altogether silent. Most of these autobiographies are
found cut upon the walls of tombs, and, though according to modern
notions their writers may seem to have been very conceited, and their
language exaggerated and bombastic, the inscriptions bear throughout the
impress of truth, and the facts recorded in them have therefore especial
value. The narratives are usually simple and clear, and as long as they
deal with matters of fact they are easily understood, but when the
writers describe their own personal characters and their moral
excellences their meaning is sometimes not plain. Such autobiographies
are sometimes very useful in settling the chronology of a doubtful
period of history, and as an example of such may be quoted the
autobiography of Ptah-shepses, preserved in the British Museum. This
distinguished man was born in the reign of Menkaura, the builder of the
Third Pyramid at Gizah, and he was educated with the king's children,
being a great favourite of the king himself. The next king, Shepseskaf,
gave him to wife Maatkha, his eldest daughter, in order to keep him
about the Court. Under the succeeding kings Userkaf and Sahura he was
advanced to great honour, and he became so great a favourite of the
next king, Neferari-kara, that he was allowed to kiss the king's foot
instead of the ground on which it rested when he did homage. He was
promoted to further honours by the next king, Neferefra, and he lived to
see Userenra ascend the throne. Thus Ptah-shepses lived under eight
kings, and his inscription makes it possible to arrange their reigns in
correct chronological order.

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF UNA

This inscription was found cut in hieroglyphs upon a slab of limestone
fixed in Una's tomb at Abydos; it is now in the Egyptian Museum in
Cairo. It reads:

The Duke, the Governor of the South, the judge belonging to Nekhen,
prince of Nekheb, the _smer uat_ vassal of Osiris Khenti Amenti, Una,
saith: "I was a child girded with a girdle under the Majesty of King
Teta. My rank was that of overseer of tillage (?), and I was deputy
inspector of the estates of Pharaoh.... I was chief of the _teb_ chamber
under the Majesty of Pepi. His Majesty gave me the rank of _smer_ and
deputy priest of his pyramid--town. Whilst I held the rank of ... His
Majesty made me a 'judge belonging to Nekhen.' His heart was more
satisfied with me than with any other of his servants. Alone I heard
every kind of private