the kings of the XIIth Dynasty lived, and they were buried in the necropoles of Dashur, Lisht, and Illahun (Hawara), in pyramids like those of the old Memphite kings.  These facts, of the situation of Itht-taui, of their burial in the southern an ex of the old necropolis of Memphis, and of the fori of their tombs (the true Upper Egyptian and Thebian form was a rock-cut gallery and chamber driven deep into the hill), show how solicitous were the Amenemhats and Senusrets of the suffrages of Lower Egypt, how anxious they were to conciliate the ancient royal pride of Memphis.

Where the kings of the XIIIth Dynasty and the Hyksos or “Shepherds” were buried, we do not know.  The kings of the restored Theban empire were all interred at Thebes.  There are, in fact, no known royal sepulchres between the Fayyum and Abydos.  The great kings were mostly buried in the neighbourhood of Memphis, Abydos, and Thebes.  The sepulchres of the “Middle Empire”—­the XIth to XIIIth Dynasties—­in the neighbourhood of the Fayyum may fairly be grouped with those of the same period at Dashur, which belongs to the necropolis of Memphis, since it is only a mile or two south of Sakkara.

It is chiefly with regard to the sepulchres of the kings that the most momentous discoveries of recent years have been made at Thebes, and at Sakkara, Abusir, Dashur, and Lisht, as at Abydos.  For this reason we deal in succession with the finds in the necropoles of Abydos, Memphis, and Thebes respectively.  And with the sepulchres of the “Old Kingdom,” in the Memphite necropolis proper, we have naturally grouped those of the “Middle Kingdom” at Dashur, Lisht, Illahun, and Hawara.

Some of these modern discoveries have been commented on and illustrated by Prof.  Maspero in his great history.  But the discoveries that have been made since this publication have been very important,—­those at Abusir, indeed, of first-rate importance, though not so momentous as those of the tombs of the Ist and IId Dynasties at Abydos, already described.  At Abu Roash and at Giza, at the northern end of the Memphite necropolis, several expeditions have had considerable success, notably those of the American Dr. Reisner, assisted by Mr. Mace, who excavated the royal tombs at Umm el-Ga’ab for Prof.  Petrie, those of the German Drs. Steindorff and Borchardt,—­the latter working for the Beutsch-Orient Gesellschaft,—­and those of other American excavators.  Until the full publication of the results of these excavations appears, very little can be said about them.  Many mastaba-tombs have, it is understood, been found, with interesting remains.  Nothing of great historical importance seems to have been discovered, however.  It is otherwise when we come to the discoveries of Messrs. Borchardt and Schafer at Abusir, south of Giza and north of Sakkara.  At this place results of first-rate historical importance have been attained.