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B.C.

MIDDLE EMPIRE.

Dynasty XII, from Diospolis, or Thebes.

2466. Amenemḥāt I. ascended the throne of Egypt after hard fighting; he conquered the Uaua, a Libyan tribe that lived near Korosko in Nubia, and wrote

a series of instructions for his son Usertsen I. The story of Senehet was written during this reign. 2433. Usertsen I. made war against the tribes of Ethiopia; he erected granite obelisks and built largely at Heliopolis. He and his father built pyramids at Lisht, a necropolis situated about 30 miles south of Cairo. 2400. Amenemḥāt II. Khnemu-hetep, son of Nehera, whose tomb is at Beni-hasân, lived during the reign of this king.

2366. Usertsen II. He built a pyramid at Illahûn. 2333. Usertsen III.

2300. Āmenemḥāt III. During this king's reign special

attention was paid to the rise of the Nile, and canals were dug and sluices made for irrigating the country; in this reign the famous Lake Moeris, in the district called by the Arabs El-Fayyûm,* was built. The rise of the Nile was marked on the rocks at Semneh, about thirty-five miles above the second. cataract, and the inscriptions are visible to this day. He built a pyramid at Ḥawâra and the Labyrinth. 2266. Amenemḥāt IV.

2233. Dynasties XIII-XVII. The so-called Hyksos Period. According to Manetho these dynasties were as follows:— Dynasty XIII, from Thebes, 60 kings in 453 years.

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Unfortunately there are no monuments whereby we can correct or modify these figures. The number of years assigned to the rule of the XIIIth and XIVth dynasties seems excessive. The Hyksos appear to have made their way from the countries in and to the west of Mesopotamia into Egypt. They joined with their countrymen, who had already settled in the Delta, and were able to defeat the native kings; it is thought that their rule lasted 500 years, and that Joseph arrived in Egypt towards the end of this period. The name Hyksos is derived from the Egyptian.

Hequ Shaasu, i.e., “princes

of the Shasu," or nomad tribes on the east and north-east of Egypt. The principal Hyksos kings of the XVIth dynasty are Åpepȧ I. and Apepȧ II.; Nubti and the native Egyptian princes ruled under them. Under Se-qenen-Rā, a Theban ruler of the XVIIth dynasty, a war broke out between the Egyptians and the Hyksos, which continued. for many years, and resulted in the expulsion of the foreign rulers.

B.C.

Dynasty XVIII, from Thebes.

1700. Аāḥmes I., who re-established the independence of Egypt.

1666. Amen-hetep(Amenophis) I.

1633. Teḥuti-mes (Thothmes) I.

1600.

1600.

II.

Hat-shepset, sister of Thothmes II. She sent an expedition to Punt.

Tehuti-mes (Thothmes) III. made victorious expeditions into Mesopotamia. He was one of the greatest kings that ever ruled over Egypt.

1566. Amen-hetep II. 1533. Tehuti-mes IV.

1500. Amen-hetep III. warred successfully in the lands to the south of Egypt and in Asia. He made it a custom to go into Mesopotamia to shoot lions, and, while there he married a sister and daughter of Tushratta, the king of Mitani, and a sister and a daughter of Kadashman-Bêl (?), king of Karaduniyash; he afterwards made proposals of marriage for another daughter of this latter king called Sukharti. The correspondence and despatches from kings of Babylon, Mesopotamia, and Phoenicia were found in 1887 at Tell el-Amarna, and large portions of them are now preserved in the Museums of London, Berlin, and Gîzeh. Amen-hetep IV. or Khu-en-Åten ("brilliance, or glory of the solar disk"), the founder of the city Khuåten, the ruins of which are called Tell el-Amarna, and of the heresy of the disk-worshippers. He was succeeded by a few kings who held the same religious opinions as himself.

B.C.

Dynasty XIX, from Thebes. 1400. Rameses I.

1366. Seti I. conquered the rebellious tribes in Western Asia, and built the Memnonium at Abydos. He was famous as a builder, and attended with great care to the material welfare of his kingdom. is said to have built a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea.

He

1333. Rameses II. subjugated Nubia and Mesopotamia. He was a great builder, and a liberal patron of the arts and sciences; learned men like Pentaurt were attached to his court. He is famous as one of the oppressors of the Israelites.

1300. Seti Meneptah I. is thought to have been the Pharaoh of the Exodus; his mummy was found in the tomb of Amenophis II. at Thebes.

NEW EMPIRE.

Dynasty XX, from Thebes.

1200. Rameses III. was famous for his buildings, and for the splendid gifts which he made to the temples of Thebes, Abydos and Heliopolis. His reign represented an era of great commercial prosperity.

1166-1133. Rameses IV.-XII.

Dynasty XXI, from Tanis and Thebes.

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Dynasty XXII, Libyans who ruled the country from Bubastis (Tell-Basta).

966. Shashanq (Shishak) I. (see 1 Kings, xiv. 25-28; 2 Chron., xii. 2-13) besieged Jerusalem, and having conquered it, pillaged the Temple and carried away much spoil.

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Dynasty XXIV, from Saïs (Sâ el-Ḥagar)

733. Bak-en-ren-f (Bocchoris).

B.C.

Dynasty XXV, from Ethiopia.

700. Shabaka (Sabaco). See 2 Kings, xvii. 4.

Shabataka.

693. Taharqa (Tirhakah, 2 Kings, xix. 9) is famous for having conquered Sennacherib and delivered Hezekiah; he was, however, defeated by Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal, the son and grandson of Sennacherib. Tirhakah's son-in-law, Urdamanah, was also defeated by the Assyrians.

Dynasty XXVI, from Saïs.

666. Psemthek I. (Psammetichus) allowed Greeks to settle in the Delta, and employed Greek soldiers to fight for him.

612. Nekau II. (Necho) defeated Josiah, king of Judah, and was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar II. son of Nabopolassar, king of Babylon. See 2 Kings, xxiii. 29 ff; Jeremiah xlvi. 2.

596. Psammetichus II.

591. Uaḥ-ab-Rā, Apries (Hophra of the Bible, Gr. Apries) marched to the help of Zedekiah, king of Judah, who was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar II. His army rebelled against him, and he was dethroned; Amāsis, a general in his army, then succeeded to the throne. See Jeremiah, xliv. 30. 572. Aāḥmes or Amāsis II. favoured the Greeks, and granted them many privileges; in his reign Naucratis became a great city.

528. Psammetichus III. was defeated at Pelusium by Cambyses the Persian, and taken prisoner; he was afterwards slain for rebellion against the Persians.

Dynasty XXVII, from Persia.

527. Cambyses marched against the Ethiopians and the inhabitants of the Oases.

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