Third Expedition

521. Then I sailed southward to bring ore, to the city of Coptos, together with the hereditary prince, count, governor of the city and vizier, Sesostris. I sailed southward with a number, 600 15of all the bravest of the Oryx nome. I returned in safety, my soldiers uninjured; having done all that had been told me.

Ameni's Able Administration

522. I was amiable, and greatly loved, a ruler beloved of his city. Now, I passed years 16as ruler in the Oryx nome. All the imposts of the king's house passed through my hand. The gang-overseers of the crown possessions of the shepherds of the Oryx nome gave to mea 3,000 bulls in their yokes. I was praised on account of it in the palace each year of the loan-herds. I carried all their dues to the king's house; there were no arrears against me in any office of his. The entire Oryx nome labored for me 18in - 1₫

Ameni's Impartiality and Benevolence

523. There was no citizen's daughter whom I misused, there was no widow whom I oppressed, there was no 'peasant1 whom I repulsed, e there was no shepherd whom I repelled, 19there was no overseer of serf-laborers whose people I took for (unpaid) imposts, there was none wretched in my community, there was none hungry in my time. When years of famine came 2oI plowed all the fields of the Oryx nome, as far as its southern and northern boundary, preserving its people alive

aThis means that Amenemhet received a herd of 3,000 cattle from the royal herds, to be maintained by him on shares. He kept them so well that he was praised for it each year when his payments fell due. The cattle of the king on the estate of Thuthotep (Bersheh, I, Pl. XII) are also clearly distinguished from his own; thus: ". great numbers of his cattle from the king, and his cattle of the estate in the districts of the Hare nome;" his own cattle being those of "the estate."

bThe dues for the herds which he had received. On this entire transaction, see Müller, Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache, 1885, 85, 86.

To labor or work for a king or nobleman is to pay him an impost from the results or products of one's labor. It is used of entire countries in the Empire. d"In extended goings," probably meaning in widely extended activity. Read hsf(w)'ny-relative form.

and furnishing its food so that there was none hungry therein. I gave to the widow as (to) her who had a husband; "1I did not exalt the great above the small in all that I gave. Then came great Niles, a possessors of grain and all things, (but) I did not collect the arrears of the field.

STELA OF IKUDIDId

524. This stela was erected at Abydos on the occasion of Ikudidi's visit there, while on an expedition to the oases which lie in the desert behind Abydos. It is the mention by him of the occasion of his visit which makes his stela of importance; for this is the earliest expedition to these peoples of which we know anything.

The inscription is very crude and difficult, and contains many hieratic signs which the artist could not put into hieroglyphic.

Date

525. 'Year 34 under the majesty of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Kheperkere, the Good God, Lord of the Two Lands, Lord of "Offering, Beloved of All Gods, Son of Re, Sesostris (I), living forever and ever.

Prayer

526. An offering which the king gives, etc.,

.e for

the revered one 5before the great god, the lord of heaven, the steward, Ikudidi (Ykw-dydy).

aInundations.

"Meaning that the inundations brought these things; two kinds of grain were apparently mentioned.

<Meaning that he did not collect the balance due after the short payments of taxes during the unfruitful years.

dStela from Abydos in the Berlin Museum, No. 1199, Ausführliches Verzeichniss des Berliner Museums, 89. I used a copy kindly furnished me by Schaefer. eThe usual mortuary prayer in the name of Osiris.

Expedition

527. I came from Thebes, as a king's-confidant, "doing all his pleasure, in command of the youth of the recruits, to visit the - of the land of the Oasis-7dwellers, as an excellent official, whom his lord knows, effective in plan, whom the officials of the palace exalt.a

Tomb

528. I have made this tomb at the stairway of the great god, in order that I may be among his followers, while the soldiers who follow his majesty give to my ka of his bread and his 'provision, just as the king's-messenger does, who comes inspecting the boundaries of his majesty.

INSCRIPTION OF INTEFYOKER

529. In striking corroboration of the stela of Intef I is that of Intefyoker. Above is the date: "Year 33 under the majesty of Kheperkere (Sesostris I), living forever." The usual mortuary offering is then invoked:

"For the revered, scribe of —, supervisor of fields in the Thinite, nome of the South (tp rsy),d Imsu (Ymsw), southward as far as the Crocodile nome,e northward as far as the Panopolite nome. The

e

aOr: "who exalts the officials of the palace," their position being subject to him. bMortuary stela, in Leyden Museum (V, 3; Leemans, Description raisonnée des monuments égyptiens à Leide, 264-66). The historical portion was first published by de Rougé, Revue archéologique, 1st ser., VI, 560; then completely by Piehl, Inscriptions, III, XXI-XXII. I had also an excellent copy from the original by Sethe, which he kindly loaned me.

cBrugsch (Geographical Inscriptions, I, 211) states that this is the "Hinterland" of the Thinite nome.

dSee § 396, 1. 18, note.

eIn the list of Ramses II at Abydos (Mariette, Abydos, I, 11, a) and in the oldest of all the lists, discovered February, 1900 (MS. Borchardt's Tagebuch) by Borchardt at Abusir, the Crocodile nome occupies the sixth place from Elephantine, and the order is Thebes, Coptos, Crocodile (end of Abusir list), Diospolis parva, Abydos, Akhmim. Hence the ancient Thinite (Abydos) nome was bounded on the north by the Panopolite (Akhmim) nome, and on the south by the Crocodile nome; the nome of Diospolis parva being a later division.

father's father of my fathera was field-scribe in the waters of Abydos of the Thinite nome, since the time of Horus: Wahenekh (Wh-nh), King of Upper and Lower Egypt: Son of Re, Intef (I)."b

INSCRIPTIONS OF MENTUHOTEP

530. The inscriptions of Mentuhotep contain little of historical importance, but were regarded as so excellent in style and content that they were partially copied on the mortuary stela of Sehetepibre, a nobleman living under Sesostris III and Amenemhet III. Their favor continued even into the Empire, when a nobleman under Queen Ahhotep also copied them on his stela. The text on the front, beginning with the names of Sesostris I, proceeds as follows:

531. Hereditary prince, vizier and chief judge, attached to Nekhen, prophet of Mat (goddess of Truth), giver of laws, advancer of offices, confirming the boundary records, separating a land-owner from his neighbor, pilot of the people, satisfying the whole land, a man of truth before the Two Lands, 'accustomed to justice like Thoth, his like in satisfying the Two Lands, hereditary prince in judging the Two Lands,

Imsu's great-grandfather was therefore a contemporary of King Intef I. Allowing 40 years for a generation, this Intef was still living over 100 years before Amenemhet I. Cf. § 415 and Steindorff, Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache, 1895, 90, 91, and Birch, Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology, IV.

bThe king's name is not inclosed in a cartouche.

con his mortuary stela found at Abydos, now in Cairo (No. 20539); published by Mariette, Abydos, II, 23 (very inaccurate; Catalogue général d'Abydos, 144, No. 617)=Rougé, Inscriptions hiéroglyphiques, 303, 304; Daressy has added the verso, Recueil, X, 144-49. I had also a copy of the original by Schaefer, which he kindly loaned me.

dThe form of the representations in the arch of the stela was also adopted. See Daressy, Recueil, X, 144.

eThe text on the verso was the one copied. It is much mutilated. Daressy has published all three in a parallel arrangement.

fOr: "recording."

supreme head in judgment, putting matters in order, wearer of the royal seal, chief treasurer, Mentuhotep.

Hereditary prince, count, chief of all works of the king, making the offerings of the gods to flourish, setting this land — — — according to the command of the god. -1, sending forth two brothers satisfied with the utterances of his mouth, upon whose tongue is the writing of Thoth, more accurate than the weight, likeness of the balances, fellow of the king in counseling --, giving attention to hear words, like a god in his hour, excellent in heart, skilled in his fingers, exercising an office like him who holds it, favorite of the king before the Two Lands, his beloved among the companions, powerful among the officials, having an advanced seat to approach the throne of the king, a man of confidences to whom the heart opens.

532. Hereditary prince over the [-] of the (royal) castle (wsh't), finding the speech of the palace, knowing that which is in every body (heart), putting a man into his real place, finding matters in which there is irregularity, giving the lie to him that speaks it, and the truth to him that brings it, giving attention, without an equal, good at listening, profitable in speaking, an official loosening the (difficult) knot, whom the king (lit., god) exalts above millions, as an excellent man, whose name he knew, true likeness of love, free from doing deceit, whose steps the court heeds, overthrowing him that rebels against the king, hearing the house of the council of thirty, who puts his 'terror] among the barbarians (tyw), when he has silenced the Sand-dwellers, pacifying the rebels because of their deeds, whose actions prevail in the two regions, lord of the Black Land and the Red Land, giving commands to the South, counting the 'number of the - of the Northland, in whose brilliance all men move, pilot of the people, giver of food, advancing offices, lord of designs, great in love, associate of the king in the great castle (wsht), hereditary prince, count, chief treasurer, Mentuhotep, he says:

533. "I am a companion beloved of his lord, doing that which pleases his god daily, prince, count, sem priest, master of every wardrobe of Horus, prophet of Anubis of --, the ḥry ydb, Mentuhotep, prince in the seats of 'Splendor,'a at whose voice they (are permitted to) speak in the king's-house, in charge of the silencing of the courtiers, unique one of the king, without his like, who sends up the truth to the

Name of a building.