Page:The Pharaohs and their people; scenes of old Egyptian life and history (IA pharaohstheirpeo00berkiala).pdf/171

 rate the sanction of a true-born Pharaoh might be given, however nominally, to all that was done.

The reign of Seti was not long, but it was full of stirring events, which are recorded on a wall of the great temple at Karnak. Egypt had been absorbed in religious and domestic dissensions, and her claims to supremacy and empire in Asia had been allowed to lapse. Encouraged by this apparent indifference, the wandering Shasu tribes had ventured to cross the frontier, and had entered the Delta. Seti was a man of war, and was no doubt glad at heart to veil the obscurity of his birth and his doubtful right to the crown in a dazzling cloud of military triumph and renown. He marched against the intruding Shasu, and soon discomfited them. 'The king was against them as a fierce lion; not one escaped to tell of his strength to the distant nations,' it is said. Nevertheless, we find them soon after able to rally and make a stand upon Phœnician soil with the Phœnicians as allies. The king, whose horses on this occasion bore the name, 'Amen gives him strength,' again attacked and over