centuries, to those dreams of Asiatic dominion which had so long floated
before the eyes of Egyptian kings, and dazzled their imaginations. If a
single one of the petty princes between whose rule Syria was divided
could defeat and destroy the largest army that Egypt had ever brought
into the field, what hope was there of victory over twenty or thirty of
such chieftains? Henceforth, until the time of the great revolution
brought about in Western Asia through the destruction of the Assyrian
Empire by the Medes, the eyes of Egypt were averted from Asia, unless
when attack threatened her. She shrank from provoking the repetition of
such a defeat as Zerah had suffered, and was careful to abstain from all
interference with the affairs of Palestine, except on invitation. She
learnt to look upon the two Israelite kingdoms as her bulwarks against
attack from the East, and it became an acknowledged part of her policy
to support them against Assyrian aggression. If she did not succeed in
rendering them any effective assistance, it was not for lack of
good-will. She was indeed a "bruised reed" to lean upon, but it was
because her strength was inferior to that of the great Mesopotamian
power.
From the time of Osorkon II., the Sheshonk dynasty rapidly declined in
power. A system of constituting appanages for the princes of the
reigning house grew up, and in a short time conducted the country to
the verge of dissolution. "For the purpose of avoiding usurpations
analogous to that of the High-Priests of Ammon," says M. Maspero,
"Sheshonk and his descendants made a rule to entrust all positions of
importance, whether civil or military, to the princes of the blood
royal. A son of the reigning Pharaoh, most commonly his eldest son, held
the office of High-Priest of Ammon and Governor of Thebes; another
commanded at Sessoun (Hermopolis); another at Hakhensu, others in all
the large towns of the Delta and of Upper Egypt. Each of them had with
him several battalions of those Libyan soldiers--Matsiou and
Mashuash--who formed at this time the strength of the Egyptian army, and
on whose fidelity it was always safe to count. Ere long these commands
became hereditary, and the feudal system, which had anciently prevailed
among the chiefs of nomes or cantons, re-established itself for the
advantage of the members of the reigning house. The Pharaoh of the time
continued to reside at Memphis, or at Bubastis, to receive the taxes, to
direct as far as was possible the central administration, and to preside
at the grand ceremonies of religion, such as the enthronement or the
burial of an Apis-Bull; but, in point of fact, Egypt found itself
divided into a certain number of principalities, some of which comprised
only a few towns, while others extended over several continuous cantons.
After a time the chiefs of these principalities were emboldened to
reject the sovereignty of the Pharaoh altogether; relying on their bands
of Libyan mercenaries, they usurped, not only the functions of royalty,
but even the title of king, while the legitimate dynasty, cooped up in a
corner of the Delta, with difficulty preserved a certain remnant of
authority."
Upon disintegration followed, as a natural consequence, quarrel and
disturbance. In the reign of Takelut II., the grandson of Osorkon II.,
troubles broke out both in the north and in the south. Takelut's eldest
son, Osorkon, who was High-Priest of Ammon, and held the government of
Thebes and the other provinces of the south, was only able to maintain
the integrity of the kingdom by means of perpetual civil wars. Under his
successors, Sheshonk III., Pamai, and Sheshonk IV., the revolts became
more and more serious. Rival dynasties established themselves at Thebes,
Tanis, Memphis, and elsewhere. Ethiopia grew more powerful as Egypt
declined, and threatened ere long to establish a preponderating
influence over the entire Nile valley. But the Egyptian princes were too
jealous of each other to appreciate the danger which threatened them. A
very epidemic of decentralization set in; and by the middle of the
eighth century, just at the time when Assyria was uniting together and
blending into one all the long-divided tribes and nations of Western
Asia, Egypt suicidally broke itself up into no fewer than twenty
governments!
Such a condition of things was, of course, fatal to literature and art.
Art, as has been said, "did not so much decline as disappear." After
Sheshonk I. no monarch of the line left any building or sculpture of the
slightest importance. The very tombs became unpretentious, and merely
repeated antique forms without any of the antique spirit. Each Apis,
indeed, had, in his turn, his arched tomb cut for him in the solid rock
of the Serapeum at Memphis, and was laid to rest in a stone sarcophagus,
formed of a single block. A stela, moreover, was in every case inscribed
and set up to his memory: but the stelæ were rude memorials, devoid of
all artistic taste; the tombs were mere reproductions of old models; and
the inscriptions were of the dullest and most prosaic kind. Here is one,
as a specimen: "In the year 2, the month Mechir, on the first day of the
month, under the reign of King Pimai, the god Apis was carried to his
rest in the beautiful region of the west, and was laid in the grave, and
deposited in his everlasting house and his eternal abode. He was born in
the year 28, in the time of the deceased king, Sheshonk III. His glory
was sought for in all places of Lower Egypt. He was found after some
months in the city of Hashedabot. He was solemnly introduced into the
temple of Phthah, beside his father--the Memphian god Phthah of the
south wall--by the high-priest in the temple of Phthah, the great prince
of the Mashuash, Petise, the son of the high-priest of Memphis and great
prince of the Mashuash, Takelut, and of the princess of royal race,
Thes-bast-per, in the year 28, in the month of Paophi, on the first day
of the month. The full lifetime of this god amounted to twenty-six
years." Such is the historical literature of the period. The only other
kind of literature belonging to it which has come down to us, consists
of what are called "Magical Texts." These are to the following
effect:--"When Horns weeps, the water that falls from his eyes grows
into plants producing a sweet perfume. When Typhon lets fall blood from
his nose, it grows into plants changing to cedars, and produces
turpentine instead of the water. When Shu and Tefnut weep much, and
water falls from their eyes, it changes into plants that produce
incense. When the Sun weeps a second time, and lets water fall from his
eyes, it is changed into working bees; they work in the flowers of each
kind, and honey and wax are produced instead of the water. When the Sun
becomes weak, he lets fall the perspiration of his members, and this
changes to a liquid." Or again--"To make a magic mixture: Take two
grains of incense, two fumigations, two jars of cedar-oil, two jars of
_tas_, two jars of wine, two jars of spirits of wine. Apply it at the
place of thy heart. Thou art protected against the accidents of life;
thou art protected against a violent death; thou art protected against
fire; thou art not ruined on earth, and thou escapest in heaven."
XX.
THE LAND SHADOWING WITH WINGS--EGYPT UNDER THE ETHIOPIANS
The name of Ethiopia was applied in ancient times, much as the term
Soudan is applied now, vaguely to the East African interior south of
Egypt, from about lat. 24° to about lat. 9°. The tract was for the most
part sandy or rocky desert, interspersed with oases, but contained along
the course of the Nile a valuable strip of territory; while, south and
south-east of the point where the Nile receives the Atbara, it spread
out into a broad fertile region, watered by many streams, diversified by
mountains and woodlands, rich in minerals, and of considerable
fertility. At no time did the whole of this vast tract--a thousand miles
long by eight or nine hundred broad--form a single state or monarchy.
Rather, for the most part, was it divided up among an indefinite number
of states, or rather of tribes, some of them herdsmen, others hunters or
fishermen, very jealous of their independence, and frequently at war one
with another. Among the various tribes there was a certain community of
race, a resemblance of physical type, and a similarity of language.
Their neighbours, the Egyptians, included them all under a single ethnic
name, speaking of them as Kashi or Kushi--a term manifestly identical
with the Cush or Cushi of the Hebrews. They were a race cognate with the
Egyptians, but darker in complexion and coarser in feature--not by any
means negroes, but still more nearly allied to the negro than the
Egyptians were. Their best representatives in modern times are the
pure-bred Abyssinian tribes, the Gallas, Wolaïtzas, and the like, who
are probably their descendants.
The portion of Ethiopia which lay nearest to Egypt had been from a very
early date penetrated by Egyptian influence. Wars with "the miserable
Kashi" began as far back as the time of Usurtasen I.; and Usurtasen III.
carried his arms beyond the Second Cataract, and attached the northern
portion of Ethiopia to Egypt. The great kings of the eighteenth dynasty,
Thothmes III., Amenhotep II., and Amenhotep III., proceeded still
further southward; and the last of these monarchs built a temple to
Ammon at Napata, near the modern Gebel Berkal. The Ethiopians of this
region, a plastic race, adopted to a considerable extent the Egyptian
civilization, worshipped Egyptian gods in Egyptian shrines, and set up
inscriptions in the hieroglyphic character and in the Egyptian tongue.
Napata, and the Nile valley both below it and above it, was already half
Egyptianized, when, on the establishment of the Sheshonk dynasty in
Egypt, the descendants of Herhor resolved to quit their native country,
and remove themselves into Ethiopia, where they had reason to expect a
welcome. They were probably already connected by marriage with some of
the leading chiefs of Napata, and their sacerdotal character gave them
a great hold on a peculiarly superstitious people. The "princes of Noph"
received them with the greatest favour, and assigned them the highest
position in the state. Retaining their priestly office, they became at
once Ethiopian monarchs, and High-Priests of the Temple of Ammon which
Amenhotep III. had erected at Napata. Napata, under their government,
flourished greatly, and acquired a considerable architectural
magnificence. Fresh temples were built, in which the worship of Egyptian
was combined with that of Ethiopian deities; avenues of sphinxes adorned
the approaches to these new shrines; the practice of burying the members
of the royal house in pyramids was reverted to; and the necropolis of
Napata recalled the glories of the old necropolis of Memphis.
Napata was also a place of much wealth. The kingdom, whereof it was the
capital, reached southward as far as the modern Khartoum, and eastward
stretched up to the Abyssinian highlands, including the valleys of the
Atbara and its tributaries, together with most of the tract between the
Atbara and the Blue Nile. This was a region of great natural wealth,
containing many mines of gold, iron, copper, and salt, abundant woods of
date-palm, almond-trees, and ilex, some excellent pasture-ground, and
much rich meadow-land suitable for the growth of _doora_ and other sorts
of grain. Fish of many kinds, and excellent turtle, abounded in the
Atbara and the other streams; while the geographical position was
favourable for commerce with the tribes of the interior, who were able
to furnish an almost inexhaustible supply of ivory, skins, and ostrich
feathers.
The first monarch of Napata, whose name has come down to us, is a
certain Piankhi, who called himself Mi-Ammon, or Meri-Ammon--that is to
say, "beloved of Ammon." He is thought to have been a descendant of
Herhor, and to have begun to reign about B.C. 755. At this time Egypt
had reached the state of extreme disintegration described in the last
section. A prince named Tafnekht, probably of Libyan origin, ruled in
the western Delta, and held Saïs and Memphis; an Osorkon was king of the
eastern Delta, and held his court at Bubastis; Petesis was king of
Athribis, near the apex of the Delta; and a prince named Aupot, or
Shupot, ruled in some portion of the same region. In Middle Egypt, the
tract immediately above Memphis formed the kingdom of Pefaabast, who had
his residence in Sutensenen, or Heracleopolis Magna, and held the Fayoum
under his authority; while further south the Nile valley was in the
possession of a certain Namrut, whose capital was Sesennu, or
Hermopolis. Bek-en-nefi, and a Sheshonk, had also principalities, though
in what exact position is uncertain; and various towns, including
Mendes, were under the government of chiefs of mercenaries, of whom it
is reckoned that there were more than a dozen. Thebes and Southern Egypt
from about the latitude of Hermopolis had already been absorbed into the
kingdom of Napata, and were ruled directly by Piankhi.
Such being the state of affairs when he came to the throne, Piankhi
contrived between his first and his twenty-first year (about B.C.
755-734) gradually to extend his authority over the other kings, and to
reduce them to the position of tributary princes or feudatories. It is
uncertain whether he used force to effect his purpose. Perhaps the fear
of the Assyrians, who, under Tiglath-pileser II., were about this time
(B.C. 745-730) making great advances in Syria and Palestine, may have
been sufficiently strong to induce the princes voluntarily to adopt the
protection of Piankhi, whom they may have regarded as an Egyptian rather
than a foreigner. At any rate, we do not hear of violence being used
until revolt broke out. In the twenty-first year of Piankhi, news
reached him that Tafnekht, king of Memphis and Saïs, had rebelled, and,
not content with throwing off his allegiance, had commenced a series of
attacks upon the princes that remained faithful to their suzerain, and
was endeavouring to make himself master of the whole country. Already
had he fallen upon Pafaabast, and forced him to surrender at discretion;
he was advancing up the river; Namrut had joined him; and he would soon
threaten Thebes, unless a strenuous resistance were offered. Piankhi
seems at first to have despised his enemy. He thought it enough to send
two generals, at the head of a strong body of troops, down the Nile,
with orders to suppress the revolt, and bring the arch-rebel into his
presence. The expedition left Thebes. On its way down the river, it fell
in with the advancing fleet of the enemy, and completely defeated it.
The rebel chiefs, who now included Petesis, Osorkon, and Aupot, as well
as Tafnekht, Pefaabast, and Namrut, abandoning Hermopolis and the
Middle Nile, fell back upon Sutensenen or Heracleopolis Magna, where
they concentrated their forces, and awaited a second attack. This was
not long delayed. Piankhi's fleet and army, having besieged and taken
Hermopolis, descended the river to Sutensenen, gave the confederates a
second naval defeat, and disembarking, followed up their success with
another great victory on land, completely routing the rebels, and
driving them to take refuge in Lower Egypt, or in the towns on the river
bank below Heracleopolis. But now a strange reverse of fortune befell
them. Namrut, the Hermopolitan monarch, hearing of the occupation of his
capital by Piankhi's army, resolved on a bold attempt to retake it; and,
having collected a number of ships and troops, quitted his confederates,
sailed up the Nile, besieged the Ethiopian garrison which had been left
to hold the place, overpowered them, and recovered his city.
This unexpected blow roused Piankhi from his inaction. Having collected
a fresh army, he quitted Napata in the first month of the year, and
reached Thebes in the second, where he stopped awhile to perform a
number of religious ceremonies; at their close, he descended the Nile to
Hermopolis, invested it, and commenced its siege. Moveable towers were
brought up against the walls, from which machines threw stones and
arrows into the city; the defenders suffered terribly, and after a short
time insisted on a surrender. Namrut made his peace with his offended
sovereign through the intercession of his wife with Piankhi's wives,
sisters, and daughters, and was allowed once more to do homage to his
lord in the temple of Thoth, leading his war-horse in one hand and
holding a sistrum, the instrument wherewith it was usual to approach a
god, in the other. Piankhi entered Hermopolis, and examined the
treasury, store-houses, and stables, finding in the last a number of
horses, which had been reduced almost to starvation by the siege. Either
on this account, or for some other reason, Piankhi treated the
Hermopolitan prince with coldness, and did not for some time reinstate
him in his kingdom.
[Illustration: PIANKHI RECEIVING THE SUBMISSION OF NAMRUT AND OTHERS.]
Continuing his triumphal march towards the north, Piankhi received the
submission of Heracleopolis, the capital of Pefaabast, and of various
other cities on either bank of the Nile, and in a short time appeared
before Memphis and summoned it to surrender; but his summons was set at
nought. Tafnekht had recently visited the city, had strengthened its
defences, augmented its supplies, and reinforced its garrison with an
addition of eight thousand men, thereby greatly inspiriting them. It was
resolved to resist to the uttermost. So the gates were shut, the walls
manned, and Piankhi challenged to do his worst. "Then was His Majesty
furious against them, like a panther." Piankhi attacked the city
fiercely, both by land and water. Taking the command of the fleet in
person, he sailed down the Nile, and, bringing his vessels close up to
the walls and towers on the riverside, made use of the masts and yards
as ladders, and so scaled the fortifications; then after slaughtering
thousands on the ramparts, he forced an entrance into the town. Memphis,
upon this, surrendered. Piankhi entered the town, and sacrificed to the
god Phthah. A number of the princes, including Aupot and Merkaneshu, a
leader of mercenaries, came in and made their submission; but two of the
principal rebels still remained unsubdued--Tafnekht, the leader of the
revolt, and Osorkon, king of Bubastis, Piankhi proceeded against the
latter. Advancing first on Heliopolis, instead of resistance he was
received with acclamations, the people, priests, and soldiery having
gone over to his side. "Nothing succeeds like success." Egypt was as
prone as other countries to "worship the rising sun;" and Piankhi's
victories had by this time marked him out in the eyes of the Egyptians
as the favourite of Heaven, their predestined monarch and ruler.
Accordingly, Heliopolis received him gladly, hailing him as "the
indestructible Horus"--he was allowed to bathe in the sacred lake within
the precincts of the great temple, to offer sacrifice to Ra, and to
enter through the folding-doors into the central shrine, where were laid
up the sacred boats of Ra and Turn. After this surrender, Osorkon
thought it vain to attempt further resistance. He quitted Bubastis,
and, seeking the presence of the victorious Piankhi, submitted himself
and renewed his homage. At the same time, Petisis, king of Athribis,
made his submission.
The only prince who still remained unsubdued was Tafnekht, the original
rebel. Tafnekht had fled after the fall of Memphis, and had taken refuge
either in one of the islands of the Delta, or beyond the seas, in Aradus
or Cyprus. But he saw that further resistance was vain; and that, if he
was to rule an Egyptian principality, it must be as a secondary monarch.
Accordingly he, too, submitted himself, and was restored to his former
kingdom. Piankhi returned up the Nile to his own city of Napata amid
songs and rejoicings--whether sincere or feigned, who shall say? His own
account of the matter is the following: "When His Majesty sailed up the
river, his heart was glad; all its banks resounded with music. The
inhabitants of the west and of the east betook themselves to making
melody at His Majesty's approach. To the notes of the music they sang,
'O king, thou conqueror! O Piankhi, thou conquering king! Thou hast come
and smitten Lower Egypt; thou madest the men as women. The heart of the
mother rejoices who bare such a son, for he who begat thee dwells in the
vale of death. Happiness be to thee, O cow that hast borne the Bull!
Thou shalt live for ever in after ages. Thy victory shall endure, O king
and friend of Thebes!'"
This happy condition of things did not, however, continue long. Piankhi,
soon after his return to his capital, died without leaving issue; and
the race of Herhor being now extinct, the Ethiopians had to elect a king
from the number of their own nobles. Their choice fell on a certain
Kashta, a man of little energy, who allowed Egypt to throw off the
Ethiopian sovereignty without making any effort to prevent it.
Bek-en-ranf, the son of Tafnekht, was the leader of this successful
rebellion, and is said to have reigned over all Egypt for six years. He
got a name for wisdom and justice, but he could not alter that condition
of affairs which had been gradually brought about by the slow working of
various more or less occult causes, whereby Ethiopia had increased and
Egypt diminished in power, their relative strength, as compared with
former times, having become inverted. Ethiopia, being now the stronger,
was sure to reassert herself, and did so in Bek-en-ranf's seventh year.
Shabak, the son of Kashta, whose character was cast in a far stronger
mould than that of his father, having mounted the Ethiopian throne, lost
no time in swooping down upon Egypt from the upper region, and, carrying
all before him, besieged and took Saïs, made Bek-en-ranf a prisoner, and
barbarously burnt him alive for his rebellion. His fierce and sensuous
physiognomy is quite in keeping with this bloody deed, which was well
calculated to strike terror into the Egyptian nation, and to ensure a
general submission.
The rule of the Ethiopians was now for some fifty years firmly
established. Shabak founded a dynasty which the Egyptians themselves
admitted to be legitimate, and which the historian Manetho declared to
have consisted of three kings--Sabacos (or Shabak), Sevechus (or
Shabatok), and Taracus (or Tehrak), the Hebrew Tirhakah. The extant
monuments confirm the names, and order of succession, of these monarchs.
They were of a coarser and ruder fibre than the native Egyptians, but
they did not rule Egypt in any alien or hostile spirit. On the contrary,
they were pious worshippers of the old Egyptian gods; they repaired and
beautified the old Egyptian temples; and, instead of ruling Egypt, as a
conquered province, from Napata, they resided permanently, or at any
rate occasionally, at the Egyptian capitals, Thebes and Memphis. There
are certain indications which make it probable that to some extent they
pursued the policy of Piankhi, and governed Lower Egypt by means of
tributary kings, who held their courts at Saïs, Tanis, and perhaps
Bubastis. But they kept a jealous watch over their subject princes, and
allowed none of them to attain a dangerous pre-eminence.
[Illustration: HEAD OF SHABAK (SABACO).]