they had proudly displayed
their wealth, and erected them merely of brick, in which the decoration
was almost entirely confined to one narrow niche near the sarcophagus.
Soon the mastaba itself was given up, and the necropolis of the city was
reduced to the meagre proportions of a small provincial cemetery. The
centre of that government, which had weighed so long and so heavily upon
Egypt, was removed to the south, and fixed itself at Heracleopolis the
Great.

Volume II., Part .

_THE FIRST THEBAN EMPIRE_

_THE TWO HERACLEOPOLITAN DYNASTIES AND THE TWELFTH DYNASTY--THE CONQUEST
OF ETHIOPIA, AND THE MAKING OF GREATER EGYPT BY THE THEBAN KINGS._

_The principality of Heracleopolis: Achthoes-Khiti and the
Heracleopolitan dynasties--Supremacy of the great barons: the feudal
fortresses, El-Kab and Abydos; ceaseless warfare, the army--Origin of
the Theban principality: the principality of Sidt, and the struggles of
its lords against the princes of Thebes--The kings of the XIth dynasty
and their buildings: the brick pyramids of Abydos and Thebes, and the
rude character of early Theban art._

_The XIIth dynasty: Amenemdidit I., his accession, his wars; he shares
his throne with his son Usirtasen I., and the practice of a coregnancy
prevails among his immediate successors--The relations of Egypt
with Asia: the Amu in Egypt and the Egyptians among the Bedouin; the
Adventures of Sinuhit--The mining settlements in the Sinaitic peninsula:
Sarbut-el-Khddim and its chapel to Hathor._

_Egyptian policy in the Nile Valley--Nubia becomes part of Egypt: works
of the Pharaohs, the gold-mines and citadel of Kuban--Defensive
measures at the second cataract: the two fortresses and the Nilometer
of Semneh--The vile Kush and its inhabitants: the wars against Kush
and their consequences; the gold-mines--Expeditions to Puanit, and
navigation along the coasts of the Bed Sea: the Story of the Shipwrecked
Sailor._

_Public works and new buildings--The restoration of the temples of the
Delta: Tanis and the sphinxes of Amenemhait III., Bubastis, Heliopolis,
and the temple of Usirtasen I.--The increasing importance of Thebes
and Abydos--Heracleopolis and the Fayum: the monuments of Begig and of
Biahmil, the fields and water-system of the Fayum; preference shown by
the Pharaohs for this province--The royal pyramids of Dashdr, Lisht,
Ulahun, and Haiodra._

_The part played by the feudal lords under the XIIth dynasty--History of
the p