From the
beginning <
the Sixth tc
the beginning
of the
Twelfth
Dynasty
(3500 B. C. 1
2780 B.C.).
The Sixth Dynasty links itself naturally to those which immediately precede it. Its
canons of art and its workmanship are inherited from the Fourth and Fifth Dynasties,
and it is rightly included with them as belonging to the Old Kingdom in opposition to
the Middle Kingdom which begins with the Twelfth Dynasty. Between the Old and the
Middle Kingdom there is a great gap; they are separated in tradition and feeling not
less than in time. With the Twelfth Dynasty begins a new era, a civilization which has
inherited comparatively little from the ages preceding it, but which dominates the whole
subsequent development of Egyptian life.
What then was taking place during the 550 years which separate the Old from the
Middle Kingdom ? To the historian this had always been a dark period, and for the
archaeologist it was a complete blank until the excavations at Denderah (1897-8)
provided for the first time a quantity of material which could be definitely assigned to that
interval. Historical documents are scanty between the Sixth and the Eleventh
Dynasties ; for the various king-lists are very confused and defective at this point, great
monuments do not exist, and there are very few dated minor remains. Consequently, the
number and the sequence of kings and even the relative order of the dynasties is uncertain.
Recent research, again, has not lessened the numerous difficulties by proving that
several of the kings formerly assigned on insufficient evidence to the Ninth and Tenth
Dynasties are unquestionably subsequent to the Twelfth. The most valuable information
for purposes of history is that derived from the biographical inscriptions of three great
nobles of Assiut, viz. Khety 1st, Tefaba, and Khety 2nd, who lived under the Ninth
and Tenth Dynasties. The incomplete picture which they furnish harmonizes with the
little that can be gathered from other sources, and makes it possibfe to form at least an
approximate idea of the conditions which obtained. The three centuries and a half which
intervene between the end of the Sixth and the beginning of the Eleventh Dynasty may
then be regarded as a time of political disorganization and decay, when the strong unified
government of Pepi I had broken down, and there was no single individual who had the
power effectively to assert his supremacy over the crowd of local princes. A version of
Manetho, which records that the Seventh Dynasty was composed of seventy kings who
reigned, in all, seventy days, may perhaps depict not wholly inaccurately the anarchy which
prevailed. The great feudal lords in the provinces asserted themselves as independent
sovereigns, and even waged war with one another or against the king. Khety 1st
expressly states that he was appointed to the governorship of Assiut because he was a just
man and had engaged in no rebellion. His successor Tefaba victoriously supported the
legitimate dynasty of Herakleopolis against the princes of Thebes who headed an
insurrection of all the southern districts; and Tefaba’s son, Khety 2nd, not only defeated
the rebels of the south, but actually replaced King Ka-mery-ra upon the throne from
which his own citizens of Herakleopolis had removed him. These records show how the
power of the king had dwindled from what it was in the days of the masterful Pepi I.
The common people were downtrodden and miserable, and a story of the time narrates
how the poor farmer was oppressed by hectoring stewards in the absence of his master.
It is scarcely surprising to find that the arts languished and culture fell to the lowest
level which it reaches in Egyptian history. The energy and the organization necessary
for the carrying out of great enterprises were deflected into other channels; the craftsman
and the sculptor had no wealthy patrons to encourage and to stimulate them.
The excavations at Denderah covered the whole of this period, as well as the two
centuries of the Eleventh Dynasty when the Mentu-hoteps finally asserted the supremacy
of Thebes over the northern provinces, and the country began to revive under the salutary
influence of an organized régime. The earliest tombs discovered on the site were two or
three large mastabas of the Fourth Dynasty, from which there are no skulls or skeletons.
Next in date come the mastabas of several wealthy persons of the Sixth Dynasty and
some pit-tombs which are contemporary with them. From these were obtained only seven
specimens (detailed in the Appendix), one of which, however, is the skull of Ana, wife of
Adu 2nd. This Adu was a great noble, one of the princes of Denderah and son of Adu 1st,
who was director of the pyramid-temples of Pepi I and Pepi II ; a portrait statue of him
was found in his tomb. The remainder of the series come from what are described in
Denderah (pp. 13-22) as ‘ undated tombs of the Seventh to Eleventh Dynasties.’ It is
therefore a uniform mass of material, of which the archaeological accessories are
homogeneous in character, and can be placed as a whole within the wide bounds here
assigned, though it does not admit of more precise subdivision. The limits of date are
given by the inscriptions of the Sixth Dynasty princes Mena and Adu, who are mentioned
as living under Pepi II ; and by a cartouche of the Eleventh Dynasty king Mentu-hotep.
In all the inscriptions which were found on the site (excluding of course those of the
Ptolemaic and Roman time) there was no mention of any name earlier or later than these,
so that the range of time is strictly defined. The archaeological remains confirm the
evidence of the inscriptions ; nothing was found of which the intrinsic character suggested
an earlier or later time ', but, on the contrary, the types were clearly transitional between
these two fixed points. Only a small number of graves would have been classed, had
they occurred independently, as belonging to the Twelfth Dynasty ; and they may well be
regarded as belonging to the advanced Eleventh Dynasty, when, as has been stated above,
the princes of Thebes began to gain the ascendancy and to inaugurate that government
which attained its full splendour under the houses of Usertesen and Amenemhat.
The Seventh to Eleventh Dynasty tombs may be treated under two headings, viz.
mastabas and plain pits. The mastabas are oblong brick buildings, of which the normal
type may be described as follows. On the eastern face, enclosed by a brick wall which
is sometimes pierced by a door but is often solid, there is a narrow corridor running
the whole length of the building. __ From this a doorway leads into an oblong chapel
Intended for offerings to the dead, which runs parallel to the corridor, beginning at its
south end, but commonly does riot extend for more than a third or a half of the length of
the building; the remaining length (i.e. half or two-thirds) behind the corridor is
sometimes partitioned into chambers, but is more often filled in with gravel or solid
brick. North-west of this is sunk a pit, down which the body was lowered; and at the
bottom of the pit a turn to the south leads into the actual place of sepulture, which
is always so planned as to come exactly behind the chapel where the offerings were made.
The details and dimensions vary ; the larger mastabas have such accessories as staircases
and courts, with tunnelled entrances to the pit ; while, on the other hand, some builders
dispense with a separate chapel for the offerings and make the actual corridor serve its
purpose. In the west wall of the chapel is placed a dummy door of panelled stone, through
which the Ka or double of the deceased would pass when it came up from the tomb to
partake of the refreshment offered it. For utilitarian purposes one door for each person
buried in the mastaba might seem sufficient, but an architectural motive was suggested
by its use and. so an entire row of ‘ false doors ’ was placed along the west wall of the
1 Save only some half a dozen sporadic or secondary burials, a ll subsequent to the Twenty-fifth Dynasty and o f
unmistakable character, from which no specimens are included.
D 2
From the
beginning of
the Sixth to.
the beginning
of the
Twelfth
Dynasty
(3500 B. c. to
2780 B.C.).