(2) Usertsen I. Usertsen I built many magnifi cent edifices in Ileliopolis and brought gold from Nubia and torquoise from the peninsula of Sinai. It is to this dynasty the splendid tomb of Nahre Se Khnum-hetep at Beni-Hassan belongs. His inscription mentions the first four sovereigns as having honored three successive generations of his family.
(3) Amenemha III. Amenemha III, the suc cessor of Usertsen III, was renowned for the greatest benefit ever bestowed upon Egypt. It is well known that the prosperity of that country depends upon a uniform inundation of the river Nile. Amenemha Ill built an enormous lake in the district called the Fayoum—Lake Moeris—or 'the great water.' It was surrounded on all sides by dams and was connected by canal with the Nile. In this lake the surplus water of the inun dation was stored for future use. Amenemha III. also built a pyramid 246 feet high, and a wonder ful palace called the Labyrinth, which Hcrodotus tells us contained within its walls four thousand and five hundred rooms.
From the close of the Twelfth dynasty, ruled by Amenemha IV (B. C. 2200). to the Eighteenth dynasty, there is a gap of about five hundred years.
(4) The Hyksos. About this time the I lyksos Or 'Shepherd Kings.' were in power. They mi grate(' from the east and settled at Memphis. Both the domestic and foreign policies of Egypt were completely changed by the invasions of the I lyk sos. Previously, invasions and discoveries were not attempted. Now the canal between the Nile, at Bubastis, and the Red Sea, at Suez, was opened and the eireunmavigation of the African Continent was actually accomplished, while navigators were dispatched to determine the source of the Nile. Foreign conquests, also, were undertaken, prob ably for the purpose of procuring timber for ship building.
6. Eighteenth Dynasty. (1) Mmes. The Hyksos were driven out by :Mimes, the first king of the eighteenth dynasty. Ahmcs reigned twenty two years and married Ahmcs Neftari, a ncgress, who ruled some time after his death. The son of these rulers, Amenhotep, ruled eleven years.
(2) Queen Hatasu. Then came Thothmes I, who associated his beautiful and powerful daugh ter Ilatasu, or I lashop, with him. She reigned for some years either alone or with her brother, Thothmes 11, After his death Ilatasu adopted the masculine garb and gave orders that her broth er's name he erased from all monumental inscrip tions. She ordered two granite obelisks with
shining metal tops to be erected, and they were to stand forever Ito record her works) before the gate of her father, Thothmes I.
(3) Thothmes III. She was also associated with her brother Thothmes III, and the same fate befell her as her brother Thothrues 11. Iler name was carefully chiseled out of all inscriptions. After Hatasu's death Thothmes III was called 'Great.' Nations hastened to do him honor. Syria. Ethiopia and Phccnicia paid immense tribute. Ile it was who erected and inscribed with his own name the obelisk known as 'Cleopatra's Needle,' which is now in Central Park, New York City. He reigned fifty-four years. Then came Amenhotep II and Thothmes IV.
(4) Amenhotep III, in whose reign the arts were in greatest perfection, followed. He built the great statues of Memnon before the palace of Luxor. Tradition says one of these statues al ways sang when the sun's rays shone upon it at dawn. Amenhotep is famous as having duced the worship of the sun's disk and changed his name from Amenhoteri to Rhu-en aten—that is—'the glory of the disk. Ile founded a city Tel-el-Amana (see Trt.t. AMA RNA), where he built a great temple in worship of the sun's disk.
7. Nineteenth Dynasty. Next in importance comes the nineteenth dynasty.
(1) Rnmeoes I. But little has been learned about Rameses king of the nineteenth dynasty (about 1400 It. C.). I le began a war with the nations, which was continued by his son and sue CeS!•Or.
(2) Seti L Seti I took up arms against the Asi aties.warring with the Ethiopians,Lihvans.and the Arabs. Ile was great in battle and the sculptures are many where he is represented fighting in hand to hand combat. He gave new names and erect ed new fortresses in place of the old, abolishing everything that did not systematically tend to the rule of the king. Ile built Nlemnonittm, a small temple, made a well in the desert, and erected an obelisk in I leliopnlis. Ibis sarcophagus, in beauti ful colored marble. is now in Sir John Soane's Museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields.