But the regular annexation, so to speak, of Sinai to Egypt
took place under the Memphites of the Hid Dynasty.
With the Hid Dynasty we have reached the age of the pyramid-builders.
The most typical pyramids are those of the three great kings of the IVth
Dynasty, Khufu, Khafra, and Menkaura, at Giza near Cairo. But, as
we have seen, the last king of the Hid Dynasty, Snefru, also had one
pyramid, if not two; and the most ancient of these buildings known to
us, the Step-Pyramid of Sakkara, was erected by Tjeser at the beginning
of that dynasty. The evolution of the royal tombs from the time of the
1st Dynasty to that of the IVth is very interesting to trace. At the
period of transition from the predynastic to the dynastic age we have
the great mastaba of Aha at Nakada, and the simplest chamber-tombs
at Abydos. All these were of brick; no stone was used in their
construction. Then we find the chamber-tomb of Den Semti at Abydos
with a granite floor, the walls being still of brick. Above each of the
Abydos tombs was probably a low mound, and in front a small chapel, from
which a flight of steps descended into the simple chamber. On one of the
little plaques already mentioned, which were found in these tombs, we
have an archaic inscription, entirely written in ideographs, which
seems to read, "The Big-Heads (i.
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