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.

eOn the stela of Simontu (8 594), Sesostris I is still living in the third year of Amenemhet II.

fThe inscription of Hapu at Assuan (§ 614).

8Kahun papyri of the second find, fragment transliterated by Borchardt and distributed in private copies at the Congress of Orientalists, Rome, 1899.

bThe 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.

461. The Turin Papyrus gives 213 years, 1 month, and 17 days, as the total length of the dynasty.

The Sothis date in the Kahun Papyri enables us to establish the date of the accession of Amenemhet I as 2000 B. C.a 462. We may then construct the following table:b

a Borchardt, Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache, 37, 99 ff.; Mahler, ibid., 40, 83; Meyer's calculation (Aegyptische Chronologie, 51, 52, 57, 58) has slightly modified the date as calculated by Borchardt and Mahler, without affecting the principle employed, carrying back the beginning of the dynasty to 2000 B. C.

bThis table differs considerably in the last four reigns from that given by Mahler (Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache, 40, 83-85, and Orientalistische Litteraturzeitung, June, 1902, 248 f.), as he unfortunately has overlooked the higher dates in the reigns of Sesostris III and Amenemhet III, found since the publication of Brugsch's and Meyer's tables, upon which Mahler depends.

The coronation of Amenemhet III as coregent with his father was narrated on the walls of a temple probably that of Crocodilopolis in the Fayûm. Fragments of the inscription are preserved in Berlin (Nos. 15801–4), and published in Aegyptische Inschriften aus den Königlichen Museen, III, 138. The coronation inscription of Hatshepsut at Der el-Bahri was copied from this of Amenemhet III. I am indebted for these facts to my friend, Mr. Alan H. Gardiner, who kindly called my attention to them.

dThe length of his coregency with his father is unknown, and hence not indicated in years.

The opposite table is as nearly correct as the astronomical data will permit, the most nearly accurate of all the Egyptian dynasties back of the Twenty-sixth, and the carliest series of absolute dates known in history, in spite of the margin of four years within which each date falls.

REIGN OF AMENEMHET I

INSCRIPTION OF KHNUMHOTEP Ia

463. Khnumhotep I was the first of the powerful Benihasan nobles in the Twelfth Dynasty of whom we have any account. He was evidently of service to Amenemhet I during that king's final and successful struggle for the mastery and the crown of Egypt. The text is in such a fragmentary state that much must be read between the lines. It is, however, clear that Khnumhotep accompanied the king on an expedition in which "20 ships of cedar" were engaged, which resulted in expelling a certain foe from Egypt (1. 5). This foe, referred to only by the pronoun "him," whom it was necessary to expel from Egypt, must almost certainly have been one of Amenemhet's rivals for the crown. Then follows the submission of foreign foes, the Asiatic in the North and the Negro in the South, and of highland and lowland alike ("the two regions," 1. 6). This accomplished, the king rewards his faithful adherents, and Khnumhotep is made "count of Menet-Khufu” (1.7) where he ruled to the complete satisfaction of the king.

464. His titles are:b "Hereditary prince and count, wearer of the royal seal, sole companion, - great lord of the Oryx nome ——, attached to Nekhen (judge)." This shows that he was later intrusted with the entire principality of the Oryx, in agreement with the statements of his grandson, Khnumhotep II, whose long inscription narrates the

aTomb No. 14 at Benihasan; first noticed and copied by Newberry and published by Newberry, Beni Hasan, I, Pl. XLIV; see also p. 84 and II, 7, 8. The text is painted on the west wall, and is exceedingly fragmentary.

bIbid., II, Pl. XLIV, l. 1.