His successors bore the same name as himself, and also his family name of Taa. They were known as Taa the Great and Taa the Victorious, and followed up his bold initiative with vigour and success. It was very slowly, and only by hard fighting and step by step, that Egypt was won back from the stranger. But as these brave chieftains pushed their way northward, one tributary prince after another would take heart and join in the war of liberation. The horse must by this time have been naturalised and made use of throughout the land, and thus one terrible and fatal disadvantage would be removed. Old rivalries and minor jealousies would melt away under the influence of a common need and a common hope. Taa the Victorious prepared a flotilla of Nile vessels, two of which bore the significant names of the ‘_North_,’ and the ‘_Going up into Memphis_.’ Doubtless it was under him that the ancient capital was regained, after which all was ready for the final attack, in view of which he had made ready his little navy,—the attack which should drive the foe from his stronghold in the Delta, where by this time he was standing desperately at bay. Taa the Victorious married his son Kames to the Princess Aah-hotep, an heiress of the ancient line, and it was their son Aahmes who brought the great war of liberation to a triumphant close, and placed upon his brow the double crown of Upper and of Lower Egypt. FOOTNOTES: [27] Probably _Hak-shasu_, or Princes of the Shasu. The Shasu were wandering tribes on the north-east, and it is not unlikely, Brugsch thinks, that this name was assigned them in derision of their claim to be considered Kings of Egypt. Kings of Egypt, indeed! No—haks (petty princes) of the Shasu they were. An accidental coincidence of meaning between Shasu and shepherd led to their being designated in later times ‘Shepherd Kings.’ [28] Manetho, the Egyptian priest, who, in the days of the Ptolemies, wrote a history of his country in Greek. It is, unfortunately, lost, excepting his list of kings and dynasties, and a few fragments quoted by later writers. [29] Even during the civil wars some branch of the ancient line was ruling, and it is probable that the eleventh dynasty was united by marriage to the early kings. CHAPTER VIII. The Eighteenth Dynasty—Queen Hatasu and Thothmes III. (_Circa_ 1600-1400 B.C.) On the east bank of the river, about 50 miles from Thebes, there stood in ancient times a strong fortified city, surrounded by massive walls of such thickness, that chariots might have been driven abreast upon them. Of the city itself nothing survives save ruins; but in the valley that lies eastward, behind the hills, are still to be seen long rows of tombs and memorial sanctuaries, where were laid to rest the heroes of the great war of liberation.