MA-MEN-RA MINEPTAH I. SETI I. (SETHOS). 1366 B.C.

After a long interval, there rises again a brilliant star on the horizon of Egyptian history. The voice of the monuments begins anew to speak of the victories of Pharaoh, and to sing the glory of the empire. It is chiefly the great national temple at Thebes which records the honours of Seti by inscriptions and by pictures; for the king executed works to the glorious god Amon, the finished splendour of which is only surpassed by their extraordinary size. We refer to the building of that wonderful 'Great Hall' in the temple at Karnak, where 134 columns of astonishing height and circumference still attract the admiration of our fastidious age. As the description of this building does not come within the limits of our historical work, we are obliged to refer our readers to the excellent accounts of Egyptian travellers. The outer wall, however, on the north side of this hall, must have our full attention, since its representations stand in the closest connection with the wars of Seti, beginning with the first year of his reign.

These wars arose from the constant advances of the neighbouring peoples, to the east of Egypt, upon the Delta. The long duration of peace, as well perhaps as the weak reign of Ramses I., had induced these neighbours, and especially the Arabian Shasu, to take the bold resolve of pressing forward over the eastern frontier of Egypt, 'to find sustenance for themselves and their cattle on the possessions of Pharaoh.' Six battle paintings, ranged in a series, give us a view of

the principal events of this campaign. We will endeavour, under the guidance of the inscriptions annexed to them, to put their contents faithfully before our readers.

The wars of Seti in the east began, as we have already remarked, in the very first year of his reign. Their theatre was formed by the countries and fortresses in the region of the Shasu Bedouins, from the fortress of Khetam (the Etham of the Bible), in the land of Zalu (that is, the Tanitic nome), as far as the place Kan'ana or Kan'aan.' By these data the scene of the struggle is very closely fixed, and at the same time proof is afforded that the Shasu had pressed forward westward quite into the proper Egyptian territory, to make good their claims derived from the times of the Hyksos. The king assembled his army, put his chariots of war in array, and himself rode in his twohorse chariot against the invading Bedouins. The road which the Egyptian army took is clearly indicated by the pictures and by the inscriptions.

The campaign was begun from the fortress of Khetam, which we have just mentioned, and which was situated on both sides of an arm of the Nile, swarming with crocodiles, and with banks covered with reeds. The king took thence the direction of the biblical road of the Philistines,' and first reached the fortified but otherwise unknown place, Ta'a-pa-mau, 'the house of lions,' Leontopolis, near a small fountain of sweet

1 Respecting this important road, and the localities by which its course is determined, see further the author's Discourse on 'the Exodus and the Egyptian Monuments' at the end of this volume.-ED.

water enclosed by a wall. His march was next directed to the Egyptian fortress of Migdol, mentioned in Holy Scripture, close to the springs in the country of Hazina or Hazian (the Kasion or Mount Casius of the ancients), and along the road to the north' fortress Uti (Buto, as the Greeks would write it), also near a spring. Uti denotes the fortified place where was the often mentioned temple on Mount Casius, in which a Jupiter (Amon) was worshipped, the Baal Zapuna of the Egyptian inscriptions, that is, the Baal Zephon of Holy Scripture. The army passed along the seashore to Ostracine, where there was a Bekhen or tower, which the inscriptions designate as Pa-nakhtu, or the conqueror's tower' of King Seti. At this point the proper Egyptian boundary ended, and the territory of the land of Zahi, which was afterwards the land of the Philistines, began. The next halting-place on their territory was a fortified spot, newly built by King Seti, situated at the water of Absaqab. Two other fortresses lay on either side of the road. The one, which was also the larger, is called the town, which the king had built at the spring of . . . . tha.' It is called 'a strong place' in a second passage, and its water is designated as that of Ribatha, without doubt the Rohoboth of the Bible, to the south-west of Beersheba, in Negeb or the south country of Palestine. The smaller fortress stood near Ta-khnum-notem, that is, the pleasant (or sweet) spring.' It is called 'A-nakhtu, that is, the fortress of victory.' Passing by a new fortress (the name is unfortunately destroyed) the end of the road was reached, and at the same time the eastern boundary of the land

of the Shasu, marked by the hill-fortress of Kan'aan,1 near which a stream seems to have fallen into a lake.

We find ourselves here, as it appears, in the Arabah, and we have the choice between one or other of the fortresses situated there. In spite of many obscurities, the direction of the road is precisely determined. The king had taken possession of the land of the Shasu to its extremest boundary. The fortress of Kan'aan was stormed by Seti and his army, and thus Pharaoh became the lord of the whole of the Edomitish Negeb.

This first victory is celebrated by the following inscription :

In the first year of King Seti, there took place by the strong arm of Pharaoh the annihilation of the hostile Shasu, from the fortress of Khetam, of the land of Zalu, as far as Kan'aan. The king was against them like a fierce lion. a heap of corpses in their hill country. blood. Not one escaped to tell of his strength to the distant nations.'

They were turned into
They lay there in their

The warriors of the Shasu, driven out of their own land, attempted to make head against King Seti and his army, after they had marched on northwards, and had made a stand in the territory of the Phoenicians or Kharu. The king mounted his chariot of war, whose pair of horses bore the name, 'Amon gives him strength,' and dashed into the crowds of the scattered enemies, who were this time completely beaten and overcome. The inscription goes on as follows:

'In the first year of King Seti, they came to report to his Holiness that the hostile Shasu intended mischief, that the elders

In the great Harris papyrus of the time of Ramessu III. Kan'aan is called, a fortress of the land of Zahi.' Did this land then extend as far as the shores of the Dead Sea?

of their tribes had assembled together, and had made a stand in the territory of the Phoenicians (Khal). They were seized with the curse of discord, and slew one another. To those only who had not forgotten the orders of the royal court was the king gracious on that account.'

The prisoners were carried to Egypt by the king, as will be related more at length presently.

It seems to be indubitable that the population also of (southern ?) Phoenicia did really assist the Shasu in their wars against Pharaoh. But vengeance quickly overtook them also. In the furious encounter of the chariots of war, which were launched against one another on both sides, the Phoenicians succumbed in the battle at Inu'amu (Jamnia), and 'Pharaoh annihilated the kings of the land of the Phoenicians.'

From hence the Egyptian army turned against the inhabitants of the interior country, the Ruthen of Canaan. The kings of the several cities were successively overcome in many battles, in which a son of Seti fought by the side of his father, and the inhabitants were reduced under the Egyptian sceptre. Pharaoh himself took especial delight in the combat, for the inscription says that his joy is to undertake the battle, and his delight is to dash into it. satisfied at the sight of the stream strikes off the heads of his enemies. struggle of men is dearer to him than a day of pleasure. He slays them with one stroke, and spares none among them. And whoever of them is left remaining finds himself in his grasp and is carried off to Egypt alive as a prisoner.'

His heart is only of blood when he A moment of the

In his victorious campaign throughout the whole