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62 The Dynasty of the Oppression

The fact that the 12th Dy nasty was a “mav er ick” dy nasty -- one that did not con form to the
royal blood line of the pha raohs -- was well known in the 18th Dy nasty. Ac cord ing to in for ma tion
pro vided by the fam ily ped i grees in sev eral tombs of the 18th Dy nasty, and by texts en graved or
painted on cer tain ob jects of a se pul chral na ture, the ANCESTOR of the royal fam ily of this dy -
nasty was wor shiped in the per son of the old Pha raoh MENTUHOTEP OF THE 11th DYNASTY,
the 57th king of the great Ta ble of Abydos. The royal fam ily of the 18th Dy nasty con sid ered the dy -
nasty of Amenemhet I. to be an ab er ra tion!

Ac cord ing to Henry Brugsch: “The trans mis sion of the PURE BLOOD of Mentuhotep to
the king Amosis (Aahmes) of the EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY was made by the he red i tary prin cess
Aahmes-Nofertari (‘the beau ti ful con sort of Aahmes’), who mar ried the said king, and whose is sue
was re garded as the LEGITIMATE RACE of the Pha raohs of the house of Mentuhotep.” ( A His -
tory of Egypt Un der the Pha raohs. Sec ond edi tion. John Murray, Lon don. 1881. P.314).

Thus, with the as cen sion of Amenemhet I. of the 12th Dy nasty, the crown had “NOW
COME INTO ANOTHER FAMILY.”

The Taming of the Nile!

Josephus’ de scrip tion of the type of la bor the Is ra el ites were forced to en dure un der the new
pha raoh is REMARKABLY SIMILAR to the ob ser va tions of DIODORUS SICULUS, the
first-cen tury B.C. Greek his to rian:

Moeris...dug a lake of re mark able use ful ness, though at a cost of INCREDIBLE TOIL. Its
cir cum fer ence, they say, is 3,600 stades, its depth at most points fifty fath oms. Who, then,
on es ti mat ing the great ness of the con struc tion, would not rea son ably ask HOW MANY
TENS OF THOUSANDS OF MEN MUST HAVE BEEN EMPLOYED [?], AND HOW
MANY YEARS THEY TOOK TO FINISH THEIR WORK? No one can ad e quately com -
mend the king’s de sign, which brings such use ful ness and ad van tage to all the dwell ers in
Egypt.

Since the Nile kept NO DEFINITE BOUNDS in its ris ing, and the fruit ful ness of the coun -
try de pended upon the river’s reg u lar ity, THE KING DUG THE LAKE TO
ACCOMMODATE THE SUPERFLUOUS WATER, SO THAT THE RIVER SHOULD
NEITHER, WITH ITS STRONG CURRENT, FLOOD THE LAND UNSEASONABLY
AND FORM SWAMPS AND FENS, nor, by ris ing less than was ad van ta geous, dam age
the crops by lack of wa ter. BETWEEN THE RIVER AND THE LAKE HE CON-
STRUCTED A CANAL 80 STADES IN LENGTH AND 300 FEET IN BREADTH.
Through this ca nal, at times he ad mit ted the wa ter of the river, at other times he ex cluded it,
thus pro vid ing the farm ers with wa ter at fit ting times by open ing the in let and again clos ing
it sci en tif i cally and at great ex pense. — The Pyr a mids of Egypt, by I.E.S. Ed wards. Vi king
Press, Lon don. 1986. Pps. 234-235.

These en gi neer ing mar vels are noted by au thor J.P. Lepre: “Amenemhat III is also cred ited
with the mighty en gi neer ing feat of con struct ing the ir ri ga tion ca nal now known as the Bahr Yusif,
and of us ing this ca nal to REGULATE THE FLOW OF WATER FROM THE NILE to Lake

The Berean Voice