Egypt: History - Dynasty XII (Twelfth Dynasty)

Twelfth Dynasty

At the close of Menthotpe I's glorious reign nothing seemed to suggest that the power of his family was nearing its end. Yet so it was. The Turin Canon concedes to S'ankhkare' Menthotpe III twelve years of rule !ut makes him though not "uite accurately the last king of #ynasty $I. %ikewise in the A!ydos and Sa""ara king&lists S'ankhkare' is the immediate predecessor of Shetepi!re' Ammenemes I the founder of #ynasty $II and of what is known to us as the Middle 'ingdom. Isolated inscri!ed !locks in many of the towns of (pper )gypt show that S'ankhkare' was active as a !uilder of temples or chapels. A long inscription engraved in his eighth year upon the rocks of the *ady +ammamat tells how his steward +enu was sent there to "uarry stone for statues to !e set up in these sacred !uildings. +enu relates how he started out from Coptos with , --- well&e"uipped soldiers together with a police force which cleared the road of re!els. .n the way to the /ed Sea he dug many wells. There had previously !een mention of a fleet sent to fetch myrrh from 0wene. It was on the return 1ourney that the "uarrying work was affected. The !urial&place of S'ankhkare' is something of a pro!lem. 2lanking #er el&3ahri to the south is the !road and conspicuous hill of #heikh 'A!d el&'urna and south of this is a !ay roughly similar to that chosen !y Menthotpe I for his tom! !ut much less pictures"ue. +ere traces of a great causeway may !e seen as well as the !eginnings of a sloping passage. According to *inlock the end of this passage was hastily widened into a !urial cham!er and then walled up. At all events S'ankkkare' must have !een interred somewhere in this neigh!orhood since high on the cliffs commanding !oth valley are the graffiti of mortuary priests who served the cults of !oth these Menthotpe kings. In the fragment of the Turin papyrus S'ankhkare' is followed !y the mention of seven kingless years. It is pro!a!le that these years included a third Menthotpe su!se"uently not regarded as a legitimate 0haraoh. This 4e!tawyre' Menthotope III is known apart from the fragment of a stone !owl found at %isht only form two "uarries to which he sent e5peditions. Three graffiti of his first year and one of his second record an official's "uest for amethyst in the *ady el& +udi some 67 miles to the south&east of Aswan. Much more interesting is a group of rock& inscriptions in the already often mentioned grewacke "uarries of the *ady +ammamat. +ere in 4e!towere's second year was sent his vi8ier Amenemhe to fetch him a great sarcophagus. It may well !e dou!ted whether as many as 9- --- men really accompanied the e5pedition !ut there is no need for skepticism as regards two miraculous happenings which attended their short stay. The graphic story is told of a ga8elle advancing fearlessly in full sight of the work people to drop its young upon the very stone intended for the lid of the sarcophagus. )ight days later there was a great rain&storm which disclosed a well 6- cu!its !y 6- cross full of water to the !rim. To the prosaically minded historian the personality of the vi8ier Amenemhe is of greater interest for it seems well&nigh certain that he was none other than the future Ammenemes I to give his name the Manethonian form. *e have to suppose that a given moment he conspired against his royal master and perhaps after some years of confusion mounted the throne in his place. A recent discovery lends color to this hypothesis. A #ynasty $:III inscription e5tracted from the third pylon at 'arnak names after 4e!hepetre' and S'ankhkare' a 'god's father' Senwosre who from his title can only have !een the non&royal parent of Ammenemes I. The Twelfth #ynasty dated from 6;;6 to 67<= 3C was as we shall see composed of a num!er of kings whose surnames were either Ammenemes or Senwosre for the most part alternately. Apart from the 1ustified con1ectures 1ust mentioned more personal details are known a!out the founder of the new dynasty than a!out any other 0haraoh. Characteristically the sources of our knowledge are works of fiction or semi&fiction rather than formal official records. There e5ists in the Museum of %eningrad a papyrus of which the whole purpose is the glorification of this monarch and which must accordingly have !een composed in his reign or not much later. It relates that 'ing Snofru seeking amusement called upon his courtiers to find some clever man who could supply the re"uired diversion. A lector&priest from 3u!astis named 4eferti was recommended who when Snofru elected to hear !out the future rather than the

past launched out upon a description of coming disaster vividly recalling the picture painted in the already mentioned 'Admonitions'. Salvation was however to arrive at last> A king shall come !elonging to the South Ameny !y name the son of a woman of Ta&Sti a child of 'hen&nekhen. +e shall receive the *hite Crown he shall wear the /ed Crown....The people of his time shall re1oice the son of Someone shall make his name for ever and ever. +ere the non&royal descent of Ammenemes I is clearly enough indicated for the phrase 'son of Someone' was a common way of designating a man of good though not princely !irth. Ta& Sti is the name of the first nome of (pper )gypt that of which )lephantine was the capital and where the population was no dou!t partly of 4u!ian race. Ameny is a well&authenticated a!!reviation of the name Amenemhe which as already noted Manetho graeci8ed into Ammenemes. Amenemhe means 'Amun is in front' and this mention of the god Amun raises a pro!lem the solution of which is still o!scure. (p to then as we have seen the principal deity of the The!an nome had !een the warlike falcon&god Mont !ut with the advent of the new dynasty the human&headed Amun "uickly gained predominance over him soon to !e assimilated to the sun&god /e' and ultimately to !ecome the principal national divinity under the name 'Amen&/e' 'ing of the ?ods'. According to a plausi!le theory propounded !y 'urt Seth Amun was an importation from +ermopolis !ut he was also early identified with the ithyphallic nature&god Min worshipped in the neigh!oring Coptite nome. There is some slight evidence that Amun was known at The!es !efore the middle of #ynasty $I so that the possi!ility cannot !e ruled out that the king who incorporated the god's name in his own was of The!an !irth. Certain it is at all events that !oth he and his son Senwosre I continued to honor The!es with their monuments though wisely adopting as their capital a site more central !etween the #elta and (pper )gypt. +ere at %isht on the west !ank they raised their pyramids and surrounded them with the tom!s of their courtiers. The scanty remains after a first e5cavation !y @.). ?autier and ?. @e"uier have !een e5haustively investigated !y the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 4ew York. In the eyes of later generations It&towe 'Sei8er of the Tow %ands' to give the new capital its )gyptian name !ecame the typical royal residence not merely of #ynasty $II. Yet as a town it was of negligi!le importance after the close of the Middle 'ingdom. The attitude of the new dynasty towards the old was somewhat am!iguous. That Ammenemes I thought of himself as inaugurating a new epoch is clear from his adoption at his +orus name of the epithet *eham&meswe '/epeater of 3irths' a metaphor derived from the monthly re!irth of the moon. Yet we find Senwosre I dedicating a statue to that Inotef the great !orn of Iku who was the ancestor of #ynasty $I and an altar to the S'ankhkare'Menthotpe whom as we have seen the king&lists pure at its close. If Ammenemes I had any "uarrel with the Menthotpe family at all it was only with the short&lived 4e!towere'. Thus it is not wholly without reason that Manetho gave Ammenemes a position midway !etween the two dynasties. .n the other hand the Turin Canon is decisive in starting a new section with the kings of It&towe. 2or #ynasty $II the Canon is remarka!ly trustworthy even the lengths of reign !eing accurately stated. 4or at this point must a word of commendation !e refused to Manetho for somewhat similar reasons. +e is mistaken however in descri!ing #ynasty $II as #iospolite AThe!anB since perhaps its principal differentiating feature apart from its interdependence as a single family was its removal to a geographic position far away to the north. .f the greatness of Shetepi!re' Amenemhe AAmmenemes IB there can !e no dou!t. .therwise his son and descendants would have !een una!le to retain their sovereignty for two whole centuries. Monuments vastly increase in num!er and the individual reigns are almost all long sure signs of the prosperity and sta!ility of the country. %ocal temples !uilt or added to !y the kings of #ynasty $II a!ound though as a rule only isolated !locks have survived the remainder having !een destroyed or removed to make way for later constructions. 0rivate stele are very numerous particularly those found at A!ydos a resort of pilgrims as the reputed !urial&place of the god .siris. It is evident that the first Ammenemes aimed at securing for himself an autocracy rivaling that of the 0haraohs of the .ld 'ingdom. A grave difference su!sisted however. As yet there could !e no "uestion of completely a!olishing the power of the nomarchs. *e must !e on our guard against assuming identical conditions in all parts of )gypt !ut the splendid wall&paintings in the rock&tom!s of 3eni +asan display the ?reat Chieftains of the .ry5 nome as little potentates in their own right.

Many officials are there depicted whose titles recall those of functionaries attached to the royal palace stewards a superintendent of the hall of 1ustice another of the storehouse and ergastulum treasurers and even a captain of the army. 4or indeed are there a!sent !earers of foreign tri!ute. The tom! of the nomarch 'hnemhotpe favored !y Ammenemes I shows gaudily dressed and !efeathered %i!yans !ringing flocks of goats and Asiatics with presents of eye&paint are seen in the tom! of a grandson of the same name who never attained the nomarchy !ut only authority over a more limited area. A long and important inscription in the last&named tom! yields e5plicit testimony to the hereditary character of these princely dignitaries and the origin of some of them in alliances with the daughters of rulers of ad1acent nomes. And yet there is no attempt to disguise the dependence of all such tenures upon the will and condescension of the king. .f the first honor conferred !y Ammenemes I upon the original nomarch 'hnemhotpe I it is said that he appointed him to !e hereditary prince count and governor of the eastern deserts in Men'at& 'hufwey. +e fi5ed his southern !oundary&stone and secured his northern one like heaven. +e divided the great river over its !ack its eastern half !elonging to Athe districtB +ori8on&of& +orus as far as the eastern desert when +is Ma1esty had come that he might crush ini"uity arisen as Atum himself and that he might repair what he had found ruined what one town had sei8ed from another and that he might cause town to know its !oundary with town their !oundary&stones !eing secured like heaven and their waters !eing made known according to what was in the writings and verified according to what was in anti"uity through the greatness of his love of /ight. The great achievement of the founder of the dynasty thus lay in the complete reorgani8ation of the country. 2or the splendor of his own household and the maintenance of his !ureaucracy he needed ample resources. Ameny whom his son Senwosre I had appointed to the nomarchy as successor of 'hnemhotpe I relates> I spent years as ruler in the .ry5 nome and all services to the 'ing's +ouse were effected !y me. I gave staff&overseers to the farm&holdings of the .ry5 nome three thousand o5en as their contingents and was praised on account of it in the 'ing's +ouse in every census year. I delivered all their produce to the 'ing's house and there was no shortage against me in any !ureau of his. Ameny goes on to say that in spite of all the e5actions imposed !y his royalty he had ruled his province with unswerving 1ustice respecting the poor man's daughter and the widow !anishing poverty and tilling the land with such assiduity that in years of famine no one was hungry. )vidently a !alance had !een esta!lished !etween royal power and princely pride and at this moment )gypt was a feudal state more completely than ever !efore or after. 4evertheless there are indications that for the retention of the 0haraoh's authority ela!orate precautions needed to !e taken. 0ro!a!ly Ammenemes was approaching middle age when he came to the throne. In his twentieth year he associated with himself as king his eldest son Senwosre I and !oth reigned together for ten years more. The practice thus initiated was followed throughout the entire dynasty. 0erhaps even at the start it was not "uite an innovation for we found evidence that 0epy I of #ynasty :I may have adopted a similar course. In less e5alted circles at all events aged men of wealth and station had found it prudent to take to themselves a 'staff of old age' as the position was "uaintly called. In the case of royalty however an em!arrassing difficulty arose. If the usually accepted theory of )gyptian kingship is correct the divine nature of the falcon&god +orus descended from son to son the dying monarch relin"uishing that attri!ute in order to !ecome an .siris. An act of association which resulted in two +oruses functioning simultaneously made nonsense of this doctrine !ut there is no hint that the )gyptians ever felt scruples on this score. In matters of religion logic played great part and the assimilation or duplication of deities dou!tless added a mystic charm to their theology. 2or the end of the reign two literary works com!ine to give a consistent and evidently trustworthy picture. 3oth compositions !ecame great favorites in the )gyptian schools and centuries later were copied and recopied though with ever increasing inaccuracy. The death of Ammenemes I is descri!ed in a dream where he revealed himself to his son and successor in order to give him wise counsels. *arningSenwosre against too great intimacy with his su!1ects he reinforces his advice !y recalling what happened to himself>

It was after supper when night was come I took an hour of repose lying upon my !ed. I was tired an d my heart !egan to follow sleep. .f a sudden weapons were !randished and there was talk concerning me whilst I remained like a snake of the desert. I awoke to fight !eing !y myself. I found it was an attack !y the guard. +ad I hastened with weapons in my hand I could have driven !ack the caitiffs. 3ut there is none strong at night. 4one can fight alone. There is no successful issue without a protector. This clearly refers to the conspiracy in which Ammenemes lost his life and a memory of it though attri!uted to the wrong king survives in Manetho's statement that Ammenemes II was murdered !y his eunuchs. The se"uel is narrated in what is certainly the greatest glory of )gyptian literature the cele!rated Story of Sinuhe. The relevant passage is here translated in its entirety> Year ,- third month of the Inundation season day 7 the god mounted to his hori8on the 'ing of (pper and %ower )gypt Shetep&i!re' went aloft to heaven and !ecame united with the sun's disk the lim! of the god !eing merged in him who made himC whilst the /esidence was hushed hearts were in mourning the ?reat ?ates were closed the courtiers crouched head on lap and the no!les grieved. 4ow +is Ma1esty had sent an army to the land of the T1emeh A%i!yansB his eldest son as the captain thereof the goodly god Senwosre. +e had !een sent to smite the foreign countries and to take prisoner the dwellers in the T1ehun&land and now indeed he was returning and had carried off living prisoners of the T1ehnu and all kinds of cattle limitless. And the Companions of the 0alace sent to the western side to ac"uaint the king's son concerning the position that had arisen in the /oyal Apartments and the messengers found him upon the road they reached him at time of night. 4ot a moment did he linger the falcon flew off with his followers not letting his army know. 3ut the king's children who accompanied him in this army had !een sent for and one of them had !een summoned.... Sinuhe a youth who had !een !rought up at the court chanced to !e standing !y when the State secret was !eing told and was so much alarmed that he fled precipitately not staying his flight until he found himself in 0alestine where he found favor with the prince of (pper /et1nu. )5citing as is the rest of the tale we must refraining from following it up further since the most that can !e claimed for it is that it is 'founded upon fact'. This however is a not unsuita!le place in which to summari8e the dealings of )gypt with its north&eastern neigh!ors throughout #ynasty $II. The 0rophecy of 4eferti had emphasi8ed even more strongly than the similar compositions a!ove "uoted the incursions of Asiatics A'AamuB into the #elta and had mentioned like the story of Sinuhe the '*alls of the /uler made to repel the Setyu and to crush the Sand&farers'. *here e5actly these walls !uilt !y Ammenemes I were situated is not known !ut their twofold mention suffices to stress the danger that could still !e anticipated from the "uarter. 2or the time however relations were generally amica!le. Towards the end of the dynasty under Ammenemes III the !rother of the 0rince of /et1nu was assisting the )gyptians in the tur"uoise&workings of Sera!it el&'hadim in the 0eninsula of Sinai !ut these workings were certainly not in /et1nu itself. (pper /et1nu may have e5tended as far north as the level of 3y!los. 2rom the two pieces of evidence a!ove mentioned one might possi!le conclude that a single powerful ruler dominated almost the whole of 0alestine !ut this is contradicted !y other testimony. The )gyptians particularly in early times were apt to regard all foreigners as their natural enemies. /ecent finds of great interest have !rought to light the names of !oth persons and places scrawled in hieratic upon !roken red potsherds or upon the limestone figures of local princes represented as prisoners with their arms tied !ehind their !acks. Most of the place&names are unidentifia!le !ut among them Ashkelon and Shechem are pro!a!ilities. The )gyptians of the period certainly hoped that the magic inherent in these o!1ects would dispose of their enemies without recourse to arms. The stele of 4esmont dated in the 1oint reigns of Ammenemes I and Senwosre I shows that this general had to take the field against the Asiatic nomads and destroy their strongholds !ut it is not known how far into foreign territory his activities e5tended. %ater in the reign of Senwosre III the king himself traveled north to overthrow the Asiatics and reached the region of Sekmem which is accepted !y most scholars as Shechem in the hill& country of Samaria. +ere Se!ekkhu one of his warriors performed nota!le e5ploits which he narrates on his stele. .ther similar records are too vague to possess much historical value. The general impression left is that 0alestine was at this time mainly occupied !y small tri!es

or communities each ruled over !y a petty prince of its own. Much farther north there is considera!le evidence of Middle )gyptian penetration and so e5perienced an archaeologist as Sir %eonard *oolley held that definite campaigns must !e assumed to e5plain the num!er of #ynasty $II o!1ects which have !een found. Two kings of 3y!los received valua!le gifts form Ammenemes III and I: respectively and at Tod was discovered a rich treasure of gold silver and lapis la8uli o!1ects clearly of Mesopotamian or Aegean workmanship and inscri!ed with the cartouches of Ammemenemes II. These were presuma!ly presents from the rulers of 3y!los. At 'atna to the north of +oms a sphin5 !earing the name of a daughter of Ammenemes II was unearthed and similar sphin5es as well as the private statue of a vi8ier known also from other sources have !een found at (garit near the later %aodicea. The northernmost limit for such finds is Atchana at no great distance from the mouth of the .rontes. In the a!sence of inscription testimony the e5act importance of these and other like discoveries is necessarily a matter of con1ecture. In this connection it should !e noted however that on stele and in papyri Asiatic slaves are increasingly often mentioned. Yet there is no means of telling whether they were prisoners of war or had infiltrated into )gypt of their own accord. The magical artifices adopted to counter the malignity of )gypt's north&eastern neigh!ors were utili8ed also against the south !ut here again the tri!al names are hopelessly o!scure. .n the other hand the inscriptional and archaeological evidence for the relations of the #ynasty $II 0haraohs with 4u!ia and the Sudan is considera!ly more a!undant. Tantali8ing fragments from the reign of Menthotpe I have already !een mentioned !ut there is one even more defective than the rest which appears to claim the anne5ation to (pper )gypt of *awae and the outlying oases. *ith Ammenemes I records of greater certainty !egin. 3y this time a new occupying race known to archaeologists as the C&group had gained a foothold in %ower 4u!ia !ut they were not 4egroes who's contact with the )gyptians goes !ack no further than #ynasty $III. The generic term for the population of 4u!ia remained as !efore 4ehasyu a name familiar to us in the 0hinehas A'the 4u!ian'B of the 3i!le and surviving in the modern @ewish surname 0incus. 4ow however is found for the first time the geographical name 'ush which in the 4ew 'ingdom designated an administrative province distinct from *awae and lying to the south of the Second Cataract while in the .ld Testament it corresponds vaguely to )thiopia. At all periods the northern !oundary of *awae was the 2irst Cataract in the neigh!orhood of Shellal. The southern !oundary in #ynasty $II is uncertain !ut may as later have e5tended even as far as *ady +alfa. *e may certainly credit Ammenemes I with the su!1ugation of %ower 4u!ia. An inscription of his twenty&ninth year at 'orosko records his arrival 'to overthrow *awae'. (nder his son and co&regent Senwosre I *ady +alfa was firmly held and a garrison esta!lished there. A magnificent sandstone stele erected !y a general named Menthotpe depicts the god Mont of The!es Anot as yet AmunB presenting to Senwosre captives from a num!er of Sudanese lands with 'ush at their head. That it was not mere lust of con"uest which was now the principal aim is clear from the narrative inscri!ed on the doorway of his tom! at 3eni +asan !y the already mentioned Ameny the nomarch of the .ry5 nome. +e descri!es how replacing his aged father he sailed upstream and 'passed !eyond 'ush and reached the ends of the earth'. .n this occasion Senwosre himself was at the head of the army which returned from the campaign without suffering loss. Su!se"uently Ameny accompanied his namesake the king's eldest son dou!tless the later Ammenemes II to fetch treasures of gold for +is Ma1esty and having accomplished his mission successfully won high praise at the royal palace. ?old is not mentioned in the .ld 'ingdom. Most of these things were o!tained !y !arter from the natives the Med1ayu from over the !order at the Second Cataract !eing specially mentioned. It is clear however that invasion from the south was a perennial dread and that though e5peditions to %ower 4u!ia and the neigh!oring deserts now !ecame fre"uent they were always something of an adventure and there was little or no actual coloni8ation. A papyrus lists as many as thirteen fortresses !etween )lephantine and Semna at the end of the Second Cataract. Most of these have !een identified and planned. Those to the north of *ady +alfa are on the flat and were evidently intended to keep a vigilant watch upon the native population. 4o less than seven fortresses lie within the D-&mile stretch of the Second Cataract mostly on eminences and several of them upon islands. These were o!viously designed for defense as indeed is shown !y such names of theirs as '/epelling the Tri!es' and 'Cur!ing the #eserts. They are vast structures of thick

!rick walls enclosing sufficient space to house many officials and scri!es as well as su!stantial garrisons. The e5act dates at which these were !uilt are mostly unknown !ut there is no dou!t that the 0haraoh who strove most energetically to promote his su8erainty in this direction was Senwosre III. It was he who gave his name '0owerful is A'ingB 'ha'kaure' to the fortress of Semna at the southern end of the Second Cataract 1ust opposite to the fortress of 'umma on the east !ank the two com!ining to protect !oth the land and the river routes. *e have Senwosre III's own word for the fact that here was definitely fi5ed his southern !oundary. .n the great stele where he makes light of his apprehensions !y the contemptuous description of the 4u!ians "uoted a!ove he concludes as follows> As for any son of mine who shall maintain this !oundary which My Ma1esty has made he is my son and was !orn to me....!ut he who shall destroy it and fail to fight for it he is not my son and was not !orn to me. In his eighth year when sailing upstream 'to overthrow vile 'ush' the same king had ordered a new channel to !e dug near the island of Sehel in the 2irst Cataract to help his own ships !ut an inscription at Semna dated in the same year shows that the most stringent measures were taken to prevent the 4u!ians from intrusion in the opposite direction> Southern !oundary made in Year <....to prevent any 4u!ian from passing it downstream or overland or !y !oat AalsoB any herds of 4u!ians apart from any 4u!ian who shall come to trade in Iken or upon any good !usiness that may !e done with them. +ow strictly this policy was pursued is shown !y dispatches of the early #ynasty $III sent from Semna to the The!an capital much tattered copies of which are preserved in a papyrus now in the 3ritish Museum. These show that even the most trivial movements of Med1ayu people were reported and the almost daily letters end with the stereotyped formula> All the affairs of the 'ing's #omain are safe and soundC all the affairs of the master are safe and sound.. Centuries later Senwosre III was worshipped as a god throughout 4u!ia. In Manetho he is fused with his predecessor Senwosre II !oth sharing the name Sesostris. +owever great their foreign con"uests may have !een it is hard to conceive how their command victories can have !een inflated into those of this world&con"uering hero as descri!ed !y +erodotus and #iodorus. 3ut there was also another reason why most early )gyptologists refused to identify the semi&legendary Sesostris with the fourth and fifth kings of #ynasty $II. In the hieroglyphs the 4omen or second cartouche of those kings appeared to show the reading (sertsen which no amount of philological 1uggling could e"uate with the Manethonian Sesostris. It was '. Sethe who first proved that the 4omen involved the inversion of a divine name such as we have encountered earlier and that conse"uently the true reading was Se&n& *osre meaning 'the man of *osre the powerful goddess'. The transition from Senwosre to Sesostris was only a small one and is not open to dou!t. Mention must however now !e made of a discovery which can only with difficulty !e reconciled with Sesostris III's fi5ing of his southern !oundary at Semna. At 'erma some little distance to the south of the Third Cataract and hence well over 6-- miles upstream from the Second the American e5cavator ?. /eisner found a fort&like !uilding and a cemetery which may have !een occupied as early as the !eginning of #ynasty $II. An inscription of Ammenemes III which records the num!er of !ricks re"uired for the restoration of this outpost gives its name as '*alls of Ammenemes' and other finds point to the likelihood that the founder was none other than Ammenemes I. There were even ala!aster 1ars !earing the name of 0epy I A#ynasty :IB !ut these may have !een imports !rought much later for purposes of e5change. The cemeteries found here are utterly un&)gyptian in character as also the pottery faience !one inlays and weapons discovered therein. The graves themselves as large circular tumuli are completely different from the masta!as of contemporary )gypt. The dead lay upon their sides unmummified and wives and attendants had !een killed and !uried with their master so as to serve him in the ne5t world. In one tumulus was found a magnificent statue of a +apd1efai who may have !een the governor and another of his wife. This man is known from his tom! at Asyut in the $IIIth nome of (pper )gypt to have lived under Senwosre I. *as then this a permanent trading and manufacturing stationE And how can it have maintained itself if as the line of fortresses in the

Second Cataract seems to presuppose all the territory further upstream was normally hostileE The needs of architects sculptors an 1ewelers demanded ever more diligent e5ploitation of the deserts and countries surrounding )gypt and wherever the necessary rocks afforded the opportunity inscriptions record the names of the royal emissaries. The'!asalt' of the *ady +ammamat the ala!aster of +atne! and the diorite from the north&west of A!u Sim!el were put under contri!ution as eagerly as ever and the *ady el&+udi continued to supply its amethyst. In the peninsula of Sinai new workings on a grand scale were opened at Sera!it el&'hadim where a temple was !uilt to +athor 'lady of the tur"uoise'. The relations with 0alestine have already !een discussed !ut the even more pro!lematical connection with Crete cannot !e ignored. In that great seat of the Minoanculture not many )gyptian o!1ects have !een found !ut in )gypt polychrome decorated pottery of undou!ted Cretan manufacture has !een forthcoming in #ynasty $II conte5ts at +awwara in the 2ayoum and elsewhere. Most striking of all is a magnificent !owl discovered !y ?arstang at A!ydos and now in the Ashmolean Museum of .5ford. The ve5ed "uestion whether 'eftiu was the )gyptian name of Crete and is to !e e"uated with the 3i!lical Caphtor is still hotly de!ated. 2ar away to the south&east )gyptian e5peditions were still !usy with 0wene and the Somali coast. 2rom the *ady ?asus some distance to the north of the /ed Sea port of 'user came a stele of the twenty&eighth year of Ammenemes II recording such an e5pedition and another stele of the first year of the following reign dou!tless refers to a similar undertaking with the words 'esta!lishing his Athe king'sB monuments in the ?od's %and'. Curiously little consideration has !een devoted to the "uestion of what god is here meant. The e5pression 'the ?od's %and' is found not only here !ut also in connection with Asiatic e5peditions and since these were often headed !y an official called a 'god's seal&!earer' or chancellor it seems likely that the deity in "uestion was none other that the 0haraoh himself. +ence the underlying notion would !e his presumptuous claim to have won the treasures of all foreign lands. Though Ammenemes I had chosen %isht AIt&toweB as the site for his pyramid ad1acent to which Senwosre I !uilt his own the remaining kings of #ynasty $II had other preferences. Ammenemes II returned to #ahshur and the neigh!orhood of Snofru's two vast edifices. The tum!le&down ruins investigated !y @. de Morgan in 6<;D revealed nothing a!normal save in the method of construction. The reasons which prompted the ne5t king Senwosre II to erect his pyramid over ,- miles to the south and a good 6-- miles from the 4ile can only !e guessed. The chosen sit of )l&%ahun lies 1ust north of the place where the important canal named the 3ahr Yusuf turns westward to enter the oasis of the 2ayoum. Senwosre I had given his special attention to that remarka!ly fertile province placing at )!gig a cryptic monument nearly F- feet high which has always !een descri!ed as an o!elisk !ut which may have carried at its summit a statue of the king. *hether it was he or one of his successors who instituted the irrigation improvements referred to !y +erdotus and Stra!o is unknown !ut certain it is that from this time onwards the surroundings of the famous %ake of Moeris !ecame a happy resort for the 0haraohs who indulged their passion for fishing and fowling. The pyramid of Senwosre II displays an innovation which was copied in two other pyramids of the dynasty. )5perience had shown how rarely escape from ro!!ery was possi!le so long as the entrance leading to the !urial cham!er occupied its normal position on the north side of the superstructure. Senwosre's architect therefore decided to place the entrance outside the pyramid itself. This device however proved unavailing for the purpose for which it was intended since when at last the !urial cham!er was reached it was found to have !een remorselessly plundered. .f the rich funerary e"uipment with which it had dou!tless originally !een filled all that remained was a magnificent red granite sarcophagus together with an ala!aster ta!le of offerings. Yet the architect had !een at least so far successful that it cost 2linders 0etrie months of tireless la!or !efore he came upon the shaft which descended to the passage leading to the interior. A similar e5penditure of time was e5acted when five years later A6<;DB @. de Morgain investigated the pyramids of Senwosre III and Ammenemes III at #ahshur. +ere again the ro!!ers had got the !etter of the !uilders at the same time frustrating any hope that modern archaeologists might have had of finding an intact 0haraonic !urial. Consolation was however offered at !oth #ahshur and )l&%ahun Athe latter in 6;6DB !y the splendid 1ewelry discovered in the shaft&tom!s of royal princess within the pyramid enclosure walls. The pectorals crowns armlets and collars e5hi!ited craftsmanship of the

highest order and these had mountings in gold of many semi&precious stones such as lapis la88uli amethyst carnelian and felspar. They are among the greatest treasures of the Cairo and 4ew York collections. If the designs no longer have the chaste simplicity of the rare e5amples from the .ld 'ingdom they are nevertheless as yet free from the clumsiness seen in the 1ewels from the tom! of Tut'ankhamun. *ith Ammenemes III we once again come across the strange phenomenon of a 0haraoh possessing more than a single pyramid. The monument which he caused to !e raised in addition to that at #ahshur was situated at +awwara a few miles to the west of )l&%ahun alongside a canal of Ara! date. +ere again ela!orate steps had !een taken to foil would&!e plunderers and 0etrie's efforts to reach the actual place of !urial A6<<=B were no less e5acting than those at )l&%ahun in the following season. It was the funerary temple of the +awwara pyramid which constituted the %a!yrinth descri!ed in such detail !y +erodotus #iodorus Siculus and Stra!o. The site cursorily investigated !y 0etrie at the same time as the pyramid and then again in 6;66 revealed itself as a vast area of limestone chips with only scanty remains !earing the names of Ammenemes III and the "ueen Se!eknofru of whom more will !e heard later. The si8e of this area and its s"uare shape preclude the idea that this funerary temple can have !een one of the ordinary type. Indeed it may !e taken as certain that the accounts given !y the classical writers were not far wide of the mark. +erodotus speaks of the !uilding as a wonder surpassing even the pyramids and Stra!o descri!es it as containing a large num!er of courts interconnected !y winding passages through which no stranger could find his way. +ow the )gyptian !uilding came !y the Anatolian name 'la!yrinth' has !een e5plained earlier in these Te5ts. Mention may here !e mad of the two 'pyramids' which +erodotus claimed to have seen rising out of the Sea of Moeris. There can !e no dou!t that !y this were meant the two colossal seated statues of Ammenenmes III which 0etrie found looking out over the lake at 3iyahmuC these giants including their pedestals must have measured =- feet in height and it is supposed that they stood in a court very nearly on top of a reclaiming dike. 4o similar monument has !een found in the whole of )gypt unless the already mentioned o!elisk of )!gig can !e regarded as such. It has !een noticed that the great provincial tom!s found at the !eginning of the dynasty disappear after the reign of Senwosre III and )d. Meyer inferred with considera!le pro!a!ility that this monarch !rought a!out if not the suppression at least a radical transformation of the feudal state. At all events it is difficult to shut our eye to the great enhancement of the royal power. +ymns of praise e5tol the virtues of !oth Senwosre III and Ammenemes III. The latter king reigned upwards of forty&five years and his successor Ammenemes I: according to the Turin Canon nine years three months and twenty&seven days though his si5th year is the latest date recorded at Sinai. The dynasty came to an end with Se!eknofru whom Manetho possi!ly rightly gives as the sister of the last Ammenemes. The Turin Canon assigns to her three years and ten months. Though she is ignored in the A!ydos list at Sa""ara she is mentioned !y her 0renomen Se!ekkared' as the successor of Ammenemes I:. A cylinder in the 3ritish Museum gives her an almost full royal titulary. There is definite evidence that at one moment she was associated on the throne with Ammenemes I: and Se!eknofru. .n such o!servations as these it is dangerous to !ase any positive conclusions !ut there seems considera!le likelihood of a family feud out of which Se!eknofru emerged the victor. It would !e the second time in )gyptian history that a woman succeeded in esta!lishing herself as ''ing of (pper and %ower )gypt' !ut so a!normal a situation contained the seed of disaster. After Se!eknofru as after 4itocris there followed a succession of kings none of whose reigns so far as can !e seen e5ceeded three years. 2rom *hatever cause the glorious Middle 'ingdom had finally !roken down. Considering the large num!er of private stele which can with confidence !e assigned to #ynasty $II it is disappointing that so few throw light upon individual events or prevailing conditions. .nly a minority are dated and most rest content with the stereotyped wish for 'all things good and pure on which the god lives' followed !y the title and name of the owner and an enumeration of the mem!ers of his family. %audatory epithets are not uncommon !ut such claims as to have !een 'truly loved of his lord' and 'cleaving to the path of him who adorned him' are often all that we are permitted to learn a!out the person in "uestion. Is it illusion to suppose that the hand of the sovereign now weighed even heavier than of old upon his su!servient su!1ects and that under the new autocracy the cult of personality was

deli!erately discouragedE *e must not e5aggerate however and it seems appropriate here to mention a few sources that illumine different aspects of the life of the period though it will !e left to those more adventurous to attempt to com!ine these into a comprehensive picture. +ere again a work of fiction is the most colorful source. 4othing could !e more pictures"ue that the account given of Sinuhe's return to )gypt. After a highly honored life in 0alestine assailed !y the longing to !e !uried in the land of his !irth he wrote a hum!le petition to Senwosre I then occupying the throne of the 0haraohs. A free pardon having !een granted for his precipitate flight many years !efore he was met at the frontier !y ships laden with good things. .n arrival at It&towe he was at once conducted all dust&!espattered and unshorn into the royal presence where the monarch welcomed him with a few kind words which his trepidation !arely suffered him to understand. The royal Children were ushered in. Then +is Ma1esty said to the /oyal Consort> 3ehold Sinuhe who is come as an 'Aam an offspring of Setyu&folk. She gave a great cry and the /oyal Children shrieked out all together. And they said to +is Ma1esty> It is not really he . Sovereign my lordG And +is Ma1esty said > Yes it is really heG In this story we come closer to reality than perhaps in any other piece of ancient writing !ut the rest of the tale must not !e allowed to detain us. A glimpse of legalistic procedure may !e seen in a long inscription carved upon the wall of 0rince +apd1efai's tom! at Asyut. +ere are set forth at length the paragraphs of contracts made with the priesthood of the local temple. +apd1efai had appointed a 'soul&servant' to attend to his funeral cult after his death endowing him with land serfs and cattle as inducement for the loyal discharge of his duties. 3y a series of e5changes with the priests offerings to his statue were ensured throughout the year. .ne cannot read the ela!orate stipulations of these contracts without reali8ing that strict rules of property lie !ehind them for instance a distinction !etween what the prince owned !y virtue of his office. Much information concerning the internal administration of the temples would with closer study !e gathered from the mass of papyri discovered in a cham!er of the pyramid& town of )l&%ahun. As an e5ample a document may !e "uoted where the daily payments to the various mem!ers of the temple staff are recorded the superintendent at their head receiving si5teen variously si8ed loaves of !read and eight 1ugs of !eer. The staff payments represented however only a si5th part of the daily revenue of the temple the !ulk !eing disposed of to 'soul&servants' !ut to whose we are not informed. Another papyrus fragment of administrative interest was found at +araga a #ynasty $II site only a couple of miles away. This is a memorandum of the days spent in measuring fields assessing ta5es and reporting on the su!1ect to the overseer of land of the 4orthern #istrict. It would !e "uite in keeping with )gyptian ha!it if the statement of the duties of the vi8ier inscri!ed in several tom!s of #ynasty. $:III really referred to conditions four centuries earlier !ut of this we cannot !e sure and the sparseness of our material and the stage thus far reached in our studies make any attempt at a synthesis very precarious. The site of )l&%ahun e5cavated !y 0etrie proved to !e of e5ceptional interest since it yielded the remains of a town all of one period revealing an une5pected degree of town&planning and a mass of furniture implements and ornaments almost uni"ue in the land of the 0haraohs. The houses of the wealthy !uilt of !rick like those of the poor all possessed an atrium !ordered !y columns and with a limestone tank in the center. 'The roofing was usually of !eams overlaid with !undles of straw and mud&plasteredC !ut many roofs of !rickwork remain some entire others with only the lower part. The doorways were always arched in !rickwork and we know now for certain that the arch was not only known !ut was in constant use !y the early )gyptians. A wall ran around three sides of the town leaving it open to the 4ile plain on the south. *ithin a main street surrounded a main !lock of houses minor streets running !etween the !uildings. 3esides the mass of temple accounts and correspondence later found in the temple itself papyri dealing with various topics were gathered from many of the houses the difficult task of their decipherment !eing one of the outstanding achievements of that great scholar 2.%l. ?riffith. .ne medical work deals with women's diseases and a veterinary fragment with those of animals. Then there are wills from which we learn that a man was a!le to !e"ueath pretty well as he chose not only his house and chattels !ut also such an office as that of director of a phyla of lay&priests. In another case a wife was left among other things four 'Aamu Asiatic slaves. Such documents had to

!e formally witnessed and deposited in the house of the /ecorder. Censuses of households were taken and similarly registered. In a word the !usy life of this important local community was regulated !y strict administrative measures the e5tent and co&ordination of which can only !e glimpsed from the surviving de!ris of manuscripts. )lsewhere a tom!&wall or else a Stele may illustrate some side of life not yet mentioned. .ne official tells how he was sent to the .asis to round up some fugitives. At 3ersha a famous scene depicts the dragging of a colossal statue to its destination not less than 679 soldiers !elonging to the +are nome !eing engaged in the undertaking. Soldiers of outstanding valor might receive valua!le gifts from the king perhaps a dagger and a !ow chased in goldC the Se!ekkhu who distinguished himself in 0alestine was rewarded not only with these !ut with si5ty serfs as well. Important missions might !e entrusted to particularly esteemed officials. Thus Senwosre III sent his chief treasurer Ikhernofre to A!ydos there to e"uip the temple of .siris with splendid furniture encrusted with gold silver and lapis la8uli and whilst on the spot he directed the dramaticceremonies simulating the tragic life of the murdered god. 3efore ending his chapter reference must !e made to some of the more important monuments of the period which have escaped destruction. At +eliopolis a solitary o!elisk still stands a witness to the great temple which Senwosre I erected there as recorded also in a leather document already mentioned. At 'arnak gleaming in limestone !locks later used in the construction of the Third 0ylon have !een reassem!led into a small !ut !eautiful 1u!ilee chapel of the same king. It is possi!ly due to its remoteness that a modest temple e5cavated !y the Italians at Medinet Madi in the 2ayoum province is !etter preserved than other sanctuaries of the kind elsewhere. To characteri8e the are of #ynasty $II satisfactorily is hardly possi!le here !ut a least it may !e said that it displays differences from all that had gone !efore which even the unpracticed eye can detect. The conventions are the same the different models are the same and yet there are palpa!le differences. In particular one may note the grimness and determination of the sculptured features of the 0haraoh the supreme masterpieces !eing the o!sidian head of Ammenemes III formerly in the Macgregor collection and the Moscow statuette of the same king.