tiny which awaited the newly born. The manuscript
is mutilated, and we do not know how the prediction was fulfilled. If we
may trust the romance, the three first princes of the Vth dynasty were
brothers, and of priestly descent, but our experience of similar stories
does not encourage us to take this one very seriously: did not such
tales affirm that Kheops and Khephren were brothers also?

The Vth dynasty manifested itself in every respect as the sequel and
complement of the IVth.* It reckons nine Pharaohs after the three which
tradition made sons of the god Ra himself and of Ruditdidifc. They
reigned for a century and a half; the majority of them have left
monuments, and the last four, at least, Usirniri Anu, Menkau-horu,
Dadkeri Assi, and Unas, appear to have ruled gloriously. They all built
pyramids,** they repaired temples and founded cities.***

* A list is appended of the known Pharaohs of the Vth
dynasty, restored as far as can be, with the closest
approximate dates of their reigns:--

[Illustration: 215.jpg TABLE OF PHARAOHS OF THE VTH DYNASTY]

** It is pretty generally admitted, but without convincing
proofs, that the pyramids of Abusir served as tombs for the
Pharaohs in the Vth dynasty, one for Sahuri, another to
Usirniri Anu, although Wiedemann considers that the
truncated pyramid of Dahshur was the tomb of this king. I am
inclined to think that one of the pyramids of Saqqara was
constructed by Assi; the pyramid of Unas was opened in 1881,
and the results made known by Maspero, _Etudes de Mythologie
et d'Archeologie_, vol. i. p. 150, et seq., and _Recueil de
Travaux_, vols. iv. and v. The names of the majority of the
pyramids are known to us from the monuments: that of Usirkaf
was called "Uabisitu"; that of Sahuri, "Khabi"; that of
Nofiririkeri, "Bi"; that of Anu, "Min-isuitu"; that of
Menkauhoru, "Nutirisuitu"; that of Assi, "Nutir"; that of
Unas, "Nofir-isuitu."

*** Pa Sahuri, near Esneh, for instance, was built by
Sahuri. The modern name of the village of Sahoura still
preserves, on the same spot, without the inhabitants
suspecting it, the name of the ancient Pharaoh.

[Illustration: 210.jpg STATUE IN ROSE-COLOURED GRANITE OF THE PHARAOH
ANU, IN THE GIZEH MUSEUM]

Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Emil Brugsch-Bey.

The Bedouin of the Sinaitic peninsula gave them much to do.