Part 238

The inscriptions on the monuments designate that foreign people who once ruled in Egypt by the name of Men or Menti. On the walls of the temple of Edfû it is stated that 'the inhabitants of the land of Asher are called Menti.' … In the different languages, … and in the different periods of history, the following names are synonymous: Syria, Rutennu of the East, Asher, and Menti."—"Since, on the basis of the most recent and best investigations in the province of ancient Egyptian chronology, we reckon the year 1350 B. C. as a mean computation for the reign of Ramses, the reign of the Hyksos king, Nub, and probably its beginning, falls in the year 1750 B. C., that is, 400 years before Ramses II. Although we are completely in the dark as to the place King Nub occupied in the succession of the kindred princes of his house, yet the number mentioned is important, as an approximate epoch for the stay of the foreign kings in Egypt. According to the statement in the Bible, the Hebrews from the immigration of Jacob into Egypt until the Exodus remained 430 years in that land. Since the Exodus from Egypt took place in the time of Meneptah II., the son of Ramses II.—the Pharaoh of the oppression—the year B. C. 1300 may be an approximate date. If we add to this 430 years, as expressing the total duration of the sojourn of the Hebrews in Egypt, we arrive at the year 1730 B. C. as the approximate date for the immigration of Jacob into Egypt, and for the time of the official career of Joseph at the court of Pharaoh. In other words, the time of Joseph (1730 B. C.) must have fallen in the period of the Hyksos domination, about the reign of the above-mentioned prince Nub (1750 B. C)."

_H. Brugsch-Bey, Egypt under the Pharaohs (edition of 1891, by M. Brodrick), pages 106-109, and 126._

See JEWS: THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL IN EGYPT.

ALSO IN: F. C. H. Wendel, History of Egypt, chapter 4.

EGYPT: About B. C. 1700-1400. The New Empire. The Eighteenth Dynasty.

"The dominion of the Hyksos by necessity gave rise to profound internal divisions, alike in the different princely families and in the native population itself. Factions became rampant in various districts, and reached the highest point in the hostile feeling of the inhabitants of Patoris or the South country against the people of Patomit or North country, who were much mixed with foreign blood. … From this condition of divided power and of mutual jealousy the foreign rulers obtained their advantage and their chief strength, until King Aahmes made himself supreme."

_H. Brugsch-Bey, Egypt under the Pharaohs (edition of 1891, by M. Brodrick)._

"The duration of the reign of this first Pharaoh of the New Empire was twenty-five years. He was succeeded by his son Amenhotep I. and the latter by his son Thothmes I. "The reign of Thothmes 1. … derives its chief distinction from the fact that, at this period of their history, the Egyptians for the first time carried their arms deep into Asia, overrunning Syria, and even invading Mesopotamia, or the tract between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Hitherto the furthest point reached in this direction had been Sharuhen in Southern Palestine. … Syria was hitherto almost an undiscovered region to the powerful people which nurturing its strength in the Nile valley, had remained content with its own natural limits and scarcely grasped at any conquests. A time was now come when this comparative quietude and absence of ambition were about to cease. Provoked by the attack made upon her from the side of Asia, and smarting from the wounds inflicted upon her pride and prosperity by the Hyksos during the period of their rule, Egypt now set herself to retaliate, and for three centuries continued at intervals to pour her armies into the Eastern continent, and to carry fire and sword over the extensive and populous regions which lay between the Mediterranean and the Zagros mountain range. There is some uncertainty as to the extent of her conquests; but no reasonable doubt can be entertained that for a space of three hundred years Egypt was the most powerful and the most aggressive state that the world contained, and held a dominion that has as much right to be called an 'Empire' as the Assyrian, the Babylonian or the Persian. {753} While Babylonia, ruled by Arab conquerors, declined in strength, and Assyria proper was merely struggling into independence, Egypt put forth her arm and grasped the fairest regions of the earth's surface." The immediate successor of Thothmes I. was his son, Thothmes II., who reigned in association with a sister of masculine character, queen Hatasu. The strong-minded queen, moreover, prolonged her reign after the death of this elder brother, until a younger brother, Thothmes III. displaced her. The Third Thothmes was the greatest of Egyptian conquerors and kings. He carried his arms beyond the Euphrates, winning a memorable victory at Megiddo over the confederated kings of the Syrian and Mesopotamian countries. He left to his son (Amenhotep II.) "a dominion extending about 1,100 miles from north to south, and (in places) 450 miles from west to east." He was a great builder, likewise, and "has left the impress of his presence in Egypt more widely than almost any other of her kings, while at the same time he has supplied to the great capitals of the modern world their most striking Egyptian monuments." The larger of the obelisks now standing in Rome and Constantinople, as well as those at London and New York were all of them produced in the reign of this magnificent Pharaoh. The two obelisks last named stood originally, and for fourteen centuries at the front of the great temple of the sun, in Heliopolis. They were removed by the Roman Emperor, Augustus, B. C: 23, to Alexandria, where they took in time the name of Cleopatra's Needles,—although Cleopatra had no part in their long history. After nineteen centuries more of rest, these strangely coveted monuments were again disturbed, and transported into lands which their builder knew not of. The later kings of the Eighteenth Dynasty seem to have, none of them, possessed the energy and character of Thothmes III. The line ended about 1400 B. C. with Horemheb, who left no heirs.

_G. Rawlinson, History of Ancient Egypt, chapter 20._

ALSO IN: _H. Brugsch-Bey, Egypt under the Pharaohs, chapter 13._

_H. H. Gorringe, Egyptian Obelisks._

EGYPT: About B. C. 1500-1400. The Tell el-Amarna Tablets. Correspondence of the Egyptian kings with Babylonia, Assyria, Armenia, Asia Minor, Syria and Palestine.

"The discovery made in 1887 by a peasant woman of Middle Egypt may be described as the most important of all contributions to the early political history of Western Asia. We have become possessed of a correspondence, dating from the fifteenth century B. C., which was carried on during the reigns of three Egyptian kings, with the rulers of Babylon, Assyria, Armenia, Asia Minor, Syria, and Palestine, during a period of great activity, when revolutions which affected the whole history of the east shore lands of the Mediterranean were in progress; and we find in these tablets a contemporary picture of the civilisation of the age. … The Tell Amarna tablets represent a literature equal in bulk to about half the Pentateuch, and concerned almost exclusively with political affairs, They are clay tablets, varying from two inches to a foot in length, with a few as large as eighteen inches, covered with cuneiform writing generally on both sides, and often on the edges as well. The peasantry unearthed nearly the complete collection, including some 320 pieces in all; and explorers afterwards digging on the site have added only a few additional fragments. The greater number were bought for the Berlin Museum, while eighty-two were acquired for England, and the rest remain either in the Boulak Museum at Cairo; or, in a few instances, in the hands of private collectors. … Tell Amarna (apparently 'the mound of the tumuli ') is an important ruined site on the east bank of the Nile, about a hundred and fifty miles in a straight line south of Cairo. Its Egyptian name is said to have been Khu-en-aten, 'Glory of the Sun-disk.'"

_The Tell Amarna Tablets (Edinburgh Review, July, 1893)._

"The collection of Cuneiform Tablets recently found [1887] at Tell el-Amarna in Upper Egypt, consisted of about three hundred and twenty documents, or portions of documents. The British Museum possesses eighty-two … the Berlin Museum has one hundred and sixty, a large number being fragments; the Gizeh Museum has sixty; and a few are in the hands of private persons. … In color the Tablets vary from a light to a dark dust tint, and from a flesh-color to dark brick-red. The nature of the clay of which they are made sometimes indicates the countries from which they come. The size of the Tablets in the British Museum varies from 8¾ inches x 4-7/8 inches to 2-1/8 inches x 1-11/16 inches; the longest text contains 98 lines, the shortest 10. … The greater number are rectangular, and a few are oval; and they differ in shape from any other cuneiform documents known to us. … The writing … resembles to a certain extent the Neo-Babylonian, i. e., the simplification of the writing of the first Babylonian Empire used commonly in Babylonia and Assyria for about seven centuries B. C. It possesses, however, characteristics different from those of any other style of cuneiform writing of any period now known to exist; and nearly every tablet contains forms of characters which have hitherto been thought peculiar to the Ninevite or Assyrian style of writing. But, compared with the neat, careful hand employed in the official documents drawn up for the kings of Assyria, it is somewhat coarse and careless, and suggests the work of unskilled scribes. One and the same hand, however, appears in tablets which come from the same person and the same place. On some of the large tablets the writing is bold and free; on some of the small ones the characters are confused and cramped, and are groups of strokes rather than wedges. The spelling … is often careless, and in some instances syllables have been omitted. At present it is not possible to say whether the irregular spelling is due to the ignorance of the scribe or to dialectic peculiarities. … The Semitic dialect in which these letters are written is Assyrian, and is, in some important details, closely related to the Hebrew of the Old Testament. … The documents were most probably written between the years B. C. 1500 to 1450. … They give an insight into the nature of the political relations which existed between the kings of Western Asia and the kings of Egypt, and prove that an important trade existed between the two countries from very early times. … A large number of the present tablets are addressed to 'the King of Egypt,' either Amenophis III. or Amenophis IV. Nearly all of them consist of reports of disasters to the Egyptian power and of successful intrigues against it, coupled by urgent entreaties for help, pointing to a condition of distraction and weakness in Egypt. … The most graphic details of the disorganized condition, and of the rival factions, of the Egyptian dependencies lying on the coastline of Phoenicia and Northern Palestine, are to be gathered from a perusal of the dispatches of the governors of the cities of Byblos, Beyrut and Tyre."

_The Tell el-Amarna Tablets in the British Museum, introduction._

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"In the present state of cuneiform research I believe it to be impossible to give a translation of the Tell el-Amarna texts which would entirely satisfy the expert or general reader. No two scholars would agree as to any interpretation which might be placed upon certain rare grammatical forms and unknown words in the Babylonian text, and any literal translation in a modern language would not be understood by the general reader on account of the involved style and endless repetition of phrases common to a Semitic idiom and dialect. About the general meaning of the contents of the greater number of the letters there can be no doubt whatever, and it is therefore possible to make a summary of the contents of each letter, which should, as a rule, satisfy the general reader, and at the same time form a guide to the beginner in cuneiform. Summaries of the contents of the Tell el-Amarna tablets in the British Museum have been published in 'The Tell el-Amarna Tablets in the British Museum, with autotype facsimiles,' printed by order of the Trustees, London, 1892, and it is hoped that the transliteration, given in the following pages may form a useful supplement to that work." …

No. 1. A Letter from Egypt—Amenophis III. to Kallimma (?) Sin, King of Karaduniyash, referring to his proposed marriage with Sukharti, the daughter of Kallimma-Sin, and containing the draft of a commercial treaty, and an allusion to the disappearance of certain chariots and horses.

No.2. Letters from Babylonia-Burraburiyash, King of Karaduniyash, to Amenophis IV., referring to the friendship which had existed between their respective fathers, and the help which had been rendered to the King of Egypt by Burraburiyash himself; the receipt of two manahs of gold is acknowledged and a petition is made for more.

No. 3. Burraburiyash, King of Karaduniyash to Amenophis IV., complaining that the Egyptian messengers had visited his country thrice without bringing gifts, and that they withheld some of the gold which had been sent to him from Egypt; Burraburiyash announces the despatch of a gift of lapis-lazuli for the Egyptian princess who was his son's wife. …

No. 30. Letter from Abi-milki, governor of Tyre, to the King of Egypt, reporting that he believes Zimrida will not be able to stir up disaffection in the city of Sidon, although he has caused much hostility against Tyre. He asks for help to protect the city, and for water to drink and wood to burn, and he sends with his messenger Ili-milki five talents of copper and other gifts for the King of Egypt. He reports that the King of Danuna is dead and that his brother reigns in his stead; one half of the city of Ugarit has been destroyed by fire; the soldiers of the Khatti have departed; Itagamapairi, governor of Kedesh, and Aziru are fighting against Namyawiza. If the King of Egypt will but send a few troops, all will be well with Tyre. …

No. 43. Letter from the governor of a town in Syria to the King of Egypt, reporting that the rebels have asserted their independence; that Biridashwi has stirred up rebellion in the city of Inu-Amma; that its people have captured chariots in the city of Ashtarti: that the kings of the cities of Buzruna and Khalunni have made a league with Biridashwi to slay Namyawiza (who, having taken refuge in Damascus and being attacked by Arzawiya, declared himself to be a vassal of Egypt); that Arzawiya went to the city of Gizza and afterwards captured the city of Shaddu; that Itakkama ravaged the country of Gizza; and that Arzawiya and Biridashwi have wasted the country of Abitu.

No. 44. Continuation (1) of a letter to the King of Egypt, reporting that, owing to the hostilities of Abd-Ashirta, Khâya, an official, was unable to send ships to the country of Amurri, as he had promised. The ships from Arvad which the writer has in his charge, lack their full complement of men for war service, and he urges the king to make use of the ships and crews which he has had with him in Egypt. The writer of the letter also urges the King of Egypt to appoint an Egyptian official over the naval affairs of Sidon, Beyrut and Arvad, and to seize Abd-Ashirta and put him under restraint to prevent him obstructing the manning of the ships of war. …

No. 58. Letter from the governor of a district in Palestine (?) to the governors of neighbouring states in the land of Canaan, informing them that he is about to send his messenger Akiya on a mission to the King of Egypt, and to place himself and every thing that he has at his disposal. Akiya will go to Egypt by the way of Canaan, and the writer of this letter suggests that any gifts they may have to send to Egypt should be carried by him, for Akiya is a thoroughly trustworthy man.

_C. Bezold, Oriental Diplomacy: Being the transliterated text of the Cuneiform Despatches, preface._

Under the title of "The Story of a 'Tell,'" Mr. W. M. Flinders Petrie, the successful excavator and explorer of Egyptian antiquities, gave a lecture in London, in June, 1892, in which he described the work and the results of an excavation then in progress under his direction on the supposed site of Lachish, at a point where the maritime plain of Philistia rises to the mountains of Judæa, on the route from Egypt into Asia. The chairman who introduced Mr. Petrie defined the word "Tell" as follows: "A Tell is a mound of earth showing by the presence of broken pottery or worked stone that it is the site of a ruined city or village. In England when a house falls down or is pulled down the materials are usually worth the expense of removing for use in some new building. But in Egypt common houses have for thousands of years been built of sun-dried bricks; in Palestine of rough rubble walling, which, on falling, produces many chips, with thick flat roofs of plaster. It is thus often less trouble to get new than to use old material; the sites of towns grow in height, and depressions are filled up." The mound excavated by Mr. Petrie is known as Tell el Hesy. After he left the work it was carried on by Mr. Bliss, and Mr. Petrie in his lecture says "The last news is that Mr. Bliss has found the long looked for prize, a cuneiform tablet. … From the character of the writing, which is the same as on the tablets written in Palestine in 1400. B. C., to the Egyptian king at Tel el Amarna, we have a close agreement regarding the chronology of the town. Further, it mentions Zimrida as a governor, and this same man appears as governor of Lachish on the tablets found at Tel el Amarna. We have thus at last picked up the other end of the broken chain of correspondence between Palestine and Egypt, of which one part was so unexpectedly found in Egypt a few years ago on the tablets at Tel el Amarna; and we may hope now to recover the Palestinian part of this intercourse and so establish the pre-Israelite history of the land."

W_. M. F. Petrie, The Story of a "Tell" (The City and the Land, lecture 6)._

See, also, PALESTINE.

ALSO IN: _C. R. Conder, The Tell Amarna Tablets, translated._

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EGYPT: About B. C. 1400-1200. The first of the Ramesides. The Pharaohs of the Oppression and the Exodus.

"Under the Nineteenth Dynasty, which acquired the throne after the death of Har-em-Hebi [or Hor-em-heb] the fortune of Egypt maintained to some extent its ascendancy; but, though the reigns of some war-like kings throw a bright light on this epoch, the shade of approaching trouble already darkens the horizon." Ramses I. and his son, or son-in-law, Seti I., were involved in troublesome wars with the rising power of the Hittites, in Syria, and with the Shasu of the Arabian desert. Seti was also at war with the Libyans, who then made their first appearance in Egyptian history. His son Ramses II., the Sesostris of the Greeks, who reigned for sixty-seven years, in the fourteenth century B. C., has always been the most famous of the Egyptian kings, and, by modern discovery, has been made the most interesting of them to the Christian world. He was a busy and boastful warrior, who accomplished no important conquests; but "among the Pharaohs he is the builder 'par excellence.' It is almost impossible to find in Egypt a ruin or an ancient mound, without reading his name." … It was to these works, probably, that the Israelites then in Egypt were forced to contribute their labor; for the Pharaoh of the oppression is identified, by most scholars of the present day, with this building and boasting Sesostris.

_F. Lenormant and E. Chevallier, Manual of the Ancient History of the East, book 3, chapter 3._

"The extreme length of the reign of Ramses was, as in other histories, the cause of subsequent weakness and disaster. His successor was an aged son, Menptah, who had to meet the difficulties which were easily overcome by the youth of his energetic father. The Libyans and their maritime allies broke the long tranquillity of Egypt by a formidable invasion and temporary conquest of the north-west. The power of the monarchy was thus shaken, and the old king was not the leader to restore it. His obscure reign was followed by others even obscurer, and the Nineteenth Dynasty ended in complete anarchy, which reached its height when a Syrian chief, in what manner we know not, gained the rule of the whole country. It is to the reign of Menptah that Egyptian tradition assigned the Exodus, and modern research has come to a general agreement that this is its true place in Egyptian history. … Unfortunately we do not know the duration of the oppression of the Israelites, nor the condition of Lower Egypt during the Eighteenth Dynasty, which, according to the hypothesis here adopted, corresponds to a great part of the Hebrew sojourn. It is, however, clear from the Bible that the oppression did not begin till after the period of Joseph's contemporaries, and had lasted eighty years before the Exodus. It seems almost certain that this was the actual beginning of the oppression, for it is very improbable that two separate Pharaohs are intended by the 'new king which knew not Joseph' and the builder of Rameses, or, in other words, Ramses II., and the time from the accession of Ramses II. to the end of Menptah's reign can have little exceeded the eighty years of Scripture between the birth of Moses and the Exodus. … If the adjustment of Hebrew and Egyptian history for the oppression, as stated above, be accepted, Ramses II. was probably the first, and certainly the great oppressor. His character suits this theory; he was an undoubted autocrat who … covered Egypt and Lower Nubia with vast structures that could only have been produced by slave-labor on the largest scale."

_R. S. Poole, Ancient Egypt (Contemporary Review, March, 1879)._

ALSO IN: _H. Brugsch-Bey, Egypt Under the Pharaohs, chapter 14._

_H. G. Tomkins, Life and Times of Joseph._

See, also: JEWS: THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL IN EGYPT.

EGYPT: About B. C. 1300. Exodus of the Israelites.

See JEWS: THE ROUTE OF THE EXODUS.

EGYPT: About B. C. 1200-670. The decline of the empire of the Pharaohs.