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CHAPTER VI.

THE SEVENTEENTH DYNASTY.

FROM THEBES.

THE kings of the XVIIth Dynasty, who began the work of the expulsion of the Hyksos, reigned at Thebes, and as they assumed the old title of "King of the South and North," they were probably the descendants of the kings of the XIIth and XIIIth Dynasties. It is certain that for several generations these princes were vassals of the Hyksos, for remains of the Hyksos domination in the Upper Country have been found as far to the south as Gebelên. There must have been an interval of considerable length between the Theban kings of the XIIIth and XVIIth Dynasties, and during this period it seems that, for a time, the Theban power was transferred to Coptos, where a family of princes, who usually bore the name of Antef-aa, reigned in succession for at least a century and a half. These princes were, most probably, descendants of the kings of the XIIIth Dynasty, and ancestors of those of the XVIIth Dynasty; their Rā names are of the same

form as those of the kings of the XVIIth Dynasty, and their throne names closely resemble those of the kings of the XIIIth Dynasty. This group of princes has usually been assigned a place with the Menthu-heteps of the XIth Dynasty, but in considering that dynasty we have shown good reasons for thinking it most probable that, whilst the Menthu-heteps and their predecessor the Erpā ḥā Åntefà do in reality belong to the XIth Dynasty, the kings who bore the names of Antef-aa are to be transferred to the period between the XIIIth and XVIIth Dynasties. The reasons which have led to this conclusion have been already set forth, and they are therefore not repeated here; the names of this group of kings are as follows:

1.

11055) RA

SESHESH-HER-HER-MAA, son of the Sun, ANTEF-AA (I.).

RA-SESHESH-ÁP-MAA, son of the Sun, ANTEF-AA (III.).

4. (30 m

Son of the Sun, ANTEF-ÃA (IV.),

with the Horus name UAḤ-ĀNKH,

B. C. 1750] THE SEVENTEENTH DYNASTY

167

5.

ORA-NUB-KHEPERU,

son of the Sun, ANTEF (V.), with the Horus name NEFER-KHEPERU.

According to Manetho's King List as given by Julius Africanus, the XVIIth Dynasty comprised forty-three kings of Thebes, whose total reigns amounted to 151 years, and forty-three Shepherd Kings, whose total reigns also amounted to 151 years, and it seems that the view held by the authorities from which he compiled his List was that these dynasties reigned contemporaneously. The fact, however, that each dynasty is made to contain exactly the same number of kings, and to last exactly the same number of years, suggests a chronological arrangement which is purely artificial. In the extract from Josephus already quoted we are told that the duration of the Hyksos rule over Egypt was 5111 years, and that it was brought to an end by a native Egyptian king called Misphragmuthosis or Alisphragmuthosis, who smote the Hyksos and shut them up in a place called Avaris, which had an area of 10,000 acres. This place the Hyksos fortified strongly by means of a vast and strong wall." But Thummosis, the son of

1 M. Maspero adopts Erman's view that the XVth Dynasty reigned 284 years, the XVIth 234 years, and the XVIIth 143 years, in all, 661 years, and he places the invasion about B.C. 2346. Hist. Anc., tom. ii. p. 73.

Alisphragmuthosis, besieged Avaris with 480,000 men, and at the very moment when he despaired of reducing the city, the people inside it capitulated on the understanding that they were to leave Egypt, and to be permitted to go whithersoever they pleased. These terms were agreed to, and they departed from Egypt with all "their families and effects, in number not less "than 240,000, and bent their way through the desert "towards Syria." They were afraid of the Assyrians, who were then masters of Asia, and they therefore built, in the country now called Judea, a city of sufficient size to contain this multitude of men, and they gave it the name of Jerusalem.1 The events here referred to, if they ever happened, must have taken place in the XVIIIth Dynasty, for the king called Thummosis must be one of those of the dynasty who bore the name of Thothmes, and therefore Josephus must be confusing, first, names, and, secondly, events. The huge numbers which he gives are, of course, incredible, and he is mistaken about the period of the building of Jerusalem, for the name of the city occurs in three of the Tell el-'Amarna Tablets, from which we learn that the governor at that time had been appointed by the king of Egypt, and the context shows that the city was not a new one. The allusion to the departure of 240,000 people he calls the Exodus, but this subject will not be considered until later.

Cory, Ancient Fragments, p. 173.

2

2 See Winckler, Thontafeln, plates 105, 108, 110.

B.C. 1750]

SEQENEN-RĂ AND RĀ-ÅPEPI

169

Side by side with the account of Josephus may be read the fragmentary narrative of the dispute between the governor of Thebes and the Hyksos king in the Delta, which resulted, first, in a great war, and secondly, in the restoration of the sovereignty of the country to the princes of Thebes. It must be said at the outset that the document is only a part of a historical romance, and that it must not be relied upon for matter-of-fact evidence; its value, notwithstanding, is very great, for the copy, of which we possess a part in the First Sallier Papyrus' (Brit. Mus., No. 10,185), was written in the XIXth Dynasty, and it, no doubt, represented the views of many people at that time. Had the romance not been based upon some substratum of fact, or had what is narrated in it been wholly improbable, it would never have found a place among the compositions which are preserved in the First Sallier Papyrus. The narrative begins by stating that the land of Qemt, i.e., Egypt, belonged to the "people of filth,"

and there was neither king nor lord in the land; and

it came to pass that king (Rä-seqenen),

ор

C

held the position of governor (4)

of the region of the South, and the "filthy" ones, i.e.,

1 The hieratic text of the document was published by the late Dr. Birch in Select Papyri, pt. i. pl. 2. Translations are given in Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch., vol. 4, p. 263 ff.; Brugsch, Egypt under the Pharaohs, vol. i. p. 238; Chabas, Les Pasteurs, p. 37 ff.; Maspero, Etudes, tom. i. fasc. 2, p. 195 ff.; etc.