Psammetichus and the Saite Dynasty—The Persian Conquest—Last
Independent Dynasties. (666-340 B.C.)
After the capture and sack of Thebes, the successors of Tirhakah made
no further attempts to recover their lost dominion. The princes who
ruled in the north, more or less as the vassals of Assyria, were often
engaged in mutual strife, and the twenty satrapies established there
by Esar-haddon had dwindled down to twelve—the ‘Dodecarchy,’ of Greek
writers. Bravest and most conspicuous amongst the twelve princes was
Psamtek (Psammetichus), son of that Necho who had been imprisoned and
restored by Assur-bani-pal[91] (p. 260). Banished by the jealousy
of his rivals, Psammetichus[92] determined on a new and energetic
policy. He formed an alliance with the king of Lydia, and obtained
the assistance of a large number of Greek mercenaries—chiefly Carians
and Ionians by birth. He resolved, by their aid, to win back the
independence of Egypt by driving out the Assyrians, and to reunite the
divided land, by bringing it all under his own sceptre. At Momemphis
he defeated the Assyrians in a great battle, and they left Egypt to
return no more. Assur-bani-pal, who had conquered Egypt and devastated
Thebes, was still reigning at Nineveh; and it must have been not a
little humiliating to his pride, to be unable to make another attempt
to regain what he had lost. But the time had come when Assyria had no
soldiers to spare for foreign conquests; they were all wanted at home
to defend the monarchy. Weakened by the incessant warfare that had won
so triumphant a military ascendency, she was assailed on every side by
the nations to whom she had long been a terror, and by her own subject
provinces, ever restlessly eager to cast off the yoke of her tyranny.
Meanwhile Psammetichus successfully achieved the other portion of his
task; he re-united the north under his sway, and made peace with the
rulers of the south. The descendants of the priest-king, of Piankhi and
of Tirhakah henceforth made Napata the centre of their dominion, and
abandoned all thought of ruling even in Upper Egypt. The friendship
thus formed was cemented by the marriage of Psammetichus with a
princess of the southern dynasty. She was daughter of a king named
Piankhi and his beautiful wife Ameniritis: a statue of her has been
preserved, of which Brugsch says, “Sweet peace seems to hover about her
features; the very flowers in her hand suggest her high mission as the
reconciler of the long feud.”’
Under the Saite[93] dynasty, established by Psammetichus, Egypt enjoyed
peace and prosperity for more than a century. The sun of her former
greatness had indeed set, but under Psammetichus and his successors she
enjoyed a long and brilliant after-glow of light. This period, which
has been called the Egyptian _renaissance_, was distinguished by a
revival of art, tasteful and refined in character.
Psammetichus never forgot how much he owed to the Greek mercenaries;
he gave them land, encouraged them to settle in Egypt, and, in short,
showed them so much favour that, Herodotus tells us, the jealousy
of the native soldiery was aroused; they deserted the camp in large
numbers, and took refuge within the Ethiopian dominions, now become
more essentially Egyptian than many parts of Egypt proper. Nor was
the king content with showing favour to the mercenaries to whom he
owed his crown; he also threw the country open to foreign commerce of
every kind. Greek factories were built, and Greek merchants settled
in Egypt in large numbers, more especially at Naukratis, which became
the emporium of Greek trade. In spite of the favour they showed to
foreigners neither Psammetichus nor his successors neglected the
national religion and the national superstitions. They cared for
the temples, and when an Apis died they buried him with lavish and
extraordinary magnificence. The long reign of Psammetichus (666-612)
was distinguished by one military enterprise, the taking of Azotus,
after a prolonged siege of twenty-nine years. And it was during his
reign that the devastating hordes of the Scythians from the far north
poured over the Assyrian provinces like a countless swarm of locusts,
leaving ruin and desolation behind. They approached the confines of
Egypt, but Psammetichus succeeded in buying them off; they may have
been sated with plunder and spoil, or may not have cared to undertake
the hard and weary journey through the waterless Sinai desert. They
disappeared from sight suddenly as they had come into sight, but their
terrible onslaught and the havoc they wrought was a fatal blow to
Assyria’s declining power. It was at the crisis of her fall that Necho
(612-596) ascended the throne of Egypt.
Babylon, Elam, and Arabia, leagued against Assyria about 650 B.C.,
had been successively defeated by King Assur-bani-pal, who took
Babylon itself 648 B.C. A pause ensued, for it was no light task to
encounter the Assyrian even in the hour of his decline; but on the
death of Assur-bani-pal there appears to have been a revolt of some
kind, and Nabopolassar, a general who succeeded in putting it down,
was made ruler of Babylon by the king of Nineveh. But the ambitious
Nabopolassar formed an alliance with the king of Media, and their
combined attack was the death-blow of the Assyrian monarchy. It was,
perhaps, through a common understanding with the allied states that
Psammetichus had besieged Azotus, which lay on the old military road
by the sea-coast. Necho took a more active part, and led his army as
far as the Euphrates. Whilst on the march, Josiah, king of Judah, had
rashly come out to offer him battle, and had been defeated and slain
at Megiddo. It must have been at this crisis that Nineveh fell; but
though her fall must have shaken the earth no record has come to us
concerning it—its precise date is unknown. Only in the exultant cry of
a Hebrew prophet[94] do we hear any echo of the shout of execration and
the outburst of triumph that went up as the great city fell:—
‘Nineveh is laid waste! who will bemoan her? Whence
shall I seek for comforters for thee?... There is no
healing of thy hurt; thy wound is incurable: all that
hear of thee shall clap their hands over thee: for upon
whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?’
Upon the ruins of Assyria the genius of Nebuchadnezzar, son of
Nabopolassar, raised that mighty Babylonian empire which for about
seventy years ruled over the conquered nations. Babylon had never
before been distinguished as an ambitious or aggressive state, but the
force and energy of this mighty monarch has made her name synonymous
with imperial strength, magnificence, and pride. For a brief space
Necho had occupied the scene of the triumphs of Thothmes and of
Rameses; he deposed the successor of Josiah at Jerusalem, and made
Jehoiakim king of Judah. But if he had been visited by any flattering
visions of a revival of Egyptian empire they were soon rudely
dispelled. The young king of Babylon attacked and routed the Egyptian
army, which was encamped at Karchemish, on the Euphrates, and forced
Necho to retreat within the boundaries of Egypt. The invasion and the
repulse of the Egyptian king has been vividly portrayed in the pages of
Jewish prophecy. ‘Egypt riseth up like the river, his waters are moved
like the floods; and he saith, I will go up and will cover the earth;
I will destroy the city, with the inhabitants thereof.’[95] The horses
and chariots are arrayed for battle, the well-equipped mercenary troops
stand in serried ranks; but it was all in vain. ‘Wherefore have I seen
them dismayed and turned back? their mighty ones have fled apace, and
look not back.... They said, Arise and let us go again to our own
people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.’[96]
It was not only by this ambitious enterprise, and by its utter
failure, that Necho’s reign was distinguished. He had been compelled
to abandon the attempt to construct a canal across the isthmus between
the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, but a naval expedition that he sent
out was more successful. The vessels were manned by Phœnicians, and,
starting from the Red Sea, returned to Egypt in three years’ time by
way of the Mediterranean, having circumnavigated Africa and noted with
amazement that during the first part of their voyage the sun had risen
on their left, but afterwards it had risen to the right. To the Greeks
of a later day this fact appeared to be on the face of it so incredible
that they doubted the truth of the whole story. To us it only affords
an additional reason for believing it.
Psammetichus II., the successor of Necho, reigned only about five
years, and was followed by Uahpra (or Apries, the _Hophra_ of the Old
Testament). The aid of this king was sought both from east and west.
After the defeat of Necho, and the homeward flight of the Egyptian
army, no military expedition had been undertaken. ‘The king of Egypt
came not again any more out of his land; for the king of Babylon
had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that
pertained to the king of Egypt.’[97] For a moment indeed, Apries
seemed to be moved by the cry for aid that came from Jerusalem. In his
triumphal march of successful conquest, Nebuchadnezzar had besieged
the city, and carried off its king and many others as prisoners to
Babylon; he had then placed Zedekiah on the throne, after exacting
from him a solemn oath of fealty. But in an evil moment the vassal
king rebelled, and, in the hope that is sometimes born of desperation,
sent ambassadors into Egypt ‘that they might give him horses and much
people’ (see Ezekiel xvii. 11-21). Irritated by the successive acts of
submission and revolt, Nebuchadnezzar now advanced upon the unhappy
little country of Judah, which had come to be the sport, as it were,
of two mighty states, and resolved to make an end of it altogether.
The hope of Zedekiah came to naught; only for a brief interval was the
siege suspended, by the news that an Egyptian army was on the march.
Soon after, however, it was resumed, and, after it had lasted eighteen
months, Jerusalem fell with a sad and terrible destruction—by famine,
fire, and slaughter (588 B.C.) The only aid actually rendered by Egypt
was the shelter given to the fugitives who sought refuge there after
the murder of Gedaliah, the governor appointed by the king of Babylon.
They dreaded the vengeance of Nebuchadnezzar; they were weary of
suffering, and said one to another: ‘We will go into the land of Egypt,
where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have
hunger of bread, and there will we dwell.’ And in Egypt they took
refuge in spite of the remonstrances of the prophet Jeremiah, whom they
forced to accompany them.
The Egyptian army, whose advance had momentarily raised the siege of
Jerusalem appears to have taken Gaza, but to have retired without
encountering the Babylonians. Another expedition was despatched to the
west in aid of the Libyans. The Greek colony at Cyrene had received a
large number of new settlers, and they had established themselves by
dispossessing the natives of their lands. Apries sent an army composed
of native Egyptians[98] against Cyrene, but they were defeated, and
this defeat was followed by a military revolt. The mutineers complained
that they had been selected for the expedition in order that the loss
might fall on them, rather than on the Greek mercenaries. The king
sent an officer, named Amasis, to the camp, who was popular with the
soldiery, and they immediately saluted him as king. Apries then sent a
general, named Patahbeni, with orders to bring Amasis back a prisoner,
but Amasis replied: ‘Tell the king that I will myself lead the army
to his very feet.’ Apries was so enraged at the ill success of his
messenger, that he ordered the unfortunate man’s nose and ears to be
cut off (a punishment intended for the lowest traitors). This brutal
act only incensed the soldiery still further, and the whole army
joined in the revolt. Apries, with his Greek mercenaries, met them
at Momemphis, but was defeated, and fell into the hands of Amasis,
who at first treated him with kindness and respect, but the people
murmured at this leniency, and Amasis yielded. Apries was strangled,
but his body was buried with due ceremonial in his own sepulchre. Such
is the narrative of Greek writers, but there seem some grounds for
assuming that the real story was somewhat different; that the king of
Babylon himself was at that time in Egypt, and that it was his hand
that deposed and slew king Apries and placed Amasis on the throne
(572 B.C.). The new king showed even greater favour to the Greeks
than his predecessors had done. He gave them possession of the town
of Naukratis, with all rights of local self-government and religious
worship. Four Greek temples were erected there by different Grecian
nationalities. Amasis also sent gifts to Delphi and other Grecian
shrines, and he married Ladice of Cyrene, a Greek by birth. He formed
alliances with Crœsus of Lydia, and Polycrates of Samos, and his own
body-guard was composed of Greek mercenaries.
Whether or not Amasis had ascended the throne as a vassal of Babylon,
he certainly reigned as an independent monarch. Nebuchadnezzar, after
spending more than thirty years in warfare and in conquest, passed
the concluding years of his reign in splendid luxury in the city
which he had raised to be the head of the nations, and the glory and
wonder of the world. ‘Is not this great Babylon which I have built? I
have made completely strong the defences of Babylon; may it last for
ever!’ It was only three years after his death that Cyrus resolved
to free Persia from the dominion of Media; he accomplished this task
after a hard struggle, and then embarked upon that career of conquest
which only paused after the eventful night when Babylon, given up to
careless revelry, was taken by a foe who could ‘show no mercy’ (539
B.C.). Surprise was mingled with exultation as, at the cry, ‘Babylon
is taken,’ ‘the earth trembled, and the sound was heard amongst the
nations.’ ‘How is the praise of the whole earth surprised! How is
Babylon become an astonishment—a desolation among the nations!’
But the nations were not free although the empire of Nebuchadnezzar
had fallen; they had but exchanged masters. The ambition of the
conqueror was not sated; the enthusiasm excited by his genius and his
triumphs amongst his hardy, warlike, and uncultured followers, did not
ebb when Babylon had fallen. There is little doubt that Cyrus planned
the invasion of Egypt which was carried out by his son Cambyses[99]
(527 B.C.).
Amasis, who had been raised to the throne by so unexpected a stroke
of fortune, was a genial and pleasure-loving man—fond of the wine-cup
and the merry jest, but he governed Egypt well and prudently during
a reign of more than forty years. When he died he bequeathed to his
son Psammetichus III. ‘the inheritance of a lost kingdom.’[100]
The Persians entered Egypt, and in a desperate battle at Pelusium
the Egyptians were defeated; Memphis was then captured with great
slaughter. The unfortunate Psammetichus, who had only reigned six
months, was taken prisoner; it is said that he was put to death later
on upon a charge of conspiracy. Cambyses assumed an Egyptian title, and
reigned over the land as the first monarch of the twenty-seventh, or
Persian dynasty. He appears at first to have treated his new subjects
with forbearance; he visited the celebrated temple at Sais, inquired
into the rites and mysteries of the worship of Neith, and redressed
certain grievances of which the priests complained.[101] But to the
passionate ambition of Cambyses, the possession of Egypt was only a
stepping-stone to the accomplishment of other and far-reaching schemes.
He designed to march westward against the rising city of Carthage;
to occupy the oasis of Amen, and to conquer the kingdom of Ethiopia.
But his Phœnician mercenaries refused to be led against their kinsmen
at Carthage; the army, 50,000 strong, which he despatched across the
desert, was lost in the burning sands, and the forces which he himself
led against Ethiopia were repulsed, and suffered terribly on the
retreat from the ravages of famine. The survivors appear to have vented
some of their ill-will upon the monuments and statues of Thebes as
they passed through on the way to Memphis. The mood in which Cambyses
entered that city may be imagined; mortified and exasperated as he
was, he found the whole city given up to festivities and rejoicings,
and concluded that they must be celebrating his disastrous defeat.
Thereupon his fury turned to madness; and when he heard that the
people were celebrating the finding of an Apis, he ordered the priests
to be scourged, and the chief men of the city to be slain. Then he
ordered the sacred bull to be brought into his presence, and stabbed
him with his own dagger. There can be little doubt that in an excess of
madness, Cambyses wrought terrible havoc on the temples and monuments
of the land, though he may not have been guilty of all that was laid
to his charge by a people who execrated his memory, and regarded his
madness as the just visitation of Heaven. But suddenly there came news
of an insurrection in Persia, and Cambyses instantly started for his
capital. At Ecbatana, as he was mounting his horse, he stabbed himself
(voluntarily or accidentally) with his own dagger—with the same weapon
with which he had killed the Apis, the awe-struck Egyptians told
Herodotus, and in the very same part of the body.
The short but terrible tyranny of Cambyses was over, and Darius, who
succeeded in 522 B.C., proved a mild and forbearing ruler. But after
his defeat by the Athenians at Marathon, the Egyptians rose in revolt;
Xerxes had to put down this insurrection before he too went against
Greece.
During the two centuries when hostilities were so often renewed
between Persians and Greeks, there was friendship between Egypt and
Greece, and not unfrequently alliance against the Persian kings. The
relations between these two countries had long been of a friendly
character. Egypt representing all that was wisest and greatest in
the long æon that was closing, Greece representing all that was
brightest and fairest in the era that was opening. Homer already
knew, concerning Egypt, that it was a fertile and a wealthy land—a
land especially famed for the skill of its physicians; he tells of
its ‘god-descended stream,’ and of the Isle of Pharos, with the safe
anchorage by it afforded to storm-tossed mariners. Nor was he ignorant
of Thebes in the far south, and her imperial magnificence—Egyptian
Thebes, the ‘treasure-house of countless wealth, who boasts her hundred
gates—through each of which with horse and car two hundred warriors
march.’[102]
To the Egyptians of Homer’s time, the Greeks were probably known
as roving pirates of the Mediterranean; afterwards, by a natural
transition, as mercenary troops—later on, as busy and successful
merchants. Greeks, however, visited Egypt on nobler errands than the
mere pursuit of wealth. In the reign of Amasis, Solon, the Athenian
lawgiver, resided for a while both at the ‘city of the Sun,’ the most
ancient seat of Egyptian learning, and at Sais, the sanctuary of the
goddess of wisdom. To him it was that an old Egyptian priest, who was
his friend, addressed the memorable words—‘O Solon! Solon! you Greeks
are ever children; having no ancient opinion nor any discipline of long
standing.’ The earliest Greek philosophers, Pythagoras of Samos, and
Thales of Miletus, were believed to have visited Egypt, and no doubt
their eager restless inquiries also seemed to the Egyptians like those
of ‘children,’ who can so easily ask more than the wisest man can ever
answer.
Nothing could be more natural, or indeed inevitable, than that the
awakening intellectual and artistic life of Greece should be strongly
attracted towards the ancient wisdom and civilisation of Egypt.[103]
Geometric and other scientific ideas they certainly carried home from
the Land of the Pyramids, and the rudiments of their own civilisation
and learning were always said by the Greeks to have come from Egypt.
Persia had conquered Egypt, and was threatening Greece, but the
invasion of Xerxes was triumphantly repulsed, and the Athenians
subsequently sent aid to the Egyptians in their renewed attempt to cast
off the yoke of the common foe.
The revolt was at first successful, but on the arrival of Persian
reinforcements the Athenians were driven from Memphis, and forced to
retire to an island on the Nile. Here they were blockaded for eighteen
months; the foe then, diverting the river from its course, took the
Athenian camp by storm, and a fleet of fifty Athenian ships, which
entered the Nile in ignorance of the disastrous turn of events, fell
into the hands of the Persians. Amyrtæus, who had been proclaimed king,
took flight, and sought refuge in the inaccessible marshes of the Delta.
Thus Egypt passed once more under the Persian yoke, but the Persian
power itself was declining, and Amyrtæus of Sais (the grandson of the
Amyrtæus who fled to the marshes) made himself King of Egypt. His reign
of six years constitutes the twenty-eighth dynasty.
This was succeeded by the twenty-ninth (of Mendes), and the thirtieth
(of Sebennytus). Under these, her last native dynasties, Egypt
maintained her recovered independence for sixty years, during which
period she sent aid both to the Lacedæmonians and to the king of
Cyprus, in the long-protracted conflict with Persia. Art also revived
once more, and was distinguished by a grace and finish that seem to
speak of Grecian influences.
Under one of the kings of the thirtieth dynasty, Agesilaus of Sparta
was invited to command the Egyptian army. It is said that on his
arrival the Egyptians were taken by surprise to find so renowned a
king and warrior ‘a little deformed old man, clad in mean attire, and
regardless of show and luxury,’ who ‘would sit carelessly upon the
grass amongst his soldiers.’[104] At any rate they only intrusted him
with the command of the mercenaries. Angry at the affront, the Spartan
king supported a rival prince, who displaced Takos, the reigning
sovereign, and assumed his place. This king, Nectanebus (361 B.C.), was
the last of the long line of kings that opens with king Mena.
Ochus, a cruel but energetic sovereign, succeeded Artaxerxes II. on
the Persian throne; the energies of Greece were concentrated in the
struggle against Philip of Macedon. Ochus invaded Egypt with an immense
army (ten thousand of whom were Greek mercenaries!). Nectanebus was an
incompetent general, but, confident of his own ability, he commanded in
person the army of Egyptians and Greek mercenaries, who encountered the
Persians at Pelusium. He was defeated, and instantly fled to Memphis;
on hearing of the further progress of the enemy, he quitted Memphis
and fled southward, until he reached the safe shelter of the Ethiopian
land. With this hurried and ignominious retreat, the ancient monarchy
of Egypt ceased to be. Deprived of their king and leader, the people at
once submitted (about 340 B.C.).
But the Persian conquerors only ruled for twelve years longer—years of
danger and distress for their country. Greece had been subjugated by
Macedon, and Alexander, son of Philip, rapidly conquered the Persian
provinces. Egypt alone remained; in 332 B.C., he entered that country,
where he met with no resistance, but was rather hailed as a deliverer.
He went to Memphis, where he offered sacrifice to the Apis. Alexander
also visited the temple of Amen (of Zeus Ammon, the Greeks called it),
in the oasis, twelve days’ journey from Memphis, and in the heart of
the desert. This temple was of great renown in antiquity, and its
oracle was consulted far and wide. The conqueror was received by the
priests with the most flattering assurances. He was the ‘son of Zeus,’
they told him, and should ‘pursue his career of victory until he was
taken to the gods.’
Before quitting Egypt, Alexander planned the foundation of the city
that was destined to be so famed in after times both as an emporium of
trade and as a school of learning and philosophy—Alexandria.
The battle of Arbela decided the fate of the Persian monarchy. But
Alexander did not live to rule long over the empire he had won; on his
death his dominions were divided amongst his successors. Egypt fell to
the Ptolemies, and remained under their rule for three hundred years,
until 30 B.C., when it became a Roman province.
[Illustration: Sphinx.]
FOOTNOTES:
[91] And thus a descendant of Tafnekht, the ambitious prince of Sais,
defeated by Piankhi (p. 246).
[92] The story told by Herodotus is that an oracle had declared that
that prince who should make libation out of a brazen goblet should
reign over all Egypt. One day all the princes appeared to offer
sacrifice, but the high priest by mistake brought only eleven golden
vessels, whereupon Psammetichus took off his helmet and used it for
the libation. When it was observed that the oracle had thus, though
inadvertently, been fulfilled, it was thought a prudent measure
to depose and banish Psammetichus. He consulted the oracle, which
announced that vengeance would come by brazen men, showing themselves
from seaward. When he heard of pirates clad in brazen armour who had
showed themselves in the Delta, he perceived the meaning of the oracle.
By enlisting the Greek mercenaries in their panoplies of brass, he
accordingly triumphed over his rivals, expelled the Assyrians, and
became king of all Egypt.
[93] Sais, in the Delta, was a magnificent city, and the temple of
the goddess Neith, who was worshipped there, was celebrated for its
splendour. The worship of Neith goes back to the earliest times, but
under the dynasty which had its seat at Sais it attained very great
prominence. Neith was a nature-goddess, and was called the ‘mother
of the sun.’ She represents the hidden and mysterious ground of all
things, and hence was naturally regarded as the goddess of wisdom.
Like Athena, to whom the Greeks compared her, she was at the same time
goddess of war. Over her temple was the inscription: ‘I am what is,
what shall be, and what has been, and no man hath lifted my veil; I am
the great mother of Ra.’
[94] Nahum iii. 7, 19; ‘No spark of pity mingles with the prophet’s
delight.’—Stanley, _Jewish Church_.
[95] Jer. xlvi. 8, 9.
[96] Jer. xlvi. 5, 16.
[97] 2 Kings xxiv. 7.
[98] It was natural not to send Greeks against their fellow-countrymen,
though the action was otherwise interpreted.
[99] The story of Herodotus is that an Egyptian oculist had been sent
to Persia to cure the king, who was suffering from some complaint of
the eyes. Cambyses heard so much from him of the beauty of the daughter
of Amasis, that he desired to have her for his wife. Amasis, unwilling
to send his own daughter, substituted the daughter of his predecessor
Apries. Cambyses, on discovering the fraud, was so enraged that he
undertook the invasion of Egypt to punish the perfidy of its king.
Cambyses certainly was not the man to wait for a pretext, whether the
story be true or not. The narratives of Herodotus are by no means to be
relied on; all that he relates as an eye-witness is of the utmost value.
[100] Brugsch, _History of Egypt_.
[101] It was Uah-hor-penres, priest of Neith, of whom Cambyses
inquired, and who seems to have won great respect from the king. Sais
appears, through his influence and good offices, to have been ‘saved in
the great calamity that fell upon the land.’
[102] Lord Derby’s translation.
[103] ‘All intellectual Greeks,’ says Grote, ‘were naturally attracted
to go and visit the wonders on the banks of the Nile.’
[104] Grote.
APPENDIX I.
TABLE OF DYNASTIES.
DYNASTY I.—THINITE.
Mena. Hesepti.
Teta. Merbap.
Atet. Sememptah.
Ata. Kebeh.
DYNASTY II.—THINITE.
Betau. Uatnes.
Kakau. Senta.
Bai-en-neter.
DYNASTY III.—MEMPHITE.
Tati. Teta I.
Bebi. Setes.
Nebka. Neferkara.
Sersa. Senefru.
DYNASTY IV.—MEMPHITE.
Khufu. Menkaura.
Tetefra. Aseskaf.
Khafra.
DYNASTY V.—MEMPHITE.
Userkaf. Userenra.
Sehura. Menkauhor.
Kaka. Tetkara.
Neferarkara. Unas.
DYNASTY VI.—ELEPHANTINE.
Teta II. Merienra II.
Userkara. Neterkara.
Pepi Meri-ra. Menkara.
Merienra I. Netakerti
Neferkara I. (Nitocris).
DYNASTY VII.—MEMPHITE.
No records or names preserved.
DYNASTY VIII.—MEMPHITE.
Neferkara II. Neferkahor.
Neferkara Nebi. Neferkara V.
Tetkara. Seneferka Annu.
Neferkara III. ... Kaura.
Merenhor. Neferkaura.
Seneferka. Neferkauhor.
Enkara. Neferarkara.
Neferkara IV.
DYNASTIES IX. AND X.
(HERACLEOPOLIS.)
Probably contemporary with foregoing.
Names unknown.
DYNASTY XI.—THEBAN.
Ten kings—amongst them the Antefs
and Mentuhoteps. Egypt
re-united under last two kings
of this dynasty:
Nebtaura. Sankhkara.
DYNASTY XII.—THEBAN.
Amenemhat I. Amenemhat III.
Usertesen I. Amenemhat IV.
Amenemhat II. Sebeknefrura
Usertesen II. (Queen).
Usertesen III.
DYNASTY XIII.—THEBAN.
Sebekhotep I.
Six successors bearing same name.
DYNASTY XIV.—XOITE.
Seventy-six kings ruling in 184 years.
DYNASTIES XV. AND XVI.
The Hyksos Kings.
DYNASTY XVII.—THEBAN.
Native rulers in the south—at
first tributary to Hyksos Kings.
War of liberation by—
Sekenenra. Taa-aa. Taa-ken.
DYNASTY XVIII.—THEBAN.
Aahmes. Amenhotep III.
Amenhotep I. Amenhotep IV.
Thothmes I. Khu-en-aten.
Thothmes II. Saanekht.
Hatasu. Tutankh-amen.
Thothmes III. Ai.
Amenhotep II. Horus.
Thothmes IV.
DYNASTY XIX.—THEBAN.
Rameses I. Seti Menephtah II.
Seti I. Amenmeses.
Rameses II. Siptah.
Menephtah I. Setnekht.
DYNASTY XX.—THEBAN.
Rameses III.
Ten or more successors
of the same name.
DYNASTY XXI.—PRIEST-KINGS.
Her-hor. Pinotem II.
Piankhi. Menkheperra.
Pinotem I. Pinotem III.
DYNASTY XXII.—BUBASTITE.
Sheshenk I. Sheshenk II.
(Shishak.) Takeleth II.
Usarken I. Sheskenk III.
Takeleth I. Pimai.
Usarken II. Sheshenk IV.
DYNASTY XXIII.—TANITE.
Petubast. Usarken III. Psemaut.
DYNASTY XXIV.—SAITE.
Bakenrenef.
Petty rulers in Delta.
DYNASTY XXV.—ETHIOPIAN.
Shebek Taharak
(Sabaco). (Tirhakah).
Piankhi. Rutamen.
Nutmeramen.
DYNASTY XXVI.—SAITE.
Psemtek I. (Psammetichus).
Nekau (Necho).
Psemtek II.
Uahabra (Apries).
Aahmes II. (Amasis).
Psemtek III.
DYNASTY XXVII.—PERSIAN.
Cambyses and six successors.
DYNASTY XXVIII.—SAITE.
Amyrtæus.
DYNASTY XXIX.—MENDESIAN.
Naifaaret I. Psemant.
Haker. Naifaaret II.
DYNASTY XXX.—SEBENNYTE.
Nekhthorheb (Nectanebo).
Tether.
Nekhtnebef.
_This list, with some slight variations, follows
that given by Sir Erasmus Wilson as an appendix
to_ ‘EGYPT OF THE PAST.’
APPENDIX II.
DECIPHERMENT OF THE HIEROGLYPHS.
The idea long prevailed that the hieroglyphic characters were
ideographic—_i.e._ that they represented ideas, not sounds; and any
attempt at decipherment was hopeless. Before the end of last century,
however, a hint had been thrown out that the characters might prove to
be phonetic—_i.e._ representing sounds like the letters of our ordinary
alphabets. And a further suggestion had been offered that the words
enclosed within ovals might be the names of royal personages. But
unless some means existed of comparing those names with the same names
written in a known language, not a single hieroglyph could be read. The
discovery of the Rosetta stone in 1799 supplied the means required.
On that stone was engraved an inscription in three characters—the
hieroglyphic, the demotic or popular Egyptian, and the Greek. Scholars,
however, turned their attention at first rather to the comparison
of the demotic and the Greek, as the idea still prevailed that the
hieroglyphs were not phonetic. It happened, also, that the beginning
of the hieroglyphic and the end of the Greek inscription were wanting,
which added greatly to the difficulty of comparing the texts. Thus ‘the
seals of the mysterious book were still unclosed’ when Champollion
began his labours. He succeeded in identifying the names of Ptolemy and
Cleopatra, and by comparing them with each other and with their Greek
counterparts he identified ten letters which were clearly phonetic.
The first and second characters in the king’s name were found in their
right places in that of the queen, and the initial letter of Cleopatra
did not occur in the name of Ptolemy, etc. By the examination and
comparison of other proper names other letters were determined, and a
phonetic alphabet gradually acquired. But the formidable task remained
of examining, reducing to order, and deciphering the vast mass of
characters that were still unread.
The fact is that in the Egyptian hieroglyphic writing, hundreds of
characters are employed as well as the letters of the alphabet; these
characters represent syllables, words, or ideas, and could be used
instead of the letters, almost at the pleasure of the writer. This
gradually became apparent to Champollion, and as, fortunately, there
are a very great number of copies extant of the same MSS., he was able,
by laborious and persevering collation of those MSS., to determine
the phonetic value of a great number of characters. To use a familiar
illustration, it is as though two copies of an English sentence were
compared by a foreigner who was acquainted only with the alphabet; in
one of them occurred the word _three_ and the word _and_, whilst in
the other copy, in the places occupied by those words, appeared the
character 3 and the character &; or in an astronomical treatise, he
would find the words _sun_ and _Taurus_ interchangeable with the signs
☉ and ♉. It would clearly be possible for him to read the four signs
into the words for which they respectively stand, by a comparison of
copies. The only difference is that the use of signs, whether for
syllables, words, or ideas, is carried to such an immense extent in the
old Egyptian writing, that their decipherment was a work of the most
arduous kind. Champollion, nevertheless, succeeded in recovering and
reading the old Egyptian language to a great extent, and his work has
been ardently carried forward by his successors. The language, however,
even when deciphered and read, must have remained unintelligible, if
modern Coptic (the descendant of the ancient tongue) had not afforded
the key to its translation.
INDEX.
Aahmes, conqueror of the Hyksos, 87, 93.
——— his mummy discovered, 94.
Aahmes, admiral of the fleet, exploits of, 90 _seq_.
Aah-hotep, queen, 87.
Aarsu, the Syrian, 210.
Abydos, shrine of Osiris, 6.
——— ruins of, 10, 11.
——— tablet of, 151.
——— visit of Rameses II. to, 152 _seq_.
Abu-simbel, rock-temples and colossal statues at, 166, 167.
Agesilaus of Sparta in Egypt, 284.
Alexander the Great in Egypt, 286.
Alexandria founded, 286.
Amasis, King; his policy and character, 275, 277.
Amen, god of Thebes, 49, 132, 223.
Amen-Ra, hymn to, 222, 223.
Amen, great temple of, at Thebes, (Karnak), 55, 65, 95, 128, 151.
Amenemhat I., instructions of, 51 _seq_.
——— conspiracy against, 52, 53.
——— pyramid of, 64.
Amenemhat III. notes rise of Nile, 70.
——— constructs Lake Mœris and the Labyrinth, 71, _seq_.
Amenemhib, inscription of, 112, 123.
Amenhotep I., 93, 94.
Amenhotep II., 124.
Amenhotep III., his campaigns in the South, 128.
——— his buildings at Thebes, 128.
——— colossi of, 129 _seq_.
Amenhotep, architect, 128 _seq_.
Ameni, inscription of, 66, 67.
Amenritis, queen of Ethiopia, 265.
Amenti, scenes in, depicted, 192 _seq_.
Amu, the, 26, 76.
Amyrtæus, 283.
Animal worship, 198 _seq_.
Antef, the family, 43,
——— festal dirge of house of, 44, 45.
Apepi, serpent of evil, 195, 196.
Apepi, Hyksos king; his embassy to the ruler of the South, 83.
Apis, sacred bull of Memphis, 199.
Apis-worship, development of, 243, 244.
Apollonius of Tyana on animal worship, 200 _note_.
Apries, King (Hophra), 272 _seq_.
Ark, the sacred, 179.
Art, excellence and defects of, 201, 202.
Assyrian empire, first, 239.
——— second, rise of, 253.
——— ——— fall of, 269.
Assyrians first enter Egypt, 259.
——— finally expelled, 264.
Assur-bani-pal, king of Assyria, 259 _seq_.
Ata, King, 16.
Aten the Disk, worship of, 133 _seq_.
Atet, Princess, tomb of, 33.
Avaris, fortified by the Hyksos, 81.
siege and capture of, 90, 91.
Azotus, siege of, 267.
Baba-Abana, inscription of, 89.
Babylon, conflicts with Assyria, 215, 239.
——— empire of, 269.
——— fall of, 276.
Bai-en-neter, decree of King, 15.
Bast or Pasht, the goddess, 238 _note_.
Beni-Hassan, rock tombs of, 75.
Biban-el-Moluk; tombs of the kings, 171.
Book of the ‘Manifestation’ or ‘Coming forth into Day’;
commonly called ‘Book’ or ‘Ritual of the Dead,’ 10.
Bubastis, city of, 238.
Cambyses invades and conquers Egypt, 277.
——— his disaster, cruelty and madness, 279.
——— his end, 280.
Chaldea, early civilisation of, 215.
Columns, Hall of, at Karnak, 151.
Confession, the Negative, 67, 68.
Crown, double, of Egypt, 16.
Cyrene, Greek colony of, 273.
Cyrus, King, 276.
Darius, king of Persia, 280.
Dodecarchy, the, 263.
Esar-haddon, king of Assyria, 259.
Famine, many years of, 89.
Fayoum, oasis of, 70.
Funeral celebrations, 39, 190, 191.
Ghizeh, pyramids of, 18 _seq._
Gods, representation of, 119,192 _seq._
Greece, early, as known to the Egyptians, 281.
——— influence of Egypt on, 282.
——— alliances between Egypt and, 280, 283, 284.
Greek mercenaries, 264, 266.
Greek merchants and colonists, 267, 273.
Hammamat, valley of, 46, 149.
Hanno, expedition of, 47.
Harper, Lay of the, 191, 192.
Hatasu, Queen; her pride and ambition, 96.
——— splendid temple of, 97.
——— her expedition to Punt, 99 _seq_.
Hebrew colonists in Goshen, 89.
——— reduced to bondage, 204.
——— exodus of, 205.
Herodotus, the historian, 44, 69, 71, 200, 218, 263, 266, 277.
Her-hor, priest-king, his family vault, 230, 234.
Herusha, the, 26, 27.
Hezekiah, alliance with Tirhakah, 256, 257.
Homer, his acquaintance with Egypt, 281.
Hophra, _see_ Apries.
Horse, first appearance of, 80.
Horus, the god, son of Isis, 3 _seq_.
Horus, King, 139.
Houses and gardens, 180 _seq_.
Hyksos, invasion of, 80.
——— rule and expulsion of, 81 _seq_.
Immigrants, Asiatic, 76, 77.
Invocation, customary funeral, 39.
Isis, the goddess, 2 _seq_.
——— Lamentations of, 2 _seq_.
Israelites in Canaan, 215.
Israelitish empire, 241.
Jeremiah in Egypt, 273.
Jerusalem, siege and destruction of, 273.
Jeroboam in Egypt, 242.
Joseph in Egypt, 89.
Josiah, King, 268.
Kadesh, battle of, 159.
Kames, Prince, 86.
Karchemish, battle of, 270.
Khafra, pyramid and statue of, 23.
Khamus, Prince, priest of Apis, 199.
Khem, ‘lord of the mountain,’ 49.
Khemi, a name of Egypt, 69.
Kheta (Hittites), campaign of Seti I. against, 144.
——— war of Rameses II. with, 156 _seq_.
——— treaty of Rameses with, 169 _seq_.
Khetasir, king of Kheta, 156, 168, 169.
Khnumhotep, family and tomb of, 75.
Khons, the god, 49, 222 _note_.
——— oracle-temple of, 222, 225.
——— visit of, to Bakhten, 227, _seq_.
Khufu, great pyramid of, 22, 23.
Khu-en-aten, new religion of, 133.
——— family life of, 135, 136.
Kom-es-Sultan, mound of, 11.
Koptos, town of, 46, 214.
Labyrinth, The, 71.
Lebanon, visit of Seti I. to, 145.
Libyan invasion of Egypt, 207 _seq_.
Luxor, temple of, 128, 175.
Magic, practice of, 221, 222.
Manetho, the historian, 81 _note_.
Marmaiu, Libyan king, 207.
Mashuasha, defeat of, 213.
Medinet Habou, temple of, 218.
Megiddo, battle of, 109.
Meidoom, early tombs at, 30.
Memnon, statues of, 130.
Memphis, founded by Mena, 12.
Mena, first king of Egypt, 1, 12.
Mendes, ram of, 199.
Menephtah I. defeats the Libyans, 209 _seq_.
Menkaura, his pyramid and sarcophagus, 24.
Mentuhoteps, princely family of, 46.
Mentuhotep, a great noble, 74, 75.
Mercenary troops, 209, 246, 264.
Merienra, King; sepulchre and mummy of, 25.
Mesopotamia, campaigns in, 94, 110.
Migdol, battle of, 217.
Mines of copper and _mafek_, 17, 65, 214.
Mnevis, sacred bull of Heliopolis, 199.
Mœris, Lake, 71.
Momemphis, battle of, 264.
Morality, standard of, 67, 68.
Moses, 205.
Mut, the Divine Mother, 49.
Naharina, _see_ Mesopotamia.
Nahum, the prophet, 262, 269.
Napata, city of, 238, 265.
Necho, Assyrian viceroy at Memphis, 260.
Necho, King, defeated at Karchemish, 270.
——— his naval expedition, 271.
Necropolis of Memphis, 15.
Nectanebus, last native king, 284, 285.
Nefert, Princess, statue of, 34.
Nefe-rmat, tomb of, 33.
Nefer-tai, wife of Khu-en-aten, 136.
Nefertari, wife of Rameses II., 167.
Neith, the goddess, 265, 266 _note_.
Negroes (or Nahsi), 12, 69, 128, 165.
Negro queen, visit of, 137.
Nile, Egypt the gift of, 69.
——— rise of, recorded, 70.
——— Hymn to the, 223, 224.
Nineveh, fall of, 269.
Nitocris, Queen, 41.
Nomes, Egypt divided into, 42.
Nubia, added to Egypt, 68.
Nut—the Heaven—mother of Osiris, 3 _note_, 25 _note_, 196.
Nutmeramen, King; dream of, 252.
Oasis of Amen, 278, 286.
——— Fayoum, 70.
Obelisks of Heliopolis, 10, 64, 65.
——— of Hatasu, 97.
——— of Thothmes III., 116.
Ochus, King of Persia, 285.
Oracle-temple of Khons, 222, 225.
On (Heliopolis), ancient city of, 7 _seq._, 64, 250.
Osiris, myth of, and Isis, 2 _seq_.
——— judgment of the spirit before, 5, 67, 192.
Palestine or Canaan, land of, 107, 113, 124, 144, 215.
Pa-Ra, City of the Sun, 6, 64, 250.
Pa-Ramessu, city of Rameses, poetical description of, 163, 164.
Pasht or Basht, the goddess, 238 _note_.
Pelusium, battle of, 277.
Pentaur, heroic poem of, 160 _seq_.
Pepi, King; sepulchre and mummy of, 25.
Persian empire, rise of, 276.
Persians first enter Egypt, 277.
——— final conquest by, 285.
Philistines, nation of, 240, 241.
Phœnicians, the, 113, 143, 156, 170, 240.
Phœnix, story of the, 9.
Philo of Alexandria on the sacred animals, 200.
Piankhi, the Ethiopian king, 246.
——— inscription of, 247 _seq_.
Pinotem II., his wife and child, 234.
Pithom, store-city, 205.
——— site of, identified, 205 _note_.
Priesthood of Egypt, 8.
——— growth of power at Thebes, 229.
Priest-kings, 230 _seq_.
Priest-kings, their family tomb, 233.
——— discovery of mummies there, 234 _seq_.
Princess, the possessed, of Bakhten, 226 _seq_.
Prosopis, battle of, 209.
Psamtek (Psammetichus) I., 263.
——— II., 271.
——— III., 277.
Ptah, the god, 2, 12, 208.
Ptah-hotep, maxims of, 34, 35.
Punt; expedition of Sankhkara, 47.
——— ——— of Hatasu, 99, _seq_.
Pyramid builders, 17 _seq_.
Pyramid of Sakkara, 16.
——— the Great, 22, 23.
——— of Khafra, 23.
——— of Menkaura, 24.
——— of Amenemhat I., 64.
Pyramids, construction of, 22, 29, 30.
——— names of, 39.
Ra, worship of, at On, 2, 49.
——— his triumph over Apepi, 196.
Raamses, store-city, 205.
Ra-hotep, statue of Prince, 34.
Rameses I., 142.
Rameses II., childhood of, 146.
——— visit to Abydos, 152 _seq_.
——— invocation of his father, 155.
——— war with the Kheta, 156 _seq_.
——— danger and prowess of, 159.
——— campaigns and exploits, 165 _seq_.
——— architectural achievements, 163, 167, 175.
——— colossal statues of, 14, 167.
——— fate of his mummy, 172.
Rameses III., drives back invading tribes, 213.
——— repels great invasion of confederates, 217.
——— victories and spoils, 218.
——— conspiracy against, 220 _seq_.
——— tomb of, 224.
Ramessidæ, successors of Rameses III., 225 _seq_.
Rameses IX., violation of tombs discovered under, 226.
Rameses XII., the god Khons sent to Bakhten by, 226 _seq_.
Ramesseum, the, 189.
Rampsinitus, Rameses III. so called by the Greeks, 218.
Rome, Egypt a province of, 287.
Sais, city of, 265.
——— visit of Cambyses to, 278.
Sakkara, pyramids of, 16.
Samaria taken by Sargon, 255.
Saneha, story of, 55 _seq_.
San-Tanis or Zoan, 162 _seq_.
Scythians, the, in Asia, 267.
Seb, Earth-god, father of Osiris, 2, 3 _note_.
Sechet, the goddess, _see_ Pasht.
Sefek, ‘Lady of Writings,’ 119.
Sekenen-Ra, a patriot, 85.
Semem-kheftu-ef, tame lion of Rameses, 157, 166, 167.
Semnut, architect of Hatasu, 98.
Senefru, King, 17.
Serapeum, the, 243.
Sesostris, of the Greeks, 220.
Set, brother and foe of Osiris, story of, 2, 3.
Seti I., his campaign in Palestine, 144.
——— against the Kheta, 144 _seq_.
——— triumph of, 145, 147.
——— his Hall of Columns and his temple at Abydos, 151.
Seti Menephtah II., 209.
Setnekht, founder of Dynasty XX., 210, 211.
Shebek, King, (So or Sabaco), 255.
Sheshenk I., (Shishak), 242.
——— his campaign in Judæa, 242, 243.
Slavery in Egypt, 116, 117, 203, 204.
Solomon, king of Israel, 241.
Solon in Egypt, 281, 282.
Sphinx, the Great, 21.
Superstition, growth of, 222.
Symbolism in religion, 197.
Symbols, animals as, 198, 199.
Taa, the family of, 86 _seq_.
Tafnekht, a prince of the north, 24 _seq_.
Tai-ti, Queen, 132, 172.
Ta-khent or Nubia, 68.
Ta-neter, the ‘divine land,’ 47.
Tel-el-Amarna, site of city of Khu-en-aten, 134.
Temples, Egyptian, 176 _seq_.
Thebes, first mention of, 43.
——— in her magnificence, 186, 187.
——— Western, the City of the Dead, 187 _seq_.
——— sack of, by Assur-bani-pal, 261, 262.
Thi, tomb of, 36, 38.
Thinis-Abydos, twin cities of, 6.
Thoth, the god, 75 _note_, 192.
Thothmes I., campaign in Mesopotamia, 94.
Thothmes II., 96.
Thothmes III., his boyhood, 97.
——— coronation of, 103.
——— enters Palestine, 107.
——— his victorious campaigns in Asia; extent of empire, 109-111.
——— his wealth, and gifts to the temples, 113-115.
——— heroic song in honour of, 120, 121.
——— fate of his mummy, 123, 124.
Thothmes IV., dream of, 125 _seq_.
Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, 253.
Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia and Egypt;
his long conflict with Assyria, 259 _seq_.
Trade, manufactures, and amusements of the people, 182-186.
Tum, the god, worship of, 49 _and note_.
Tutankh-amen, King, 137.
Uahpra, _see_ Apries.
Uah-hor-penres, priest of Neith, 278 _note_.
Una, inscription of, 26.
Unas, King, 25.
University, ancient, of On, 8.
Usertesen I. associated with his father, 51.
——— his obelisk and other buildings, 64, 65.
Usertesen III., conquers Nubia, 68, 69.
Wady Maghara, mines in the valley of, 17, 65.
Zedekiah, king of Judah, 272.
Zoan, city of, 162 _seq_., 169, 237, 257.
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EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS.