In Syria nothing of the imperial power remained. The prestige of the god
Amen of Thebes, however, was still very great. We see this clearly from
a very interesting papyrus of the reign of Herhor, published in 1899 by
Mr. Golenischeff, which describes the adventures of Uenuamen, an envoy
sent (about 1050 B.C.) to Phoenicia to bring wood from the mountains of
Lebanon for the construction of a great festival bark of the god Amen
at Thebes. In the course of his mission he was very badly treated
(We cannot well imagine Thothmes III or Amenhetep III tolerating
ill-treatment of their envoy!) and eventually shipwrecked on the coast
of the land of Alashiya or Cyprus. He tells us in the papyrus, which
seems to be the official report of his mission, that, having been given
letters of credence to the Prince of Byblos from the King of Tanis,
"to whom Amen had given charge of his North-land," he at length reached
Phoenicia, and after much discussion and argument was able to prevail
upon the prince to have the wood which he wanted brought down from
Lebanon to the seashore.
Here, however, a difficulty presented itself,--the harbour was filled
with the piratical ships of the Cretan Tjakaray, who refused to allow
Uenuamen to return to Egypt. They said, 'Seize him; let no ship of his
go unto the land of Egypt!' "Then," says Uenuamen in the papyrus, "I sat
down and wept.
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