swamps, fields, and inci- 

 dents in the state worship, 

 while on the outer walls 

 were pictures of the war- 

 like achievements of the 

 Pharaoh. Beyond the court, 

 on the south side, lay a 

 great model of the bark of 

 the sun-god, 96 feet long, 

 built of brick. Appafently 

 each king of the dynasty 

 erected such a temple, as 

 a complete series can be 

 traced, extending to the 

 reign of Assa, the eighth 

 king. 



A RACK OF EXPLORERS AND 

 ADVENTUROUS TRADERS 



The kings of this line 

 are also the first to begin 

 systematic exploration of 

 the surrounding countries. 

 Already, a century and a 

 half before, Seneferu, the 

 last king of the third dy- 

 nasty, had ' sent a fleet to 

 Syria ; but Sahura, the sec- 

 ond king of the priestly 

 line, records a voyage to 

 Punt, or Somaliland, which 

 resulted in the bringing 

 back of 80,000 measures 

 of myrrh, 6,000 pounds 

 weight of electrum (gold- 

 silver alloy), and 2,000 

 staves of ebony wood. Assa, one of Sa- 

 hura's successors, began that exploration 

 of the Sudan which was continued so 

 vigorously by the barons of Elephantine 

 tinder the kings of the next dynasty. 

 Altogether the priestly line of Heliopolis 

 seems to have been more vigorous than 

 priestly lines have usually been in the 

 experience of other nations. 



Perhaps the most remarkable result of 

 investigation into the story of Egypt dur- 

 ing the period covered by the next line 

 of kings with whom the Old Kingdom, 

 as it is named, closes is the proof af- 

 forded by the records that our old idea 

 of Egypt, as a kind of China of ancient 

 days, strictly isolated from other nations 

 and jealous of all communication with 

 them, must be entirely discarded. Far 

 from being a secluded people, the Egyp- 



Photo from Egypt Exploration Fund 



USHABTIS, OR ANSWERERS 



It was the custom with the earlier dynasties when a king 

 died to slay all the members of his harem and many slaves, 

 that they might be buried with him. Later, instead of human 

 sacrifices, these little figures, or mimic servants, were substi- 

 tuted (see pages 981 and 983). 



tians, even at this early period of their 

 history, were active and enterprising 

 merchants and explorers, pushing their 

 trade far into the Sudan and maintain- 

 ing regular communication by sea with 

 Somaliland and Syria, and in all prob- 

 ability with the rising Minoan Empire of 

 Crete. 



THEY CAPTURE A PIGMY FOR THE KING 



The story of the exploration of the 

 Sudan and the Red Sea voyages we owe 

 to the decipherment of the tomb inscrip- 

 tions of the barons of Elephantine, who 

 during the reigns of the sixth dynasty 

 were the wardens of the Egyptian 

 marches on the southern frontier — 

 "'Keepers of the Gate of the South" — as 

 they called themselves. The most inter- 

 esting of these inscriptions is that of 



975 



