History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria in the Light of Recent DiscoveryKing, L. W. (Leonard William)
History
History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria in the Light of Recent Discovery
King, L. W. (Leonard William)
Egypt -- History -- To 332 B.C.; History, Ancient
The brick pyramids of the XIIth Dynasty were erected in the same way,
for the Egyptians had no knowledge of the modern combination of wooden
scaffolding and ladders. There was originally a small stone pyramid of
the same dynasty at Dashûr, half-way between the two brick ones, but
this has now almost disappeared. It belonged to the king Amenemhat II,
while the others belonged, the northern to Usertsen (Sen-usret) III, the
southern to Amenemhat III. Both these latter monarchs had other tombs
elsewhere, Usertsen a great rock-cut gallery and chamber in the cliff at
Abydos, Amenemhat a pyramid not very far to the south, at Hawara, close
to the Fayyûm. It is uncertain whether the Hawara pyramid or that of
Dashûr was the real burial-place of the king, as at neither place is his
name found alone. At Hawara it is found in conjunction with that of his
daughter, the queen-regnant Se-bekneferurâ (Skemiophris), at Dashûr with
that of a king Auabrâ Hor, who was buried in a small tomb near that of
the king, and adjoining the tombs of the king’s children. Who King Hor
was we do not quite know. His name is not given in the lists, and was
unknown until M. de Morgan’s discoveries at Dashûr. It is most probable
that he was a prince who was given royal honours during the lifetime of
Amenemhat III, whom he predeceased.[3] In the beautiful wooden statue
of him found in his tomb, which is now in the Cairo Museum, he is
represented as quite a youth. Amenemhat III was certainly succeeded by
Amenemhat IV, and it is impossible to intercalate Hor between them.
[3] See below, p. 121. Possibly he was a son of Amenemhat III.
The identification of the owners of the three western pyramids of Dashûr
is due to M. de Morgan and his assistants, Messrs. Legrain and Jéquier,
who excavated them from 1894 till 1896. The northern pyramid, that of
Usertsen (Senusret) III, is not so well preserved as the southern. It is
more worn away, and does not present so imposing an appearance. In
both pyramids the outer casing of white stone has entirely disappeared,
leaving only the bare black bricks. Each stood in the midst of a great
necropolis of dignitaries of the period, as was usually the case.
Many of the mastabas were excavated by M. de Morgan. Some are of older
periods than the XIIth Dynasty, one belonging to a priest of King
Snefru, Aha-f-ka (“Ghost-fighter”), who bore the additional titles of
“director of prophets and general of infantry.” There were pluralists
even in those days. And the distinction between the privy councillor
(Geheimrat) and real privy councillor (Wirk-licher-Greheimrat) was quite
familiar; for we find it actually made, many an old Egyptian officially
priding himself in his tomb on having been a real privy councillor! The
Egyptian bureaucracy was already ancient and had its survivals and its
anomalies even as early as the time of the pyramid-builders.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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