revolts there among the natives; but details are wanting. He built at Abu-Şîr the pyramid called "Men-ȧst

"

ddd A. From this, probably, came the fine grey granite

funerary vase inscribed with his name

11

(See Fourth Egyptian Room, Wall-case 194, No. 51.)

King User-en-Ra An, B.C. 3433. [Vestibule, South Wall, No. 49.]

Usertsen I, a king of the
XIIth dynasty, wishing for

some reason to commemorate

User-en-Rã, dedicated to him a black granite statue, the lower portion of which is in the Egyptian Vestibule, No. 48. On one side of the throne is the royal prenomen, and on the other the nomen, which is repeated on the king's belt. A plaster cast of a stone statue of User-en-Ra is also exhibited in the Vestibule, No. 49.

Asså, the next king of importance, worked the quarries in Wâdî Hammâmât, near the old high road which ran from Kena on the Nile, in Upper Egypt, to a place near the modern Kusêr (Cosseir) on the Red Sea, and the copper and turquoise mines in the Peninsula of Sinai. He built at Abu-Sîr the

pyramid called “Nefer” A.

During the reign of Assȧ a development of trade be

tween Egypt and the Sûdân ensued, and an Egyptian official called Ba-ur-tet succeeded in reaching the "Land of the Spirits" and bringing thence a pygmy tenk

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whom he gave to the king. The pygmy actually came from the land of Punt, which tradition declares was the original home of the Egyptians. He was employed to dance the "dance of the gods" before the king. It seems to have been

the custom in still earlier times to import pygmies from the Sûdân, for skeletons of two were found near the tomb of Semempses, a king of the Ist dynasty, at Abydos.

Unas, the last king of the Vth dynasty, the Onnos of Manetho, carried on the usual mining operations, and, it is said, built a temple to Hathor at Memphis. He is chiefly famous as the builder of the first of a very remarkable series of pyramids at Sakkârah, the corridors and chamber walls of which were covered with series of formulae of the greatest value for the study of the Egyptian Religion. The pyramid of Unȧs was about 60 feet high, and the length of each side at the base was 220 feet; in front of its door stood a portico. which rested on granite columns with palm-leaf capitals. One of these columns now stands in the Egyptian Vestibule, No. 50. (For an alabaster vase from his mummy chamber,

inscribed with his name and titles

Wall-case 138 in the Fourth Egyptian Room, No. 57.)

,

see

The funerary reliefs of the Vth dynasty are very fine. Those worthy of note are: a "false door," from the tomb of Khnemu-hetep, a councillor and libationer and an officer of the palace of Userkaf (Egyptian Vestibule, No. 51); a portion of the façade of the tomb of Neka-ankh, a priest who ministered in the tomb of Userkaf (No. 52); a massive "false door" from the tomb of Åsȧ-ānkh, from Sakkârah (No. 53); a slab sculptured in low relief with a figure of the royal kinswoman Thethȧ (No. 60); and a slab from the tomb of Khnemu-hetep, a chief of Nekheb (No. 61).

Tetȧ, the first king of this dynasty, was neither a warrior nor a great builder; and details of his reign are wanting. He built a pyramid at Sakkârah, the interior of the chambers and corridors of which are covered with inscriptions of a religious

character; it is commonly known as the "Prison Pyramid.' Of the monuments of this king in the British Museum may be mentioned a grant of land to the god Khenti Amenti of Abydos (Egyptian Vestibule, No. 74); an alabaster vase from his pyramid, inscribed with his name and titles (Wallcase 138 in the Fourth Egyptian Room, Nos. 59 and 60); and a fine breccia bull, to which the royal names and titles have been added in recent times (No. 61).

Ra-meri, or Pepi I, was probably the greatest king of this dynasty. He worked the granite quarries at Elephantine, or Syene, and in the Wâdî Hammâmât, and he established his power in the Peninsula of Sinai, where he ruled the local tribes with a strong hand. His reign was one of industrial progress; and trade and handicrafts flourished thoughout the country under his fostering care. Under the leadership of a favourite official named Unȧ, he despatched a very large army composed of men drawn from all parts of the Sûdân, to put down a wide-spread revolt which had broken out among the dwellers in the Eastern Desert called "the Aamu, who lived on the sand." Una gained a decisive victory, and was promoted to very high honours. Pepi I built a pyramid at Sakkârah, the walls of the chambers and corridors of which were covered with inscriptions of a religious character; from this comes the fine alabaster vase, inscribed with his name and titles, in Wall-case 138 in the Fourth Egyptian Room, No. 66. (For two fine "false doors" from the tomb of Qarta, a high official of Pepi I, see Egyptian Vestibule, Nos. 75, 76.)

Pepi I was succeeded by Mer-en-Rā I Tchefau(?) em-sa-f, who carried on the works begun by his father, and built a pyramid at Sakkârah, from which came the fine alabaster vase in Wall-case 138 in the Fourth Egyptian Room, No. 66. He was succeeded by Nefer-ka-Ra Pepi II, who according to tradition lived to the age of 100 years. During his reign Egypt was in a state of prosperity, and there was great activity in trade and handicrafts. At this time flourished the famous official Her-khuf, who was the master of a caravan which traded between Egypt and the Sûdân, which country he visited four times. On the last occasion he brought back a pygmy from "the land of the Spirits," which King Pepi II bade him bring to Memphis. Detailed orders were sent to the effect that the pygmy was to be watched during the day so that he might not fall into the water, and his sleeping place was to be visited ten times each night by properly qualified people, for, said the king: “I wish to see "him more than all the tributes of Sinai and Punt." Other

prominent traders in the Sûdân on behalf of the king at this time were Pepi-nekht, Mekhu, who died there, and whose body was brought back to Egypt by his son Sabben, etc.

Among the objects of the time of Pepi II may be mentioned a portion of a doorway made by him at Abydos, and a sepulchral stele of Nefer-Sennå, from his tomb at Denderah (Egyptian Vestibule, Nos. 77 and 78). Among the priests who ministered in the chapel attached to the pyramid of Pepi II was Heb-peri, whose stele is exhibited in the Egyptian Vestibule, No. 79. The most important monument of his reign is the maṣṭaba tomb of Ur-ari-en-Ptaḥ, a royal kinsman and scribe, libationer, and councillor, from Sakkârah, which has been re-built in the Assyrian Saloon (No. 80). It is a good typical example of the tomb of noblemen and high officials of the period. The painted reliefs are interesting, and are typical of the wall decorations of tombs towards the close of the VIth dynasty. The inscriptions show that both Ur-ari-en-Ptah and his wife were buried in the chamber beneath the maṣṭaba; the list of offerings, some 90 in number, is exceptionally long.

Of the last king of the VIth dynasty, Mer-en-Rā II Tchefa-em-sa-f, nothing is known.

The funerary art of this period is well illustrated by the stelae and "false doors" of: Sennu (Bay 1, No. 81), Ptaḥhetep, a priest (No. 82), Erta-en-ankh, a royal kinsman and councillor (No. 83), Uthenȧa, whose "good name" was Penȧ (a very interesting relief, No. 84), Atu, a scribe and superintendent of the "Great House of the Six" (No. 85), Behenu, a priestess of Hathor (No. 88), and a portion of a slab from the roof of a tomb, with flutings, which are probably intended to represent tree trunks (No. 90). All these, with the exception of No. 81, are in the Egyptian Vestibule. To this period also probably belong the libation tanks, and tablet for offerings of Antkes, Khart-en-Khennu, and Senb (Bay 14, Nos. 93-95).

Besides the larger remains of this period, the scarabs in the Table-cases in the Fourth Egyptian Room should be examined. Several of them are inscribed with names of the kings of the first six dynasties, but it is not certain how many, or if any, of such scarabs are contemporaneous, and for this reason they have not been described in the preceding paragraphs. On the other hand, of the fine collection of scarabs of officials, inscribed with their titles, scores certainly belong to the period of the first half of the

Ancient Empire, and are of the greatest interest and historical value.

The monuments prove that between the IVth and VIth dynasties the Egyptians lived in a state of serfdom, and that they regarded their king as the owner of both their souls and bodies. He was the very essence of God in human form upon earth, and his power was absolute; even in the Other World his authority was held to be equal to that of the great gods of the dead. The Pharaohs of this period were masters of the Peninsula of Sinai, and of the Eastern Desert between Egypt and the Red Sea; and the memory of the raid which Seneferu made in the Sûdân probably induced the warlike tribes of that country to permit Egyptian caravans to pass from Syene to the Blue and White Niles unmolested.

At the close of the VIth dynasty a period of general disorder appears to have set in, the chiefs of cities such as Suten-henen (Herakleopolis), Asyût and Thebes contending among themselves for supremacy. Of the history of this period nothing is known. According to Manetho (version of Africanus) we have :—

Seventh Dynasty. From Memphis.

Seventy kings in seventy days.

Eighth Dynasty. From Memphis.

Twenty-seven kings in 146 years.

The Tablet of Abydos supplies after Neter-ka-Ra, the name of the last king of the VIth dynasty, the following sixteen names, which represent, presumably, the kings of the VIIIth dynasty: