CHAPTER IX--THE LAST DAYS OF ANCIENT EGYPT
Before we turned from Egypt to summarize the information, afforded by
recent discoveries, upon the history of Western Asia under the kings
of the Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods, we noted that the Asiatic
empire of Egypt was regained by the reactionary kings of the XIXth
Dynasty, after its temporary loss owing to the vagaries of Akhunaten.
Palestine remained Egyptian throughout the period of the judges until
the foundation of the kingdom of Judah. With the decline of military
spirit in Egypt and the increasing power of the priesthood, authority
over Asia became less and less a reality. Tribute was no longer paid,
and the tribes wrangled without a restraining hand, during the reigns of
the successors of Ramses III. By the time of the priest-kings of Thebes
(the XXIst Dynasty) the authority of the Pharaohs had ceased to be
exercised in Syria. Egypt was itself divided into two kingdoms, the one
ruled by Northern descendants of the Ramessids at Tanis, the other by
the priestly monarchs at Thebes, who reigned by right of inheritance as
a result of the marriage of the daughter of Ramses with the high
priest Amenhetep, father of Herhor, the first priest-king. The Thebans
fortified Gebelen in the South and el-Hebi in the North against attack,
and evidently their relations with the Tanites were not always friendly.
Pages:
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448