Page:The Pharaohs and their people; scenes of old Egyptian life and history (IA pharaohstheirpeo00berkiala).pdf/116

 gift in gold. He concludes his story thus:—'Now I have passed many days, and reached a grey old age. I too shall pass away to Amenti, and I shall rest in the tomb which I have prepared for myself.' And there may still be seen a portrait of the old sailor and of his wife. He is a 'bluff, resolute-looking man, not handsome; a short snub nose, and low solid brow—a short beard curling upwards from his chin.'

The three monarchs under whom this distinguished officer served in succession, Aahmes, Amenhotep, and Thothmes , were the first three kings of the eighteenth dynasty. Aahmes inherited the throne by right of his mother's descent from Mena, but he strengthened his position further by himself marrying a princess of the royal line, Nefertari, who was greatly revered by succeeding generations, both as heiress in her own right, and as mother and ancestress of an illustrious dynasty.

The first twenty-two years of the reign of Aahmes were passed in unremitting warfare. After the capture of Sherohan, he followed his