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them had been elected to rule by Rã, and Amen, and Ptaḥ, either by some motion made by the figures of the gods which were enshrined within their sanctuaries, or by declarations made on their behalf by the high priests. Another early royal title, of which an example occurs on the ivory plaque of king Ãḥa, now in the Cairo Museum, is

3. About the meaning of this there can be little

doubt, and we are justified in assuming that it is something like "chosen of the Hawk-god, chosen of the Serpent-god," or "lord of the shrine of the hawk, lord of the shrine of the serpent," and that king Aha employed it to symbolize his rule over the South and the North. The names of a number of kings of Egypt who probably lived in the Predynastic Period have been found in recent years on objects from very early tombs, but nothing is known of the chronology of their reigns.

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DYNASTIC PERIOD

B.C.

ANCIENT EMPIRE.

Dynasty I., from This.

4400. Mena, the first dynastic king of Egypt, founded Memphis, having turned aside the course of the Nile, and established a temple service there. He has been identified by some with a king whose Horus name was Aḥa. He is said to have died of a wound given to him by a hippopotamus. 4366. Tetȧ wrote a book on anatomy, and continued buildings at Memphis.

4333. Åteth, or Åta.

4300. Åta.

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64th Chapter of the

Book of the Dead was "found" in his time. Semti was a devotee of the "God on the Staircase," ie., Osiris, and he appears to have reformed the cult of Seker, the old god of the dead of Memphis.

4233. Mer-pe-ba.

4200. Hu or Nekht.

4166. Sen, whose name was wrongly read by the Egyptians of the XIXth dynasty as Qebḥ, i.e., they read

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4133. Neter-baiu,* or Besh, or Betchau, in whose reign an earthquake swallowed up many people at

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B.C.

4133. perhaps

used to indicate the union of the South with the North. The Horus and Set name of this king is

Khā-Sekhemui

Hetep-Sekhemui, or Smerkha.

4100. Kakau, in whose days the worship of Apis at Memphis, and that of Mnevis at Heliopolis, was

continued.

4066. Ba-en-neter, in whose reign, according to John of Antioch, the Nile flowed with honey for eleven days. During the reign of this king the succession of females to the throne of Egypt was declared valid.

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4000. Sent. Sepulchral stelæ of this king's priests are preserved at Oxford, at Cairo, and in the British. Museum.

Ka-Rā.

Nefer-ka-Rā.

Nefer-ka-Seker, in whose reign an eclipse appears to be mentioned; he was "five cubits and three hand-breadths" in height.

Ḥetchefa.
Tchatchai.

B.C.

Dynasty III., from Memphis.

4000. Sa-Nekht.

Neb-ka, Neb-ka-Rā.

3900. Tcheser, the builder of the famous "Step Pyramid" at Sakkara. An inscription on the Island of Sâḥal says that a seven years' famine took place in his reign. His tomb was discovered at Bêt Khallaf by Mr. John Garstang in 1901. Tcheser worked the turquoise mines of Sinai, and his Horus name is inscribed on a rock at Wâdî Maghâra.

Tcheser-Tetȧ.

Áḥtes.

Setches.

Nefer-ka-Rā Ḥuni.

The Prisse Papyrus says

that this king was succeeded by Seneferu.

Dynasty IV., from Memphis.

3766. Seneferu. Important contemporaneous monuments of this king exist. During his reign the copper mines of Wâdî Maghâra were worked. He built the pyramid of Mêdûm. His wife's name was Merti-tef-s. Seneferu made an expedition into the Sûdân and carried off 7,000 men and 200,000 animals. This is the first slave-raid in the Sûdân recorded in history.

3733. Khufu (Cheops) vanquished the people of Sinai; he built the largest of the pyramids at Gizah.* His son Ḥeruṭāṭāf was famous for his learning, and tradition ascribes the discovery of a Chapter of the

On the 31st March, 1905, one of the group was struck by lightning, and several of the huge stones just below the apex were dislodged and rolled down on the sand below. The thunderstorm which burst over Cairo on the afternoon of that day flooded all the low-lying parts of the

town.

B.C.

3733.

Book of the Dead to him. In the reign of Khufu,
Teta the magician flourished. A tradition of the
XVIIIth dynasty indicates that in the reign of this
king the Sphinx was buried in desert sand.
Ră-țeṭ-f, or Assȧ.

3666. Khā-f-Rā (Chephren), the builder of the second pyramid at Gizah. He performed some work in connexion with the Sphinx.

in the British Museum.

3633. Men-kau-Rā (Mycerinus), the builder of the third pyramid at Gizah. The fragments of his coffin are Some copies of the Book of the Dead say that the 64th chapter of that work was compiled during the reign of this king. Shepses-ka-f.

Dynasty V., from Elephantine.

User-ka-f. He built a pyramid at Abû-Şir. 3533. Sahu-Rā. He built a pyramid at Abû-Şîr.

Kakaȧ.

Ra-nefer-ȧri-ka.

Rā-shepses-ka. He built a pyramid at Abû-Şir.
Rā-nefer-f. He built a pyramid at Abû-Șir.

3443. Ra-en-user or An. He built a pyramid at Abû-Şîr. Men-kau-Heru. He built a pyramid at Abû-Şîr. 3366. Tet-ka-Ra. He built a pyramid at Abû-Şîr. The Precepts of Ptah-hetep were written during the reign of this king. This king sent Ba-ur-tet, a high official, to the "Land of the Spirits," to bring back a tenk

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or "pygmy," to dance before him.

3333 Unȧs, whose pyramid at Sakkâra was explored in 1881 by Prof. Maspero. The walls of the corridors

and chambers of this pyramid are inscribed with

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