History Of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Vol. 2 — 26 - Vol. 02, Ch. 03: The First Theban Empire, pt. 2

[Illustration: 306-text.

jpg--Temple of Tentyra] A family which, to judge from the fact that its members affected the name of Monthotpû, originally came from Hermonthis, settled in Thebes and made that town the capital of a small principality, which rapidly enlarged its borders at the expense of the neighbouring nomes.

All the towns and cities of the plain, Mâdûfc, Hfûîfc, Zorît, Hermonthis, and towards the south, Aphroditopolis Parva, at the gorge of the Two Mountains (Gebelên) which formed the frontier of the fief of El-Kab, Kûsît towards the north, Denderah, and Hû, all fell into the hands of the Theban princes and enormously increased their territory.

After the lapse of a very few years, their supremacy was accepted more or less willingly by the adjacent principalities of El-Kab, Elephantine, Koptos, Qasr-es-Sayad, Thinis, and Ekhmîm. Antûf, the founder of the family, claimed no other title than that of Lord of Thebes, and still submitted to the suzerainty of the Heracleopolitan kings.

His successors considered themselves strong enough to cast off this allegiance, if not to usurp all the insignia of royalty, including the uraeus and the cartouche.

Monthotpû I. , Antûf II.

, and Antûf III.

must have occupied a somewhat remarkable position among the great lords of the south, since their successors credited them with the possession of a unique preamble.

It is true that the historians of a later date did not venture to place them on a par with the kings who were actually independent; they enclosed their names in the cartouche without giving them a prenomen;

but, at the same time, they invested them with a title not met with elsewhere, that of the first Horus--_Horû tapi_.

They exercised considerable power from the outset.

It extended over Southern Egypt, over Nubia, and over the valleys lying between the Nile and the Red Sea.

* The origin of the family was somewhat obscure, but in support of their ambitious projects, they did not fail to invoke the memory of pretended alliances between their ancestors and daughters of the solar race; they boasted of their descent from the Papis, from Usirnirî Anû, Sahûri, and Snofrûi, and claimed that the antiquity of their titles did away with the more recent rights of their rivals.

The revolt of the Theban princes put an end to the IXth dynasty, and, although supported by the feudal powers of Central and Northern Egypt, and more especially by the lords of the Terebinth nome, who viewed the sudden prosperity of the Thebans with a very evil eye, the Xth dynasty did not succeed in bringing them back to their allegiance.

** * In the “Hall of Ancestors” the title of “Horus” is attributed to several Antûfs and Monthotpûs bearing the cartouche.

This was probably the compiler’s ingenious device for marking the subordinate position of these personages as compared with that of the Heracleopolitan Pharaohs, who alone among their contemporaries had a right to be placed on such official lists, even when those lists were compiled under the great Theban dynasties.

The place in the XIth dynasty of princes bearing the title of “Horus” was first determined by E. de Rougé.

** The history of the house of Thebes was restored at the same time as that of the Heracleopolitan dynasties, by Maspero, in the _Revue Critique_, 1889, vol. ii.

p. 220. The difficulty arising from the number of the Theban kings according to Manetho, considered in connection with the forty-three years which made the total duration of the dynasty, has been solved by Barucchi, _Discord critici sojpra la Cronologia Egizia_, pp. 131-134. These forty-three years represent the length of time that the Theban dynasty reigned alone, and which are ascribed to it in the Royal Canon; but the number of its kings includes, besides the recognized Pharaohs of the line, those princes who were contemporary with the Heracleopolitan rulers and are officially reckoned as forming the Xth dynasty.

The family which held the fief of Siût when the war broke out, had ruled there for three generations.

Its first appearance on the scene of history coincided with the accession of Akhthoës, and its elevation was probably the reward of services rendered by its chief to the head of the Heracleopolitan family.

* * By ascribing to the princes of Siut an average reign equal to that of the Pharaohs, and admitting with Lepsius that the IXth dynasty consisted of four or five kings, the accession of the first of these princes would practically coincide with the reign of Akhthoës. The name of Khîti, borne by two members of this little local dynasty, may have been given in memory of the Pharaoh Khiti Miribrî; there was also a second Khîti among the Heracleopolitan sovereigns, and one of the Khîtis of Siut may have been his contemporary.

The family claimed a long descent, and said of itself that it was “an ancient litter”; but the higher rank and power of “prince” --hiqû--it owed to Khîti I. [Miribri?

--Ed.

] or some other king of the Heracleo-politian line.

[Illustration: 309. jpg MAP, PLAIN OF THEBES] From this time downwards, the title of “ruler”--_hiqû_--which the Pharaohs themselves sometimes condescended to take, was hereditary in the family, who grew in favour from year to year.

Khiti I. , the fourth of this line of princes, was brought up in the palace of Heracleopolis, and had learned to swim with the royal children.

On his return home he remained the personal friend of the king, and governed his domains wisely, clearing the canals, fostering agriculture, and lightening the taxes without neglecting the army.

His heavy infantry, recruited from among the flower of the people of the north, and his light infantry, drawn from the pick of the people of the south, were counted by thousands.

He resisted the Theban pretensions with all his might, and his son Tefabi followed in his footsteps.

“The first time,” said he, “that my foot-soldiers fought against the nomes of the south which were gathered together from Elephantine in the south to Gau on the north, I conquered those nomes, I drove them towards the southern frontier, I overran the left bank of the Nile in all directions.

When I came to a town I threw down its walls, I seized its chief, I imprisoned him at the port (landing-place) until he paid me ransom.

As soon as I had finished with the left bank, and there were no longer found any who dared resist, I passed to the right bank; like a swift hare I set full sail for another chief....

I sailed by the north wind as by the east, by the south as by the west, and him whose ship I boarded I vanquished utterly;

he was cast into the water, his boats fled to shore, his soldiers were as bulls on whom falleth the lion; I compassed his city from end to end, I seized his goods, I cast them into the fire.

” Thanks to his energy and courage, he “extinguished the rebellion by the counsel and according to the tactics of the jackal Uapûaîtû, god of Siût. ” [Illustration: 310. jpg MAP, THE PRINCIPALITY OF SIÛT] [Illustration: 311. jpg THE HEAVY INFANTRY OF THE PRINCES OF SIÛT, ARMED WITH LANCE AND BUCKLER]

Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Insinger, taken in 1882. The scene forms part of the decoration of one of the walls of the tomb of Khîti III.

From that time “no district of the desert was safe from his terrors,” and he “carried flame at his pleasure among the nomes of the south.

” Even while bringing desolation to his foes, he sought to repair the ills which the invasion had brought upon his own subjects.

He administered such strict justice that evil-doers disappeared as though by magic.

“When night came, he who slept on the roads blessed me, because he was as safe as in his own house; for the fear which was shed abroad by my soldiers protected him; and the cattle in the fields were as safe there as in the stable; the thief had become an abomination to the god, and he no longer oppressed the serf, so that the latter ceased to complain, and paid the exact dues of his land for love of me.

” In the time of Khîti II.

, the son of Tefabi, the Heracleopolitans were still masters of Northern Egypt, but their authority was even then menaced by the turbulence of their own vassals, and Heracleopolis itself drove out the Pharaoh Mirikarî, who was obliged to take refuge in Siût with that Kkîti whom he called his father.

Khîti gathered together such an extensive fleet that it encumbered the Nile from Shashhotpû to Gebel-Abufodah, from one end of the principality of the Terebinth to the other.

Vainly did the rebels unite with the Thebans; Khîti “sowed terror over the world, and himself alone chastised the nomes of the south.

” While he was descending the river to restore the king to his capital, “the sky grew serene, and the whole country rallied to him; the commanders of the south and the archons of Heracleopolis, their legs tremble beneath them when the royal urous, ruler of the world, comes to suppress crime; the earth trembles, the South takes ship and flies, all men flee in dismay, the towns surrender, for fear takes hold on their members.

” Mirikarî’s return was a triumphal progress: “when he came to Heracleopolis the people ran forth to meet him, rejoicing in their lord; women and men together, old men as well as children.

” But fortune soon changed.

Beaten again and again, the Thebans still returned to the attack; at length they triumphed, after a struggle of nearly two hundred years, and brought the two rival divisions of Egypt under their rule.

[Illustration: 313. jpg PALETTE INSCRIBED WITH THE NAME OF MIRIKARÎ] Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the original, now in the Museum of the Louvre.

The palette is of wood, and bears the name of a contemporary personage; the outlines of the hieroglyphs are inlaid with silver wire.

It was probably found in the necropolis of Meîr, a little to the north of Siût. The sepulchral pyramid of the Pharaoh Mirikarî is mentioned on a coffin in the Berlin Museum.

The few glimpses to be obtained of the early history of the first Theban dynasty give the impression of an energetic and intelligent race.

Confined to the most thinly populated, that is, the least fertile part of the valley, and engaged on the north in a ceaseless warfare which exhausted their resources, they still found time for building both at Thebes and in the most distant parts of their dominions.

If their power made but little progress southwards, at least it did not recede, and that part of Nubia lying between Aswan and the neighbourhood of Korosko remained in their possession.

The tribes of the desert, the Amamiû, the Mâzaiû, and the Uaûaiû often disturbed the husbandmen by their sudden raids; yet, having pillaged a district, they did not take possession of it as conquerors, but hastily returned to their mountains.

The Theban princes kept them in check by repeated counter-raids, and renewed the old treaties with them.

The inhabitants of the Great Oasis in the west, and the migratory peoples of the Land of the Gods, recognized the Theban suzerainty on the traditional terms.

[Illustration: 314. jpg THE BRICK PYRAMID OF ANTÛFÂA, AT THEBES] Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch by Prisse d’Avennes.

This pyramid is now completely destroyed.

As in the times of Uni, the barbarians made up the complement of the army with soldiers who were more inured to hardships and more accustomed to the use of arms than the ordinary fellahîn; and several obscure Pharaohs--such as Monthotpû I. and Antûf III.

--owed their boasted victories over Libyans and Asiatics* to the energy of their mercenaries.

* The cartouches of Antûfâa, inscribed on the rocks of Elephantine, are the record of a visit which this prince paid to Syenê, probably on his return from some raid; many similar inscriptions of Pharaohs of the XIIth dynasty were inscribed in analogous circumstances.

Nûbkhopirrî Antûf boasted of having worsted the Amû and the negroes.

On one of the rocks of the island of Konosso, Monthotpû Nibhotpûrî sculptured a scene of offerings in which the gods are represented as granting him victory over all peoples.

Among the ruins of the temple which he built at Gebelên, is a scene in which he is presenting files of prisoners from different countries to the Theban gods.

But the kings of the XIth dynasty were careful not to wander too far from the valley of the Nile.

Egypt presented a sufficiently wide field for their activity, and they exerted themselves to the utmost to remedy the evils from which the country had suffered for hundreds of years.

They repaired the forts, restored or enlarged the temples, and evidences of their building are found at Koptos, Gebelên, El-Kab, and Abydos.

Thebes itself has been too often overthrown since that time for any traces of the work of the XIth dynasty kings in the temple of Amon to be distinguishable; but her necropolis is still full of their “eternal homes,” stretching in lines across the plain, opposite Karnak, at Drah abû’l-Neggah, and on the northern slopes of the valley of Deir-el-Baharî.

Some were excavated in the mountain-side, and presented a square façade of dressed stone, surmounted by a pointed roof in the shape of a pyramid.

Others were true pyramids, sometimes having a pair of obelisks in front of them, as well as a temple.

None of them attained to the dimensions of the Memphite tombs; for, with only its own resources at command, the kingdom of the south could not build monuments to compete with those whose construction had taxed the united efforts of all Egypt, but it used a crude black brick, made without grit or straw, where the Egyptians of the north had preferred more costly stone.

These inexpensive pyramids were built on a rectangular base not more than six and a half feet high; and the whole erection, which was simply faced with whitewashed stucco, never exceeded thirty-three feet in height.

The sepulchral chamber was generally in the centre; in shape it resembled an oven, its roof being “vaulted” by the overlapping of the courses.

Often also it was constructed partly in the base, and partly in the foundations below the base, the empty space above it being intended merely to lighten the weight of the masonry.

There was not always an external chapel attached to these tombs, but a stele placed on the substructure, or fixed in one of the outer faces, marked the spot to which offerings were to be brought for the dead; sometimes, however, there was the addition of a square vestibule in front of the tomb, and here, on prescribed days, the memorial ceremonies took place.

The statues of the double were rude and clumsy, the coffins heavy and massive, and the figures with which they were decorated inelegant and out of proportion, while the stelæ are very rudely cut.

From the time of the VIth dynasty the lords of the Saïd had been reduced to employing workmen from Memphis to adorn their monuments; but the rivalry between the Thebans and the Heracleopolitans, which set the two divisions of Egypt against each other in constant hostility, obliged the Antufs to entrust the execution of their orders to the local schools of sculptors and painters.

It is difficult to realize the degree of rudeness to which the unskilled workmen who made certain of the Akhmîtn and Gebelên sarcophagi must have sunk; and even at Thebes itself, or at Abydos, the execution of both bas-reliefs and hieroglyphs shows minute carefulness rather than any real skill or artistic feeling.

Failing to attain to the beautiful, the Egyptians endeavoured to produce the sumptuous.

Expeditions to the Wady Ham marnât to fetch blocks of granite for sarcophagi become more and more frequent, and wells were sunk from point to point along the road leading from Koptos to the mountains.

Sometimes these expeditions were made the occasion for pushing on as far as the port of Saû and embarking on the Eed Sea.

A hastily constructed boat cruised along by the shore, and gum, incense, gold, and the precious stones of the country were brought from the land of the Troglodytes.

On the return of the convoy with its block of stone, and various packages of merchandise, there was no lack of scribes to recount the dangers of the campaign in exaggerated language, or to congratulate the reigning Pharaoh on having sown abroad the fame and terror of his name in the countries of the gods, and as far as the land of Pûanît.