y returned to their mountains. The Theban
princes kept them in check by repeated counter-raids, and renewed the
old treaties with them. The inhabitants of the Great Oasis in the west,
and the migratory peoples of the Land of the Gods, recognized the Theban
suzerainty on the traditional terms.

[Illustration: 314.jpg THE BRICK PYRAMID OF ANTUFAA, AT THEBES]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch by Prisse d'Avennes.
This pyramid is now completely destroyed.

As in the times of Uni, the barbarians made up the complement of the
army with soldiers who were more inured to hardships and more accustomed
to the use of arms than the ordinary fellahin; and several obscure
Pharaohs--such as Monthotpu I. and Antuf III.--owed their boasted
victories over Libyans and Asiatics* to the energy of their mercenaries.

* The cartouches of Antufaa, inscribed on the rocks of
Elephantine, are the record of a visit which this prince
paid to Syene, probably on his return from some raid; many
similar inscriptions of Pharaohs of the XIIth dynasty were
inscribed in analogous circumstances. Nubkhopirri Antuf
boasted of having worsted the Amu and the negroes. On one of
the rocks of the island of Konosso, Monthotpu Nibhotpuri
sculptured a scene of offerings in which the gods are
represented as granting him victory over all peoples. Among
the ruins of the temple which he built at Gebelen, is a
scene in which he is presenting files of prisoners from
different countries to the Theban gods.

But the kings of the XIth dynasty were careful not to wander too far
from the valley of the Nile. Egypt presented a sufficiently wide field
for their activity, and they exerted themselves to the utmost to remedy
the evils from which the country had suffered for hundreds of years.
They repaired the forts, restored or enlarged the temples, and evidences
of their building are found at Koptos, Gebelen, El-Kab, and Abydos.
Thebes itself has been too often overthrown since that time for any
traces of the work of the XIth dynasty kings in the temple of Amon to
be distinguishable; but her necropolis is still full of their "eternal
homes," stretching in lines across the plain, opposite Karnak, at
Drah abu'l-Neggah, and on the northern slopes of the valley of
Deir-el-Bahari. Some were excavated in the mountain-side, and presented
a square facade of dressed stone, surmounted by a pointed roof in the
sha