A family which, to judge from the fact that its members affected the name of Monthotpû, originally came from Hermonthis, settled in Thebes and made that town the capital of a small principality, which rapidly enlarged its borders at the expense of the neighbouring nomes. All the towns and cities of the plain, Mâdûfc, Hfûîfc, Zorît, Hermonthis, and towards the south, Aphroditopolis Parva, at the gorge of the Two Mountains (Gebelên) which formed the frontier of the fief of El-Kab, Kûsît towards the north, Denderah, and Hû, all fell into the hands of the Theban princes and enormously increased their territory. After the lapse of a very few years, their supremacy was accepted more or less willingly by the adjacent principalities of El-Kab, Elephantine, Koptos, Qasr-es-Sayad, Thinis, and Ekhmîm. Antûf, the founder of the family, claimed no other title than that of Lord of Thebes, and still submitted to the suzerainty of the Heracleopolitan kings. His successors considered themselves strong enough to cast off this allegiance, if not to usurp all the insignia of royalty, including the uraeus and the cartouche. Monthotpû I., Antûf II., and Antûf III. must have occupied a somewhat remarkable position among the great lords of the south, since their successors credited them with the possession of a unique preamble. It is true that the historians of a later date did not venture to place them on a par with the kings who were actually independent; they enclosed their names in the cartouche without giving them a prenomen; but, at the same time, they invested them with a title not met with elsewhere, that of the first Horus—Horû tapi. They exercised considerable power from the outset. It extended over Southern Egypt, over Nubia, and over the valleys lying between the Nile and the Red Sea.* The origin of the family was somewhat obscure, but in support of their ambitious projects, they did not fail to invoke the memory of pretended alliances between their ancestors and daughters of the solar race; they boasted of their descent from the Papis, from Usirnirî Anû, Sahûri, and Snofrûi, and claimed that the antiquity of their titles did away with the more recent rights of their rivals.
The revolt of the Theban princes put an end to the IXth dynasty, and, although supported by the feudal powers of Central and Northern Egypt, and more especially by the lords of the Terebinth nome, who viewed the sudden prosperity of the Thebans with a very evil eye, the Xth dynasty did not succeed in bringing them back to their allegiance.**
* In the “Hall of Ancestors” the title of “Horus” is
attributed to several Antûfs and Monthotpûs bearing the
cartouche. This was probably the compiler’s ingenious device
for marking the subordinate position of these personages as
compared with that of the Heracleopolitan Pharaohs, who
alone among their contemporaries had a right to be placed on
such official lists, even when those lists were compiled
under the great Theban dynasties. The place in the XIth
dynasty of princes bearing the title of “Horus” was first
determined by E. de Rougé.
** The history of the house of Thebes was restored at the
same time as that of the Heracleopolitan dynasties, by
Maspero, in the Revue Critique, 1889, vol. ii. p. 220. The
difficulty arising from the number of the Theban kings
according to Manetho, considered in connection with the
forty-three years which made the total duration of the
dynasty, has been solved by Barucchi, Discord critici
sojpra la Cronologia Egizia, pp. 131-134. These forty-three
years represent the length of time that the Theban dynasty
reigned alone, and which are ascribed to it in the Royal
Canon; but the number of its kings includes, besides the
recognized Pharaohs of the line, those princes who were
contemporary with the Heracleopolitan rulers and are
officially reckoned as forming the Xth dynasty.
The family which held the fief of Siût when the war broke out, had ruled there for three generations. Its first appearance on the scene of history coincided with the accession of Akhthoës, and its elevation was probably the reward of services rendered by its chief to the head of the Heracleopolitan family.*
* By ascribing to the princes of Siut an average reign equal
to that of the Pharaohs, and admitting with Lepsius that the
IXth dynasty consisted of four or five kings, the accession
of the first of these princes would practically coincide
with the reign of Akhthoës. The name of Khîti, borne by two
members of this little local dynasty, may have been given in
memory of the Pharaoh Khiti Miribrî; there was also a second
Khîti among the Heracleopolitan sovereigns, and one of the
Khîtis of Siut may have been his contemporary. The family
claimed a long descent, and said of itself that it was “an
ancient litter”; but the higher rank and power of “prince”
—hiqû—it owed to Khîti I. [Miribri?—Ed.] or some other
king of the Heracleo-politian line.
