A History of Egypt

A H I S TORY OF E GYPT FROM TH E END OF T HE NEO LITH I C PERIOD TO ’ HE D TH C L P T EA OF EO ATRA R C ; 3 0 VOL . V . E GYPT UND E R RAME S E S THE G R E AT ' 1030o onlBnt anb ct balbaea E G Y P T UND ER RA M E S E S TH E WA LLI . S I UD E A G M . A . L TT , I . D . 13 . e . i , , K E E PE R OF TH E E GY PTI A N A ND A S S YRI A N A NTIQ U I TI E S I N TH E B R ITI S H M US E U M 3 3 3 0 3 3 3 D 3 3 3 3 3 3 ) 3 D ) ) D 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 0 3 3 3 3 ) 3 3 3 3 3 0 3 o 0 0 0 $ 0 ) 3 3 3 3 3 3 9 3 3 3 0 3 3 3 3 3 ) 3 3 0 3 3 0 3 3 3 j ILLUS TRATED 0 3 3 3 o 3 3 3 0 3 3 3 0 3 3 3 3 3 0 ) 3 3 ) 0 0 0 3 3 0 3 3 o 3 g " 3 0 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 .3 3 NEW YORK H E NRY FROW D E O X F O R D U N I V E R S IT Y P R E S S AMERICAN BRANCH 1 902 a". P R E FA C E THE pe riod of Egyptia nHistory treated of in the present u n a I . vol me begins with the reig of R meses , the first XI Xth D king of the ynasty , and ends with that of XI I XXt h Rameses , the last king of the Dynasty , and the narrative describes the principal events which took place in Egypt and the various portions of her a n A m B C . 1 400 Nubi and siatic Empire fro about . to 1 1 3 0 . This period is one of great interest, for n I in it are i cluded the reigns of Seti . , and Rameses III Me ne htha h u II . , and Rameses . , and p , nder which Egypt attained to a very high state of prosperity , and became the mis tress of the trade of the Re d Sea and M i e S r of the ed terran an ea . The count y was not given up to the making of military expeditions and raids , as n XVI I Ith u der the great kings of the Dynasty, but it has been truly said that the gene ral wealth of the n III country was greater d u ring the reig of Rameses . Thothme s III than during that of L . , althNough the hold of Egypt upon her Syrian , ibyan , and ubian posses n r s sions was les s stro g and less secu e . The addition vi PRE FACE “ - Ré o the to the temple of Amen , the king of the g ds , o t he t wo lord of the thr nes of lands (or, the world), which were made by Seti I . and his son Rameses II . , and the lavish endowments and gifts made to the A o H temples of Thebes , byd s , and eliopolis , prove that the m n n wealth of these o archs was exceedi gly great , ” a nd the splendour of the capitals of the South and the North during their rule was never equalled either under the preceding or succeeding dynasties . The ruins of Thebes and Tanis t estify alike to the magnificence of mu nific e nc e the the temples, the of the kings , and m d prosperity of the country . The interest of o ern investigators has centred chiefly in the “ reign of Rameses II . , and in the exploits of this king, but a little consideration shows that his greatness was due more ' to the general condition of the country and to the great length of his reign than to the ability which n he displayed in the rule of his kingdom . His ge erals and their armies were strong enough to guard Egypt i against invas on , but they added nothing to the empire in of Egypt, and, spite of the boastful description of his victory over the Kheta which Rameses II . caused n l to be i scribed on the wal s of his temples , and the - flown Pe nt a u rt high utterances of the courtier scribe , it is clear that the king was unable completely to vanquish the league of nations and tribes which fought the with Kheta against him , and that it was only with difficulty that he succeeded in keeping his hold upon any part of Palestine and Syria . The famous treaty PRE FAC E VII of Rameses II . with the Kheta proves beyond doubt that the king of Egypt was obliged to acknowledge i i n the r ndependence, and to recog ize the authority of i - e the r prince Kheta sar , and to nter into obligations which would prevent him frominvading their country in the future . When we consider the vast amount of spoil which the Egyptians took during their expedi i N XVI II th t ons in orthern Syria under the Dynasty, — d it is tolerably certain that Rameses II . woul not have made the treaty he did except under the strongest ' pressure . It is, of course , possible , though improbable, that he was led to act as he did because he wished to develop trade between the merchants of the rapidly growing cities of the Delta and those of Northern “ Syria . The Kheta wars were the chief military events of the reign of Rameses II . , and the result of them , as d far as Egypt was concerne , was a reduction of her o O domini ns . n the other hand, the arts and sciences flourished , and the noble buildings of every kind which ’ Sprang up as if by magic in all the great centres of religious thought prove that the skill of the architect , and the artist , and the workman was as great as it had ever been ; their style was not so good as that of the I Vth XI I th and Dynasties, but this was due both to n change of ideas and taste amo g the Egyptians , and to the influence which was exerted on the arts and crafts ffi by foreign intercourse and tra cking . When Rameses di u ri h II . ed he left his country in a comparatively flo s n ing conditio , but his empire was crumbling away , and vfii P RE FAC E the events which took place und er Me ne phtha h prove that the nations ar ound we r e only waiting for his d t i U ea h to invade Egyptian terr tory . nder Rameses III . the Libyans and the Syrians with their allies D made a strong attack upon the elta , and it says much for the ability of his generals and the administration of the his forces that Egyptians were victorious . This king appears to have been the first Pharaoh who con structed fleets of boats which could be used both for U the purpose of war and of trade . nder the succeeding w Rameses kings the po er of Egypt declined rapidly , - and the poverty stricken condition of Thebes , the capital of the South , is well illustrated by the fact that the priests of Am en - Ré were obliged to make Rameses IX . authorize them to levy taxes on the people for the maintenance of the temple of their god . The papyri of the period tell us that the royal tombs of Thebes were plundered , and that the mummies of many of the great Pharaohs were stripped of every “ ” of w Der thing value , and we kno from the finds at e l - Bahari that the sacrile gious thieves even broke the royal remains in pieces . The Governments of Rameses IX . and Rameses X . prosecuted the robbers and violators of the tombs , but the examination of the witnesses revealed the fact that the pillaging of t he abodes of the dead was carried on in a systematic manner with the connivance of certain highly - placed ffi i o c als , and , apparently, the wrecking of the royal mummies and plundering of their funeral furniture PRE FAC E ix ue . M contin d eanwhile the priests , finding that the later Rameses kings were unable to support the great Ame ne Ra in brotherhood of , lost no opportunity of a t creasing their hold upon Thebes , and length , on the d t he death of Rameses XII . , they bol ly assumed r - gove nment of the country , and their high priest , - H H u . er eru, surped the throne In connexion with the reign of Me ne phtha h a chapter has been added in the present volume on the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt . In it an attempt has been made to consider the narrative of the Exodus given by Josephus in the light of recently ascertained facts , and the unhistorical character of many parts of it is made plain ; that Manetho preserved in his History of Egypt an Egyptian tradition of a great exodus of the foreigners from Delta there is no reason to doubt, ’ but until we have this writer s account of it in his own words no ' final opinion of its value historically can be arrived at .

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