The Third
Dynasty
(4200 B.C.
t0 4000B. C.)>
The Fourth
and Fifth
Dynasties
(4000 B.C. t<
3500 B.C.).
The Third Dynasty (4200 b.c. to 4000 b.c.).
Of the Third Dynasty nothing whatever was known until three years ago, when the
first monuments of that period, the tombs of Kings Neter-khet and Sa-Nekht, were
discovered by Mr. J. Garstang at Bêt-Khallâf. For a complete account of the archaeology
the reader may be referred to the same excavator’s memoir on Regagnah (see
Appendix, p. 119). Here it is sufficient to say that the Third Dynasty exhibits precisely
that transitional character which would be suggested by its chronological place. The
most recent evidence therefore proves that the Protodynastic period is linked with that
of the Old Kingdom, and that much at least of the civilization of the Pyramid-builders is
a direct inheritance from the contemporaries and immediate successors of Menes. We
are indebted to Mr. Garstang for sixteen skulls from his excavations at Regagnah,
the measurements of which are given in the Appendix.
The Fourth and Fifth Dynasties (4000 b.c. to 3500 b.c.).
The specimens dealt with in the present section were obtained at Medum and at
Deshasheh. They belong to a period which is otherwise unrepresented, except by the
very few skeletons from Regagnah. But it is important, moreover, to observe that they
are the only series not derived from Upper Egypt, and consequently any racial
peculiarities that they may present are quite as reasonably to be attributed to the
difference in locality as to the difference in time. It is greatly to be wished that
contemporary examples were available from Upper Egypt for purposes of comparison,
but as yet nothing more than the nucleus of a series is extant in the few skulls from
Regagnah.
Medum, which lies some forty miles south of Cairo, is sufficiently well known as the
site of the pyramid built by King Sneferu. This king was the immediate or almost
immediate predecessor of Khufu, and has hitherto been regarded as the founder of the
Fourth Dynasty, A better opinion now makes him the last king of the Third Dynasty;
but the distinction is unimportant for the present purpose, since the dating of these
burials cannot be made accurate within the limits of a single reign. We shall therefore
adhere to the older and more commonly received arrangement, and, without attempting to
decide the point of exact division, shall include the reign of Sneferu with those of his
successors when giving a rdsumd of the Fourth and Fifth Dynasties.
A cemetery which was excavated close to the pyramid of Medum contained'mastabas
and pit-tombs, from the latter of which come the skeletons which are here described.
The structure and decoration of the mastabas and the character of their contents may be
considered to place them after the Second and before the Sixth Dynasty. Any closer
dating must be matter of some uncertainty, but the apparent connexion of the cemetery
with the pyramid suggests that it is nearly contemporary with Sneferu, who seems to have
been regarded as the tutelary genius of the place. The style of the pottery also is
consistent with what is known of the Third and Fourth Dynasties; so that if the pit-
graves belong—as it is natural to suppose— to the same period as the mastabas they may
be assigned approximately to the Fourth Dynasty. The bodies found in them were laid
in the contracted or embryonic posture which is characteristic of all the Archaic periods
but not of those which are distinguished as historic.
A t Deshasheh, which is less than thirty miles south of Medum, a cemetery was found
with tombs of varied construction, rock-hewn chapels, mastabas, and simple pits, all of
which appear to be contemporaneous. The main evidence of date was given by the
names of Nenkheftka and Nenkhefthek, whose beautiful statues were discovered in their
tombs. A Nenkheftka and a Nenkhefthek are also known at Sakkara, where their
biographical inscriptions mention the names of Userkaf and Sahura, kings of the Fifth
Dynasty; and as, further, the Deshasheh tombs closely resemble those of Sakkara in
general character, there is every reason to regard them as identical in date. The
evidence of the antiquities corroborates this view, for the pottery is very like that of
Medum, only perhaps a little further developed; while the workmanship of the statues
would alone justify their attribution to the most flourishing period of the Old Empire.
Several methods of burial were in use at Deshasheh. Sometimes a coffin was employed,
and sometimes none ,* while several of the bodies were buried in the contracted position,
and others at full length. The most marked distinction, however, is between the cases
where the body was buried intact and those in which it was partially dissevered, no doubt
in consequence of re-burial. All the Deshasheh specimens have been included in a single
group of tabulations and combined with the Fourth Dynasty series from Medum. In the
Appendix, p. 119, will be found references to the archaeological memoir, in which the
burials at Deshasheh are fully described.
The Fourth Dynasty owes its universal fame to the great Pyramid-builders, Khufu,
Khafra, and Men-kau-ra (Mycerinus); it is curious therefore to reflect that very little is
known of them beyond the fact that they built these mighty monuments for themselves.
A tablet of Mertitefs, who was Sneferu’s queen, relates that she passed into the households
first of Khufu and then of Khafra. His inscriptions show that Khufu fought
against the natives of Sinai, that he executed some building on the temple-site of
Bubastis, and that he worked the famous alabaster quarries near Tell-el-Amarna.
Khafra has similarly inscribed his name on a block at Bubastis, and it is probable that he
was the actual builder of the so-called ‘ Temple of the Sphinx ’ at Gizeh in which his
portrait statues were discovered. A fragment of a portrait statue and a statuette are the
only extant remains of Men-kau-ra, while the four or five kings who make up the
remainder of the list are little more than names to the historian.
The most noteworthy point in connexion with the Fifth Dynasty is its strong
religious policy. The sun-god Ra of Heliopolis was suddenly raised to a position of
paramountcy; the words ‘ Son of the sun ’ were introduced among the royal titles, and
temples such as that recently discovered at Abusir were erected by the kings in honour
of their divine progenitor. This, the first of the religious revolutions which appear from
time to time in Egyptian history, was accomplished it would seem without serious
disturbance. The tranquillity, indeed, which prevailed throughout the Fifth Dynasty was
broken only by an occasional razzia into the Sinaitic peninsula, intended to protect the
Egyptian monopoly of the mines. The Royal Tombs were pyramids, of which the
majority are probably at Abusir, though Unas, the last of the line, built the pyramid of
Sakkara, on the walls of which are inscribed the earliest known religious texts. A tablet
of this king at Elephantine is important as proving that the southern boundary of Egypt
had already been extended to the First Cataract; and it is interesting also to fead that
Assa sent an officer as far as the land of Punt to obtain a pygmy for the diversion of the
Court. The high standard at which architecture had now arrived is shown by the fine
mortuary temple of Ne-user-Ra, recently discovered at Abusir. But it is from the
The Fourth
and Fifth
Dynasties
(4000 B.c. to
3500 B.c.).