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lion (Bay 5, No. 340) on the breast of which is cut the cartouche Suser-en-Rã, i.e., the prenomen of

King Khian (mm). This lion was purchased at

Baghdad, but its provenance is unknown. Besides these the British Museum possesses a large number of scarabs of the Hyksos Period inscribed with the names of kings and royal personages.

Another Hyksos king, Aa-qenen-Rā Apepȧ II, is made known to us by Sallier Papyrus II (No. 10,185), which shows that he was a contemporary of one of the Theban kings called Seqenen-Ra. According to this document there was enmity between Apepȧ II and Seqenen-Rã, his vassal, but as the papyrus is mutilated the result of their enmity is unknown.

During one portion of the Hyksos Period a group of petty kings, or chiefs, each of whom was called Antef-aa, ruled either at Thebes or Coptos, and a a few of their monuments have come down to us. In the British Museum are: I. Stone memorial pyramid of Antef-ãa Àp-Maāt (Vestibule, South wall, No. 341); 2. Slab sculptured with a figure of Antef Nub-kheper-Ra (Bay 4, No. 342); 3. Gilded coffin of Antef-ãa (Wall-case 2, First Egyptian Room).

It has been said above that there was enmity between Apepȧ II and Seqenen-Rã, but the monuments prove that there were three kings who bore the Seqenen-Ra prenomen, and it seems that all three waged war against the Hyksos in the north; their full names were Seqenen-Rā (I), Tau-āa, Seqenen-Ra (II), Tau-aa-aa, Seqenen-Rā (III), Tau-āa-qen. The greatest warrior of the three was undoubtedly the last named, and it was he who determined to throw off the yoke of the foreigner. He was supported by all classes of Egyptians, for the Hyksos were hated, and especially by the priests of Amen-Ra at Thebes, who regarded the demand of the Hyksos king that Seqenen-Ra III should worship the god Sutekh as a grave insult to their god Amen-Rā. SeqenenRa III refused to worship Sutekh, and proclaimed his independence. Of the battles which were fought during the war that followed nothing is known, but it is clear that in one of them the brave leader in the struggle for national independence was slain. When his mummy was unrolled at Cairo, in 1886, it was seen that the lower jaw-bone was broken and the skull split; there were also large wounds in the side of the

head and over the eye, and one ear had been hacked away. Tau-aa-qen was succeeded by his son (?) Ka-mes, whose reign was, however, short. To him belonged the fine bronze axe-head inscribed with his names and titles exhibited in Table-case B in the Third Egyptian Room (No. 5), and the spear head, similarly inscribed, of which see a cast in the same case (No. 191). Ka-mes had several children by his wife Аāḥ ḥetep, and some of their sons may have ruled for a short time; but the country was very unsettled, and the first to succeed in restoring law and order was Аāḥmes, or Amāsis I, the founder of the XVIIIth dynasty.

CHAPTER XII.

THE NEW EMPIRE.

The Eighteenth Dynasty. From Thebes.

About B.C. 1600.

Under this dynasty Egypt formed her empire in Western Asia, and conquered and occupied the Egyptian Sûdân, probably so far south as the Bahr al-Ghazâl. The Hyksos were expelled from Egypt by the first kings of the dynasty, and the peoples in the Eastern and Western Deserts were held in check with a firm hand. King after king made frequent raids on a large scale into Syria and the Sûdân, and on each occasion brought back untold spoils, a considerable proportion of which was expended on the building of great temples like those of Karnak, Luxor, and Dêr al-Baharî. Trade developed to an unprecedented extent, and riches increased; and the king and his priests and nobles were able to gratify their love of splendid temples, colossal statues, lofty obelisks, large palaces, fine houses and gardens, decorated furniture, elaborate jewellery, costly tombs, etc. Under the patronage of the priesthood and the temple-schools education prospered, literature, art, painting and sculpture flourished, and the vast works which were undertaken by the Government encouraged handicraftsmen of every kind in the production of the best work. Among the kings of this dynasty were the greatest and most powerful sovereigns that ever ruled Egypt, viz., Thothmes III and Amen-hetep III. The first king of the dynasty was Aaḥmes, or Amāsis I, who carried on the war against the Hyksos B.C. 1600. which Seqenen-Ra had begun. He captured the city of Avaris, the stronghold of the Hyksos, and turned the enemy out of the country, and in the fifth year of his reign he captured the city of Sharuhen (mentioned in Joshua xix, 6), in Syria. He subsequently invaded Nubia and compelled the tribes to pay tribute. Among the monuments of his reign are the massive granite altar inscribed with his name (Bay 16, No. 343); the head of a seated

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figure of Nefert-àri, his wife (Bay 12, No. 344); the ushabti figure of the king (Wall-case 84, Second Egyptian Room, No. 129); and the portrait of the Queen (Case I, Third Egyptian Room, No. 3).

Amen-hetep I, the son of Amāsis I, continued the war in Nubia, and the rebuilding of the temple of Amen and other sanctuaries; he was the founder of the great brotherhood of the Priests of Amen. From a building made by him at Dêr al-Baharî came the magnificent painted limestone statue of the king, in the mummied form and with the White Crown of Osiris, exhibited in the Northern Egyptian Gallery (No. 346), and the stele on which are sculptured figures of Neb-ḤaptRā Menthu-hetep and Amenhetep I (Bay 9, No. 347). Other interesting monuments of this reign are: the stele of Pa-shet, a judge, who is seen adoring the king and queen (Bay 7, No. 348); and a stele. with figures of the king and queen (Bay 9, No. 349). The inscriptions and scenes on several stelae show that Åmen-hetep I and his queens were included among the gods; see the stelae of Hui (Bay 8, No. 352), Pa-ren-nefer (Bay 8, No. 353), Amen-em-åpt (Bay 10, No. 354), Amen-men (Bay 10, No. 355), and Hui, son of Nefert-itha (Bay 11, No. 357).

Teḥuti-mes I, or Thothmes I, the son of AmenB.C. 1550. hetep I, made Napata,

at the foot of the Fourth Cataract, the border of his kingdom to the south; and he waged war in Northern Syria. He added to the temple of

Statue of Amen-hetep I, B.C. 1600, in the form of Osiris, wearing the Crown of the South. [Northern Egyptian Gallery, Bay 3, No. 346.]

Åmen, and set up obelisks at Karnak. Among objects bearing his name are two bricks and a steatite vase inscribed with his prenomen and name (Wall-cases 150 and 175 in the Fourth Egyptian Room).

Thothmes II, the son of Thothmes I and Mut-Nefert, married his half-sister Hatshepset; during his short reign, war was carried on in Syria and Nubia, and many temples in Egypt and forts in Nubia were repaired or rebuilt. Among the monuments of this reign may be mentioned the scarabs in Table-case D (Fourth Egyptian Room) and a portion of a slab inscribed with his Horus name (Third Egyptian Room, Wall-case 103, No. 937).

terraces.

After the death of Thothmes II, his widow Hatshepset reigned alone for some years, and she built the famous temple of Dêr al-Bahari, the walls of which she decorated with reliefs illustrating her Expedition to Punt. The temple was called "Tcheser-Tcheseru," ie., "Holy of Holies," and the architect was Senmut; it was built close to the temple of Menthu-Hetep Neb-ḥap-Rā, and was ranged in three It was enclosed by a wall, and was approached by an avenue of sphinxes, which led to the pylon at the entrance, where stood two obelisks. She also set up two great granite obelisks in honour of her father Thothmes I. About twenty years before her death she associated her nephew Thothmes III with her in the rule of the kingdom. Many scarabs, a gold ring, a wooden cartouche, and an alabaster vase, inscribed with her names and titles, are exhibited in the Fourth Egyptian Room (Table-cases P and J and Wall-case 139)..

Thothmes III, the son of Thothmes II and the lady Aset, was the greatest of all the kings of Egypt; he reigned for about 53 years, 21 years as co-regent with Hatshepset, and 32 years alone. Soon after he became sole ruler of Egypt he began a series of campaigns in Palestine, Syria and other countries of Western Asia, and his arms were everywhere victorious. In the first campaign he captured the city of Megiddo, in Syria, and brought back an immense quantity of spoil. Subsequently he undertook some fifteen campaigns into different parts of Western Asia; and towards the close of his reign he appears to have raided the Sûdân. The vast wealth which he drew from Asia enabled him to be a generous friend of the priesthood, and to repair, rebuild and enlarge and found sanctuaries for the great gods of Egypt. He carried on extensive building operations at Heliopolis, Memphis, Abydos, Denderah, Coptos, Dêr al-Bahari, Madînat Habû, Hermonthis, Esna, Edfu, etc.; but his greatest work was the colonnade

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