THE ELEVENTH DYNASTY a 415. The plan of these volumes does not include dynastic discussion, but a few reasons must nevertheless be offered for the order of the kings here adopted. Any arrangement of the Eleventh Dynasty must proceed from the fact that the war between the Heracleopolitans and Thebans was still going on in the reign of Horus-Wahenekh-Intef. Now, a great-grandson of a Thinite official of this king erected his tombstone at Abydos in the thirty-third year of Sesostris I (88 529 ff.). It was therefore not less than four generations from the reign of the said Intef to the thirty-third year of Sesostris I. Allowing 40 years to the generation, this period was some 160 years in length, of which 53 years fell in the Twelfth Dynasty. The close of this Intef's reign was therefore not later than about 100 years before the accession of the Twelfth Dynasty. The war between Thebes and the North, therefore, continued perhaps as late as 100 years before the accession of the Twelfth Dynasty, and WahenekhIntef's accession was not later than 150 years before the end of the Eleventh Dynasty, as we know that he reigned at least 50 years (§ 423). b 416. Now, the Turin Papyrus gives 160 years as the length of the Eleventh Dynasty, which corresponds admirably with the above result, viz., that the Eleventh Dynasty must have succeeded the Heracleopolitans at the latest 150 years before the rise of the Twelfth Dynasty. The Turin Papyrus had aOther indications will be found in connection with the following translations. See also my essay, 'New Light on the History of the Eleventh Dynasty," American Journal of Semitic Languages, XXI, 163 ff. bThe number is 160+x, the x not being more than 9 years, of course. That this total refers to the Eleventh Dynasty is perfectly certain; it immediately precedes the heading of the Twelfth Dynasty, and does not reach back to a beginning point behind the Eleventh Dynasty, because there is a summation preceding the seven kings of the Eleventh Dynasty. See Wilkinson, fragg. 61 and 64. seven kings in the Eleventh Dynasty, of whom NibkhrureMentuhotep, Senekhkere-Mentuhotep, and a lost name at the end were the last three. The last king, whose name is lost, was, of course, one who ruled the whole country, and whose reign shows no trace of war with the North. Among the remaining kings of the time the only one who clearly fulfils these conditions is Nibtowere-Mentuhotep. The second half of the dynasty is thus fairly certain. Working back from Nibkhrure-Mentuhotep, we find that he was suzerain of a vassal king, Intef (§ 424), giving us then an Intef and three Mentuhoteps as the order of this group, thus: Intef (other names unknown), Nibkhrure-Mentuhotep, Senekhkere-Mentuhotep, Nibtowere-Mentuhotep. a 417. The first and second of these three Mentuhoteps reigned not less than 74 years. The third had a prosperous reign, as the inscriptions of his second year in Hammamat show; so that the above three Mentuhoteps may easily have reigned in all 80 years, and the whole group more than this. Now, Horus-Wahenekh-Intef was still reigning some 100 years before the end of the dynasty. He therefore did not long precede the above group of four. But he never ruled north of Abydos, for on his tombstone in his fiftieth year he tells of having established his northern frontier there (423), and his treasurer, Thethi, corroborates this (8 423D). He must therefore have preceded NibhotepMentuhotep, who openly boasts of having gained the Two Lands by conquest. But as Wahenekh-Intef was succeeded by his son, a second Intef, both these Intefs must have preceded Nibhotep-Mentuhotep, forming a group of three which evidently immediately preceded the above group of four. The only other ruler of the period remaining is the See table on p. 197. |