TABLET OF SENEKHa

454. This tablet does not belong to the same expedition as the preceding, but it narrates the attempts to settle with people the desert stations in Hammamat, and along the road from Coptos to the Red Sea.

455. Nibtowere (Mentuhotep IV), living forever. Commander of troops in the highlands, steward in Egypt, commander of - on the river, Senekh (S≤nh), says:

456. I was commander of the troops of this entire land in this highland, equipped with water skinsb (šdw), 'baskets, with bread, beer, and every fresh vegetable of the South. I made its valleys green, and its heights pools of water; settled with children throughout, southward to Thau (Tw) and northward to Menet-Khufu (Mnt-Hfw). I went forth to the sea (Red Sea), I hunted adults, I hunted cattle. I went forth to this highland with 60 people of years, and 70 young ones of the children of one (woman). I did all correctly for Nibtowere (Mentuhotep IV), living forever.

STELA OF ETI

457. This biography of an active official is of interest as showing the agricultural and industrial conditions in the Middle Kingdom, when the skilful administration of resources by the governing princes was necessary to prevent a famine. Eti was so successful in this respect that he even conveyed surplus grain to neighboring towns, and Thebes, sent to him for supplies.

aCut on the rocks at Wadi Hammamat; published by Lepsius, Denkmäler, II, 149, g; and Newberry, Beni Hasan, II, 18 (where the translation is misleading). I had also a collation of the Berlin squeeze, kindly loaned to me by Mr. Alan H. Gardiner.

bGardiner.

cOr: "I went forth to this desert as a man of 60 years, and 70 little children, the offspring of one (woman);” “offspring” or “children” (ms`w) is of course used in sense of descendants."

dLimestone stela (0.47 m. by 0.75 m.) from Gebelên, now in Cairo, Catalogue, 20001; also published by Daressy, Recueil, XIV, 21.

458. An interesting reference in ll. 7, 8, where Eti states, "I followed my great lord, I followed my small lord," may possibly indicate that we are to refer this document to the early Eleventh Dynasty, when the Theban princes ruled above Thebes, but were not yet kings. The powerful Theban prince would then be Eti's "great lord," and the local nomarch his "small lord." In accordance with this, his field of activity did not extend below Thebes.

459. The assistant treasurer Etia (Yty); he says:

"I was an excellent citizen (nds), achieving with his strength, the great pillar in the nome of Thebes, Nehebkauf in the upper country (bnty t). I sustained (scnh) 3Gebelên during unfruitful years, there being 400 men fin distress. But I took not the daughter of a man, I took not his field. I made ten herds of goats, 5with people in charge of each herd; I made two herds of cattle and a herd of asses. I raised all (kinds of) small cattle. I made 30 ships, (then) 30 other ships, and I brought grain (rsy) for Eni (Yny)d and Hefate (Hƒ3 ́t), after Gebelên was sustained. The nome of Thebes 7went up-stream.f Never did one below or above Gebelên bring to another district. I followed my great lord, I followed my small lord, and nothing was lost therein. I built a house -, filled with every luxury. The people said: "He is innocent of violence to another."

His beloved eldest son, made it for him.

aHe was also "wearer of the royal seal, and sole companion."

bAn uncertain epithet, "who controls his ka's," also applied to a well-known mortuary god.

cYw-mytrw.

dEni is probably Esneh (Ynyt).

eTuphium. Same as the Ophieion of the Cornelius Gallus inscription at Philae; see Sethe, Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Akademie, 1896, 482; it is located on the east bank of the Nile, between Thebes and Hermonthis.

f Probably for supplies.

gor: 'never did Gebelên send down-stream or up-stream ('dyl hd hnt) to another district" (namely, to procure supplies).

hThe name of the son is lacking, but one surviving sign would indicate that it was also Yty.

THE TWELFTH DYNASTY

CHRONOLOGY OF THE TWELFTH DYNASTY

460. As the chronology of the Twelfth Dynasty is more fully and accurately known to us than that of any dynasty in or before the Empire, it has seemed necessary to insert a statement of it, with a reconstruction based on the latest data from the monuments. The contemporary monuments and the Turin Papyrus enable us to make the following table of the dynasty (excluding coregencies):

aSee Sethe, Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache, 41, 38 ff. bThe stela of Intef in Cairo bears the double date: "Year 30 of Amenemhet I, Year 10 of Sesostris I" (Mariette, Abydos, II, 22= =Rougé, Inscriptions hieroglyphiques, VIII Rougé, Album photographique, No. 146; = Mariette, Catalogue général d'Abydos, 104, No. 558).

cAmenemhet I died in the thirtieth year of his reign. See Tale of Sinuhe (§ 491). dThe stela of Upwaweto at Leyden (V., 4) bears the double date: "Year 44 of Sesostris I= Year 2 of Amenemhet II" (Lepsius, Auswahl der wichtigsten Urkunden, Pl. 10; Lepsius, Zwölfte Dynastie, II, No. 4; also my own photograph of the original; and the Turin Papyrus gives him 45 years, so that he must have ruled 3 years with his son.

"On the stela of Simontu (§ 594), Sesostris I is still living in the third year of Amenemhet II.

f The inscription of Hapu at Assuan (§ 614).

gKahun papyri of the second find, fragment transliterated by Borchardt and distributed in private copies at the Congress of Orientalists, Rome, 1899.

The highest date on the monuments is year 33 (Griffith, Kahun Papyri, II, 85). Sethe's reconstruction of the Turin Papyrus proves that 38 is to be restored. iThe highest date is year 46 (ibid, 86); 48 is certain from Sethe's reconstruction. ¡Lepsius, Auswahl der wichtigsten Urkunden, 10; Prisse, Monuments égyptiens, 9; its length is unknown.

kTurin Papyrus, see above.