"Some of the dynasties of ancient Egypt lasted two hundred years and more, while others were much less, the shortest dynasty being seventy days. During the fourth dynasty, which lasted two hundred years, the Pyramids of Gizeh were built (about 2400 B.C.). In the twelfth dynasty many monuments and temples were erected, and many of the famous tombs were made; Abraham, and afterward Joseph, came to Egypt, and several important events of Egyptian history belong to this dynasty. The eighteenth dynasty lasted nearly two hundred and fifty years (in the sixteenth, fifteenth, and fourteenth centuries B.C.), and was the most brilliant of all the periods of ancient Egypt. Thebes and other cities were in the height of their glory, the armies made great conquests, the temples at Karnak and Thebes were built, and the obelisks that are to-day the wonder of the world were brought from Syene, and erected where they could attest the power of the rulers of the land. The inscriptions on the monuments say that during the reign of Thothmes III., one of the kings of the eighteenth dynasty, 'Egypt placed her frontier where she pleased.' [Illustration: RAMESES II., FROM AN INSCRIPTION.] "During the nineteenth dynasty one king, Rameses II. (or 'The Great'), reigned sixty-seven years, and left many monuments that remain to this day. One of his predecessors in the same dynasty, Sethi I., built several magnificent temples, and made the first canal from the Nile to the Red Sea. The flight of the Israelites from bondage occurred in this dynasty during the reign of Meneptah. He is generally known in history as the Pharaoh of the Exodus; and it is well to explain here that Pharaoh was the Egyptian word for 'king,' and is properly prefixed to the name of the ruler. The Egyptians would say 'Pharaoh Rameses,' 'Pharaoh Necho,' and the like, just as we say 'King George,' or 'King Charles.' [Illustration: MENEPTAH, THE SUPPOSED PHARAOH OF THE EXODUS.] "In the twenty-seventh dynasty Egypt was taken by the Persians, and held by them one hundred and twenty years. Then the Egyptians made a successful rebellion, and drove out their oppressors till the thirty-first dynasty, when the Persians came back again. In the thirty-second dynasty (332 B.C.) Alexander the Great conquered Egypt, and founded Alexandria. The Greeks ruled the country for three hundred years, till the time of Cleopatra, at the beginning of the Christian era (thirty-fourth dynasty), when it became a Roman province, and what is called 'Ancient Egypt' came to an end. As we are not concerned now with modern Egypt, we will close our historical record and take breath." With this brief outline of the history of ancient Egypt in their minds the boys were able to make an intelligent observation of the museum at Boulak. On their way thither the Doctor gave them a history of the Museum which owed its existence to the labors of Mariette Bey.[5]