Shishak I. and the Twenty-second (Bubastite)
Dynasty—The Ethiopian Kings—The Assyrians in
Egypt—Sack of Thebes. (_Circa_ 970-666 B.C.)
It might seem as though the name of Rameses had power sufficient to
hold together the fabric of the state so long as the twentieth dynasty
was on the throne. With the dethronement and exile of the Ramessid
kings, all unity was at an end. Her-hor had claimed the sovereignty of
all Egypt, but his successors ruled over a diminishing territory, and
the dominion of the last of the priest-kings did not probably extend
much, if at all, beyond the Thebaid. Whilst they had been reigning
at Thebes, an independent dynasty (regarded indeed by Manetho as the
twenty-first), ruled in the Delta, having its seat at Tanis, _i.e._
Zoan. But the Delta had long been the home of naturalised foreigners
of different nationalities, and amongst them were settlers bearing
Assyrian names—warlike and ambitious men, apparently of distinguished
birth, who intermarried with princesses of the Ramessid family, and
succeeded in founding the twenty-second dynasty. The names of the
family who thus came to the front are clearly not Egyptian,—Nimruth,
Usarkon, Takelath are the Assyrian Nimrod, Sargon, and Tiglath; but
whilst their names point to an Assyrian origin, their religion and
customs had become purely Egyptian, even before they set up their
throne at Bubastis.[79] The first sovereign of this dynasty was
Sheshenk (the Shishak of the Old Testament), who gained the ascendency
over the whole land, and drove the last of the priest-kings to take
refuge in Nubia. The city of Napata, standing on the bank of the Nile,
and near a lofty hill known as the Holy Mountain, became the seat
of the sacerdotal kings. It was a fertile, prosperous, and peaceful
region, and its people, long ago completely Egyptianised, were devoted
to the worship of Amen-Ra. Here the priest-kings disappeared from
sight, but not for ever.
It has been conjectured that the founders of the twenty-second or
Bubastite dynasty may have been fugitives of high birth from Assyria,
who had been hospitably received and honourably entertained in Egypt.
The fortunes of Assyria were indeed at this time at a very low ebb,
after having risen very high. The long-continued struggle between
Assyria and Babylon already alluded to (p. 215) had ended in the
complete ascendency of the former state. About the middle of the
twelfth century, the first Assyrian empire rose, and lasted for about
seventy years. It was an empire based on mere military ascendency, was
maintained by force and cruelty, and rested on no enduring foundation.
The Kings of Assyria subdued Babylon, and conquered the Hittites (the
Kheta of Rameses II.) and other neighbouring nations. But in process
of time the Hittites rose in arms, and were joined by the Babylonians
(ever restless under the Assyrian supremacy), and the Assyrian empire
fell before their combined attack. For some time, it would seem, there
was not even an independent sovereign reigning at Nineveh.
The time was propitious for the growth and development of new states.
Assyria was prostrate, Babylon unaggressive, Egypt inert, the Hittites
content with their newly recovered independence.
The cities of Phœnicia, on the coast of Palestine, were engaged, as
of old, in busy commerce throughout the known world, coming even so
far as to the British Isles in quest of tin. They colonised, but did
not conquer other lands. Their religion, with its cruel and licentious
rites, was the same as that of the neighbouring Canaanitish tribes, but
the latter were probably greatly inferior in civilisation; they still
maintained their ground in certain parts of Palestine.
During the times of the Judges there had been no national unity
amongst the Israelites—no central controlling power; they were still
in the tribal state. The Philistines, a small but strong and warlike
nationality, settled in the southern towns of the sea-coast, almost
expelled them from the land. Disarmed and helpless, they were furtively
hiding in the caves of the limestone hills, when, under the energetic
leadership of Saul, they arose to repel the foe. The Philistines were
defeated, but the strife continued, and in the end the monarchy of Saul
was overthrown. It was reserved for David to subdue these inveterate
foes, to capture Jerusalem from the Canaanites, and make it the centre
of a kingdom which he enlarged by continual wars with the neighbouring
states, until he bequeathed to Solomon an Israelitish empire—peaceful,
wealthy, and magnificent whilst it lasted, but destined scarcely to
outlast the generation that had seen its foundation. Between the
sovereign of this new empire and the ancient monarchy of Egypt there
was close friendship and alliance, and a ‘daughter of Pharaoh’[80]
became Queen of Israel. Close commercial intercourse was also kept
up. Hitherto, the Israelites had been content to employ asses and
mules, and their troops had consisted of infantry only, but Solomon
introduced horses and chariots in great numbers from the land of Egypt,
both for domestic use and for military service. It may be possible to
trace Egyptian influence in the Israelitish court. It may have kindled
the love of Solomon for natural history, or have suggested his first
expedition to the land of spices; it may have moulded certain parts of
the architecture of temple and of palace, or have left its traces on
the literature of the time. All this is possible, though little more
than guesswork. Nor did the alliance last long; it was sundered even
before luxury and despotism had undermined and overthrown the empire
of Solomon. Sheshenk I., the founder of the twenty-second dynasty, was
on the Egyptian throne when the fugitive Jeroboam arrived in Egypt—his
heart full of his ambitious schemes, and on the death of Solomon it was
not with his son, but with his rebellious servant Jeroboam that the
Egyptian monarchy was in alliance. Shishak marched into Judah, entered
Jerusalem, and carried off thence the treasures both of the temple and
palace of King Solomon. The Levites, throughout the land, had remained
faithful to the house of David and the service of the temple, and
Shishak, it appears, captured and despoiled many of their cities, even
those that lay in the kingdom of Israel. The names of all the towns
subdued by him in this campaign are recorded on the walls of the temple
at Karnak.
The hostility of the Levites to the rule of Jeroboam is easy to
understand, as he set up a rival worship of his own at Dan and Bethel,
and appointed priests of his own selection. The form assumed by the
objects of this worship might very possibly have been adopted by
Jeroboam in remembrance of what he had seen in Egypt, and even as a
pledge of his alliance with its king. Never, indeed, had the worship
of Apis reached so extravagant a pitch as under this dynasty. In the
Serapeum, the burial-place of the sacred bulls, are still preserved the
tablets which tell of their installation, death, and interment. ‘On
such a day of the month and year,’ say the records, ‘this great god
was carried to his rest in the beautiful region of the west—at rest
with the great gods—with Osiris, and with the gods and goddesses of
the west. His glory was sought for in all places of Pi-tomih (Lower
Egypt). He was found after some months in the city of Hashed-abtu,
after they had searched through all the lakes and islands. He was
solemnly introduced into the temple of Ptah, beside his father Ptah.’
The date is carefully given, and the full lifetime of the ‘god.’ The
burial of the Apis was on a scale of regal magnificence, and a national
mourning of seventy days was observed. The finding of a successor[81]
and his installation was celebrated with the wildest exultation, and
with national rejoicing. Little room is left for the idea of symbol or
sign; the sacred creature is an emanation of the Divine, is a ‘god,’
and as such the object of the grossest and most grotesque idolatry.
An indescribable national enthusiasm gathered around the Apis—he was
lodged with sumptuous magnificence, the centre of a crowd of devotees
and of those who came to learn the secrets of the future.[82] The
successive deaths and interments of the Apis bulls, form, in fact, very
nearly all the events recorded during the reigns of the eight kings who
succeeded the warlike Shishak. Takelath II., the sixth in succession of
this dynasty, sent his son Usarkon, who had been appointed high priest
of Amen, to Thebes, to examine and to regulate the temple endowments
there. The same inscription tells of some celestial portent which
excited general attention, and was considered to portend trouble at
hand.
[Illustration: THE WORSHIP OF APIS.
FROM A STATUETTE IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.]
Celestial omens were hardly needed to tell that dark days were near.
The last kings of the twenty-second dynasty had to contend with rival
princes who founded dynasties in the Delta, and, in the hopeless
confusion arising from the mutual jealousies and struggles for
supremacy amongst these contending families, the descendants of the
priest-kings, closely watching the course of events from their Nubian
retreat,[83] beheld the long looked-for opportunity arrived. About the
middle of the eighth century B.C., they had already established their
dominion at Thebes, where they had been warmly welcomed, and they were
putting forth claims to a supremacy over the whole land. One of the
warring princes in the north, Tafnekht, ruler of Sais, had at the same
time formed a scheme for reducing the country to his allegiance. He was
commander of the mercenary troops, who, in such unsettled times, might
well avail to turn the balance in favour of any warlike and ambitious
leader. Of the conflict that ensued we possess a full and interesting
account, recorded in an inscription at Napata by Piankhi-meramen, the
ruler of the south. Disquieting intelligence reached the king in his
Nubian stronghold. Tafnekht ‘was advancing up the river; multitudes of
soldiers followed him, and the chiefs and governors were like dogs at
his feet. No fortress was closed to him; the cities had opened their
gates at his approach.’ Thebes was in consternation, and appealed to
Piankhi against the invader: ‘Art thou silent and forgetful of the
southern land as well as of the middle country?’
Piankhi despatched troops without delay; at their setting forth the
priest-king solemnly enjoined them to perform all due ceremonial rites
and purifications on entering the city of Thebes. ‘Lay down your arms
before the Divine Leader; there is no victory gained over men without
his knowledge. Glorious deeds hath he wrought by his mighty arm; many
shall be turned back by a few, one man shall put a thousand to flight.
Prostrate yourselves before him, and say: “Cover for us the path of
war with the shadow of thy scimitar, grant strength unto the young men
whom thou hast appointed, that they may cast down many ten thousands.”‘
The army of Piankhi encountered the enemy, and defeated them. King
Nimrod,[84] ruler of Hermopolis, one of the confederated princes,
hearing of their victorious advance, hastened to shut himself up in
his city, and prepared to stand a siege. Piankhi‘s troops continued to
be successful in repeated encounters with the foe, but their king was
not content, for Hermopolis was untaken. Priests had been accustomed
to appear on the battle-field from the days of old, so that there was
nothing anomalous in Piankhi’s now girding on the sword and appearing
in person on the scene. ‘Behold, they have made a stand!’ he cried
reproachfully to his forces; ‘you have fought them without courage;
will you not complete the pursuit, spreading the fear of my name even
unto the north of the land of Egypt?’
Animated by the presence of the king, the troops now pressed the
siege with redoubled energy, and the town surrendered ‘prostrate in
supplication before the face of the sovereign.’ Nimrod first sent his
wife and the princesses to intercede with the conqueror, and afterwards
offered his own humble submission with many gifts, which Piankhi
graciously accepted. He entered Hermopolis, and, on examining the state
of things in general, was roused to anger by discovering that certain
horses there had been left without sufficient food. He expressed the
bitterest displeasure,—‘Vile are they to my heart that have starved my
horses; more is this than any other abomination that thou, O Nimrod,
hast wrought altogether!’
After this decisive victory, other princes and governors came in and
offered their submission; and various towns surrendered to the promised
clemency of the conqueror. Mertum, indeed, had closed its gates; but
‘his majesty sent to them, saying, “Two ways are before you; choose as
you will—open and live; shut the gates and die. His majesty does not
pass by any closed fort.” And lo! they opened forthwith.’
Meantime Tafnekht had thrown himself into Memphis with 8000 men,
both soldiers and marines; he had provisioned it carefully and
strengthened the fortifications. King Piankhi, says the story, ‘found
the lofty walls strengthened with new works, and the bulwarks fitted
up with great strength. There was no way found to assault it.’ But
Tafnekht himself slipped away as soon as the siege began; his troops
(probably the mercenaries), deprived of the encouragement of their
leader’s presence, were disheartened, and Memphis yielded to a
combined assault by land and water. ‘The city was taken as by a storm
of rain; multitudes were slain within it, or brought as captives to
his majesty.’ Next day, Piankhi entered, as was his custom in every
captured town, the temples; there he offered sacrifices to Ptah and to
the other gods.
Piankhi afterwards visited the ancient and far-famed City of the Sun,
not far from Memphis. There he ‘offered oblations on the waters of
the lake of Horns; he purified himself in the heart of the cool lake,
bathing his face in the stream of the sacred waters, wherein Ra bathes
his countenance daily.’ Then on the sandy heights of On he made ‘a
great sacrifice before the face of Ra at his rising.’ The priest-king
then demanded admission into the innermost sanctuary and to the sacred
shrine of the god.
The chief priest, possibly somewhat dismayed, offered intercession for
the king, duly purified him with incense and sprinkling, and brought
him garlands from the temple of the obelisks. He girded on the sacred
vestments, and, passing through the outer halls, advanced within the
most holy place. ‘The king stood himself, the great one alone; he drew
the bolt, he threw back the doors, he saw the face of his father Ra in
the temple, and on the sacred bark. Then he closed the doors, and set
thereon seals of clay marked with the royal signet, and he commanded
the priests, saying: “I have set my seal; let no other king whatever
enter therein.”’[85]
During his stay at Memphis the king received the submission and the
tributary offerings of all the petty governors and kings, but of those
who sought to enter the royal presence none were admitted but Nimrod,
because ‘he was not an eater of fish,[86] a thing forbidden in the
royal palace.’
Tafnekht did not appear in person from his distant retreat; he sent
his submission by an embassy—‘Hail to thee! I could not look upon
thy face nor stand before thy terror. I have reached the islands of
the Mediterranean. Behold! thy servant is cleansed from his pride. I
beseech thee to take my goods into thy treasury, the gold and all the
precious stones. O send a messenger unto me as a reconciler.’ Piankhi,
after having received the submission of the confederated opponents,
returned to Thebes with great rejoicing and triumph.
It is very doubtful, however, whether the supremacy, thus triumphantly
acquired, was maintained even so long as during Piankhi’s own lifetime.
His successor, Nutmeramen, was moved by a dream to reconquer it. ‘His
majesty beheld two snakes, one to his right, the other to his left, and
when he awoke he found them no more. He said: “Explain these things to
me in a moment,” and lo! they explained it to him, saying: “Thou wilt
have the southern lands, and thou shalt seize upon the northern, and
both crowns shall be set upon thy head.”’
The king, collecting a numerous army, advanced down the stream, and met
with no opposition until he reached Memphis. Here he gained a victory,
whereupon the ‘chiefs of the north’ entered their walled towns, so
that there was no reaching their retreats. A pause ensued, neither
party seeming willing to take further steps. However, the suspense
ended by a voluntary surrender of the northern princes, who came to
Memphis to offer their homage, and were gladly received and hospitably
entertained. Being dismissed from the royal presence, they returned to
their respective governments, and the ‘men of the north’ sailed up to
the place where his majesty was, to offer gifts and tribute in token of
fealty.
The power of the twenty-fifth or ‘Ethiopian’ dynasty was gradually
increasing and consolidating itself; its supremacy was in the end
recognised in some sort throughout the land, although in Lower Egypt it
was always uncertain and precarious. The descendants of the ‘chiefs of
the north’ never rendered more than a reluctant and sullen obedience to
the rulers from the south. The successors of Piankhi, however, were not
content to rule, as he had done, from their distant seat in Napata, but
they set up their throne in the heart of Egypt itself, claiming and, as
far as possible, exercising the rights of an over-lord.
Stormy times were close at hand, and a strong hand and a resolute will
would be wanted at the helm. The Assyrian power, reviving from its
deep depression, had gradually gained strength. Tiglath-Pileser II.
(744-726 B.C.) was the founder of the second Assyrian empire, destined
to be for more than a century the scourge of every neighbouring nation,
and the dread of those that were far off. The lesser states that
had risen to power on the fall of the first Assyrian empire, instead
of friendly alliance against a common foe, continued the policy of
mutual rivalry and bitter antagonism—thus preparing the way for the
conqueror’s feet. The two kingdoms into which the empire of Solomon had
been split were at enmity with each other, and both were constantly
at feud with the king of Syria. On the accession of the feeble Ahaz
to the throne of Judah he was sore pressed by the assaults of the
Edomites and Philistines, and panic-stricken by the news of a coalition
formed by the kings of Syria and Israel to dethrone him and set up a
creature of their own in his place. ‘At that time did Ahaz send to the
kings of Assyria to help him.’ In an evil hour he declared himself the
vassal of Tiglath-Pileser, and confiscated the treasures of the temple,
as an offering to his new master. In swift response the Assyrian
king advanced, took Damascus, carried its people away captive, and
destroyed the power of Syria with a blow. With another fell swoop he
desolated the Israelitish territory east of the Jordan, and carried
into captivity the tribes who dwelt there. His successor, Shalmaneser,
crossed the Jordan, and marching upon Samaria, reduced Hoshea, king of
Israel, to vassalage. It was not long, however, before Hoshea threw off
the Assyrian yoke, ceased to pay tribute, and sought the aid of Shebek
(or Sabaco, the So of 2 Kings xvii. 4), who had succeeded Piankhi on
the throne. But the forces sent by Shebek, or by some of the other
princes of the north, were routed, and Hoshea carried prisoner to
Assyria—‘cut off like foam upon the water.’ The siege of Samaria was
begun, but Shalmaneser died soon after. It was his successor Sargon,
who not only captured Ashdod, after defeating the Egypto-Ethiopian
forces, who aided in its defence, but brought the siege of Samaria to
a close 721 B.C., and carried the people of the land into captivity.
Egypt, unable to afford any efficient help, seems to have become an
asylum of some of the ‘outcasts of Israel.’[87]
Ahaz of Judah appears to have continued submissive and tributary to
the end of his days, but his son Hezekiah inaugurated a nobler policy.
He cast off the Assyrian yoke, and sought the alliance of Taharak
(Tirhakah), king of Ethiopia and Egypt. Tirhakah, at the early age of
twenty, began his troubled and eventful reign. Many years had to be
spent in assuring his own sovereignty over the land he claimed to rule.
That land was, as he must have known, the prize on which the Assyrian
kings had ‘cast their eyes,’ but, whilst his grasp of the central power
was so uncertain, inaction and delay appeared the safest policy—‘their
strength was to sit still’ (Isa. xxx. 7.) The Delta being always in a
state of disaffection and disunion, it was no easy task to undertake
military enterprises beyond the borders—‘city’ being ever ready to
‘fight against city, and kingdom against kingdom’ (see Isa. xix. 2).
Meantime the rush of Assyrian invasion had swept over Palestine. Sargon
had attacked Ashdod; Sennacherib directed his march upon Lachish; both
lay on the road that led to Egypt, towards which country the Assyrians
had been gradually creeping nearer and nearer across the ruins of
conquered states.
Forty-six fenced cities of Judah, besides many smaller towns, were
taken and plundered by the invaders, and Hezekiah was ‘shut up in
Jerusalem like a bird in his cage.’ The king of Judah delayed no longer
to send his humble submission, and the arrears of his unpaid tribute,
to Sennacherib encamped before Lachish. But the submission was hollow
and the tribute extorted, for Hezekiah was in treaty with Egypt all
the while. His messengers made the weary journey through the burning
desert, their camels and asses laden with gifts and offerings,[88] to
implore the aid of the king, who seems then to have been at Zoan in the
Delta—preparing at last to march against the foe. Nor was the haughty
Assyrian monarch unaware of the secret hopes of the king of Judah.
He had captured Lachish, with the cruel massacre and torture of the
captives that usually accompanied Assyrian conquests. His attack upon
Libnah was postponed, for tidings came that Tirhakah, at the head of
the Egypto-Ethiopian army, had crossed the frontiers. Aware of the
secret understanding between that sovereign and the king of Judah,
Sennacherib vented his bitter indignation and scorn in menaces and
insult. He now demanded from Hezekiah nothing less than unconditional
and absolute surrender, and taunted him with his vain reliance upon
that ‘broken reed,’ the king of Egypt. At this crisis silence falls
upon the scene, a silence broken only by the exulting cry of the great
Hebrew prophet, as the mighty Assyrian host perishes before an unseen
foe.
Judah breathed freely again, and a respite was accorded to Egypt,
though not of long duration. Sennacherib, though engaged in many
warlike enterprises during the remainder of his reign, left it to his
successor Esar-haddon (680-668 B.C.), to renew the attempt upon Egypt.
Judah was unmolested this time, and took no part in the terrible and
desolating struggle that ensued.
Tirhakah had entered into an alliance with the king of Tyre, against
the common foe. Esar-haddon laid siege to Tyre, and then, advancing
along the old military road, trodden of old by the armies of Thothmes
and of Rameses in the opposite direction, he entered Egypt. Tirhakah
was defeated, and retreated to the south; the Assyrian king annexed the
whole country, portioning it out into twenty districts, over which he
placed governors to rule, as vassals in his name. Then, concluding a
treaty with Tirhakah, he returned to Nineveh. Soon after he fell sick,
and associated his son Assur-bani-pal in the government. It is from
the records left by the latter that we learn the proceedings both of
his father and of himself in Egypt. Tirhakah, probably on hearing of
the illness of Esar-haddon, emerged from his retreat, and advancing
north, regardless of his treaty, occupied Memphis, and expelled the
Assyrian garrisons and governors. They fled to Nineveh, and told what
had happened; Assur-bani-pal immediately assembled a large army, and
entered Egypt. ‘When Tirhakah had heard in the city of Memphis of the
approach of my army,’ says the king, ‘he numbered his hosts, and drew
them up in battle array. In a fierce battle he was put to flight. Fear
seized upon him, and he escaped from Memphis, the city of his honour,
and fled away in ships to save himself alive. He came to Nia, to the
great city. I sent my servants after him; a journey of one month and
ten days. Then he left Thebes, the city of his empire, and went up the
river. My soldiers made a slaughter in that city.’ Assur-ban-ipal then
reinstated the governors in their respective districts, and returned to
Nineveh with great spoil. But Tirhakah, undaunted by defeat, came forth
once more from the Nubian hills, and the vassal governors entered into
a league with him. Many of them were Egyptian by birth, and unwilling
subjects of the Assyrian king, and all were for the moment more afraid
of Tirhakah, who was so near at hand, than of the distant power of
Assyria. News, however, soon reached Nineveh of what was going on.
Letters had been intercepted by ‘judges,’ and the insurgent vassals
were sent to Nineveh bound hand and foot in chains. Assur-bani-pal
once more took the field, breathing vengeance and slaughter. He found
it politic, however, to restore Necho,[89] prince of Memphis, chief
of the rebellious vassals, and to uphold him against Tirhakah. But the
hand of the Assyrian was heavy on the land. ‘Memphis, Sais, Mendes,
and Zoan,’ he says, ‘and all the cities they had led away with them,
I took by storm, putting to death both small and great.’ Soon after
this the gallant Tirhakah died, after a reign of twenty-six years, and
his successor, Urdamaneh, following in his steps, occupied Thebes, and
once more attempted to wrest Egypt from the invader. Assur-bani-pal
took the field in person, and again compelled his foe to retire to the
far south. On Thebes he took dire vengeance. ‘My warriors attacked the
city, and razed it to the ground like a thunderbolt.’ Thebes certainly
was not ‘razed to the ground,’ as the proud conqueror boasts, but
the destruction was terrible, and the city never recovered the blow.
‘Gold and silver, the treasures of the land, precious stones, horses,
men and women, huge apes from the mountains—my soldiers took out
of the midst of the city as spoil. They brought it to Nineveh, the
city of my dominion, and they kissed my feet.’ Not far from Nineveh
there was living at this time an exile from Israel, who may himself
have seen the Egyptian prisoners and the spoil of Thebes. In his
indignant denunciation of Nineveh and her king, he thus addresses the
magnificent and cruel city: ‘Art thou better than No-Amon “(the city of
Amen = Thebes),” that was enthroned among the streams, and the floods
were round about her; her rampart was upon the river, and the waters
her defence. Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite;
Put and Lubim were her helpers. Yet was she carried away and went into
captivity; her young children were dashed in pieces at the top of all
the streets: they cast lots for her honourable men, and her great men
were bound with chains’ (Nahum iii. 8-10).[90]
It was little more than half a century later that Nineveh herself fell
with a mightier and more overwhelming destruction.
FOOTNOTES:
[79] The Egyptian Pa-Bast, or the city of Bast. It was situated in the
eastern portion of the Delta, and was of immemorial antiquity. Under
the kings of the twenty-second dynasty, it attained great splendour,
and the worship of Bast became wide-spread and popular. Herodotus saw
her magnificent temple, and the festival celebrated in her honour with
such splendour and revelry. Bast was almost identical with Sechet—the
lioness and the cat were sacred to her. Her worship was exceedingly
popular under the later dynasties, and this led to the wide-spread
reverence with which the cat was regarded in those days.
[80] Probably a princess of the dynasty ruling at Tanis; the
priest-kings, whose seat of power was in the far south, are less likely
to have connected themselves with the kingdom of Israel.
[81] The Apis must be black, with certain white marks of mystical
import.
[82] One mode of consulting the sacred bull was by offering him food.
Germanicus is said to have thus consulted him; the Apis refused to eat,
and this unfavourable reception was considered to have foreboded his
untimely fate.
[83] The country known as Nubia then formed part of the land of Kush,
_i.e._ Ethiopia.
[84] A descendant, doubtless, of the twenty-second dynasty kings, of
Assyrian origin.
[85] This would be meant to apply only to all the rival claimants to
sovereignty in the north, not to his own successors.
[86] The priests were prohibited from eating fish, which was considered
as unclean food—at any rate sea fish, of which the more devout and
scrupulous Egyptians would not partake.
[87] Compare Isa. xi. 11, xxvii. 13; Hosea ix. 6.
[88] Isa. xxx. 4-7.
[89] He was an Egyptian, and son of Tafnekht, who headed the league of
northern chiefs against Piankhi (p. 246).
[90] In this and in other quotations from the Old Testament the
renderings of Ewald and Stanley have sometimes been adopted.