Period of Disturbance. Accession of Amen-em-hat I.-His Military Expeditions-His great Works-His Addiction to Field Sports-He associates his Son Usurtasen, and leaves him written Instructions.' Reign of Usurtasen I.—His Obelisks—His Temples—His Cushite War -His Chief Officers, Ameni and Mentu-hotep-His Association of Amenemhat II. Reign of Amen-em-hat 11. Reigns of Usurtasen 11. and Usurtasen III. Conquest of Ethiopia, and Construction of Forts at Semneh and Koommeh. Usurtasen III. the Original of the mythic Sesostris-Estimate of his Character. Reign of Amen-em-hat III.— His Throne Name-His great Irrigation Scheme-His Nilometer— His Palace and Pyramid-His other Works. Reigns of Amen-emhat IV. and Sabak-nefru-ra. Civilisation of the Period-Arts of Life. Architecture and Glyptic Art-Changes in the Religion.

'L'époque de la douzième dynastie fut une époque de prospérité, de paix intérieure et de grandeur au dehors.'-LENORMANT, Manuel d'Histoire Ancienne, vol. i. p. 349.

IT has been observed in the last chapter, that the eleventh, or first Theban dynasty expired in bloodshed and confusion. A time of general disturbance followed upon the death of Sankh-ka-ra; and it was probably not till some years had elapsed that Thebes was once more able to establish her supremacy over Egypt and to give the afflicted land the blessing of a settled rule. We do not know the circumstances of the outbreak, or the causes which led to revolution; but there is some reason to suspect a general disaffection of the lower orders, terminating in open rebellion and civil war. Amen-em-hat, , the individual who suc

ceeded ultimately in re-establishing tranquillity, warns his son against seeking to win the affections of the landed lords and noblemen only, and bids him associate himself with the mass of his subjects and essay to obtain their goodwill.1 It is at least probable that he had seen the evils of a contrary course, and had been induced to make himself the patron and protector of the weak and humble 2 by experience gained in the school of adversity, before he attained to sovereign power.

There is no indication of any relationship between the kings of the twelfth and those of the eleventh dynasty; and it is a conjecture not altogether improbable, that the Amen-em-hat who was the founder of the twelfth was descended from the functionary of the same name, who under Mentuhotep II. executed commissions of importance. At any rate, he makes no pretension to a royal origin, and the probability would seem to be that he attained the throne not through any claim of right, but by his own personal merits. Amid a multitude of pretenders, he fought his way to the crown, and was accepted as king, because he had triumphed over his rivals. On one occasion, he tells us, his life was in extreme danger. He had taken his evening meal, and had retired to rest-stretched upon a carpet in the inner chamber of his house, he was courting sleep-when, lo! a clash of arms resounded; foes approached, hoping to assassinate

1 Records of the Past, vol. ii. p. 11, § 2.

2 As for myself,' says Amenemhat, I have given to the humble, and made the weak exist;' and again, I have made the afflicted

|

ones to be no longer afflicted, and
their cries to be heard no more
(ibid. pp. 11-12, §§ 3 and 5).

See Brugsch, History of Egypt, vol. i. p. 122, 1st ed.

Supra, p. 138, note 2.

CH. XVII.]

REIGN OF AMEN EM-HAT I.

143

him as he slumbered; he roused himself; he woke up to fight:' and the conspirators fled in haste, without waiting to exchange blows. It is not quite clear whether this event occurred before or after his accession to the throne; but it reveals the stuff whereof he was made, and sufficiently explains his easy triumph over his competitors.

3

Once established in power, Amen-em-hat showed activity and energy. He carried on wars on every side with the Petti, or bowmen of the Libyan interior,2 the Sakti or Asiatics, the Maxyes or Mazyes of the north-west, and the Ua-uat and other negro tribes of the south. Eagerly seconded by his young son, Usurtasen, who from his earliest youth showed an unmistakable talent for war and a positive love of fighting, he inflicted blow after blow upon these enemies, and forced them to acts of submission. Still, his military expeditions do not seem to have resulted in conquests, and their aim was perhaps rather to protect Egypt from predatory incursions by striking terror into the tribes upon that frontier, than to extend the bounds of the Egyptian dominion. Amen-em-hat was content to stand on the (old) boundaries of the land, and

1 Records of the Past, vol. ii. pp. | prowess of Usurtasen in his early

12-13, §§ 6 and 7.

Ibid. vol. vi. PP. 137-8.

Ibid. vol. ii. p. 14, § 12.

4 Ibid.

youth:

Moreover, he is a valiant man,

Doing deeds of strength with his sword,
There is not his equal.

Behold him going up against the Petti;

He abases regions; his enemies rise not up again;

That which is before him stands not,

But bows the knee.....

5 Ibid., and compare an inscrip- He suppresses violence; he chastens pride; tion found by Dr. Lüttge, near Korosko, which is to this effect: In the twenty-ninth year of King Amen-em-hat-long may he live !he came here to beat the inhabitants of the land of Uauat.' (See Brugsch, Hist. of Egypt, vol. i. p. 123, 1st ed.

6 In the Story of Saneha' the following account is given of the

He is joyful when he sees multitudes,
He lets not his heart remain behind,

He is cheerful when he sees contest
He rejoices when he goes up against the

Petti.

(Records of the Past, vol. vi. p. 137.)

keep watch on its borders; '1 to rule all Egypt 'from Abu (Elephantiné) to the Athu' (the marsh region of the Delta) was enough for him; 2 we do not find him establishing any military posts in the countries which he invaded; on the contrary, we find that, in one quarter at any rate, he followed up his victories by building a wall, or defensive work, upon his own frontiers, for the purpose of 'keeping off the Sakti,'' or, in other words, of checking and repelling their incursions. This post was probably a little to the east of Pelusium, near the western extremity of the Lake Serbonis.4

Among extant monuments none of any great importance can be assigned to Amen-em-hat, though his activity was shown in buildings no less than in warlike expeditions. There are indications that he commenced the temple of Ammon at Karnak opposite Thebes, where fragments of a granite statue have been found on which the sculptor had engraved his name. Another statue, also representing him, was erected in the Fayoum." He worked the quarries of Mokattam and Hammamât,7 adorned Memphis, and constructed two considerable edifices, which have perished-a palace, supposed to have been situated at Heliopolis," and a pyramid, known as Ka-nefer, Lofty and Handsome.' 10 Of the former, he tells us that it was adorned with gold; its roof was painted blue; the walls and

CH. XVII.]

ASSOCIATION OF USURTASEN I.

145

the passages were of stones fastened together with iron. cramps; 1 it was made for eternity,' he says, and not for time; but unluckily it has not fulfilled the intention. of its constructor. The other, notwithstanding its proud title, was probably of moderate dimensions, like the pyramids of the Mentuhoteps and Antefs; it was erected to contain a stone sarcophagus cut in the Hammamât quarries by Antef, son of Sabak-nekht, chief priest of the god Khem, who has commemorated the fact on the rocky wall of the Wady.2

A third field in which the activity of this energetic king found employment was that of the chase. He hunted the lion,' he tells us, and brought back the crocodile a prisoner.' Lions, which are now not found north of Nubia, frequented in these early times the deserts on either side of the valley of the Nile, and furnished a sport in which even a great king did not feel it beneath him to indulge. Crocodiles were more common, and had long been objects of pursuit to the Egyptian sportsman, who generally speared them from a boat, but sometimes fished for them with a baited hook, and in this way might catch them alive. Probably Amenemhat adopted this latter method of procedure, and on returning to his palace exhibited the victims of his skill and prowess to the nobles and officials of his court.

As he approached old age, and felt its infirmities creeping upon him, Amenemhat resolved to associate his son Usurtasen in the government. This prince had, as already remarked, exhibited from his earliest