CHAPTER II.

THE SODAN UNDER THE XITH, XIITH, AND XHITH DYNASTIES.

After the reign of Pepi II. the monuments of the Vlth Dynasty are silent concerning the Sudan, and we hear nothing of that country for several hundreds of years. The immediate successors of Pepi II. were weak monarchs, and the prosperity of their capital, Memphis, declined rapidly ; as their names are not mentioned in the quarries of Egypt and Sinai, we may conclude that no architectural works of any great scale or importance were undertaken during their reigns. The worship of the gods languished, and their sanctuaries became impoverished, trades and the arts declined, and, as the strong hand of a vigorous king was not forthcoming to keep order, the local chiefs began to arrogate to themselves new powers, and to attack each other, and in a few generations Memphis sank into a city of no importance. Now whilst Memphis was decaying and the rule of its last feeble kings becoming more and more ineffective, the princes of Herakleopolis succeeded in gaining their independence, and their descendants became the kings of the IXth and Xth Dynasties. Of these Herakleopolitan kings the most important, so far as we know, were Khati I., Tefaba, and Khati II. Whether any one of these kings asserted by force of arms his authority over the Sudan there is no evidence to show, but we may note that Khati II. declares that he " spread awe of himself " throughout all the land of Egypt, and inflicted punishment " upon the Lands of the South." Whether these words refer to some victory which he gained over the princes of Thebes, who were the steadfast opponents of his Dynasty, or over the country to the south of the First Cataract, is, at present, uncertain.

It is, however, unlikely that, whilst warfare was going on between the Princes of Herakleopolis and the Princes of Thebes, VOL. I. 529 M m