e succeeding
sovereigns. In the XIIIth year of his sovereignty, and after having
reigned alone for thirty-two years, Usirtasen I. shared his throne with
Amenemhait II.; and thirty-two years later Amenemhait II. acted in a
similar way with regard to Usirtasen II. Amenemhait III. and Amenemhait
IV. were long co-regnant. The only princes of this house in whose cases
any evidence of co-regnancy is lacking are Usirtasen III., and the queen
Sovknofriuri, with whom the dynasty died out.

[Illustration: 325.jpg AN ASIATIC CHIEF IS PRESENTED TO KHNUMHOTPU BY
NOFIRHOPTU, AND BY KHITI, THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE HUNTSMEN]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a chromolithograph in Lepsius,
_Denhm._, ii. 133.

It lasted two hundred and thirteen years, one month, and twenty-seven
days,* and its history can be ascertained with greater certainty and
completeness than that of any-other dynasty which ruled over Egypt.

*This is its total duration, as given in the Turin papyrus.
Several Egyptologists have thought that Manetho had, in his
estimate, counted the years of each sovereign as
consecutive, and have hence proposed to conclude that the
dynasty only lasted 168 years (Brugscii), or 160 (Lieblein),
or 194 (Ed. Meyer). It is simpler to admit that the compiler
of the papyrus was not in error; we do not know the length
of the reigns of Usirtasen II., Usirtasen III., and
Amenemhait III., and their unknown years may be considered
as completing the tale of the two hundred and thirteen
years.

We are doubtless far from having any adequate idea of its great
achievements, for the biographies of its eight sovereigns, and the
details of their interminable wars are very imperfectly known to us. The
development of its foreign and domestic policy we can, however, follow
without a break.

[Illustration: 326.jpg SOME OF THE BAND OF ASIATICS, WITH THEIR BEASTS,
BROUGHT FROM KHNUMHOTPU]

Asia had as little attraction for these kings as for their Memphite
predecessors; they seem to have always had a certain dread of its
warlike races, and to have merely contented themselves with repelling
their attacks. Amenemhait I. had completed the line of fortresses across
the isthmus, and these were carefully maintained by his successors. The
Pharaohs were not ambitious of holding direct sway over the tribes of
the desert, and scrupulously avoided interfering with their affairs
as long as the "Lords