08 - History of Egypt by Frederick C. H. Wendel

HEB succeeded in restoring order in the kingdom. His accession to the throne marks a new era in Egyptian history, that of the Nineteenth Dynasty, in which Egypt, though its armies no longer marched to the Euphrates and became a terror of the Mesopotamian rulers, yet succeeded in making a

part of Asia an integral part of its empire. The preceding dynasty had produced great conquerors who stand unrivaled in the annals of the land of Khmet, this dynasty produced rulers who were great warriors, and but for events which had occurred in Asia during the latter part of the dynasty, eighteen would have equalled the two great Tutmoses in extent of conquests, and who were, besides great organizers, how they succeeded in incorporating Palestine, Phoenicia, and southern Syria in the kingdom.

We shall presently see. The great mistake of these rulers was that they, little by little, substituted Libyan mercenaries for the national armies that had hitherto been the sole reliance of Egypt. And we shall have occasion to trace the grave results of this mistake. A long inscription on a statue of Haremheb preserved in Turin, gives us an account of his early life and relates how he came to the throne. He was brought up in the city of Hatsuten,

and already in his early youth, was highly honored. He was a member of the family of Tutmosis the Third, whom he calls the father of his father, i e. His ancestor. When he was still a very young man, the ruling pharaoh, whose name is not mentioned, appointed him to a high position in the eighteenth Upper Egyptian nome Saped,

which was his home. As he made a good record in this position, he was made Aden i e General, and in this position he received the tributes of the foreign princes, and all the princes had to bow down before him. After he had held this position for a number of years and had shown great ability, he was

appointed no Marcos of Saped. This position he held when, as the text puts it, Horace and Amon decided to place him on the throne horemheb certainly had a good right to the succession, being a lineal descendant of Tutmosis the third, but his chief claim lay in the fact that he had succeeded in trying mphing over all the usurpers that had arisen after the death of the last pharaoh of Chuanatan's line. On the close of the civil war, he proceeded to Thebes, where he married the royal princess

Mudnetchim and was crowned king. His campaigns were chiefly in the south, where he put down a number of rebellious Nubian tribes. We also know that he conducted several campaigns in the north with the usual success. It would seem, too, that the connections with southern Arabia and the Somali coast were kept up for the inscriptions mentioned the tribute of

the Prince of Puent. Horem Heb tells us that he restored the temples of the land from the Delta to Nubia and increased the numbers of their slaves and the amounts of sacrificial offerings of the temples. Those of thebes On, Heliopolis and Memphis were specially favored. Horem Heb died after a reign of about twenty years. Section two. Rameses the First thirteen nineteen to thirteen seventeen b C. Very little

is known of Horemheb's son and successor, Ramses. He made several raids into Nubia, and shortly before his death appointed his son Seti co regent. He died after a reign of only two years. His mummy was among those found at dare Al Bahari. Section three. Seti the First thirteen sixteen to twelve eighty nine b C. The son and successor of Ramses the First, was one of the greatest

and most warlike of all the Egyptian kings. Already in the first year of his reign, he was compelled to invade Asia, starting from the chetem I e Fort of Tar, which lay on the freshwater canal that formed the eastern boundary line of Egypt. He first attacked and easily defeated the Shassu II, the nomadic tribes dwelling in the Arabian desert, and then entered Canan, defeated the inhabitants, took their capital, and erected and garrisoned forts and dug wells in the

conquered country. It is evident that the pharaoh desire to hold the land permanently, and thus to secure Egypt against all further inroads from Asia. This rapid success of the Egyptian army spread terror over all Syria, and the Syrian princes submitted peaceably and paid tribute. Several strongly fortified towns, however, held out and had to be taken by force of arms.

Among these were Kadesh, a city of the Amorites in the district allotted to the tribe of Neftali that must not be confounded with the Kadesh on the Orrantes, the capital of the Cheta, and the fortress of Jenuam. Seeing these Egyptian successes, Mauteneur, the king of the Cheta, naturally, thinking he would be attacked next, determined to take a hand in the game. He was defeated, but set He

gained no permanent advantage over him. If we possessed the monuments of this Cheta king, we certainly would read of victories gained over the Egyptians. Seti now returned home at Tiar, he was met by a procession of priests and nobles, who conducted him to Thebes in triumphal procession. The successes of this pharaoh must not be overestimated. All he succeeded in doing was to conquer the land lying between the

Egyptian and the Cheta frontier. The petty sovereigns of southern Syria fell an easy prey to him, but the mighty Cheta king succeeded in checking his advance. The lists of conquered lands and cities are very unreliable, many of the names having been copied from the lists of Tutmosus the third. In the later years of his reign, SETI was compelled to march against the Taehenu i e. The Libyans, who had again begun to make inroads on the western frontier.

The Libyan tribes, who were savage and warlike, had for centuries almost constantly been at war with Egypt, and though at first easily defeated, had in the course of time become very dangerous foes. In this reign, they began a series of invasions, which were repelled only with great difficulty. SETI was compelled to defeat them again and again before

he succeeded in subduing them for the time being. These tribes soon assumed the same position as regards Egypt that the German tribes in later times held as regards the Roman Empire. They began as enemies and invaders, and with time, finding it profitable to serve the pharaoh, entered the Egyptian

service as mercenaries. These mercenaries soon supplanted the native troops, and in several centuries gained such controlling influence that some four hundred years after Seti's time, their commander in chief, Sheshank, could grasp the scepter and ascend the throne of the pharaohs that to Henu. Tribes that entered the Egyptian service in this and the following regins were the Mashawasha and the Cahawk. In connection with these tribes there appears now

for the first time the tribe of the Shardana. Large bodies of these Shardana entered the service of Egypt under Rameses the second, and a poem celebrating this monarch's victory over the Cheta states that they were originally prisoners of war. The armament of these men's was peculiar. They carried small round shields or bucklers and a long, sharp pointed lance, and wore helmets with a round ball on top. They also had full beards, while the Egyptian soldiers wore no

beards at all. In later times they are called people of the sea. Their home must consequently have been some coast, district or island of the Mediterranean. We have no reason whatsoever to identify them with the Sardinians. In all probability, they were a tribe that dwelt on the northern coast of Africa. The architectural activity of this ruler was confined chiefly to Thebes, where he built at the temple of Amon raw At Karnak. Here he began the magnificent Hypostyle,

which was completed by his son and successor. In the necropolis of Thebes, on the west bank of the Nile, he restored two funeral temples that of Makharah at Daryl Bahari, and that of Tutmoses the third at Medinet Habu. He also began a funeral temple dedicated to his father, Rameses the First at Abd el Kurnagh, which was completed by Rameses the second, who dedicated it to Seti in conjunction with Rameses the first. The king also restored temples in

all parts of Egypt. The mines of the setmuf kat i e Malachite region, as the Egyptians called the Senai he held and operated. The quarries in Egypt proper were of course in full operation, and the gold mines of Aethiopia were worked. Of these gold mines, there has been preserved in a Turin papyrus a map, which, though crudely drawn, is easily intelligible, the oldest map extant. Before his death, SETI appointed his young son, Ramsey's co regent, but this

appointment was merely nominal. Rameses certainly never exercised the functions of this office. He himself conceived it in this spirit, never dating his reign from his appointment, as the kings of the Twelfth dynasty had done, but from his actual accession to the throne as sole ruler. SETI died after

a reign of about twenty seven years. The mummy of this ruler was found in a shaft at Darrow Bahari, where it had been hid to protect it against the tomb robbers that invested the necropolis in the times of the priest kings of dynasty twenty one. The features are strongly marked and give evidence of great mental vigor and strength of will. Section four Rameses the Second twelve eighty eight to twelve twenty one b c. This king has long been overestimated by those who followed Greek tradition in

Egyptian history. That this tradition is utterly untrustworthy has been pointed out in the introduction, and its utter worthlessness is here glaringly illustrated. The Greeks called this king Sisastras and made him the representative of Egyptian greatness. The name of Sisastras is undoubtedly authentic, being a corruption of Sesetsu, a name applied to this king in a critical letter written

either in his reign or shortly afterward. He has been declared the greatest of all the pharaohs, while in reality he is to be placed after several others. Of all the greatest was undoubtedly Tetmosis the third. Next after him we can place his father Tetmoses the first. Then come Eusir Tessen the third, the conqueror of Athiopia, and Seti the first, who conquered Libya and prepared the way for

Rameses the second in Asia. We give now a brief summary of the Greek accounts of this king, and the reader can then himself compare them with the authentic history gleaned from the monuments of this reign, which, with the exception of the very suspicious lists of conquered nations, are entirely trustworthy. Herodotus and Diodorus Sicilis are the principal sources for the Sosastres legend. According to them, Cissastres was educated together with all boys born on the same day with himself.

While yet crown prince, he was sent against the Aethiopians and subdued their entire country. Then he marched against Libya and conquered the greater part of that country, his father dying soon after. He determined to conquer the world, raising an army of six hundred thousand infantry twenty four thousand cavalry and twenty seven thousand chariots. He put them under

command of the seventeen hundred boys educated. Together with him, this vast army first marched against Aethiopia, and, conquering the entire country, levied a tribute of gold, ebony and ivory. Why conquer Ethiopia, which, according to the same authority he had already conquered. He then fitted out a fleet of four hundred sail the first Egyptian fleet, and penetrating to the land where the cinnamon grows and the straits of Babel, Mandeb conquered the land of the ichthiop Phagoi and erected

Stella there. Then he crossed to Arabia and overran that country and the Asiatic coasts as far as India. In proof of this, they stayed that up to their time there were to be seen in that country many ramparts of cisastris, as well as numerous imitations of Egyptian temples. His land forces crossed the Ganges and conquered India. He next overran the country of the Scythians up to the Tenaeus River the modern Don River. Here a part of his troops remained, and from them are descend in the Colchoi.

According to Pliny's version, however, Cisastras did not succeed in invading the country, but was defeated by Sallakis, king of Colchis. The king next entered Europe and overran Thrace. Here, his army was almost entirely broken up by hardships and starvation. At length, after nine years of continued warfare, he returned home, laden with booty and all of the conquered lands. Cisastres set up Stella. Some of these monuments, alleged to have been erected by him, were shown to Herodotus in Ionia

and Syria. Manetho relates that when Cissastras set out on his campaigns, he had appointed his brother Harmaeus regent during his absence. After the king's return, Harmaeus revolted but was defeated at Pelusium. The Egyptian account differs materially from this. In Libya, Rameses fought only as crown prince under his

father's leadership. The monument do indeed mention campaigns in Ethiopia, but these were most probably directed only against the mountain tribes that made constant inroads on the civilized portion of Ethiopia. The country proper was an integral part of Egypt, and had been so for centuries, and it was entirely unnecessary to reconquer it. The great seat of the war in this reign was Asia. In the second year of his reign, the Pharaohs started on his first campaign in this region.

It would seem that disturbances had occurred in Palestine and the land of the Amorites, and that this campaign was necessary to restore order. Several cities had to be taken, but on the whole, the restoration of Egyptian supremacy in the countries recently so severely visited by Seti the first cannot have been an over difficult task. As usual, it seems that the fortresses alone offered any resistance, and after they had fallen, the rest of the country submitted peaceably.

At the close of this camp, Rameses erected Astili on the banks of the Nahar el Khaled, north of Beirut. His second campaign, on which he set out in the fifth year of his reign, after careful preparation, was directed against the Cheta, the old enemies of Tutmosis. The third and Seti the First. It may be well here to give a brief sketch of the rise of this people. There were two peoples named Cheta, one in Canan and one dwelling between the Orrants and the Euphrates. The latter

is the people we refer to here. Already in the time of Tutmoses the third, they seem to have been an important and influential nation. The Cheta were the soul of the last great coalition formed against this pharaoh. But in these early times Egypt still proved the master. After the death of Amenhotep the Third, the Egyptians were too much occupied with internal affairs to interfere in Syria, and in the time between the death of this ruler and the assse ession of Seti the First falls the rise

of the Cheta. Of the combats in which they gained this ascendancy we know nothing, but it would seem that their kings, Sapilel and Marusar, who preceded Mauteneur, the contemporary of Seti, had succeeded in gaining the ascendancy over all the states of northern Syria. The Rutenu Haru upper Rutenu of the Egyptians northern Mesopotamia and of that portion of

Asia lying north of their domain. We do not, however, know whether they merely stood at the head of a confederacy composed of these states, or had really conquered them. When SETI the first invaded Asia, Mountaineur felt sufficiently strong to oppose him, and, though at first defeated, succeeded in

checking his advance. This success naturally increased the prestige of the Cheta, and when Rameses the second attacked them, they seemed to have been able to call to their aid all the peoples of northern Syria and northern Mesoptae, Kamia, and some of the peoples of Asia Minor. The forces of this mighty coalition were massed in front of Kadesh,

the Cheta capital, where they awaited the Egyptian advance. Led by treacherous guides, the advance guard of the Egyptian army, which was under the personal command of the king, fell into an ambuscade near Kadesh, and were all but annihilated. They were, however, rallied by Rameses, whose personal prowess, as he tells us, alone, turned the tide of the battle, and when the rest of the army which had been

hastily summoned, arrived on the battlefield. They were just in time to join in the pursuit of the fleeing foe. The enemy were driven into the Orrantes River iji Arunta, and suffered terrible losses. One of their generals, the Prince of Chaleb Aleppo, was almost drowned. Again and again. Ramsey's reverts to this victory, the poem and the representations commemorative of it he had inscribed on the walls of several temples.

Undoubtedly it was an act of great personal bravery, and the pharaoh had a right to be proud of it. But the victory was fruitless. Kadesh was not taken, and if Rameses says that Mounteneur had turned about and adored him, this can refer only to negotiation concerning an armistice. At all events, the war went on as before, and evidently with wavering success, though we hear but little of its further course. Once we find the pharaoh fighting far north

in the region of Tunep in Naharan, Mesopotamia. But how he came there we do not know. He did not retain this advanced position long, however, but was driven back for in the eighth year of his reign, he fought in Palestine, taking the towns of Mehram Kharpu in the region of bete Anat and Dapur in the country of the Amorites. He also took the town of Shapur and finally reconquered as Kharun as colon which had thrown off the yoke of Egypt. During this war, Mountaineur died and

Chetasar succeeded him. The Cheta War was finally closed in the twenty first year of Rameses' reign by a Treaty of Peace and Alliance. This treaty proves that perfect equality existed between the two nations. Both kings bound themselves to keep the peace and be good and faithful allies. The treaty refers to one in force in the time of Sapilel and Matinur, concluded possibly with SETI the first or

one of his two predecessors. It expressly states the obligation of either king to come to the assistance of the other if so required. It further defines the obligation of either king to return refugees. Thus was concluded the first Treaty of Peace and Alliance. The full text of which has come down to us that treaties had been concluded between the kings of Egypt and the Mesopotamian rulers we

have seen in the preceding chapter. To strengthen this treaty, Rameses married the old oldest daughter of Chetasar, acknowledging her as his legitimate wife and queen, the princess adopting the Egyptian name of matt nephru Ra. Thirteen years later, Chetasar, accompanied by the Prince of Kedi, paid his royal son

in law a visit. The terms of the treaty seemed to have been strictly kept by both countries, as they were weary of a war that drained their resources and brought no result to either of the boundary between the two nations. Nothing is said in the treaty, but it would seem probable that Egypt retained Phoenicia, Palestine, and southern Syria, while the Cheta were free to extend their domain northward. The Cheta made good use of their opportunities all through

Asia Minor and as far north as Smyrna. We meet with monuments that were erected by this people. Rameses could not extend his sway any further than the boundaries of the Cheta. He now set to work to secure the conquered country. In all parts of Palestine and southern Syria, forts were erected in garrisoned, and it would even seem that special officers rode through the land on tours of inspection. The power of Egypt had greatly weakened, and she was

no longer what she had been three centuries earlier. The lists of conquered lands which this pharaoh had inscribed on the temple walls are utterly unreliable, being copied in great part from those of Tutmosis the third. Thus he mentions as conquered, among others, Asur Assyria and Sangar Chaldea, countries with which this pharaoh had no relations whatsoever. That a very active commercial intercourse between Egypt and Asia was brought about by the new relations between Egypt and the Asiatic

nations is self evident. Egypt powerfully influenced Asia, and was powerfully influenced in return Syrian divinities. But all and astart were taken into the Egyptian pantheon. Setsu Tech, who to the Egyptians represented the tutular divinity of the foreigners gained greatly in prestige owing to the successes of these same foreigners, But the chief influence was on the language. The influx of Semitic words into the Egyptian at this time is

something wonderful to behold. It must have been considered elegant and a proof of great learning to larder one's writing with these foreign words and phrases, for some of the texts of this period teem with them. The peace which closed the Asiatic War in the twenty first year of Rameses reign left the pharaoh forty six years to devote to internal improvements. The king directed his attention chiefly to building, and there is scarce a town in all Egypt in

which he did not build, complete or restore temples. But despite this great activity, he does not seem to have been thoroughly satisfied with his work, for he usurped many temples erected by his predecessors. The usurpation of monuments was a common practice in ancient Egypt. The usurper proceeded in a vas very simple manner. He erased the name of the real builder and substituted his own for it, thus making it appear as if the monument in question owed

its existence to him. This had been done before Rameses time, but none of his predecessors possessed the same finesse in this class of work. He thus succeeded in arrogating to himself many temples that had been built years and sometimes centuries before his time. And it is often owing only to the fact that the men charged with the work did it very slovenly and left the name of the real builder standing in some obscure corner, that we are

enabled to discover the imposition. Tannis, a city lying near the northeastern boundary of Egypt, shared with Theebes the honor of being the residence of the Pharaoh. The various departments of the government were located at the latter city, but Tannis offered Ramsay's unrivaled facilities as a basis of operations for his Asiatic campaigns. A king who spent so many years warring in Asia would not surely find it of great advantage to fix his residence at a place so

near the frontier. Tannis thus owes the larger part of its glory and prosperity to this Pharaoh. He it was that built the vast granite temple. As many as fourteen obelisks and several statues of the king have been found here. Memphis also came in for a share of the king's favor. It was made one of his residences, and its temple of Petah was greatly enlarged. But the great city of this reign was Thebes, of which we may well here

give a brief sketch. This city, the Egyptian name of which was Uesset, was situated on the east bank of the Nile, its site being still marked by the ruins of the great temples of Karnac and Luksor, both of which were dedicated to ammon Rah. Between these two temples lay the city proper. The temple of Karnak had its own names. One of these was Apet, the other NESTAUI, throne of both Langs II Egypt. On the west bank of the river lay the necropolis or cemetery of Thebes,

in which its kings, courtiers, and citizens lie buried. The rulers of the Middle Empire were interred in low pyramids built on the plain. Those of the New Empire were interred in tombs hewn into the living rock of the hills that skirt the valley of the Nile. On the west. The temples dedicated to the cult of the pharaohs of this latter period were built in the valley. Thus a

long row of funeral temples extends through this plain. The temple of dare Al Bahari built by Makharah, that of Rameses the first, and Seti the first at Kernah, the Rameseum built by Ramses the second, the temples of Tutmoses the third and Ramses the third at Medinet Habu, and many others. This district was devoted to the use of

the dead and of those who cared for them. Masons, carpenters, and bombers, and laborers of every description connected with what the French called les ponte funebes had their homes here in this necropolis. Rameses was very busy. He first completed the funeral temple at Kernagh, begun by his father, and then erected a wonderful Ramesseum, a temple dedicated to Amunrah and commemorative of the pharaoh's victories, on the east bank

of the river. He completed the wonderful Hyposteele of Karnak, which his father had begun and otherwise improved and decorated the main building, besides erecting a building south of the pond belonging to the temple enclosure, and a pretty extensive temple east of a great temple. This pharaoh was especially partial to grotto temples, of which he built quite a number e g. At Bettwali Goafhussain, Wadi Sebua, and Atbusimbel. The last mentioned temple was the best of this class.

It is the largest and most beautiful grotto ever cut from the living rock by the hand of man. The classical authors Strabo, Pliny, and others ascribed to the Soostress the beginning of a canal connecting the Nile with the Red Sea, which Netcho was said to have continued and Darius to have completed. The canal from Cairo to Suez was afterward again opened by m rou the Mohammedan conqueror of Egypt, but one hundred and forty years later it was again closed by order of the caliph Abou diar

l Mansur. In fact, there existed already in the times of Seti, the first a canal, which starting from the Nile near Memphis, ran through the Wadi Tumulat to Lake Timsey, and thence to the Red Sea. This canal is represented for the first time in an inscription of Seti the First, where the return of that conqueror from his Asiatic campaign is depicted. It is pictured as full of fishes and crocodiles.

The canal bears the unassumed name of Demat Canal. A bridge led over it near the Chetem fort of Tiar that covered this part of the frontier when this canal was dug. We cannot say to a certainty it existed in the time of King SETI the First, and may have been dug by him, but it may just as well be considerably older. It was dug originally, either for purposes of irrigation or as a defense against the Asiatic Bedouins. We scarcely think that it served any commercial purposes in

these early times. The canal is frequently mentioned by foreigners. Thus the Bible mentions it as the brook of Egypt Nahal Misraim numbers thirty four five, Joshua fifteen four, Isaiah thirty seven, et cetera, and in the Assyrian inscriptions it is called the brook Nahal, where there is no river Naru, because it was not a natural but an artificial waterway. It is considered by these tech as the boundary line

of Egypt. The pharaoh died in the sixty eighth year of his reign, having previously appointed his fourteenth son mare en Petah, co regent. A word about the monarch's family may here be in place. He had several legitimate wives and many concubines. Consequently, he could also boast of a large number of children. One list mentions one hundred sixty two of these by name, one hundred and eleven sons and fifty one daughters. The mummy of the king was

found at Darre al Bahari. It shows a striking resemblance to the beautiful statue of the king preserved in the Museum of Turin. Rameses must have been in his younger days quite a handsome man, and even in old age his features preserved a determined caste. Section five mare en Petah twelve twenty to twelve twelve b C. About twelve twenty b C. The last great ruler of this line ascended the throne. His history is not over eventful. The

empire was at peace with the world. In the south, the Egyptians held as much of Ethiopia and Nubia as practicable, their only object being to control the Nubian gold mines and to secure the southern frontier against invasion in Asia. The advance of the Egyptian arms had received a decided check at the hands of the Cheta, and the Treaty of Peace and Alliance, concluded in the twenty first year of the preceding reign, had put an end to all

chants of war in that quarter. Canan, Palestine, Phoenicia, Southern Syria and the Sinai were secure. The last named country had been under Egyptian control for several thousand years, and the others were secured by numerous forts established by Seti the first, Rameses the second, and Marin Patah with Puent. There never had been war, and there was no chance of war now, as the commercial relations between the two countries continued profitable to both and would only have been

disturbed by a war. There was only one quarter from which a war could threaten, and that was Libya. We have seen that the Libyans had frequently given trouble before, but that the campaign of Seti the First had effectually checked them and had put a stop to their inroads for a long while. After this campaign, we find that many Libyans entered the service of Seti the First and Rameses the Second. It is hardly credible that they remained

in the service after Rameses's wars were over. In all probability, they returned home and told their countrymen of the wealth of Egypt and of the immense booty to be won there. Returning from the successful campaigns, they no doubt brought home what seemed to them great riches, and this aroused the greed of their countrymen. Rameses himself they dared not attack, but after his death they prepared to invade the land.

Numerous Libyan tribes from the sea coast and the interior, the Leboo, kahak Mashawasha, Akawasha, Turasha, Reku, Shardana, and Shireshka, combined their forces with those of the frontier tribes, and under the command of King Maroi, the son of Didi, entered the western Delta in the fifth year of the new reign and advanced plundering the country as far as per Bairo Biblos south of Bubastis. It was their evident intention to settle here, and if need be, to purchase

the right to settle here with their blood. King mar and Patah was notified of this invasion, but he hesitated to take active measures. At last he got an army together, but was deterred from accompanying it by a dream. Meanwhile, the enemy had advanced to pere Aru Sheepsas, a town near Heliopolis, which city their forces now threatened. At this place, the Egyptian army met them, and in the battle that ensued,

completely routed and almost annihilated their forces. The Egyptians then plundered and burned down the fortified camp of the enemy. This victory left in the hands of the Egyptian army vast amounts of booty and a great number of prisoners. Maren Patah was a great builder on the Egypto Syriac frontier. He erected two forts and continued the work begun by his predecessor at Thebes, Tannis and other places. He died

after a short reign of only eight years. Section six close of the nineteenth dynasty twelve eleven to eleven eighty b c. Seti, the second twelve eleven to twelve o nine b C. A son of Mar and Patah, succeeded his father on the throne. Inscriptions and papyri of his reign are constantly bragging about his great victories, but not one of these is ever specially mentioned, nor do we know of any campaigns of this king. Evidently, these laws

auditory hymns are mere pieces of meaningless flattery. He died after a reign of only two years. A period of anarchy followed on his death, during which several usurpers succeeded in gaining the ascendancy for a short period. Of these monarchs we know only a few, Amman Messes and Sa Patah. Mar and Patah the second were in latter times regarded

as illegitimate. Undoubtedly they were usurpers. A Syrian Arsu by name succeeded in making himself king for a short while, but whether he came to the front as leader of one of the hostile factions or was an invader, we do not know. At last, set Necht, the founder of Dynasty twenty and father of Rameses the third, succeeded in restoring order about eighteen eighty b C. Or perhaps a few years earlier. End of Chapter six