Page:The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea.djvu/132

 with incense; odors are in the Great House," and the heart of Amon was made glad.

Then followed a series of campaigns in Syria, resulting in the submission of that country, and annual remittances of great quantities of Arabian and Eastern treasure—incense, oil, grain, win, gold and silver, precious stones—while even the "Chief of Shinar" at Babylon sent gifts of lapis lazuli, and the "Genabti" of the Incense-Land came direct, offering their tribute. The sudden opulence of the Theban dynasty made possible a great enrichment in the worship of Amon, and the setting aside of enormous endowments for the temples, as well as annual gifts of princely value. So RamesesII, of the XIXth dynasty (1292–1225 B.C.), "founded for his father offerings for his ka—wine, incense, all fruit, cultivated trees, growing for him;" while the court responded that Rameses himself was "the god of all people, that they may awake, to give to thee incense." His successor Merneptah was bidden by the All-Lord to "set free multitudes who are bound in every district, to give offerings to the temples, to send in incense before the god." And in the XXth dynasty, under RamesesIII (1198–1167 B.C.), it seemed as if the resources of the nation were poured bodily into the lap of Amon. The god opened for the Pharaoh "the ways of Punt, with myrrh and incense for thy serpent diadem;" "the Sand-Dwellers came bowing down to thy name." And in the Papyrus Harris, that great record of his gifts and endowments to Amon, compiled for his tomb, there are such entries every year as "gold, silver, lapis lazuli, malachite, precious stones, copper, garments of royal linen, jars, fowl; myrrh, 21,140 deben, white incense 2,159 jars, cinnamon 246 measures, incense 304,093 various measures;" stored of necessity, in a special "Incense House."

(The quotations are from Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt.)

At this time the Hebrews ended their servitude in Egypt and migrated to Palestine; and naturally among them also frankincense was counted holy. The sacred incense of the priests (Exod. XXX, 34–5) was composed of "sweet spices, stacte, onycha, galbanum, with pure frankincense; of each a like weight.... a perfume... pure and holy." And "when any will offer a meat offering (Levit. II, 1–3) it shall be of fine flavor, and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense thereon... and the priest shall burn the memorial upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord." There were special rooms in the temple at Jerusalem for storing it under priestly guard (I Chron. IX, 26–30); and later, when one of these rooms was occupied as a dwelling, it was considered a sacrilege (Nehemiah XIII, 4–9). The trade in the days of