 Chapter 7 of History of Egypt, Chapter 7 The Close of the New Empire and the Period of Decline, Dynasties 20, 21 and 22, about 1180 to 800 BC, Section 1, the 20th Dynasty and Close of the New Empire, 1180 to 1050 BC. If this dynasty closes the period called the New Empire and begins the period of decline, the epoch known as the New Empire had begun auspiciously and for several centuries the ferrins of the 18th and 19th dynasties had succeeded in making and keeping Egypt the first power of the then known world. At the close of each dynasty, there had occurred periods of anarchy which were however of short duration and entailed no serious consequences. The kings had nevertheless made a number of serious blunders and the effects of these blunders began to show themselves in this period. The first of these was the great power which had been given to the priests of Amun Ra after the suppression of the reform movement. We have seen how the booty won in the Asiatic wars poured chiefly into the coffers of Amun Ra. The monies paid into his treasury were managed by the priesthood, a fact that is very significant. This priesthood was responsible apparently only to itself and consequently vastly enriched itself. Add to the power of great wealth the control of vast estates and consequently an immense patronage and enormous influence the priesthood generally has over the masses. And you can readily see that sooner or later this priesthood must become very dangerous to the state. In this dynasty there must be added yet another factor. The vast influence the clergy gained over the weak and incompetent kings that ruled after Ramses III. It is no wonder then that they should finally succeed in snatching the scepter from the weak hands of the lost Ramseses. The second serious blunder was their Libyan policy which we have outlined in chapter 6, section 3. Satnacht ruled only a very short while, but he appointed his son Ramses co-regent shortly before he died. Ramses III, 1180-1148 BC. The Ramseses of the classical authors ascended the throne about 1180 BC. This pharaoh anxiously imitated Ramses II, even giving his sons the same names as those born by the sons of his great predecessor and appointing them to the same offices the latter had held. He was not however the equal of Ramses II in war. Though he almost excelled him in Paradosius. The lists of conquered lands are just as untrustworthy as those of Ramses II and must be entirely disregarded in writing the history of this period. The only authentic sources are the accounts of a specific campaigns and on these alone is based the following account of his wars. The early part of this reign seems to have been taken up by cares of state. The land had, it is true, been pacified by Satnacht, but still the reorganization of the state was by no means compelled when Ramses came to the throne. In one of his edicts this pharaoh gives orders to cleanse the temples of Upper Egypt of all that the gods hate to restore the truth that is orthodox faith and to destroy the lie that is orthodoxy. It was owing to this unsettled state of the country that he could not undertake his first campaign, which was an extremely important and absolutely necessary one before his fifth year. Meanwhile, matters looked bad in the Delta. Libyan hordes under their princess Didi, Mashakin, Tamar and Jotmar had entered the Delta possibly during the period of Anaki, which followed on the death of Sati the second and had penetrated to the main stream of denial. Here they occupied the banks of the river from Karbana to Memphis. In the fifth year of his reign Ramses at last had sufficiently settled the eternal affairs of his kingdom to allow of his turning his attention to foreign affairs and he accordingly marched against the Libyans after some hard fighting he succeeded in driving them out of the country. Some three years later the pharaoh was involved in a more serious war The peoples of the sea, the Shardana, Turusha and Shakarusha who in all probability dwelt on the north coast of Africa and seemed to have been great pirates united with the Zachary, Prusta, Danawna and Washiwashi for other seafaring peoples in a grand raid on the Asiatic coast. They advanced down the coast by land and water bringing with them their women and children and all their possessions on carts drawn by oxen all the Syrian people the Sheta, the Kedi, Karamish, Aradis and Aretha were subdued and then the mighty stream poured into Palestine which was mercilessly devastated. Up to this time Ramses had been looking on an unconcerned spectator rather rejoiced than otherwise at the downfall of Egypt's old enemies but as soon as Palestine was invaded matters assumed a different aspect. Palestine was an Egyptian province and could not be sacrificed. Accordingly in the eighth year of his reign Ramses proceeded against the pirates with a large army and a great fleet. The decisive battle was fought on the coast of Syria both on land and on sea and the enemy was utterly routed and almost annihilated. Vast numbers of prisoners were taken the people concerned in this attack were all seafaring. The Shardana, Tshrusha and Shakerusha we have met before as allies of the Libyan tribes that attacked Egypt in the times of Merenpetah. They dwelled most probably on the north coast of Africa that these tribes here appear together with tribes coming most probably from Greece and Asia Minor is no argument against this for these tribes were bold pirates ready to join in any enterprise that promised booty. Though we can state with a considerable degree of certainty that the other four tribes came from Greece and Asia Minor we cannot assign to each one its proper home. That Greek tribes took part in this expedition is made extremely probable when we remember that the Odyssey mentions raids of this character made by Greek pirates on the Egyptian coast. The threatened invasion was thus happily averted and the Egyptian domination over Palestine, Phoenician and southern Syria considerably strengthened. In these countries the kings of the preceding dynasty had erected and garrisoned forts in order to keep the inhabitants under control. Ramses III went one step further he tried to force the Egyptian religion or rather the religion of Amun Ra on the Asiatics. A great temple was erected in this region to Amun Ra to which in the language of the official record all the peoples of Shell, Syria bring their tribute. Incidentally an expedition against the Shesu Bedouins of Sir Adam is mentioned. Three years after the great victory over the pirates the king was again compelled to march against the Libyans the Masha Washa under their chief Masha Shahr united with the Temhu and Libu and invaded the western delta the Pharaoh easily defeated them in a great battle fought on the frontier large numbers of the enemy were killed numerous prisoners were taken and rich booty was won these four wars seemed to have been all that Ramses was engaged in we see that they were all defensive wars and this is quite a change from the aggressive policy pursued by the kings of dynasties 28 and 19 after the close of the second Libyan war the kingdom was at peace with the world. Anthubia and Nubia remained tranquil the trade with Piwend was reopened and a fleet sent there returned laden with the products of its tropical coasts and brought back with it ambassadors from the various rulers of the region the copper and malachite mines of the Sinai were operated the land seemed to have arrived at the highest point of tranquility and prosperity thus at least the official inscriptions and papyrus Harris the first the official record of this reign would have us believe in reality matters were not so pleasant in the immediate vicinity of the first capital in the necropolis of Thebes there was almost constant trouble with the laborers these men were in the government service and were to receive regular monthly rations but the payment was far from regular and very often they had to strike for them thus we know of one gang of laborers that struck for their pay three times inside of half a year in the 29th year of this reign on these occasions they would leave the necropolis in a body with their wives and children and would not return until their demands had been ascended to the first strike lost at five days and at one stage of the proceedings matters assumed so serious an aspect that the military had to be called out the men finally received their dues and returned to work on the second strike which occurred a month later the men march to the gates of the city where the governor of Thebes met them and after some discussion paid them half of their dues where upon they returned to the necropolis two months later they struck again but were soon pacified this record which no doubt represents the experience of these unfortunates not only during this half a year but during the entire reign stands in strange contrast to the accounts given by the official documents from another source too we learned something more of the real condition of affairs this is a papyrus giving the minutes of a criminal procedure against several members of the royal family and several high civil and military officers for high treason several ladies belonging to the royal harem headed by queen tay who had a son called pentower as the minutes hint he wore another name probably he was a son of the king formed a conspiracy against the pharaoh in all probability the conspiracy had for ultimate object the placing of this prince on the throne after his father had been murdered most of the harem officials were implicated the head overseer of the harem even conducting the correspondence for tay the commander of the troops stationed in ethiobia whose sister was in the royal harem was won over an order to revolt against the pharaoh and invade egypt many other officials and army officers were implicated the conspiracy was however portrayed and the connoisseurs were arrested a special commission of 11 vested with extraordinary powers and even permitted to pause sentence of death was appointed to try this connoisseur case the commission began its labors but soon it was found that three of its members had been corrupted having attended a banquet given them by some of the accused ladies they were tried found guilty and sentenced to have their ears and noses cut off after this unpleasant interlude the commission succeeded in accomplishing its labors without further interruption the connoisseurs were found guilty and sentenced to death the nobles being permitted to commit suicide and the others being executed in this reign the power of the priesthood greatly increased we have already touched on the causes of this but there was no pharaoh who did more for the priests and their temples than did rompses the third the larger part of the great papyrus harris the first is taken up with lists of presence given the various temples the temples of amun ra of course received the lion's share of these rich gifts and attained to an unheard of wealth proportionately with the wealth of their temple the wealth and influence of the priests increased this was the great mistake of this reign but we must say in palliation that rompses was but carrying out the policy of his forefathers rompses was a great builder in all parts of egypt we find his name connected with the temples and other monuments his chief attention was directed to thieves and the delta at thieves he made additions to the great temple of amun ra and restored some of the temples of the necropolis following the example of his great namesake rompses the second he built in the necropolis a temple dedicated to amun ra and commemorative of his victories behind this temple where the vast treasury vaults in which were stored up the great masses of gold silver precious stones copper etc dedicated to amun ra and on the walls are inscribed records of the immense wealth here deposited it is probable that these treasures represent the state treasury placed under the protection of the god rather than the presence made him before the gates of the temple stood a two-story house probably destined to be the residence of the pharaoh and his attendants on his visits to this city of the dead at tallel yahuda in the delta he built a temple of limestone al pastor and granite many of the other temples were repaired by him and it seems to have required no small amount of labor to keep the temples of kemet in constant repair the king died in the 32nd year of his reign shortly after having proclaimed his son rompses the fourth co-regent the successors of rompses the third 1148 1050 bc the late king had managed to keep egypt on much the same level as it had occupied under rompses the second but under his successors the prestige of the once oh but almighty ruler of the world rapidly declined the following pharaohs were all weaklings who could scarcely hold their own at home and dared not to interfere in the foreign affairs under them the priesthood that had been greatly favored by rompses the third rose to a commanding position and the last kings of this line were mere puppets in the hands of the thiepin high priests these rulers cover about a century but all this time we have but few monuments of historic value and two of the most important documents we possess of this time show it in no pleasant light rompses the fourth the sixth the seventh and the eighth where brothers rompses the fifth was a usurper the very fact that a usurper could ascend the throne after the son of rompses the third shows that there was something wrong somewhere it is true that we possess on which rompses the fourth 1148 to 1137 bc mentions the fact that the syrian rent to brought tribute but this is not significant for southern syria had been for some time an integral part of the kingdom rompses the fourth sent a great expedition to the wady hamamet quarries in the third year of his reign to quarries torn for temples he also worked the syni copper mines of his buildings but little remains he seems to have been a man of promise but like most men of his character he did not keep his promises and appears as one of the weakest monarchs of his line he died or was disthroned after a reign of only 11 years rompses the fifth 1136 to 1132 bc though strong enough to rest the crown from its legitimate holder was not able long to retain the position he owned to himself alone for he reigned but for years in about 1131 bc rompses the sixth one of the legitimate heirs of rompses the third succeeded in out setting the usurper but he was otherwise of little account we do not even know how long he reigned rompses the seventh and the eighth were alike unimportant of the latter we know only that he reigned about seven years of the former we know nothing rompses the ninth holds a rather unenviable prominence among these rulers two papyri have come down to us that show how utterly weak and corrupt the government of egypt was in those days the first of these contains the minutes of a criminal procedure against a desperate band of robbers that invested the necropolis of thieves dated from the 19th year of this reign some knowledge of the robberies in the necropolis having come to the ears of the governor of thieves he immediately with a view to injuring his enemy the governor of the necropolis reported the case to the vizier this official appointed a commission to investigate the charges this commission made an investigation and reported that of 10 royal pyramids examined only one had been entered and robbed while all the private tombs had been broken into and stripped of everything that had any value during the investigation one of the witnesses a fellow that bore a desperate character confessed that he had robbed the tomb of one of the wives of rompses the second and the investigation proved the truth of his story eight robbers were tried and found guilty great was the joy of the commissioners who immediately made public the results of their investigation the governor of the city however whose vague charges had in no way been substantiated was not satisfied but openly declared the entire investigation a fraud and threatened to bring the matter before the pharaoh after a judicial hearing the matter was hushed both sides evidently fearing an official investigation into the conduct of their offices there was evidently a good deal of crookedness the governor of the necropolis was undoubtedly guilty at least of criminal negligence and the commission did their work pretty carelessly evidently not caring to expose their friend too much the second of the above mentioned papyri is the journal of a gang of laborers employed in the thiepan necropolis we learn from this document that these men were paid in rations of fish pulse grain beer fat and fuel but these provisions were rarely issued on time and sometimes were not paid at all in the latter case the men struck or as the egyptian phrase goes lay at home the journal of this party contains the record of two strikes the first was peaceable on the second they marched two thieves in a body and laid their complaints before the authorities their request for pay was granted and they returned to work these strikes give proof of the corruption that was rife in the government the men's rations were withheld not because the state could not pay but because the officials charged with the distribution chose to let the rations disappear the ferro died after a reign of a little more than 18 years shortly after proclaiming his son rumsus the 10th co-regent the last three kings of this line are very unimportant in the early part of the reign of rumsus the 10th 60 thieves among them a number of minor government officials and priests of lower grades were arrested and punished for desegrations and depredations committed in the necropolis but even the most stringent measures proved of no avail the great cemetery had grown so enormously that the proper policing of this district was out of the question and besides it would seem that the governor of the necropolis and the chief of this police had a finger in the pie and were not over vigilant rumsus the 10th ruled eight years and was succeeded by rumsus the 11th of whom we know nothing rumsus the 12th was the last king of this house of him we know little more than that he ruled about 27 years in his reign there lived a high priest of amon and general of the army hera who who became the successor of rumsus the king was a mere puppet in the hands of the almighty high priest and it is not to be wondered at that hera who finally seized the crown one of these kings which one we do not know was the contemporary of the mighty assyrian king teglath paesir the first and sent him tribute about 1110 bc a fact that it is characteristic of the weakness of these kings the 21st dynasty the priest kings 1050 to 950 bc we have here again a period that is very obscure there is some disagreement among the historians about the order of succession of the priest kings and the fact that mannetho states that the dynasty originated from tennis has induced some scholars to assume that a tenetic king had deposed hera who the founder of the dynasty such an assumption we consider utterly unwarranted as it is not constant with the facts of the case as represented on the monuments hera who and all his descendants were high priests of amon ra in thieves and a long line of hera who's ancestors occupied the same position we can trace on the monuments the gradual rise of the high priests of amon ra we find the high priests roa amonana and rumsus net mentioned together with the kings on the walls of the temple of karnak a distinction enjoyed in the older times only by the core agent under rumsus the ninth the power of these priests seems to have been still greater evidently the king was a mere puppet in the hands of rumsus net's son and successor the high priest amon hatop this dignitary no longer inscribed his name was the name of the pharaoh but declares in the inscriptions that he erected this or that building in the name of the pharaoh he rose to the high position of manager of the temple states thus holding in his hands all the wealth and influence of the great temples of amon ra saa amon hera ho 1050 to 1034 bc took the deciding step about 1050 bc he had held high offices of trust and honor under rumsus the 12th being to mention only his most exalted offices high priests of amon ra chief architect to the pharaoh general of the army and head of upper and lower egypt we see this man thus combined the highest religious military and civil offices of the land and was virtually the ruler no wonder then that on rumsus death he pushed aside that king's legitimate heir and placed the double crown on his own head it would seem however that egypt gained but little by the change of rulers the new king could do no more than preserve the then boundaries of his kingdom and when we read in his inscriptions that he repulsed the enemies we must take this to refer to minor compacts with bedouins who were constantly prowling about the borders this pharaoh built chiefly in karnik restoring the temple of chensu the son of amon ra and decorating its walls with long religious inscriptions in one of these inscriptions he had depicted his entire family consisting of his wife queen negemet his 19 sons and grandsons and five daughters the government seems to have remained quite as weak and corrupt as it had been under the laws rumsus sides and no wonder for hara ho was a descendant of the high priest who so long had governed the land in fact and he himself had actually ruled the country long before he seized the scepter so that it was but natural that the old state of affairs continued thus the old debredations in the necropolis instead of seizing or becoming less became worse and more desperate than ever the police of the necropolis where it is true not quite efficient but might have kept their desperators in some check have they themselves not been implicated accordingly hara ho befought himself of some means of protecting the mummies of his predecessors the mummies of king raza qunan ahmus the first i'm on hot of the first to hot most the first to hot most the second to hot most the third rumsus the first ct the first and rumsus the second where for a while moved about from place to place and finally were hid in a shaft at dear al-bahri where they could be better guarded this shaft was opened in 1881 by mespiru and bruce bay and in it were discovered besides the mummies already mentioned those of the early kings and queens of this dynasty the mummy of this ferro was not found here either because it never was deposited here or because like many other objects found in their shaft it is still in the hands of the arabs who discovered and to some extent plundered this improvised tomb before the discovery was brought to the attention of the government the mummy of queen negemet cased in a beautiful surrogophagus of gilt wood was however found here whether or not this king is identical with a king ranatter chopper set up a amin mariaman sa amin whose name has hitherto been found only in the delta is one of the vex questions regarding this dynasty it may be that hara ho used the title of high priest of amin as coronation name in thebes only while he adopted another coronation name for use in lower egypt but such a course would seem void of sense still we have no cause to assume that two kings one of upper and one of lower egypt ruled at the same time the whole matter must be laid over until further monuments are discovered in proof of one or the other hypothesis hara who ruled about 16 years hara whose successors 1033 to 945 bc penetra jim the first the grandson of hara who ascended the throne about 1033 bc pianchi the father of disfaro had been high priest of amin ra but he seems to have died before hara ho so that his right to the throne passed to his son this king had two wives queen hathor hentawi and queen makara of which latter lady and in inscription distinctly says that amin ra had given her the kingdom it would seem from this that makara was a ramsa side princess whom hara ho had compelled to add his grandson in order to legalize his usurpation a very common measure of egyptian usurpers as all events it is a very curious fact that while the names of both queens are always enclosed in cartouches that of pinat jim is without the cartouche in several inscriptions again there appears in number of inscriptions the name of a king chaper cha ra pinat jim whose wife was queen hathor hentawi that pinat jim the high priest of amin and this king are one and the same person there can be no doubt the mummy of queen makara was like his mummy and that of hathor hentawi found at der el-bahri at the feet of makara was found the mummy of a very young infant designated as the princess the wife of the pharaoh the lady of both lands it would seem from this that the infant had been declared the legitimate wife of its father immediately after its birth this percussion was taken to preclude the chance that any usurper could base claims to the throne on a marriage with this infant the child and its mother died however long before any such eventuality could arise pinat jim reigned 25 years 1033 to 1008 bc ra chaper set up a amin pasip chano the first the successor of pinat jim has left us but few monuments but from these we see that like his predecessors he was both high priest of amin ra and king of egypt one of his sons named pinat jim was high priest of amin ra under king amin amapit men chaper ra is another priest king of whom we know nothing the same is true of king amin amapit pasip chano the second has but little significance beyond the fact that his daughter makara became the wife of usarkin the first the son of shashanky the first thus legalizing the usurpation of that monarch pasip chano has also some interest for the biblical student it was in all probability this king who came into connection with king solomon he gave solomon his daughter in marriage and as a dowry captured for the jewish king the city of gaza there was instituted at this time also a commercial intercourse between egypt and israel the latter state facilitating the trade in horses and wagons between the egyptians and the hathits and arameans the 22nd dynasty the libian kings 945 to 800 bc the reader will no doubt remember what was said on a former page concerning the libian wars of seti the first and ramsus the second and concerning the ingress of libian mercenaries in these rains these mercenaries were called ma an abbreviation of the name of mashah washa tribe and their leaders bore the titles of or and ma that is duke of the ma and our ma grant duke of the ma they seem to have settled in great numbers in the western part of the delta the family of one of these leaders that lived in budapest rose to great power and finally one of its members shashanky the first succeeded in resting the scepter from the weak hands of pasip shanu the second the last of the priest kings the first member of this family who migrated from libia to egypt was the tahan libian bewawa he came in about the time of hara ho his son mauson already had the title of grand duke of the ma in this position his son nab nisha and his grandson patoot succeeded him patoot's son shakshinki was married to princess mahatim oret and their son namrat married tentispa this latter couple lived about the time of king pine jim their son was shashinki the first who on the death of nemart succeeded him in the offices of grand duke of the ma and commander in chief of the army shashinki the first 945 to 924 bc the she shack of the bible an inscription in abidos shows how highly king pasip shanu steamed shashinki and his family for it tells us this monarch kept in repair the tomb of the late grand duke namrat and prayed to amundra for the success of shishanky's arms holding the entire power of the land the army in his grasp shashinki was the real ruler of egypt and it was not at all unnatural that he at length about 945 bc either deposed king pasip shanu or took advantage of that king's death to become king in name as well as in fact makara the daughter of the late king was compelled to marry the crown prince usarkin so that he might have a legitimate claim to the throne that egypt gained by this change of rulers is an undeniable fact immediately after ascending the throne the new pharaoh issued a stringent edict against all the brigations on the property of the dead the tombs and states set aside for payment of sacrificial offers where considered the property of the dead by priests or other persons this edict proved that he was determined not to tolerate the state of affairs that had existed in the necropolis under his predecessors the edict in question prescribes the funeral sacrifices for his father the king expressly states that he had punished those priests that had stolen from the funeral state this was no doubt a warning to all inclined to go and do likewise and seems to have no doubt backed by an effective police had the desire effect for we here of no further robberies in the theban necropolis in this and the following reigns early in this reign geru bohem had fled to his court he returned to israel only after the death of solomon to become king of the ten tribes it may be that shashinki assisted him to return and gain the throne as he had married the first sister in law anu the most important event of shashinki's reign was his asiatic campaign he invaded palestine and after overrunning and plundering the country and taking its sheaf towns he finally invested and captured the city of jurezilim in the fifth year of king reho bohams reign the egyptians sacked the town and carried off among other things that treasure solomon had deposited in the temple the city is designated as the royal jewish city in the egyptian inscription treating of this raid the king appointed his son abut high priest of amun ra the fatest office in his gift thus uniting in his family the highest civil military and religious powers of the realm this feru built shifli in thebes at karnak he began the so-called whole of the booba sides which was completed by his successors he died after a reign of about 21 years and usarkin his son by queen korama succeeded him shashinki's successors usarkin the first usarkin ascended the throne about 923 bc he was an unimportant ruler all we know of him is that he continued the work begun by his father at karnak and that his wife makara conveyed all her rights and domains to her family that is her husband and his sons in consideration of this her son shashinki was proclaimed co-regent and appointed governor of the south but he never ascended the throne having an all probability died before usarkin how long this feru ruled we do not know on his death take lot the first son of queen tamah shansu ascended the throne of him we know only that he was married to queen caps and that his son by this lady usarkin succeeded him usarkin the second ruled 23 years and built at karnak buddha best and other places the following king take lot the second was a little more important in his reign occurred two rebellions which are unfortunately not described in detail in the 11th year of his reign a rebellion broke out where he does not tell us in his inscription which was subdued four years after word another text states the children of the rebels attacked Egypt from the north and from the south but were repulsed after a long struggle whereupon they fell into internal dissensions unfortunately these texts do not inform us who these rebels and children of the rebels were possibly we find in these rebellions the beginning of the disintegration of Egypt which was completed at the time the Ethiopian king Pianchi invaded the country take lot seems to have been strong enough however to keep the land together in the course of the latter text there is a notice that on a certain date the sky had become unrecognizable and the moon had assumed a terrible aspect after a reign of over 15 years the king died and his son Shashinki the third succeeded him this pharaoh was the last of this line whose name appears in the inscriptions of karnak it would seem that either he or his next successor had been driven out of the capital he reigned 52 years the last kings of this dynasty pymai shashinki the fourth and usarkin the third were in all probability confided to the delta at the time of pianchi's invasion usarkin the third was king of budapest merely or perhaps divided the delta with abut king of klisma end of chapter seven chapter eight of history of egypt this is a livery vox recording all livery vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit livery vox.org history of egypt by fch wendel chapter eight the ethiopians and assyrians in egypt dynasties 23 24 and 25 800 to 645 bc section one dynasty 23 the disintegration of egypt and the first ethiopian invasion already under shashink the third thebes seems to have been lost to the libian dynasty the last monument that mentions any king of the 22nd dynasty in karnak is dated from the 29th year of shashink's reign and after the loss of thebes these kings were confined to the delta four kings are mentioned in the inscription of king pianchi but we know little of any one of them they are usarkin of bibastis probably the same man as usarkin the third the last of the bibastides a opet of klisma nemart of chmuno hermopolis and peftedbast of chenensuten heracliopolis manatho states that peftedbast whom he calls petubastis reigned 40 years a notice preserved by amian to the effect that in his time the Phoenicians had suddenly attacked and taken thebes is probably a faint recollection of the ethiopian invasion at all events the inscription of pianchi which mentions besides these four kings 16 rulers of smaller districts amply proves that egypt was at this time completely disintegrated the rise of ethiopia we have seen that for many centuries ethiopia was an egyptian province but it would seem that at the close of the 21st dynasty it gradually emancipated itself from egypt in the times of the 22nd dynasty ethiopia was no longer under egyptian rule several historians have attempted to bring into connection the fall of the 21st dynasty and the establishment of the ethiopian kingdom by assuming that the heirs of passebhanu had fled before sheshank the first to that country early in the 10th century before the common era and had founded a theocratic government there this hypothesis is in some measure confirmed by the name of the first ethiopian invader of egypt pianchi a name that occurs also in the times of the priest kings there is not however sufficient proof to assert this as an established fact be that as it may we find that about the time of the 22nd dynasty ethiopia had become an independent kingdom the capital was napata at the foot of the gebel barcal where amenhotep the third had erected a temple to amun ra the centuries of dependence had firmly established egyptian civilization in ethiopia the religion was that of amun ra though it was carried out to consequences unknown in egypt the priests had an almost absolute power in the name of amun the kings went out on their wars they were entirely dependent on his prophecies and oracles as interpreted by the priests they strictly observed the laws regarding cleanliness and all the minute details of the ritual thus they put into practice what had been mere theory in egypt a long inscription relates how the king was chosen directly through an oracle of amun ra thus confirming the account given by diodorus the priests had moreover the right to command the king in the name of amun to commit suicide a pernicious practice that are gamonese in the third century vc put a stop to it is then not to be wondered at that the egyptian priests described ethiopia to the greek tourists as a promised land the titulature of the kings was modeled after that of the pharaohs the official language of the realm was the egyptian with some dialectic peculiarities the script and the older inscriptions is hieroglyphic gradually the language changed more and more becoming surcharged with ethiopian elements and at last it has changed to such an extent as to be completely unintelligible the script also changed with time a cursive form known as the maroetic demotic script arose which no one has yet succeeded in deciphering in this script most of the ethiopic inscriptions are written and it is only after this has been deciphered that we can gain a clear picture of the history of the new ethiopian kingdom early in the eighth century bc the new kingdom was strong enough to attack egypt the disintegration of egypt offered the then ethiopian ruler pianghi a fine opportunity of subduing the country that had so long held his native land in subjugation he invaded egypt and seems to have found but little resistance the inscription which treats of his egyptian campaign enumerates the 20 sovereigns who at that time ruled egypt one usarken king of perbastit bubastis in the delta two aupet king of tenremu clisma in the delta three nemart king of khmonu hermobilus magna ashmunein in upper egypt four peftedbast king of chinensuten heracliobilus magna ahnes in upper egypt five tefnacht prince of saa seis and mennefer memphis six sheshenk chief of mercenaries in per usiri busires in the delta seven ced amon alf ankh chief of mercenaries in per banebded mendes in the delta eight anghor chief of mercenaries in per tot uprohe hermobilus nine bekenneth hereditary prince ten nesnaketi chief of mercenaries in the city of kaset cois in the delta 11 pedubast chief of mercenaries in het heriab athrabis in the delta 12 patenth chief of mercenaries in persupt capital of the 20th lower egyptian gnome 13 pama chief of mercenaries in pasasrek busires 14 nechthor nashenu chief of mercenaries in per herrer fegroriopilus 15 padu hor samtawi priest of horus in sechem cetopilus 16 herrubusa prince of sayut syut and hesawi 17 chet chiaw prince of the city of kent nefer 18 babas prince of herchaw bablon and per hapi nilopilus 19 a chief of mercenaries in tannis 20 a chief of mercenaries in ostracine these kings and princes seem to have offered but little or no resistance to the ethiopian invader and who have remained tranquil under his control for some time but the spirit of liberty was not dead in the land of cimet in the 21st year of piangchi's reign an attempt was made by tefnacht prince of seus in menthis who was by far the mightiest of these petty sovereigns to deliver egypt from the ethiopian domination he succeeded in uniting the many petty rulers of lower and middle egypt under his leadership then he sailed up the nile and everywhere the cities opened their gates to him at chenen suten he met with the first resistance king pefted bast seemed determined to maintain his separate sovereignty under piangchi's protection the city was besieged and taken but pefted bast joined the alliance in only a half-hearted manner the allies now proceeded south and at chmuno were joined by king nemart who became one of the most useful members of the coalition they then went against thebes matters were now becoming serious and piangchi on hearing of what was going on ordered poa arma and rama secni his lord lieutenants in upper egypt to oppose the progress of the rebellion they immediately took active measures and began the siege of chmuno to aid in their operations the ethiopian king had sent an army north as they approached thebes on their fleet they encountered tefnacht's fleet a battle ensued in which the egyptians were defeated leaving rama secni and poa arma to take chmuno the ethiobians pursued the fleeing egyptians northward the egyptians made a stand at chenen suten which city was the key of the fayoon here two battles occurred on succeeding days the first was fought on the nile possibly the egyptians sought to prevent the enemy from landing the second was fought on the riverbank at perpek a town near chenen suten in both these battles the patriots were defeated with heavy loss meanwhile chmuno had fallen and nemart hearing of this determined to retake his capital marching rapidly south he laid siege to the town and after defeating several salleys made by the ethiopian garrison recaptured it was matters stood when pianchi determined to come north and conduct the campaign in person before he started however his troops had gained some further advantages taking several smaller fortresses of which the most important was tatahen this strong fort was taken by storm after a most determined resistance among the slain was one of tefnacht's sons finally the king came after celebrating a religious festival at thebes he marched against chmuno a regular siege was commenced a high wall was built around the town and a shower of arrows and stones was thrown into the city three days the town held out but finally nemart was compelled to surrender and pay tribute pefted bast of chenen suten came up the stream and paid homage to pianchi bringing him costly presence his ready submission proved that he had joined tefnacht much against his will and inclined the king to be gracious pianchi now sailed downstream to persachem chebara illahun a strong fortress in the northern part of the faioon which was surrendered on the first summons just north of this lay the stronghold of meritum maydum which seemed inclined to hold out a peremptory summons leaving the city the choice between immediate surrender and a massacre of its garrison in case of a storm however brought the commandant to terms at the northern boundary of upper egypt there was a strongly fortified city which was also surrendered on pianchi's approach this left the way open to memphis the city was very strongly fortified tefnacht had laid in it a garrison of 8 000 men and then gone north probably to collect reinforcements the ethiopian monarch hesitated about storming the sacred city and summoned it to surrender offering to enter the city peaceably as his only desire in coming to memphis was to pay his homage to the gods but memphis was the key of the delta and the garrison was determined to hold out besides tefnacht's reinforcements could be expected daily the king therefore ordered his soldiers to storm the town they affected a landing in the harbor of memphis and scaling the walls were soon masters of the city many of the garrison and of the citizens fell in the combat and many others were carried off as prisoners of war the city was plundered but the temples were spared a guard having been set over them pianchi remained in memphis several days partly to take part in several religious festivals and partly to receive the tribute to several princes and grand dukes of the ma that came here to offer their submission he next advanced to an heliopolis where he attended some other religious festivals and received the submission of the number of other princes among them usarken king of bubastis when he went to hot heliob atheribus where he received the submission of the last remaining rebellious princes except tefnacht this leader deserted by all his allies determined to make a last stand for freedom raising the walls and burning down the treasury buildings of seis he retired to the island city of mest in the nile and strongly entrenched himself prince peftubast of atheribus was sent against him with a strong detachment a battle ensued in which tefnacht was defeated and his army annihilated tefnacht now sent messengers to pianchi offering to surrender the king sent him two ambassadors in whose presence he swore the oath of allegiance two cities that had hitherto held out now also surrendered the rebellion was crushed after holding a grand reception of the princes pianchi returned home his ships laden down with the tribute and booty won in the war pianchi reigned in all 40 years but he had no further occasion to interfere in Egypt this was owing to his wise policy he left all of the old princes in possession of their lands and thus bound them to his person as they owed their sovereignty to his grace moreover a disunited egypt was no menace to him and the bickering's among the various petty kings could at any time furnish him a pretext for invading the country that he was determined to prevent the union of these princes was proved by the great campaign against tefnacht and his allies he had no idea of holding the country but retired after having effectively choked tefnacht's attempt to unite the various petty states into a great kingdom section two the 24th dynasty seatic bc 734 to 728 becken renf the only king of this dynasty seems to have succeeded in doing what tefnacht had attempted over 19 years before according to diodorus who calls him bocoris he was the son of tefnachtos who was no doubt identical with tefnacht for about six years he ruled undisturbed by the ethiopians all we know of him from the monuments is that he buried an apus at menthys in the sixth year of his reign in ethiopia kasha had succeeded pyanghi this monarch was married to shepan apet a daughter of king usarken of bubastis their son shabaka succeeded him and immediately determined to conquer egypt he could lay a certain claim to the egyptian throne as his mother was a daughter of the last bubastide king in invading the country he defeated becken renf manathos states that he burned him alive and compelled the various petty kings to acknowledge his sovereignty section three the 25th dynasty ethiopians the assyrian invasions 728 to 645 bc shabaka the sabacon of the greeks saw the bible and shabae of the assyrians 728 to 726 bc herodotus relates that sabacon the ethiopian had conquered egypt and had left it after a reign of 50 years in consequence of a dream diodorus comes near the truth when he states that four ethiopian kings ruled egypt for 36 years shabaka took the title of king of upper and lower egypt but appointed his sister ama nerdas who was married to a man named pyanghi region to the country the greek authors praise this ruler highly he is reputed to have abolished capital punishment substituting hard labor for it this pharaoh became mixed up in asiatic affairs king hosia of israel had joined other assyrian monarchs in a rebellion against salman asr the fourth king of assyria and the allies had sent to shabaka asking his assistance the plot was discovered hosia was called to assyria and thrown into prison salman asr invested samaria about 725 bc but died before the city fell his successor sarukinu sargon the second continued the siege and took the city in 722 bc shortly after a new coalition was formed at the head of which stood king illubid of hamath this coalition embraced besides hamath arpad semaira damascus gaza and egypt sargon however was too quick for the allies before shabaka could join them sargon met and routed their forces at karkar he now moved southward and met shabaka who had meanwhile been joined by king hano of gaza at raffia the allies were badly defeated and hano was taken prisoner 720 bc sargon could not follow up his victory and invade egypt as events had meanwhile occurred in the north which called him to the new seat of war but he had gained his purpose shabaka was badly crippled and even sent tribute this pharaoh died about 716 bc shabbataka 715 to 703 bc the successor of shabaka is a king of whom we do not know much despite the fact that he reigned 12 years he seems to have done little in asia he did not interfere probably the defeat of shabaka at raffia had been so complete as either to cripple egypt for years or at least to discourage her rulers from attacking asiria again taharka 702 to 662 bc this king was in all probability not of royal parentage but came to the throne by marrying shabataka's widow he was 20 years of age when he ascended the throne young and active he was willing to restore to egypt its former prestige meanwhile sargon had been assassinated and his son sin ahi arib san harib had ascended the assyrian throne 705 bc immediately a new coalition was formed against asiria elia leis of tyre hasakia of juda and zidka of ascalon formed a league and called upon taharka for assistance marduk balladeen the kaldian ruler of babalon was also drawn into the league and conducted negotiations with hasakia king padi of akkaron who would refuse to join the rebels was deposed and turned over to hasakia this mighty coalition if properly handled would have been a match for the assyrians but san harib was too quick for them in 701 bc he entered syria and subdued alia leis then going south he took ascalon and akkaron at al-taqoo he met and defeated taharka who had attempted to check him after taking al-taqoo and some other towns san harib marched on jerusalem hasakia submitted and padi was restored to his kingdom the rebellion was not however crushed as yet hasakia continued his negotiations with taharka who had returned to egypt to collect a new army san harib hearing of this accused the jewish king of treason and threatened him with destruction relying on johova and the king of egypt hasakia boldly held out jerusalem was besieged meanwhile taharka was coming to the aid of his ally with a new army san harib advanced to meet him but his army was so reduced by pestilence that he had to retire without giving battle the story of the bible is well known the angel of the lord smoked the assyrian army in the night and 185 000 men died where upon san harib had to retire roditus has a somewhat different version of the affair he relates that after the ethiopian sabakon a pious priest of tah named sephos ruled in egypt he denied his soldiers certain privileges and thus gained their enmity when san harib king of the arabians and assyrians marched against egypt they refused to fight and sephos was placed in a sad predicament he prayed to the gods for aid and they sent out mice that aid up the bows and belts of the assyrian army encamped about palusium during the night so that the egyptian merchants and mechanics could easily defeat them next day the first assyrian invasion san harib never returned to palestine he was assassinated in 681 bc and his son aser haddon ashur ah iddin ascended the throne trouble between him and taharka began in 672 bc when king baal of tyre relying on promises of assistance from taharka rebelled against assyria aser haddon now determined to put an end to egyptian interference a detachment of his army besieged tyre while the main body marched against egypt the prince of the bedouins dwelling on the egyptian border gladly furnished camels and water and thus the difficult march from rafia to palusium was accomplished without serious loss taharka seems to have offered but little resistance for the assyrian army entered memthus and soon after thebes also was taken and sacked taharka fled to ethiopia after these victories aser haddon styled himself king of musur lower egypt patrus upper egypt and kush ethiopia the land itself was left under the control of 20 independent petty sovereigns as follows one niku nakao of mimbi memthus and sai sayas two saruladari of dzirnu three pisanghu of nathu nathu four bakruru of bishoptu persupt the capital of the nomus arabia the 20th low egyptian gnome five al-hat-hiribi hathariad atheribus six seven tenas eight nine of tamutti cebnuter sebenethos ten poohama pimaay of bindidi perbanabded equals mendis 11 sudzinku sheshenk of pusiri perusiri biusiris 12 tapnachti tefnacht of punubu pernub 13 14 15 of pisabdinuti 16 17. Ziha of Tziautu, Siut. 18. Lamintu of Himuni, Khmonu. 19. Ishbimatu of Ta'ani, Teni, This. 20. Man-tipiangchi, Mentu-emhat of Nir, Thebes. It is impossible for us to identify those of the Assyrian names of Egyptian princes and cities, the Egyptian names of which we have not given. The mightiest of these princes was Nekhau, Assyrian Niku, Greek Neko, Prince of Memphis and Seis, according to Manethos 671-663 BC. He was the favourite of Acerhadn. At this monarch's request Nekhau changed the name of Seis to Karbal Matati, Garden of the Lord of Lands, and gave his son Psentec, the Assyrian name, Nabu Shizib Anni. Shortly after the conquest of Egypt, Acerhadn resigned the crown in favour of his son, Acerbanipal, about 668 BC. 20. The second Assyrian invasion. This change in the rulers of Assyria encouraged to Harkha to attempt the delivery of Egypt from Assyrian rule. He advanced on Thebes, Assyrian Nile, and Mentu-emhat, Assyrian Man-tipiangchi, received him with open arms, hailing him as a deliverer. Memphis was taken soon after, and the Ethiopian proceeded to make himself at home in Egypt. When Acerbanipal heard of this he had once determined to punish the Ethiopians. He advanced to Karbalna, a town north of Memphis where he met an utterly routed Taharkha's forces. The king himself, who had remained at Memphis on hearing of this defeat, had once fled to Thebes, which city he abandoned on the approach of the Assyrian army without a battle, about 667 BC. 21. Meanwhile the Egyptian princes under the leadership of Nekau of Seis, Charlotteari of Tannis, and Pakruru of Persopt had opened negotiations with Taharkha, inviting him to renew his attack and promising their support. Their letters were, however, intercepted and the conspirators were arrested. Proof against them was not wanting, but the Assyrian king evidently thought it wise policy not to punish them. They were left in possession of their holdings, but had to swear allegiance to Acerbanipal. Nekau, the favourite of his father, was sent home loaded down with presents, and his son, Naboo Shezibani, was appointed Governor General of Egypt. Acerbanipal hoped to gain a powerful ally in this manner, and he was not disappointed. In the Greek accounts Taharkha figures as a great hero and conqueror. Strabo relates that he reached the columns of Hercules, the westernmost point of Northern Africa on one of his campaigns, and according to Megasthenes he led his army to India, and thence to the Pontus and Thrace. In his inscriptions he poses as a mighty conqueror. Fourteen Negro tribes are mentioned as subdued in Ethiopia. The list of conquered nations he had inscribed on the walls of the temple of Karnak is copied word for word from that of Ramses II, and even mentions, among other states, Acer, while we know he was several times whipped by the Assyrians. At Gebel Barkal he built two temples, and at Karnak he repaired portions of the great temple of Amun Ra and of the temple of Mut. He died about 664 BC. Tanuat Amun and the third Assyrian invasion. The stepson of Taharkha ascended the Ethiopian throne about 664 BC. An inscription found at the Gebel Barkal relates that this king had been encouraged by a dream that promised him the crown of Egypt to invade that country. The Lefentine and Thebes hailed him as a deliverer. Memphis resisted, but was taken after a battle. It is very probable that Nekau, prince of Memphis and Seas, who died about this time, 664 BC, fell in one of the battles with Tanuat Amun. When he was at Memphis a deputation of Egyptian princes, headed by Pakruru of Persopt, offered their submission. The others withdrew to their fortresses and refused to yield. Tanuat Amun evidently did not feel strong enough to attack them, and preferred to return to Memphis, where he had long theological arguments with those princes who submitted. When Assurbanapal heard of this new Ethiopian invasion by Urdamani, as the Assyrian inscriptions called Tanuat Amun, he sent an army against him. The Ethiopians immediately withdrew before the approach of the Assyrians and fled to Ethiopia. Thus about 662 BC was driven from Egypt, the last Ethiopian king who dared invade the country.