Page:Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians Volume 1.djvu/129

Rh large body. 1. To oppress and keep them in bondage required a powerful monarch, and a warrior; and such were in an eminent degree Osiri I. and Remeses II. 2. The labours of so great a population could not fail to be distinguished; and no Pharaohs have left finer buildings, nor in greater numbers, than these two kings. 3. A successful revolt could only take place under a feeble monarch, and such was Pthamenoph: and the loss of so great a population would inflict a blow on the prosperity of Egypt, and cause a lasting debility. Such was the state of Egypt after the reign of Remeses II., when a sudden decline of the arts and power of the country ensued; and if at the accession of Remeses III. they for a time re-appeared, and in great splendour, yet with this monarch the glory of ancient Egypt departed for ever."

From the preceding statement, it is evident that Lord Prudhoe places the Exodus in the reign of Pthahmen, (or, as he writes it, Pthamenoph,) the last king of the 18th Dynasty; and that consequently the dates of those monarchs are all thrown back about 200 years. The decision of this interesting question I leave to the learned reader; and shall feel great satisfaction, when the subject becomes so well understood as to enable a positive opinion to be pronounced upon it. I now return to the 19th Dynasty.

Pthahmen Septhah appears to have been the Sethos of Manetho and other authors, and the VOL. I.