Buried Cities and Bible Countries

by George St. Clair

The coffins and mummies included the following:—

Raskenen, king of Upper Egypt, a descendant of the old Theban royal race, but at this time tributary to the Hyksos or Shepherd kings. According to the Sallier papyrus in the British Museum, he quarrelled with the Hyksos monarch Apopi, in reference to the cession of an important well. This brought about the overthrow and expulsion of the Hyksos, who had ruled the country for five centuries. According to the same authority, Joseph arrived in Egypt during the reign of the Pharaoh Nub (B.C. 1730), and rose to honour under Apopi.

Aahmes I., founder of the eighteenth dynasty.

Amenhotep I. (Amenophis), coffin and mummy.

Thothmes I.—The coffin was occupied by the mummy of a priest-king, Pinotem, of the twenty-first dynasty. The mummy of Thothmes was not found.

The first known representation of a horse occurs on a monument of this reign; and it is supposed that the horse was introduced into Egypt from Asia about this time.

Thothmes II.—The coffin and mummy were both found. Thothmes II. reigned but a short time.

Thothmes III., one of the most famous of Egyptian kings. He continued his predecessors’ offensive movements against the Hyksos and their allies, and extended his conquests as far as the Tigris. In his reign Egypt was at the pinnacle of its greatness. The walls of his magnificent temple at Karnak are covered with inscriptions recounting his triumphs, and giving a list of the countries and peoples conquered by him. A stela of black granite found at Karnac, and now in the Egyptian National Museum, contains a poem in celebration of the victories of this king. The coffin and mummy found were broken.

Hatshepsu, the great woman-king, sister and wife of Thothmes II. Becoming regent for her younger brother, Thothmes III., she assumed a king’s dress and masculine style. Neither the coffin nor the mummy were found. But it was the practice of the Egyptians in embalming to take out the intestines and preserve them separately; and the liver of Hatshepsu was discovered enclosed in a cabinet of wood, inlaid with ivory, which was marked with her name.