DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3236#0082
CHAP. III.—THE CEMETERY.
17
had the sense to let the natives collect it for
them, and left the native organization to follow
its own ways. A very curious evidence of this
being in after times believed to have been the
case, even when the Hyksos were as much
Egyptianized as possible, is given us in the cele-
brated fragment of the first Sallier Papyrus,
which at least shows us what was the tradition of
their rule. In that we find, that even for a royal
letter the Hyksos Apapi is said not to dictate his
own words, but to be completely in the hands of
his scribes, for " King Apapi sent to the Euler of
the South a notice, according as his scribes
knowing in affairs said." This view explains
the continuity so evident between the middle
kingdom and the rise of the empire; it exactly
agrees with the one or two fragments of informa-
tion that remain to us, and it accords with the
historic parallel of the later invasion from Asia.
Now to apply the facts we have noticed above :—
There is a series of viziers, men who acted for
the king over the treasury and taxes, and over
the royal decrees and public documents, bearing
the king's seal. These men lived after the twelfth,
and before the eighteenth dynasty. And, further,
they would seem to have acted for rulers who did
not care about the public monuments, and would
allow them to usurp them at their pleasure.
Here we have the exact description of a native
vizier of a Hyksos king. We have but fragments
and suggestions to lead us, but every item that
we can glean exactly falls into a consistent place
on this hypothesis, and would be hard to adjust
to any other. Leiblein has already pointed out
how the fourteenth dynasty, with its short reigns
averaging only two years and a half, represents
viceroys of the Hyksos; but may these not be
identical with the men who in the Hyksos country
were reckoned as viziers, while by tbeir own
countrymen in the upper country they were
counted as kings ? They may have even had a
different title, and acted as viziers in one part
of the country, and as semi-independent kings in
another part. Or the viziers may have been the
lower title which the chief of the native ad-
ministration had to adopt when the Hyksos
made themselves a king. This is a point on
which we must wait for more light.
But yet one further document may be quoted,
as giving and receiving light on this question:
the account of Joseph in the book of Genesis
undoubtedly refers to the Hyksos period, and
there we read, " Let Pharaoh look out a man
discreet and wise, and set him over the land of
Egypt,"—not, let Pharaoh give orders to his
own officers. " And Pharaoh said unto Joseph
. . . Thou shalt be over my house, and according
unto thy word shall all my people be ruled; only
in the throne will I be greater than thou. And
Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over
all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his
signet-ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's
hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and
put a gold chain about his neck; and he made him
to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they
cried before him, Abrech; and he set him over all
the land of Egypt.'' Here we read of tbe investiture
of a vizier under the Hyksos, creating him royal
seal-bearer, and giving him the honour of the
second chariot. This we now see was not an
extraordinary act of an autocrat, but the filling
up of a regular office of the head of the native
administration.
CHAPTER III.
THE CEMETEEY.
17. The cemetery of Tell Nebesheh covers a
large space of ground (see pi. xv.), but does not
seem to have been arranged on any regular plan,
or to have conformed to any lines of road across
it. The tombs are placed, as will be seen, at
almost all angles, though roughly to the cardinal
points in general. The earlier tombs, however,
seem to be inclined more to the east of north
than the later; Nos. 4, 3, 5, 7, 8, 27, 31 of the
Ramesside period are all considerably to the
east, only No. 21 is less so. The Cypriote tombs
are rather less inclined on the whole, Nos. 1, 17,
D
17
had the sense to let the natives collect it for
them, and left the native organization to follow
its own ways. A very curious evidence of this
being in after times believed to have been the
case, even when the Hyksos were as much
Egyptianized as possible, is given us in the cele-
brated fragment of the first Sallier Papyrus,
which at least shows us what was the tradition of
their rule. In that we find, that even for a royal
letter the Hyksos Apapi is said not to dictate his
own words, but to be completely in the hands of
his scribes, for " King Apapi sent to the Euler of
the South a notice, according as his scribes
knowing in affairs said." This view explains
the continuity so evident between the middle
kingdom and the rise of the empire; it exactly
agrees with the one or two fragments of informa-
tion that remain to us, and it accords with the
historic parallel of the later invasion from Asia.
Now to apply the facts we have noticed above :—
There is a series of viziers, men who acted for
the king over the treasury and taxes, and over
the royal decrees and public documents, bearing
the king's seal. These men lived after the twelfth,
and before the eighteenth dynasty. And, further,
they would seem to have acted for rulers who did
not care about the public monuments, and would
allow them to usurp them at their pleasure.
Here we have the exact description of a native
vizier of a Hyksos king. We have but fragments
and suggestions to lead us, but every item that
we can glean exactly falls into a consistent place
on this hypothesis, and would be hard to adjust
to any other. Leiblein has already pointed out
how the fourteenth dynasty, with its short reigns
averaging only two years and a half, represents
viceroys of the Hyksos; but may these not be
identical with the men who in the Hyksos country
were reckoned as viziers, while by tbeir own
countrymen in the upper country they were
counted as kings ? They may have even had a
different title, and acted as viziers in one part
of the country, and as semi-independent kings in
another part. Or the viziers may have been the
lower title which the chief of the native ad-
ministration had to adopt when the Hyksos
made themselves a king. This is a point on
which we must wait for more light.
But yet one further document may be quoted,
as giving and receiving light on this question:
the account of Joseph in the book of Genesis
undoubtedly refers to the Hyksos period, and
there we read, " Let Pharaoh look out a man
discreet and wise, and set him over the land of
Egypt,"—not, let Pharaoh give orders to his
own officers. " And Pharaoh said unto Joseph
. . . Thou shalt be over my house, and according
unto thy word shall all my people be ruled; only
in the throne will I be greater than thou. And
Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over
all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his
signet-ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's
hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and
put a gold chain about his neck; and he made him
to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they
cried before him, Abrech; and he set him over all
the land of Egypt.'' Here we read of tbe investiture
of a vizier under the Hyksos, creating him royal
seal-bearer, and giving him the honour of the
second chariot. This we now see was not an
extraordinary act of an autocrat, but the filling
up of a regular office of the head of the native
administration.
CHAPTER III.
THE CEMETEEY.
17. The cemetery of Tell Nebesheh covers a
large space of ground (see pi. xv.), but does not
seem to have been arranged on any regular plan,
or to have conformed to any lines of road across
it. The tombs are placed, as will be seen, at
almost all angles, though roughly to the cardinal
points in general. The earlier tombs, however,
seem to be inclined more to the east of north
than the later; Nos. 4, 3, 5, 7, 8, 27, 31 of the
Ramesside period are all considerably to the
east, only No. 21 is less so. The Cypriote tombs
are rather less inclined on the whole, Nos. 1, 17,
D