HIS CAPITAL AT THEBES 85 only damaged the sign for the solar disk, O, but has carried away a sign almost entirely.1 This being so, he concludes that the full name of the king which was written there was Ra-sekhem-khu-taui, and that he was the founder of the XIIIth Dynasty; as the king of the same name who stands fifteenth in the list was called Sebek-hetep, he assumes that Ra-sekhem-khu-taui I. was also called Sebek-hetep, and he thinks, therefore, that the queen Sebek-neferu was succeeded by a Sebekhetep-"puis elle [i.e., Sovkounofriourî] céda la place "à un Sovkhotpou." Whatever may have been the true name of the first king of the XIIIth Dynasty, it is pretty certain that he was of Theban origin, and that he made Thebes the capital of his kingdom, just as the kings of the XIIth Dynasty had done, and that he ruled the country from that place; Thebes, then, as M. Maspero says, became the actual capital of Egypt, for the kings of the new dynasty began to build their funeral pyramids there, and the actual capital of a sovereign was less the place where he sat upon his throne when living than that where he rested when dead. 1 "De plus, quand on examine le Papyrus de Turin, on s'aperçoit qu'il y a, en avant du groupe Khoutooui du premier cartouche, une déchirure qui n'est point indiquée sur le fac-simile, mais qui a endommagé légèrement le disque solaire initial et enlevé presque entièrement un signe. On est donc porté à croire qu'il y avait là un Sakhemkhoutoouiri au lieu d'un Khoutoouiri," etc. Hist. Anc., p. 527. 2. O RA-SEKHEM-KA. Of the reign of RÃ-SEKHEM-KA no details are forthcoming, and the monumental evidence concerning him is scanty. The principal monument of his time is a fine large stone stele, having a rounded top, and measuring 3 ft. 10 in. by 2 ft. 2 in., which was made to commemorate a royal personage who flourished at that period. This stele is an interesting object, for the winged disk at the top of it, and the Horus name and prenomen of the king, etc., are cut in low relief upon it; the general appearance of the hieroglyphics is bold and striking, and the monument forms one of the best examples known to us of the sepulchral stelae of the period. It is said to have been found among the ruins at Kôm al-Atrîb, an Arab village which marks the site of the ancient city of Athribis, the Het-ta-her-abt, of the hieroglyphic inscriptions,1 during the construction of the Cairo-Alexandria Railway which runs through the ruins of the ancient city; it was for some time in the possession of a gentleman at Benha, when Prof. Wiedemann 2 heard of it, but was afterwards taken to Alexandria, where the late Dr. ' 1 J. de Rougé, Géog. Ancienne de la Basse-Égypte, Paris, 1891, p. 63. 2 Op. cit., p. 266. REIGN OF SEKHEM-KA-RĀ 89 Brugsch copied it, and it is now preserved in the British Museum (No. 1343). The scene depicted on the stele is of considerable interest. In the centre we have the Horus name of the king SE-ANKH-TAUI, i.e., “Vivifier of the two lands," and before it, on the right, is a seated figure of HḤāpi, the god of the Nile, who wears a cluster of plants upon his head, and holds before him a table on which stand the two characteristic vases. From an object between these extend the symbols of "life," "stability," and "power," and as they reach towards the hawk of Horus, which stands above the king's Horus name, it seems as if the sculptor intended to represent that the Nile-god was making an offering of them to the king, who is here symbolized by his Horus name. On the left hand side are the king's prenomen and his usual titles. The interpretation of the inscription is not without difficulty, for the sculptor has made mistakes in cutting the inscription, but it seems to have reference to a "royal daughter" called Ra-Meri, 44, although the two first words erpā ḥā |