 Chapter No. 5 of THE HISTORY OF EGYPT. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Linda Marie Nielsen, Vancouver, B.C. THE HISTORY OF EGYPT by F. C. H. Wendell. From the expulsions of the Hykos to the close of the 18th Dynasty. With this dynasty begins the period commonly known as the New Empire, which embraces the 18th, 19th, and 20th Dynasties. The dynasty is memorable in several respects. In the first place, the first great campaigns against Asia were undertaken in this time, and Egypt was thus made a conquering power. And, in the second place, a great religious reform, which is of special interest to us moderns, was attempted by one of the rulers of this line. 1. Ahemmes I. How long the war between the kings of Tebs and the Hykos lasted, we cannot tell. But it is safe to assume that it began late in the 17th or early in the 16th century B.C. An inscription on a tomb of Ahemmes, one of King Ahemmes' admirals, gave us an account of the closing scenes of the great struggle. It would seem that the predecessors of Ahemmes had driven the Hykos into the delta, and that they had thrown themselves into the city of Hattur. Avaris, in the northeastern part of the delta, which they strongly fortified. After several battles had been fought on land and water in the neighborhood of the city, the feral laid siege to it, and after a protracted resistance, the town finally fell into his hands. Thus, about 1530 B.C., Egypt was finally cleared of the foreign invaders that had held the land in subjugation for centuries. The fleeing Hykos had gone to Asia, pursued by the pharaoh. Crossing the boundary, he proceeded against the town of Skarkan, which is mentioned in Joshua 19.6, as belonging to the territory allotted to the tribe of Simon, and captured it in the fifth year of his reign. He then invaded Phoencia, and gained several victories. These successes secured the Egyptian frontier from inroads of the Asiatics for a number of years. This was not, however, the only result of this successful war. Ahami's Asiatic campaign had shown the Egyptians the way into Asia, and many of his successors gained their laurels in this country. The wars had also trained generals and armies, and Ahami's successors saw to it that neither deteriorated. A new spirit had come over the once-peaceful people, and army after army sat out on war-like expeditions. Amon and Mentu, the great gods of Tebys, became war-gods in whose names the kings fought their wars, and into the temples of Amon poured the lion's share of the booty one in war and the tribute rung from conquered nations. The entire character of the wars, too, was changed by the introduction of the horse from Asia. The home of the horse was most probably the Terranian steppe. It was introduced into Egypt by the Haikos. Horses were not used in this time as beasts a burden, but only in war and on the chase. They were not used for riding, but only to draw the two-wheeled chariots. These chariots were imported into Egypt from Syria, where chariot-building was a flourishing industry. The very word for chariot, murkabat, is of somatic origin. The new arm entirely changed the character and dimensions of battles. Moreover, chariots and horses were expensive, and the charioteer required special training. These two circumstances favored the formation of standing armies, and increased the advantage the greater states had over their smaller neighbors. These facts will account for the successes the Egyptians won over the Syrian states in the ensuing countries. Ahames had scarcely finished his Asiatic campaign when he was compelled to take the field against the Chentnifer, a mountain tribe of Ethiopia. In a great battle this tribe was utterly routed, and the king, glad of his easy victory, was already returning home when the news reached him that the Ethiopians had again invaded the country, and were even desecrating the temples of the gods. Rapidly returning, he fought the battle of Tentata in northern Ethiopia, again completely routing the enemy, not dismayed by these repeated defeats. The Ethiopians a third time returned to the attack under a leader named Tentata N, but a third time they were defeated, and this time was such frightful loss that they did not again venture to attack their successful opponents. In these wars the above mentioned Admiral Ahames, who had begun his career as adjunct of this king, but had rapidly earned promotion, greatly distinguished himself, and received the gold for bravery several times. The gold for bravery was a reward paid to the distinguished soldiers and civilians out of the public treasury, and consisted of magnificent gifts of gold in the shape of discs, bees, lions, etc. Ahames received these gifts on seven different occasions. There are indications in the inscription of Ahames that the Pharaoh had to put down a rebellion in the south. This rebellion probably stood in some connection with the Ethiopian wars, but we know none of the details. In fact, we never hear much of the civil wars of Egypt, of which there were no doubt many. They always alluded to in general terms, and the details are never entered into. Having now secured Egypt against foreign invasion, and having quelled probably dangerous rebellion, Ahames was free to devote the remainder of his reign to internal improvements. He ruled over twenty-two years. How much of this time was taken up by his wars we do not know. At all events he had abundant time to strengthen his reign, and to make Thebes his capital, the greatest city in the land. It was no easy task that was set this Pharaoh everywhere the temples had suffered from neglect, and during the late wars from the depredations of the Hyksos in the north and the Ethiopians in the south, Ahames was however equal to the task. He immediately set to work and began the restoration and rebuilding of all the temples in the land. His own city of Thebes was the special object of his care. The city had been the capital of the land for several centuries, and already the kings of the twelfth dynasty, five hundred years and more before Ahmi's time, had laid the first foundations of its future greatness. They had laid two, the first foundations of the great national temple of Egypt, the temple of Ammon at Karnak. This temple was enlarged by our king. The city steadily grew from this time on, and in the course of a few decades became the greatest city of the land, and consequently of the then known world. The story of the rise, decline, and fall of TVs is an integral part of Egyptian history. When Ahmi's died, after a reign of over twenty-two years, he was buried in the Thibian Necropolis on the west bank of the Nile opposite the city at Draubelnega. His mummy, encased in a wooden casket, was recently discovered at Del Ibrahim, together with a large number of other royal mummies. Two. Amenhotep. The first. Amenophis. Ahmi's was succeeded by his son, Amenhotep. The first. The early part of whose reign was shared with his mother, Ahmi's nefari Ari. The queen was, after her death, worshipped as a divinity, and honor accorded all kings, but very few kings. Early in this reign, the Ethiopians again became troublesome, and the pharaoh marched against them. He crossed the frontier, and in the battle that ensued, captured the opposing general with his own hand. The victory won, the Egyptian army overran the country, and it would seem that some detachments even advance as far as Marot, the Ethiopian capital. The southern campaign was brought to an abrupt close by the news of trouble on the northern frontier. In a remarkably short time the king arrived at the seat of war. Libya and defeated the enemy. This king, like his father, was frequently compelled to invade Asia, but on the whole this reign was more peaceable than the preceding one. Amenhotep was a great builder, and continued the work of improvement and restoration begun by his father. He died after a reign of twenty-two years. His mummy was found at Deir E. Bahari. Three. Thutmosis, the first. The son of Amenhotep, the first, was a very young man when he ascended the throne, and the conquered nations sought to take advantage of this fact to regain their independence. Immediately after his ascension, the Ethiopians began war. The pharaoh crossed the frontier, and after defeating the enemy in a decisive battle, overran and plundered the country, drove off the cattle, and carried large numbers of the inhabitants into slavery. This was the usual way of conducting an Ethiopian campaign. It was, as a rule, no more than a raid, made to punish the Ethiopians for a similar raid on Egyptian territory. Thutmosis varied the usual program by hanging the body of the Ethiopian leader by the heels to the stern of the royal ship. Thutmosis now instituted a new Ethiopian policy. The configuration of the land was much the same as that of Egypt, and it was not over-difficult to introduce the Egyptian system of government in the land. Accordingly, he divided Ethiopia into a number of districts, over which he placed governors, while over the entire region he set a governor-general with the title of Prince of Kash. What the duties of this official were is not clear. In all probability he was a sort of visceroi invested with civil and military power and responsible to the king alone. This official held a high position at the court, and was, in later times, not unfrequently a royal prince. Colonists were sent out. Temples built and forts erected and garrisoned. The chief of these forts were Hik, Sema, and Aqwan, Khuma, which had been built by the great conqueror of Ethiopia, Ersetting the Third. They were no doubt greatly strengthened by Thutmosis. Ethiopia was then secured and even made a province of Egypt, but the mountain tribes continued to be troublesome all through Egyptian history. Early in this reign, too, a rebellion broke out in the district of the city of Buto in the Delta, and so serious did it become that the Pharaoh was compelled to proceed against it in person. He succeeded in calling the outbreak, and at once marched against Asia. Crossing the Arabian desert and Palestine, he entered the land of Rutanoo, Syria. Here an army had been drawn up to check his advance, but he defeated it with frightful slaughter and took large numbers of prisoners. He then advanced to the Ephrates River, on the banks of which he set up, to Steli, to commemorate his victories and mark the boundaries of his realm. Hereupon, the Egyptian army retired, and herein lay the radical fault of the Egyptian foreign policy. This fault cost them dear, for they were compelled to send army after army into Asia. In fact, the Asiatic campaigns were mostly plundering expeditions on a large scale. The Egyptians defeated the native army in a decisive battle, overran and plundered the country, carried off a large number of prisoners, imposed a tribute, and retired. No attempts at colonization were made, and no garrisons were left in the conquered lands. They were left entirely to themselves, provided only they paid their tributes regularly. Only in the larger states were the kings compelled to give up their children and other relatives as hostages. The Egyptians binding themselves in case a king died, to send home his successor. The great danger to Egypt lay in the fact that while it took the Egyptian armies months and often years to subdue the Asiatics, the subdued land might all be lost and the combined forces of the enemy be at the frontier in a few weeks, and then it would again take months and often years to regain the lost ground. Though Tatmosis was a great warrior, he found ample time to devote to internal improvements. His wars had furnished large numbers of slaves that were put to work building temples in all parts of Egypt. Tebis was, of course, specially favored. After a short reign of only nine years, he died, leaving three children. Two, Tatmosis II and Madkarud by the queen, and one, Tatmosis III by a concubine. His daughter, Madkarud, who seemed to have been his special favorite, he had proclaimed co-regent shortly before his death. Four, Tatmosis II. Tatmosis II succeeded to a mighty empire, but he seems to have been a weak character, entirely controlled by his strong-minded and utterly unscrupulous sister and wife Makara, the co-regent. His reign was very short and uneventful, and there is abundant ground for the suspicion that his sister had caused his untimely death. As usual he fought with the mountain tribes of Nubia and the nomads of Syria, but he accomplished nothing that could give him any claim to fame. The balmy of this ruler, it was also found at Der Il Bahi. Number 5. Makara. Hatchus Best. This great queen, who was sometimes called Kinemi Amon, is renowned not for any great wars, but for a commercial expedition she sent to the shores of Pawent. A name applied by the Egyptians to the shores of the southern portion of the Red Sea, i.e. to southern Arabia and the Somali coast. A fleet of five great ships was fitted out and sent to the shores of southern Arabia. The ruler of the country, Parahue, received the Egyptians, who were no unknown guests on these shores. With genuine hospitality, the expedition was a complete success. The ships returned home leaden with the products of these shores, consisting of incense plants, which the queen attempted to transplant to Egypt. Balsams, cosmetics, ebony, ivory, gold, leopard skins, and all sorts of animals, example baboons, greyhounds, and giraffes. The entire undertaking bore a mercantile aspect, and while Makara speaks of the goods brought back as a tribute of the land of Pawent, she evidently stretches a point. Parahue certainly did not look upon the matter in this light, and no doubt considered the transaction a commercial success. How often these expeditions were repeated we do not know, but it would seem that the connections with Pawent were maintained for some time, as the annals of Teutomosis III frequently mention the tribute of the land of Pawent. Makara was not the first Egyptian monarch to enter into relations with this country. We have already seen that Siakara, the last king of the 11th dynasty, and two kings of the 12th dynasty, had already maintained connections with Pawent. The expedition was, however, of great importance and must have greatly stimulated the trade between the two countries, as no doubt the Egyptian merchants followed in the footsteps of their queen. So important did Makara justly deem the expedition that she had it represented on the walls of her beautiful funeral temple at Der El-Bahi on the west bank of the Nile. This temple is one of the most remarkable of all in Egypt. It lies directly opposite the great temple of Karnak, with which it was connected by a broad avenue flanked with sphinxes. The temple is built on four terraces between the third and fourth of which there is a beautiful flight of stairs. On the first terrace was the courtyard ornamented with columns that have almost entirely disappeared. The third terrace is by far the finest, bearing a beautiful hip hostel. The rear wall of which is the limestone rock against which the temple is built. On this wall is represented the expedition that has made this reign memorable. The pictures are executed with the most scrupulous care. Even the fishes of the Red Sea being carefully drawn and easily identified, they must be reckoned among the finest specimens of the art of this period. How long this queen ruled in conjunction with Tutimosis II, we do not know. Nor can we say how long she ruled alone. It would even seem from the monuments that she never was the sole ruler. Tutimosis II having, shortly before his death, appointed his half-brother Tutimonus III co-regent. The queen was proud and overbearing and seems to have felt sorry she was a woman. She frequently had herself represented on the monuments in all the full official dress of the king even down to the false beard, and no doubt she frequently wore this garb on state occasions. Her half-brother she hated very cordially, showing her hatred in no pleasant manner, and he cordially reciprocated her sentiments. It is very probable that she died of violent death, and that Tutimosis III had a share in her murder. 6. Menchepur Ra, Tutimosis 1480-1427 B.C. In the 22nd year of his official reign, Tutimosis III, the greatest of all the great conquerors Egypt has produced, became, through the death of his half-sister, sole ruler of Egypt. One of the first acts of his independent reign was to obliterate from all public monuments as far as possible the name of his half-sister. This was a revenge on an obnoxious predecessor, which was quite popular with the pharaoh, and one that the great queen herself had visited on her brother and husband, Tutimosis II. As soon as Tutimosis had ridden himself of his sisterly co-regent, he began a long series of brilliant campaigns in Asia. On this continent the conquered nations had quietly paid tribute during the two preceding reigns, and barring some minor disturbances had all remained quiet, but now they made a new attempt to throw off the galling yoke of Egypt. The pharaoh acted promptly, crossing the Arabian desert he entered Gaza, which city had remained loyal to him. From here he advanced slowly northward against the Syrian Confederation. All of the princes of Palestine and Syria were combined against him, and had taken a strong and well-chosen position in front of the strongly fortified city of Megadu. Here Tutimosis attacked them, and despite the fact that they had decided advantage in position, utterly routed their forces. Part of the defeated army escaped into Megadu. Part took to the hills behind the town. The pharaoh now invested the city, which surrendered after a brief resistance. After the surrender the enemy came down from the hills and made a spirited attack on the Egyptians, but they were repulsed with serious loss. These victories regained for Tutimosis all of Palestine and Syria. The rulers of the various states brought tribute and delivered up thirty-eight of their relatives and eighty-seven of their children as hostages. Under the usual stipulation that on the death of a king, his successor should be allowed to return home. The war gave Tutimosis a vast amount of booty and seventeen hundred and ninety-six prisoners. Even the distant king of Assyria, a country that was just beginning to assert itself in Mesopotamia, began to fear for his possessions and for two years sent tribute. In the following year, the twenty-third, one of the Syrian princes sent the pharaoh his daughter as a present. After the first campaign, fourteen others were undertaken. In the time between the twenty-fifth and twenty-eighth years of the reign, several minor expeditions entered Syria. The twenty-ninth year was marked by another coalition of Syrian princes, and the pharaoh immediately set out to quell the new rebellion. The king of Tunip, a state in northern Syria, stood at the head of the new confederation, and in his country the decisive battle was fought. As usual the enemy was defeated. The city of Tunip was besieged, taken and plundered, and the country overrun. After their defeat, all of the rebels again returned to their allegiance, paid tribute, and gave hostages. On his way home, the king surprised and captured the city of Aradis, which he sacked. Meanwhile, a division of the army under M. M. Hib had addressed to the city of Karmis, which was captured and plundered, and returning had joined the king at Tyre. In the thirtieth year, new disturbances seemed to have occurred, for the pharaoh again entered Palestine. This time the point of attack was the Chita capital, Qadesh, on the Orientes river. This town met with the usual fate. Aradis was again taken and sacked, and Tyre suffered the same fate after a short siege. The following two years were devoted to a great campaign in Palestine. Aradis of An-Ritu, on Lake Nazaran'a, was taken and sacked after a short siege, and the entire country was overrun, as was also part of Syria. In the thirty-third year of his reign, Tutimosis again invaded Syria, and this time advanced to the Euphrates river. Sailing down the stream, the pharaoh proceeded against the king of Nekkaran, Mesopotamia, who had massed his forces near his capital, Ni. These forces were defeated, and Ni was taken and sacked. Sailing still farther down the river, Tutimosis took a number of forts. He then returned to Ni and instituted a great elephant hunt, on which occasion a hundred and twenty of those noble animals were killed. In the following year another rebellion broke out in Syria, where three cities lying in the district of Anna-Ukasa had formed a coalition. Again the pharaoh invaded the country, punished the rebels, and returned home with a long string of captives and laden with booty. In this same year one of the Ethiopian princes sent the king, his daughter, as a present. In the following six years only two campaigns of importance were undertaken. The first of these was against the Syrian fortress of Arena. In the thirty-fifth year the second was against the fortress of Anna-Ukasa. In the same country which city had given trouble before, three years later. In the forty-first year of his reign the king set out on his last Asiatic campaign. Marching along the sea coast he first took the fortress of Arantu and then entering Palestine captured several cities. Entering Syria he next took the town of Teneb and hereupon marched against Qadesh which seems to have been the sole of the new coalition. He defeated the Czech army before the city which he then laid siege to. A Mesopotamian army which made an attempt to raise the siege was utterly routed and left six hundred and ninety-one prisoners in the hands of the victor. Qadesh was now stormed and sacked. This ended all opposition to Egyptian rule in Asia. The backbone of the country was broken. Tutimosis has left us long lists of names of captured cities and conquered nations contained hundreds of names. But only very few of these can be identified with names of cities occurring elsewhere and we are utterly in the dark as regards the situation of most of these cities and countries. The extent of these conquests has been greatly exaggerated. On the whole the Ammanus mountains and the Euphrates river seem to have been the boundaries of the conquered region. Although the king certainly did cross the Euphrates twice and did defeat the armies of Mesopotamia and take Mesopotamian cities he did not succeed in holding these conquests. That he reached the city of Nineveh is very doubtful. Ni may be the Egyptian name for Nineveh but in all probability it is the name of a city lying much farther up the river on the other side from the country of the Shella. Its king seems to have been allied with the Syrian countries with which Tutimosis was at war. It is noteworthy that the king in the 33rd year of his reign set up two stele on the banks of the Euphrates near Ni by the side of those he set up his father Tutimosis I. The coast of Phoencia was under Egyptian control. Aratus, Samaria, Jopa and Tyre submitted only after a siege. The other cities seemed to have yielded without a struggle. It was obviously to their advantage to stand under Egyptian rule. For Egyptian rule meant Egyptian protection and the Wiley Phoenician merchants soon found that they could reap greater commercial advantages from their connection with Egypt. The Phoenician colonies in Cyprus, example Asabi, also submitted voluntarily and paid tribute though standing in no danger of evasion from Egypt. This ready submission secured for them great advantages the protection of Egypt and unbroken connection with the motherland. As Egypt did not interfere in their internal affairs, the Phoenician cities of the mainland and of Cyprus cheerfully paid tribute. The material prosperity of Egypt was greatly augmented by the successes of this king and all the tombs, even those of the humbler citizens, gave evidence of this fact. Generals and soldiers enriched themselves in these Asiatic campaigns as well as the Pharaoh, the lion's share of the booty and tribute, however, went to Ammon, the great god of Thebes. In the name of Ammon, Tudum Monus had undertaken his campaigns and with the aid of the god he had won his victories, and in gratitude to him the king erected the mighty buildings at Karnak on the walls of which he proclaimed these victories, but the other gods were not forgotten. In all parts of Egypt the king built, restored, or completed temples of special importance was the temple of Semah, which was dedicated to the defied king Ertsin III, the conqueror of Ethiopia. In the fifty-fourth year of his reign the mighty ruler died and was succeeded by his son. The mummy of this king was found in a shaft at Del Elbadi. The monarch was a small man, the mummy is only five foot two inches long, but with a determined cast of features somewhat resembling that of Napoleon I. 7. Amenhotep II. Amenophis. 1427-1422 B.C. One day after the death of his father, Amenhotep II extended the throne. Already as crown prince he had shown his ability in subjugating the nomadic tribes that dwelt in the mountains between Nile and the Red Sea, and compelling them to pay tribute immediately after his coronation the new pharaoh invaded Asia and gained a series of brilliant victories. It seems that a new rebellion had broken out and that the distant city of Ni alone had remained loyal, for when he entered this town the inhabitants received him with demonstrations of great joy. The campaign came to an end with the capture of the fortress of Akati. His next campaign was directed against the country of Tekshi, in Syria where he fought against a mighty coalition. Seven native kings were killed, and the land was again subdued. The bodies of the dead kings he took with him to Egypt. Six of them he had hung up on the walls of his capital, Tebis, and one on the walls of Napta. As a warning to the Ethiopians, like all rulers of the dynasty he was a great builder. He died after a short reign of only five years. 8. Tutimosis IV. 1421-1414 B.C. Of the son and successor of Amia Hop, we know little more than he ruled only seven years. He fought in Ethiopia, Phoenicia, and Syria, probably quelling minor revolts and repelling invasions of nomadic tribes. In the first year of his reign he caused the great sphinx of Giza to be freed from the sand which had accumulated about this vulnerable monument. 9. Amin Kahop III. 1413-1377 B.C. In the fifth year of his reign Amin Kahop III, the son and successor of Tutimosis IV, invaded Ethiopia and easily subdued a number of rebellious Nubian tribes. The victory did not amount to much, but the pharaoh made a great fuss over it, having it recorded on several stalee. This reign marked a new era in their relations with Asia. A number of tablets was recently found at Tel El Armana, which contained letters addressed by Asiatic kings to the kings of Egypt. A number of these is addressed to Amenhotep III. This interesting one is that from King Dushrata of Midani, example Sattarina of Niharn, i.e. Mesopotamia, in which Amenhotep is called the son-in-law of Dushrata. This Dushrata is no doubt identical with the king Sartana of Niharn, who, in the tenth year of this reign, sent Amenhotep, his daughter, Kirkipa, and 317 ladies for the pharaoh's harem. Although already happily wedded to Queen T, one of the most beautiful women in all antiquity, the pharaoh had no recourse but to make the princess his legitimate wife. This marriage was, in all probability, entered into after the final ratification of a treaty concluded between the two monarchs. And, in fact, the treaty concluded between Amenhotep's son Chouin X and Dushrata distinctly refers to this previous treaty. It is a curious fact that the letters addressed to this king and to his son are written in Assyrian. The king was a passionate hunter, and an inscription engraved on several scarabi relates that, in the first ten years of his reign, he killed a hundred and two lions. Like all his predecessors, Amenhotep was a great builder. He was the builder of the celebrated temple of Aman Arara at Luskor. The two celebrated statues of Memon on the west bank of the river opposite Tebe's belong to this monarch. They stood originally in front of the pylon of his temple in the Necropolis. But every trace of the temple has vanished. The statues were erected at his orders by the architect and sculptor Amenhotep, the son of Hapi. The are of hard-red crystalline sandstone quarried at the Dejable de Ahmar, example du Deshar, in the desert northeast of Memphis. The Greeks took the statues for those of the Ethiopian king Memon, mentioned by Homer, and explained the sound produced by the northern statue as the greeting of Memon to his mother Eos. The explanation of the sound is very simple. The upper portion of the statue was broken, and when the sun rose the change in temperature caused the particles of stone in the crack to split, and this splitting produced a musical sound. After the statue was repaired by Septimus Severus, reigned AD 193-211, the sound was no longer heard. 10. Amenhotep IV. Chunaten, 1376-1364 BC This pharaoh is to us one of the most interesting of ancient monarchs as the first promulgator of monotheism. The Egyptian people up to this time had possessed no uniform religion, but a large number of religions had existed side by side, some being recognized throughout the land, others having only local import. While one religion, that of the national capital, was the official religion of the government, at this time Tebs was the capital of the land, and the thebian religion was the government faith. Consequently the head of the thebian pantalon, Amon, was the official head of the national pantalon. But there had arisen in Heliopolis example on the great seat of the Ra religion, already in early times a movement towards a solar monotheism, and in Chunaten's reign this movement was victorious. The new king was a fanatical adherent of this doctrine, he moreover seems to have stood entirely under the domination of the Heliopolitan priests, and gladly lent his hand to accomplish their purposes. A new official religion was accordingly proclaimed, this was a solar monotheism, the new god was with a studied avoidance of the old names called Aten the solar disk, and was proclaimed to the nation as the sole and only god. If this had signified merely a change in the official religion of Egypt, and not in the very inmost nature of the religion, the people would have heeded a little and gone on praying to their own local gods, and officially recognizing the new head of the pantalon, as they had done here for. But here was a complete and utter religious revolution, pronouncing all the old faiths heretical and supplanting them by a faith the nature of which the people did not and could not understand. A propaganda of this character, no doubt assisted by attempts to convert the people by force, naturally led to discontent, and it was probably owing to this that the reformers graciously permitted the solar definities Horius, Ra, Radhar, Machus, and some few others to continue in existence. Explaining them as forms of their new and only god, Aten. Ammon, however, was persecuted in the approved orthodox manner, wherever he could, Ammi atop, or as he now called himself, Chuten Aten, had the name of this hated divinity obliterated from the monuments, even in the names of his predecessors. After the reformation, Chuten Aten left the tainted city of Tebs, the stronghold of the old Ammon cult, and built himself a new capital to the north of this city, and called it Chut Aten, the horizon of the solar disk. The ruins of this town, which was never completed, lie at a place called Tel E Armana, and are of peculiar interest as they together, with the tombs in the necropolis of the city, give us a life-sized picture of the court of this fanatical and half-graced king. One of his peculiarities was to substitute for the conventional style of Egyptian sculpture a more realistic style. The Pharaoh himself was hideously ugly, owing to a body deformity, and he commanded his artist henceforth to depict him in his real shape. Naturally his wife, who seems by the by to have had quite a lovey face, and daughters who were pictured as equally ugly, and the courtiers, as true courtiers would, ate royally, and had themselves depicted in the likeness of their king. Unfortunately the reformation proved a failure, and we know but little of the new faith, long and beautiful hymns, full of feverent devotion, addressed to Aten, have come down to us, as have also various representations of religious ceremonies. The new god is always depicted as a solar disk, the rays of which terminate in hands, but the monuments do not give us any deeper insight into the new religion. There was in this reign no trouble with Asia. This was a result of the diplomatic negotiations begun under Amman Dahab III, and concluded by this Pharaoh. Treaties of peace were conducted with Dushrata of Metandi, Salarna king of Nehren, i.e. Mesopotamia, Burna Burasha king of Kardushna Babylonia, and Ashru Balit king of Assyria. All these treaties contained references to former negotiations with Amniahop III. They are all written in Assyrian, and are quite difficult of interpretation, though the general import of these documents can easily be given. After a reign of only twelve years, Chutenin died, and is not at all doubtful that he lost his life in a revolt, brought on by his fanatical attempts to convert the people to his new faith by force. He had no son, but seven daughters, who were married to Egyptian nobles, disputes over the succession immediately arose, and the country was plunged into all the horrors of a civil war. 11. The struggle for the succession, about B.C. 1363-1340 How long the civil war lasted, we cannot say, nor do we know exactly in what order the various kings that followed Chutenin succeeded one another. In all probability, the next successor at Chutenin was Senakara Sanchet, the husband of his favorite daughter, Maratyn. He was throughout his short reign a firm adherent to the faith of his father-in-law, but the revolution that had dethroned his father-in-law proved fatal to him also. He was disposed by the priest Ai, who was originally a firm adherent to the Atin religion. Ai was a brother of one of Chutenin's nurses, and had risen rapidly at court, until he attained the position of Lord Ikwiri, one of the highest offices in the gift of the crown. At the time, Ai dethroned Sanchet. The reaction was at its height, and Ai was not the man to swim against the tide. He therefore returned to the old faith and the old capital. But he had nothing outside of this to recommend him to the people, and so his aposy availed him little. Four years after he had wrestled the crown from Sanchet, he was overthrown, and dead Anj Amon, the husband of Chutenin's third daughter, and Cheniz Pa Atin, who now changed her name to Anjati's Amon, ascended the throne. Like his predecessor, he was an opposite from the Atin religion, but this policy availed him as little as it had his antagonist. After a reign of only four years, he lost his throne and his life, and with him the last of Chutenin's heirs sank into the grave. After his death the confusion became worse than ever. King after king ascended the throne, but they all fell before they had tightened their grasp on the reigns of state. How long this state of affairs lasted, we cannot say, but in our opinion the entire period from the death of Chutenin to the end of the Civil War cannot have embraced less than about twenty or twenty-five years. At length Har M. Keb, who was in some way, possibly through his wife Mut Netjem, connected with the royal family, succeeded in restoring order, and with him begins the nineteenth dynasty. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Har M. Keb succeeded in restoring order in the kingdom. His accession to the throne marks a new era in Egyptian history, that of the nineteenth dynasty, in which Egypt, though its armies no longer marched to the Euphrates and became a terror of the Mesopotamian rulers, yet succeeded in making a part of Asia an integral part of its empire. The preceding dynasty had produced great conquerors, who stand unrivaled in the annals of the land of Comet. This dynasty produced rulers who were great warriors, and, but for events which had occurred in Asia during the latter part of the dynasty eighteen, would have equaled the two great tetmoses in extent of conquests, and who were besides great organizers. How they succeeded in incorporating Palestine, Phoenicia, and southern Syria in the kingdom, we shall presently see. The great mistake of these rulers was that they little by little substituted Libyan mercenaries for the national armies that had hitherto been the sole reliance of Egypt, and we shall have occasion to trace the grave results of this mistake. A long inscription on a statue of Haremheb, preserved in Turin, gives us an account of his early life, and relates how he came to the throne. He was brought up in the city of Hatsutun, and already in his early youth was highly honored. He was a member of the family of Tutmosis III, whom he calls the father of his father, i.e. his ancestor. When he was still a very young man, the ruling pharaoh, whose name is not mentioned, appointed him to a high position in the eighteenth upper Egyptian gnome, Saphed, which was his home. As he made a good record in this position, he was made Adin, i.e. general, and in this position he received the tributes of the foreign princes, and all the princes had to bow down before him. After he had held this position for a number of years, and had shown great ability, he was appointed no Marcos of Saphed. This position he held when, as the text puts it, Horus and Amon decided to place him on the throne. Horemheb certainly had a good right to this succession, being a lineal descendant of Tutmosis III, but his chief claim lay in the fact that he had succeeded in triumphing over all the usurpers that had arisen after the death of the last pharaoh of Chouanatn's line. On the close of the civil war he proceeded to Thebes, where he married the royal princess Mudnetjim and was crowned king. His campaigns were chiefly in the south where he put down a number of rebellious Nubian tribes. We also know that he conducted several campaigns in the north with the usual success. It would seem, too, that the connections with southern Arabia and the Somali coast were kept up, for the inscriptions mentioned the tribute of the prince of Puent. Horemheb tells us that he restored the temples of the land from the delta to Nubia, and increased the numbers of their slaves and the amounts of sacrificial offerings. Of the temples, those of Thebes, on Heliopolis, and Memphis, were specially favored. Horemheb died after a reign of about twenty years. Section 2. Ramses I. 1319-1317 BC Very little is known of Horemheb's son and successor, Ramses. He made several raids into Nubia, and shortly before his death appointed his son, Seti, co-regent. He died after a reign of only two years. His mummy was among those found at Der El-Bahari. Section 3. Seti I. 1316-1289 BC The son and successor of Ramses I was one of the greatest and most warlike of all the Egyptian kings. Already in the first year of his reign he was compelled to invade Asia, starting from the Chetem, i.e. Fort of Tiar, which lay on the freshwater canal that formed the eastern boundary line of Egypt. He first attacked and easily defeated the Shassu, i.e. the nomadic tribes dwelling in the Arabian desert, and then entered Canaan, defeated the inhabitants, took their capital, and erected and garrisoned forts and dug wells in the conquered country. It is evident that the Pharaoh desired to hold the land permanently, and thus to secure Egypt against all further inroads from Asia. This rapid success of the Egyptian army spread terror over all Syria, and the Syrian princes submitted peaceably and paid tribute. Several strongly fortified towns, however, held out and had to be taken by force of arms. Among these were Kadesh, a city of the Amorites, in the district allotted to the tribe of Naftali, that must not be confounded with the Kadesh on the Orontes, the capital of the Cheta, and the fortress of Genuim. Seeing these Egyptian successes, Mautenour, the king of the Cheta, naturally thinking he would be attacked next, determined to take a hand in the game. He was defeated, but Seti gained no permanent advantage over him. If we possessed the monuments of this Cheta king, we certainly would read of victories gained over the Egyptians. Seti now returned home. At T.R. he was met by a procession of priests and nobles, who conducted him to Thebes in triumphal procession. The successes of this Pharaoh must not be overestimated. All he succeeded in doing was to conquer the land lying between the Egyptian and the Cheta frontier. The petty sovereigns of southern Syria fell an easy prey to him, but the mighty Cheta king succeeded in checking his advance. The lists of conquered lands and cities are very unreliable, many of the names having been copied from the lists of Tupmosus III. In the later years of his reign, Seti was compelled to march against the Tehanu, i.e. the Libyans, who had again begun to make inroads on the western frontier. The Libyan tribes, who were savage and warlike, had for centuries almost constantly been at war with Egypt and, though at first easily defeated, had in the course of time become very dangerous foes. In this reign they began a series of invasions which were repelled only with great difficulty. Seti was compelled to defeat them again and again before he succeeded in subduing them for the time being. These tribes soon assumed the same position as regards Egypt that the German tribes in later times held as regards the Roman Empire. They began as enemies and invaders and, with time, finding it profitable to serve the pharaoh, entered the Egyptian service as mercenaries. These mercenaries soon supplanted the native troops and, in several centuries, gained such controlling influence that, some four hundred years after Seti's time, their commander-in-chief, Sheshank, could grasp the scepter and ascend the throne of the pharaohs. The Tehanu tribes that entered the Egyptian service in this and the following reigns were the Mashawasha and the Kahak. In connection with these tribes there appears now, for the first time, the tribe of the Shardana. Large bodies of these Shardana entered the service of Egypt under Ramses II and a poem celebrating this monarch's victory over the Cheta states that they were originally prisoners of war. The armament of these men's was peculiar. They carried small round shields or bucklers and a long sharp pointed lance and wore helmets with a round ball on top. They also had full beards, while the Egyptian soldiers wore no beards at all. In later times they are called people of the sea. Their home must consequently have been some coast district or island of the Mediterranean. We have no reason whatsoever to identify them with the Sardinians. In all probability they were a tribe that dwelt on the northern coast of Africa. The architectural activity of this ruler was confined chiefly to Thebes, where he built at the temple of Amon Ra at Karnak. Here he began the magnificent hypostyle which was completed by his son and successor. In the necropolis of Thebes, on the west bank of the Nile, he restored two funeral temples, that of Makkarah at Dar al-Bahari and that of Tuttmosi III at Medanet Habu. He also began a funeral temple dedicated to his father, Ramses I, at Abdel Kurnah, which was completed by Ramses II, who dedicated it to Seti in conjunction with Ramses I. The king also restored temples in all parts of Egypt. The mines of the Setmavkat, i.e. Malachite region, as the Egyptians call the Sinai, he held and operated. The quarries in Egypt proper were, of course, in full operation and the gold mines of Ethiopia were worked. Of these gold mines there has been preserved in Achur and Papyrus a map which, though crudely drawn, is easily intelligible, the oldest map extant. Before his death Seti appointed his young son Ramses co-regent, but this appointment was merely nominal. Ramses certainly never exercised the functions of this office. He himself conceived it in this spirit, never dating his reign from his appointment, as the kings of the twelfth dynasty had done, but from his actual accession to the throne as sole ruler. Seti died after a reign of about twenty-seven years. The mummy of this ruler was found in a shaft at Dara Bahari, where it had been hid to protect it against the tomb robbers that invested the necropolis in the times of the priests' kings of dynasty twenty-one. The features are strongly marked and give evidence of great mental vigor and strength of will. Section 4, Ramses II, 1288-1221 B.C. This king has long been overestimated by those who followed Greek tradition in Egyptian history, that this tradition is utterly untrustworthy has been pointed out in the introduction, and its utter worthlessness is here glaringly illustrated. The Greeks called this king Sesostris and made him the representative of Egyptian greatness. The name of Sesostris is undoubtedly authentic, being a corruption of Sesetsu, a name applied to this king in a critical letter written either in his reign or shortly afterward. He has been declared the greatest of all the pharaohs, while in reality he is to be placed after several others. Of all the greatest was undoubtedly Tetmoses III. Next after him we can place his father, Tetmoses I, then come usertessen III, the conqueror of Ethiopia and Seti I, who conquered Libya and prepared the way for Ramses II in Asia. We give now a brief summary of the Greek accounts of this king, and the reader can then himself compare them with the authentic history that gleaned from the monuments of this reign, which, with the exception of the very suspicious lists of conquered nations, are entirely trustworthy. Herodotus and Diodorus Sycholus are the principal sources for the Sesostris legend. According to them, Sesostris was educated together with all boys born on the same day with himself. While yet crown prince, he was sent against the Ethiopians and subdued their entire country. Then he marched against Libya and conquered the greater part of that country. His father dying soon after, he determined to conquer the world. Raising an army of 600,000 infantry, 24,000 cavalry, and 27,000 chariots, he put them under command of the 1,700 boys educated together with him. This vast army first marched against Ethiopia and conquering the entire country, levy to tribute of gold, ebony, and ivory. While conquer Ethiopia, which, according to the same authority, he had already conquered, he then fitted out a fleet of 400 sail, the first Egyptian fleet, and penetrating to the land where the cinnamon grows and the straits of Babel Mandeb, conquered the land of the Iqtyop Fagoi and erected Stella there. Then he crossed to Arabia and overran that country and the Asiatic coasts as far as India. In proof of this, they state that up to their time there were to be seen in that country many ramparts of Sassastras as well as numerous imitations of Egyptian temples. His land forces crossed the Ganges and conquered India. He next overran the country of the Skylians up to the Tenaeus River, the modern Don River. Here a part of his troops remained and from them are descended the Kulchoi. According to Pliny's version, however, Sassastras did not succeed in invading the country but was defeated by Sallakis, king of Kulchis. The king next entered Europe and overran Thrace. Here his army was almost entirely broken up by hardships and starvation. At length, after nine years of continued warfare, he returned home laden with booty. In all of the conquered lands, Sassastras set up Stella. Some of these monuments, alleged to have been erected by him, were shown to Herodotus in Ionia and Syria. Manetho relates that, when Sassastras set out on his campaigns, he had appointed his brother, Hermaeus, regent during his absence. After the king's return, Hermaeus revolted but was defeated at Pelusium. The Egyptian account differs materially from this. In Libya, Ramses fought only as crown prince under his father's leadership. The monuments do indeed mention campaigns in Ethiopia but these were most probably directed only against the mountain tribes that made constant inroads on the civilized portion of Ethiopia. The country proper was an integral part of Egypt and had been so for centuries and it was entirely unnecessary to reconquer it. The great seat of the war in this reign was Asia. In the second year of his reign, the pharaoh started on his first campaign in this region. It would seem that disturbances had occurred in Palestine and the land of the Amorites and that this campaign was necessary to restore order. Several cities had to be taken but, on the whole, the restoration of Egyptian supremacy in the countries recently so severely visited by Seti I cannot have been an over-difficult task. As usual, it seems that the fortresses alone offered any resistance and after they had fallen, the rest of the country submitted peaceably. At the close of this campaign, Ramses erected a stele on the banks of the Nahar el-Kaleb, north of Beirut. His second campaign, on which he set out in the fifth year of his reign after careful preparation, was directed against the Chaita, the old enemies of Tupmosis III and Seti I. It may be well here to give a brief sketch of the rise of this people. There were two peoples named Chaita, one in Canaan and one dwelling between the Orontes and the Euphrates. The latter is the people we refer to here. Already in the time of Tupmosis III, they seem to have been an important and influential nation. The Chaita were the soul of the last great coalition formed against this pharaoh. But in these early times, Egypt still proved the master. After the death of Amenhotep III, the Egyptians were too much occupied with internal affairs to interfere in Syria, and in the time between the death of this ruler and the accession of Seti I, falls the rise of the Chaita. Of the combats in which they gained this ascendancy, we know nothing, but it would seem that their kings, Sapallel and Marusar, who preceded Mautenour, the contemporary of Seti, had succeeded in gaining the ascendancy over all the states of northern Syria, the Rutinu Haru, Upper Rutinu of the Egyptians, northern Mesopotamia, and of that portion of Asia lying north of their domain. We do not, however, know whether they merely stood at the head of a confederacy, composed of these states, or had really conquered them. When Seti I invaded Asia, Mautenour felt sufficiently strong to oppose him, and, though at first defeated, succeeded in checking his advance. This success naturally increased the prestige of the Chaita, and when Ramses II attacked them, they seemed to have been able to call to their aid all the peoples of northern Syria and northern Mesopotamia, and some of the peoples of Asia Minor. The forces of this mighty coalition were massed in front of Qadesh, the Chaita capital, where they awaited the Egyptian advance. Led by treacherous guides, the advance guard of the Egyptian army, which was under the personal command of the king, fell into an ambuscade near Qadesh, and were all but annihilated. They were, however, rallied by Ramses, whose personal prowess, as he tells us, alone turned the tide of the battle. And when the rest of the army, which had been hastily summoned, on the battlefield, they were just in time to join in the pursuit of the fleeing foe. The enemy were driven into the Orontes river, e.g. Arunta, and suffered terrible losses. One of their generals, the prince of Chaleb, Aleppo, was almost drowned. Again and again Ramses reverts to this victory. The poem and the representations commemorative of it he had inscribed on the walls of several temples. Undoubtedly it was an act of great personal bravery, and the pharaoh had a right to be proud of it, but the victory was fruitless. Qadesh was not taken, and if Ramses says that Mautenour had turned about and adored him, this can refer only to negotiation concerning an armistice. At all events the war went on as before, and evidently with wavering success, though we hear but little of its further course. Once we find the pharaoh fighting far north in the region of Tunepe, in Naharan, Mesopotamia. But how he came there we do not know. He did not retain this advance position long, however, but was driven back for in the eighth year of his reign he fought in Palestine, taking the towns of Meram, Karpu in the region of Bet-Anat, and Dapur in the country of the Amorites. He also took the town of Shapur, and finally reconquered Ascarum, Ascalon, which had thrown off the yoke of Egypt. During this war, Mautenour died, and Chetasar succeeded him. The Chetah war was finally closed in the twenty-first year of Ramses's reign by a treaty of peace and alliance. This treaty proves that perfect equality existed between the two nations. Both kings bound themselves to keep the peace and be good and faithful allies. The treaty refers to one in force in the time of Sapallel and Mautenour, concluded possibly with Seti I or one of his two predecessors. It expressly states the obligation of either king to come to the assistance of the other, if so required. It further defines the obligation of either king to return refugees. Thus was concluded the first treaty of peace and alliance, the full text of which has come down to us. That treaties had been concluded between the kings of Egypt and the Chetami and rulers we have seen in the preceding chapter. To strengthen this treaty, Ramses married the oldest daughter of Chetasar, acknowledging her as his legitimate wife and queen, the princess adopting the Egyptian name of Matt Nefru Ra. Thirteen years later, Chetasar, accompanied by the Prince of Khedi, paid his royal son-in-law a visit. The terms of the treaty seem to have been strictly kept by both countries as they were weary of a war and drained their resources and brought no result to either. Of the boundary between the two nations, nothing is said in the treaty, but it would seem probable that Egypt retained Phoenicia, Palestine and southern Syria while the Cheta were free to extend their domain northward. The Cheta made good use of their opportunities. All through Asia Minor and as far north as Smyrna, we meet with monuments that were erected by this people. They are any further than the boundaries of the Cheta. He now set to work to secure the conquered country. In all parts of Palestine and southern Syria, forts were erected in garrison and it would even seem that special officers rode through the land on tours of inspection. The power of Egypt had greatly weakened and she was no longer what she had been three centuries earlier. The lists of conquered lands which this pharaoh had inscribed were very unreliable, being copied in great part from those of Tutmosis III. Thus he mentions his conquered, among others, Asur, Assyria and Sengar, Chaldea countries with which this pharaoh had no relations whatsoever. That a very active commercial intercourse between Egypt and Asia was brought about by the new relations between Egypt and the Asiatic nations is self-evident. Egypt powerfully influenced Asia and was powerfully influenced in return. Syrian divinities, Baal and Astart, were taken into the Egyptian pantheon. Set Sutech, who to the Egyptians represented the tutular divinity of the foreigners, gained greatly in prestige owing to the successes of these same foreigners, but the chief influence was on the language. The influx of Semitic words into the Egyptian at this time is something wonderful to behold. It must have been considered elegant and a proof of great learning to larder one's writing with these foreign words and phrases, for some of the texts of this period team with them. The piece which closed the Asiatic war in the 21st year of Ramses's reign left the pharaoh 46 years to devote to internal improvements. The king directed his attention chiefly to building, and there is scarce a town in all Egypt in which he did not build, complete, or restore temples. But despite this great activity he does not seem to have been thoroughly satisfied with his work. For he usurped many temples erected by his predecessors. The usurpation of monuments was a common practice in ancient Egypt. The usurper proceeded in a very simple manner. He erased the name of the real builder and substituted his own for it, thus making it appear as if the monument in question owed its existence to him. This had been done before Ramses's time, but none of his predecessors possessed the same finesse in this class of work. He thus succeeded in irrigating to himself many temples that had been built years and sometimes centuries before his time, and it is often owing only to the fact that the men charged with the work did it very slovenly and left the name of the real builder standing in some obscure corner that we are enabled to discover the imposition. Tannis, a city lying near the northeastern boundary of Egypt, shared with thieves the honour of being the residents of the pharaoh. The various departments of the government were located at the latter city, but Tannis offered Ramses unrivaled facilities as a basis of operations for his Asiatic campaigns. A king who spent so many years warring in Asia would naturally find it of great advantage to fix his residence at a place so near the frontier. Tannis thus owes the larger part of its glory and prosperity to this pharaoh. He it was that built the vast granite temple, as many as 14 obelisks and several statues of the king have been found here. Memphis also came in for a share of the king's favour. It was made one of his residences and its temple of Patah was greatly enlarged. But the great city of this reign was Thebes, of which we may well here give a brief sketch. This city, the Egyptian name of which was Ueset, was situated on the east bank of the Nile, its site being still marked by the ruins of the great temples of Karnak and Luxor, both of which were dedicated to Amun Ra. Between these two temples lay the city proper. The temple of Karnak had its own names. One of these was Apet, the other, Nestawi, Throne of Both Lands, i.e. Egypt. On the west bank of the river lay the Necropolis, or Cemetery of Thebes, in which its kings, courtiers and citizens lie buried. The rulers of the middle empire were interred in low pyramids built on the plain. Those of the new empire were interred in tombs hewn into the living rock of the hills that skirt the valley of the Nile on the west. The temples dedicated to the cult of the pharaohs of this latter period were built in the city. Thus a long row of funeral temples extends through this plain. The temple of Dar al-Bahari, built by Makara, that of Ramses I and Seti I at Karnak, the Ramiseum, built by Ramses II, the temples of Tamosi III and Ramses III at Medinet Habu and many others. This district was devoted to the use of the dead and of those who cared for them. Masons, carpenters and bombers and laborers of every description, connected with what the French called les pompes funèbes, had their homes here. In this necropolis Ramses was very busy. He first completed the funeral temple at Karnak, begun by his father and then erected a wonderful Ramiseum, a temple dedicated to Amunra and commemorative of the pharaoh's victories. On the east bank of the river he completed the wonderful steel of Karnak, which his father had begun and otherwise improved and decorated the main building besides erecting a building south of the pond, belonging to the temple enclosure and a pretty extensive temple east of a great temple. This pharaoh was especially partial to grotto temples, of which he built quite a number e.g. at Bet-Wali, Garef Hussein, Wadi Sabua and Abu Simbel. The last mentioned temple was the best of this class. It is the largest and most beautiful grotto ever cut from the living rock by the hand of man. The classical authors, Strabo, Pliny and others, ascribed to Sasostris the beginning of a canal connecting the Nile with the Red Sea, which Necho is said to have continued and Darius to have completed. The canal from Cairo to Suez was afterward again opened by Amru, the Golden Conqueror of Egypt, but 140 years later it was again closed by order of the Caliph, Abu Diar El Mansur. In fact, there existed already in the times of Sadi I a canal which, starting from the Nile near Memphis, ran through the Wadi Tumilat to Lake Timse and thence to the Red Sea. This canal is represented for the first time in an inscription of Sadi I where the return of that Conqueror from his Asiatic campaign is depicted. It is pictured as full of fishes and crocodiles. The canal bears the unassuming name of Demat canal, a bridge led over it near the Chetem fort of Tyar that covered this part of the frontier. When this canal was dug we cannot say to a certainty. It existed in the time of King Sadi I and may have been dug by him but it may just as well be considerably older. It was dug originally either for purposes of irrigation or as a defense against the Asiatic Bedouins. We scarcely think that it served any commercial purposes in these early times. The canal is frequently mentioned by foreigners. Thus the Bible mentions it as the brook of Egypt, Nahal Mishraim Number 345 Joshua 154 37 etc. And in the Assyrian inscriptions it is called the brook, Nahal where there is no river, Nauru, because it was not a natural but an artificial waterway. It is considered by these texts as the boundary line of Egypt. The pharaoh died in the 68th year of his reign having previously appointed his 14th son, Mer-en-Pata Co-Regent. A word about the monarch's family may here be in place. He had several legitimate wives and many concubines. Consequently he could also boast of a large number of children. One list mentions 162 of these by name, 111 sons and 51 daughters. The mummy of the king was found at Dar al-Bahari. It shows a striking resemblance to the beautiful statue of the king preserved in the Museum of Turin. Gramsys must have been in his younger days quite a handsome man and even in old age his features preserved a determined cast. Section 5 Mer-en-Pata 1220-1212 BC About 1220 BC the last great ruler of this line ascended the throne. His history is not over eventful. The empire was at peace with the world. In the south the Egyptians held as much of Ethiopia and Nubia as practicable. Their only object being to control the Nubian gold mines and to secure the southern frontier against invasion. In Asia the advance of the Egyptian arms had received a decided check at the hands of the Chaita and the Treaty of Peace and Alliance concluded in the 21st year of the preceding reign had put an end to all chance of war in that quarter. In southern Syria and the Sinai were secure. The last named country had been under Egyptian control for several thousand years and the others were secured by numerous forts established by Seti I Gramsys II and Mer-en-Pata. With Puent there never had been war and there was no chance of war now as the commercial relations between the two countries continued profitable to both and would only have been disturbed by a war. One quarter from which a war could threaten and that was Libya. We have seen that the Libyans had frequently given trouble before but that the campaign of Seti I had effectually checked them and had put a stop to their inroads for a long while. After this campaign we find that many Libyans entered the service of Seti I and Gramsys II. It is hardly credible that they remained in the service after Gramsys' wars were over. In all probability they returned home and told their countrymen of the wealth of Egypt and of the immense booty to be won there. Returning from the successful campaigns they no doubt brought home what seemed to them great riches and this aroused the greed of their countrymen. Gramsys himself they dare not attack but after his death they prepared to invade the land. Numerous Libyan tribes from the seacoast and the interior the Libu, Kahak, Mashawasha Akkawasha Turasha Raku, Shardana and Shireshka combined their forces with those of the frontier tribes and under the command of King Maroi, the son of Didi, entered the western delta in the fifth year of the new reign and advanced plundering the country as far as Perebiro, Biblos self of Bubastis. It was their evident intention to settle here and, if need be, to purchase the right to settle here with their blood. King Meranpita was notified of this invasion but he hesitated to take active measures. At last he got an army together but was deterred from accompanying it by a dream. Meanwhile the enemy had advanced to Pere Arushepses a town near Heliopolis which city their forces now threatened. At this place the Egyptian army met them and in the battle that ensued completely routed and almost annihilated their forces. The Egyptians then plundered and burned down the fortified camp of the enemy. This victory left in the hands of the Egyptian army vast amounts of booty and a great number of prisoners. Meranpita was a great builder. On the Egypto-Syriac frontier he erected two forts and continued the work begun by his predecessor at Thebes, and other places. He died after a short reign of only eight years. Section 6 Close of the 19th dynasty 1211-1180 BC Seti II 1211-1209 BC a son of Meranpita succeeded his father on the throne. Inscriptions and papyri of his reign are constantly bragging about his great victories that he has ever specially mentioned, nor do we know of any campaigns of this king. Evidently, these laudatory hymns are mere pieces of meaningless flattery. He died after a reign of only two years. A period of anarchy followed on his death, during which several usurpers succeeded in gaining the ascendancy for a short period. Of these monarchs we know only a few. Amunmesis and Saapita and Patata II were in latter times regarded as illegitimate. Undoubtedly, they were usurpers. Assyrian, Arsu by name, succeeded in making himself king for a short while, but whether he came to the front as leader of one of the hostile factions or was an invader we do not know. At last Setnecht, the founder of dynasty 20 and father of Ramses III succeeded in restoring order about 1880 BC or perhaps a few years earlier. End of chapter 6