Volume Ii., Part B.

THE MEMPHITE EMPIRE

THE ROYAL PYRAMID BUILDERS: KHEOPS, KHEPHREN, MYKERINOS--MEMPHITE LITERATURE AND ART--EXTENSION OF EGYPT TOWARDS THE SOUTH, AND THE CONQUEST OP NUBIA BY THE PHARAOHS.

Snofrûi--The desert which separates Africa from Asia: its physical configuration, its inhabitants, their incursions into Egypt, and their relations with the Egyptians--The peninsula of Sinai: the turquoise and copper mines, the mining works of the Pharaohs--The two tombs of Snofrûi: the pyramid and the mastabas of Mêdûm, the statues of Bahotpû and his wife Nofrît.

Kheops, Ehephren, and Myherinos--The Great Pyramid: its construction and internal arrangements--The pyramids of Khephren and Myherinos; the rifling of them--Legend about the royal pyramid builders: the impiety of Kheops and Khephren, the piety of Myherinos; the brick pyramid of Asychis--The materials employed in building, and the quarries of Turah; the plans, the worship of the royal "double;" the Arab legends about the guardian genii of the pyramids.

The kings of the fifth dynasty: Ùsirkaf, Sahûri, Kalciû, and the romance about their advent--The relations of the Delta to the peoples of the North: the shipping and maritime commerce of the Egyptians--Nubia and its tribes: the Ûaûaiû and the Mazaiû, Pûanît, the dwarfs and the Danga--Egyptian literature: the Proverbs of Phtahhotpû--The arts: architecture, statuary and its chief examples, bas-reliefs, painting, industrial art.

The development of Egyptian feudalism, and the advent of the sixth dynasty: Ati, Imhotpâ, Teti--Papi I. and his minister Uni: the affair of Queen Amitsi; the wars against the Hirû-Shâîtû and the country of Tiba--Metesûphis I. and the second Papi: progress of the Egyptian power in Nubia--the lords of Elephantine; Hirkhûf, Papinakhîti: the way for conquest prepared by their explorations, the occupation of the Oases--The pyramids of Saqqâra: Metesûphis the Second--Nitokris and the legend concerning her--Preponderance of the feudal lords, and fall of the Memphite dynasty.