It is the best preserved of the older temples of
Egypt, and at Thebes it is by far the most ancient building recovered.
Historically it has given us a new king of the XIth Dynasty,
Sekhahe-tep-Ra Mentuhetep, and the name of the queen of Neb-hapet-Ra
Mentuhetep, Aasheit, who seems to have been an Ethiopian, to judge from
her portrait, which has been discovered. It is interesting to note that
one of the priestesses was a negress.
The name Neb-hapet-Ra may be unfamiliar to those readers who are
acquainted with the lists of the Egyptian kings. It is a correction
of the former reading, "Neb-kheru-Ra," which is now known from these
excavations to be erroneous. Neb-hapet-Ra (or, as he used to be called,
Neb-kheru-Ra) is Mentuhetep III of Prof. Petrie's arrangement. Before
him there seem to have come the kings Mentuhetep Neb-hetep (who is also
commemorated in this temple) and Neb-taui-Ra; after him, Sekhahetep-Ra
Mentuhetep IV and Seankhkara Mentuhetep V, who were followed by an
Antef, bearing the banner or hawk-name Uah-ankh. This king was followed
by Amenemhat I, the first king of the XIIth Dynasty. Antef Uah-ankh may
be numbered Antef I, as the prince Antefa, who founded the XIth Dynasty,
did not assume the title of king.
Other kings of the name of Antef also ruled over Egypt, and they used to
be regarded as belonging to the XIth Dynasty; but Prof.
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