Page:The Pharaohs and their people; scenes of old Egyptian life and history (IA pharaohstheirpeo00berkiala).pdf/246

 CHAPTER XII.

Twentieth and Twenty-first Dynasties—The Ramessidæ and the Priest-Kings. (Circa 1200-970 )

It may be doubtful whether Rameses , son of the Setnekht who pacified Egypt and restored order, was connected by blood with the preceding dynasties. He bore the name of an illustrious predecessor, however, and throughout his reign he appears to have made it his aim to emulate the great Rameses. His first task was to reorganise the public service, which had fallen into great disorder; to appoint and to regulate the station and office of the prince-governors, of the soldiers of the army and their foreign auxiliaries, of the inferior servants and the bondsmen. The earliest years of his reign were disturbed by invasion both from east and west. The Shashu and the Libyans, ever hanging on the confines, were always ready to cross the border of the Delta