Rekhet gives the hand, one whose approach is avoided, when adjusting the Red Crown, when bringing forth in splendor, Horus, lord of the palace. Nurse of the god (Pharaoh) in the private chamber Chief of Sais, 1oin the administration of private affairs, lord of fear in the houses of Neit, great companion in the gold-house, at the birth of the god in the morning.

His Appointment to Inspect Temples

a

610. "I came at the front in the presence of his majesty, he had me inspect the divine fathers, to expel evil and to prosper the fashion 12 of their work, in eternal affairs. I commanded to fashion their offering-tables (wdḥ), the electrum was under 13my seal.

Arrival at Elephantine

611. I reached Elephantine according to this command; I kissed the earth before the lord of the cataract (Khnum).

Return to Abydos

612. I returned by 'the way over which I had passed. 14I drove in the mooring-staked at Abydos.

Erection of Stela

613. I fixed my name 15at the place where is the god Osiris, First of the Westerners, lord of eternity, ruler of the West, (the place) 16to which all that is, flees, for the sake of the benefit therein, in the midst of 17the followers of the lord of life, that I might eat his loaf, and come forth by day; that my spirit might enjoy 18the ceremonies of people, kind in heart toward my tomb, and in hand toward my stela. For I have not done; that the god may be favorable to me in 20judgment, when I am "there; "e that I may labor, being a spirit in the necropoliscliff, "the ruler of eternity; that I may operate the rudder, that I may descend into the sacred barque (nšm t); that I may smell 22the earth before Upwawet. Khentemsemeti, triumphant, lord of reverence.

cNb, the verb used especially of metal-work; the determinative is probably a man with a blow-pipe.

dMeaning "I landed," as in § 423.

A designation of the abode of the dead.

REIGN OF SESOSTRIS II

INSCRIPTION OF HAPUa

614. The following inscription contains a double date, showing that Sesostris II was associated as coregent with his father in the latter's thirty-second year, the coregency continuing at least three years. It also shows that the forts in Nubia were subject from time to time to inspection by officers especially sent thither for the purpose; but, unfortunately, not all have recorded their mission on the rocks as did the officer Hapu.

615. On the right is the name of Amenemhet II, "beloved of Satet, mistress of Elephantine;" on the left is the name of Sesostris II, "beloved of Khnum, lord of the cataract region," between them is the following inscription:

=

616. Made in the year 3, under the majesty of Horus: Seshmutowe (Sšmw-twy Horus-name of Sesostris II), corresponding to the year 35b under the majesty of Horus: Hekenemmat (Ḥkn-m-mt=Amenemhet II). The -1,¢ Hapu (H'pw) came, in order to make an inspection in the fortresses of Wawat.d

aCut on the rocks near Assuan; published by Young, Hieroglyphics, Pl. 61 (very bad); Lepsius, Auswahl der wichtigsten Urkunden, 10 (copied from Young); Lepsius, Zwölfte Dynastie, II; Lepsius, Denkmäler, II, 123, e (good), and de Morgan, Catalogue des monuments, 25, No. 178 (date wrong). I also had Lepsius' squeeze (No. 360, a) which I collated with all the publications; the text of de Morgan, ibid., is almost as bad as Young's.

bSo all the texts except de Morgan's (Catalogue des monuments, 25), which has 36! As we have a double date here, this would increase the reign of Amenemhet II by an entire year, if correct. The squeeze is quite clearly 35; this was also the opinion of Sethe, who examined the squeeze with me.

cAn uncertain title (-kf-yb), which occurs also with Hapu's figure below the inscription; see Bergmann, Recueil, VII, 187.

dThe original has the mountain-determinative against de Morgan's hillcountry.

INSCRIPTION OF THE TREASURER KHNUMHOTEPa

617. Above stands Sesostris II, before the god Soped, from whom he receives the symbol of life. Below stands Khnumhotep, accompanied by the following inscription:

618. 'Year 1, his monument in God's-Land was executed. The treasurer of the god, real king's-confidant, his beloved, his favorite, the darling of his lord, 3knowing the law, discreet in executing (it); 4zealous for him who favors him; 5not trespassing against the injunction of the palace, the command of the court; 'favorite of the crown, being in the palace, praiser of Horus, Lord of the Two Lands; presenting the court to the king, truly accurate like Thoth, master of the double cabinet, Khnumhotep.

INSCRIPTION OF KHNUMHOTEP IId

619. The inscription of Khnumhotep II is our fullest and most important source for a study of the relations between the powerful nomarchs, the local counts or barons of the Twelfth Dynasty, and their contemporary kings. Like the nobles of El Kab at the rise of the Eighteenth Dynasty, the princes of Benihasan were a mainstay of the royal house in the early Twelfth. Their domain was the principality of

aStela found at Wadi Gasus on the Red Sea, opposite Coptos; now in the collection of Alnwick Castle (No. 1935); first published by Erman from a squeeze, Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache, 1882, 204, 205; then by Birch, Catalogue Alnwick Castle, Pl. IV, 268-70. Cf. Brugsch, Völkertafel, 54, 58, and 68; Schweinfurth, Wadi Gasûs, 11, n. 2; Wilkinson, General View, 364.

bThis title is at the left of the second line (first vertical line), and appears only in Birch's text.

The king.

dCut on the walls of the superb chapel chamber in his tomb at Benihasan; published by Burton (Excerpta Hieroglyphica, 33, 34); by Champollion (Notices descriptives, II, 418-22); by Lepsius (Denkmäler, II, 124, 125); by Brugsch (Monuments de l'Egypte, 15-17; and Thesaurus, VI, 1513-25); and by Newberry (Beni Hasan, I, Pls. XXV, XXVI). The last, the publication of the Archæological Survey of the Egypt Exploration Fund, contains in two volumes the entire Benihasan necropolis. Its text of the great inscription of Khnumhotep II

the Oryx (the sixteenth nome of Upper Egypt), which included both banks of the river between the Hare nome on the south and the Jackal nome on the north. The desert cliffs are not far from the river on the east shore, and the narrow strip thus inclosed was sometimes detached from the Oryx nome, as a separate principality, known as "Horizon of Horus," designated usually by its chief town, MenetKhufu, the birthplace of the great Fourth Dynasty king, Khufu. The sole witnesses to the ancient power and prosperity of this principality are its tombs, those of the Middle Kingdom being located at Benihasan, 169 miles above Cairo.

620. The first of the family in this principality, Khnumhotep II's grandfather, Khnumhotep I, was appointed by Amenemhet I; at first as count only of Menet-Khufu, and finally of the entire Oryx nome (§§ 625, 626). The narrative of the appointment refers significantly to Amenemhet I's personal visit to the principality, establishing the boundary lines, "when he cast out evil," meaning of course rebellion, or at least of unjust aggression, the last expiring struggles of other ambitious noblemen in their opposition to the new dynasty, marking the close of the long obscure period of such wars, between the Old and the Middle Kingdom. As

a

is much the best. The texts of Maspero (Recueil, I, 169-81) and Krebs (De Chnemothis nomarchi inscriptione aegyptiaca commentatio, Berlin, 1890) are taken from the publications. The original text contains many patent blunders of the scribe, which render certain parts unintelligible; Mr. Griffith furnishes some useful emendations of such passages (Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaology, 1890, 263-68), and some others I have added, which will be evident from the notes. The lines of the original are so short, that the translation could not be so often divided, and only every fifth line is there numbered. It has not been practicable to cut up the inscription, and assign each portion to the reign which it concerns; hence the whole has been put in the reign from which it dates.

a The reference is not so clear as those in the inscription of Ahmose of El Kab, who narrates three rebellions against King Ahmose I at the rise of the Eighteenth Dynasty (II, 11, 15, 16).

a special favor of the king, Sesostris I, Khnumhotep I's sons received the same domain; Nakht being appointed to Menet-Khufu (§ 627), and Amenemhet a receiving the Oryx nome, in the king's eighteenth year (§§ 518, ll. 1-3, and 627). At the same time, the sister of these two princes, Khnumhotep I's daughter Beket, married a powerful official at the court, the vizier and governor of the royal residence city. Nehri, who was also probably prince of the neighboring Hare nome (§ 628). Of this union was born Khnumhotep II, who received Menet-Khufu as his just claim through his mother, on the death of his predecessor, his uncle, Nakht, b in the nineteenth year of Amenemhet II. He ruled with great prosperity until at least the sixth year of Sesostris II, c in which year a party of thirty-seven Bedwin visited him, bringing gifts and probably desiring traffic. Khnumhotep II greatly strengthened his family by marrying Kheti, the eldest daughter of the prince of the Jackal nome. His eldest son, Nakht, was therefore appointed to the princedom of the Jackal nome as his inheritance from his mother, while his next son, Khnumhotep (III), after honors at

с

aAmenemhet (Ameni) is not mentioned by Khnumhotep II's great inscription. See note, 1. 56.

bNakht had held the principality, therefore, 43 years.

This is the latest date in the tomb (Newberry, Beni Hasan, I, Pl. XXXVIII), so that Khnumhotep II ruled at least nineteen years. If born not long after his uncle Nakht's accession, he would have been not less than forty years of age at his own accession, and nearly sixty years old at the above latest date in his tomb.

dThis is the subject of the famous scene in his tomb, naïvely identified by early Egyptologists with Abraham's visit to Egypt, with which, it is needless to say, it had nothing to do. The accompanying inscription is as follows: "The arrival, bringing eye-paint, which 37 Asiatics bring to him" (Newberry, Beni Hasan, I, Pl. XXX). Their leader is called: "Sheik of the highlands, Ibshe (Yb-š3),” a good Hebrew name. The report handed in by Khnumhotep's secretary dates the event in the sixth year of Sesostris II, and calls them "Asiatics of the desert" (<mw n sw, ibid., Pl. XXXVIII).

eFor a similar inheritance through the mother, of the grandfather's office at Siut, see 88413 ff.