ddle Egypt. The power of this family was
further augmented under Nakhiti II., son of Khnumhotpu II. and Khiti:
Nakhiti, prince of the nome of the Jackal in right of his mother, and
lord of that of the Gazelle after the death of his father, received
from Usirtasen II. the administration of fifteen southern nomes, from
Aphroditopolis to Thebes. This is all we know of his history, but it is
probable that his descendants retained the same power and position for
several generations. The career of these dignitaries depended greatly
on the Pharaohs with whom they were contemporary: they accompanied the
royal troops on their campaigns, and with the spoil which they collected
on such occasions they built temples or erected tombs for themselves.
The tombs of the princes of the nome of the Gazelle are disposed along
the right bank of the Nile, and the most ancient are exactly opposite
Minieh. It is at Zawyet el-Meiyetin and at Kom-el-Ahmar, nearly facing
Hibonu, their capital, that we find the burying-places of those who
lived under the VIth dynasty. The custom of taking the dead across the
Nile had existed for centuries, from the time when the Egyptians first
cut their tombs in the eastern range; it still continues to the present
day, and part of the population of Minieh are now buried, year after
year, in the places which their remote ancestors had chosen as the site
of their "eternal houses." The cemetery lies peacefully in the centre
of the sandy plain at the foot of the hills; a grove of palms, like
a curtain drawn along the river-side, partially conceals it; a Coptic
convent and a few Mahommedan hermits attract around them the tombs of
their respective followers, Christian or Mussulman. The rock-hewn tombs
of the XIIth dynasty succeed each other in one long irregular line
along the cliffs of Beni-Hasan, and the traveller on the Nile sees their
entrances continuously coming into sight and disappearing as he goes
up or descends the river. These tombs are entered by a square aperture,
varying in height and width according to the size of the chapel. Two
only, those of Amoni-Amenemhait and of Khnum-hotpu II., have a columned
facade, of which all the members--pillars, bases, entablatures--have
been cut in the solid rock: the polygonal shafts of the facade look like
a bad imitation of ancient Doric. Inclined planes or nights of steps,
like those at Elephantine, formerly led from the plain up to the
terrace. Only a few traces of these