Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/390

 EGYPT

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EGYPT

El 'Araama), a city which he founded in a like spirit, and he also founded two other cities of the same name, each with a Gem-Aton temple, one in Nubia, at the foot of the Third Cataract (where it was discovered in 1907 by Professor Breasted), and another in Syria, the site of which is still unknown. This reform was vio- lently opposed by the established priesthood, and the land was soon thrown into a state of general confusion verging on anarchy. The temples and cities dedi- cated to Aton were destroyed and abandoned soon after the royal reformer's death.

Harrahab (13.50-1315 B. c), the founder of the Nineteenth Dynasty, was principally engaged in bringing the land out of the confusion into which it had fallen during the last years of the preceding dynasty, and restoring the temples of the ancient gods to their former splendour. Seti I (1313-1292) at- tempted to recover the Asiatic provinces lost by

Amenhotep IV, but he does not seem to have pushed his advance farther than the Hauran and the southern slopes of Mount Lebanon. He probably did no more than skirmish with the Hittites, who were now in pos- session of the valley of the Orontes, and had occupied the strong post of Kadesh on that river; even his con- quest of Palestine does not appear to have been per- manent. At all events Seti's son, Ramses II (1292- 122.5), had to begin all over again. After three years spent in recovering Palestine, Ramses finally suc- ceeded in dislodging the Hittites from the valley of the Orontes. The war nevertheless continued some ten or eleven years longer without great results, the Hit- tites apparently returning to their former positions as soon as Ramses had retired to Egypt for the winter season; when the Hittites propo.sed to him a treaty of permanent peace and alliance, he gladly accepted it ( 1272 B.C.). This treaty, of which we have two Egj'p- tian transcripts and a Hittite copy in the Babylonian language and cli.aracter, does not stipulate anything with regard to the boundary between the two coun- tries, which was. very likely, about the same as vmder Seti, save po.ssibly on the coast, where it may have extended to the Nahr-el-Kelb as suggested by the presence of three stela; carved there on the rocks by

Ramses. Thirteen years later the Hittite king vis- ited Egypt on the occasion of the marriage of his eldest daughter with the pharaoh. Diplomatic unions of that kind had already taken place during the preceding dynasty. The treaty was faithfully observed by both parties, at least until the second year of Merneptah (1225-1215), the son and successor of Ramses II, when the Hittites seem to have taken part in an inva- sion of the Delta by the Libyans and various peoples of the northern Mediterranean, their allies.

Neither this, however, nor the disaffection which at the same time was rampant among his Asiatic vassals spurred Merneptah to new conquests. The Hittite war of Ramses II, it seems, had completely exhausted the military enterprise of Egypt. Her armies from that time keep to the defensive. Merneptah was sat- isfied to bring back Palestine to submission and defeat and drive out the Libyans — among whom the Tehenu tribe was prominent apparently because they were settled on the Ep'ptian border — and their allies, the Sherden (Sardinians), the Shekelesh (Sicilians?), the Ekwesh (Achseans?), and the Lycians. But even these were considered great achievements, and the people sang: —

The Kings are overthrown, saying: "Salam!" Not one hokls up his head among the nine nations of

the bow. Wasted is Tehenu, The Hittite land is pacified. Plundered is the Canaan, with every evil, Carried off is Askalon, Seized upon is Gezer, Yenoara is made as a thing not existing, Israel is desolated, her seed is not, Palestine has become a [tlefenceless] widow for Egypt. All lands are united, they are pacified, Every one that is turbulent is bound by King Mernep- tah. (Breasted, op. cit., 330; "Ancient Records of Egypt", III, G03 sqq.) The situation at home was no brighter, and it became worse under Merneptah 's suc- cessors, Amenmeses, Memeptah-Siptah, and Seti II, until complete anarchy prevailed. Thrusting aside a host of less daring pretenders, a Syrian named Irisu (or Yerseu), who held an important position as head of one of the nomes, seized the power and for five years ruled the land in tyranny and violence. (Breasted, •• Ancient Records of Egypt", IV, § 398.) Thus ended the Nineteenth Dynasty.

Of Setnakht (1200-119S B. c), the founder of the following dynasty, we know little except that he was a strong man who succeeded in restoring order. His son, Ramses III (119S-1167), was confronted by very much the same situation as Merneptah some twenty- five years before, only a great deal more serious. The allies of the Libyans defeated by Merneptah were only the vanguard of a far more dreadful army of invasion. This was now approaching. It was followed at close range by motley hordes of immigrants from the islands and the northern shores of the Mediterranean, the "peoples of the sea", as the Egyptians called them. Besides those already mentioned we find now the Peleset (Philistines) and the Denyen (Danaoi). Some of the invaders were coming by sea, along the coast, others by land. Ramses III showed himself equal to the occasion. Having defeated a first contingent who had already landed in the Delta and joined the Lib- yans, he sent a strong fleet to check the advance of the main body of the invaders' ships and hastened by land, with his army, to Syria, where he expected to find the enemy. Both the land and the naval battles were fought in about the same region, for Ramses, having routed the land forces of the enemy, was in time to co-operate with the Egyptian fleet in defeating that of the invaders. This brilliant campaign stayed the advance of the immigrants who now came strag- gling along, settling here and there as vassals of