appear, that the barons again entered into favour and gradually gained the upper hand; we find them in increasing numbers about Anu, Menkauhoru, and Assi.  Did Unas, who was the last ruler of the dynasty of Elephantine, die without issue, or were his children prevented from succeeding him by force?  The Egyptian annals of the time of the Ramessides bring the direct line of Menes to an end with this king.  A new line of Memphite origin begins after him.

[Illustration:  253.jpg THE PHARAOH MENKAUHORU]

     Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Faucher-Gudin.  The
     original, which came from Mariette’s excavations at the
     Serapeum, is in the Louvre.

It is almost certain that the transmission of power was not accomplished without contention, and that there were many claimants to the crown.  One of the latter, Imhotpu, whose legitimacy was always disputed, has left hardly any traces of his accession to power,* but Ati established himself firmly on the throne for a year at least:** he pushed on actively the construction of his pyramid, and sent to the valley of Hammamat for the stone of his sarcophagus.

* The monuments furnish proof that their contemporaries considered these ephemeral rulers as so many illegitimate pretenders.  Phtahshopsisu and his son Sabu-Abibi, who exercised important functions at the court, mention only Unas and Teti III.; Uni, who took office under Teti III., mentions after this king only Papi I. and Mihtimsauf I. The official succession was, therefore, regulated at this epoch in the same way as we afterwards find it in the table of Saqqara, Unas, Teti III., Papi I., Mihtimsauf I., and in the Royal Canon of Turin, without the intercalation of any other king.

** Brugsch, in his Histoire d’Egypte, pp. 44, 45, had identified this king with the first Metesouphis of Manetho:  E. de Rouge prefers to transfer him to one of the two Memphite series after the VIth dynasty, and his opinion has been adopted by Wiedemann.  The position occupied by his inscription among those of Hamraamat has decided me in placing him at the end of the Vth or beginning of the VIth dynasty:  this E. Meyer has also done.

We know not whether revolution or sudden death put an end to his activity:  the “Mastabat-el-Faraun” of Saqqara, in which he hoped to rest, never exceeded the height which it has at present.* His name was, however, inscribed in certain official lists,** and a tradition of the Greek period maintained that he had been assassinated by his guards.*** Teti III. was the actual founder of the VIth dynasty,**** historians representing him as having been the immediate successor of Unas.