hotep I therefore acquired the land of Egypt by conquest, and made no effort to conceal the source of his title by pretense to legitimacy. It was evidently this conquest which overthrew the Heracleopolitans of the Tenth Dynasty. Hence the reign of Mentuhotep I marks the conclusion of the war with the North. The place of his reign is clearly after Intef II, and before the last three Mentuhoteps who controlled the whole country."

aSchaefer states that similar representations were found by Borchardt in the temple of Nuserre at Abusir. The conception may therefore be more general than I have supposed above. See also Papyrus Anastasi II, II, 7, for similar statements concerning Ramses II.

REIGNS OF INTEF III AND NIBKHRURE

MENTUHOTEP II

RELIEFS NEAR ASSUAN

424. The Intef whom we have called the third, appears in no other monuments which can be identified as his, because we do not know his other names. He can hardly be the same as the preceding Intef II, from whom he is separated by Mentuhotep I. He was obliged to give way to another member of the family, Mentuhotep II, who permitted him to reign as a vassal.

425. The most important of Mentuhotep II's monuments a is the relief on the rocks at Shatt er-Regâl, near Assuan, where, accompanied by his mother, a lady not of royal lineage, he receives the homage of this vassal, King Intef, who is ushered into the royal presence by Mentuhotep II's chief treasurer, Kheti. This Kheti was an important officer, who appears again on the rocks near Assuan in the presence of Mentuhotep II, with the following inscription:c

426. Year 41,d under (the majesty of) Nibkhrure (Nb-hrw-R), came the wearer of the royal seal, sole companion, chief treasurer, Kheti, born of Sitre, triumphant; and ships to Wawat —

e

aSee list, Maspero, Dawn, 462, n. 1.

bProceedings of the Society of Biblical Archæology, 1881, 99, 100; Petrie, Season in Egypt, XVI, 489; not in de Morgan, Catalogue des monuments; Dawn, 463.

cPetrie, Season in Egypt, VIII, No. 213. I had also a photograph, kindly loaned me by Professor Petrie.

dHis highest date, "year 46," is on the tablet of Meru at Turin (No. 1447, Catalogue Turin, I, 117).

eThis Kheti may be the same as Kheti II at Assiut. See § 405, and §414, 1. 38, note.

This was doubtless an expedition against the Nubians of Wawat. Mentuhotep II's inscriptions are elsewhere not infrequent, but contain only a word or two, chiefly his titles. His appearance on the monuments of later generations is such as to show that he was regarded as the first great king of the Theban line.

1

REIGN OF SENEKHKERE-MENTUHOTEP III

HAMMAMAT INSCRIPTION OF HENUa

427. As the only document of Mentuhotep III, this inscription is of great historical importance. The lists of Sakkara and Abydos show him as the immediate predecessor of the Twelfth Dynasty and the successor of the powerful Mentuhotep II; but the Turin Papyrus has after his, a lost name belonging to the last king of the dynasty. Mentuhotep III's minister, Henu, drew men for this Hammamat expedition from territory between Oxyrrhyncus and Gebelen (1. 10), which shows that practically all of Egypt above the Delta was under this king's rule. The Delta was also certainly subject to Senekhkere, for Henu calls himself (1. 8) one "who quells the Haunebu," the peoples of the distant north in the Mediterranean, who could only be reached in the Delta.

Introduction

428. 'Year 8, first month of the third season (ninth month), day 3; 'his real favorite servant, who does all that he praises every day, wearer of the royal seal, [sole] com[panion], — overseer of that which is and that which is not, overseer of the temples, overseer of the granary and White House, 3overseer of horn and hoof, chief of the six courts of justice, high-voiced in proclaiming the name of the king on the day of warding off - who judges the prisoner according to his desert. . . .

7. .....b Satisfying the heart of the king as keeper of

a Cut on the rocks in the Wadi Hammamat. Text: Lepsius, Denkmäler, II, 150, a; better, Golénischeff, Hammamat, XV-XVII. For old literature, see Maspero, Dawn, 495, n. 1. I had also a collation of the Berlin squeeze by Mr. Alan Gardiner, which he kindly permitted me to use.

bThe omitted lines contain similar but exaggerated epithets indicating Henu's high rank and great power; but no formal titles; omissions of similar character follow.

....

the Door of the South; over the administration of the nomes of the South, chief treasurer who quells (bďš) the Haunebu (Ḥ3-nbw), to whom the Two Lands come bowing down, to whom every office reports; wearer of the royal seal, sole companion, "the steward, Henu says:

Preparation for the Expedition

429. [My lord, life, prosperity], a health! sent me to dispatch a ship to Punt to bring for him fresh myrrh from the sheiks over the Red Land, by reason of the fear of him in the highlands. Then I went forth from Koptos upon the road, which his majesty commanded me. There was with me an army of the South from -d of the Oxyrrhyncus nome, the beginning thereof as far as Gebelen; the end thereof as far as -1; every office of the king's house, those who were in town and field, united, came after me. The army - cleared the way "before, overthrowing those hostile toward the king, the hunters and the children of the highlands were posted as the protection of my limbs. Every official body of his majesty was placed under my authority. They reported messengers to me, as one alone commanding, to whom many hearken.

Departure and Provisions

430. I went forth with an army of 3,000 men. 12I made the road a river, and the Red Land (desert) a stretch of field,h for I gave a leathern bottle, a carrying pole (sts), 2 jars of water and 20 loaves to each one among them every day. The asses were laden with sandals -1.

aRestored from Hammamat inscription of Amenemhet (vizier), § 446, 1. 7 Lepsius, Denkmäler, II, 149. e, l. 7.

bRead w❜d.

No lacuna as in Lepsius, Denkmäler.

dSee same phrase, § 442, l. 13.

eRead ym.
f Read > bt.

This passage indicates a campaign before the expedition, in order to clear the country of the Troglodytes.

hSee a similar statement by the vizier Amenemhet (§ 447, 1. 10). The same rare phrase "stretch or tract of field” (d) occurs also in Sinuhe (Berlin, ll. 9, 10). iRead ds later ds.

iThe loaves are small like the German "Brödchen." The "every day" doubtless applies only to the last two articles, the rest being intended for carrying the rations. At the rate of 60,000 loaves a day, this expedition (which could not have lasted less than a month) consumed 1,800,000 loaves, which they must have brought with them from Coptos. Water skins could be replenished at the quarries. See the elaborate arrangements of Ramses IV for provisioning his expedition (IV, 467).