Page:The Pharaohs and their people; scenes of old Egyptian life and history (IA pharaohstheirpeo00berkiala).pdf/252

 of repose from hostile attack, is inscribed upon the walls of the great temple which Rameses erected not far from the colossi of Amenhotep in Western Thebes. Here are also pictorial representations of the scene where naval warfare is for the first time depicted. No doubt the services of the mercenaries, so largely employed in the fleet, stood the Egyptians in good stead at this crisis, the naval service never being popular with the native population.

The great temple of Rameses at Medinet Habou (to which, for the first time, so far as we know, a palace was annexed) was enriched with vast donations by the king; he also conferred immense gifts on other temples, which are detailed in almost endless lists. For Rameses , at some period, undertook wars of retribution, and won victories, and acquired rich spoil, both on the mainland and in the Mediterranean isles, more especially in Cilicia and in Cyprus. Fabulous stories were current in after times concerning King Rampsinitus (as the Greeks called this monarch) and his wonderful treasure-house. Herodotus heard some of these sensa