this reflects the fact that at the end of the 8th Dynasty, royal power had diminished so much that it owed its survival to puissant nomarchs, upon whom it could only bestow titles and honours. The nomarch of Coptos would have been particularly cherished by the Memphite rulers who were threatened by the nomarchs of Middle Egypt, especially those of Herakleopolis, who would soon overthrow them and found the 9th Dynasty. Coptos Dynasty The discovery of the decrees was initially considered by Kurt Sethe to support the hypothesis of the existence of a "Dynasty of Coptos", a local lineage of more or less independent rulers during the First Intermediate Period, to be identified with the issuers of the decrees subsequent to the 6th Dynasty. This hypothesis is nowadays considered implausible as was shown by Hayes and others, in particular it is highly unlikely that a king reigning from Coptos would appoint a vizier over the same area. Complete list The following complete list is based on William C. Hayes's 1946 publication "Royal decrees from the temple of Min at Coptus": References Literature William C. Hayes: The Scepter of Egypt: A Background for the Study of the Egyptian Antiquities in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1, From the Earliest Times to the End of the Middle Kingdom , MetPublications, 1978, pp. 136–138, available online Hans Goedicke, Koptosdekrete. In: Wolfgang Helck (ed.), Lexikon der Ägyptologie, Band III, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1980, , p. 740. Sixth Dynasty of Egypt Eighth Dynasty of Egypt Ancient Egyptian stelas Decrees