DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9059#0047
42 the monuments of uppeb egypt.
the sixth dynasties. Before and after that, all is
confusion, or rather darkness. This is the age of
the Pyramids. It is a remarkable fact that the
art of the statuary and of the sculptor reached
a degree of perfection under the Ancient Empire
which it was never again to attain.
2. The second extends over those centuries
that elapsed between the eleventh dynasty and
the eighteenth. This is the Middle Empire.
The Middle Empire has already been some time
in existence when Abraham appears. Joseph
is governor under the last king of the Middle
Empire. Of the whole of this period, however,
the twelfth dynasty and the Shepherd kings
alone need be remembered. The twelfth dynasty
is made famous by the tombs of Beni-Hassan.
As to the Shepherds, or Hyksos, they give their
name to the most lamentable period in Egyptian
history, a period of 511 years, during which the
national homogeneity is utterly broken, and
Asiatic invaders lord it over the most flourish-
ing provinces in the kingdom.*
* The prevailing theory now is, that Joseph was made
governor of Egypt under Apophi of the XVIth dynasty,
which had its capital at Tanis (the biblical Zoan), and
was contemporaneous with the XVIIth, which reigned at
Thebes. See Brugsch's " Egypt under the Pharoahs,"
second edition, vol. i., p. 300, seq. — [Ed.]
the sixth dynasties. Before and after that, all is
confusion, or rather darkness. This is the age of
the Pyramids. It is a remarkable fact that the
art of the statuary and of the sculptor reached
a degree of perfection under the Ancient Empire
which it was never again to attain.
2. The second extends over those centuries
that elapsed between the eleventh dynasty and
the eighteenth. This is the Middle Empire.
The Middle Empire has already been some time
in existence when Abraham appears. Joseph
is governor under the last king of the Middle
Empire. Of the whole of this period, however,
the twelfth dynasty and the Shepherd kings
alone need be remembered. The twelfth dynasty
is made famous by the tombs of Beni-Hassan.
As to the Shepherds, or Hyksos, they give their
name to the most lamentable period in Egyptian
history, a period of 511 years, during which the
national homogeneity is utterly broken, and
Asiatic invaders lord it over the most flourish-
ing provinces in the kingdom.*
* The prevailing theory now is, that Joseph was made
governor of Egypt under Apophi of the XVIth dynasty,
which had its capital at Tanis (the biblical Zoan), and
was contemporaneous with the XVIIth, which reigned at
Thebes. See Brugsch's " Egypt under the Pharoahs,"
second edition, vol. i., p. 300, seq. — [Ed.]