Benson, Margaret; Gourlay, Janet: The temple of Mut in Asher: an account of the excavation of the temple and of the religious representations and objects found therein, as illustrating the history of Egypt and the main religious ideas of the Egyptians (London, 1899)

134 THE TEMPLE OF MUT. [part iv.

A change in the mode of government had
gradually come about during the nth dynasty, and
its results were in fullest force during the 12th.
Whereas in the days of the Old Kingdom the
governing power was centralised, and the king
ruled from his capital directly over the whole
country or as much of it as he held, during the
Middle Empire, on the other hand, government was
carried on by a sort of feudal system. The country
was divided into nomes (or provinces), in each of
which its own prince held power, a power practically
royal and hereditary. But these princes were answer-
able to the king for their administration, and could
be in the last resort deposed by him. That this
royal prerogative, though not lightly used, was not in
name only, a long inscription from the temple of
Min at Koptos bears witness. This is an inscrip-
tion of Antef V., and is a record of the solemn
deposition of the prince of Koptos for the crime
of high treason, and the confirmation of another
ruler in his stead.

In a tomb at Beni Hasan the owner Khnum-
hotep tells in a long inscription of the founding of
his family as princes of the Oryx nome. His grand-
father—another Khnumhotep—had been established
in this province by Amenemhat; and in simple and
telling words he speaks of the unmistakable signs of
the order brought about by the wise king—how he
restored landmarks, settled disputed boundaries,
insisted on just dealing in the all-important matter