106
KINGS OF THE
[Part II.
of Abydos, the name belonging to the first of these
three Kings is almost wholly erased, but the last cha-
racter remains, and is the cerastes; and one of the few
Kings whose names end with the cerastes is shewn by
an inscription in one of the tombs near the Pyramids
of El-Geezeh to have been contemporary with a per-
sonage who lived during, or shortly after, the time of
Num-shufu; and in another inscription, in the tomb of
a personage who lived in the time of Shaf-ra, also near
the same Pyramids, the same King is mentioned with
Shaf-ra, Men-kau-ra, U-seser-kef, and a King whom I
believe to be Shura; the five names being placed side
by side*. It is therefore perfectly evident that the
name is that of a Thinite King who reigned soon after
the commencement of the Fourth and Fifth Dynasties;
and I can have no doubt of its being that of Manetho's
" Tlas." The reading of the hieroglyphic name is
doubtful: if " Tlas " be not a corruption, it may pos-
sibly read " Telea-ses-kef," as the first character, which
is a sitting figure or statue, is the only one which is
doubtful, and TGXGX is a Coptic word, signifying
"forma "and the like.—The account of the Fourth and
Fifth Dynasties, soon to be given, and the table of the
hieroglyphic names of Kings at the end of the volume,
will explain what I have here said of the Memphites
* See Plate IV., No. 4.
KINGS OF THE
[Part II.
of Abydos, the name belonging to the first of these
three Kings is almost wholly erased, but the last cha-
racter remains, and is the cerastes; and one of the few
Kings whose names end with the cerastes is shewn by
an inscription in one of the tombs near the Pyramids
of El-Geezeh to have been contemporary with a per-
sonage who lived during, or shortly after, the time of
Num-shufu; and in another inscription, in the tomb of
a personage who lived in the time of Shaf-ra, also near
the same Pyramids, the same King is mentioned with
Shaf-ra, Men-kau-ra, U-seser-kef, and a King whom I
believe to be Shura; the five names being placed side
by side*. It is therefore perfectly evident that the
name is that of a Thinite King who reigned soon after
the commencement of the Fourth and Fifth Dynasties;
and I can have no doubt of its being that of Manetho's
" Tlas." The reading of the hieroglyphic name is
doubtful: if " Tlas " be not a corruption, it may pos-
sibly read " Telea-ses-kef," as the first character, which
is a sitting figure or statue, is the only one which is
doubtful, and TGXGX is a Coptic word, signifying
"forma "and the like.—The account of the Fourth and
Fifth Dynasties, soon to be given, and the table of the
hieroglyphic names of Kings at the end of the volume,
will explain what I have here said of the Memphites
* See Plate IV., No. 4.