Nubia itself dates from the reign of Amenemhet I, the first king of the Twelfth Dynasty (2000-1788 B. C.). Under the Empire such records on foreign soil appear also in Syria and Palestine (III, 297). Quarry inscriptions within the borders of Egypt do not begin until the Middle Kingdom, when we find them in the limestone quarries of Ayan (TurraMa'sara) just south of Cairo (§§ 739, 740); at the sandstone quarries of Silsileh they first appear under the Empire.

9. From the Middle Kingdom (2160-1788 B. C.) on, the memorial stela at Abydos are exceedingly valuable." Officials on various commissions, whose business carried them to the holy city, improved the opportunity to erect memorial stones craving the favor of Osiris, the great god of the dead, for themselves and their relatives. Now and again such an officer narrates the circumstances which called him to Abydos; thus Ikhernofret, the treasurer of Sesostris III, records on his stela (§§ 661-70) not only the occasion of his visit, but also a copy of the royal letter which contained the command dispatching him thither.

10. In this age the tomb biographies become extremely valuable, because of their tendency to fulness and family details a tendency already visible in the Tenth Dynasty tombs at Siut (§§ 391 ff.). But unfortunately only the tombs of Middle Egypt, chiefly at Benihasan (§§ 619 ff.), are preserved. Royal monuments with inscribed records become more plentiful, especially in Nubia, where the boundary stelæ of Sesostris III (§§ 651-60) are especially noteworthy; and in the quarries of Hammamat and the mines of Sinai. Papyri of any kind in the Middle Kingdom are still none too plentiful. Literary papyri are well represented by

aThe great Old Kingdom inscription of Uni at Abydos hardly belongs to the class of memorial stelæ here designated. The inscription of Zau (§§ 344-49), of the Sixth Dynasty, however, should probably be included in this class; but it is unique in its time.

several magnificent manuscripts. Of business and administrative documents, like letters, bills, accounts and tax lists, we have examples in the Kahun Papyri, of which the second find, now at Berlin, is still unpublished. But papyrus documents of strictly historical import, such as we can include here, are still rare in this age.

11. Under the Empire (1580-1150 B. C.) the available documents both in quantity and quality for the first time approach the minimum which in European history would be regarded as adequate to a moderately full presentation of the career of the nation. Scores of important questions, however, still remain unanswered, in whatever direction we turn. Nevertheless, a rough framework of the governmental organization, the constitution of society, the most important achievements of the kings, and to a limited extent the spirit of the imperial age, may be discerned and sketched, in the main outlines, with clearness and fair precision, even though it is only here and there that the sources enable us to fill in the detail.

12. It is especially royal monuments which are more plentiful in the Empire, as compared with earlier times. The first and most important class of such documents is found in the temples-a source which in the earlier periods has totally perished. It was customary already at the beginning of the dynasties for the king to commemorate his victories in the temples. This custom led in the Empire to extensive and magnificent records on the temple walls, on a scale not before attempted. Such documents were less records than triumphal memorials, and as historical sources they are therefore very insufficient. They dealt with events with which all were familiar at the time of their erection, and hence specific references to the said events are rare, or, if present at all, are couched in such vague and

general terms that little can be drawn from them at the present day.

13. They consist chiefly in extensive reliefs on the temple walls, depicting the victorious Pharaoh in battle, capturing prisoners, or presenting prisoners and spoil to Amon. They are accompanied by descriptive and explanatory inscriptions, which unfortunately consist, for the most part, in conventional phrases in laudation of the Pharaoh as a mighty ruler. As the temples of the Eighteenth Dynasty have to a large extent perished, the priceless records of that imperial family have perished with them. We have three great series of reliefs: one representing the birth of Queen Hatshepsut (II, 187 ff.), and a duplicate depicting the birth of Amenhotep III (II, 841 ff.), while the third pictures the voyage of Hatshepsut to the land of Punt (II, 246 ff.). More valuable are the extracts from the annals of Thutmose III on the walls of the Karnak temple (II, 391 ff.), already mentioned, and a similar record of his son Amenhotep II on a large stela at Karnak (II, 780 ff.). The temple records of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties are much more plentiful; but they are almost exclusively of the unprecise character above described. Besides the great record of Merneptah's Libyan war, (III, 569-617), which is a much better source, they are chiefly memorials of the wars of Seti I (III, 80-156), of his son, Ramses II (III, 294–391, 448–91), and of Ramses III, of the Twentieth Dynasty (IV, 1–145).

14. Another class of temple records is the building inscriptions. Apart from their value as records of building enterprises, they contain valuable references to the history of the builder. In a number of cases the early career of the builder and the manner in which he came to the throne are prefixed as an introduction to the record of the building itself. This is observable as far back as the building

inscription of Sesostris I, in the Twelfth Dynasty (§§ 498 ff.); in the Eighteenth Dynasty (1580-1350 B. C.) we gain invaluable hints of the early life of Thutmose III from his great building inscription in the Karnak temple (II, 131 ff.). Such building records not infrequently also contain priceless references to the wars and campaigns of the Pharaoh, whence he may have obtained the wealth for the edifice in question. Notable examples of this class are the stela of Thutmose III in the Ptah temple at Karnak (II, 609 ff.), and the great summary of the buildings of Amenhotep III left by him on a stela in his mortuary temple at Thebes (II, 878 ff.). 15. Records of restorations are not less valuable. The restoration record of Hatshepsut at Benihasan (II, 296 ff.) throws a significant sidelight on the reasons necessitating such restoration of the temples, after their neglect by the Hyksos; while the short remarks of Harmhab and Seti I, recording their restorations after the revolution of Ikhnaton, are invaluable indications of the widespread activity of the latter (II, 878). Again, we gain a hint of the anarchy following this revolution, from the record of Harmhab's restoration of the mummy of Thutmose IV, after its violation by tomb-robbers (III, 32 A ff.).

Some of these were

16. Stelæ dedicating the finished temple to the god were set up in the holy of holies, at the place where the king stood in the performance of the royal ritual. of enormous size, that of Amenhotep III in his temple behind the Memnon colossi being no less than thirty feet high, and hewn of a single block (II, 904 ff.). The content of these dedication stele does not differ essentially from that of the building inscriptions; they likewise contain references to the wars of the kings erecting them. The most important of these now surviving are the two in duplicate erected by Amenhotep II at Amada and Elephantine

(II, 791 ff.). The temple obelisks also occasionally bear inscriptions of historical importance, and among these the inscriptions of Hatshepsut (II, 304 ff.), of Thutmose III (II, 623 ff.), and of Thutmose IV (II, 830 ff.) furnish very useful data.

17. All these temple records, being for the glory of the Pharaoh, are couched in language very poetic and highly colored, although the poetic form is not always discernible. Among them, however, are found poems in praise of the sovereign, exhibiting strictly poetic structure, with rigid division into strophes. Some of these contain references and allusions which, in view of the scantiness of our materials, may be employed historically. Such hymns probably existed from the earliest days of the dynasties, but the earliest example preserved is dedicated to the praise of Sesostris III, of the Twelfth Dynasty. In the Empire the most notable example celebrates the fame of Thutmose III (II, 655 ff.). It is the earliest of such poems possessing real historical importance.

18. Royal records not of this class of temple memorials are not numerous. Of actual state documents we possess very few. The viceroy of Kush recorded on stone the decree in which Thutmose I announced his coronation, and of this rescript we possess two copies (II, 54 ff.). At the opening of the Nineteenth Dynasty (1350-1205 B. C.) we have the royal decree instituting the administrative reforms of Harmhab; it is possibly in its original form (III, 45–67). Another great example of a state document is the famous. treaty between Ramses II and the Hittite king Khetasar (III, 367-91). The remarkable report of the unfortunate envoy to Syria, Wenamon, may also be a few pages from the

aIts historical references are too vague and general to warrant its insertion in this series.