were reduced to subjection by Usertsen

I

I7

r^^^

Shemik

Kas

etc.,

and

the important inscription in the tomb of Amen-em-hat

Ameni

at

Beni Hasan gives us a good account of the

expedition which the king sent to

The quarries

third year of his reign.

Hammamat
I.,

re-opened, and

Wadi

Sinaitic

Peninsula.

at

Sarbiit al-

Among

other

king built a pyramid tomb for himself, and

the remains of
of the

of the

Wadi Maghara were

new ones were worked

the

in

edifices the

in the forty-

were worked during the reign of Usertsen

and the old turquoise mines at

Khadim

Nubia

it

Pyramids

are to be

founddn the most southerly

at Lisht, about

thirty miles to the

south of Cairo; in the forty-second year of his reign

Usertsen

I.

associated his son

Amenemhat with him

in

the rule of the kingdom.

One

of the

Usertsen

I.

most important events in the reign of

was, undoubtedly, the expedition to Nubia,

and, as the inscription of

Ameni

referred to above gives

a good idea of the historical inscription of the period, a

rendering of the most interesting passages in

VOL.

III.

See Champollion, Monuments,

it is

p. 693.

given

EXPEDITIONS OF USERTSEN

l8

The

here.^

inscription is dated in

[B.C. 2433

I.

forty-third year

tlie

of the kin^-'s reign, which equals the twenty-fifth year

of the

He
"

Nome

says, "

of the

When my

in

which Ameni was governor.

lord sailed

np the

river to over-

throw his enemies in the foreign countries, I followed

" after

him

" chancellor,

and I was the commander-in-chief of the

my

" place of

capacity of a hd prince and royal

in the

Nome

" soldiers of the

"

Oryx

of the Oryx, and I took the

aged father conformably to the favour

and love of the king in his royal house and palace.

" I

marched through Nubia and

sailed southwards,

" I

removed the boundary

Egypt] further to the

I brought

''

south.

"

was held

"

and

[of

back the tribute of

Nubia; I followed his Majesty

was exceedingly

" loss whatsoever

and I

and he overthrew his foes in

" the accursed country of

" back, and I

lord,

His Majesty rose up

in the highest favour.

set out in peace,

my

and

among my

skilful,

and there was no

soldiers.

I sailed

up the

"river [again] to bring back gold for the majesty of

"the

South and the North, Usertsen

kino' of the

" the everliving.

"the

eldest son

"health
" of

my

!).

of the

I sailed

man was wanting

"

was appointed

Ameni

(life^

prince,

strength,

up with four hundred picked men

I brought back the gold which I

to bring,

" house of the king,

The

king,

Jul

army, and I came back in peace, and not a

"

up with the erpd

I sailed

I.,

and I was praised

for it in the

and the son of the king praised

latest edition of tlie text,

in Newberry's Beni Hasan,

vol.

with a translation, will be found

plate 7

ff.

TO NUBIA AND THE SUDAN

B.C. 2433]

"

God

IQ

[Again] I sailed up the river to bring

for me.

"back marvellons things

to

the

city

of Coptos,

in

"

company with the prince and governor Usertsen (life,

"strength, health!).
I sailed up with six hundred
" men, among whom were the bravest men of the Nome

" of the Oryx.

"good
"

I returned in peace with

my army

health, having performed all that I

commanded

From

in

had been

to do."

the above extracts

it is

clear that the

Egyptians

never attempted in the Xllth Dynasty to occupy the

country of Kash,

i.e..

Nubia, as far south as the Fourth

Cataract, and that the companies of soldiers which were

sent with the officials on such expeditions were only

intended to form a guard to protect whatsoever they

might succeed in squeezing out of the Nubians as they

were bringing their spoil down the river. Comparatively
small bodies of men, such as those which

Ameni took

with him into the country, would be no match for any

stubborn resistance which the Nubians might make,

and whatever Ameni may say about the matter,

clear

that

expeditions

his

caravans, which

made

their

were nothing but armed

way south from time

for purely trading purposes.

it is

to time

There must have been

some appointed place where the merchants from the

south could meet the Egyptians, and where the exchange
of commodities

was

effected, just as in recent times the

Dar Fur and Kordofan merchants brought

to

their wares

Berber, where the merchants for the north awaited

them, and closed their bargains with them.

REIGN OF AMENEMHAT

20

Mr Q^vvi ^rqk-^i R^

3.

KAU, son of the Sun, Amenemhat,

Amenemhat

^ Aixi.iavkyLt]'^.

was

II.

his father in the

rule

associated
of the

two years before he became

of Egypt, and he

mann has noted

[M

of his reign

the

name

Amenemhatll.

up

monarch

sole

by Manetho

number

Wiede-

of stelae and

in various years

to the twenty-eighth,

inscription

to

and

published by Lepsius

proves that he reigned thirty-five years

The

at least.

monuments dated

other

Heken-em-Maat,
the.Horus

said

is

with

kino'dom

have reigned thirty-eight years

^
of

[B.C. 2433

II.

Amenemhat

chief event in the reign of

was the working

of the

Wadi Maghara^ and

Sarbut al-Khadim

old

mines in the

turquoise

the opening of the

new ones

at

at this last-named place a strong

settlement of Egyptians existed at this time, and a

temple to the goddess Hathor was either built for the

first

made
reign,

to

work the
in

for

<S)^^^^^^5

the

Op.

Ausivalil,

cit., p.

Amenemhat

text

on

^^ ^^ British

deceased says, "

Some attempt was certainly

gold mines in Nubia during this

time or refounded.

When

the

stele

Museum^

of

Hathor-sa,

(No. 5696), the

was a young man I made

(or,

246.

The 35th year of the reign

10, No. 4.
was the 3rd year of the co-regency of Usertsen

pi.
II.

See Birch in Aeg. Zeitschrift, 1874,

p.

Ill

ff.

of
II.

THE OFFICIAL HATHOR-SA

B.C. 2400]

" worked) a mine,

and I made

tlie

21

great ones to

wash

"gold, and I brought back [to Egypt] loads thereof.

"I penetrated

.as

far as Ta-kenset,

" land of the Negroes,

" to subjection

"two
"

Ha,

"thereof,

it

by means of fear of the lord of the

the land of

^^\ r^^^ andl went round about the lakes (?)

,

and passed through the regions thereof."

Brugsch thought that the country here referred

south of the Second Cataract, and he

The

the

came there and reduced

I journeyed, moreover, to

lands.
if

and

official

is

to

was

probably right.

Hathor-sa seems to have been employed in

the capacity of governor of the south, for he tells us

that he was always watching the frontier, and keeping

an eye upon his

favourite with
to complete

lord's possessions

Amenemhat

he was a great

who commissioned him

II.,

his partly finished, or, perhaps wrecked,

pyramid-tomb, called " Kherp,"

()

an incredibly short space of time.

A, which he

did in

This statement

is

based on the assumption that the king Amenu,^ whose

pyramid

mentioned on the

stele, is to

be identiiied

Amenemhat II. Brugsch thought that Amenu was

king who reigned during the period which preceded

with
a

is

the Xllth Dynasty, but this

great inscription in the

tomb

Beni Hasan, the deceased

is

very unlikely.

of prince

tells

/>MMAA

Khnemu-hetep

us that

in the nineteenth year of his reign

In the

Amenemhat

made him

at

II.

a governor

KHNEMU-HETEP OF MENAT-KHUFU

22

and that under the rule of

of the city of Menat-Ktiufa,

this distinguished official the city prospered

Khnemu-hetep spared no pains

rich.

his father's

memory,

and appointed a

for

[B.C. 2500

in

commemorating

he established a

priest of the ka,

and waxed

''

or

'^'

ka-chapel,"

double," and

He

endowed him with lands and servants.

richly

arranged that a regular supply of offerings should be

made

at stated times

for their

throughout the year, and provided

ferred great favours not only

his

eldest son

hetep

The king

maintenance in perpetuity.

Nekht and

the former he

made

upon him, but

his

also

second son

con-

upon

Khnemu-

a governor of the

Nome

of

the Jackal^ and the latter was taken into high favour

by his Majesty.

The
fine

prince

hall,

and before

of

Menat-Khufu

wherein

built a

columns

were

and

tomb with a
inscriptions,

he made a pool of water, in which

it

flowers for the service of the

tomb were

to be

grown

the architect or clerk of the works of the tomb was

the overseer of the seal

the reign of

Tehuti-nekht,

who was

called Baqet.^

In

Amenemhat flourished the high official

who held the highest civil, military, and

religious appointments

known, and whose tomb at Al-

Bersheh has supplied considerable information about

the social condition of Egypt at the period in which he
lived.

The

principal scene of interest in his

tomb

is

that in which the hauling of a colossal statue from the

quarries of

Het-nub
^

to the

See Newberry,

house of Tehuti-hetep

ojo. cit.,

p. 66.

is

COLOSSAL STATUE OF TEHUTI-HETEP

B.C. 2500]

The

represented.

cubits

thirteen

sixty tons

it

statue was a seated one, and

23

was

must have weighed about

high, and

was placed on a wooden sledge

to

which

was lashed by ropes that were made taut by means

it

of short sticks twisted in them, and breakage of the

sharp edges of the statue was prevented by the insertion

of pieces

under the ropes.

of leather

It

was

dragged over a road, specially prepared for this purpose,

by about one hundred and sixty-eight men, who hauled

at four ropes, forty-two

men on each

rope,^

and

it

seems

must have been transported some distance down

the river by raft.
This scene is of peculiar interest,
as if

it

because

it

explains the

method by which such huge

masses of stone were transported from the quarries, and

proves that the mechanical means employed for the

purpose were extremely simple.

year of the reign of

In the twenty-eighth

Amenemhat

stele that the erjpd lid prince

we learn from a

II.,

Khent-khat-ur, a royal

chancellor and overseer of the palace, returned in good

health with his soldiers from Punt, and anchored his

vessels
^

in

safety

Sauu;"

in

See Lepsius, Denkmdler,

Chabas, Melanges,

torn,

iii.,

ii.

p.

this

fact

shows that

134a, and for the inscription see

2,

and Newberry, El

Berslieli,

i.

p. 18.

A/^WV\

r\

AAAAAA

Q
I

C"-^"^

Antiquities at Alnwick Castle,

see Birch, Catalogue of Egyptian

London, 1880,

p. 268.

REIGN OF USERTSEN

24

[B.C. 2366

II.

commercial intercourse was maintained between Punt

and Egypt during the reign of Amenemhat

no mention

is

made

of iigliting

it

may

and as

II.,

be assumed that

there was peace between the two countries.

thirty-second

year

his

of

reign

associated his son Usertsen II. with

Amenemhat
him

Manetho

(Cory, op.

From

eunuchs.

cit.,

p. 110),

II.

in the rule of

the kingdom, and he died a few years later

to

In the

according

he was slain by his

the facts given above

it is

clear that

there were no great wars undertaken by the Egyptians

in the time of this king,

eventful

and that his reign was as un-

any of the kings of the Xllth

as that of

Dynasty.

4.

4}^

il

:]

KHEPER, son of the Sun, Usertsen,

Usertsen
is

^'

Semu-taui,
the Horus name
of Usertsen II.

for

II.,

Ea-kha-

^eacoarpi^;.

the Sesostris of Manetho,

by this writer to have reigned

said

forty-eight

years.

"

He

conquered

"all Asia in nine years, and Europe as

"far

as

Thrace,

everywhere

erecting

"monuments of the conquest of those

"nations; among the people who had
" acted bravely he set up cippi of a
" phallic nature,
but among the de" generate, female

emblems of a similar

" description engraved

"the Egyptians he

is

upon

pillars.

supposed to be the

first

By
after

STELE OF KHNEMU-HETEP

B.C. 2366]

Osiris" (Cory, op.

p. 110).

also called himself ''the

and he

of

the

gods,''

rrx
Usertsen

II.

Horus

111^^^.
(PJnvnl

On

we

is

See Birch,

the

Horus

dated in the

see that the standard on

1

of gold, the
stele

of

receiving the gift of "life" from the god

the Eastern Desert,

Khnemu-hetep,! which
reign,

Usertsen adopted the

guide of the two lands " as his Horus name,

title of "

repose

cit.,

25

o^:*.

cit., p.

first

Sept, the lord of

year of his

which this name

269.

is

SA-RENPUT, PRINCE OF ASWAN

26
inscribed

is

of the ka

human hands and

provided witli the

one hand holds a

[B.C. 2366

staff,

which

is

arras

surmounted

by a figure of the head of the king, and the other the

The king is represented standing
feather of Maat.

Horus

before

who
lips

is

Lord

Sept, the

bestowing "life^^ upon him by touching his

with the emblem of

stele it is
first

of the Eastern Desert,

In connection with this

life.

important to note the statement that in the

year of the king^s reign

stablished in Ta-Neter,

i.e.,

monuments were

his

the country which lay on

each side of the Red Sea and extended to the south as

far as Somaliland.

First

The works

on during the reign of

Cataract were carried

Usertsen

and the attacks made by the

II.,

were successfully repulsed

prince

in the quarries of the

Nubians

by the zealous erpd

Menthu-hetep,

called

local

whose

stele

exists

lid

at

Aswan.^

In this reign flourished also the famous general,

or governor of

Sa-renput,"cellor,

Aswan and

who was an

and

an

only

the First Cataract, called

''erpd
friend,

lid

prince,

and chan-

and overseer of the

"priests of Satet, the lady of Elephantine, the general" in-chief of

Ta-kens, and overseer of the desert lands

Sa-renput was a

member

of a great

;^^

and noble family,

the heads of which seem to have been governors of the

"gate of the South

^

^^

from the earliest days of the

See Lepsius, Denkmdler, ii. 123cL

See my account of tlie clearing of his tomb in Froc. Soc. Bill.

ArcTi., 1887, p.

30

ff.

KHNEMU-HETEP

B.C. 2366]

Dynasty.

Xlltli

It

AT BENI HASAN

II.

not clear

is

how

far south the

land of Ta-kens extended in those days, but

as if

it

might well reach nearly as

27

seems

it

far as the

modern

Korosko, and as we hear of no war being undertaken

we may assume

against the Nubians at this period,

that Sa-renput and his forefathers were able governors^

who made

the Nubians to keep the peace.

Enamelled gold plaque with the names

the king's

Horus

prenomen

Q^

is

and on each

side is the

wearing the crowns of the South and North. Behind each hawk
a serpent, from the neck of which hangs the symbol of "life."

of gold,
is

One

of the

most interesting of the events which

happened in the days of Usertsen

From Dahshur. Above

of Usertsen II.

his title

II. is depicted

north wall of the tomb of Khnemu-hetep

Hasan.

Here we

see the deceased

in the desert with

scribe

whose duty

made.

Close by

on the

II., at

Beni

and his sons hunting

bows and arrows, accompanied by a

it

was

to keep an account of the bag-

we have

a colossal figure of

Khnemu-

THIRTY-SEVEN AAMU VISIT EGYPT

28

who
Before him

hetep,

the

first

engaged in inspecting his

is

are four rows of

row

[B.C. 2366

is

human
who

etc.

beings, and of these

the most important, for

procession of foreign peoples

cattle,

it illustrates

visited

him

in the

capacity of governor of the town of Menat-Khufu, and

as prince of the

Nome

consists of thirty-seven

people or tribe.
a royal scribe,

which

is

They

members

of

by Nefer-hetep,

are introduced

who holds

inscribed, "

The procession
the Aamu, a Semitic

of the Oryx.

in his

Year

six,

hand

a papyrus roll on

under the Majesty of the

" Horus, the guide of the world, the king of the South

"and North, Ra-kha-kheper (i.e., Usertsen II.).

" of the Aamu, brought by the son of the hci
" Khnemu-hetep, on account of the eye-paint,
"

Shu

list

of thirty-seven [persons].'^

scribe stands the official Khati,

Aamu

chiefs or desert

shekh

prince

Aamu

of

Behind the

and behind him the

these are followed by the

other members of the foreign tribe.

Aamu

List

The men

of the

wear beards, and carry bows and arrows, and

both men and women are dressed in garments of many

colours.

The home

of these

members

of the

Aamu was

probably situated to the east of Egypt, and

may have

extended as far north as Palestine, but wheresoever

they came from they were

certainly

men

of

some

own country. Their costume shows

that they were not common inhabitants of the desert,

position in their

and unless their

aj)parel

was ceremonial

it

indicate that the country from which they

visited

by cold nights and days.

seems to

came was

In this scene some

PYRAMID OF USERTSEN

30

[B.C. 2366

II.

liave identified a representation of the arrival of Jacob's

sons in Egypt to bny corn, but there

support of this theory;

Aamu
are

is

no evidence in

have identified the

others

The company here depicted

probably merchants, who brought eye-paint, mestchwith the Hyksos.

emet,

their

own

^v\

"

spices,

and the

like

from

country, and sold their wares to the rich

Egypt.

officials of

Usertsen II. built for his tomb the Pyramid of

W.

which was opened by Mr.

Illahun,

Eraser,

and

satisfactorily identified as the last resting-place of the

The

king.

peculiar,

and unlike any other. i

of the living rock

"

up

construction

external

composed

"which has been dressed

into form

pyramid

lower part, and of bricks

mud

brick.

spent
side,

in

which was

erected

is

built with a

walls are of stone in the

above.

The whole

of the

the pyramid bulk between the walls

The opening

of the

with considerable trouble,

is

of

pyramid was attended

and several months were

trying to find the entrance.

On

the south

however, a shaft was at length found, and when

Mr. Eraser had cleared

forty feet, he found a

led

and upon this

core,

The

framing of cross walls.

filling in of

is

It is partly

to a height of forty feet,"

a portion of the

pyramid

of the

up

out to a depth of about

doorway on the north

pyramid

to the

it

the

mouth

Petrie, Illahun, 1889-90, p.

which

of the shaft

wide and sloping, and was, moreover,

1

side,

1.

much

was

broken.

THE PYRAMID OF ILLAH^N

B.C. 2366]

From measurements made

appears that

it

conld not have been the main one, and that

used by the workmen to pass

" pyramid

main

while the

3I
sliaft

tliis
it

was only

and out of the

in

was blocked with

shaft

"lowering the stonework;" the doorway at the bottom

of

Mr. Fraser's shaft

stone

sarcophagus

of

too narrow to have allowed the

the

king to be taken to

on the pyramid

side, is a well

to be full of very salt water

But

unknown.

made

its

Quite near to the bottom of the known

chamber.
shaft,

is

it is

its

which was found

use and object are

conjectured that

it

may have been

either to " catch any rain water running

down

" the shaft above, like the safety- wells in the tombs of
" the kings

"

or

may have been

it

may lead to some

or

it

The passage
upward, and about half way

other passages below."

into the

pyramid slopes

along

is

it

a water well

a chamber which

pieces of broken stone.

almost

is

At the end

filled

with

of the passage is a

chamber hewn out of the living rock and lined with

slabs of limestone,

and from this a short passage leads

to the granite-lined

phagus
been

cut,

chamber wherein stands the

sarco-

from the sarcophagus chamber a passage has

which, by following a series of almost right-

angled turns, leads back to the short passage which

joins the

chamber

at the

end of the entrance passage

with the granite-lined sarcophagus chamber.

is

unknown^ unless

it

was intended

Its object

to lead astray those

who sought to force a way into the tomb. The sarcophagus is made of red granite, and is provided with a

USERTSEN

32

MANETHO'S SESOSTRIS

projects outwards

lip, wliicli

fully

II.,

measures 8

ft.

work,

of

piece

fine

11 in.

it is

said to be a wonder-

speaking

and,

ft.

in.

sarcophagus was the white limestone

are inscribed the

names and

upon which

altar,

Usertsen

titles of

Tattu, and to Anubis upon his

ronglily,

Before the

ft.

addressed to

invocatory inscriptions

[B.C. 2366

II.,

and

lord

Osiris,

of

sepulchral offer-

hill, for

At no great distance from

the pyramid of the king stood the town Het-HetepUsertsen, wherein lived the workmen who built the
ings of cakes and

ale, etc.

pyramid; the modern name of the

number

from

was

of interesting objects

ruins

the

here.^

called Nefert,

found

have been recovered

wife

Usertsen

of

II.

and a statue of her was

whereon many of her

Tanis,^

at

The

Kahim, and

site is

titles

are

inscribed.
It

has already been pointed out that Usertsen

called " Sesostris "

that

many

the Great,
sion of

by Manetho, but

ancient writers apply this

i.e.,

Eameses

II.,

must be noted

it

name

son of Seti

Manetho by Eusebius,

II. is

to

Eameses

In the ver-

I.

Sesostris is said to have

have been "four cubits, three palms, and two fingers in

height

" (Cory,

mann has

op.

cit.,

said, difficult

p. Ill),

and

is,

as

Wiede-

not to think that this statement

was borrowed from Herodotus, who,

Sesostris,

it

king of Egypt, says

(ii.

in

105)

speaking of

"

There are

See Petrie, Illahun, Kahun, and Gurol, and KaJiun, Guroh, and
Hawara, London, 1890, 1891.
1

See Brugsch, Aeg.

Zeitschrift, 1871, p. 125.

VOYAGES OF SESOSTRIS

B.C. 2333]

33

" also in Ionia two images of this king, carved on rocks,

" one on tlie

way from

"from Sardis

Epliesia to Phocaea,

Smyrna.

to

" carved, four cubits

"

Usertsen
into

is

applicable

made

ever

of
to

the

any

into

less

still

description

As

him that

far as

partly

is

we know

11.

statement
says

Sesostris

expeditions

Europe, and the general

exploits

Eameses

This writer

him.
told

the

it

warlike

Sesostris

of

than

made
(ii.

II.

was the

II.

In

seems to have

by Herodotus

first

about

the

priests

who,

setting

that

102)

more

is

Usertsen

to

one particular, however, Usertsen

justified

for

no monumental evidence to show that

II.

Syria,

a bow, and the

left

Egyptian and partly Ethiopian."

now, there

is

and a half high, holding a spear

equipment in unison,

of his

other

man

In both places a

"in his right hand, and in his

"rest

tlie

out in ships of war from the Arabian Gulf, subdued

those nations that dwelt by the

Ked

Sea, and of these

words we may perhaps see a confirmation in the tablet

of the official
first

Khnemu-hetep, who says that in the

year of his reign, Usertsen II. set up

of himself in the

on both sides of

monuments

"

Land of god," i.e., the country

the Ked Sea and as far south as

Somaliland.

5.

MCo^Wl

V CllX^]

^-'^^-

KAU, son of the Sun, Useetsen^ Aax^dp?]^.

VOL.

III.

USERTEN

34

REPAIRS

III.

UsERTSEN

III.

father in the

[B.C. 2333

was associated with his

rule

kingdom

of the

some years before he became

sole

for

king of

Egypt, and the King List of Manetho

in error

when

assigns

it

to his reign a

The monu-

length of eight years only.

show

ments
Neter-khepeeu,
the Horus liame

that,

ordinary royal

of Usertsen III.

addition

in

"Horus

of gold "

god

the

"

(or,

rock

the

to

beetle, the

Khepera,

of "divine

and

becomings),

he added the

the

to

he adopted as his

titles,

Horus name the epithet

transformations

is

of

title

emblem

inscription

of
at

f^n^rtf^

Aswan, dated

in the tenth year of his reign, indicates

that work went on in the quarries there, and another

the

in

Wadi Hammamat,

mentions that the

year,

dated

in

the

fourteenth

king sent there for stone

to use in the building of the temple at Herakleopolis,

which he dedicated

^'^^^^^.^^.
First Cataract
receiving

give

him

life

"

to the great

On

the

the king

is

god of the

Island

of

city Her-shef,

Sahel in the

represented in the act of

from the goddess Anqet, who promises to

life,

stability,

and health,

like the sun, for

ever."

important

very

inscription,

which

was

dis-

covered by the late Mr. E. C. Wilbour on the same

island,
1

says

that

in

the

eighth

year of

Usertsen

See the inscriptions of the reign of this king in Lepsius,

Denhmdler,

ii.

pi. 136.

B.C. 2333]

Lis

III.,

THE CANAL

majesty ordered

k^^, and
"are
I

tlie

ft.

tliat lie

gave to

QUUU^

[^

long, 34

in.

When

deep.

canal to be

paths of Usertsen

f^i fo

250

THE FIRST CATARACT

IN

this

ft.

in.

it

the

made anew,

name

"

^;

Good
ever,"

living] for

[III.,

that

Thothmes

Nubia

to

Two

wide, and 25

10

in.

sailed

up

ft.

had been done, the king

reign,

to

other inscriptions close at

I.

was

canal

this

the river to overthrow the abominable country of

(Nubia).

35

hand

Kash

tell

us

passed through this canal on the way

punish the natives in the third year of his

and that Thothmes

III., in

his reign, caused this

same canal

had become blocked

he gave

"

Open the good path

ever,^^ and made a law

of

the

fiftieth

year of

to be reopened after it
it

new name,

Thothmes (HI.)

i.e.,

living for

to the effect that the

boatmen

of Elephantine were to clean out this canal every year.^

seems that this canal must have been in existence

It

during the Vlth Dynasty, and that

up from time

to

time, for

work which he performed

Una

it

is

it

became stopped

undoubtedly of some

in connection with

boasts in his inscription, to which

referred (see Vol. II. p. 103).

No

it

that

we have already

trace of this canal

has been found in recent days, nor of the works which

the high

official

Ameni

declares that he performed in

connection with the quay of Elephantine,

III.
1

was on his way

when Usertsen

into Nubia.

For the texts see Recueil cle Travaux, torn.

See Bircli, Aegy])tisclie Zeitschrift, 1875, p.

xiii.

50.

pp. 202, 203.

THE NUBIAN FRONTIER OF EGYPT

36

[B.C. 2333

This expedition must have been very successful,

king pressed as far south as the foot of the

for the

Second Cataract, Avhere a boundary stone or land-

mark was
made on a

set.

stele

Allusion to

this

whereon

is

it

boundary stone
said,

" This

is

is

the

"frontier of the south which was fixed in the eighth

Enamelled gold plaque with the prenomen of Usertsen III,,

S" LJ LI LJ
From Dahshur. In the upper part is the vulture-goddess holding the symbol of
in each claw. The king, in the form of two hawk-headed sphinxes,
eternity,

with horns, uraei,

whilst he tramples

and plumes, is seen slaughtering his fair-skinned foes,

upon the Nubians with his feet. The roof of the shrine is
supported by pillars with lotus capitals.

" year of Usertsen III.^

It

who

every negro

prohibited

liveth for ever and ever."

from passing

that

spot,

whether by sailing down the river or marching along

its

banks, as well

as

the passage

See Lepsius,

oj).

cit., ii. pi.

of all

136.

oxen^ and

CONQUEST OF NUBIA BY USERTSEN

B.C. 2333]

and

slieep,

goats,

engaged in the

come

to

and

and such as had need to

traffic in cattle,

No

negroes in

it

boat

of barter

and of business

any kind whatsoever with

of

was allowed

to pass that

boundary stone.

In the sixteenth year of his reign Usertsen

Nubians

reduxjed the country of the

most pitiable

to a

he says, " Year 16, the third month of the season

His Majesty fixed the boundary of the South

"Pert.

"at Heh.
"

III.

boundary stone already referred

condition, and, on the

to,

37

such as were

asses^ except all

Egypt for the purposes

generally.

III.

my

fathers.

made my boundary, I advanced [beyond]

I added much thereunto, and I passed

" done.

am a king, and what is said [by me] is

What my heart conceived my hand brought to

" pass.

[I

"the decree.

am] a crocodile to

and

seize,

"mercilessly, and [I] never relinquish

[I]

[my

beat

prey].

down
The

" words which are in his heart are applauded by the

"impotent who rely upon mercy [being shown

"but he showeth none

"him
" to

to the

that cometli against

him that

" according to

"inaction

is

silent

him

and he

after

" unto the heart of the

enemy

"retreateth.

The man who

"territory

a coward.

down

prostrate at the

attacketh

he

is

returneth
in a matter.

silent

answer

Now

an attack giveth strength

;

" [counter] attack, for vile is he

"

He

in attack;

what hath happened

(or, silence)

is

enemy.

to them],

is

vigorous must be the

who turneth back and

beaten upon his own

Therefore the negro falleth

word which

"mouth, and behold, a word

falleth

in answer

from the

maketh him

to

CONQUEST OF NUBIA BY USERTSEN

38

turn back, and

if lie

bis attacker]

[to

Tbey

attack.

and

be attacked be giveth bis back

even after be batb gone fortb to

are not

men

I the Majesty have looked

say]

is

not a word

women, I carried

my

father, I

I seized

marched

off their folk, I

and bnrnt their corn.

for hearts.

npon tbem, and [what I

falsehood].

[of

wells, I slew their cattle,

of

of bokbiess, but are poor

having notbing but buttocks

feeble,

[B.C. 2333

III.

to

their

their

and I destroyed their crops

By my own

swear that what I

life,

am

and by that

saying

is

the

my mouth cannot
Whosoever among my sons shall prebe gainsaid.
serve this boundary which my Majesty hath made
shall be [called] my son and the son who is begotten
truth,

and what cometb forth from

by me, and the son who avengeth bis father and

preserveth the boundary which he hath set

who relaxeth

my

be [called]
behold,

and doeth not battle

it,

my

son, nor one

it,

but be

shall not

And

begotten of me.

Majesty hath caused a statue of

Majesty to be

set

up on

it."

my

this boundary, not only with

the desire that ye should worship

do battle for

for

it,

The boundary

but that ye should

stone,

upon which

is

inscribed the text rendered into English above, as well

as that containing the decree against the passage of the

negroes of Nubia, was set up near the famous forts at

Semneh and Kummeh which were

1

The text

is

in

Lepsius,

DenTcmdlir,

ii.

built

pi.

by Usertsen

136;

German

found in Brugsch, Geschiclite, p 776, and an

English version in Egypt under the Pharaohs, vol. ii. p. 324.

rendering of

it

will be

--li^iT^iJ^iT; n

IN ;;;n

^^U-t^YiiV^iktt\S\~n\A

jnjsf'

AmrA^z\ii,urmit':\^i'Cl
WTA": rAY-f^:z;rj[i.^^mze,
Zlzm7A ^.i^TAil ^"^l-A

'A^A^^A't^-^TAZA'^^'l
<\%'rrxn^^^^\\-^'z^y^,^.

^Z.l-WMAtmUA'Zil'PA
^''All^\^Hl\rA^^mW

<.

Am.:j':^At^iL\t'J^'BA^K Z

t^AL 4^-^T^<L

4i V^ 4.t!:At''''l^

^-

[i-'Z4\^mB^:^m-'\\i^i^^.

h'^^ZiB7l'%ZT\^TA::fT
stele,

dated in the 16th year of the reign of Usertsen III., recording the victory
of this king over the Nubians,

THE FORTS OF USERTSEN

40

III. about forty miles to tlie soutli of tlie

Wadi

The

Haifa.

fort of

Kummeh

and that of

Semneli

[B.C. 2333

III.

modern town

on the west bank,

is

on the east bank of the Nile

they formed two of a series of

modern town
and

Kummeh

which

north as Buhen,

far

as

Wadi

of

The

Haifa.

Second

faced

forts of

which

fortified outposts

Usertsen III. established at and along the

Cataract

of

the

Semneh

occupied positions of extreme strategical

commanded

importance, for they

a magnificent outlook

both north and south, and beyond the river banks, as

well as
position

up and down the

The stronger

river itself.

Kummeh, where

was that of

the

natural

strength of the place rendered a well-built fort almost

Semneh, which

impregnable.

At

hieroglyphic

texts

- J^
^

"

/www [TJ
III.

it

in

the

Semennu - kherp - Kha - kau - Ka,"

4 1^1,
[^
V.Q_J=4_J'

Usertsen

of a

consisted

which measured about 30

feet

by 12

single

feet.

built

III.

was restored by Thothmes

a temple which

Amenophis

"

called

is

At

III.

and

chamber,

Kummeh

are the ruins of a larger temple which, however, dates

from the XYIIIth Dynasty.

We

knowing what was the strength

the king kept at Semneli and

have been very

have no means of

of the garrison

Kummeh, but

great, for the stream

it

which

need not

narrows consider-

ably at this spot, and a comparatively small number of

determined

men

could easily prevent the boats of the

negroes from forcing a passage through any of the

channels between the

The wars

forts.

carried on

by Usertsen

III.

against the

AT SEMNEH AND

B.C. 2333]

KUMMEH

41

Nubians did not prevent

from building

this king

a temple in

god

tbe

lionour

Her-sbef

of
of

Herakleopolis,

and,

cording

Manetlio

to

ac-

AW*A/V

(Cory,

op,

cit.,

p.

112),

IT^l
^

" he built the Labyrinth

" in the Arsenoite

"as a tomb
it

is

C:^

Nome

for himself;"

quite possible that

Manetho
this

c^

is

correct

in

but

as

particular,

the

name

III.

is

of

Amenemhat

commonly

asso-

ciated with this marvel-

lous

building

made

will be

reference

to it in the

section on the

reign

of

Usertsen III.

that king.

repaired or rebuilt parts

of the temples at Tanis,

Bubastis,

Abydos,

and

and

his

Elephantine,

name

is

parts

of

many

other

Egypt.
thought

found

upon

buildings

He
to

cities

in

of

is

also

have

built

Scene from the temple built at Semneh,

Second Cataract, by Usertsen III.,
and restored by Thothmes III. Usertsen
V
III. giving "life" to Thothmes III.

in the

THE BLACK PYRAMIDS AT DAHSHUR

42

[B.C. 2300

Dahshur the more northerly of the two

brick pyramids, which are commonly called the '' Black
Pyramids " this pyramid was once covered with stone
tomb

for his

at

and must have been a

example of

fine

its class,

bnt

it

much at the hands of the spoiler, and its

The exruins are now less than ninety feet in height.
cavations, which M. J. de Morgan carried on at Dahshur

has suffered

1894 (March

in

number

to June), resulted in the discovery of a

of tombs of royal ladies

and daughters of Usertsen, and

assume that
pyramid,^

these

if

the

king

who were

it is

the wives

only reasonable to

were buried round about the

was

himself

buried in

it.

If

Usertsen II. be identified with Sesostris, then his son

Usertsen

III., or

Lachares, must be identified with the

Nachares of the Christian chronographers in whose

reign the patriarch Abraham is said to have come into

Egypt

Usertsen III.

may

also be identified with the

king Nencoreus, the son of Sesodes, or with Pheros, the

son of Sesostris, each of whom
obelisks one

hundred cubits high

Wiedemann ^ has

said,

these

supported by any materials

Ea-en-Maat, son

now

of the Sun,

at Heliopolis, but, as

identifications

are not

available.

Amen-em-hat,

'Afxepri^.

de Morgan, Fouilles a Dalichour, Yienna, 1895.

See

See Wiedemann, ^e^. Gesch.,

J.

said to have dedicated

is

p.

253; and Krall, Orundriss, p. 26.

AMENEMHAT

B.C. 2300]

THE IRRIGATOR

III.,

Amenemhat

son

the

III.,

43

and suc-

cessor of Usertsen III.,

was the greatest

of all the kings of the

Xllth Dynasty

he
is

Ameres

the

is

error

clearly in

Manetho, who

of

when he

the

states

length of his reign to have been eight

years

Aa-baiu, the

''

Khadim

ASen-emSii

for

only,

'

'

stele

at

in the Sinaitic Peninsula

tions his forty-fourth year,

al-

men-

and there

is

for believing that his reign lasted nearer

good reason
fifty

Sarbut

The mighty works which he

than eight years.

Egypt show that he deserved the title,

Horus, mighty of will (or soul)," which he assumed

carried out in

"

as his

Horus name, and

his people, no doubt,

when

they considered what help he had given them by his

great irrigation schemes,

another of his

/^

^-f-.

(Twi /

titles,

''

saw^ the

The Horus

The whole

of the

appropriateness of
of gold, sweet life,"

....

energies

of this

king

appear to have been devoted to improving the irrigation

system of his country, and as a natural result he had

little leisure

Nubians,

or

for

the

Eastern Desert.

carrying on wars against either the

warlike

nomad

His predecessor had

Heru-sha

of

the

effectually quieted

the former people, and the latter had hardly recovered

from the punishment which had been

them by

inflicted

upon

Amenemhat III. found Egypt

prosperity when he ascended the

earlier kings.

in a state of great

throne, and as the land

had

rest during his long reign,

he was able to leave his country in a most flourishing

44

THE MINING WORKS OF AMENEMHAT

condition at
flourislied

activity

Art, sculpture, and architecture

liis deatli.

under his fostering

his buildings

care_,

and the remains of

and inscribed monuments

testify to the

which must have prevailed among

all classes

The mines

handicraftsmen during his reign.

and in the Wadi

Sinaitic Peninsula

[B.C. 2300

III.

of

in the

Hammamat

were

and the quantity of stone removed

diligently worked,

from the quarries in the latter must have been pro-

On

digious.

rock

at

scene,^ dated in the iirst

Sarbut al-Khadim

cut a

is

year of the king's reign, in

which we see " Hathor, the lady of turquoises," presenting "

life " to

him.

had been sent there with

year^ recording that an official

seven hundred and thirty-four

_B^ u ^
.

same

O^
o

is in

the

dated in the second

stele,

men

to fetch turquoise ore,

Wadi Mao'hara

dated in the

III

in the

year, a stele

Wadi Hammamat mentions

an expedition sent there by the king under the leadership of one Amen-em-hat, the son of Abeb,

who seems

have had some trouble with the natives.

to

scription in the

same

place,

in-

dated in the nineteenth

year, speaks of a mission undertaken to

for the

An

Temple of Sebek, ^\

obtain stone

at Crocodilopolis,^

and

says that a piece of stone suitable for a statue five

cubits high

the

had been obtained.

Wadi Hammamat was

The

Lepsius, Denlcmdler,
^

ii.

hewn

in

intended for statues and

large slabs for pylons, etc., whilst that

stone

137<x.

IhiJ., plate 138c

which was used

and

e.

Ihid.,

c.

B.C. 2300]

in

tlie

IN

THE

SINAITIC PENINSULA

AND EGYPT 45

construction of the famous Labyrintli was ob-

tained from the quarries of

by the partially erased

during the reign of

Tura

this fact is indicated

which was

stele

Amenemhat

III.

set

up there

by a high

official.

Enamelled gold plaque with prenomen and titles of Amen-em-hat III. From
Dahshur. In the upper part is the vulture-goddess with outstretched wings,
and above her are two axes. Below her are two cartouches, each containing
the king's prenomen.

o _^

"
,

" beautiful god, lord of aU foreign lands

and between them

1J

is his title,

The king

represented in the act of smiting with a club his foes who kneel at his feet,
is given to his arms by the goddess who touches them with
o^iflljxd, i.e., the emblems of "life" and "stability" which she holds in
each claw. Behind each figure of the king is the sign for " life," with human
arms and hands, which grasp a fan and waft breaths of " life " to him.
is

and strength

Inscriptions are found in the above-mentioned quarries,

which

prove that

the

king's

activity

in

continued throughout the whole of his reign.

building-

NILE LEVELS AT SEMNEH

46

Most important, however, of

all

[B.C. 2300

the rock inscriptions

belonging to the reign of this king are those which are

found on the rocks near the Forts of Usertsen III. at

Semneh and Kummeh, and which record the height to

which the Nile rose during a number of years which
These inscriptions show that at
are duly specified.
that time the river level during the inundation was

about twenty-six feet higher than

at the present

is

and they apparently indicate that they were

time,

hewn by

the

orders of

Amenemhat

the

agriculture of

varying heights.

effects

upon

Egypt caused by inundations

of

It is possible that the inscriptions

may have been connected

in

some way with the working

Lake Moeris, and with the regulating

of its waters; they are

15,

who seems

III.,

have endeavoured to understand the

to

of

it

dated in years

of the outflow
3,

5, 7, 9, 14,

22, 23, 24, 30, 32, 37, 40, 41, and 43 of the king's

reign,
class

and the following example

will

illustrate

the

on

Inscription of the 41st year of

"Mouth

level)

(i.e.,

of

Hap

Amenemhat

III.'

(the Nile) of the

41st

" year under the Majesty of the king of the South and

"North, Maat-en-Ka, living

1

See Lepsius, op.

for ever

cit.,

and

plate 139.

ever.'^

In a

CHANGE

B.C. 2300]

few cases
thus

<=>

the sign

CT^

a fact

IN

NILE LEVELS

lias

47

a line running through

which seems to show that the

it

line

represented the exact level which the water reached in

Various explanations have been

the year mentioned.

put forward of the extraordinary change which appears

Head

to

of a statue of

Amen-em-hat

III. in the possession of General Sir F.

Grenfeli; G.O.B., G.C.M.G., etc.

W.

have taken place in the level of the Nile between

the time of

them

clears

The

Amenemhat
away

greatest

all

III.

and our own, but none of

the difficulties in the matter.

and most useful of

all

the great works

which were undertaken by Amenemhat was the making

^

E.g., Nos.

i,

Tc,

I.

LAKE MOERIS

48

Lake Moeris ^

of

Wasta,

about

is

name Moeris

derived from

< >

is

derived from
A/WW\

Pa - iiima

Egyptian

the

lake," through

the

in

which

Lake

3s:

Ta-she,

^,

'

this land seems to

i.e.,

form

Coptic

Moeris

the lake;

Moeris
about

is

feet

its

was

the '^Land of the Lake," and

have been reclaimed from the desert

III.,

the last remaining portion of

below sea level

its

its

who
Lake

water surface

cubic

are equal to 1,500,000,000 cubic metres.

circumference of

the

of

was situated

the Birket al-Karun with

130

which

<:|)iou_,

by the genius and energy of Amenemhat

made

i.e.

The ancient name

has the same meaning.

district

A^^WNA
i

" the

the

Egyptian Mu-nr,

the

and the name Fayyum

/wv^j-

-^^j or Mer-ur, "Great canal,"

/wwvn
A/^WV\

^^^

of which,

capital

tlie

miles south of Cairo

fifty- five

is

"great water,"

now

in tliat part of Eg-ypt wliicli is

Arabic, Al-Fayyum,

in

called,

[B.C. 2300

contents

The

largest

Lake Moeris was about 150 miles

area was about 750 square miles, and its average

level

was

about 80 feet

The Fayyum

district is

above

the

Mediterranean.

watered by the canal called

For an ancient Egyptian plan of Lake Moeris see Marietta,

Papyrus de Boulaq, and Lanzone, Les Fapyrus du Lac Moeris, Turin,
1

1896.

c=^
2

'

Other names of the Lake were

Lake," and

^^^^ "

Oi

^
Shet-urt,"

" Shetet,"
i.e.,

i.e.,

the

" Great Lake."

DESCRIBED BY CLASSICAL WRITERS

B.C. 2300]

Bahr Yusuf,^

leaving

wliicli,

Nile a

tlie

49
to the

little

north of Asyut, and passing through a narrow gap in

Libyan Mountains, enters the Fayyum

the

"

the

are

Lake Moeris given by some

descriptions of

authors

The following

200 miles.

of about

course

after

classical

Although

this labyrinth is such as I

named from Moeris, near which

yet the lake

labyrinth

wonder

built, occasions greater

is

have described,
this

its

cir-

cumference measures 3600 stades, or sixty schoenes,

The

equal to the sea-coast of Egypt.

lake stretches

lengthways, north and south, being in depth in the

deepest part

and

fifty

this

dry,

That

orgyae.

circumstance

it

made by hand

is

proves,

about the

for

middle of the lake stand two pyramids, each

fifty

rising-

orgyae above the surface of the water, and the

part built under water extends to an equal depth

each of these

is

orgyae

in

height

pyramids

and

feet,

or

four

cubits

palms, and the cubit six palms.

lake does not spring from the
excessively dry, but

it is

hundred

one

are

hundred

equal to a stade of six plethra

ing six

on

placed a stone statue, seated on a

Thus these

throne.

orgyae

are

the orgya measur-

the foot

being four

The water

soil, for

in this

these parts are

conveyed through a channel

Attempts have been made to prove that this canal was made
by the patriarch Joseph, but no satisfactory evidence in favour of
^

the theory
the

is

forthcoming

Muhammadan

ruler

the Joseph here referred to

who

is

is

histories.

VOL.

III.

probably

mentioned in so many Arabic

LAKE MOERIS

50

"from

tlie

Nile,i

" lake,

and

six

*'

and

[B.C. 2300

months

for six

months out again

during the six months that

it

it

flows into tlie

And

into the Nile.

flows out

it

yields a

" talent of silver every day to the king's treasury from

"the

but when the water

fish;

The people

"twenty minae.

"that this lake discharges

" Syrtis

it,

of the country told

me

itself

under ground into the

westward

running

Libya,

of

flowing into

is

towards

"interior by the mountain above Memphis."

otus,

ii.

the

(Herod-

149.)

"The Lake

Moeris, by

magnitude and depth,

its

is

"able to sustain the superabundance of water, which

" flows into

it

at the time of the rise of the river, with-

" out overflowing the inhabited and cultivated parts of

On

"the country.

the decrease of the water of the

" river, it distributes the excess

" each of the

mouths

lake, but,

in

addition,

" canal are placed locks,

"up and
"from the

used

for irrigation.

on both mouths of the

by which the engineers

store

distribute the water which enters or issues

canal."

(Strabo, xvii. 37.)

"Between Arsinoites and Memphites, a lake, 250

miles, or, according to what Mucianus says, 450 miles

"in
"

is

These are the natural and independent properties of

"the

"

at

and both the lake and canal

"preserve a remainder, which

"

by the same canal

circumference

formed by

artificial

and

paces

fifty

means

deep,

after the

has

been

king by whose

This statement proves that the canal which fed Lake Moeris
was already in existence in the time of Herodotus.
1

DESCRIBED BY CLASSICAL WRITERS

B.C. 2300]

" orders

was made,

it

" Moeris.

The

by the name of

from thence to Memphis

distance

"nearly sixty-two

called

is

it

51

miles.'''

(Pliny,

v.

"In

9.)

is

the

"place where Lake Moeris was excavated^ an immense

" artificial

"

among

of water,

piece

wondrous

their

cited

and

by the

Egyptians

memorable

works."

(Pliny, xxxvi. 16.)

"After the death of this king [Uchoreus], and twelve

" descents_, Meris came to the crown of Egypt, and built
" a portico in

Memphis towards

the north, more stately

" and magnificent than any of the rest.

"above the

little

he cut a dyke for a pond, bring-

city,

down

And, a

"ing

it

"and

twenty-five furlongs, whose use was admirable,

"

in

length from the city three hundred

and the greatness of the work

"it was in

"depth.
" certain

three thousand and six hundred

circuit

"furlongs; and in

They say

incredible.

many

places three hundred feet in

For being that the Nile never kept to a

and constant height in its inundation, and the

" fruitfulness of the country ever depended

"just proportion, he

dug

this

upon

lake to receive

"water as was superfluous, that

it

might

its

such

neither

"immoderately overflow the land, and so cause fens

" and standing ponds,

nor by flowing too

little,

pre-

"judice the fruits of the earth for want of water.

To

" this

end he cut a trench along from the river into the

"lake, fourscore furlongs in length, and three hundred

"feet broad; into this he let the water of the river

"sometimes run, and

at other

times diverted

it,

and

THE LABYRINTH DESCRIBED

52
" turned

over

it

" seasonable times,

" times opened,

fields

tlie

of

by means of

[B.C. 2300

liusbandmen, at

tlie

sluices

whicb

some-

lie

and at other times shut up, not without

"great labour and cost; for these sluices could not be

" opened or shut at a less charge than fifty talents.

" This lake continues to the benefit of the Egyptians

" for these purposes to our very days, and
" lake of
" place

is

called the

The king

Myris or Meris to this day.

left

the middle of the lake, where he built a

in

"sepulchre and two pyramids, one for himself, and

''

another for his queen, a furlong in height

upon the

"top of which he placed two marble statues seated in a

by these monuments, to perpetuate

" throne, designiDg,

"the fame and glory of his name

" generations.

The revenue

to

all

succeeding

arising from the fish taken

" in this lake, he gave to his wife to

buy her

dresses,

"which amounted

to a talent of silver every day.

"there were in

two-and-twenty sorts of

it

fish,

For

and so

"vast a number were taken, that those who were

"employed continually

to salt

them up (though they

" were multitudes of people), could hardly perform it."

(Diodorus Siculus,

i.

4.)

The next great work

of

Amenemhat

III.

was the

famous Labyrinth, of which the following descriptions

have been given by classical authors
"

Now, they

" leave

in

"having
"little

so

[i.e.,

common

the twelve kings] determined to

a

memorial of themselves

and

determined, they built a Labyrinth, a

above the Lake of Moeris, situated near that

BY CLASSICAL WRITERS

B.C. 2300]

''called the city of Crocodiles

53

this I have myself seen,

"and found it greater than can be described. For if

"any one should reckon up the buildings and public
"

works of the

G-recians,

they would be found to have

" cost less labour and expense than this Labyrinth

"

though the temple in Ephesus

is

deserving of men-

The pyramids likewise

and each of them comparable

"tion, and also that in Samos.

"were beyond
" to

many

description,

Yet the

of the great Grecian structures.

"labyrinth surpasses even the pyramids.

For

it

has

"twelve courts enclosed with walls, with doors opposite

"each

other, six facing the north,

" contiguous to one another,

" encloses them.

" the

number

"The rooms
" saw,

six the south,

and the same exterior wall

It contains

" under ground and

and

two kinds of rooms, some

some above ground over them,

of three thousand, fifteen

to

hundred of each.

above ground I myself went through and

But the

and relate from personal inspection.

" underground rooms I only

know from

report

for the

"Egyptians who have charge of the building would, on

"no

show me them,

account^

" the sepulchres of the kings

saying, that there were

who

originally built this

" labyrinth, and of the sacred crocodiles.

I can there-

only relate what I have

by hearsay

"fore

" concerning
"

the lower rooms

which surpass

all

human

but the upper ones,

works, I myself saw; for the

"passages through the corridors,

"through the

courts,

learnt

and the windings

from their great variety, pre-

" sented a thousand occasions of wonder, as I passed

THE LABYRINTH DESCRIBED

54

"from a court

to the

[B.C. 2300

rooms, and from the rooms to

"halls^ and to other corridors from the halls^ and to

" other courts

The

from the rooms.

" are of stone, as are also the walls

roofs of all these

but the walls are

" full of sculptured figures.

Each

"with a colonnade of white

stone, closely fitted.

" adjoining the

court

is

extremity of the Labyrinth

is

surrounded

And

a pyramid_,

"forty orgyae in height, on which large figures are

"carved, and

(Herodotus,

"We
" the

away

to

it

has been made under ground."

148.)

ii.

have here also the Labyrinth, a work equal

Pyramids, and adjoining to

"

who

"

beyond the

"forty

constructed
first

the tomb of the king

Labyrinth.

After proceeding

entrance of the canal about thirty or

there

stadia,

" village

the

it

is

table-shaped plain, with a

and a large palace

composed of as many

" palaces as there were formerly nomes.

" equal

number

to

of aulae, surrounded

by

There are an
pillars,

and

" contiguous to one another, all in one line and forming

" one building like

" front of

"to the
"

it.

wall.

a long wall having the aulae in

The entrances

into the aulae are opposite

In front of the entrances there are long

and numerous covered ways, with winding passages

" communicating with each other, so that no stranger

"could find his way into the aulae or out of them

"without a guide.

The

(most) surprising circumstance

" is that the roofs of these dwellings consist of a single

" stone each,

and that the covered ways through their

"whole range were roofed

in the

same manner with

BY CLASSICAL WRITERS

B.C. 2300]

" single

slabs

55

of stone of extraordinary size, without

" the intermixture of timber or of any other material.

"

On

" for

ascending the roof,

it

which

is

not of great height,

consists only of a single story,

" seen a stone

there may be
Descend-

thus composed of stones.

field,

" ing again and looking into the aulae, these

" seen in a line supported

"consisting

single

of a

by twenty-seven

The

stone.

may

pillars,

walls

be

each
are

also

"constructed of stones not inferior in size to these."

(Strabo, xvii. 37.)

" There

in

is still

Nome

Egypt, in the

which was the

"polites, a Labyrinth,

first

of Herakleo-

constructed,

^'

three thousand six hundred years ago, they say, by

"

King Petesuchis

"

Herodotus, the entire work was the production of no

"less

than

or Tithoes

twelve

" Psammetichus.

As

although, according to

the

to the

purpose for which

" built, there are various opinions

"

it

last

of

it

was

Demoteles says that

was the palace of King Moteris^ and Lyceas that

" was the

"that

it

" opinion

tomb of Moeris, while many others

was a building consecrated

which mostly

prevails.

" rinths of Egypt, Crete,

"

whom was

kings,

Lemnos, and

them covered with arched

" the entrance, too, of the

" that

surprises

me,

the

They

to

assert

the Sun, an

[i.e.,

the Laby-

Italy] are all of

roofs of polished stone

at

Egyptian Labyrinth, a thing

building

is

constructed of

" Parian marble, while throughout the other parts of

" the

it

columns are of syenites.

With such

it

solidity is

"this huge mass constructed, that the lapse of ages has

THE LABYRINTH DESCRIBED

56

been totally unable to destroy

it,

[B.C. 2300

seconded as

lias

it

been by the people of Herakleopolites^ wlio have

marvellously ravaged a work

To

held in abhorrence.

detail the

work and the various portions of

it

being

they have always

wliicli

position of this

quite impossible,

it is

and praefectures,

subdivided into regions

which are styled nomes, thirty in number, with a

vast palace assigned to each.

should contain temples of

forty statues of

all

covering

six

wandering

to

the gods of Egypt, and

forty ells in height,

arurae

at

and

the visitor

fro,

the

some inextricable crossing

And

it

Nemesis in as many sacred shrines

numerous pyrumids,

besides

In addition to these,

and

Fatigued with

base.

sure to arrive at

is

or other of the galleries.

then, too, there are banquetting rooms situate at

the summit of steep ascents

descend by flights of ninety steps

interior,

made

of kings

of porphyrites

and

effigies of

the palaces are

moment

so

which we

porticos from
;

columns in the

figures of gods

statues

Some

hideous monsters.

peculiarly constructed, that

of

the

the doors are opened a dreadful sound like

that of thunder reverberates within

the greater part,

of these edifices have to be traversed in total

too,

darkness.
slight

One

repairs

person, and only one, has

to

Labyrinth

the

Chaeremon,

eunuch of king Necthebis, who lived

years

before

It

asserted,

is

of squared

the

time

also,

of

that

stone were

five

Alexander
while

made some

the

hundred

the

arched

being raised, he

an

Great.
roofs

had them

BY CLASSICAL WRITERS

B.C. 2300]

57

" supported by beams of thorn boiled in

(Hiny,

oil."

xxxvi. 19.)

"After
''

of

deatli

tlie

Egyptians recovered their

" of their

"some

own nation

call

"design,

Marus),

king

this

liberty,

Mendes (whom
warlike

but made a sepulchre for himself called a

"that went

for its

much

for its greatness,

For he

workmanship.

could not easily come out again, without

in,

" a very skilful guide."

(Diodorus Siculus,

The Labyrinth seems

less

the

up a king

set

who never undertook any

was inimitable

it

and

to rule over them,

" Labyrinth, not to be admired so

"as

[Actisanes],

i.

5.)

have been neither more nor

to

than a large temple which was built by Amenemhat

south of his tomb-pyramid, which

to the

best

known by the name

that

it

of the

"Pyramid

is

of

perhaps

Hawara";

contained a very large number of comparatively

small chambers

and

certain,

is

it

is

probable that one

of these, or perhaps a group, represented a

division of Egypt,

and that in the whole

nome

or

collection of

chambers the whole of the gods of Egypt were represented.

Lake

According to the ancient Egyptian

Moeris,^ this body of water

divided into

sections,

different deities,

and

was broken up

Many

travellers

it

into

was supposed

of

to be

which were presided over by

is

possible that the Labyrinth

sections

in

have endeavoured

of the Labyrinth,

map

the

same manner.

to identify the site

and Lepsius believed that he had

found the ruins of the building near Hawara, in the

^

See above,

p. 48,

note

THE LABYRINTH

58

[B.C. 2300

remains of a large number of square chambers and

granite slabs wbicb were inscribed with the

Amenemhat.

On

that the ruins

name

of

tbe other hand, Prof. Petrie thinks

which Lepsius found were only the

remains of the houses and tombs of the population

that destroyed the Labyrinth,^ and he thinks that this
great building lay between the entrance to the

As

and the capital Crocodilopolis.

Fayyum
agree

all writers

in placing the Labyrinth near a pyramid,

and the only

pyramid anywhere between the mouth of the canal and

Crocodilopolis

that of Hawara, this evidence seems

is

The extent of the area of the Labyrinth

probably marked by the immense bed of chips of fine

conclusive.
is

white limestone which

lies

on the south of the pyramid,

and on tracing this bed to

found that

limits, it is

its

they cover an area which measures 1000 by 800

The

principal part of the

the eastern half of the

covered a tolerable

site,

space

Fayyum

railway into the

pavement

to be seen is in

and some years ago

but the builders

feet.

discovered

took the stones away to build the line

the
;

it

of the

place,

and

thus the last

remains of the wonderful building disappeared under

the process of " civilizing" Egypt.
to

The building seems

have been square, with additional structures on the

east

it

had a great front

along the middle

the north

edge

wall,

and a great cross wall

the level was uniform, except along

and

at

the

N.E. outbuildings

red

granite columns were used, but probably only in the

1

See Haivara, Bialimu, and Arsinoe, p.

5.

B.C. 2300]

PYRAMID OF HAWARA

nortliern part of

tlie site

and built

59

pillars,

rather than

monolith columns, seem to belong to the part south of

The builder of the Labyrinth was,

beyond doubt, Amenemhat III., who^ in the nineteenth
the

cross wall.^

year of his reign, sent an expedition, consisting of two

thousand men,
used in

to be

to the

Wadi Hammamat

construction;

its

it

is,

to fetch stone

of course, possible

that Usertsen III. had built a temple there previously

be

if this

The Labyrinth was dedicated

Manetho.
Sebek, to

whom

reason the god

to the

always represented with the head of

Brugsch wished

to

the

derive

Labyrinth from the Egyptian words "Erpa

re hent,"

the "

i.e.

Temple

but this derivation

we must look
called

III.

Pyramid

that his

tomb

pyramid

at

is

of the canal,"
it

seems that

Hawara, although another view

represented by the

is

(or elpa)

seems to have been buried in the

of

Dahshur.

of

mouth

name

Greek and not in Egyptian.

opened by Prof. Petrie

struction

at the

not accepted,- and

is

for it in

Amenemhat

god

the crocodile was sacred, and for this

is

animal.

this

would account for the statement of

so, it

southern

sois

brick

The Pyramid

of

Hawara was

and

its

plan of con-

in 1889,

considerable

interest.

The building

stands on a spur of the limestone plateau which forms

one side of the entrance of the depression which leads

into

the

The

Fayyum.

greater part of the pyramid

Petrie,

Wiedemann,

Kaliun, Guroh, and Hawara,

o_p, cit.,

p. 6.

o}?.

cit., p.

260; Krall, Grundriss,

p. 12,

p. 26.

PYRAMID OF HAWARA

6o
consisted of

wliicli lias

The entrance

When

side.

had been

to stand

was intended

out-

fine limestone, every stone of

disappeared.

on the south

was

bricks laid in clean yellow sand

was a casing of

side tins

is

mud

[B.C. 2300

to the

pyramid

the site where the pyramid

cleared, a large hollow,

which

sarcophagus chamber, was

to receive the

sunk in the sandstone rock, and trenches which were

form the passages leading to
this

it

were cut

to

Into

also.

hollow in the rock, a huge sandstone monolith,

which was hewn out

to

form the sarcophagus chamber,

was sunk, and the sarcophagus and two chests were

next placed inside

it

round the chamber was built up

masonry, on which rested the sloping and horizontal

slabs of stone

which were

this a great brick arch

to

form the

roof.

Above

all

was thrown over the whole of

the masonry of the chamber, and the bricks of the

pyramid were piled above

it

all.

Passing along the

entrance passage^ which was on the south side and

was provided with

made

of a slab

forming

beyond

a
is

steps, an

ante-chamber with a roof

which could be moved along, and so

sliding

trap-door,

another chamber,

which lead into two passages

north for a distance

is

of about

little

which are openings

in
;

reached,

one passage runs due

eighty-four

and

feet,

leads nowhere, but the other runs eastwards, and

is

the

true passage which eventually leads to the sarcophagus

chamber.

At the end

of the true passage is another

chamber, with a sliding trap-door

roof,

and the

must follow a passage which runs due north

visitor

until

PYRAMID OF HAWARA

B.C. 2300]

Plan of the Pyramid of Amen-em-hat

North

Side.

South Side.

Entrance (south side of pyramid).

B Entrance passage, with steps

C Ante-chamber, mth sliding roof.

BLind passage, running north.

E True

F,
Gt,

J
K, L

passage to sarcophagus chamber.

Chambers with

sliding roofs.

True passage to sarcophagus chamber.

Rectangular chamber.
False wells.

Sarcophagus chamber.

6l
III.

PYRAMID OF HAWARA

62

chamber with

anotlier

[B.C. 2300

trap-door roof

sliding

The passage then runs from

reached.

east to west for

some distance, and ends

in a rectangular

two

this

26

wells in

false

X 7

ft.

it

6 in. x 7

ft.

ft.

is

chamber with

chamber measures about

In this chamber Prof.

in.

made

Petrie found an alabaster table of offerings

for

Ptah-neferu, the daughter of Amenemliat III., and the

The

fragments of eight or nine large alabaster bowls.

entrance to the sarcophagus chamber was on the south

chamber with two

side of the

and

false wells,

had

it

been effectually barred by means of a huge block of

stone,

into

it

which formed part of the

after the

ing-place.

mummy

had been

ft.

being dropped

laid in its last rest-

The sarcophagus chamber, which

out of a single stone, measures 22

roof,

and

in.,

ft.

in.

x 7

a beautiful piece of work

is

is

hewn

ft.

10 in.

it

was

roofed over with three slabs of hard sandstone, and the

original entrance to

it

was closed by lowering one

of

Until the final closing of

these slabs into its place.

the chamber the slab was supported in an upper space

and when

or chamber,

narrow space was

pass out over

it

The sarcophagus
inscribed.

left

it

above

into the
is

was lowered

made

it

of hard limestone

It has a sub-plinth,

it

measures 8

and has a rounded

but measuring

ft.

lid of

by which a man could

chamber with the two

the panel work which was so

Dynasty;

into its place a

ft.

and

much

10

in.

is

and

wells.
is

ornamented with

liked in the

x 4

un-

ft.

x 2

ft.

Vlth
7

in.,

the same length and breadth,

in. in

depth.

Between the

sarco-

PYRAMID OF HAWARA

B.C. 2300]

phagus and

tlie

wall

east

63

another sarcophagus was

improvised, and this was intended to be the restiDgof the

place

princess

Ptah-neferu, whose altar

and

bowls were found in the chamber with the two wells.

Near the sarcophagi were the chests which once held

the sepulchral vases

fragments of these were found to

be inscribed with the prenomen of

Amenemhat

III.,

Maat-en-Ea, and thus we may assume that the king

was here buried. Traces neither of bodies nor of
were found in the sarcophagi, and judging by

coffins

the calcined fragments of stone which were lying on the

floor,

these objects

had been wholly consumed by

fire.

All the details connected with the construction of the

pyramid are of the greatest

interest,

what elaborate precautions had

robbers

from

plundering
sliding
filled

breaking

them.

roofs

But

into

in

keep

tombs

and

royal
of

chambers with

which admitted the invader

up with masses

they show

to be taken to

the
spite

for

of stone, and so took

to

hollows

him out

of

the right path, and passages which led nowhere, and

wells which contained nothing and ended nowhere, the

pyramid was entered, and the thieves managed to gain

access to the royal sarcophagus chamber.

In the extract from the account of Lake Moeris

given by Herodotus, quoted above, mention has been

made

of two pyramids, each of which rose fifty orgyae

above the surface of the water and stood in the middle

and the historian declares that on each

pyramid was a stone statue seated on a throne.

of the lake,

PHARAOH'S CHAIRS

64

Kecent investigations have

[B.C. 2300

identified

with the

two

pyramids of Herodotus the ruins of two stone buildings

which

still

stand near the modern village of

Biyahmu

Fayyum, and are called by the natives " Kirasi

Fir'aun," or "PharaoVs Chairs," and this identification
is probably correct ; the statues which stood upon
in the

them were made

who

to Prof. Petrie,

of them,

Museum

of very hard sandstone, and, according

declares that he found fragments

which have since been sent

to the

Ashmolean

Oxford, were about thirty-five feet high.

at

The bases on which they stood were

four feet high,

and the pedestals were twenty-one feet high, so that

from the top of their heads to the ground was a distance
of about sixty feet.

Each

statue stood in a courtyard

with a surrounding wall, and was entered by a door on

It is not

the north side.i

easy to see what purpose

was served by erecting these statues

though they did not actually stand
lake as Herodotus thought

but

at this place,

even

in the middle of the

it

is

clear that they

formed suitable memorials of the great king who built

the Labyrinth, or Temple of Lake Moeris, and who did
the greater part of the work connected with the formation of the Lake,

and who devised plans

the best use of

waters.

its

for

making

In connection with the colossal statues of Amenemhat III. in the Fayyum mention must be made
of

the famous

San

or Tanis
1

sphinxes,

which were

by Mariette in 1861.

discovered

at

These remarkable

See Haivara, Bialimu, and Arsinoe,

p. 55.

B.C. 2300]

SPHINXES OF AMENEMHAT

<>--

65

III.

\
*
%i-.

Human-headed Sphinx of Amen-em-hat;iII., usurped first by the Hyksos king

Apepa, and secondly by Pasebkhanut. Prom San (Taiiis).

VOL.

III.

B.C.'2300]

SPHINXES OF AMENEMHAT

monuments have

67

III.

among

excited considerable interest

Egyptologists and have formed the subjects of

Their finder, judging from the

earnest discussions.

name

the

that

cut

upon their right

features

been

found
the

that

were

in

Hyksos king Apepa was

shoulders, and noticing that

of the

fact

their

many

Egypt up

sphinxes

must

any which

unlike

quite

that

to

have

time,

had

declared

hewn during

been

the period of the Hyksos domination in Egypt, and

regarded them as typical examples of the sculptures of

the

The

Hyksos.

first

question

to

accuracy of these views was M. de Eouge,

that the occurrence of the
right shoulder

name

must be considered

cartouche of this

of

M. Maspero examined one

who argued^

Apepa upon the

as a proof that the

king was not the

been found upon the sphinxes.

the

seriously

first

which had

Twenty years

of these

later

monuments with

great care, and he proved satisfactorily that the surface

of the breast

had been

chiselled away, or

to receive the cartouches of

XXIst Dynasty, and

of this king

it

Pasebkhanut, a king of the

was

sides,

clear that the cartouches

had been inserted

occupied by those of the king

The views

rubbed down,

in

the places formerly

who made

the monument.

of Mariette, however, were accepted on all

and his hypothesis was regarded

as a fact.

In

1893 the matter was again discussed by M. Golenischeff,^

who proved
1

that the results of M. Maspero's examinaRevue Archeologique, 1861, p. 250 ff.

Becueil de Travaux, torn. xv. p. 131

ff

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF

68
tion of

San

tlie

spliinx supported

[6.0,2300

M. de Kouge's doubts,

and showed with singular clearness that the maker of

the sphinxes was

may

Amenemhat

III.

If,

as

he says, we

not consider the Hyksos king Apepa to be the

maker

monuments which he usurped, there

of the

nothing

is

Mariette's hypothesis except the foreign

left of

type of features which, he says, the sphinxes exhibit.

Moreover,

useless to urge the similarity of their

it is

features with those of the

east of the Delta

men who

live in the north-

and round about Lake Menzaleh

the present day, because

men

at

possessing such features

have lived there from time immemorial, and when the

Hyksos arrived in Egypt they naturally found such

there.

As

a matter of fact,

the inhabitants of the

Delta have always differed greatly in respect of physical

from

characteristics

They have been and

strength

the

in

Upper Egypt.

are of larger stature, their physical

greater,

is

dwellers

and the conditions under which

they have lived for thousands of years have made them

more accustomed

to the practices of

occupations of peace.
parison

preserved

to the

as a standard for

com-

black granite statue inscribed with the

the

names and

Taking

war than

titles

the

in

of

Amenemhat

Hermitage at

III.,

which

is

now

St. Petersburg,^

M.

Golenischeff goes on to show that the features of this

statue are identical with those which are found on the

San, and

sphinxes from
possession.

on a statuette in his own

Moreover, an examination of the statue of

1

Golenischeff, Inventaire, p. 84.

B.C. 2300]

THE PEOPLE OF THE DELTA

Amenemhat

III. at Berlin,

which was usurped by Mer-

en-Ptah, shows that certain features,

e.g.,

the muscles

mouth, were altered by hammering

at the corners of the

in

6g

make them to resemble those of the

In Upper Egypt M. Grebaut discovered at

order

to

usurper.i

El-Kab the fragments of a sphinx in white calcareous

stone in the foundations of a temple of

and these showed that when

monument

is

it

II.,

was complete the

closely resembled in face

famous sphinxes of San

that a

it

Kameses

and features the

well nigh impossible

sphinx of the Hyksos king Apepa should be

found so far south in Egypt, but for a sphinx of

Amenemhat

be discovered in this place seems

III. to

only natural.

to be

with great justness that

Amenemhat would

M. Golenischeff argues

Finally,
it

is

impossible to imagine

leave the sanctuary at San or Tanis

without statues of himself, especially as

it

his time, statues of his predecessors,

Amenemhat

Usertsen

may

I.,

Amenemhat

II.,

Usertsen

contained, in

II.,

etc.

I.,

We

then with safety assign the Tanis sphinxes to the

reign

of

Amenemhat

III.,

and in their features we

probably see good representations of those of the maker

of

Lake Moeris and

"En

of one of the greatest kings

who

examinant (i.e., les martelages) nous arrivons facilement a constater que les pommettes efc les muscles aux coins de la
bouclie ont du a Vorigine itre aussi plus on woins saillants, car
Merenptah, qui, plus tard, usurpa cette statue, fit marteler le
visage justement aux pommettes et aux environs de la hoticTie, afin de
rendre les traits du visage de la statue usurpee plus ressemblants
aux siens. Recueil, torn. xv. p. 135.
^

les

REIGN OF AMENEMHAT

70

upon the throne of Egypt.

sat

may

be made to

[B.C. 2266

IV.

In passing, reference

black basalt head here

small,

reproduced, in the collection of Sir Francis Grenfell,

G.C.M.G.

G.C.B.,

portrait statne of

it

seems to have belonged to a

Amenemhat

III.,

and

is,

any

in

case,

a fine example of the sculptor's art of the period of

the Xllth

Dynasty.

above, p. 47.)

(See

theory

has recently been propounded which makes the head

of the

Sphinx

Amenemhat

at

III.,

G-izeh

to

represent

"by whom

it

may

that

king

of

be supposed to

have been erected;" but no evidence in support of

has yet been adduced, nor have

it

the

views

old

concerning the Sphinx yet been proved incorrect.

iiiitiiiii

^^\Y

Ea-maa-kheru, son of the Sun, Amen-em-hat

IV.,

A/JiVeiUL7]<i.

Amenemhat

IV.,

who

was,

strictly

speaking, the last sovereign of the

Dynasty,

reigned for a period of nine

years, but of his reign very few

ments have come down

to us.

nomen and Horns name

scribed

on

the

Khadim, and
The Horus name

Xllth

rocks

at the

are
at

monu-

His prefound

in-

Sarbut

al-

Wadi Maghara,

in

the Peninsula of Sinai, we have an in-

of

Amenemhat
J

IV. ^

A variant

scription dated in the sixth year of his

makes the Horus name

to contain four beetles.

The

HIS MINING

B.C. 2266]

reign

WORKS

71

these facts prove that the turquoise mines of

being worked at the end of the Xllth

Sinai were

Dynasty^ and

it

as a matter of course, that

follows,

the Egyptian sovereignty in that country was

An

effective.

on the rocks at

Kummeh

Second Cataract records the height

the

in

inscription

still

the

of

Nile at that place in the fifth year of the reign of

Amenemhat

IV., ^

and in an

inscription,

which

is

upon

a green

glazed steatite plaque found at Kurna and

which

here given,

is

we

find the king's

prenomen and

name mentioned with that of the royal son Ameni.

The inscription on this object reads, " King of the
"South and North, the lord, creator of things,
" Maa-kheru-Ea, beautiful god, the

"lands,

Amenemhat.

name with

three beetles

The

may

son

of

lord

the

of the

Sun

two

of his

be read, " Khepera kheper khepera,"

the king indicating by these words that he was to be identified

with the god " Khepera, who made all things to come into being."

name may be obtained from

Nesi-Amsu, where we meet such

suggestion as to the meaning of the

passages in the Papyrus

of

sentences as

and

(3

J{]

fl5

(S

see

my

paper in ArcJiaeologia, vol. lii. text, cols. xxvi. and xxviii.

The texts are given by Lepsius, Denlcmdler, ii. pi. 140 11,
and pi. 152/, and see Wiedemann, op. cit, p. 262.
^

0,

p,

REIGN OF SEBEK-NEFERUT-RA

72

"body

Ameni."

Of the

of

details

[B.C, 2266

reign

tlie

Amenemhat IV.
is

knowE, but

nothinotoler-

it is

ably certain that

neither

ing

that

wars nor build-

operations

any

of

magnitude

were

under-

taken

that

period.

at

The tomb
was

as

the

of

probably

Thebes,

Plaque of Amenemhat IV. in the

British Museum, No. 22,879.

was

it

and

unimportant,

of

yet

but

built

it

been

king-

at

has not

discovered.

Amenemhat IV. WaS

SUC-

ceeded on the throne of

Egypt by

his

sister

Sebek-neferu-Ea,

whom some

authorities consider to have been his wife.

Sebek-neferu-Ra, or Sebek-neferut-Ra, or
Sebek-neferu, the sister of Amenemhat lY., and
the Skemiophris

of Manetho, appears

to

have been

associated with this king in the government of Egypt,

either as co-regent or wife,

and

after his death she is

said to have reigned alone for three years, ten months,

THE SISTER OF AMENEMHAT

B.C. 2233]

and eighteen

Of the reign

days.^

few inscriptions are known

them

is

the

IV.

73

of this queen very

most important of

undoubtedly that which was published by

the late Dr. Birch as far back as 1872,^ and

inscription is

cut

steatite

talcose

or

schist

cy li nd er-s ea
which
1^^

here

The

reproduced.

upon

is

measures

in.

in length,

and the characters

are filled with dark

green glaze, which

causes

them

to

stand out promin-

from

ently

Cylinder of Sebek-neferu.
Museum, No. 16,581.

the

British

light green glazed

background.

The

first

line supplies the

of the queen which reads,

" the

Horus name

Horus, Ea-mert," or

" Ea-loving," or " Ka-beloved Horus," and shows that

she

claimed

the

sovereignty

Nekhebet and Uatchet

titles,

"two
^

" daughter

lands, the stablished one,

pi.

5,

the

cities

col. 7,

who
1.

2;

the lady of the

riseth [like] the

and Maspero,

torn. 1, p. 527.

AegypHsche

Assuming the ctaracters

Zeitschrift, 1872, p. 96.

to be

of

second line gives her

of pre-eminence,

See Lepsius, Ausivahl,

Anc,

the

over

\g:v^

sat selcliem.

Hist.

THE LORD OF SUNRISE

SEBEK,

74
"

Horns

of gold "

"

King

of the

"living

and

and

Sontli

beloved

one,

and

tlie tliird

of

[B.C. 2233

fonrtli lines read,

Sebek-neferu,

Nortli,

The

Sebek."

god

Sebek,

whose name forms part of that of the queen,

in the city of Crocodilopolis,

and in

all

the neighbour-

hood of Lake Moeris, or the modern Fayyum.

is

This

depicted in the form of a man, or with the head

of a crocodile set
is

of

is,

Snn-god which was worshipped

course, the form of the

god

the

upon a man's body; his

solar character

proclaimed by the disk of the sun which he some-

times wears upon his head, and by the disk, horns, and

plumes

which

form

CVIIIth Chapter

his

of the

" Mountain of the

Booh of

^^^ \\

the lord of Bakhau,

According to the

crown.

Sunrise,^^

the

^>^=>

Dead, Sebek was

Y^

i.e.,

the

which measured 30,000

cubits by 15,000 cubits, and his temple

was situated on

the land towards the east of the mountain.

Before the end of this chapter on the kings of the

Xllth Dynasty, reference must be made

to the

king or

made known to us by
M. de Morgan at Dahshur, i and

prince whose existence has been

the

excavations of

whose cartouches read

9.

M (Ojf^] "^^

("

^^5^ ]

Ka-au-ab,

son of the Sun, Her.

The tomb

of this royal personage

Dahshur by M. de Morgan
1

in 1894,

See Fouilles a Dahchovr,

p.

was discovered

at

and was excavated

87

ff.

REIGN OF AU-AB-RA

B.C. 2300]

by him in

tlie

same year

lay near the southern

it

75

brick pyramid to the west of the village of Menshiiyya,

The
inscriptions on the objects found therein show that Auab-Ea adopted as his Horus name that of Heru, which
is written on the things dedicated to the ka in the form
and formed one of a row of interesting sepulchres.

i.e.,

with the hawk of Horus wearing the crowns of

the South and North.

Among

the funeral furniture in

the tomb worthy of special notice

KA

of the

is

the wooden statue

or " double " of the king,

which stood up-

right, as if in the act of walking, in a

wooden shrine

this representation of the " double " of a dead

Above the head

unique.

wooden emblem
nails of the

it

to be the

of the ka, LJ,

hands and

leaves of gold

feet, etc.,

was

is

fixed

and the eyebrows, the

were covered with thin

the proportions of this fine figure prove

work of a master craftsman, and merit M.

de Morgan's eulogy. i

may be

of the statue

man

But

archaeologically,

it

"
interesting as this " find
is

not

so

important for

historical considerations as the assignment to the king

or prince, for

place in the
is

of

whom

list

the statue was made, of his correct

M. de Morgan
Au-ab-Ea is con-

of the kings of Egypt.

opinion that the tomb

of

temporary with the building of the pyramid near which

it

was

built,

and as the funeral furniture found in the

" Le corps est parf ait d'equilibre et de proportions et I'etude

^
" de ses differentes parties decele une connaissance approfondie de
" la myologie dissimulee sous le jeu large du ciseau." Fouilles a
DalicJiour, p. 92.

REIGN OF AU-AB-RA

76

tomb resembles that

Xllth Dynasty,

[B.C. 2300

many well-known tombs

of

of the

hesitates not to declare that this

lie

He

king or prince flourished at this period.

notices

the important fact that the box which contained the

Canopic vases was sealed with an earthen

seal,

on

which was, apparently, stamped the cartouche of Amen-

emhat

and from

III.,

it

concludes that Au-ab-Ka lived

daring the reign of this king,

and that the

funeral,

must have been

seal

the king, and not by

who himself attended

a priest or

official

affixed

the

by

who had

obtained possession of the scarab or object by means of

which

was made.

it

well-known that the kings of

It is

the Xllth Dynasty often associated their sons with them

government of Egypt,

in the

Usertsen
IT.

I.

ruled together for ten

and Usertsen

also did

it is

Amenemhat I. and
Amenemhat
years
;

ruled together for a few years, as

II.

Amenemhat

these facts

e.g.,

III.

and Amenemhat IV.

from

argued that Amenemhat III. associated

Au-ab-Ea with him

in the rule of the

kingdom about

the fortieth year of his reign, and that, his co-regent

dying soon

after,

in his place.

resting-place

he was obliged to

The tomb
for

of

great

set

Au-ab-Ka
king,

but

Amenemhat IV.
is
it

not a suitable
is

a worthy

sepulchre for a younger son or brother of the royal

family

and, though

it is

possible that this prince lived

at a period subsequent to that of the

Xllth Dynasty,

and that he was buried in the tomb near the pyramid

many years after the dynasty had come to an end, it is
not likely.

It will

be remembered that in the groups

SCARABS OF AU-AB-RA

B.C. 2300]

"]"]

names of the kings of the Xlllth and XIYth

Dynasties, collected by Wiedemann from the fragments
of the

King List

of the

Ea and

two which read Au-ab-

at Turin, are

Autn-ab-Ra,^ but, for the reasons given above,

neither of these can

rightly,

seems, represent the

it

who was buried at Dahshur. Besides

two scarabs bearing the name of Au-ab-Ea, which

royal personage

the

are referred to

by M.

worthy of mention.

and

J. de

made

It is

is

Morgan,^ a third example

life,

"happiness."^
^

of green glazed steatite,

inscribed, "

"one, giver of

{^^\

is

Au-ab-Ea, the stable

the stable one, giver of

This interesting

object

^
^

was found

JAfA

at

Abydos

manship prove

its style

to belong to the

it

Empire, but whether

the

name

of

and work-

either

commemorates

it

of

Middle

the

two kings

mentioned above, or that of the relative or friend of

Amenemhat, cannot be
^r^

"

Op.

See

196,

'0' I,

266, No. 14,

cit., p.

cit., p.

my

and

said.

(0 ^^
p. 274,

y>

'^

'

Wiedemann, o^

No. 70.

126.

Catalogue of the Lady

No. 376.

Meux

Collection,

London, 1896,

78

CHAPTEE

II.

THE THIETEENTH DYNASTY. FEOM THEBES.

Concerning the causes whicli brought the Xllth
Dynasty of the kings of Egypt to an end we have no
information whatsoever, and although Manetho makes
it

to

end with Skemiophris,

the Sebek-neferu,

is

it

not absolutely certain that

Manetho had, no

the dynasty ended with this queen.

making the Xllth Dynasty

doubt, good reasons for

end with her, and

seen to be

Sebek-neferu-Ea, of the hiero-

or

glyphic inscriptions,

whom we have

it

is

pretty certain that his

to

list

represents in this respect the opinion which was current

in the

XVIIIth Dynasty among

.the

wrote the works on which he based his King List

it

who

authorities
;

but

must not be forgotten that in the Tablet of Abydos

the Xllth Dynasty ends with

Amenemhat IV.

It is

not likely that the sovereignty of this king's house was

wrested from

coming

it

by

force, for there is

to indicate that the iirst

king of the Xlllth

Dynasty only ascended the throne

civil

war and bloodshed.

It

may

no evidence forth-

after

tumult and

be that Sebek-neferu

THE THIRTEENTH DYNASTY

herself married a

upon arrogated

may have

she

the

of

member

leaving

no

little

in style

kings of the

Theban

still,

whereupon

issue,

to

the

some one near of

admitted that the kings of the

of

Theban

monuments which they have

very

there-

rank and position, or

Egypt passed from her

Dynasty were

Xlllth

who

died whilst she was the absolute ruler

It is generally

kin.

of a noble family,

to himself royal

country,

sceptre of

79

origin,

and

behind them

left

the
differ

and character from those of the

Xllth

Dynasty, who

were

certainly

the objects which can be shown with a

tolerable degree of certainty to belong to the period of

the successors of the kings of the Xlltli Dynasty have

which once recognized, cannot be mis-

characteristics,

taken.

The period

of Egyptian history which begins

with the Xllltli Dynasty and ends with the end of the

XVIIth Dynasty is

full of difficulty,

and

it is

impossible

in the present state of Egyptological knowledge to give

The monuments
supply the names of a considerable number of kings
who ruled between the Xllth and XVIIth Dynasties,

a truly satisfactory account

of

it.

but they cannot be arranged in proper chronological

order,

and

it is

very probable that several other kings

We

reigned whose names are unrecorded.

assistance from the Tablet of Abydos, for the

of

Amenemhat

is

followed by that of Amasis

IV., the last king of the

XVIIIth Dynasty

I.,

the Tablet of

the

obtain no

prenomen

Xllth Dynasty,

first

Karnak

king of the
is useless for

purposes of chronological arrangement of royal names

THE TURIN PAPYRUS

80

and the Tablet of Sakkara does not help us very much.

And

unfortunately, the fact that the one document

it is,

in the world,

i.e.

King List

the

in the

Museum

of

Turin, which would have rendered possible a chrono-

arrangement and grouping of the royal names

logical

now

supplied by the monuments,

for

the history

shown

how

of the period.

useless

it

because of the lacunae in

fragments of

It

has already been

for critical purposes, first,

is
it,

and, secondly, because the

which remain

it

practically worthless

is

us were joined

to

to-

gether by Seyffarth, whose knowledge of hieratic was

of the

most meagre character, and whose system of

decipherment of the Egyptian hieroglyphics has been

shown

to

be hopelessly wrong

the remarks on the

Turin Papyrus made by Eosellini, de Eouge, Birch,

and Wiedemann,

quoted above,- should not be

any assertion made about

gotten in connexion with

The

the chronology of the Xlllth Dynasty.

Brugscli

thought that

glance

the

at

"

five last

work were consecrated

"undoubtedly belonged
"

One may reckon

" 5 X 30,

i.e.

"the duration of
"lations.
1

The

See above, Vol.

memory

to the

to

it is

" calculation could not

the

I., p.

of kings

who

preceding dynasties.

number

in this

MS.

at

evident that the genealogical

be applied to

fix

their reign according to

figures

mutilated

columns of the once complete

their total

150, but

late Dr.

" convince the

fragments of the Turin Papyrus would

"reader that the

for-

approximately

human

calcu-

which have been preserved in

114.

gee Vol.

I., p.

116

ff.

THE THIRTEENTH DYNASTY

"the canon

[i.e.,

Papyrus], and

wliicli

8l

served to indicate

whom

" the years of the reign of each of the kings of

"we have

spoken, rarely surpass the nuruber of three

" or four.

It

''history of

Egypt

"

up of times

"murders and

almost certain,

is

therefore, that

the

at this

epoch must have been made

revolt

and interior troubles, and

of

assassinations,

by which the

life

and

"length of reign of the prince was not subjected to

"the ordinary conditions of human existence."^

Brugsch,

Dr.

"many

however, also held the view that

"kings of the Xlllth Dynasty, and not only those

"

who were first in order of time, enjoyed

"on the east side, and were occupied
"

perfect quiet

in

erecting

monuments, the remains of which have been preserved

"to our day, and whose

and kind do not point

size

"to their having been hastily constructed.

In

the

" days of their authors

and their origin peaceful times

"must liave prevailed, and nothing looks like a foreign
"occupation by the side of native kings."

According to Manetho,

Dynasty were

sixty in number,

period of 453 years

The kings

the kings

of the

and they reigned

for a

these kings came from Thebes.

XlVth Dynasty were

of the

Xlllth

seventy-six in

number, and they reigned for a period of 184 or 484

(Eusebius) years

these kings came from Xot?, a city

called Aat-Sekhau,

VOL.

III.

Egypt under the Pharaohs,

md.,

v^ ,
vol.

i.,

in the hiero-

p. 184.

p. 185.

THE THIRTEENTH DYNASTY

82

glypliic texts. 1

has been

It

which were written in the

King List

last

cohimns of the

five

may have been

the names

Xlllth and XlVth Dynasties, and there

But

to be said for this view.

if

we

two dynasties,

number

136,

something

is

937,

i.e.

the lower total the average length

large

number

of the

of

we take
reign is

to be only

seems pretty certain that a

it

reigned each for a very few

of kings

years, and, although

if

of each

Assuming these numbers

approximately correct,

by the

we obtain an average

rather less than 7 years for each reign, and

about 4| years.

of the

divide the higher

total of the years of the

i.e.

of the

summary

kings referred to by Manetho in his

of the kings,

names

and which probably numbered

of Turin,

from 130 to 150,

tlionglit that the

some of them may have been kings

South and North

cle

facto,

we

are justified in

assuming that many were only local

governors of towns and

cities,

who

chieftains,

or

asserted their in-

dependence and magnified the extent of their dominions

and the greatness of their powers whenever they had a

chance of doing
the kings

who

so.

In any case

it is

certain that all

reigned during the Xlllth, and XlVth,

and three following dynasties were not kings in the

sense of the word that the Usertsens and Amenemhats
were kings, for had they been so the Tablet of Abydos

would never, in the

1

The

city

was

called

writer^s opinion,

5 ecUC

Arabic historians under the

province of Gharbiyeh, and

by the Copts, and

name Sakha, U-

is

have passed over

in the district of

it is

is

known

to the

situated in the

Kafr Al-shekh.

ITS

DURATION UNKNOWN

in absolute silence the

dynasties.

83

names of the kings of

five

whole

hard not to come to the conclusion

It is

that the kings of the Xllltli Dynasty, whatever their

number may have

been,

upon the country, and

and that

Government

at

hold

lost their

little

once having done

that,

Egypt was rent from one end

dissensions,

by

little

to the other

so,

by internal

controlling power of the

the

Thebes having disappeared, each petty

governor or chieftain did what was right in his own

eyes.

The years assigned

to the dynasty

by Manetho

must be too many, and the number of kings seems

be too high, for

it is

to

impossible that the lapse of four

and a half centuries should be necessary before Egypt

became a suitable prey

The

or Hyksos.

for the invaders

facts of

on the

the Libyans on the

i.e.,

Nubians on the south, and the nomad

east,

east,

Egyptian history prove that

the enemies of the country,

west, the

from the

tribes

were ever on the look-out to invade her,

and that none but the most active and mighty of the
kings of Egypt ever kept them at bay.
inspired in

them by the great kings

Dynasty would disappear

The

of the

terror

Xllth

entirely in a few score years,

and the result of the reigns of half-a-dozen feeble kings

would be the refusal

to

pay tax and tribute on the part

of vassal nations, if not open rebellion or invasion of

Egyptian territory by them.

Government

at

Thebes

declined,

probably made their way into

perienced

little

or no

As the power

of the

the Asiatics

the

opposition to

Delta,
their

and

most
ex-

entrance,

REIGN OF RA-KHU-TAUI

84
and, if

we accept Manetlio's statements concerning

number

kings and the duration of

of

Dynasty, there seems to be nothing

tlie

the Xlllth.

left to

do except

admit either that the Hyksos had already established

themselves in Egypt before the end of the Xlllth

Dynasty, or that many of

The
the kings who
Wiedemann, and

its

kings were contem-

following are some of the names of

poraneous.

are

by Brugsch, Lieblein,

believed

others to have lived in the period of

the Xlllth Dynasty.

1-

"fW^

Ka-khu-taui

O A^

'r^.

Ka-khu-taui.
J

name

the form of the

is

of the first

king of the Xlllth Dynasty which has been adopted

by Brugsch and Wiedemann, and

Tablet of Karnak

it

is

found on the

the former authority gives as his

second name Sebek-hetep, but the latter declares there

is

no monumental evidence forthcoming which would

justify his eminent colleague in so doing,

king Ea-sekhem-khu-taui, who

was Sebek-hetep

I.

is

and says that

No. 16 in his

M. Maspero seems

to

list,

have ex-

amined the King List of Turin specially with the view

of clearing

up the

difficulty,

papyrus be examined,
tear in

it

it

and he says that

if

the

will be seen that there is a

before the signs Ka-khu-taui which is not

indicated in the fac-simile, and that this tear has not

HIS CAPITAL AT

THEBES

85

only damaged the sign for the solar disk, , but has

away a sign almost entirely.^ This being so, he

concludes that the full name of the king which was
written there was Ka-sekhem-khu-taui, and that he was
carried

the founder of the Xlllth Dynasty

same name who stands

as the king of the

was

fifteenth in the list

called

Sebek-hetep, he assumes that Ea-sekhem-khu-taui

was

also called Sebek-hetep,

I.

and he thinks, therefore,

that the queen Sebek-neferu was succeeded by a Sebek-

hetep

"puis

elle

[i.e.,

Sovkounofriouri] ceda la place

un Sovkhotpou." Whatever may have been the

true name of the first king of the Xlllth Dynasty, it is
pretty certain that he was of Theban origin, and that
" a

he made Thebes the capital of his kingdom, just as the

kings of the Xlltli Dynasty had done, and that he
ruled the country from that place

Maspero

says,

Thebes, then, as M.

became the actual capital of Egypt,

the kings of the

new dynasty began

to

for

build their

funeral pyramids there, and the actual capital of a

sovereign was less the

throne when

place where he sat

upon

living than that where he rested

his

when

dead.

" De plus, quand on examine le Papyrus de Turin, on s'apergoit

qu'il J a, en avant du groupe Khoutooui du premier cartouclie,
une dechirure qui n'est point indiquee sur le fac-simile, mais qui
a endommage legerement le disque solaire initial et enleve presque
1

entierement un signe.
iin

On

est

done porte k croire

qu'il

SakliemMioutoouiri au lieu d'un Khoutoouiri," etc.

p. 527.

j avait

Hist.

la

Anc,

REIGN OF SEKHEM-KA-RA

86

^^

2-

Of

^ LJ

1 Ra-sekhem-ka.

Ka-sekhem-ka no details are forthcoming, and the monumental evidence concerning him
is scanty.
The principal monument of his time is a
tlie

reign of

stone

large

fine

measuring 3

ft.

stele,

lOj

having

by 2

in.

ft.

rounded

a
2J

and

top,

which was made

in.,

commemorate a royal personage who flourished

to

This stele

that period.

winged disk

at the top of

prenomen of the king,

it

is

an interesting
it,

etc.,

at

object^ for the

and the Horus name and

are cut in low relief

the general appearance of the hieroglyphics

upon

is

bold

and striking, and the monument forms one of the best

examples known to us of the sepulchral stelae of the
It is said to

period.

Kom

at

of the

al-Atrib,

ancient
=

have been found among the ruins

an Arab village which marks the

city of Athribis,

of

the

Het-ta-her-abt,

hieroglyphic

the

site

inscriptions,^

during the construction of the Cairo-Alexandria Kail-

way which runs through

was

it

at

for

some time in the possession of a gentleman

Benha, when Prof. Wiedemann

was afterwards taken

1

J.

to Alexandria,

de Rouge, Geog. Ancienne

p. 63.
2

the ruins of the ancient city;

Op.

cit., p.

266.

cle

heard of

where the

it,

but

late Dr.

hi Basse-Egypte, Paris, 1891,

stele of

Sekhem-ka-Ra.

British

Museum, No.

1343.

REIGN OF SEKHEM-KA-RA
Brugsch copied
British

and

it,i

Museum

now preserved

is

it

the

in

(No. 1343).

The scene depicted on the

8g

stele is of consider-

we

have

the

77

Horus name of the king Se-ankh-taui,

i.e.,

"I

" Vivifier of the two lands," and before

able

In

interest.

the right,

who wears

head, and holds

his

centre

a cluster of plants

him

before

the

hawk

of Horus,

life,"

which stands above the king's

seems as

it

the sculptor intended to

if

represent that the Nile-god was

the

to

on

and "power," and as they reach towards

Horus name,

them

upon

table

symbols of "

between these extend the

"stability,"

on

From an

which stand the two characteristic vases.

object

it,

a seated figure of Hapi, the god

is

of the Nile,

the

king,

who

here

is

Horus name.

On

prenomen and

his usual titles.

the inscription

is

the

left

making an

hand

not without

offering of

symbolized
side

The

by his

are the king's

interpretation of

difficulty, for

the sculptor

has made mistakes in cutting the inscription, but

it

seems to have reference to a "royal daughter" called

Ka-Meri,

form the

4.

[ [

title

4^

O
^

of a

although the two

first

words erpd

man.

^^ ^

Ea-sehetep-ab

I.

See his Theaaurus,

p.

1455, No.

84<.

lid

REIGN OF SE-ANKH-AB-RA

go

5-

fq

'PAUFNA.
.""^

6.M(oH:5]^(OlJ

'9>^

Ka-se-ankh-ab, sou of the Sun, Ameni-Antef-Amen-

EMHAT.

The

EMHAT

Ameni-Antef-Amenmade kuown to us by a large,

existeuce of
is

hard sandstone

made
ra

altar, or table of offerings,

in two pieces,

by Mariette

at

which was discovered

Karnak,i where

it

had,

undoubtedly, been dedicated for use in

the temple of the god Amen.

the

half of

altar

In each

twenty hollows.

are

Seher-taui,
the Horus

name

Ameni-Antef-

Amenemhat.

of

arranged symmetrically, which were in,

the

offerings

of the

names and

titles

halves

horizontal lines.

we

in

learn that the

taui,

i.e.,

tended to scrvc as bowls and to receive

faithful

Horus name

and the

upon the two

of the king are cut

From

the

inscriptions

of the king

was Seher-

" pacifier of the two lands," and that he

styled himself the " lord of the cities of the vulture and
"uraeus,^' the "prince of
"

Maat

"

maketh
1

J.

for ever," the "

[his] glorious

Maat

Horus

for ever," the "giver of

of gold,"

and " he who

appearance to be pre-eminent."

See Mariette, Karnah, plates 9 and 10

Maspero, Guide,

de Morgan, Notice des jpvincipaux Monuments,

p. 39.

p.

431

THE THIRTEENTH DYNASTY

In the reign of

tlie

fanatical

91

king Amen-hetep IV.

an attempt was made to cut or hammer ont from

second cartouche of the king the

the
rv

111

name Amen,

1 1 1 1 1 1

and the marks thereof are

'''

^^ fo

^'

r^ (op ^^ ^1

'"""

Ul

visible to this day.^

Ea-semen-ka.

Ka-sehetep-ab

II.

.KA.

10.

11.

12.

4^
4w

( *^

^^si^

'^

^\^ fo /^

14.

i\$,

Ea-netchem-ab.

r^T^ 1 Ea-Sebek-hetep.2

5?)

13.

Co

-1

^ "Ol

Een-sen-eb.

Ea-au-ab.

4d

Ea-setchef

" Ces tables, erigees a Karnak, y servaient, pendant les fetes

le def unt au conipte
de son double." Maspero, Guide, p. 431,
^ Wiedemann {op. cit., p.
266) mentions two scarabs of this
^

des morts, ^ celebrer les sacrifices institues par

kinsr.

92

REIGN OF SEBEK-HETEP

Ka-sekhem-khu-tauIj son

[B.C. 2100

I.

Sebek-hetep

of tlie Sun,

The
hetep

rule of

to

liave

by

judge

been

we may

and, if

real,

Sebek-

over Eg-ypt

I.

seems

I.

the

monuments

few

and

in-

scriptions of his time

which have come down

to us, it extended

from

the Mediterranean Sea

to the

Second Cataract.

In the course of his

excavations at Bubas-

M. Naville found

tis,i

portions of a massive

red granite architrave

inscribed

with

prenomen

of

hetep

I.,

the

of

Sebek-

and the

have

rested

pillars

of

it

See

must
upon

very great

dimensions, and
^

size

hieroglyphics

indicates that

Limestone shrine of Pa-suten with the

figure of the god Osiris in rehef. On the
rounded portion, at the feet of the hawk
by which the shrine. is sunnounted, is the
prenomen of Anienemhat III.
(British Museum, No. 1135.)

the

it

Biilastis, p. 15.

is

REIGN OF SEBEK-HETEP

B.C. 2100]

that he must have carried on building

certain

quite

operations

When

on

the

the

used

on

large

restored

at

later

the

old
in

inscriptions

were hidden.

and

site

ancient

this

temple was

the builders

placed

Kummeh

hieroglyphic

93

I.

On

blocks

such

of

that

Second Cataract

which record

inscriptions

height of the Nile during the

reign of Sebek-hetep

I.,

is

first

and

they

Semneh

the rocks near the forts of

in the

period

granite

way

scale.

series

the

of

greatest

four years of the

and this seems

to indicate that

the power of the central government at Thebes was

sufficiently
officials

the

stable

whose duty

country,

admit of

to
it

was

the

appointment

of

to inspect the irrigation of

and to record the

levels

attained by

the waters of the Nile during the inundation.

The

governor of the Egyptian territories in Nubia at that

time was called Ken-seneb, and his headquarters seem

to

have been the

their

fort

which Usertsen

southern frontier.

appears

on the

The name

Tablet of

scarabs and other objects

now

Karnak,

III.

had

built on

of Sebek-hetep

and on several

in the British Museum.i^

Ea-user-

AAAAAA

Ka-semenkh-ka, son
1

^J\
of the Sun,

Mer-mashau.

E.g., 15,701, 16,752, 17,029, 24,134, 28,867, 32,478.

REIGN OF MER-MASHAU

94

The

principal

monuments extant

Mer-mashau

king

of

[B.C. 2000

tlie

reign of the

are two gray granite statues,

which

were brought to light in the course of the excavations

made at Tanis (San) by Mariette both statues were

set up in the great temple of Ptah in that city, and the
names of the king who caused them to be made are
;

"clearly legible " in the middle column of the inscrip-

The Hyksos king Apepa had

tion.

upon both

of them, but only one was,

of his name, usurped

by Kameses

son of Ra, adopted as his

name

" general of soldiers,"

i.e.,

his

and

the
it

name

inscribed

by the insertion

II.

title

The

king, as

"Mer-mashau,"

was thought

at

one

time that this name indicated that the king lived in

and trouble, but Brugsch pointed

times of rebellion

out

that "

mer mashau

"

was the

official title

of the

high priest of Mendes, and that the king adopted

it

rather in his priestly than in his military capacity.

18.

19-

M gssy]
M ^ i g]
ka-

fee] i

-KA.

[Ra]-usuk-Set

(?).

Ra-sekhem-se-uatch-taui, son of the Sun, Sebek-

HETEP
1

11.^

Egypt under the Pharaohs,

vol.

i.

p.

220; Wiedemann, op.

p. 267.
2

For scarabs

of this

king see Brit. Mus., Nos. 3934, 30,506.

cit.y

REIGN OF SEBEK-HETEP

B.C. 2000]

The name

of

II.

g5

Sebek-hetep

II. is

found

on the Tablet of Karnak, and on scarabs,

but we learn nearly

all

that

is

known

of

^:

this king from

in the

two

stelae,

one of which

Louvre and has been published by

Prisse d^Avennes;^ the other

name

Sebek-hetep

of

is

in

and has been described by Bers'mann.^

'

II.

He was
hetep,

Vienna

111

KhU-TAUI,
the Horns

is

v\

/T ^^

AVVVV\

man

the son of a

*-'

called

who held

the

Menthurank

of

"divine father," and of the "royal mother" Auhet-

^r^

^^u,

Q ^^;^ t^
/N /WWV\

tions

The

two " royal daughters

Anqet-tatta,

who

Louvre men-

stele in the

" called

Auhet-abu

(?)

and

are said to have been the children of

the "royal wife^^ Anna, /wwva

3, and

both are re-

presented as standing in adoration before the ithyphallic god

to

Amsu

commemorate

Seneb,

for

the

The

or Min.

stele in

Vienna seems

a brother of Sebek-hetep II. called

names of the parents of each are

Menthu-hetep and Auhet-abu, and Seneb's children

are

by the names of

called

Sebek-hetep
throne

of

II.

Egypt

seems

to

the

have

by reason

of

grandparents,

etc.

succeeded

the

his

wife^s

descent.

Monuments, plate

Eecueil de Travaux, torn.

8.
vii. p.

188 (No.

10),

to

royal

REIGN OF NEFER-HETEP

96

21-

^^ fo Q |1 "^^ Q ^^1 Ea-kha-seshesh,

son of the Sun, Nefer-hetefJ

s
<

>

REIGN OF NEFER HETEP

Here he

set

up a large

stele, i

97

on which he caused

to be

how he one day wished to see and

books of the god Temu or Atmu (i.e., the form

related an account of

read the

Ka which

of

is

the type of the setting sun), that were

He

preserved in the library of the temple.

the permission of the god to do

so,

obtained

and when he had

read the divine writings he decided to set the temple in

order,

and

whatsoever portions of

to restore

The authenticity

restoration.

of this

it

needed

document has

been doubted because of the wording of certain parts of

and an attempt made to prove from

it,

it

that the seat

of the government was not at Thebes but at Crocodilopolis

but

the text be the product of a later period,

if

in other words,

the story be an invention of the

if

priests of a later dynasty, the information

be derived from

it

consideration, for

it is

which may

incidentally is not worth

in small matters that the literary

forgers of antiquity have usually tripped.

of Nefer-hetep

serious

The name

found among those given on the

is

Tablet at Karnak,

and a portrait of the king was

published by Lepsius.^

At some time during

his reign

he was associated in the rule of the kingdom with one

of his successors, for on a slab of sandstone,

which was

found at Karnak by Mariette,^ we find side by side

with his cartouche that of Ea-kha-nefer Sebek-hetep.

See Mariette, Ahydos, torn.

ii.

pll.

28-30; Wiedemann,

p. 268.
2

Denhmdler,

See Karnak,

VOL.

III.

iii. pi.

291, Nos. 20, 21.

pi. 8.

op. cit.,

STATUES AND MONUMENTS OF

gS

22.

1^ ( o[]g[|]^]

23.

1^ foQ^] "^ C

Ea-Het-9ert-sa.

M^I

Ba-kha-nefer,

son of the Sun, Sebek-hetep.

Sebek-hetep
Ha-ankh-f, and

III.^ was, like Nefer-lietep, tlie son of

greatest kings of the

from the

appears to have been one of the

lie

Xlllth Dynasty

Mediterranean

country which

lies

his rule extended

Sea on the north to

the

between the Third and Fourth

These

Cataracts on the south.

facts are

proved by the

red granite colossal statues of the king found at Tanis

and Bubastis in the Delta, which show that he either

restored on a large scale the ancient temples existing
at these places, or built certain

made

new

which he

halls

and by two gray granite statues

to adjoin them,

of himself which are to be seen to this day lying on the

Island of Argo (Arkaw, or Argaw), a few miles to the

south of Kerma, at the head of the Third Cataract.

These statues are nearly twenty-four

they seem never to have been finished

and the other has

lost

to the period of the

them

For scarabs of

one

high, and
is

broken,

Lepsius assigned them

Hyksos, but the inscription on one of

settles the matter,

by Sebek-hetep
1

an arm.

feet

III.,
this

and proves that they were

who

set

up

styles himself,^ ''lord of the

king see Brit. Mus.

Nos. 4225, 24,135,

24,136, 25,554, 29,992, 30,507, 30,508, 32,313, 32,434.

2 The text is given by Lepsius, Denknidler, ii. pi. 151

c.

SEBEK-HETEP
" cities of the vulture
" [like

tlie

himself as " loving

(or,

"of

>^

life for

From

ever,"

their position

it

^^
<^ ^

manner

gg

and describes

loved of) Osiris Un-nefer, giver

rl

<=^

^ ^^

appears that they were set up in

front of the temple, the ruins of

after the

NUBIA

IN

and uraeus, abundant in risings

^^ |

sun],"

III.

which

close by,

lie

of the colossal statues of kings

which

were placed before the pylons of temples in Egypt.

These remains also indicate that a colony of Egyptians

of

considerable

size

must

have

existed

that

in

neighbourhood, for the temple was a large one, and the

ruins in the neighbourhood suggest that that portion
of the Eastern

Sudan was under

Egyptian control in times of peace.

tolerably

effective

When war

broke

out or a disturbance of any kind arose the Egyptian

must have been reduced

the Egyptian line of communications

garrison, if one existed there,

to sore straits, for

could be cut easily at almost any point between Argo

and Semneli by an active and determined

foe,

and

difficult,

nay

impossible, to relieve their countrymen, either by

way

reinforcements would find

of

the

Cataracts

or the

it

extremely

Batn-al-Hagar.

The gray

granite statues of Sebek-hetep III. were quarried in the

Tombos near Kerma, and some seventy years

ago Mr. Hoskins, who travelled in the country nearly
as far south as Khartum, saw there a broken statue

Island of

made

of the

same material.
1

Op.

cit., p..

Professor
270.

Wiedemann^

THE REIGNS OF SEBEK-HETEP

100

attention

calls

to

Sebek-hetep

of

Chenephres,
a

to

the

of

similarity

Klia-nefer-Ka,

III.^

king whose wife

legend,

reared Moses,

^'^ fo

Q Ul

the

IV.

tlie

the

to

Merrhis,

prenomen

name

of

according

law- giver of

great

Israel.

24

The name
derived

25.

it

E-A-KHA-KA.

of this king

was supplied by Brugsch, who

from the Tablet of Karnak.^

M (o^] -^

MS^l

Ra-kha-ankh,

son of the Sun, Sebek-hetep.

Of the reign of Sebek-hetep IV. nothing

the greater number of the monuments which
names and

titles are

is

known

record his

mentioned by Wiedemann.-

HETEP, son of the Sun, Sebek-hetep.

The name of Sebek-hetep V. is found in the Tablet

of Karnak as well as in the King List of Turin, where

we

are told that he reigned 4 years, 8 months, and 29

days.

Brugsch, Egypt under the Pharaohs, vol.

Op. cit., p. 270; see also Dubois,

i.,

p. 188.

J.

J.,

Antiquites, Paris, 1837, Nos. 197, 209, pp. 34

and

Description

36.

des

AND SEBEK-HETEP

27.

C oiii^i

UAH-AB [son of

tlie

According to

[^]

lOI

V.

(iM^]

^'-

Sun], Aa-ab.

the

Turin

Papyrus Aa-ab reigned

10 years, 8 months, and 18 days.

28.

^\^ To

j]

"^

C^l

^ 111

I^A-MER-NEFER,

son of the Sun, Ai.

According to the Turin Papyrus he reigned 13 years,

8 months, and 18 days.

29.

1^ fo ^ ^1 '^

ftl

^ ^^^ ^1

Ba-mer-

HETEP, son of the Sun, Ana.

According to the Turin Papyrus he reigned 2 years,

2 months, and 9 days.

M(i[lTlIi>' -SEANKH-NEFER-UTU.
According to the Turin Papyrus he reigned 3 years,
2 months,

31.

and some days.

M r ^ ^ ^ "^~i
f]

K^-M^=

SEKHEM-AN-REN.
According to the Turin Papyrus he reigned 3 years,
1

month, and some days.

102

REIGN OF SEBEK-HETEP

32

ll^rofl^^^^^^

t^^^^^^"^

[l1

According to the Turin Papyrus

VI.

Ra-s,..-kalie

reigned 5 years,

some months, and 18 days.

^^'

TW) (

34-39.

I^A-SEUATCH-EN.

"""^ 1

[Names wanting].

40-

T^ fo s ul

42.

AJK O

43.

4w(0'^^Wl

''^

The name

ft?

Ra-kha-ka.

-=^=^

Ra-mee-kheper.

Ra-mee-kau.

of this king is found on the Tablet of

Karnak, and from the inscription on a broken red

granite statue of the king which was found at
it

Karnak

seems that he must be regarded as Sebek-hetep VI.

The

reads

text

II

O
c

"lord of the two lands, Ra-mer-kau, son of the Sun,

" Sebek-hetep, beloved of (or, loving)

"of

Amen-[Ra], giver

life."
^

See Mariette, Karnak,

pi.

8 l, text, p. 45.

REIGN OF RA-NEHSI
44-46.

103

[Names wanting].
MESU.

47. ^\

Ka-neb-Maat, son

Aba.

of the Sun,

Ea-

49

50-53.

54.

-UBEN.

[Names wanting].

M (o^lpwl]

[Ea]-Nehsi.

In the year 1860 the natives

Tell-Mukdam

at

in the

Delta discovered among the ruins of an old house the

base of a black granite, colossal, seated figure of a king,

and when M. Mariette had studied the inscription, he

decided that the

monument had been made by a

Hyksos king, and

thought that

he

could identify

in the cartouche the hieroglyphic for the god Sutekh,

yOl.

Later,

who by

" restoring "

discover in

it

was studied by Ebers,

the cartouche
certain

characters

wished

to

the hieroglyphic form of the Hyksos

king called Salatis.

Subsequently the cartouche was

submitted to further examination by M. Naville^ and as

a result he has proved
^

that the cartouche

See Becueil de Travaux,

Almas

el-Meclineh, plates 4, b1,

torn.

and

xv.
b2.

p.

99

is

not that

see also Naville,

REIGN OF RA-NEHSI

104
of a

Hyksos

king, but of the king

whose name stands

The word

"

Nehsi

at

or

Ea-Nehsi,

the head of this paragraph.

" negro,"

means

"

Nehsi
and

it

is

possible

that this king was a veritable negro, who, by some

means, made good his claim to the throne of Egypt,

and as in an inscription

" royal son, firstborn Nehsi,"

he

seems

He was

have

to

entitled

to

"lover

note

he declared

that

ly
4^

law thereto.

shown

and

it is

himself

to

interest-

be

the

worshipper) of Set, the lord of Ke-ahet,"

(i.e.,

55.

by

of alien race, a fact

by the use of the determinative

ing

himself

calls

been

man

certainly a

Tanis^ he

at

1^1]

M.
Ea-kha-kheru.

Neter

^^^^

nefer

neb taui Ab-aa.

The

made known by a stele

British Museum, where it bears the

existence of this king

preserved in the

is

number 1348 it was found at Thebes at the end of

1900.
The stele measures 22^ in. by 14 J in., and has
;

Petrie, Tanis,

pfc.

I.

plate

3,

No. 19a.

REIGN OF AB-AA
alroimded top

Aa-ab given

on the

thrice,

we have the name

surface

flat

105

with other symbols, thus

V8

of

11
Q

^n
^
AAAAAA
/^A/Vv^A

AA/vAAA

AA/VV^^

Below

are 14 horizontal lines

show

of text which

that the stele was dedicated to Ptah-[Seker-Asar], lord

of Abydos,

and

to

Amen-Ra,

by Het-her-sa

world,

Amen-Ea who
(var.

Zi

lord of the thrones of the

^ ^^

held the rank of ^

186&

a priestly

His father was a

).

Usertsenusa

was

1
|

v>

^aa/^^

.In

the

bottom

Dynasty.

work of the

The brother

- /ww^

left-hand

figures, in relief, of the deceased

of the

''^^'^

latter

r^n

called

and his wife's name

Ankhtenet-sutenet-tept-senb-sen

Ml]
style

^
"^^ ^"^
3ID

of

official

and his

>^
I

corner

are

wife, in the

part of the

Xllth

of the deceased and certain of

his ancestors were " superintendents of the mysteries of

Amen,'

Nekhen."

t=s=:

and were "judges of

io6

CHAPTER

III.

EGYPT UNDER THE MIDDLE EMPIRE. SUMMARY.

Having
facts in

stated

in

tlie

preceding pages

tlie

principal

connexion witli the reigns of the kings of the

Xlllth

Xlth, Xllth and

Dynasties,

we may now

attempt to describe in brief the main characteristics of

this period of

All the evidence

Egyptian history.

now

available shows that these three dynasties were closely

connected, and that

The

they mnst be treated together.

principal event which

from the preceding

is

distinguishes

this

the transference of the seat of

government from Memphis and Herakleopolis

i.e.,

from the north to the south

when the family

of the

originally princes of

period

to Thebes,

this event took place

Menthu-heteps, who

were

Hermonthis (the modern Erment,

about eight miles to the south of Thebes), and

who

subsequently extended their authority over the whole

of the Thebaid,

obtained complete control over the

whole of the Nile Valley, and assumed the double

crown of the South and the North as the kings of the

The kings of the Xllth Dynasty, who

were purely of Theban origin, were evidently very
closely related to the kings of the Xlth Dynasty, and

Xlth Dynasty.

BATTALIONS OF EGYPTIAN SOLDIERS

107

!C<3
c:

33

^.

1^

r-l

2-S

la

0:

.3

pH

INSTRUCTIONS OF AMENEMHAT
it is

probable that

Amenemhat

I.

lOQ

I.

was a blood relation

of Seanklika-Ka, the last king of the

Xlth Dynasty,

and a king famous as the sender of a mission on a large

scale to

Although Amenemhat succeeded his

Punt.

kinsman without any long interregnum, there

doubt that there was some

is

no

between the

distinction

Amenemhat would
founder of a new dynasty

families of the two kings, otherwise

not have been reckoned the

and the succession of this king

have been disputed,

if

to the throne

seems to

we may judge from the hints

which are given us in his "Instructions" to his son

however, interesting to note that the

Usertsen.^

It

later kings

of the

is,

Xllth Dynasty

built their private

palaces not at Thebes, but at a place called " Het-Thet-

^nr^ ^-^
' ^
mLJ

Taui," J
'

which seems

situated at no great distance from the

to

have been

modern

city of

Minyeh.

Another

interesting

Xllth Dynasty

is

fact

connected

with

the predilection which

its

the

kings

always showed for the province of the Fayyum,

of

which the hieroglyphic inscriptions make no special

mention until this period, when both
crocodile-headed
^

See above,

Sebek

is

god Sebek,^

it

and

its local

jN:=:^^5\, assume

p. 5.

a local form of the Sun-god Ra, and

is

mentioned in

Empire he was a great favourite with the kings

of the Xllth and Xlllth Dynasties, but subsequently fell into
a humble position, from which, however, he again emerged in
Greek times, when under the name ScDxoJ or ^vxos he became one
texts of the Early

of the principal

gods of Egypt.

no

THE WORSHIP OF SEBEK

We

very prominent positions.

of

Amenemhat IV. was

of the kings of the

have seen that the

called Sebek-neferu,

sister

and several

Xlllth Dynasty bore the name Sebek-

hetep, facts which prove

how

great was the honour in

Painted wooden figure of a servant'of " Pepi-en-ankh, the Black" carrying his
master's luggage; front view. Xlth or XII th Dynasty. From Meir.

which the god was

held.

The common worship and

veneration of the god Sebek obviously closely connects

the Xllth and Xlllth Dynasties, and

it

seems that the

PROSPERITY OF EGYPT, ABOUT

first

B.C.

23OO

III

kings of the Xllltli Dynasty were connected by

marriage with the family of

Under the great kings

Amenemhat

of the

III.

Xllth Dynasty Egypt

attained to a position of power and greatness which she

Painted wooden fig'ure of a servant of " Pepi-en-ankh, the Black " carrying his
master's lug-gage back view. Xlth or Xllth Dynasty. From Meir.
;

had not enjoyed

since the days of the

Vlth Dynasty,

for

the government was in the hands of strong and energetic

monarch s, by whom the power of the

local princes

and

FORTS, CANALS, AND RESERVOIRS

112

With

governors was curtailed or guided.

of private hostilities,
local

chiefs,

and

revived,

cessation

which had existed between the

general

the

tlie

prosperity

the

of

country

wealth again became great, and the

its

kings were thereby enabled to

carry out the great

engineering works in connexion with the irrigation of

country,

the

which

made

names

their

famous

in

Instead of building great tombs for

Egyptian history.

themselves, as the kings of earlier dynasties had done,

or erecting vast temples, as did their successors, they

seem

to

have devoted their energies and the resources

of the country to works of public utility,

making

of canals and reservoirs,

and

i.e.,

to the

fortresses on the

southern and north-eastern frontiers of their country, to

protect

it

from the sudden inroads of the barbarians.

Although Egypt as yet seems

have aspired to no

to

actual rule over the surrounding nations, yet the kings

of

Xllth

the

Dynasty

frontiers, especially in the south,

built the frontier fortresses of

the

foot

definitely

of the

extended

her

where Usertsen

III.

considerably

Semneh and Kummeh

Second Cataract

annexed

the whole

by

this

act

country between

at

he
the

modern towns of Aswan and Wadi Haifa, and this

territory has practically remained a part of Egypt

On

proper ever since.

period,

the other hand, neither at this

nor at any other in

Egyptians

appear

to

have

their

attempted

permanently any portion of Libya

Xllth Dynasty,

of

history,

we

to

do the

annex

hear, under the

Egyptian raids upon the Libyan

THE PENINSULA OF

SINAI

113

made sometimes under the leadership of the

heir-apparent, e.g., Usertsen I., who was absent on one
of these expeditions when he heard of the death of his
father, Amenemhat I.
In Asia, Egypt possessed in
the Xllth Dynasty, as in earlier times, only certain
tribes,

Green

diorite statue of

British

districts

in

the

an

official.

Museum, No.

Xllth Dynasty.
29,671.

Peninsula of Sinai,

e.g.,

Sarbut-al-

Khadim, which, with the Wadi Maghara, already often

mentioned, was held by the Egyptians on account of its
valuable copper and turquoise mines

worked with great

activity at

Xlllth Dynasty they seem

VOL.

III.

to

this

these mines were

time, but in the

have been temporarily

I

114

EGYPT, CANAAN, AND PUNT

abandoned.

But

direct

domination over

Syria, tbe tribes of

the Egyptians

Egyptians exercised no

altliougli tlie

Canaan maintained

wbicb

were

certainly

and

relations with

of a

friendly

and the kings of Egypt probably exercised

character,

Families of Canaan-

considerable influence over them.

ites often

of Palestine

tribes

tlie

made

their

way

into Egypt,

where they seem

have been well received, and we hear nothing of any

to

attacks

or

peoples of
frontier

made by the Egyptians upon the

Palestine and Syria at this period.
The
raids

on the north-east was protected from invasion

by wandering desert
extending across the

tribes

by a chain of

fortresses

swampy country which seems

to

have existed between the Mediterranean Sea and the

Ked

The

Sea.

friendly

relations

existed from very ancient

Punt, seem,

Hennu

in

if

the

times

which must have

between Egypt and

we may judge from the expedition

of

reign of Seankhka-Ka, to have been

maintained, but under the kings of the Xllth Dynasty

we

find

no special mention of voyages

to Punt.

During the Middle Empire the strong and independent position which the nobles had attained after
the collapse of the powerful rule of the kings of the

Vlth Dynasty was

still

maintained, though in a con-

siderably modified form.

were

still

in

local hd^

all-powerful in their

private interests were

and

The

made

^=^^ princes

own nomes, but

their

to yield to public policy,

these respects the king seems to have ruled

them with

heavy hand

towards the end of the

POSITION OF
Xllltli Dynasty,

when the

THE NOBLES
royal power

had

115
fallen into

weak hands, the princes and nobles regained

their old

position of independence, which naturally included the

privilege of

making war upon each other when and

where they

liked,

The

official

Ankh-p-khrat.

privilege

which they had been

Xllth Dynasty.

British

Museum, No.

obliged to forego under the strong rule of the

emhats and Usertsens.

We

32,183.

Amen-

are justified in assuming

that a very large proportion of the royal names which

have been assigned

to the Xllltli

and XIYth Dynasties

belonged to petty chiefs and nobles, who masqueraded

as great kings.

In the East a strong government has

POSITION OF

Il6

always brought with

it

THE PEOPLE

security of

life

and in consequence material prosperity

and increased well-being

and property,
to the country

to its inhabitants,

and Egypt

under the Xllth Dynasty afforded no exception

rule

to this

probably at no period of her existence

the masses

of the

were

population in better case than in

the period of the Xllth Dynasty, a period which has,

with great justice, been described as the " Golden Age

of

"

Egyptian history.

We

have already seen that

in the

Vtli

and YIth

Dynasties the power of the priests had become very

but under the Middle Empire their temporal

great,

power seems

have been considerably curtailed and

to

their political influence not to have been very great, a

fact probably

due to the transfer of the temporal power

of the country from the old priestly seats of Heliopolis

and Memphis to the new capital Thebes, of which the

Amen, had, up

local god, called

to

this period,

been

ministered to

by a priesthood, poor and limited in

We

have abundant proofs that the cult of

number.

Amen was
but

many

increasing greatly in the Xllth Dynasty,

centuries

had

to

fraternity of the priests of

of

elapse

Amen

the

before

reached the height

power and influence which the Heliopolitan

enjoyed at the period of the Vth Dynasty.

Middle Empire

Amen was

con-

priests

In the

not identified with Ea, for

the cult of Thebes had not yet absorbed that of Heliopolis

of

the

worship

considerable at this time^

of

Sebek,

which

was very

we have already spoken.

BOOK OF THE DEAD

IN

THE

XIlTH

In the matter of funeral ceremonies

revival, a fact proved
coffins, "

painted
same,

by

Canopic

tlie

DYNASTY IT7

tliere

was a great

numerous inscribed and

" jars,

and boxes

to bold the

which are such

etc.,

distinguishing character-

tombs

the

of

istics

of

Xlth

and

Xllth

Dynasties.

It

seems

the

that the "Canopic" jars

were

first

this

period,

stead

introduced

when,

the

of

at
in-

covers

of

tbe jars being fashioned

in

shapes

the

the

of

beads of the genii of the

dead

use

in

the

periods,

each

was

jar

later

cover

of

the

in

human

head,

eventually

was

form of a

which

in

appropriated to Amset or

In connection

Mestha.

with the performance of

funeral

ceremonies

we
Black basalt figure of an official.
Xllth Dynasty.
British Museum, No. 33,186,

find that at this period

the

Booh of

finally

the

Bead was

arranged in the form which was afterwards

practically

stereotyped

religious writers of

by

the

sacred

scribes

and

Thebes in the XYIIIth Dynasty.

LITERATURE

Il8

Of

tlie

THE

secular literature of

The

said.

IN

" Instructions

tlie

were,

I."

king

tlie

can be

little

himself,

though known

Sa-nehat,

Story of

the

period

Amenemhat

of

no doubt, originally tbe work of

and

DYNASTY

XIlTH

to

us

only from papyri of a later period, must have been

composed about the end of the reign of Usertsen

Story of

the

M. Maspero,^
some other
in

Shipwreck belongs, according

the
to

about the same period,

which have only come down

stories

a fragmentary condition.

secular literature
tion of wills

found at

may

class
is

to

as

to

us

Under the heading

of

also be

mentioned the

collec-

and other legal documents, which were

Kahun by

Professor Petrie;- these documents

are of peculiar interest,

light

as well

I.

inasmuch as they throw great

upon the domestic and family

Egyptians at this period.

affairs of

Moreover,

middle-

Kahun

of great interest on account of the excavations

have been conducted both there and

which have revealed

to us the oldest

itself

which

at Illahun,

and

towns that have

The town of Illahun was

the workmen who were building the

hitherto been uncovered.

made

specially for

neighbouring pyramid of Usertsen

that temporary towns of a

II.,

and

it

seems

similar character always

sprang up wherever pyramids were being

will be noticed that the kings of the

built.

It

Xllth Dynasty

continued to build pyramid tombs, as their ancestors in

Contes Pojmlanes, p. 135 if.

Griffith, Kahun Papyri, London, 1899.

See

ART

IN

THE

XIlTH

DYNASTY

119

LAKE MOERIS AND THE LABYRINTH

120
the

Ancient Empire had done, but they were much

smaller than the mighty pyramids of the IVth Dynasty.

The

greatest engineering

was the construction

more nor

less

of

work of the Middle Empire

Lake Moeris, which was neither

than a gigantic reservoir; part of this

wonderful work

is

now

represented by the Birket

al-

Karun, in the province of the Fayyum, which, with the

exception of the district

known

as Shet in fhe hiero-

glyphic inscription, the site of the city Crocodilopolis

or Arsinoe, the seat of the worship of Sebek,
entirely covered

days.
place

was almost

by the waters of Lake Moeris in ancient

swamp existed at this

from time immemorial, and many kings may have
It is possible that a great

carried out in connection with

and reclamation

but to

it

works of regulation

Amenemhat

III.

certainly

belongs the credit of having finally fixed the extent of

the Lake, and of building the works necessary for the
provision of a regular and constant supply of water to

the

neighbouring

To

country.

the

same king

is

we
Xllth

attributed the building of the Labyrinth, of which

have spoken at length.^

The kings

Dynasty were not great temple

of the

builders,

and indeed,

the temples did not receive any considerable support

from them, a fact no doubt due to the weakness of the

priesthood
at

at

time.

this

The

old

temple of

Amen

Karnak, which must have been a very insignificant

building, was, however, greatly enlarged and adorned

by the

first

kings of the Xllth Dynasty, and we

1

See above,

p.

48

ff.

know

THE OBELISKS AT HELIOPOLIS

that Usertsen

Sun-god

I.

121

added largely to the temple of the

at Heliopolis,

and that he distinguished

it

by

the erection of a pair of red granite obelisks of a height

and

size previously

Empire

is

unknown.

The

art of the

developed directly out of that of the Ancient

Empire, but one of the most prominent of

istics is
is

Middle

its

character-

an increased tendency towards realism, which

especially seen in the designs

small objects.

The

and workmanship of

scarabs of the Xllth Dynasty are

particularly interesting and beautiful.

122

CHAPTER

ly.

THE FOURTEENTH DYNASTY. FROM

AccoRDiNa

to Manetlio the

XlVth Dynasty

of

184 or

the King List of Turin supplies a

number

all

names which may have been those

this dynasty
as follows

2-

3.

4.

of the kings of

transcribed into hieroglyphics they read

T^

4%^

^T) "^^

op-^U]
O ^==^

i)

Ra-mer-tchefa.

Ba-sta-ka.

Ra-neb-tchefa.

5.M(gi^]RA-UBEN(II.).
6.

comprised

either

seventy-six kings, wlio reigned in

484 years

XOIS.

M C^MSS]

^-^-^-^-^

THE FOURTEENTH DYNASTY.

7.

o Hill

^\

FROM

Ra-

XO'lS

-TCHEFA.

m(m\j^;j m.vB^.im.).
9.

10.

11.

^1^ C ^

'^

1^ (31?]

(o -^

fl

[Name wanting.]

13.

4l^ (

15-

4w

fl

"^l

Ra-aht-ab.

Ka-hee-ab.

^^1

12.

14.

Ra-neb-senu.

""^ 1 I^A-SEUAH-EN.

^ *^^ 1

4^ (o f \\

Ra-sekheper-Een.

Ra-tet-kheru.

16.

1^ fo

1'7-

r^ UO^

j T^l

tel

Ra-seankh-[Ka].

[Ra]-nefer-Tem.

18.

1^

19

li^ r^rrT^^^m^ ra-xa.

I23

Ra-sekhem-

THE REIGN OF ANAB

124

M (3ss]

21-

o
^\^ f(
v_

23.

cii

R-A-

Ea-smen-.

/:^

24. ^\

Ea-mer-sekhem,

25.

[Name wanting.]

26.

[Name

27

ll^ fn

^^-

M (q"^'] "^

wanting.]

^^^^^^^^^^$"1

Ea-senefek-

(J_5]|

Ba-men-khau,

son of the Sun, Anab.

was found by Mariette

stele wliicli

at

provides us with a relief in which this king

Abydos ^
is

repre-

sented in the act of adoring Amsu, or Min, of Coptos,

and the accompanying text shows that he was adoring-

Khent Amenti, at the same time. The stele

gives the Horus name of the king, which is

Osiris,

also

'

See AhydoSf

torn.

ii.

pi. 27.

THE REIGN OF SEBEK-EM-SA-F

Se-uatch-taui

====,

"He who

i.e.,

I25

maketli fertile

two lands."

tlie

29.

[Name wanting.]

30.

[Name wanting.]

qyImi

^^-

%-

Ea-sekhem-uatch-khau, son

L^^^
Sebek-em-

of tlie Sun,

SA-r.

monuments

Tlie

wliicli

remain of this king, Sebek-

EM-SA-F,

though few, are very interesting.

rocks

the

in

in

which he

valley
is

offerings to the

indicates

fact

of

are

two scenes

the

act

of

that the

were worked

quarries

" god, lord of the

on

it

two lands, the

he

who

is

lord,

maker
is

of created

sculptured a

As

called Sebek-em-sa-f."'

the fine green basalt funereal

XXXb.

would seem, he

called " beautiful

is

belonging to the period of this king

plinth,

it

the base of the statue

of his son,

there

red granite standing statue of the

carried on some works

figure

making

god Amsu, or Min, of Coptos,^ and this

king was found at Abydos, where,

On

the

Hammamat

represented in

during his reign.

" things."

On

may

be mentioned

scarab, set in

gold

and inscribed with parts of the text of Chapters

and LXIV. of the Book of the Bead, which

See Lepsius, Denhndler^

'

For a drawing of

it

ii.

pi. 151, k

and

?.

see Mariette, Ahydos, torn.

ii.

pi. 26.

is

THE REIGN OF SEBEK-EM-SAU-F

126

now 'preserved

Museum

(No. 7876).

On

the edge of tlie gold plinth are found the words, "

King

in

Sebek-em-sa-f,"

tlie Britisli

(P

^^==^

k ^]'

^^^^ ^* ^

probable that this very interesting object, which was

found at Kurna, where

it

from the king's tomb.

was bought by Mr.

Prof.

small sepulchral box, inscribed

em-sa-f,

which

Salt,

came

Wiedemann mentions a
with the name of Sebek-

also probably belonged to the king

small green basalt scarab set in a gold covering upon

which are inscribed the king's name and

titles is also

known.

w rtp?tsi

32

Ka-sekhem-sheti-taui, son

of

the

Sun, Sebek-em-

SAU-F.

The

principal

Sebek-em-sau-f

monument known
is

the

to

limestone

us of the reign of
cone which

com-

memorates the scribe of the temple of Sebek called

Sebek-hetep, and his wife Auhetab

which

We

is

5 ^^;^ "^

and

now preserved in the British Museum (No. 1163).

read in the Abbott Papyrus

^^^

that in the sixteenth

See Hilton Price, Catalogue, London, 1897,

See Maspero, EnquSte, p. 18.

p. 27,

No. 187.

THE QUEEN NUB-KHA-S

127

year of the reign of Kameses IX. the tomb of Sebek-emsau-f had been broken into by thieves,

way

into

who had

cut their

through

it

the wall of the outer

chamber of the super-

intendent of the
granaries of king
Thothmes

III.,

which

by.

That

was

close

part

of the

tomb

in

which the king

had

been

was

buried

empty,

was

as

also

the other part of the

tomb wherein the

body

of

"great

the

royal wife Nub-kha-s"

fW^

laid,

and

it

had been

seems that

the evildoers had com-

wrecked

pletely

Bobberies of

bodies.

royal
this

very

the

tombs had
period

at

become

common,

and

the Government were

driven

appoint

Sepulchral conical stele of the scribe Sebekhetep, A'sho flourished in the reign of Sebekem-sau-f. British Museum, No, 1163.

eventually to
a

Commission

which

should

inquire

into

THE ROBBERY OF THE TOMB

128

matter, and report on

the

thieves.

The members

of

damage done by

tlie

Commission

this

the tombs in the Valley of the Kings, and

evidence

that they collected

of

the

on

the

spot

visited

seems

it

certain

and others

turned king's witnesses,

thieves

tlie

among the

confessed their guilt, and by good fortune,

papyri in the possession of Lord Amherst of Hackney,

is

one which records the confession of one of the thieves

who broke

tombs of Sebek-em-sau-f and his

into the

wife,

and wrecked their mummies.

tomb

of Queen

He

says that the

Nub-kha-s was "surrounded by masonry,

"closed up with stones, protected by rubble, covered

*'

with slabs, but we penetrated them notwithstanding,

"and covered over with

" with work,

hhesh-khesh, and demolished

and we found

We

" resting likewise.

it [i.e.,

the queen's

opened their

coffins

it

mummy]
and their

"wrappings which were in them, and we found this

" noble
"

mummy

of this

king.

were two swords and things

It

many

" necklaces of gold on his neck, his

" with gold
"

upon

it.

was found

The noble

there

of amulets

and

head was covered

mummy

was adorned with gold throughout.

of this king

Its

wrappings

" were graven with gold and silver within and without
"

and covered with every precious stone.

"the gold that we found on the noble

" god, together

We

" off all that

tore off

mummy

of this

with his amulets and necklaces which

" were on his neck,

" rested.

We

and the wrappings on which they

found the royal wife likewise.

which we found from

it

We

tore

likewise and

we

OF QUEEN NUB-KHA-S

I2g

" set fire to tlieir wrappiugs.

We

" whicli

[consisting of] gold and

we found with them

" silver and copper vases

took

tlieir

furniture

and we divided, and we made

"this gold which we found upon these two gods on

"their

noble

and

"necklaces
"[i.e.,

mummies and the amulets

the

wrappings

It is pleasing to

lots]."

men who were concerned

upon their

feet."

the

pieces

that the eight

in the robbery of the

"were examined with blows of the

" they were beaten

eight

into

know

and

stick,"

tomb

and that

The Museum

of

the Louvre possesses a stele of Queen Nub-kha-s, which

M. E. de Eouge,

as far back as 1876, attributed to the

Xlllth Dynasty,- and Prof. Wiedemann

as the wife of Sebek-em-sa-f

identified her

thanks to the Abbott

Papyrus we now know that she was the wife of Sebekem-saii-f.

^1

33.

4*^

34.

M fQ-l^gl

36.

*^

P P

Ra-sesuser-taui.

Ea-neb-ati-

^P^ASal

Ba-men-[Ra].

See Newberry, The Amherst Papyri, London, 1899, pp. 25, 27.
See Notice Sommaire des Monuments Egyptiens, Paris, 1876,
47 (C. 13). The genealogy of this queen is given by Pierrot,

p.

^tildes Egyptologiques, Paris, 1878, Liv. 8, pp. 5, 6.

VOL.

III.

THE FOURTEENTH DYNASTY

130

37-

MtoHSS]

Ra-seusert-a

Ea-sekhem-Uast.

39.

[Name wanting.]

40.

[Name wanting.]

41.

[Name wanting.]

With

tlie

exception of one or two of the kings whose

names are given

in the above

list,

e.g.,

Sebek-em-sa-f

and Sebek-em-sau-f, who, however, probably lived in

the period of the Xlllth Dynasty, none of the monarchs
of

the

XIYth Dynasty can

ever

have

possessed

dominion over Egypt, south and north, and

all

they

actually reigned, some of their reigns must have

been contemporaneous.
1

if

Moreover,

it is

very probable,

Parts of about thirty other royal names of the

XIYth Dynasty

seen in the fragments of the Turin Papyrus, but they

they will be found duly set out
are not worth recording here
in the Aegyptische Geschichte of Prof. Wiedemann, pp. 274, 275,
will be

where

is
given a list of names derived from stelae,
and other monuments, which seem to belong to the
the Xlllth and XTVth Dynasties (pp. 275-283).

also

scarabs,

period of

HELPLESSNESS OF EGYPT
as

some

liave supposed, that tlie kings of tlie

Dynasty ruled

in the Delta

whilst the later kings

of

Head

monuments

XlVtli

and in the north of Egypt

Xlllth Dynasty were

of the

ruling in the Thebaid.

absence

131

In any

case, the almost total

of the

kings of the

XlVth

of a portrait statue of an official. XlVth DjTiasty.

British Museum, No. 997.

Dynasty proves that their power in the land was very

small,

and

that, in consequence,

Egypt lay defenceless

before any attack that might be

Syrian, or Negro.

The

rich

made by Libyan,

and

fertile

Egypt was coveted by her hereditary

or

country of

foes from time

SEMITES SETTLE

132

immemorial, and

slie

fell

IN

THE DELTA

an easy prey before them

under the failing power of the kings of the Xlllth and

XlVth
to

the

Dynasties.

nomad

The Syrians and people belonging

tribes of the desert

settling in the Delta for centuries,

themselves owners of lands

reason which
foreigners

is

unknown

had been quietly

and had been making

and

to us the

estates.

For some

immigration of the

from the east increased largely, and their

kinsmen, who were already in the country, making

common

cause with them, they seized the land and set

up a king over them.

The

rulers of the people

did these things are called by

"

Shepherd-Kings."

Manetho

who

" Hyksos," or

^33

CHAPTER

V.

THE FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH DYNASTIES.

THE HYKSOS OR SHEPHERDS.

We

have already seen that at the end of the Xlllth

Dynasty the government of Egypt had become

feeble that it could not set

up one king

so

sufficiently

strong to prove himself master of the entire country,

and we

find that

Egypt was soon

after the

end of the

period of that dynasty taken possession of without

and

strife,

nomad

war

not by a nation but by a confederation of

tribes,

which are known as the

the origin of these people

little

is

"

Hyksos."

Of

known, and of the

when they made themselves masters of

Egypt nothing is known, and all that has come down
exact period

to

us are

few statements concerning the Hyksos

which the historian Josephus quotes from the

lost

Egyptian History of Manetho, not with the view of

giving us

information

about

them,

but

merely in

support of his theory that the Hyksos kings of Egypt

were ancestors of the Jewish nation.

a theory

was put forward by Lepsius

Many

years ago

to the effect that

THE HYKSOS OR SHEPHERDS

134

Hyksos invasion

the

the Xllth

Eouge

de

later

of

Egypt took place

Dynasty/ but

this

to be impossible,

by Lepsius that

it

Dynasty was soon seen

end of

at the

was soon proved by

and the view expressed

took place early in the Xlllth

to be equally impossible, for at

that period the Egyptian kings were indeed masters of

own country.
The Egyptian monuments tell us nothing about
the Hyksos, but we are certainly right in assuming
their

that they were only a vast

gathering of tribes from

the Sinaitic Peninsula, the Eastern Desert, Palestine,

and

Syria,

whole

time, migrated

to

there

which,

Hyksos.'*^

He

made

Manetho

by

from

says that the people

may

the

who invaded

the

<yvo<i aarj/ioi,

and that they conquered the country without a

M. Maspero thinks very

analyze

concerning

country were of ignoble race, avOpwTroi to

this,

time

Delta .and settled down

the

into

of

but before we consider these we

statements

the

sections

possible,

battle

because the

invaders were provided with chariots drawn by horses,

which would enable them to move swiftly from one

place to another at a pace
soldiers.

Having

See Konigshuch,

Examen

See Josephus

unknown

to the

Egyptian

seized the local governors, they burnt

p. 21.

de VOuvrage de M.

against

le

Chevalier de Bunsen,

Apion,

I,

14.

ii.

p. 35.

Apion was a Greek

grammarian who flourished in the first half of the first century of

our era he was a native of Oasis, and was the author of manyworks, one at least of which contained several attacks upon the
;

Jews.

AND THEIR CITY AVARIS

the Egyptian
tlie

cities,

I35

destroyed the temples, aad reduced

people to a state of slavery, but Josephus

probably exaggerated
Tlie invaders set

of Manetho's words.

force

tlie

up a king

here

lias

called Salatis at

Memphis,

and he became lord of the South and North

he

Upper Egypt), but

established garrisons (probably in

gave his chief attention to the guarding of the eastern

frontier of the country, because he feared the

In this statement we seem

power of the Assyrians.

have a reflection of solid historical

to

growing

for the

fact,

who

Assyrians here referred to are, no doubt, those

were dwellers in Mesopotamia, and who were subjects

the viceroys

of

Assyria, which
lords, the

his

of

kingdom

the

afterwards

they ruled on behalf of their over-

kings

of Babylon,

i.e.,

Khammurabi and

The dwellers

immediate successors.^

and Palestine joined with the nomadic

Eastern Desert, and

needed

pursued

be

to

fled

foresight to

little

Assyria and Babylon.

Egypt

see

by

thither

the

As

for

in

Syria

tribes of the

and

safety,

that they might

victorious

it

easily

armies

of

precautionary measure

Salatis rebuilt the city of Avaris,

^ V>

called

i.e.,

the " Het-Uart,"

inscriptions,

which

must have been

close to Tanis, in the Sethroite

nome,

upon the

east

of

garrisoned

it

<?

^,

of the

the

Egyptian

Bubastite

channel,

with a force of 250,000 men.

and

he

garrison

I.e., Sumu-abu, Sumu-la-ilu, Zabum, Apil-Sin, Sin-Muballit,

and Ilammurabi see King, Letters and Inscriptions of Hainmurali,
'

vol.

iii.

p. Ixvi.

ff.

KHAMMURABI CONQUERS ELAM

136

here must have been greatly needed, chiefly on account

of the restless condition of the tribes of

Western Asia

at this period.

We

know

lonians

had

Semitic,

dispossessed

peoples

occupied their

of

cities,

Baby-

of history that the

a matter

as

southern

non-

Sumerian,

or

Babylonia

and

the

had

but soon after they had taken

possession of the country and had begun to establish a

strong government, they were in their turn exposed to

the invasion of a race of people from the east,
Kassites.

The Elamites had

in times past

i.e.,

the

attacked

the kings of the cities of the plain of Babylonia, and

they must have greatly harassed the early rulers of the

1st

Hammurabi

Dynasty of Babylon.

finally

broke the

Elamite power in the 30th and 31st years of his

reign,^

but these bitter foes of Babylon were succeeded by the

Kassites, who, in the reign of Samsu-iluna, the son and

successor of

Khammurabi,

first

appear in Babylonia.

Samsu-iluna defeated the Kassites

of his reign, but

though driven

Kassite raid was only the

the

Kassites founded

first

off

in the ninth year

on this occasion, the

of many,^

and eventually

dynasty at Babylon.

The

Elamite and Kassite pressure from the east caused an

emigration from Babylonia and her dependencies west-

wards and southwards, and the people thus dispossessed

drove before them the nomadic tribes on the north-east
frontier of
'

Egypt from

their lands,

and thrust them

King, Letters and Inscrijptions of Tlamniiirahi, p. 236 ff.

3 ji)i^^^
2^2 ff.

Ibid., p.

p, ixix.

MEANING OF THE NAME HYKSOS

Egypt.

into

was

It

folk that Salatis built

number of
we must remember that
documents. The city of

fort,

liis

250,000 soldiers seems high,

we

Egypt against such

protect

to

are dealing with oriental

I37

and

if

the

Avaris cannot have been founded by Salatis, as some

have thought,

name

for its

tion of king Nehsi,^ and

that

likely

Salatis

is

it

mentioned in an inscripcase, far

more

an old city than

that

is,

fortified

any

in

he built a new one.

The
six

or

in

Hyksos

and

number,

Saites,

according

kings,

their

who reigned

who

reigned 44 years

years

19

names
years

reigned 49 years

were

Salatis,^

Bnon,^ or Beon,

Pachnan,^ who

who reigned 50

Staan,''

Manetho, were

to

years

reigned 61

Archies,''

who

and Aphobis,'' who reigned 61 years;

The meaning assigned to

the name "Hyksos" by Manetho is " Shepherd-Kings,"
and he says that the first syllable, vk, means "king,"
6 kings in 284 years.

i.e.,

and the second,

HYK

is

" shepherd."

cro)?,

clearly the

Egyptian word heq,

\

prince, chief,"

and the

like,

" kings " (in the plural)

The second
word SHASU,

Now, the

syllable,

^ _^

Recueil, torn. xv. p. 98

SaAtTis.

''

'Apfdsj^Tadi'/ldpuas.

-^

zl
|

W>

must represent the Egyptian

'

^^'

"

^omad, desert

Mariette, Monuments,

Bvuu.

" king,

but as Manetho speaks of

f _^ [X]

'^"AcpwcpLSi

a^,

we must read hequ,

crco?,

syllable

pi. 63.

'ATrax^as, or Uaxvav.

''

Ov,''Aaais,'Aa(rr}d.

A(pwfits,''ATru(pis.

THE SHEPHERD-KINGS

138
dwellers/'

" keepers

or

" shepherds,"
is

of

it

or,

if it

was in

in the

XlXth

doubtful

is

XYth Dynasty

use in the time of the

" desert

man," preferably a

was only in much

later times that it

means a

sliasu

Syrian, and

herds,"

But we must remember that the word

not an old one, and that

Dynasty

and

flocks

it

mean " shepherd." The ancient names for the

people who were in late times called " Shasu," are
"Menti," " Sati," and Aamu." In the words "Hequ
came

to

M^

Shasu,"

Hil

'^

==^

^^^

^^^^^^

[X]

'
i

been corrupted into " Hyksos/' we no doubt see the

plural form of the equivalent of the title which the

Hyksos king Khian adopted

semtu,"

fore "

so long as

" is

Heq

"

and there-

not an inaccurate rendering

we understand that the kings were

In the extract from Josephus given below

desert folk.

a second meaning

is

"

and

name "Hyksos," i.e.^

said to mean " captive

given to the

in another copy of the

shepherds

i.e.,

" Prince of the deserts,"

Shepherd-Kings

them

of

III

as his own,

work

it is

" kings.'^

not

This

question has

been discussed by Krall,^ who would in this

derive the

word haq,

Shasu

"

nomad
^

'Ep-

\P

^^

n'

name from the Egyptian

" pi'isoner," so

would mean " prisoner

desert

irpoariyopias,
-

syllable of the

first

aAAot avriypdcpCf)

aWa

(shasu).

tribes"

ov Baai\e7s

(or,

that

ii.

p. 69.

"

Haq

prisoners) of the

Finally,
crrji-iaLueadai

Sia

Josephus
rf/s

Tohuavrioi' atXi"-aAwToys hi^Kovadai iromeyas,

Aeg. Stuclien, vol.

case

tov vk

THE "filthy
quoting Manetho says that
of

Egypt

HYKSOS

139

Hyksos kept possession

tlie

511 years, and Julius Africanus declares

for

that the period was 518 years

the total of the reigns of the

to either of these

but

impossible for

it is

XVth Dynasty

numbers of years

we must

assume that the period of 511, or 518

amount

to

therefore

years, represents

the whole of the time which the Hyksos spent in Egypt.

The

last

king of the Hyksos Dynasty, who fought

against the king of Thebes and was beaten by him,

was

called

Aphobis,

name

king whose
(^

^n

has

said,

in

whom we

hieroglyphics

^1' ^^^ ^ must

admit that " there

" statement

whom

"Dynasty."^

It

dynasties of

is,

of

see

the

Apepa,

spelt

is

M. Naville

therefore, as

an inversion in the

is

they give a

Hyksos kiDgs

of one of

must

chronographers, and

of the

" the kings of

names

in

course,

list

we

consider

as the

possible

XVlth

that

two

existed, but if they did, the

them have not yet been found.

When the Hyksos

arrived in

Egypt

it is

very probable

that the fiery sons of the desert committed sacrilege and a

great

number

deserved

By

the

of appalling atrocities,

abuse which was heaped upon them.

the Egyptians themselves

certainly

and they no doubt

Hyksos were

the

called " aatti,"

people
1

v\

who were

^^^
,

a word which has been rendered "rebels," and "invaders," and " plague-bearers," and even "pestilence "

Buiastis, 1891, p. 21.

THE HYKSOS BECOME CIVILIZED

140

but an attempt has been made recently to sbow tbat

means

"

men

malaria, and

smitten with the fever dat"

M. Maspero accepts the word

" les Tievreux."

difficult

It is

meaning

say exactly what

to

modern word would adequately express the

hatred and contempt which the Egyptians

feelings of

felt for their

by the context of the narrative

invaders, but, judging

in

which the abusive epithet occurs,

is

not strong enough.

When

Egypt some time they seem

life

with

i.e.,

as

it

" fever- stricken "

the Hyksos had been in

to

have settled down to the

there comfortably, and to have enjoyed the fertility

and comparative luxury of the country; in the early

part of their occupation of the land they

employed the natives to help

to rule

and

it,

must have
to carry

on

the administrative machinery which produced taxes for

the support of their conquerors by means of them, just
as the English authorities are employing the Copts

and

other natives to perform similar services at the present

day.

Meanwhile,

little

by

little,

the invaders adopted

the customs of the country, and they appear to have

gained some respect for the religion of the people

As they grew

they ruled.
their

persecution

of

the

to

understand

priesthood

and

to be attracted

better

their

Egypt

struction of the property of the gods of

and they began

it

whom
de-

ceased,

by the stately worship

and religious ceremonies of those who performed their

will.

Moreover, as the necessaries of

Hist.

Anc,

torn.

ii.

p. 57,

life

uote

were provided

4.

THE HYKSOS AND SUTEKH

for

them and

theyliacl little need eitlier to fight or

for their daily bread,

many

I4I

work

they became tolerant, and before

generations had passed, the fierce hordes of the

desert,

who had

lived

by their spears and bows, became

tolerably peaceful folk

who had

enjoyment of the

country of the Delta, and who

began

to

fertile

settled

down

speak the' Egyptian language

Hyksos

consciously the

to

the

Almost un-

began to desire the

rulers

pomps and ceremonies which attended the old, legitimate kings of Egypt, and the people who had begun
their existence in wretched tent encampments in the
open desert, and had lived the life of hardship
inseparable

ended

therefrom,

by entirely

adopting

the religion, learning, and civilization of the nation

which they had

tried to destroy.

made

Excavations

Hyksos

the

kings

Ea," as

did

the

usurped

the

statues

old

in

recent

prove that
" sons of
themselves

called

kings
of

their

years

of

Egypt,

that

predecessors

in

they
the

most approved Egyptian fashion, and although they,

no doubt, adored the gods of their tribes, they also
worshipped a god called Set,

]:^^')y,
no

or

difficulty in

SuTEKH,

^
1

^^^^,

T^J-

or

SuTi,

and they found

adoring the other deities of the country.

The god Set is, of course, an Egyptian god, but, as

many of his attributes resembled those of their own great
god, possibly Baal, they adopted
deity

the god Sutekh

is also

him

as their principal

generally regarded as the

THE HYKSOS USURP STATUES

142

equivalent of Baal,

addition hh'^ or hhu^ being an

tlie

"emphatic termination" intended to express "greatness," or " majesty."

The god Set

man and

with the body of a

animal, which

Desert

is

usually depicted

the head of a fabulous

was thought

to

live

the

in

Eastern

he was originally a twin-brother of Horus,

and took a very prominent part in assisting the

ceased in the underworld, but in the

New

de-

Empire,

probably because he had been chosen chief of the gods

of the Hyksos, he

fell

and

into disgrace, and his statues

images were broken or dashed

to pieces.

The temples

which the Hyksos had built at Avaris and Tanis, and

honour of this god were

at other places in the Delta in

overthrown, even though they contained the halls,

etc.,

which had been built by the kings of the Xllth and

dynasties

earlier

but

it

interesting

is

to

note

in

passing that Rameses the Great was not ashamed to

usurp a colossal statue

already been usurped

Many

of

Mermashau, which had

by the Hyksos king Apepa

of the statues erected

by the Hyksos represent

their peculiarities of countenance,

and the un-Egyptian

arrangement of the beard, and the remarkable headdress which distinguished

but

still

there

is in

them from the Egyptians,

them everywhere apparent the signs

of the influence of the old Egyptian art and its methods

of representing the

human form

in stone.

On

the other

Egyptians seem to have borrowed certain

hand, the

See ChabaSj Pasteurs en Egypte,

p. 35.

THEY ADOPT EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION

143

designs and artistic forms from the Hyksos, and

usually thought that

"

the

it

is

winged sphinx " may be

reckoned a notable example of this new direction of

" art introduced

from abroad."

Before passing to the consideration and description

of the actual
left

us

it

monuments which the Hyksos kings have

will be well to give in full the narrative

by

Josephus of the invasion and expulsion of the Hyksos.

The

present writer believes that Josephus does not give

us an accurate rendering of the words of Manetho,

whom

he professes

version of
to the

them

is

to

and thinks that his

quote,

misleading.

He

begins by referring

Egyptian king Timaus, whose land was invaded

by the Hyksos, whom he afterwards

" Shepherds,"

and then goes

on

Semites became kings of Egypt.

that he wishes to

make

Hebrew nation occupied

his

identifies as the

say that these

to

Moreover,

readers

it

is

clear

believe that the

a most exalted position in the

country from a very early period,

was king of Egypt about

B.C.

i.e.,

that a

2000.

dwelt in the Delta at that period

Hebrew

That Semites

is certain,

and that

migration of companies of Semites into Egypt went on

at that time,

of the

and much

available

later, is also certain,

evidence

but none

view which

supports the

The Semitic invaders

time were called "Aamu," and

Josephus suggests to his readers.

of the Delta at that
" Menti," etc.,

and not " Shasu," and

Brugsch, Egypt under the Pharaohs,

it is

vol.

i.

only in the

p. 237.

LENGTH OF HYKSOS' RULE

144

period that the

latest

mean

" shepherd." ^

"robber," and
robber,"

i.e.,

the

" shasu "

The word

M^T

.,

word came

last -mentioned

r^^^

nomad

is

means primarily

the

desert man,

"land of the

who plundered

caravans whenever he had the opportunity.

of time the

the

in

(plur.

word

" shasu "

desert generally,
T^T^T

'^^
=^^

came

and a

V ^ '^

'-^

to

In process

mean the

little

to

dweller

later " shasu

meant "desert

tribes."

The length which Josephus assigns to the duration of

the Hyksos rule in Egypt is incredibly long, for there
is no room for this period of 511 years in Egyptian
chronology, unless he intends us to understand that he

reckons the beginning of the

when the Semites frst began

period

from the time

Egypt.

to settle in

short, the narrative of the invasion of the

Hyksos

In
as

given by Josephus can only be regarded as a poetic

version of the simple historical facts that Semitic tribes
settled in the Delta in very early times,

and that

in

due course various members of them occupied positions

of importance in the land, and that eventually their

descendants became kings of Egypt.^

See Krall, Grundriss, p. 29. Compare the Coptic ;^(JL)C, and
see de Cara, Gli Hylsos o Re Pastcri di Egiito, Rome, 1889,
Altaegyptischen
p. 221 ff.; and Miiller, Asien und Europa nach
1

DenTcmdlern, Leipzig, 1893, pp. 132, 133.

The matter is well put by Wiedemann (op. cit., p. 287).

" Diese und ahnliche Ziige des Manethonischen Textes zeigen uns,
"dass wir in demselben keinen strong historischen Bericht
" wirklicher Ereignisse auf Grund zeitgenossischer Quellen
" suchen diirfen.
Vielmehr giebt derselbe eine mit Zugrundele2

MANETHO'S ACCOUNT OF THE HYKSOS

FLAVIUS JOSEPH US AGAINST APION

(i.

I45

14).

THE HYKSOS.
"I

shall begin witli the writings of tlie

" not indeed of those that

"language, which

it is

Egyptians;

have written in the Egyptian

impossible for

me

But

to do.

"

Manetho was a man who was by birth an Egyptian, yet

"had he made himself master of the Greek learning, as
" is very evident

for

he wrote the history of his own

" country in the Grreek tongue,

by translating

" saith himself, out of their sacred records

"great fault with Herodotus

of Egyptian

"relations

he also finds

for his ignorance

affairs.

Now,

as he

it,

and

false

Manetho,

this

"in the second book of his Egyptian History, writes

"concerning us in the following manner.
"

down

"man

his very words, as if I were to bring the very

himself into court for a witness:

ours,

" it

to pass, I

came

There

was a

whose name was Timaus.

"king of
" to us,

I will set

Under him
know not how^ that God was averse

and there came^

after a surprising

"of ignoble birth out of the eastern

manner, men

parts,,

and had

" gung jedenfalls historischer Thatsachen poetisch ausgearbeitete

" Erzahlung iiber den Hyksos-Einfall. Dabei liafc er, was fiir die

Treue der Uberlieferung sehr bedenklich ist, versucht zu

" pragmatisieren und synchronistisch andere Volker in seinen
*'Bericht herein zuziehen. Wir diirfen also in dieser Erzahlunsr
'*

*'nur den Grnndstock als streng historiscli betracliten, alle

" Details aber miissen wir fiir eine spjitere Ausschmiickung
" dieser Grundtliatsaclien halten und auf ihre Benutzung zu
'
*

geschichtliclien

VOL.

III.

Zwecken verziehten."

MANETHO'S ACCOUNT OF THE HYKSOS

146

boldness

enough

country,

and

to

witli

make an
ease

our

expedition into

subdued

by

it

yet

force,

So when

without our hazarding a battle with them.

they had gotten those that governed us under their

power, they afterwards burnt down

our

demolished the temples of the gods, and used

inhabitants

some they
wives into

after

slew,

at

slavery.

^
;

he also

Memphis, and made both the upper and

and

left

garrisons

He

places that were most proper for them.

the

nay,

At length they made one of

lower regions- pay tribute,

aimed

and led their children and their

themselves king, whose name was Salatis

lived

the

all

barbarous manner

a most

and

cities,

in

chiefly

to secure the eastern parts, as foreseeing that

who had then

Assyrians,

the

greatest

power,

would be desirous of that kingdom and invade them

Nomos

and as he found in the

Saite'^

proper for his purpose,

and which lay upon

Bubastite

channel,

but with

theologic notion was called

'

a city very

regard to

Avaris,'

the

a certain

this he rebuilt,

and made very strong by the walls he built about

it_,

and by a most numerous garrison of two hundred and

thousand armed men

forty

keep
^

it.

This

whom

he put into

it

to

Thither Salatis came in summer-time, partly

name seems

the equivalent of the

Hebrew word

l^wli),

governor."
'"^

J.

I.e.,

Eead

Upper and Lower Egypt.

Sethro'ite

on the position of the Sethroite nome see

de Rouge, Geog. Ancienne, p. 96.

* This city lay close to Tanis.

MANETHO

ACCOUNT OF THE HYKSOS

147

" to gather his corn, and pay his soldiers their wages,

"and

partly to

armed men, and thereby

exercise his

" to terrify foreigners.

When

"thirteen years,

him reigned

"

after

name was Beon,

forty-fonr

for

man had

this

reigned

whose

another,

years

him

after

"reigned another, called Apachnas, thirty-six years

"

and seven months

" one years,

him Apophis reigned

after

and then Jonias

fifty

years and one

sixty-

month

" after all these reigned Assis forty-nine years and two

And these six were the first rulers among

who were all along making war with the

"months.
" them,

"Egyptians, and were

" destroy

them

very

desirous

is

'

to

The whole nation

to the very roots.

" was styled Hycsos, that

gradually

Shepherd-Kings

'

for

" the first syllable HYC, according to the sacred dialect

"denotes a 'king,' as

sos, a

is

shepherd'

but

this

"according to the ordinary dialect, and of these

"compounded Hycsos
" were Arabians.

but some say that these people

Now,

in another copy,

" That this word does not denote

'

it

is

shepherds,' and

" account of the particle

"

'

hyc

for that hyc,

the Egyptian tongue

shepherds,' and that expressly also

" seems the

" to

ancient

history.

[But

whom we

again

and

on

this

with the
denotes

this to

Manetho

goes

have before named

called 'shepherds' also,

" as he says

me

more probable opinion, and more agreeable

" These people,

"and

said

but on the

kings,'

"contrary, denotes 'captive

" aspiration, in

is

on]
'

kings,'

and their descendants,

kept possession of Egypt

five

hundred and

148

MANETHO'S ACCOUNT OF THE HYKSOS

" eleven years.

After these,

lie

says

"of Thebais and of the other parts

That the kings

of

Egypt made an

" insun^ection against the shepherds, and that there a

" terrible

"further says:

That

" Alisphragmnthosis,

" him,

He

and long war was made between them.

under a king, whose name was

the shepherds were subdued by

and were indeed driven out of other parts of

"Egypt, but were shut up in a place that contained

'ten thousand acres;

Manetho says

" all this place^

was named Avaris.

this place

That the shepherds

built a wall round

which was a large and a strong

wall,

" and this in order to keep all their possessions and their
" prey within a place of strength, but that

" the

" take

"and
"

son of Alisphragmnthosis,

them by

force

and by

eighty thousand

men

Thummosis,

made an attempt

with four hundred

siege,

to lie

to

round about them;

but that, upon his despair of taking the place by that

" siege, they

came

" they should leave

to

a composition with them, that

Egypt, and go without any harm

"to be done them whithersoever they would;

" that after this composition

"with

their whole families

was made, they went away

and

"number than two hundred and

" took their journey from
" for

Syria

"Assyrians,

but that,

and

effects,

not fewer in

forty thousand,

and

Egypt through the wilderness,

as they were

who had then

the

in

fear

of the

dominion over Asia,

" they built a city in that country which

is

now

called

^'Judea, and that large enough to contain this great

"number

of

men,

and

called

it

Jerusalem.

Now

MANETHO'S ACCOUNT OF THE HYKSOS

"Manetlio, in another book of

thus

"nation,
"

'

'Shepherds,'

is

the truth;

says:

was

And

Captives,' in their sacred books.

"of his
"

called

his,

149

That

this

called

also

this account

sheep was the

for feeding of

employment of our forefathers in the most ancient

and as they led such a wandering life in feeding

" ages

"sheep, they were called

Nor was

'Shepherds.'

" without reason that they were called

'

Captives

it

by

'

" the Egyptians, since one of our ancestors, Joseph, told

" the king of

Egypt that he was a

" wards sent for his brethren into

and

after-

Egypt by the

king's

captive,

"permission.
"

But now I

shall produce the

Egyptians as witnesses

" to the antiquity of our nation.

I shall therefore here

" bring in

Manetho

again, and

what he writes as

to the

" order of the times in this case, and thus he speaks

"When

this

"

to Jerusalem, Tethmosis, the

Egypt

"who

out

of

king of Egypt,

drove them out, reigned afterward twenty-five

" years

" son

people or shepherds were gone

and four months, and then died

Chebron took the kingdom

" after
" seven

whom came
months

Amenophis,

for

for

after

him

his

thirteen years

twenty years and

then came his sister Amesses, for

"twenty-one years and nine months; after her came

" Mephres, for twelve years

and nine months

after

him

"was Mephramuthosis, for twenty-five years and ten

" months
after him was Tethmosis, for nine years and
"eight months; after him came Amenophis, for thirty
" years and ten months
after him came Orus, for
;

MANETHO

150

^\e months;

and

years

''thirty-six
''

ACCOUNT OF THE HYKSOS

then came his

daughter Acenchres, for twelve years and one month

" then was her brother Eathotis, for nine years

"

was Acencheres,

then

years and five months

for twelve

"then came another Acencheres, for twelve years and

''three

" one

months;

after

him Armais,

for four years

and

him was Eameeses, for one year

" and four months
after him came Armesses Miam"moun, for sixty years and two months; after him
month

after

Amenophis,

" after

"army

for

and

years

months

six

him came Sethosis and Eamesses, who had an

horse,

of

" pointed his

"

nineteen

Egypt.

" a king,

and naval

This king ap-

force.

brother Armais, to be his deputy over

He

also gave

but with

him

all

the other authority of

that he

only injunctions,

these

" should not wear the diadem, nor be injurious to the

" queen^ the mother of his children^ and that he should

"not meddle with the other concubines of the king;

"while he made an expedition against Cyprus, and
" Phoenicia,

"Medes.

and besides against the Assyrians and the

He

then subdued them

some by his

all^

"arms, some without fighting, and some by the terror

" of his great

army

" successes he
" boldly,

and being puffed up by the great

had had, he went on

and overthrew the

" lay in the eastern parts

"time Armais, who was

left

" very things,

"

cities

still

the

more

and countries that

but after some considerable

in Egypt, did all these

by way of opposition, which his brother

had forbidden him

to do, without fear

for

he used

THE REIGN OF APEPA

''

violence to

"the
"

make use

queen, and continued to

of

of the concubines, without sparing any of

rest

them

tlie

151

I.

nay, at the persuasion of his friends he put on

"the diadem, and

up

set

but

to oppose his brother;

"then, he who was set over the priests of Egypt,

" wrote letters to Sethosis,

and informed him of

that

all

"had happened, and how his brother had set up to

" oppose him
he therefore returned back to Pelusium
;

"immediately,

and

recovered

kingdom

his

again.

"

The country also was called from his name Egypt,

"for Manetho says that Sethosis himself was called
" Aegyptus, as was his brother Armais called Danaus."
(Flavins

Josephus against Apion,

14,

i.

Whiston's

Translation.)

The Hyksos kings

of

whom we have

remains are

mi]
Ka-aa-user, son of the -Sun, Apepa.

One

name

of the principal

of this king,

M. NaviJle

monuments which record the

Apepa

I.,

in 1887-1889.^

was found

at Bubastis

by

It consists of a red granite

fragment of a door-post, on which we have the inscrip"

tion,

Son

of the

Sun, Apepa, giver of

mutilated statement to the

"pillars

I.e.,

in

great

ankh neter

See Bubastis,

effect

that

life,"

"he

and a

[set

up]

numbers, and doors in bronze to

nefer,

p. 22,

" beautiful god, the living one."

and plates

xxii.

and xxxv.

152

THE REIGN OF APEPA

"this god."

l-^(^fl.

ii^

^\

'""'^^

^1

2
-Lhis

portant piece of information, for

Apepa

I.

it

a very im-

IS

proves that this

actually built additions to the ancient temple at

Bubastis, and

it is

interesting to note that the king

calls himself " son of the

after the

manner

Sun

"

and " giver of

life

At Gebelen,

of an old Egyptian king.

Upper Egypt, M. Daressy reports ^ the finding of the

prenomen of Apepa I. written twice by the side of the

in

winged

disk, a fact

which proves that the king carried

on repairs or building operations far to the south

of

Thebes.

palette

bearing

the

caia A t s

(Hj]

king's

titles,

E ?=?'

-'^^^'^

once belonged to a scribe in the Hyksos period,^ was

acquired by the Berlin

the British

Museum

papyrus, which

who obtained

A. H.
1858.
follow

Pi hind,

possesses the famous mathematical

It
it

was purchased from Mr. Brem-

from the executors of the late Mr.

and was purchased by him

This papyrus
its

years ago, and

said to have been written during the

is

reign of this king.

ner,

Museum some

title,

to

is

stated, in the

at

Luxor

in

words which

have been copied by the scribe

Aahmes, in the month Mesore,

in the

33rd year of the

king of the South and North, Ka-aa-user, from an

ancient copy

made

in

the reign of Maat-en-Ka.

Recueil, torn. xiv. p. 26 (No. xxx.).

Eisenlohr, Proc. Soc. Bill. Arch., 1881, p. 97.

This

THE RHIND MATHEMATICAL PAPYRUS

last-named king must be Amenemliat
Xlltli Dynasty, wlio

name

III., a

kiug of

Aahmes, however,

suggests a period nearer the beginning of the

about

B.C.

siderations

indicate

written

at

still

tlie

The

reigned about B.C. 2300.

of the scribe of the archetype,

Dynasty,

153

XYIIIth

1700, and palaeographical con-

Khind

the

that

later period,

Papyrus

was

and that the scribe

simply copied everything which he found written in

the

archetype.

Attention was

first

called

to

this

valuable document by the late Dr. Birch in the ZeitscJiri/t

its

fur Aegi/ptiscJie Spraclie, 1868, and since then

contents have been

much

discussed

by scholars

they deal with arithmetic and measurements of volume

and area, and, though none of the examples or problems

indicate that the Egyptians

had any deep

knowledge of arithmetic or geometry,

all of

theoretical

them show

that they were very ready in making practical calculations,

such, for example,

as those

which they would

need in the remeasurements of their lands after the

Wiedemann has noted

annual inundations.

Prof.

some ancient writers

state that the patriarch

arrived in

Apapus

Egypt during the reign

who may,
Apepa II.

or Aphobis,

with Apepa

I.

or

that

Joseph

of a king called

perhaps, be identified
the

Christian writers

See Eisenlohr, Ein mathematisches Hanclhuch der alien Aegypter

und erldutert, Leipzig, 1877, Text unci Kommentar the
text was also published by the Trustees of the British Museum in
1

iihersetzt

title Facsimile of the Rhind Mathematical

with a short Bibliography of the papyrus.

1898 under the

folio,

Pa2:)yrus,

REIGN OF APEPA

154

Dionysiiis of Tell

Apopis,

Mahre

.m>g^n<y>1

II.

and Bar Hebraeus

and Apapos,

this be so or not cannot be

call liim

Wlietlier

*2DQi2)'|.

said definitely, but

is

it

very probable that Jacob's son went down into Egypt

XVIth Dynasty, when

during the period of the

Hyksos

had

The

Egyptians.
to us

to

all

and

intents

the

become

purposes

picture of the Egyptian court, given

by the narrative in the Book

of Genesis,

makes

it

exceedingly improbable that his visit took place during

the unsettled times of the

had

Semites

usurping

property of those

whom

XYth

settled

Dynasty, before the

down

to

enjoy the

they had dispossessed.

2.

QENEN, son of the Sun, Apepa.

made at Tanis by
the late Dr. H. Brugsch and others we learn that Apepa
II. inscribed his names and titles upon the right shoulders
of two black granite statues of the king Mermashau

From

the discoveries which were

which were

set

himself "

Son

"beloved

[of

statues

made

up

in the temple there

of the Sun,"
Set]."

Kameses

II.

On

and

the king calls

" giver of life,"

the sides and back

added his name and

Ed. Tullberg, Upsala, 1850,

Ed. Bruns, p. 14.

p. 2.

of the

titles,

several alterations in the inscriptions on

and

them

and
;

it

REIGN OF APEPA
is

a curious fact that

"

beloved of Sutekh," 1

I55

II.

caused liimself to be called

lie

"^

l| V-^

table of offerings dedicated to Set, on

wbich we find the three principal names

of

Apepa

Cairo,^

II.,

and

was obtained by Mariette

at

has been supposed that

it

it

came from Memphis

that the king

made

if so, it

would prove

offerings in the great

temple of Ptah there.

The Museum
Se-hetep-taui,
the Horus name of

of the

Louvre possesses
-

the basc of a red granite statue on which

were originally depicted figures of the

representatives of thirty-six vanquished

Nubian

tribes,

together with their names; an examination of this object

has convinced some^ that the cartouche of Amenophis

now inscribed upon it, was added by the order of this

king, who thus usurped a statue which, there is good

III.,

reason to believe, was set up by Apepa II.

tion with

Apepa

II.

must be mentioned here

In connecbriefly the

narrative of the beginning of the quarrel which arose in

the
of

XVIIth Dynasty, about B.C. 1750, between the prince

Thebes, who was called Seqenen-Ea Tau-aa-qen^
See E. de Rouge, Inscriptions Sieroglyphiques, Paris, 1877,

plate 76,
2

and

Petrie, Tanis, plate 3, 17c.

Monuments,

pi. 38.

"La

legende d'Amenopliis III., evidemment gravee en sur" charge, et le caractere de ce morceau, le font attribuer aujour" d'hui a un roi de la douzieme ou de la treizieme dynastie,
" auquel il faut par consequent faire honneur des conquetes
3

" inscrites sur

le socle,"

Pierret, Notice Sommaire, p.

38.

THE REIGN OF NUBTI

156

and

tlie

Hyksos king

quarrel was

over-lord

liis

that war

broke

was

successes, a pitched battle

Hyksos king was

his

life.

defeated,

and

out,

result of the

tlie

after varying

which, the

fouglit in

and the Theban, prince

lost

Eventually the Theban princes gained their

The Hyksos king

independence.

is

said to

whether he was Apepa

called Apepa, but

king of the same name cannot be

said.

have been

II. or

another

description

of the narrative as found in the First Sallier Papyrus,

now preserved

in the British

in the Chapter on the

3.

Museum,

will be given

XVIIth Dynasty.

M(MinlI!] (.lMi

^^^-^^-

PEHPEH, son of the Sun, Nubti.

The name

by the famous

" Stele of

was discovered
condition,

made known to us
Four Hundred Years," which

of this king, Nubti,

at

among

is

San, or Tanis,, in a fragmentary

the

battered pieces

sepulchral, or memorial stelae, all of

the reign of Kameses II.

it

of five

or

six

which dated from

was found in the eastern

portion of the ruins of the great temple at Tanis, at

the place where, judging by the general arrangement of

the

building, the shrine

upper part of the

offering of

stele

we

would have

stood.

see Barneses II.

two vases of wine to the god

In the

making an
Set,

who

is

depicted in the usual form and with the usual attri-

butes of the gods of Egypt.

The god

is

called in the

THE TABLET OF FOUR HUNDRED YEARS

text, " Set of

name

Eameses," but in the scene above

157
it

the

of the god Set has been chiselled out, a piece of

^r^tjfva iS:;Mi'^(pM^^ftlm/i
^
d -^,

^rmnii^^i}

l*^(SM^V(MWl^lM^^S;^mY
^^?ilSi?

<==^

^^CM::f)-^(%)i^^PP)
p9,

a ^P^^sife
L'^(psp^ (mkm s ! H v^?O p

l^llil-lQliy

0!\Q

MMSM^fflSs^^SSH
i^^^SfSs^iV-L!^, ^S^fe-^fe^il!5;

^Mli-THM1^1gg^^^i!^X2>
?.5M9s^uifii>3g? PPM
^iM'^an^
iti p

/n

The

Stele of

Four Hundred Years.

vandalism which was done when the god had ceased to

be popular.

Behind the king

is

a figure of the

official

THE TABLET OF FOUR HUNDRED YEARS

158

wlio dedicated the stele, and close

of text wliicli read, "

'^

Setj

[Homage]

tbou son of Nut, grant

by

liim are

to tliy

two

lines

Ua (or double),

tliou a life of happiness,

" and the following of thy double to the double of the

" erpd prince, the royal scribe, the

superintendent of

" the horses^ the inspector of the desert lands, and the
" overseer of the fortress of

inscription reads
(1)

May

"

live

Tchar

" (i.e. Tanis).

The

Horus Ea, the mighty

Bull, beloved

'

of Maat, lord of festivals like his father Ptah,

'

of the

'

'

South and North,

son of the Sun,

(2) lord of

King

Usr-Maat-Ea-setep-en-Ka

Ea-meses-meri-Amen

giver of

|,

life,

the shrines of the Vulture and Uraeus,

'protector of Egypt, vanquisher of foreign (or

moun-

'

tainous) lands, Ea, the begetter of the gods, over-lord

'

of the

two lands, the Horus of gold, master of years,

'mighty one of mighty ones,

(3)

King

of the South

'

and North, ^ prince, over-lord of the two lands [by

'

reason of] the monuments of his name, (4)

'

riseth in the heights of

'

King

'

commanded the making of a great

stele in granite to the great name of his fathers,
having the wish to establish the name of the
(5)

'

heaven according

Ea who

to his will,

of the South and North,^ Eameses.

" His Majesty

'

father of his fathers, (6) king Ea-men-Maat, son of

'

the

Sun, Seti-meri-en-Ptah, permanently and in

Prenomen and nonien

are repeated.

THE TABLET OF FOUR HUNDRED YEARS

"flourishing condition for ever, like

tlie

159

Sun, every

" day."
(7)

"

Year 400, the fourth day of the fourth month

"of the inundation

*'

South and North,

(i.e.,

"

(8)

existence

[On

" governor

endureth

of Heru-khuti,

and

ever

for

day there came

this

of the

Set-aa-pehpeh 1 the son of the

"Sun, loving him, (Nuhti], beloved

"whose

King

Mesore), of the

for

ever.

to Tanis] the erjm, the

of the city, the bearer of the fan

" king's right hand, captain of the

on the

bowmen, inspector

" of the desert lands, overseer of the fortress of Tanis,

" general

of the

Matchau

(soldiery

"superintendent of the horses,

" Tattu, the

first

(9)

?),

royal

scribe,

priest of Ba-neb-

prophet of Set, the chief reader of

"the goddess Uatchet, the opener of the two lands,

"the overseer of the prophets of
"triumphant, son of the

erjjd

all

the gods, Seti,

prince, the governor of

" the city, (10) the captain of the

bowmen, inspector of

" desert lands, overseer of the fortress of Tanis, the

" royal scribe, superintendent of the horses, Pa-Ea-meses,

" triumphant,

born of the lady of the house, the sing-

"ing woman of Ka, Thaa, triumphant!

"(11)

Homage

"mighty one

to thee,

Set,

saith,

thou son of Nut, thou

of strength in the

" Years, thou overthrowest the

He

Boat of Millions of

enemy who

is

in the

"front of the boat of Ka, the mighty one of roar-

"ings

."

the prayer for

The last
a happy

signs left on the stele contain

life

which has already been

THE TABLET OF FOUR HUNDRED YEARS

l60

The above

given above/
stele

was

up by an

set

Pa-Kameses and Thaa,

translation shows that the

in

honour of the god

that he did so because Barneses

II.

son of

Seti, the

official called

and

Set,

gave him orders so

Instead, however, of being dated in the day

to do.

and month and year of the reign of Eameses

which

it

was

set up, it is dated in the

Hyksos king

Nubti_, a

M. Mariette wrote

in

II.,

400th year of the

most remarkable circumstance.

a learned disquisition on the Stele,

and considered that " I'explication de

dans

la stele est

de son texte en deux paragraphes inde-

''la division

" pendants."

The first paragraph contains four lines and refers

Eameses II. only the second paragraph relates

to

governor of the city only, and, according to

the

to

Mariette, to the celebration of the

and of the

He

new year

festival

festival of the Crocodile-god, the son of Set.

thought that four hundred years before that time

the Hyksos king had established a year for his people,

and that the Stele marked the celebration of the 400th

anniversary of the

he gave
there

for these

is little

first

day of that year.

views seem to be a

The reasons

doubt that in the reign of Rameses

some era was in common

For

articles

Or

as

on the Stele of 400 Years see E. de Rouge, Revue

torn.

ix.

and Chabas, Aegyptische

1864;

Mariette, ibid., torn.

Zeitsclirift,

1865, pp. 29

pointed out the mistakes which were

mason.

II.

use, in the Delta at least,

which had been inaugurated by the Hyksos.

ArclifoJogiqve,

but

little fanciful,

made

and

xi.

33,

p.

169;

who have

in the text

by the

THE REIGN OF KHIAN

Briigscli said,

"In the town

l6l

of Tanis, whose inliabi-

" tants for the most part belonged to the Semitic races,
" this

mode

of reckoning

" the person

who

in such general use that

raised the memorial stone thought

extraordinary

''nothing

was

employ

to

it

mode

as a

it

of

" reckoning time in the beautifully engraved inscription

"on

granite which was exhibited before all eyes in a

" temple."

As soon

'

as the Stele

copied by Mariette he buried

where he had seen

it,

and as

it

had been read and

carefully near the place

it

was not found

made

course of the explorations which were

may

1883-84, we

The reproduction

conclude that

it

in the

at Tanis in

was well hidden.

of the inscription here given is taken

from the plate which accompanied M. Mariette's paper

Revue Archeologique

in the

for 1865,

but

be regretted that photographic facsimiles

obtained of the Stele

4.

much to
cannot be now
it

is

itself.

-1

^ CiiVr:]

^'-

SEUSER-EN, son of the Sun^ Kiiian.

In the Chapter on the period which

lies

between the

Ancient and Middle Empires we have referred to the

names
some

of three kings
to

that

time,

correct in assigning

Of

first

but we shall probably be more

them

to the period of the

Hyksos.

importance among these iskingKniAN,

ofwhom

VOL.

which have been attributed by

III.

Egypt under the Pharaohs,

vol.

i.

p. 214.

THE REIGN OF KHIAN

l62

M. Naville^ discovered the lower part of a colossal

The throne and
statue at Biibastis in black granite.
legs are in a good state of preservation, and, fortunately,

the three principal names of the king are clearly legible.

The Horus name

of

Khian was " Anq

"embracer of lands

"

his

at one time read lan-Ea,

instead of

Ka name

(or

i.e.,

prenomen) was

OH

by reading

^^, aww^, but Khian

[,

atebui,"

is

^S^

^^^^^^

now generally

believed to be the correct reading of the characters.-

Another monument of the reign of Khian

stone

which was acquired

lion

is

the small

Baghdad

at

for

the

British Museum-^ by the late Mr. George Smith;

its

who rightly
but who misread

importance was recognized by Deveria,

attributed

it

to the

of an

made

in Asia,

its

unique

at

and that the head, having been damaged

some comparatively modern period, has

antique

monument

lion is not the

Egyptian sculptor, and that the object was

work

lost

period,

Some think that the

the cartouche.

and recut

Hyksos

is

Be

character.

of

this as it

very considerable

moreover,

it

is

may, the

interest,

and

is

the largest object of a purely

Egyptian character w^hich has ever been obtained from

the excavations that have been carried on in sites of
ancient

Babylonian

cities

also conclude in respect of

near Baghdad.

Khian that

as his

monu-

p. 23, plate 35 a.

Op.

See Daressy in

Egyptian Gallery, No. 987.

cit.,

We may

Reciteil, torn. xvi. p.

42 (No. Ixxxviii.).

KINGS UATCHET AND IPEQ-HERU

163

ments have been found in places so widely separated as

Bubastis in

Egypt, Baghdad

Knossos in Crete,

pretty certain that

is

it

whose

influence, as stated in his

braced

many

Horus name, "em-

That he belonged

lands."

Hyksos

to the

is

described as " heq semtu

"

f z1
I

''chief of the

almost

M^

I
"nomad

was a

rendered probable from the fact that on his

is

scarabs he

ing

lie

monarch, whose rule was far-reaching, and

powerful

people

Mesopotamia, and

in

with

identical

tribes,

tij

>

i-e-,

i.e.,

which has a mean-

a title

deserts,"

,
I

that

of

" heq

Shasu

" chief of the Shasu, or

which

" appellation Hyksos."

probably the origin of the

is

A portrait

head of this king

is

preserved in the British Museum.^

Of the

and

kings Uatcliet

Ipeq-Heru we

know
we

nothing, for their names occur only on scarabs, and

know not whether they reigned before or after Khian,

and indeed the position of Khian himself in the Hyksos
Dynasty is unknown it is probable, however, that he
reigned before Apepa I., and there is reason to think
;

that he was one of the

Hyksos kings. The

which the names of Uatchet

first

following are the forms in

great

and Ipeq-Heru are found on scarabs

5.

Egyptian

Grallery,

ICO

No. 1063, and see Vol.

II. of this

work,

p. 174.

KINGS SENBMAIU AND AA-SEH-RA

164

About

this period probably reigned the

Senbmaiu

A^

whose name

king called
is

found in-

scribed upon a calcareous stone fragment presented to

the

British

(No. 24,898)

Museum by Mr.
;

it

G. Willoughby Fraser

was found by him

at Gebelen.^

To

the time of the Hyksos also probably must be assigned

the obelisk at Tanis

of the king

which bears the name and

Ea-aa-seh

which remain on

it

titles

the fragmentary inscriptions

describe

him

as

the

"beautiful

"god, the lord of the two lands, the maker of created

" things,"

and say that " he made monuments to his

mother."

'

Proc. Soc. Bihl. Arch., vol. xv. p. 498.

See Petrie, Tanis, plate

8,

No. 20,

i65

CHAPTEE

VI.

THE SEVENTEENTH DYNASTY.

EEOM THEBES.
XVIIth Dynasty, who began

The

kings of the

work

of the expulsion of the Hyksos, reigned at Thebes,

and as they assumed the old

title

of

"King

the

of the

South and North," they were probably the descend-

Xllth and Xlllth Dynasties.

ants of the kings of the

It is certain that for several generations these princes

were vassals of the Hyksos, for remains of the Hyksos

domination in the Upper Country have been found as

There must have been an

far to the south as Gebelen,

interval

of considerable

length between the Theban

kings of the Xlllth and XVIIth Dynasties, and during

this period it

seems that, for a time, the Theban power

was transferred

to Coptos,

who usually bore

the

where a family of princes,

name

of Antef-aa, reigned

succession for at least a century and a half.

in

These

princes were, most probably, descendants of the kings

Xlllth Dynasty, and ancestors of those of the

XVIIth Dynasty their Ka names are of the same
of the

THE ANTEF-KINGS

l66
form as

tliose of

their throne

of the

tLe kings of the XVIItli Dynasty, and

names

closely resemble those of the- kings

This group

Xlllth Dynasty.

of princes has

usually been assigned a place with the Menthu-heteps

Xlth Dynasty, but in considering that dynasty

we have shown good reasons for thinking it most
of the

probable that,

whilst the

Menthu-heteps and

their

Erpd hd Antefa do in reality belong

the Xlth Dynasty, the kings who bore the names
predecessor the

to

of

Antef-aa are to be transferred to the period between the

Xlllth and XVIIth Dynasties.

have led

to this conclusion

The reasons which

have been already

and they are therefore not repeated here

of this group of kings are as follows

set forth,

the names

SESHESH-HEK-HER-MAA, SOU of the Sun, AnTEF-AA

2.

"^^ r 1^

'^^'^'^

->-=>

Son of the Sun, Antef-aa

(I.).

(II.).

AA/WNA

J^CI

.J

Ea-seshesh-ap-maa, son of the Sun, Antef-aa (HI.).

4.

r^

jl

3!!"'^1

^^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^^'

with the Horus name Uah-ankh,

If

^NTEF-AA

(lY.),

THE SEVENTEENTH DYNASTY

B.C. 1750]

5-

son

T^
of

tlie

O n^

M 5^

Sun,

Antef

"^

(V.),

167

Ra-nub-kheperu,

with the Horus name

Nefer-kheperu.

According to Manetho's King List as given

d)

by Julius Africanus, the XYIIth Dynasty comprised forty-three kings of Thebes, whose total

reigns amounted to 151 years, and forty-three

Shepherd

amounted

Kings,
to

whose

151 years, and

total
it

reigns

also

seems that the view

held by the authorities from which he compiled his List

was that these dynasties reigned contemporaneously.

The

fact,

however, that each dynasty

is

made

to contain

number of kings, and to last exactly

the same number of years, suggests a chronological
exactly the same

arrangement which

is

purely

artificial.

In the extract

from Josephus already quoted we are told that the

duration of the Hyksos rule over Egypt was 51

and that

it

was brought

to

P years,

an end by a native Egyptian

king called Misphragmuthosis or Alisphragmuthosis,

who smote

the Hyksos and shut

called Avaris,

which had an

This place the Hyksos

them up

area

of

fortified strongly

" vast and strong wall."

in a place

10,000

acres.

by means of a

But Thummosis, the son

of

M. Maspero adopts Erman's view that the XVth Dynasty

XVIth 234 years, and the XVIIth 143
years, in all, 661 years, and he places the invasion about B.C. 2346.
^

reigned 284 years, the

Hist.

Anc,

torn.

ii.

p. 73.

SIEGE OF AVARIS

l68

[B.C. 1750

Alisphragmuthosis, besieged Avaris with 480,000 men,

and

at tlie very

moment when he

the city, the people inside

despaired of reducing

capitulated on the under-

it

standing that they were to leave Egypt, and

to

permitted to go whithersoever they pleased.

These

terms were agreed

with

all

'^

be

and they departed from Egypt

to,

their families

and

effects, in

number not

less

"than 240,000, and bent their way through the desert

"towards Syria." They were afraid of the Assyrians,

who were then masters of

built, in the country now
suflScient

Asia, and they therefore

a city

of

multitude of men, and

size to contain this

name

Judea,

called

The events here

referred to, if they ever happened, must have taken
place in the XVIIIth Dynasty, for the king called
Thummosis must be one of those of the dynasty who
bore the name of Thothmes, and therefore Josephus
they gave

it

the

must be confusing,

of Jerusalem.^

first,

names, and, secondly, events.

The huge numbers which he

incredible,

and he

is

gives

are,

of course,

mistaken about the period of the

building of Jerusalem^ for the

name

of the city occurs

in three of the Tell el-'Amarna Tablets," from

learn that the governor at that time

which we

had been appointed

by the king of Egypt, and the context shows that the

city

was not a new one.

The

allusion to the departure

of 240,000 people he calls the Exodus, but this subject

will not be considered until later.
^

Cory, Ancient Fragments, p. 173.

See Wiiickler, Tliontafeln, plates 105, 108, 110.

SEQENEN-RA AND RA-ApEPI

B.C. 1750]

169

may

Side by side witli the account of Joseph as

be

read the fragmentary narrative of the dispute between

the governor of Thebes and the Hyksos king in the
Delta, which resulted,

first,

in a great war, and secondly,

in the restoration of the sovereignty of the country to the

princes of Thebes.

the document

and that
evidence
the

views

only a part of a historical romance,

upon

relied

for matter-of-fact
is

very great, for

which we possess a part in the First

of

Papyrus'

Sallier

at the outset that

value, notwithstanding,

its

must be said

must not be

it

copy,

in the

is

It

(Brit.

Mus., No. 10,185), was written

XlXth Dynasty, and it, no doubt, represented the

of many people at that time.
Had the romance

not been based upon some substratum of

what

is

narrated in

it

fact, or

been wholly improbable,

never have found a place

among

belons'ed

by stating that the land of Qemt,

the " people of

to

filth,"

[1
1

The

narra-

i.e.,

Egypt,

V\
J^

^^
ci

and there was neither king nor lord in the land

came

it

to

[op AA^

pass

^^-^

J,

that kins;

The

hieratic text of the

and the

i.

i.

Etudes, torn.

fasc. 2, p.

i.

238

and

TV

? /] i]

" filthy " ones, i.e.,

late

Translations are given in

pi. 2.

Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch., vol. 4, p. 263

Pharaohs, vol.

document was published by the

Dr. Birch in Select Pa]pyri, pt.

p.

Ea-seqenen

held the position of governor

of the region of the South,

1

would

the compositions which

are preserved in the First Sallier Papyrus.

tive begins

it

had

ff.
Brugsch, Egypt under the
Chabas, Les Pasteurs, p. 37 ff.
Maspero,
195 ff.
etc.
;

SEQENEN-RA AND RA-APEPI

170

[B.C. 1750

the Semitic Hyksos of the city of Ra, were under the

authority of the ruler,

Ra-Apepi

J,

[j

fl

whom

[]

^1

(j

to

the entire country paid tribute, and acknowledged

his sovereignty

by the giving of

service,

and of the

products of the land and of good things of every kind

which the country of Ta-meri,

Now
I

(5.

kingi Ea-Apepi
yvl

J"

made

had

his lord,

Egypt, yielded.

i.e.,

god

the

Sutekh.

and he served no other god in

the country except Sutekh, and he built a temple of

all

the most beautiful and enduring work, close by the

palace which he had built for himself, and he was wont

up regularly each morning and

to rise

Sutekh the

offer

up

to

which were legally due to the god,

sacrifices

and the chief

to

officers of

the governor,

? Zl

j] ],

used to

take up their places there with garlands of flowers, just

as they

had been wont

to do in the temple of

Ra-Heru-

Khuti.

And
the
(

it

came

to

1,

sending

of

intention

Ra-seqenen

pass that king

a

Rfi-Apepi

despatch

to

had
king

and having assembled his chiefs and

nobles, and officers, he seems to have wished to obtain

up the terms of it they, however,

failed to give him the assistance which he required, so
he sent for his scribes and magicians, and bade them

their help in drawing

Suten,

T
1

A^A/w^

'rj]'
i-'-

'^

really the

name

for king of the South.

SEQENEN-RA AND RA-APEPI

B.C. 1750]

make

for liim

some excuse

the king of the South.

that Ra-Apepi wished to

17I

for picking a quarrel

with

The broken context suggests

make Seqenen-Ra adopt the

worship of Sutekh in his temple at Thebes.

When

the magicians had come into the king's presence, they

suggested that the king should send to Seqenen-Ea a

message

to this eifect: King

"Let one hunt on the

thee, saying,

"

Ra-Apepi commandeth
lake the hippopota-

muses which are on the lake of the

"may

city, so

that they

me both by day and by night."

For, said the magicians, he will not know how to
answer this message, whether well or ill. And then
let sleep

come

to

thou shalt send a second envoy, saying

Apepi commandeth
"

thee, thus

South doth not answer

my

King

message,
;

let

him no longer

but

if

answer thereto, and he doeth that which I

" do, I will take

Ra-

" If the governor of the

" serve any other god besides Sutekh

"

he maketh
tell

him

to

nothing whatsoever from him, and I

" will

bow myself down never again before any other

" god in the whole earth besides Amen-Ra, the king of
The writer of the romance wishes to
"the gods.'^
indicate that the hippopotamuses on the lake at Thebes

made

so

much

noise, both

by day and by night, that

Ra-Apepi could get no sleep in Tanis, and we may

readily agree with the

magicians who composed the

message that the king in the South would not know

how

to answer

it,

because he would probably think

that Ra-Apepi had lost his senses, for by no natural

^

Maspero, Hist. Anc,

torn.

ii.

p. 75.

REIGN OF TA-AA OR SEQENEN-RA

172

means known

in tliose days could the

[B.C. 1733

I.

king in the Delta

be disturbed by hearing the plungings and splashings

of hippopotamuses in

What

away.

really

message, or whether

swamps some

six

hundred miles

happened as a result of Ka-Apepi^s

it

was despatched or

not,

we

shall

probably never know, for the part of the papyrus which

contains the end of the story

however, of

all

is

broken.

Stripped,

romance, we learn from the document

that in the time of Apepi II. the Hyksos king at Avaris

was the over-lord

and that

all

of the governor or king

the country paid taxes to him, and also

labour for him without

probably performed manual

payment.
there

of Thebes,

It is also clear that at

some time or other

must have been a dispute about the supremacy

of

the god Sutekh, and that about the time of the reign of

Seqenen-Ea

strife

broke out between the king of the

North and the governor

kings of the

of the South.

The Theban

XVIIth Dynasty whose names

from hieroglyphic sources are

are

known

son of the Sun, Ta-aa.

Of the

details of the reign of

Ta-aa we know nothing,

but when he died the country was in a sufficiently

settled state to allow his family to build

in the

him a tomb

famous Valley of the Tombs of the Kings

Thebes, and to bury him with something of the

at

pomp

which usually attended the funeral of an Egyptian

REIGN OF TA-AA-AA OR SEQENEN-RA

B.C, 1733]

173

II.

This king and his tomb are mentioned in the

king.

Abbott Papyrus, where we learn that on the 18th day

3rd month of the 16th year of the reign

of the

of

Kameses IX. the tomb was examined by the masons,

who were attached

to the

Commission which had been

appointed to report upon the damage done to the royal

tombs by the

and was found

thieves,

The monuments belonging

and consist

^N.

.,

'^'^
,,

s=>

found lying on the

(2)

^1

-T"

of his son Thuau,

and

a boomerang, which

with the

side

intact.^

to this reign are very few,

chiefly of (1)

on one

scribed

to be

is

in-

name, Ta-aa,

king's

and on the other with that

^ ^
(I

mummy

M^,^ and which was

of an official at Thebes_,

the palette of a scribe^ on which the owner

has cut with a knife

sovereign,

thus

maker

"lands_,

name and

the

" Beautiful

titles

lord

god,

of

of

the

his

two

of created things, Ea-seqenen, son of

"the Sun, Ta-aa, giver of

life

for

ever,

beloved of

" Amen-Ka, beloved of Sesheta."

Seqenen-Ea, son

Of the reign

of the Sun, Ta-aa- aa.

of

Ta-aa-aa

also nothing is

known,

and the only notice concerning him which has come

Maspero, Enqiieie, p. 20.

See Mariette, Monuments,

Figured in Maspero, Rist. Anc,

pi, 515, 1

and

torn.

ii.

2.

p. 75.

TA-AA-QEN OR SEQENEN-RA

174

down

to

read

that

US

Abbott Papyrus, wherein we

the

in

is

[B.C. 1700

III.

he was the second king [called] Ta-aa,

examined by the masons on the same

his grave w^as

day as his predecessor's, and was found

to be intact.

Ea-seqenen, son of the Sun, Ta-aa-qen.

Of the reign

of Ta-aa-qen, as of the reigns of his

two predecessors, we know

little,

but

it

is

perfectly

certain that he took a very prominent part in the great

struggle of the Thebans with the

and,

if

we may judge from the

mummy

was found, he

Hyksos for supremacy,

condition in which his

died fighting

Where he was

ones of the north.

killed

the

" filthy

we know

not,

but his remains were brought to Thebes, and treated

with medicaments and spices and duly buried, probably
in

tomb which was

may assume

that his

hundreds of years

specially built for him,

mummy

and we

lay undisturbed for some

towards the close of the

XX th

Dynasty, however, great robberies of the royal tombs

were perpetrated, and at length orders were given to
collect

Valley of the
of

mummies from their tombs in the

Tombs of the Kings, and to bring some

the royal

them

into

one of the largest of the royal tombs,

namely, that of Seti

I.,

whilst others were hidden in

HIS

B.C. 1700]

TOMB AT THEBES

the tombs of Amenophis

I.

-^75

and Amenophis

II.

For

some reason or other the mummies of many of the

greatest kings

.Dynasties

XVIIIth, XlXth, and

of the

were

again

XXth

moved, this time to a spot

near the modern Der al-Bahari/ and there they lay

carefully hidden until 1871,

when they were discovered

by a native of Shekh 'Abd al-Kurna, who, together

The Entrance

From

to the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings.

a photograph by A. Beato, Luxor,

with his brothers, began to

Egyptian Government heard of

Brugsch Bey was sent

1

In Arabic, j^^'

^.>5,

to

i.e.,

At length the
the "find," and Herr E.

sell

Thebes

them.

to bring the

the "monastery belonging- to the

river," as opposed to the convent in the mountains

is

inserted even

the word

by many natives

the second

is

mummies

the a after h

to facilitate the pronunciation of

omitted in pronunciation.

THE MUMMY OF SEQENEN-RA

176

and

funeral furniture to Cairo, and this

all their

was duly carried out by him.

The

(Ta-aa-qen), Amasis

Rameses

I.,

Rameses

II.,

Amen-hetep

Thothmes

IT.,

of:

III.,

Seqenen-Ea

I.,

Thothmes

Rameses

III., besides a

work

mummies

principal

found at Der al-Bahari were those

Thothmes

[B.C. 1750

III.

Seti

I.,

number

I.,
I.,

of princes

and princesses, and members of the dynasty of priestkings.

In 1898, M. Loret found in the tomb of Amen-

mummy

hetep II. the

of

Thothmes

lY.,

Seti II., Sa-Ptah,

VI.,

and perhaps

But

and the mummies

of that king,

Amen-hetep

III.,

Amen-hetep IV.,

Rameses IV., Rameses

V.,

Rameses

also of Seti-nekht.

to return to Ta-aa-qen.

The

king was unrolled by M. Maspero

mummy
on June

of this
9,

1886,

and when the swathings were removed, one after the

was seen that the king's head was turned

other,

it

round

to the left,

and that long matted

tufts of hair

wound in the side of the head in front

The lips were drawn back in such a
of the ear.
way that the teeth and gums protruded through them,
and the tongue was caught between the teeth when
hid a large

the king received the blow, and was bitten through,

probably as a result of the shock.

The

left

cheek

was laid open, also by a blow from an axe or club,

and the lower jawbone was broken, and another blow
from an axe had
long

slit

finally,
1

in

it,

split

open the skull and made a

through which the brains protruded

a stab over the eye from a dagger probably

See Les Momies Boyales de Deir el-Bahari, Paris, 1889,

p. 527.

THE REIGN OF KA-MES

B.C. 1700]

ended the brave man's

when

old

knit together

He was

his

head was small, and was covered

with masses of black

hair, the eyes

straight and large at the base, the

mouth

about forty years

and his frame was strong and well-

died,

lie

life.

177

were long, the nose

jawbone strong, the

of moderate size, and the teeth were sound

One

and

had disappeared, but locks of his hair

and beard were visible, and M. Maspero thinks that

white.

ear

the king was shaved on the very morning of the battle.

He

is

thought to have belonged to one of the Barabara

raceSj

but whether he did or not, the race to which he

was akin was

Kameses

II.

king who

is

far

less

belonged.

mixed than that

Ta-aa-qen

referred to in the

is,

which

to

no doubt, the

romance in the

Sallier

Papyrus which we have already described, and there

is

every reason for believing that the battle in which he

fought so splendidly for his country was one in which

the Hyksos lost heavily, and
first

it

may

be that

it

was the

of the successes which restored the fortunes of the

princes of Thebes.

KHEPER, son of the Sun, Ka-mes.

Of the history
known, but there

of the reign of
is

many

(Seqenen-Ea III.);

years,

VOL.

III.

is

reason for believing that both he

and his great successor, Amasis

aa-qen

Ka-mes nothing

I.,

were sons of Ta-

he cannot have reigned

and when he died he was buried in a tomb

THE WEAPONS OF KA-MES

178

modern Drali abu'l-Nekka^

at or near tlie

Papyrus^ records that

for tlie

Abbott

Kameses IX. the

was examined and was found

tomb of

this king

intact.

The evidence

in later times he

in the reign of

[B.C. 1700

of certain

monuments proves that

was worshipped

name

inscribed with his

are

to be

Scarabs

as a god.

known, and some very

important weapons in bronze are inscribed with his

name and

The most remarkable

titles.

of these is a

bronze spear-head in the collection of Sir John Evans,

K.C.B., which measures 23J inches in length.
iixed

by

its

socket to a wooden handle by

bronze pin, which holds in

its

was

It

means

of a

place a bronze ring-

ornamented with a pattern and with the king's prenomen

inlaid with gold.

which reads
"created

things,

the

is

an inscription

lord,

am

maker
a

with

which, like

its

the

is

"

a fine bronze axe-head in-

prenomen and nomen of Ka-mes,

fellow in the British

in the coffin of

Museum, was found

Queen Aah-hetep, the wife of Ka-mes.

See Maspero, Enquete,

of

valiant

Thoth, son of the Sun, Ka-mes, mighty for ever

scribed

p. 21.

MV

o
P

god,

Ea-uatch-kheper.

In the same collection

the blade

beloved of Ea, the son of the Moon, born of

" prince,
"

Down

" Beautiful

>

f\\

%,^=J]

/=xl

see

my

paper in Arcliaeologia,

vol.

53,

THE COFFIN OF AAH-HETEP

B.C. 1700]

179

Aah-hetep lived uotil she was well over eighty years

of age, for

she

tenth year of the reign of Amen-hetep

as if she

was

still

I^^j

V "^^^^ ^

J\

I.

Kares

it

seems

Thothmes

I.,

stele of the official called

The

-^

and

living in the reign of

her name occurs on the

for

of

stele

wj, her steward, as being alive in the

^^v

mentioned on the

is

of Aah-hetep

coffin

discovered under very remarkable circumstances.

was

Early

in 1859 Marietta noticed at the entrance to the Valley

of the

Tombs

be the ruins of a tomb, and set

men

work

to

to

to excavate

During the course of the work the Arabs found

them.

close by, in the sand, a

handsome gilded wooden

which much resembled the

when

what appeared

of the Kings at Thebes

it

was opened

it

coffins of the

was found

Antef princes

to contain the

of the Queen, large quantities of jewellery,

of which bore the

name

of

coffin

mummy

many

pieces

Aahmes, weapons made of

gold also inscribed with the

name

of

Aahmes, some

bronze weapons, already mentioned, inscribed with the

name

of Ka-mes, and two models of boats, one in gold

and one in

silver,

The gold boat was

and
king

it is
;

provided with crews of rowers,

pretty clear that

it

Bouriant, Recueil, torn.

Rid.,

-p.

ix. p.

of Ka-mes,

had been buried with that

the silver boat was uninscribed.^

2
^

name

inscribed with the

etc.

The

coffin

and

94 (No. 74).

93 (No. 72).

For facsimiles of many of these beautiful objects, see Birch,

and for descriptions

Facsimiles of the Egijptian Relics, London, 1863

see Maspero, Gtiide, p. 78

ff.

REIGN OF SENEKHT-EN-RA

l8o
its

contents were seized by

many

of the

jewellery

bad been

said that

many

a native of

Mudir

and

of Kena,

hands upon liim as soon as

altliongli Mariette laid liis

possible,

tlie

[B.C. 1700

most beautiful of tbe objects of

sold

and bad disappeared.

fine gold objects

It is

were melted down by

Luxor who possessed the necessary melting-

Many theories have

been put forward

to explain the, finding of the coffin in

such a place, but

pot and furnace.

M. Maspero's

is

the most reasonable

he thinks that

it

its

contents were taken from the royal tombs by

thieves

who had plundered them, and who, not being

and

able to dispose of their booty, hid

it

in the sand until

such time as they should be able to come back and

take

it

This, however, they were unable to do,

away.

because they were probably put to death as a punish-

ment

for the robberies

which they had committed, and

so their secret perished with

them

the Abbott Papyrus

proves that several of the robbers of royal tombs were

we can only hope that among them were

who plundered the tombs of Aah-hetep and

punished, and
the thieves

her husband Ka-mes.

Jr^

11111

J^ V H ^ ^

AAAAAA

SEKHENT-NEB, SOU of the Sun, Ea-SENEKHT-EN.

Senekht-en-Ka was probably

the

son

of

Ka-mes

and Aah-hetep, and though his exact position in the

King List

is

unknown, from the

fact that the cartouche

REIGN OF AAHMES-SA-PA-AR

B.C. 1700]

name

containing his

l8l

occurs on a white limestone altar

preserved at Marseilles side by side with the names of

Seqenen-Ea and Ka-mes,

right to assume that he

it is

The Marwas made for

reigned about the same time as his father.

seilles altar

an

has a peculiar value, for

Qenna, who was the scribe of the place

official called

of Maat, that
scribe

as

worship of

say he was attached in his capacity

is to

to

the foundation which provided for the

all

the kings whose names are given on the

The kings enumerated on the

altar.

number, and the queens are

in

it

altar are sixteen

two_, i.e.,

Aah-hetep and

M. Daressy has given proof that

Aahmes-nefert-ari.^

Ea-sekhent-neb and Ea-senekht-en are one and the

same person.^

To

this period

king

the

of

1^
\

("^

fH

must probably be assigned the reign

T

AAAAAA

_J|
i

Aah-mes-sa-pa-ar

called

^'^ ^ ^ ^J'

^^^^^ *^^^' according to

the Abbott Papyrus, was examined in the reign

Eameses IX. and found

to

We

be intact.

know

of

that

Ka-mes and Aah-hetep had

several children besides

Senekhten-Ea and Amasis

and

after the death of

their

we have no proof

the other hand,

it is

is

probable that
assisted

other, in governing

the

that such was the case.

quite certain that the country

See Maspero, Catalogue du Musee J^gyptien de Marseille, Paris,

1889, p. 3 (No. 4).

^

it

Ka-mes the sons may have

mother, one after the

country, but

On

I.,

Becueil, torn.

xiii. p.

146.

NUBIAN DESCENT OF SEQENEN-RA

l82

was

in

very

unsettled

Seqenen-Ea must have

condition,

for,

[BC. 1700
althougli

inflicted a severe defeat

upon

the Hyksos in the battle in which he met his death,

their

power was by no means broken, especially as they

were

still

in possession of their stronghold Avaris.

If

then the princes of Thebes were determined to follow

up the advantage which they had already gained,

was imperative for them not only to strike, but
strike quickly,

right

and

to strike hard,

assuming that the

in

it

to

and we are no doubt

interval

which existed

between the death of Seqenen-Ea and the accession to

the throne of

Aahmes

or

Amasis

XVIIIth Dynasty, was very

Seqenen-Ea's

Nubian

I.,

short.

the

first

The examination

mummied remains shows

or Berber origin

king of the
of

that he was of

and descent, and the

facts of

Egyptian history which have come down to us prove

that it was the hot Sudani blood ^ which he transmitted to his descendants which made them fight and

conquer their enemies wheresoever they met them, and

which made their dynasty the greatest that ever sat

upon the throne of Egypt.

the great

The

origin of Aah-hetep,

ancestress of the dynasty, is not so clear,

but judging from the name for the Moon-god Aah,

n

_D Q

v.^=:^

j)

which forms part of her name, she

should be connected with some family

in

the

town

who were

settled

Hermopolis by the Greeks and

called

Not negro blood.

QUEEN AAH-HETEP

B.C. 1700]

Kliemennu,
city the

nn

183

by the Egyptians.!

In this

god Thoth, the Hermes of the Greeks, was

worshipped under the form of the

ibis,

and the moon in

the sky was both his dwelling-place and his symbol,

and the Moon-god Aah and Thoth were one and the

But whatever her

same being.

origin, Aali-hetep

connected with the worshippers of the moon,

was

who gave

her the name Aah-hetep, just as the worshippers of

called their children Ea-hetep,

and the worshippers of

Amen, Sebek, Menthu, and other gods

their

called

children Amen-hetep, Sebek-hetep, Menthu-hetep,

It is a pity that

respectively.

Ka

no details of the

etc.,

life

of

woman have come down to us, for in

we may recognize a woman equal in ability to the

this remarkable

her

great

Queen Hatshepset, but with

less vanity,

and in

her we have, no doubt, the source of the wise counsels

which resulted in the freeing of the kingdom of Thebes

from subjection to the Hyksos, and in the
of the glorious

The modern

rise to

power

XVIIIth Dynasty.

i:>'>-^l

Among

the ancient Copts was a legend to

Mary and Joseph

and the Child Jesus, Who was worshipped by the acacia trees
there these trees remain in a bowed position " unto this day."
the effect that this city was visited by the Virgin

i84

CHAPTER

VII.

THE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY. FEOM THEBES.

1.

M (W_^] ^ (^fp]

Ea-neb

PEHPEH, son of the Sun, Aah-mes, "Ajxwcn^.

Amasis

I.,^

the founder of the

XVIIIth

Dynasty, was the son of Seqenen-Ka, and

the brother of Ka-mes, and according to

Manetho he reigned twenty-five years

this last statement

agrees tolerably well

He

with the evidence of the monuments.

is

TJatch-Khepeku,
Horus name of

the

Amasis

I.

famous

as

the

who

king

finally

delivered his country from the Hyksos,

and we gain some valuable information

concerning his

expedition

against

this

people from an inscription found in the tomb of one of

his naval ofQcers, called, like himself,

distinguished

man was

member

families of the famous city of

Amasis.

This

of one of the great

Nekheb, the

seat of the

shrine of the goddess Nekhebet, and the city which had

almost from time immemorial marked the boundary of

Egypt proper
^

His

him]."

in the south, just as

name seems

to

mean, "

tlie

Per-Uatchet (Buto)

Moon-god hath given birth

[to

AAHMES THE GENERAL

B.C. 1700]

had marked

its

l8'

limit in

the north, and which had

always bsen made

suffi-

strong to

ciently

resist

any attack which might

be made npon

the " chief of

called

is

and claims

the sailors,"
in

his

be

the

think

inscription

son

father^s
it

Abana,

of his grand-

that

his

name was Baba,

is

far

Abana

that

to

Abana was

and

father,

but

of

that

name

the

He

it.

more

likely

and

Baba

are variant forms of one

and the same name.

As

Amasis served under four

kings,
tive

and as his narra-

must be given

in

connexion with the history

of this

dynasty, a

rendering of the inscription is here given. ^

He

For the text see Lepsius,

Denkmdler,

iii.

Limestone usliabti figiu-e of king Aahmes I.

pi. 11.

CilS]
G
Museum,
British

No.

32,191.

LIFE OF AaHMES THE GENERAL

l86
says

"

unto you,

I speak

"

make you

"

upon me.

'^

sions in

[B.C. 1700

men, and I would

all

understand the favours whicli have come

to

was decorated with gold on seven occathe sight of the whole country, and was
I

"given menservants and maidservants, together with

"

what belonged

to

them.

"estates, and the fame

"

"x?7^^'

^'

" [Mas,
" two

of Ee-ant,

him

father,

'^^^^

Baba,

c^:^^^

J|

h 1 ^^ ^^)

in the time of the lord of the

at

I.,

which period

young and unmarried, and was

'

still

sleeping in the

still

But afterwards I got

for

myself

North,' that I might fight, and next

"

came upon me

"

when he journeyed

to follow

on

my

my

upon

feet after the

Now

his chariot.

in

" besieged the city of Avaris,^

and

it

became

feet before his majesty.

promoted to serve on the ship called

" nefer,^

was

and I rose up and betook myself to the ship

" called the

" to fight

as captain of the ship called the 'Bull'

lands Amasis

" a house,

"

my
(|

" apparel of little boys.

"

I came

was one of the captains of king Seqenen-Ka.

" succeeded

"

*1^ ^01^

Nekheb, and

large

deeds which I

of the brave

wrought shall never cease from this land.

" into being in- the city of

"

many

acquired

^^,

'

it

Prince

the king

my

duty

Next I was

Kha-em-Men-

and whilst the king

was fighting on the waters of the canal of Avaris

CAPTURE OF AVARIS

B.C. 1700]

" called Patchetku,

and in

iigliting

"

When

this feat

"

me

"

war again in

was mentioned

my

a gift of gold for

" a capture
" for

my

A^^WV\

^zn^

^ ^,

to the king he gave

And

bravery.

there was

and again I fought and made

this place,

and took a hand

and again a

in Ta-qemt,

" the south of the city of Avaris.

gift of

^ ^^^

s^

^^^^

me through

it

^,

to

I captured a prisoner

" alive, I rushed into the water, and dragged

"

gold

Another time

bravery was given to me.

war was going on

I rose up,

I took a hand.

made a capture and

"

"

Ak

187

and then along the road

him with

to the city

"this feat having been announced to the king by the

" herald, a gift of gold for
" again.

my

bravery was given to

me

Finally the king captured the city of Avaris,

"

and I brought in as captives one man, and three

"

women, four persons

"

them

to

me

in

all,

and his majesty gave

Then, in the

for slaves.

fifth

year of his

"reign, his majesty besieged the city of Sharuhana,^

"
t^T^T

)\F

" capture of
"

"^

and took

me
to me

to

were given

for

my

and I made a

it,

two women and one hand

was again given

" captives

1^^^

a gift of gold

bravery,

and the

for slaves.'"

From the above we see that king Amasis only succeeded

in capturing Avaris at the fourth attack, but once having

succeeded in doing this he was able to follow up his

victory the following year, the fifth of his reign,
^

I.e.,

Sharuhen, ^H^lt^j of Joshua

xix. 6.

by

DEFEAT OF THE NUBIANS

l88

[B.C. 1700

pursiuDg the Hyksos to the city of Sharuhen, whither

they had

and

fled for refuge,

to exact submission

from

"Mentiui

The narrative continues

up the

''sailed

N\N\N\

Nile

as

%,

as

far

^^^^
I

he

0^^:^,

Khent-hen-nefer,

K/l

=='

"fjTk

"^^^^^

had chastised sorely the

his majesty

Asia,

of

the tribes in the desert to

all

the north-east of Egypt.

"Now when

capture enabled him

its

cy^" (which was

a district that lay on

the bank of the Nile to the east of that portion of

it

which flows between Wadi Haifa and the fortresses

of

Usertsen

at

I.

"the Anti,

Semneh), " in order that he might punish

of

|||,

"

Nubia

"

among them.

Kenseti,

and his majesty made a great

rose

" prisoners alive

me

"

his majesty sailed

he had

down the

Amasis

I.

or " Scourge," ^^.

the tribes

far south as Sinai.

who

Thus we

was now master both of the Delta

we read that a

I.e.,

river with joy, his

and those of the north."

south, and the leader,

brought in two

with conquest and strength because

and of Upper Egypt and Nubia.

ever,

slaughter

conquered and obtained possession of the

" lands of the south

see that

and

i-^-,

a gift of gold and also two female slaves.

" heart being elated

"

up

|.

and three hands, and the king again

" gave

Then

^-^"j ;^

Soon

after this,

how-

serious revolt broke out in the

who

^g\

is

called the " Filthy One,"

^^,

%=J\ '^^, came north-

lived in the desert

from southern Syria as

EXPEDITION TO THENT-TAA

B.C. 1700]

wards quickly and

defiled, or laid waste, tlie

the gods of the south

Amasis

called Amasis, son of

Pen-nekheb,

l8g
shrines of

with his two generals

I.,

Abana, and Amasis, snrnamed

,^

brought him to bay in a place

OD or near the Nile, close to Egypt, called Thent-ta-a,

"i^S^^'

(1

men

Here his majesty took him and his

prisoners, and, says the general, " I rose

" brought in
" dragged

from the boat of

" majesty gave

" of land in

my

" the sailors of

me

the

had seized and

Scourge,

my

heads as

five

and

his

share and five sta

The same was done to all

the boat wherein I was. Then there rose
native city.

" up a vile one, whose

"

whom

two prisoners

up and

name was

Teta-an,

/%=

A^.w^A

and he gathered unto him a number of runagates and

" rebels, but his majesty smote

him and

his companions

" so sorely that they could never again rise up.

"this occasion the king gave

"measures of land

me

my own

in

On

three heads and five

city.^'

The general

Amasis concludes his inscription by describing how he

conveyed his majesty Amenophis I. up the river when
he went

to enlarge the

the king took captive

boundaries of Egypt, and

many Nubian s,^ and

For the text see Lepsius, Denlcmdleo^ iii.

Monuments, pi. 4.
^Amasis brought the king back from
^

pi.

43

also

how
how

and Prisse

d' Avenues,

u /wwv\
in

two days.

I,

,j,

e.,

" Khnemet

heru,"

the "upper desert well," to Egypt

BUILDINGS OF AaHMES

igo
he conveyed

liis

majesty Thotlimes

I.

I.

[B.C. 1700

up the

river

when

he was making an expedition against the disaffected

tribes of Khent-hen-nefer.

seems that when Amasis

It

foes in the

had conquered his

I.

south and the north he settled down to

administer his country, for no further military expeditions are mentioned

much needed

that this was

goes

without saying, for the temples of the gods were in

and everywhere the works which it was the duty

of the Government to perform had been neglected.
The Hyksos destroyed much, but what they left
ruins,

undestroyed the native Egyptians neglected

through

these causes the condition of the country was lamentable.

In the twenty-second year of his reign Amasis

was able seriously

temples of

the

to

in view he

undertake the rebuilding of the

gods,

Memphis and Amen

of

The hewing

in order

hewed therein

for

/wwv\

monly but erroneously supposed

'^

to be

the

unknown

reason

simple
to the

that this

i,

who

^oiVz/ceq,

Greek word was

"

Egyptians at that time.

"

Fenkhu "

in general,

See for the texts of the two tablets in the quarries at Tura
facts, Lepsius, Denknidler, in. pi. 3.

which mention these

^

are com-

"Phoenicians,"

means, as Miiller has shown,^ " foreigners

^

the

was carried out

but the word " Fenkhu " does not represent

for

at

Tura reopened,

of the stone

" Fenkhu,'''

Ptah

of

and with this object

in the Apts,

had the quarries

by people called

those

especially

that " good stone " might be

buildings.^

I.

Asien und Eutqjm,

p.

210 ff.

underlying

but

TOMB AT THEBES

HIS

B.C. 1700]

"thieves" or "plunderers,"*
It

is,

were

term

general

this

IQI

is

meaning

tlie

"barbarian robbers."

i.e.,

Fenkhu
Under the

however, possible that in later times the

with

identified

Tura

larger tablet at

Phoenicians.

the

a representation of three pair

is

of oxen drawing a stone from the quarry on a sledge

their

carry

drivers

sticks

and wear

short,

pointed

Of the closing years of Amasis I. and of his

death we know nothing his body was mummified, and
the mummy was found at Der al-Bahari, whither it
beards.

had been removed from

was about 5
on June

own tomb

feet 5 inches in length,

1886

9,

his

for safety.

It

and was unrolled

the wrappings and swathings were

of coarse linen, and of a yellowish colour, and well

the

illustrated

skill

XVIIIth Dynasty

which

possessed.

the

embalmers of the

The head was small

proportion to the size of the body, but

years of age.

The

of Seqenen-Ea,

able degree.

at

most

fifty

hair was thick and wavy, like that

whom Amasis

The

gave the idea

it

man who was

of a healthy and vigorous

in

eyelids

resembled in a remark-

and part of the cartilage of

the nose had been removed in days of old

the forehead

was narrow, the cheek bones were prominent, the mouth

delicate

and

The wooden

human
etc.,

filled

with strong teeth, and the chin

coffin

of

Amasis

body, and has a beard

are painted in blue

coffin is

I.

about 5
^

ft.

11

is

in the form

See Maspero, Les Momies

of a

the hair, ornaments,

upon a yellow ground.

ins. long,

firm.^

The

and upon the breast

Roijales, p. 534.

QUEEN AAHMES-NEFERT-ARI

192

is

g f^ Jk] ^

inscribed

reign of Amasis
is

The

wife of

^^ | P]

Amasis

I.

(Cory,

ojy. cit.,

was his

Aahmes-nefert-ari fy^=^
described on the tablet at

sister,

^^

p J

Tura

" wife, great lady, lady of the

[]

p. 116).

and was called

details of her life

must have been,

was,

as " divine wife, royal

two lands; royal daughter,

being, and her

we know nothing, but she

woman

of remarkable ability, for she

"image was placed

assembly of the sainted kings of the

New

she "

Empire

"

Pharaonic

among

as an equal

In

" the united

"

a divine

Egyptian heaven.

" the eternal inhabitants of the

"

two lands."

to very late times, venerated as

down

sits

pairs,

enthroned at the head of

and before

all

all

of

the

XVIIIth

the

the royal children of

" their race, as the specially venerated ancestress

"founder

is

her sister-in-law, Aah-hetep, the

like

wife of Ka-mes, a

she

''^J;

" royal sister, royal mother, mistress of all the

Of the

To the

the departure of Moses from Egypt

I.

Manetho

attributed by

[B.C. 1700

Dynasty."

and

On many

monuments the queen is depicted with skin of a dark

or blue colour, but we must not imagine because of this
that she was descended from a black race into which

Amasis

I.

was obliged

to

marry

his occupation of the throne of

in order to

Egypt

make

valid

on the contrary,

is

every reason to think that she was of Egyptian

descent,

and the true explanation of the blue or dark

there

Brugsch, Egypt

u'lider the

Pharaohs, vol.

i.

p. 279.

AAHMES-NEFERT-ARI

B.C. 1700]

colour of lier skin

that

is

ig3

when she was represented

so

coloured she was intended to personify some mytho-

The mummy of the queen was

moved from her tomb to Der al-Bahari, where it seems
M. Maspero
to have been found with her coffin,

logical

personage.^

describes

made

the coffin as colossal, and says that

made

of layers of linen and plaster

different in

shape from the ordinary

the bust can be removed from

it

inasmuch

is

as

in one piece,' just like

head-dress, neck-

painted in blue on a yellow ground, and

laces, etc., are

the general form of the

Osiris pillars

of lime, and

coffin,

The

the upper part of a needle-case.

was

it

monument

recalls that of the

which ornament the courtyard of Medinet

Habu; the coffin

is

about 10

ft.

3 in. long, and contained

mummy, and a small coffin in which lay

carefully prepared mummy.
M. Maspero and all

a poor looking
a very

the

believed that the poor looking

officials

been put in the

coffin

when

it

was being removed

hiding-place, and that the other

queen Nefert-ari

it

mummy

to get rid of

it.

In September, 1885,

it

store-

it

was necessary
was opened by

when the body had been removed

swathings with which

carefully swathed,

to the

rotted so quickly

terrible smell that it

E. Brugsch Bey, and

from the

it

had

was that of

was therefore placed in the

room of the Bulak Museum, where

and emitted such a

mummy

had been

it

most

became a mere mass of corruption

and emitted a dark coloured liquid of a most foetid and

insufferable
^

odour.

The

Krall, Grundriss, p. 66.

VOL.

III.

remains were those

^

Op.

cit., p.

of
535.

THE CHILDREN OF AAHMES

194

woman

somewliat

of

advanced age and of medium

and she belonged

height,

[B.C. 1600

I.

were no traces of writing on the swathings, but

same the
and

ari,

mummy

There

to a fair-skinned race.

was probably that

all

the

of Aahmes-nefert-

can only be regretted that her mortal remains

it

were allowed to disappear in this fashion.

It is interest-

ing to note that the great queen took care to have her

Kaa mummified and buried with due honour.

nurse

The

coffin of this

royal personages at

lady was found with those of the

Der al-Bahari, and

it

was orna-

mented with yellow bands painted on a green ground

her name
" divine
~~^

lJ~

rU

thus given, " Osiris, the nurse

is

(^EEIS)

AAAAAA
A/Wv/V",

-<S>-

{\

Eaa,"

triumphant,

Aahmes-nefert-ari,

wife

of the

3:^

two

In

published

reliefs

by

Lepsius" we have depicted a number of the children

Amasis

of

name

is

I.,

and

given in

it

is

a remarkable fact that

a cartouche

mentioned are Ameu-merit,

each

among the names

Amen-

(I

lllllillll,

sat,

"s^

Amen-sa,

=?^^

ba-pa-ar,

AAAAAA

Aah-hetep,

"s^

11

"W

etc.,

but

all

^^:^^

Hent-ta-meht,

these were not the children

of the queen Aahmes-nefert-ari.

Maspero,

op. cit., p. 530.

"

Denhmdler,

iii.

pi. 2.

THE REIGN OF AMEN-HETEP

B.C. 1600]

2.

^\^ To

KA, son of

Amasis

W Ul 1^

Sun, Amen-hetep,

tlie

I., tlie

^1 Ra-tohesee

"Aixevw(f)6i^.

great liberator of Egypt, was succeeded

by his son Amen-hetep

principal version of the
for

"^^
ftl

I95

I.

twenty-one years.

I.,

who,

according to the

King List of Manetho, reigned

The versions of Manetho's List

given by Julius Africanus and Eusebius

name

Chebros

successor

Chebron,

or

Xi/Spcov,

the

as

Amasis L, and say that he reigned

a king
of

for thirteen years,

but the evidence of the monuments does not support

this

his

statement.^

widow and

together, but

It

their

seems that when Amasis

young son Amen-hetep

I.
I.

died

ruled

during the period of the joint rule no

military expeditions were undertaken by the Egyptians.

Of the wars which Amen-hetep

I.

waged we obtain

some information from the inscriptions in the tombs of

Aahmes, the son of Abana^ and Aahmes surnamed Pennekheb, to

whom we

have already referred.

the naval officer, says, " I conveyed

" the South and North,

"up

the Nile

" borders of

to

Amenophis

Nubia (Kesh

Aahmes,

by boat the king of

when he

I.,

r^y~i),

sailed

to enlarge the

His majesty took captive the chief

" of the Anti of Keuset among his soldiers, for they
Egypt.

" were taken in

ambush and could not

Chebron seems to be a corruption

Thothmes I., Aa-kheperka-Ra.
1

of

escape,
the

and they

prenomeu

of

ig6

AAHMES THE GENERAL

" were scattered about

" auce.
"

And

no

offer

furtlier resist-

behold, I was at the head of our soldiers,

and I fought with

" prowess.

and could

[B.C. 1600

my might and

all

the king saw

I brought in two hands and carried

my

them

"to his majesty, and the king went about in search of

" his followers and their cattle.
" alive,

and I brought him

" his majesty

"

and I brought

to his majesty,

down from the Upper Pool

two days, and the king gave me a

whom

" Besides the prisoners

"

I captured one prisoner

(or

Well) in

gift

of gold.

had already captured I

brought in to his majesty two female slaves, and then

" I

was promoted

" the

rank of Ahatiu-en-heq,'

to the

Koyal Guard."

'

Aahmes, the namesake, and no

doubt a relative of the naval

king of

South and North, Ka-tcheser-ka, triumphant, and I

" captured in Nubia,

" second occasion I
" north

(=3^=1

one prisoner

was with him, and

And on a

alive.

I captured in the

among the Amu-kehek,

" three hands."

From

clear that the king

is

both came

for

officer,

says, " I followed the

from the city of Nekheb,

" the

i.e.,

the evic ence of these

waged war both

in

officials it

Nubia against

the tribes of the Eastern Sudan, and in the country

which lay between Memphis and the Oasis of Jupiter

Ammon,
number

to the north-west of the Nile Valley,

of

Libyan

tribes lived.

where a

Neither war, however,

seems to have been long or serious, and we shall be

right
^

if

we regard each

in the light of

For the text see Maspero, Aegyptische

what would

Zeitsclirifi, 1883, p. 78.

BUILDINGS OF AMEN-HETEP

B.C. 1600]

to-day be called a " punitive expedition

ig7

I.

"
;

in any case,

Anien-hetep only seems to have been anxious to protect

his rights.

The
for

building

king's

he added

to

operations were wide- spread,

temples

the

Karnak

of

and Der

al-Bahari;^ he built a shrine in honour of Satet, a

Cataract and Elephantine,

goddess of the First

Ibrim (Primis)

and an inscription at

that he worked the quarries there.

bered

the

that

great

queen

at

Silsila proves

It will be

remem-

Aahmes-nefert-ari

is

monuments with a dark skin, and it

must now be noted that the Theban artists gave a skin
of the same colour to Amen-hetep I.
Nefert-ari was
depicted on the

thus depicted because she was

goddess

Isis,

As a

result,

mother were worshipped

death, and the scenes on the

worship

is

the

and Amen-hetep because he was identified

with the god Osiris.

his

with

identified

both the king and

for centuries

monuments

depicted are very numerous.-

in

after their

which this

An

examina-

tion of the beautifully painted coffins of the priests of

Amen-Ea, which were found

at

Der

al-Bahari, shows

that one of the most prominent of the figures of divine

beings represented upon them

and the cartouches of

prominent places.

is

that of Amen-hetep

I.,

this king occur on the coffins in

These facts have been explained by

Thougli he may have been the founder of the first temple

which stood there.
" The greater
number of these are given by Wiedemann, Aeg.
^

GescMchte, p. 319

ff.

THE WORSHIP OF AMEN-HETEP

igS

suggesting that

tlie

I.

[B.C. 1600

king was looked upon as a protect-

ing god, wlio possessed mucli

same powers as

tlie

great gods of the underworld, but

tlie

to be considered

it is

whether the king does not owe his divine position to

the fact that he was a great patron of the priests of

Amen-Efi, and a munificent supporter of that famous

which obtained such remarkable influence

confraternity,

and power in the XYIIIth Dynasty.

who had given Seqenen-Eri

Hyksos, was exalted over
that period, and

all

it is difficult

Amen, the god

III. the victory over the

the old gods of Thebes at

not to think that gratitude

on the part of the priesthood of the god had as much

to do with the perpetuating of the figure

king on the

of the

sentiment.

religious

of the priests

coffins

But,

and cartouches

either

in

must have been a good and a

reverence which were paid to

case,

religious

must have been good reasons

for

him

as

man,

purely

king

the

for there

the worship

for several

and

hundreds

of years.

Amen-hetep

was buried in a rock-hewn tomb in

I.

Tombs

the Valley of the

i

of the

Kings

at Thebes,

which

Of his famous statue at Turin Maspero says, " Une de ses

statues nous le represente assis sur son trone, dans la posture

roi qui

du

accorde une audience a ses sujets, ou du dieu qui attend

rhommage

de ses adorateurs.

Le buste

s'en

modele avec une sousi proche des

plesse qu'on s'etonne de rencontrer dans une oeuvre

temps barbares
na'ive.

On

une merveille de delicatesse et de grace

sculpteur s'est complu a ciseler amour-

la tete est

sent que

le

eusement

les traits

veillance

un peu reveuse qui

p. 103.

du

niaitre, et a preciser Texpression de bienles eclairait."

Hist.

Anc,

tona.

ii.

THE TOMB OF AmEN-HETEP

B.C. 1600]

we

fact

IQQ

I.

we

learn from the Abbott Papyrus, where

day the masons examined and

told that on a given

found in good state " the eternal horizon of

" Tcheser-ka-Ea, the son of the Sun,
" is

120 cubits,

" as well as the

are

king

Amen-hetep, which

deep from

its sacrificial hall,

long corridor which

is

found to the

"north of the temple of Amen-hetep and the garden

"concerning which the
" city,

"city,

made

lid

his report to the superintendent of the

Kha-em-Uast, and

"Ameu, and

prince, the governor of the

to the

to the royal inspector,

of Pharaoh,^ and

scribe

" steward of the house of the Neter-tuat of

Nessuthe

to

Amen-Ea,

" the king of the gods, and to the royal inspector, Nefer"

ka-Ea-em-per-Amen, and to the herald of Pharaoh,

"

and to the chief elders of the

"

have broken into

Amen-hetep

I.

it.'

"

city, saying,

The

mummy

'

the thieves

and

found at Der al-Bahari.

were

and the wooden uraeus with which

mented

of

The

painted white, the head yellow, the headdress

coffin is

black,

coffin

is

painted in bright colours

down the

of hieroglyphics runs

is

orna-

one vertical line

front,

and

right angles, three bands of inscription.

it

cuts, at

The

vertical

" Osiris, king, lord of the

line describes

Amen-hetep as

"two

Tcheser-ka-Ea, son

lands,

it

of

Amen,

lord

of

" crowns, (or, risings), Amen-hetep-f-en-Qemt,^ beloved

In Egyptian,

Maspero, Enquete,

^ I.e.,

Aa-perti, " the great double house.

p. 13.

Amen maketh Egypt

to be at peace.

THE MUMMY OF AMEN-HETEP

200
" of

On

Ptah-Seker-Asar."^

one of whicli states

tions,

[B.C. 1600

I.

the breast are two inscrip-

mummy

the king's

tliat

was

re-bandaged in the sixth year of the reign of Paiother that the same

netchem, and the

performed

the

in

year

sixteenth

of

linen

ft.

5 in. long, and

it is

to the time

headdress, the necklace,

The

a yellow ground.

it is

chief wife),

who

titles

mother," and the coffin

coffin

painted upon
sister,

to

In this

it

describe

the crown, royal

that of her

was found a

coffin

was opened on June 27th, 1886, the

/I

f]

^^^ *^ triune god

of the resurrec-

tion.
AA/WV\

Gp.

it

upon

which was believed to be that of the queen,

but when

=*

and the

the great lady

much resembles

mother Aahmes-nefert-ari.

I.

was found

of colossal size,

united

the

accident.

are painted in blue

etc.,

is

is

Amen-hetep

unrolled.

her as "royal daughter, royal

is

wrote his description

Aah-hetep, whose

sister

by

in the coffin

when M. Maspero

with that of her husband

mummy

mummy

and yellow, and near these

mummy it had not been

married his

(i.e.,

of

draped in orange-coloured

is

body of a wasp which was shut

of the

reign

covered from head to foot with garlands of

flowers, red, blue,

Up

the

The

Masaharth, the son of Painetchem.^

about 5

process was

cit., p.

536.

THE REIGN OF THOTHMES

B.C. 1566]

upon the bandages,

inscriptions wliicli were found

showed that
the

mummy

was the

it

201

I.

mummy

of king

etc.,

Painetchem

of the queen has never been found.

^^ r^^ul "^ r^lpl Ea-aa-kheper-ka,

3-

son of the Sun, Tehuti-mes.

Tehuti-mes I.,i or Thothmes

son of Amen-hetep

I.

I.,

was the

and the royal mother

and

Sen-seneb,

according to the King List of Manetho

he reigned about twenty-two years

cording to the

monuments now known the

length of his reign was

ka-nekht-meeithe Horus iiame of
Thotlimes I.

the fact that the

motlier of

cartouche,

name

Thothmcs
it

ac-

much

less.

From

of Sen-seneb, the

I.,' IS

not enclosed

ma

has been considered that she

did not belong to a royal family, and that she was only

woman

of the lower middle class, in fact, that she

was a mere concubine

her son gave her the

title

of

" royal mother," but she seems never to have enjoyed

the

rank,
.

and dignity, and

From an

inscription

tablet preserved in the Cairo

when

title

of " royal

wife,"

found upon a limestone

Museum, we gather that

king succeeded to the throne he caused a

" Thoth hath given birth."

I.e.,

Erman,

Aegypfisclie ZeitscTirift, 1891, p. 116.

202

THE ACCESSION OF THOTHMES

circular

announcing

fact to

tlie

[B.C. 1566

I.

be sent out to the

kingdom

principal nobles of the great cities of his

this

Thothmes

He

contains

tablet
I.

sent out to announce his

of the

circular

own

which

succession.

season Pert, and he declares that his

Head

style

and

titles

of the

are:

mummy of Thothmes I.

" loved of Maat, lord of

who

is

"

''making heartslto

bull, be-

Nekhebet and Per-Uatchet, he

Horus

live,

(?).

Horus, the mighty

diademed with the

" double strength, the

"

the

ascended the throne on the 21st day of the third

month

"

copy of

fiery uraeus, great

one of

of gold, beautiful of years,

King

of the

South and North,

Aa-kheper-ka-Ba, son of the Sun, [Tehuti-mes,] living

B.C. 1566]

NUBIAN EXPEDITION OF THOTHMES

" for ever

and

of titles

for ever."

2O3

I.

Following this enumeration

king commands that the offerings which

tlie

are due to the gods of the south at Elephantine shall

be offered with wishes for the happiness of himself, and

he directs that the oath shall be taken in the name of

who was born

his majesty,

of the royal mother Sen-

seneb.

One of the first military expeditions undertaken by

Thothmes I. was that directed against the Nubians,
and his naval

Aahmes, the son of Abana,

officer,

He

us what took place.

says, " I

tells

conveyed the king

North up the river when he sailed

'

of the South and

'

to

'

among the

'

making inroads

'

with the king in mid-stream, and as the boats met

'

some of them

'

drifted to the

''of
'

'

'

Khent-hen-nefer to punish the disaffected

the

inhabitants^ and
into Egypt.

(i.e.,

to

prevent them from

I fought side

by side

the enemy's boats) overturned and

bank

they promoted

His majesty raged

sailors.'

ones

me
at

to be

them

'

Chief

like

panther, and he hurled his javelin, which pierced the

body of his
king

the

foe,

who

enemy

fell

down headlong

before the

suffered a great defeat,

'numbers of them were 'taken prisoners

and large

alive.

Then

fia|.r=^JfffPt^^
t

^^=>^^^

Here

follow"!

cartouches

204
"

liis

NUBIAN king's DEFEAT AND DEATH

majesty sailed down the

"made submission unto

" the vile king of the

liim.

river,

And

Nubians was

and

all

the people

the dead body of

tied to the

"the ship of his majesty, who returned

From

[B.C. 1566

to

bows

ol

Thebes."

Obelisks at Karnak.
a photograph by A. Beato, Luxor.

The namesake and

relative of the naval officer,

Pen-nekheb, also gives us a brief mention of

Aahmes
his own

prowess, for he says, " I followed the king of the South

"

and North, Ka-aa-kheper-ka, triumphant, and I cap-

NUBIAN POSSESSIONS OF THOTHMES

B.C. 1566]

205

I.

"tured in the country of Kesh two prisoners

alive,

away

in the

''

besides

tlie

living prisoners v^liom I gave

whom

"country of Kesh, and

" account."

The

first

do

not take into

Nubian war cannot, however,

have been a very serious matter, and

long,

lasted

but

Egyptians had

seems that the

it

cannot have

it

considerable power over Nubia, otherwise the appoint-

ment

of a "Prince of

Kesh"

(Cush) would have been

unnecessary.
It is doubtful

rule

extended,

how
but

far
if

to the south the

Egyptians

the

Egyptian

managed

to

hold the country of Nubia as far as Tombos,^ where

Thothmes
memorial
tribes,^

I.,

in the second year of his reign, set

stele recording his victories over

up a

the Nubian

they certainly must have been able to control

the country as far as Napata, or Jabal Barkal, a

below the foot of the Fourth Cataract.

year of his reign Thothmes

I.

little

In the third

again went to Nubia on

a punitive expedition, and on the

22nd day

of the ninth

month he passed through the canal in the First Cataract

which was made in the reign of king Mer-en-Ea, and
which was repaired by Usertsen

by Thothmes

III.^

III.,

The next expedition

was directed against the inhabitants

1

and cleared out

of

of

Thothmes

I.

Eethennu,

Aeg. Zeit., 1883, p. 78.

The Island of Tombos is near Kerma, at the head of the Third

Cataract, and is about 210 miles south of Wadi Haifa
the
cartouches of Thothmes I. are found much further south.
^ For the text see Lepsius, iii. pi. 5.
-

Wilbour, Recueil) tom.

xiii. p.

203.

EXPEDITION TO NORTHERN SYRIA

206

^^

f^-^^-0

i.e., tlie

[B.C. 1566

land of Northern Syria, and of

Here he

the region to the north-west of Mesopotamia.

many

fought

fights

with the

we may

people who,

assume, had rebelled against him, and he

made many
prisoners, and gained much spoil.
The ofiScer Aahmes
Pen-nekheb says in his inscription,^ " Again I made an
'expedition with the king of the
'

South and North

Aa-kheper-ka-Ka, triumphant, and I captured for him

'^

'in the land of Nahenina,

'

Mesopotamia,

'

chariot.

'

from the land of the Shasu,

twenty-one

And

one

hands,

I followed the king

t^T^T

.,

prisoners alive that I do not here take

'

count."

set

up a

to

stele,

Empire in that

I.

i.e.,

one

horse,

r^-^^

them

so

many

into ac-

was in Mesopotamia he

mark the extent

direction,

r^^"^

and brought back

'

When Thothmes

"^

\\

which was

of the Egyptian
still

standing in

the reign of Thothmes III., and which was seen by

that king.

The

battles of

Thothmes

I.

were fought in the early

when they

years of his reign, and the king had leisure

were concluded

to devote his energies to the building or

restoration of the

shrines

He

of the gods.

pylon and two granite obelisks at Karnak

built a

one of these

now

obelisks

was usurped by Thothmes

stroyed,

and the other, which contains also inscriptions

of Kameses lY. and

Kameses

III.,

and

is

VI., is still standing.

Aeg. Zeitsclirift, 1883, p. 78.

de-

This

B.C. 1566]

MUMMY AND

obelisk

about seventy-six feet high, and stands upon

is

COFFIN OF THOTHMES

a pedestal about six feet square

stone

large

support a statue of the king.

says that

it

was

in front of

is

it

which was probably intended

plinth,

obelisk records the

207

I.

name and

set

The

to

ancient text on the

titles of

Thothmes

I.,

and

up in honour of the god Amen-Ka.

In addition to the many buildings which he built

Karnak we
parts

of

find that

Thebes,

at

he carried on great works in other

Der al-Medina, Shekh 'Abd

e.g.,

al-Kurna, Medinet Habu, and he built a temple at

Abydos, of which, however, no

He

found.

w^orked the

hewed out a rock chapel

Thoth and

quarries
at

remains have been

at

Silsila,

and he

Ibrim (Primis) in honour of

the local gods of Elephantine and

Satet,

Nubia, and remains of his buildings are found in the

Second Cataract by the kings

forts established in the

of the

Xllth Dynasty

the stele set up by

him further

to the south has been already mentioned.

mummy

The

and

coffin of

with a number of royal

The wooden

ancient

this

days,

whom

Der

were found
al-Bahari.

had been usurped by

was covered with gold and

ornamentation was partly removed in

and the prenomen of Thothmes

Painetchem

When

time

mummy

which was inside the

it

is

in

I.

is

the coffin was used

was practically re-made, but

it

present

at

I.

it

visible in several places.^

for

mummies

of the king

coffin

Painetchem, for

enamel;

Thothmes

very poor
coffin of

at the

condition.

The

Queen Aah-hetep

Maspero, Les Momies Boyales, pp. 545, 570, and 581.

THE MUMMY OF THOTHMES

208

[B.C. 1566

I.

was opened on June 27, 1886, and the inscriptions on

tlie bandages proved that it was the mnmmy of Pai-

netchem, 1
the queen

^ ^^1

!^ *^

^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^

had been partly opened by the Arabs,

it

fl]

but the lower half of the

mummy

and

intact,

w^as

between the legs was a copy of the Book of the Dead.

In the coffin of Thothmes I. was a mummy which had
plundered

been

first

ancient days, and

Egyptian robbers

by the

in

afterwards by the Arabs in recent

The mummified body was, however, admirably

times.

preserved, and the small emaciated figure indicated the

possession

The head
the

of
is

uncommon vigour during

that of an old man and was

features were

delicate

were well worn, but were

all

people

who

its

shaved, and

The

and cunning.

flat

lifetime.

teeth

on the tops like those of

are in the habit of eating grain in-

and who crush their corn in their

setting the teeth of the upper jaw

sufficiently ground,

mouths

by

As

immediately above those of the lower jaw.

impossible, for

mummy

this

made

to do so

persons

want

was

of inscribed bandages, to identify

by the ordinary means, an attempt was

by comparing

who have been

its

features with those of

satisfactorily identified

plan w^as adopted by M. Maspero,

with the resemblance which

II.,

it

it

who

w^as

this

soon struck

presents to

although the forehead of Thothmes

Thothmes

11. is

much

more retreating, and the face of his mummy has a less

The
intelligent expression than that of Thothmes I.

THE WIVES OF THOTHMES

B.C. 1566]

20g

I.

conclusion arrived at was that the nameless

the coffin of Thothmes

I.

was

mnmmy

in

in reality that of the

king himself.

The

chief wife of

" the lady of the

" sister,

and

Thothmes

royal

Thothmes

" divine wife,

was the

two lands, the great lady, the royal

Aahmes," or

wife

daughter of Amen-hetep
i.e.,

I.

and qneen Aah-hetep

I.

married

I.

Amasis, the

his

sister^

but

he

Aahmes

had

he

became

the

called

Neferu-khebit,

"^^n

two

famous queen

and Amen-mes,

I,

Mut-nefert,

Thothmes

were associated

l^e

';

who

Uatchmes,

sons,

j]

(^^J^j|

11.^

two

the

and another

Hatshepset,

and

one

daughters,

also

By

married another woman, namely Mut-nefert.

queen

II.

t>y

the

lady

became the father

The two former sons

with him in the rule

of

Thothmes

of
I.

of the kingdom,

one after the other, but neither of them lived very long,

and the king was obliged to make his daughter Hatshepset co-regent

an inscription of

we have a reference to this event in

Thothmes I. on a pylon at Karnak,

wherein the king

Amen

to ask

This fact

Zeit.,

ODD

1887,

"^"^

VOL.

III.

is

p.

him

is

made

in his prayer to the god

to give " the

Black Country and the

proved by an inscription published by Piehl (Aeg.

125)

^^^^^
:

"^^^
_i*^

^ T

Jm

M
V

/wwna

aa/w\a

-^6 ^
P

V\

^^.

STELE OF ANEN

210
''Eed Country to
"
"

my

[B.C. 1566

daughter^ the Queen of the South

and North, Maat-ka-Ea, living for ever, even as thou

hast given them unto me." In former days it was

customary for Egyptologists to say that Hatshepset

was the daughter of Thothmes

Thothmes

and the

II.,

sister of

I.,

and the wife of

Thothmes

and the

III.,

great authorities Hincks, Birch, and Lepsius, basing

a statement found on the statue of

their opinion on

Anebni in the British Museum,^ declared unhesitatingly that Thothmes III. was the brother of Hatshepset.

was believed that Hatshepset was the daughter

of Thothmes I. and of the queen Aahmes, that Thothmes II. was the son of Thothmes I. and of a second wife
Later

it

and that Thothmes

called l^Iut-nefert,

of

Thothmes

I.

III.

was the son

and of a third wife called Aset.

Thanks,

however, to the discovery by M. Boussac of the stele of

the scribe Anen,
this

hetep

Jf ^^ Thebes,^ we learn that

g]\

'

flourished under four

official
I.,

Thothmes

I.,

Thothmes

IT.,

kings,

i.e.,

Amen-

and Thothmes

III.

Under Thothmes I. he served in many an exalted office,

and under Thothmes II. he attained to a position of the
The porhighest trust and confidence before the king.
tion of his stele, however,

that which says, "

" North,
"

Qemt

When

which concerns us most

the king of the South and

Aa-kheper-en-Ea (Thothmes

(i.e.,

is

II.)

reigned over

the Black Land), and ruled the

Northern Egyptian Gallery, No. 51a,

See Recueil,

torn. xii. p. 106.

Eed Land,

GENEALOGY OF HATSHEPSET

B.C. 1566]

and made himself master of the two lands

211
in'

triumph,

'

I was filling the heart of the king in every place of

'

his,

'

which the kings before him had done, and I attained

'

to the dignity of his

'

among

and what he did

'
.

for

me was

greater than that

most trusted

friends,

and I was

the favoured ones of his majesty every day.

Then when he went

forth

to

heaven and was

'

united unto the gods, his son stood upon his throne

'

as king of the

'

throne of him that begot him.

'

divine

'

country, and the two lands were under her jurisdic-

'

tion,

'

with due submission."

wife

two lands, and he ruled upon the

And his sister,

Hatshepset was made a ruler of

and Qemt performed

certainly

conclude

Thothmes

II.,

for her

From

that

the

works of service

this passage

Thothmes

the

III.

we must
succeeded

and that his father was Thothmes

II.

and we may also say that Hatshepset was the daughter

of

Thothmes

I.

and queen Aahmes

was the son of Thothmes

'

The text runs

nn2

I.

that Thothmes II.

by another wife called

J\

^r;^TP^iip

THE REIGN OF THOTHMES

212

Mut-nefert, and

Thotlimes

II.

Tliotlimes III.

tliat

[B.C. 1533

II.

was

son

tlie

of

by a wife called Aset.i

Ka-aa-kheper-en, son of the Sun, Tehuti-mes-nefer-

KHAU.

Tehuti-mes
succeeded

II.,

the

to

or

throne

after his father's death,

evidence

in

Thothmes

immediately

and there

support of

II.,

the

is

no

view that

another king reigned between the reigns

of

Thothmes

I.

and his son Thothmes

II.

1]?]

according to

twelve or thirteen years, and this state-

ka-nekht-useethe

HoririSme

Thothmes

Manetho, his reign lasted

mcut

tolerably well supported by the

^
it,.
t
tt
monuments. In addition to the Horus

of

II.

is

and other names given above, he adopted the

titles,

"the Horus of gold, lord of Nekhebet and Per-Uatchet,

" [the king] with

himself, " the

divine

son of

" the chosen one of

sovereignty,'^

and he styled

Amen, the emanation of .Amen,

Amen, the beloved of Amen, the

"

avenger of Ea, beautiful of risings, prince of Thebes,

"

and the power which maketh things

short reign
J

The

Thothmes

wliole

el-BaJiari,

subject

is

London, 1894,

Arch., vol. xiv. p. 170.

II. carried

In his

on no great wars, but

detail by Naville, Deir

and by Maspero, Proc. Soc. Bihl.

discussed in

p. 13

to be."

THE WARS OF THOTHMES

B.C. 1533]

213

II.

the north-east frontier of Egypt, as

nomad tribes on
we learn from an

inscription on the rocks at Aswan.^

In this he speaks

lie

undertook

chastisement of the

tlie

of the terrors with

HjjP ^^317

,2

i,e.,

and how he

the sea-coast dwellers of the Delta,

set

under his

etc.,

the Nine Bows, or barbarian desert

Head
tribes,

which he inspired the Ha-nebu,

of the

mummy of Thotlmies II.

sandals

he attacked the nomad

Asiatics, the Mentiu, the tribes of the eastern desert,

and the dwellers in the swamps, and then gave his

^

For the text see Lepsius, Denhndler,

See Miiller, Asien unci Europa,

Civilization, 158.

p.

iii.

24

pi. 16.
ff.

and Hall,

'*'

Ohle^it

THE NUBIAN EXPEDITION

214

attention to the degraded conntry of Kesh,

The

foolish people of

rm

(Cusli).

Nubia, on receipt of the news of

the death of Thothmes

Egyptian masters, and

began

I.,

to revolt against their

to plunder their property,

and

even daring to invade Egyptian

to raid their cattle,

This brought upon them the usual punitive

territory.

Thothmes

expedition, and

II.,

or his general for him,

swore that he would not leave a single

man

The Egyptian army marched

country.

killing people

and laying waste the land,

alive in the

into

Nubia,

for the king-

said to have been so angry that he was " like a

is

panther

"

every male

" except one of the

"

[B.C. 1533

is

said

damned sons

have been

to

killed,

of the chief of Kesh,

and he was brought alive and bound

like a prisoner,

" together with his household, into the presence of his

" majesty,

and he was placed under the

"beautiful god."

The usual

large

number

feet of the

of prisoners

were made and led before his majesty, and when

gifts

had been given by the Nubians, and due submission

made, their chiefs sang the usual hymns of praise in

honour of the Egyptian king who had broken their

power

for the time

being, and

then they retired to

wait for the next opportunity of making a successful

revolt.

Of the Nubian

we have no
but Aahmes Pen-nekheb, who had

raid of

record save the above,

Thothmes

II.

served under three of his ancestors,^ in the inscriptions

^

Aahmes

Monuments,

I.,

Ameu-lietep

pi. 4.

I.,

Thotlimes

I.

see Prisse d'Avennes,

COFFIN OF THOTHMES

B.C. 1533]

whicli he

Thothmes
bracelets

made

may

gave

II.

of

(?)

him

gold,

of lapis-lazuli,

rich

six

and two

of

objects were

a reward for services rendered in the

the inscription

of

Thothmes

II.

he

says that
,;

Jl

"^^
I

Thothmes
or,

II.

.^JL^^)

was probably buried

and we

In another
he

followed

^^ ^^^^? ^^^

he could

Ill

Hi.

vessels

that he captured alive more prisoners than

count.

four

intended as

field.

against the Shasu, T^T^T

as

gold,

axes

silver

us that

tells

such

gifts,

collars

be certain that these

part

inscribed on his statues

liacl

215

II.

in a place near,

perhaps, actually in a part of the famous temple of

Der

al-Bahari, but his

mummy and

coffin

were removed

from their resting place in troublous times, and they

were found hidden in the shaft and chambers which

now

are

so well

known.

The

coffin is

painted yellow

and white, and much resembles that of Amen-hetep

On

the linen over the breast of the

inscription in hieratic

was

which

mummy

states that the

I.

was an

mummy

re- bandaged in the sixth year of the reign of Pai-

netchem, the son of the

The

mummy

about 5
1886,

ft.

when

first

prophet of Amen, Piankhi.

was decorated with garlands, and was

11
it

in.

long.

was unrolled on July

It

was found

1,

have been opened in^

to

ancient days, and to have been remade, as stated above,

in the time of Pai-netchem.
1

Prisse d'Avennes,

p. 78.

Monuments,

The body had

pi.

suffered

Aeg. Zeitschrift,

1883,

THE MUMMY OF THOTHMES

2l6

much

at the

hands of the

spoilers,

ornaments had been hacked

off it

[B.C. 1533

II.

and

its

jewels and

with a knife or axe

the shoulders, and hips, and pelvis had been broken,

and the breast-bone was staved

To judge by the

in.

teeth the king could not have been more than thirty

years of age
white,

it

when he

died,

and though the skin was

result, probably,

was covered with blotches, the

The

of the disease from which he suffered.

top of the

head was almost bald, but the lower parts and the
temples were covered with a crown of light chestnut

moderately thick and

coloured hair,

The head

is

slightly

small and long, the forehead

narrow, the nose

mouth

deformed, the

is

teeth are white and in good condition.

does

appear to have

not

low and

is

large,

and the

Thothmes

II.

much muscular

possessed

and he was never circumcised.^

strength,

wavy.

The

build-

ing operations carried on by Thothmes II. were very

considerable, if
his reign.

He

we take
added

into account the shortness of

to the great temple of

Karnak, and built a small temple

Asasif,

to

Amen

Hathor

at

at Al-

and decorated the temple of Medinet Habu with

number

of reliefs.

His name

is

found in many places

Egypt and Nubia,^ and a historical stele bearing his

prenomen was discovered by Prof. Ascherson near the

in

Oasis of Al-'Ayun, which

is

probably to be identified with

the Oasis of Bahriyeh, or the oaat^ fiiKpa of Ptolemy,

Maspero, Momies Royales,

For a

list

see

p. 547.

Wiedemann,

op. cit., p. 330.

I1t^#

^^'

si

stele made for Anna, with scenes in which the deceased is represented
Vlllth Dynasty.
offerings to the hoafts of Temu, Ptah, and other gods.
British Museum No. 1332.

Limestone

making

B.C. 1533]

THOTHMES

MARRIES HATSHEPSET

II.

'"

and the Ta-ahet,

of the

q^^ ^,

219

hieroglyphic

inscriptions.^

Thothmes

whom
the

married

II.

his

sister

by

Hatshepset,

he had two daughters, one called Ea-neferii, and

other

Hatshepset, after

Thothmes

III.

Aset,"

a\

descent.

was borne

3,

to

him by

lady

SL

mother

her

his

son

the " royal mother

who was not

of royal

In this fact M. Naville sees an explanation

of the relations

which existed between Hatshepset and

"

her step-son and nephew Thothmes III.

"Thothmes II., Thothmes

who was perhaps a

" wife,

The son

of

was born of another

III.,

rival or a

slave

and

if

"

Hatshepsu shared her throne with the only heir of

"

Thothmes

II., it

was doubtless because she was con-

" strained to do so either

by circumstances or by custom,

"and not from any affection which she bore to her

"husband's son who was also her own nephew. The
"relations between aunt and nephew were certainly not
" characterised

by attachment and mutual confidence,

"for with Thothmes III. they

" but resentment,

left

which he sought

no trace of anything
to appease

by doing

"his utmost to destroy everything recalling the reign

" of
1

Hatshepsu."

See Brugsch, Reise nacJi

cler

grossen Oase, p. 65;

Zeitschrift, 1876, p. 120.

2

Deir el-Bahari, p. 14.

END OF VOL.

III.

and

Aegyptisclie

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