Stevenson.] "tJ [March 20, 



been in common use, all their pottery is hand-made and of form and deco- 

 ration peculiar to themselves. 



An Egyptian town in the immediate neighborhood yielded — in different 

 strata — pottery of the IVth, Xllth, XVIIIth and XlXth dynasties, and 

 presented not one single link with the peculiar manufactures of the 

 intruders. What, then, had become of the Egyptians on this extensive 

 tract of territory and during the considerable period represented by the 

 layers containing variations of the original industries of the invaders? 



The kings of the Vth dynasty who ruled over united Egypt were said 

 by Manetho to have come from Elephantine, and vestiges of their power 

 and of that of their successors (Vlth dyn.) have been found from the 

 southern frontier of Egypt to the peninsula of Sinai. Even recently, 

 fragments of papyri have been found at Elephantine bearing the names 

 of Rameri and of Noferkara which must be added to the weight of evi- 

 dence already gathered to show the extent of their empire (London 

 Acad., March 14, 1896). They were powerful monarchs, and, like all of 

 Egypt's strong rulers, they were active in their building enterprises and 

 have left, written on stone, eloquent testimony of their power. 



Of their successors, the Memphite kings of the Vllth and Vlllth 

 dynasties, however, nothing remains save a few scarabs bearing names 

 that can be identified with some of those given in the Egyptian lists for 

 that obscure period. Indeed the silence of the monuments is so complete 

 as to become positively eloquent. It is evident that some national 

 catastrophy occurred about that time which caused the dismemberment of 

 the great empire of the pyramid builders and reduced the power of their 

 Memphite successors to comparative insignificance. 



Manetho gives five kings for the Vllth Memphite dynasty and twenty- 

 seven for the Vllllh. The Turin fragments give eighteen, and the tablets 

 of Abydos give a selection of fifteen. No doubt can exist, therefore, as 

 to their reigns having occupied a considerable period of time. There is 

 evidence that during the IXth and Xth Herakleopolitan dynasties, Upper 

 Egypt, which — as far as the monumental evidence is concerned — seemed 

 to have been wiped out of existence, reappeared upon the scene of history, 

 and that the princes of Thebes began to assert themselves and to grow in 

 power. Some important inscriptions found by Mr. Griffith in the tombs 

 of the feudal princes of Siut cast a flash of useful light upon this obscure 

 period. These princes, loyal to the kings of the Herakleopolitan dynasty, 

 fought on their side in their wars against tlie Thebau princes, whose in- 

 creasing pretensions threatened the power of their liege lords. These 

 facts are now all-important in restricting the limits in which must be 

 placed the episode of the foreign intrusion just brought to light by ^Mr. 

 Petrie's genius. It seems obvious that such an intrusion could not have 

 taken place had the Theban princes been as powerful as they appear to 

 have been under the IXth and Xth dynasties. 



That the foreigners entered Upper Egypt after the great period of the 

 pyramid builders is shown by the fact that the ^lastaba-tombs referred to 



