Page:The Pharaohs and their people; scenes of old Egyptian life and history (IA pharaohstheirpeo00berkiala).pdf/17

 THE PHARAOHS AND THEIR PEOPLE.

CHAPTER I.

Reign of the gods—Osiris, Isis, and Horus Myth—Ancient cities and early kings.

The first royal name that meets us on the monuments of Egypt, which was inscribed there during the lifetime of the king who bore it, is that of Senefru (predecessor of Khufu who built the Great Pyramid), and belongs to a remote antiquity. And yet we must look back through the dimness of many more centuries still before we come to the name of Mena, first King of Egypt—a name that seems to twinkle faintly from beyond the abyss of long