Part The Third. The History of the Kings of Egypt.
No part of ancient history is more obscure or uncertain, than that of the first kings of Egypt. This proud nation, fondly conceited of its antiquity and nobility, thought it glorious to lose itself in an abyss of infinite ages, which seemed to carry its pretensions backward to eternity. According to its own historians,[400] first, gods, and afterwards demigods or heroes, governed it successively, through a series of more than twenty thousand years. But the absurdity of this vain and fabulous claim is easily discovered.
To gods and demigods, men succeeded as rulers or kings in Egypt, of whom Manetho has left us thirty dynasties or principalities. This Manetho was an Egyptian high priest, and keeper of the sacred archives of Egypt, and had been instructed in the Grecian learning: he wrote a history of Egypt, which he pretended to have extracted from the writings of Mercurius, and other ancient memoirs, preserved in the archives of the Egyptian temples. He drew up this history under the reign, and at the command of Ptolemy Philadelphus. If his thirty dynasties are allowed to be successive, they make up a series of time, of more than five thousand three hundred years, to the reign of Alexander the Great; but this is a manifest forgery. Besides, we find in Eratosthenes,[401] who was invited to Alexandria by Ptolemy Euergetes, a catalogue of thirty-eight kings of Thebes, all different from those of Manetho. The clearing up of these difficulties has put the learned to a great deal of trouble and labour. The most effectual way to reconcile such contradictions, is to suppose, with almost all the modern writers upon this subject, that the kings of these different dynasties did not reign successively after one another, but many of them at the same time, and in different countries of Egypt. There were in Egypt four principal dynasties, that of Thebes, of Thin, of Memphis, and of Tanis. I shall not [pg 056] here give my readers a list of the kings who have reigned in Egypt, of most of whom we have only the names transmitted to us. I shall only take notice of what seems to me most proper, to give youth the necessary light into this part of history, for whose sake principally I engaged in this undertaking; and I shall confine myself chiefly to the memoirs left us by Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, concerning the Egyptian kings, without even scrupulously preserving the exactness of succession, at least in the early part of the monarchy, which is very obscure; and without pretending to reconcile these two historians. Their design, especially that of Herodotus, was not to lay before us an exact series of the kings of Egypt, but only to point out those princes whose history appeared to them most important and instructive. I shall follow the same plan, and hope to be forgiven, for not having involved either myself or my readers in a labyrinth of almost inextricable difficulties, from which the most able can scarce disengage themselves, when they pretend to follow the series of history, and reduce it to fixed and certain dates. The curious may consult the learned pieces,[402] in which this subject is treated in all its extent.
I am to premise, that Herodotus, upon the credit of the Egyptian priests, whom he had consulted, gives us a great number of oracles and singular incidents, all which, though he relates them as so many facts, the judicious reader will easily discover to be what they really are—I mean, fictions.
The ancient history of Egypt comprehends 2158 years, and is naturally divided into three periods.
The first begins with the establishment of the Egyptian monarchy, by Menes or Misraim, the son of Cham,[403] in the year of the world 1816; and ends with the destruction of that monarchy by Cambyses, king of Persia, in the year of the world 3479. This first period contains 1663 years.
The second period is intermixed with the Persian and Grecian history, and extends to the death of Alexander the Great, which happened in the year 3681, and consequently includes 202 years.
The third period is that in which a new monarchy was formed in Egypt by the Lagidæ, or Ptolemies, descendants from Lagus, to the death of Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt, in 3974; and this last comprehends 293 years.
I shall now treat only of the first period, reserving the two others for the Æras to which they belong.
A.M. 1816. Ant. J.C. 2188.
The Kings of Egypt.—Menes. Historians are unanimously agreed, that Menes was the first king of Egypt. It is pretended, and not without foundation, that he is the same with Misraïm, the son of Cham.
Cham was the second son of Noah. When the family of the latter, after the extravagant attempt of building the tower of Babel, dispersed themselves into different countries, Cham retired to Africa; and it doubtless was he who afterwards was worshipped as a god, under the name of Jupiter Ammon. He had four children, Chus,[404] Misraïm, Phut, and Canaan. Chus settled in Ethiopia, Misraïm in Egypt, which generally is called in Scripture after his name, and by that of Cham,[405] his father; Phut took possession of that part of Africa which lies westward of Egypt; and Canaan, of the country which afterwards bore his name. The Canaanites are certainly the same people who are called almost always Phœnicians by the Greeks, of which foreign name no reason can be given, any more than of the oblivion of the true one.
I return to Misraïm.[406] He is allowed to be the same with Menes, whom all historians declare to be the first king of Egypt, the institutor of the worship of the gods, and of the ceremonies of the sacrifices.
Busiris, some ages after him, built the famous city of Thebes, and made it the seat of his empire. We have elsewhere taken notice of the wealth and magnificence of this city. This prince is not to be confounded with Busiris, so infamous for his cruelties.
Osymandyas. Diodorus gives a very particular description of many magnificent edifices raised by this king;[407] one of [pg 058] which was adorned with sculptures and paintings of exquisite beauty, representing his expedition against the Bactrians, a people of Asia, whom he had invaded with four hundred thousand foot and twenty thousand horse. In another part of the edifice was exhibited an assembly of the judges, whose president wore, on his breast, a picture of Truth, with her eyes shut, and himself was surrounded with books—an emphatic emblem, denoting that judges ought to be perfectly versed in the laws, and impartial in the administration of them.
The king likewise was painted here, offering to the gods gold and silver, which he drew every year from the mines of Egypt, amounting to the sum of sixteen millions.[408]
Not far from hence was seen a magnificent library, the oldest mentioned in history. Its title or inscription on the front was, The office, or treasury, of remedies for the diseases of the soul. Near it were placed statues, representing all the Egyptian gods, to each of whom the king made suitable offerings; by which he seemed to be desirous of informing posterity that his life and reign had been crowned with piety to the gods, and justice to men.
His mausoleum displayed uncommon magnificence; it was encompassed with a circle of gold, a cubit in breadth, and 365 cubits in circumference; each of which showed the rising and setting of the sun, moon, and the rest of the planets. For so early as this king's reign, the Egyptians divided the year into twelve months, each consisting of thirty days; to which they added every year five days and six hours.[409] The spectator did not know which to admire most in this stately monument, whether the richness of its materials, or the genius and industry of the artists.
Uchoreus, one of the successors of Osymandyas, built the city of Memphis.[410] This city was 150 furlongs, or more than seven leagues in circumference, and stood at the point of the Delta, in that part where the Nile divides itself into several branches or streams. Southward from the city, he raised a lofty mole. On the right and left he dug very deep moats to receive the river. These were faced with stone, and raised, [pg 059] near the city, by strong causeys; the whole designed to secure the city from the inundations of the Nile, and the incursions of the enemy. A city so advantageously situated, and so strongly fortified, that it was almost the key of the Nile, and by this means commanded the whole country, became soon the usual residence of the Egyptian kings. It kept possession of this honour till Alexandria was built by Alexander the Great.
Mœris. This king made the famous lake, which went by his name, and whereof mention has been already made,
A.M. 1920. Ant. J.C. 2084.
Egypt had long been governed by its native princes, when strangers, called Shepherd-kings, (Hycsos in the Egyptian language,) from Arabia or Phœnicia, invaded and seized a great part of Lower Egypt, and Memphis itself; but Upper Egypt remained unconquered, and the kingdom of Thebes existed till the reign of Sesostris. These foreign princes governed about 260 years.
A.M. 2084. Ant. J.C. 1920.
Under one of these princes, called Pharaoh in Scripture,[411] (a name common to all the kings of Egypt,) Abraham arrived there with his wife Sarah, who was exposed to great hazard, on account of her exquisite beauty, which reaching the prince's ear, she was by him taken from Abraham, upon the supposition that she was not his wife, but only his sister.
A.M. 2179. Ant. J.C. 1825.
Thethmosis, or Amosis, having expelled the Shepherd-kings, reigned in Lower Egypt.
A.M. 2276. Ant. J.C. 1728.
Long after his reign, Joseph was brought a slave into Egypt, by some Ishmaelitish merchants; sold to Potiphar; and, by a series of wonderful events, enjoyed the supreme authority, by his being raised to the chief employment of the kingdom. I shall pass over his history, as it is so universally known. But I must take notice of a remark of Justin, (the epitomizer of Trogus Pompeius,[412] an excellent historian of the Augustan age,) viz. that Joseph, the youngest of Jacob's children, whom his brethren, through envy, had sold to foreign merchants, being endowed from heaven[413] with the interpretation of dreams, and a knowledge of futurity, preserved, by his uncommon prudence, [pg 060] Egypt from the famine with which it was menaced, and was extremely caressed by the king.
A.M. 2298. Ant. J.C. 1706.
Jacob also went into Egypt with his whole family, which met with the kindest treatment from the Egyptians, whilst Joseph's important services were fresh in their memories. But after his death, say the Scriptures,[414] “there arose up a new king, which knew not Joseph.”
A.M. 2427. Ant. J.C. 1577.
Rameses-miamun, according to archbishop Usher, was the name of this king, who is called Pharaoh in Scripture. He reigned sixty-six years, and oppressed the Israelites in a most grievous manner. “He set over them task-masters, to afflict them with their burdens, and they built for Pharaoh treasure-cities,[415] Pithom and Raamses—and the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour, and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field; all their service wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.”[416] This king had two sons, Amenophis and Busiris.
A.M. 2494. Ant. J.C. 1510.
Amenophis, the eldest, succeeded him. He was the Pharaoh, under whose reign the Israelites departed out of Egypt, and was drowned in passing the Red-Sea.
A.M. 2513. Ant. J.C. 1491.
Father Tournemine makes Sesostris, of whom we shall speak immediately, the Pharaoh who raised the persecution against the Israelites, and oppressed them with the most painful toils. This is exactly agreeable to the account given by Diodorus of this prince, who employed in his Egyptian works only foreigners; so that we may place the memorable event of the passage of the Red-Sea, under his son Pheron;[417] and the characteristic of impiety ascribed to him by Herodotus, greatly strengthens the probability of this conjecture. The plan I have proposed to follow in this history, excuses me from entering into chronological discussions.
Diodorus, speaking of the Red-Sea,[418] has made one remark very worthy our observation; a tradition (says that historian) has been transmitted through the whole nation, from father to [pg 061] son, for many ages, that once an extraordinary ebb dried up the sea, so that its bottom was seen; and that a violent flow immediately after brought back the waters to their former channel. It is evident, that the miraculous passage of Moses over the Red-Sea is here hinted at; and I make this remark, purposely to admonish young students, not to slip over, in their perusal of authors, these precious remains of antiquity; especially when they bear, like this passage, any relation to religion.
Archbishop Usher says, that Amenophis left two sons, one called Sesothis or Sesostris, and the other Armais. The Greeks call him Belus, and his two sons Egyptus and Danaus.
Sesostris[419] was not only one of the most powerful kings of Egypt, but one of the greatest conquerors that antiquity boasts of. His father, whether by inspiration, caprice, or, as the Egyptians say, by the authority of an oracle, formed a design of making his son a conqueror. This he set about after the Egyptian manner, that is, in a great and noble way. All the male children, born the same day with Sesostris, were, by the king's order, brought to court. Here they were educated as if they had been his own children, with the same care bestowed on Sesostris, with whom they were brought up. He could not possibly have given him more faithful ministers, nor officers who more zealously desired the success of his arms. The chief part of their education was, the enuring them, from their infancy, to a hard and laborious life, in order that they might one day be capable of sustaining with ease the toils of war. They were never suffered to eat, till they had run, on foot or horseback, a considerable race. Hunting was their most common exercise.
Ælian remarks[420] that Sesostris was taught by Mercury, who instructed him in politics, and the art of government. This Mercury is he whom the Greeks called Trismegistus, i.e. thrice great. Egypt, his native country, owes to him the invention of almost every art. The two books, which go under his name, bear such evident characters of novelty, that the forgery is no longer doubted. There was another Mercury [pg 062] who also was very famous amongst the Egyptians for his rare knowledge; and of much greater antiquity than he of whom we have been speaking. Jamblicus, a priest of Egypt, affirms, that it was customary with the Egyptians, to affix the name of Hermes or Mercury to all the new books or inventions that were offered to the public.
When Sesostris was more advanced in years, his father sent him against the Arabians, in order to acquire military knowledge. Here the young prince learned to bear hunger and thirst; and subdued a nation which till then had never been conquered. The youths educated with him attended him in all his campaigns.
Accustomed by this conquest to martial toils, he was next sent by his father to try his fortune westward. He invaded Libya, and subdued the greatest part of that vast country.
A.M. 2513. Ant. J.C. 1491.
Sesostris. During this expedition his father died, and left him capable of attempting the greatest enterprises. He formed no less a design than that of the conquest of the world. But before he left his kingdom, he provided for his domestic security, in winning the hearts of his subjects by his generosity, justice, and a popular and obliging behaviour. He was no less studious to gain the affection of his officers and soldiers, whom he wished to be ever ready to shed the last drop of their blood in his service; persuaded that his enterprises would all be unsuccessful, unless his army should be attached to his person, by all the ties of esteem, affection, and interest. He divided the country into thirty-six governments (called Nomi,) and bestowed them on persons of merit, and the most approved fidelity.
In the mean time he made the requisite preparations, levied forces, and headed them with officers of the greatest bravery and reputation, and these were taken chiefly from among the youths who had been educated with him. He had seventeen hundred of these officers, who were all capable of inspiring his troops with resolution, a love of discipline, and a zeal for the service of their prince. His army consisted of six hundred thousand foot, and twenty-four thousand horse, besides twenty-seven thousand armed chariots.
He began his expedition by invading Æthiopia, situated to [pg 063] the south of Egypt. He made it tributary, and obliged the nations of it to furnish him annually with a certain quantity of ebony, ivory, and gold.
He had fitted out a fleet of four hundred sail, and ordering it to advance to the Red-Sea, made himself master of the isles and cities lying on the coasts of that sea. He himself heading his land army, overran and subdued Asia with amazing rapidity, and advanced farther into India than Hercules, Bacchus, and in after-times Alexander himself, had ever done; for he subdued the countries beyond the Ganges, and advanced as far as the Ocean. One may judge from hence how unable the more neighbouring countries were to resist him. The Scythians, as far as the river Tanais, as well as Armenia, and Cappadocia, were conquered. He left a colony in the ancient kingdom of Colchos, situated to the east of the Black Sea, where the Egyptian customs and manners have been ever since retained. Herodotus saw in Asia Minor, from one sea to the other, monuments of his victories. In several countries was read the following inscription engraven on pillars: “Sesostris, king of kings, and lord of lords, subdued this country by the power of his arms.” Such pillars were found even in Thrace, and his empire extended from the Ganges to the Danube. In his expeditions, some nations bravely defended their liberties, and others yielded them up without making the least resistance. This disparity was denoted by him in hieroglyphical figures, on the monuments erected to perpetuate the remembrance of his victories, agreeably to the Egyptian practice.
The scarcity of provisions in Thrace stopped the progress of his conquests, and prevented his advancing farther in Europe. One remarkable circumstance is observed in this conqueror, who never once thought, as others had done, of preserving his acquisitions; but contenting himself with the glory of having subdued and despoiled so many nations; after having made wild havoc up and down the world for nine years, he confined himself almost within the ancient limits of Egypt, a few neighbouring provinces excepted; for we do not find any traces or footsteps of this new empire, either under himself or his successors.
He returned therefore laden with the spoils of the vanquished nations, dragging after him a numberless multitude of captives, and covered with greater glory than any of his predecessors; that glory, I mean, which employs so many tongues and pens in its praise; which consists in invading a great number of provinces in a hostile way, and is often productive of numberless calamities. He rewarded his officers and soldiers with a truly royal magnificence, in proportion to their rank and merit. He made it both his pleasure and duty, to put the companions of his victory in such a condition as might enable them to enjoy, during the remainder of their days, a calm and easy repose, the just reward of their past toils.
With regard to himself, for ever careful of his own reputation, and still more of making his power advantageous to his subjects, he employed the repose which peace allowed him, in raising works that might contribute more to the enriching of Egypt, than the immortalizing his name; works, in which the art and industry of the workman were more admired, than the immense sums which had been expended on them.
A hundred famous temples, raised as so many monuments of gratitude to the tutelar gods of all the cities, were the first, as well as the most illustrious, testimonies of his victories; and he took care to publish in the inscriptions on them, that these mighty works had been completed without burdening any of his subjects. He made it his glory to be tender of them, and to employ only captives in these monuments of his conquests. The Scriptures take notice of something like this, where they speak of the buildings of Solomon.[421] But he prided himself particularly in adorning and enriching the temple of Vulcan at Pelusium, in acknowledgment of the protection which he fancied that god had bestowed on him, when, on his return from his expeditions, his brother had a design of destroying him in that city, with his wife and children, by setting fire to the apartment where he then lay.
His great work was, the raising, in every part of Egypt, a considerable number of high banks or moles, on which new [pg 065] cities were built, in order that these might be a security for men and beasts during the inundations of the Nile.
From Memphis, as far as the sea, he cut, on both sides of the river, a great number of canals, for the conveniency of trade, and the conveying of provisions, and for the settling an easy correspondence between such cities as were most distant from one another. Besides the advantages of traffic, Egypt was, by these canals, made inaccessible to the cavalry of its enemies, which before had so often harassed it by repeated incursions.
He did still more. To secure Egypt from the inroads of its nearer neighbours, the Syrians and Arabians, he fortified all the eastern coast from Pelusium to Heliopolis, that is, for upwards of seven leagues.[422]
Sesostris might have been considered as one of the most illustrious and most boasted heroes of antiquity, had not the lustre of his warlike actions, as well as his pacific virtues, been tarnished by a thirst of glory, and a blind fondness for his own grandeur, which made him forget that he was a man. The kings and chiefs of the conquered nations came, at stated times, to do homage to their victor, and pay him the appointed tribute. On every other occasion, he treated them with sufficient humanity and generosity. But when he went to the temple, or entered his capital, he caused these princes to be harnessed to his car, four abreast, instead of horses; and valued himself upon his being thus drawn by the lords and sovereigns of other nations. What I am most surprised at, is, that Diodorus should rank this foolish and inhuman vanity among the most shining actions of this prince.
Being grown blind in his old age, he died by his own hands, after having reigned thirty-three years, and left his kingdom infinitely rich. His empire, nevertheless, did not reach beyond the fourth generation. But there still remained, so low as the reign of Tiberius, magnificent monuments, which showed the extent of Egypt under Sesostris,[423] and the immense tributes which were paid to it.[424]
I now go back to some facts which took place in this period, but which were omitted, in order that I might not break the thread of the history, and now I shall but barely mention them.
A.M. 2448.
About the æra in question, the Egyptians settled themselves in divers parts of the earth. The colony, which Cecrops led out of Egypt, built twelve cities, or rather as many towns, of which he composed the kingdom of Athens.
A.M. 2530.
We observed, that the brother of Sesostris, called by the Greeks Danaus, had formed a design to murder him, on his return to Egypt, after his conquest. But being defeated in his horrid project, he was obliged to fly. He thereupon retired to Peloponnesus, where he seized upon the kingdom of Argos, which had been founded about four hundred years before, by Inachus.
A.M. 2533.
Busiris, brother of Amenophis, so infamous among the ancients for his cruelties, exercised his tyranny at that time on the banks of the Nile; and barbarously murdered all foreigners who landed in his country: this was probably during the absence of Sesostris.
A.M. 2549.
About the same time, Cadmus brought from Syria into Greece the invention of letters. Some pretend, that these characters or letters were Egyptian, and that Cadmus himself was a native of Egypt, and not of Phœnicia; and the Egyptians, who ascribe to themselves the invention of every art, and boast a greater antiquity than any other nation, give to their Mercury the honour of inventing letters. Most of the learned agree,[425] that Cadmus carried the Phœnician or Syrian letters into Greece, and that those letters were the same as the Hebraic; the Hebrews, who formed but a small nation, being comprehended under the general name of Syrians. Joseph Scaliger, in his notes on the Chronicon of Eusebius, proves, that the Greek letters, and those of the Latin alphabet formed from them, derive their original from the ancient Phœnician letters, which are the same with the Samaritan, and were used by the Jews before the Babylonish captivity. Cadmus carried [pg 067] only sixteen letters[426] into Greece, eight others being added afterwards.
I return to the history of the Egyptian kings, whom I shall hereafter rank in the same order as Herodotus has assigned to them.
A.M. 2517. Ant. J.C. 1547.
Pheron succeeded Sesostris in his kingdom, but not in his glory. Herodotus[427] relates but one action of his, which shows how greatly he had degenerated from the religious sentiments of his father. In an extraordinary inundation of the Nile, which exceeded eighteen cubits, this prince, enraged at the wild havoc which was made by it, threw a javelin at the river, as if he intended thereby to chastise its insolence; but was himself immediately punished for his impiety, if the historian may be credited, with the loss of sight.
A.M. 2800. Ant. J.C. 1204.
Proteus.[428] He was of Memphis, where, in Herodotus's time,[429] his temple was still standing, in which was a chapel dedicated to Venus the Stranger. It is conjectured that this Venus was Helen. For, in the reign of this monarch, Paris the Trojan, returning home with Helen whom he had stolen, was driven by a storm into one of the mouths of the Nile, called Canopic; and from thence was conducted to Proteus at Memphis, who reproached him in the strongest terms for his base perfidy and guilt, in stealing the wife of his host, and with her all the effects in his house. He added, that the only reason why he did not punish him with [pg 068] death (as his crime deserved) was, because the Egyptians were careful not to imbrue their hands in the blood of strangers: that he would keep Helen, with all the riches that were brought with her, in order to restore them to their lawful owner: that as for himself, (Paris,) he must either quit his dominions in three days, or expect to be treated as an enemy. The king's order was obeyed. Paris continued his voyage, and arrived at Troy, whither he was closely pursued by the Grecian army. The Greeks summoned the Trojans to surrender Helen, and with her all the treasures of which her husband had been plundered. The Trojans answered, that neither Helen, nor her treasures, were in their city. And, indeed, was it at all likely, says Herodotus, that Priam, who was so wise an old prince, should choose to see his children and country destroyed before his eyes, rather than give the Greeks the just and reasonable satisfaction they desired? But it was to no purpose for them to affirm with an oath, that Helen was not in their city; the Greeks, being firmly persuaded that they were trifled with, persisted obstinately in their unbelief: the deity, continues the same historian, being resolved that the Trojans, by the total destruction of their city and empire, should teach the affrighted world this lesson:[430]—That great crimes are attended with as great and signal punishments from the offended gods. Menelaus, on his return from Troy, called at the court of king Proteus, who restored him Helen, with all her treasure. Herodotus proves, from some passages in Homer, that the voyage of Paris to Egypt was not unknown to this poet.
Rhampsinitus. What is related by Herodotus[431] concerning the treasury built by this king, who was the richest of all his predecessors, and his descent into hell, has so much the air of romance and fiction, as to deserve no mention here.
Till the reign of this king, there had been some shadow, at least, of justice and moderation in Egypt; but in the two following reigns, violence and cruelty usurped their place.
Cheops and Cephren.[432] These two princes, who were truly brothers by the similitude of their manners, seem to [pg 069] have vied with each other which of them should distinguish himself most, by a barefaced impiety towards the gods, and a barbarous inhumanity to men. Cheops reigned fifty years, and his brother Cephren fifty-six years after him. They kept the temples shut during the whole time of their long reigns; and forbid the offering of sacrifices under the severest penalties. On the other hand, they oppressed their subjects by employing them in the most grievous and useless works; and sacrificed the lives of numberless multitudes of men, merely to gratify a senseless ambition of immortalizing their names by edifices of an enormous magnitude, and a boundless expense. It is remarkable, that those stately pyramids, which have so long been the admiration of the whole world, were the effect of the irreligion and merciless cruelty of those princes.
Mycerinus.[433] He was the son of Cheops, but of a character opposite to that of his father. So far from walking in his steps, he detested his conduct, and pursued quite different measures. He again opened the temples of the gods, restored the sacrifices, did all that lay in his power to comfort his subjects, and make them forget their past miseries; and believed himself set over them for no other purpose but to exercise justice, and to make them taste all the blessings of an equitable and peaceful administration. He heard their complaints, dried their tears, alleviated their misery, and thought himself not so much the master as the father of his people. This procured him the love of them all. Egypt resounded with his praises, and his name commanded veneration in all places.
One would naturally conclude, that so prudent and humane a conduct must have drawn down on Mycerinus the protection of the gods. But it happened far otherwise. His misfortunes began from the death of a darling and only daughter, in whom his whole felicity consisted. He ordered extraordinary honours to be paid to her memory, which were still continued in Herodotus's time. This historian informs us, that in the city of Saïs, exquisite odours were burnt, in the day-time, at the tomb of this princess; and that during the night, a lamp was kept constantly burning.
He was told by an oracle, that his reign would continue but [pg 070] seven years. And as he complained of this to the gods, and inquired the reason why so long and prosperous a reign had been granted to his father and uncle, who were equally cruel and impious, whilst his own, which he had endeavoured so carefully to render as equitable and mild as it was possible for him to do, should be so short and unhappy; he was answered, that these were the very causes of it, it being the will of the gods, to oppress and afflict Egypt during the space of one hundred and fifty years, as a punishment for its crimes; and that his reign, which was to have been like those of the preceding monarchs, of fifty years' continuance, was shortened on account of his too great lenity. Mycerinus likewise built a pyramid, but much inferior in dimensions to that of his father.
Asychis.[434] He enacted the law relating to loans, which forbade a son to borrow money, without giving the dead body of his father by way of security for it. The law added, that in case the son took no care to redeem his father's body by restoring the loan, both himself and his children should be deprived for ever of the rights of sepulture.
He valued himself for having surpassed all his predecessors, by the building a pyramid of brick, more magnificent, if this king was to be credited, than any hitherto seen. The following inscription, by its founder's order, was engraved upon it. Compare me not with pyramids built of stone; which I as much excel as jupiter does all the other gods.[435]
If we suppose the six preceding reigns (the exact duration of some of which is not fixed by Herodotus) to comprise one hundred and seventy years, there will remain an interval of near three hundred years, to the reign of Sabachus the Ethiopian. In this interval, I place a few circumstances related in Holy Scripture.
A.M. 2991. Ant. J.C. 1013.
Pharaoh, king of Egypt, gave his daughter in marriage to Solomon king of Israel; who received her in that part of Jerusalem called the city of David, till he had built her a palace.[436]
Sesach or Shishak, otherwise called Sesonchis. [pg 071]
A.M. 3026. Ant. J.C. 978.
It was to him that Jeroboam fled, to avoid the wrath of Solomon, who intended to kill him.[437] He abode in Egypt till Solomon's death, and then returned to Jerusalem, when, putting himself at the head of the rebels, he won from Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, ten tribes, over whom he declared himself king.
A.M. 3033. Ant. J.C. 971.
This Sesach, in the fifth year of the reign of Rehoboam, marched against Jerusalem, because the Jews had transgressed against the Lord. He came with twelve hundred chariots of war, and sixty thousand horse.[438] He had brought numberless multitudes of people, who were all Libyans,[439] Troglodytes, and Ethiopians. He made himself master of all the strongest cities of Judah, and advanced as far as Jerusalem. Then the king, and the princes of Israel, having humbled themselves, and implored the protection of the God of Israel; God told them, by his prophet Shemaiah, that, because they humbled themselves, he would not utterly destroy them as they had deserved; but that they should be the servants of Sesach: in order “that they might know the difference of his service, and the service of the kingdoms of the country.”[440] Sesach retired from Jerusalem, after having plundered the treasures of the house of the Lord, and of the king's house; he carried off every thing with him, “and even also the three hundred shields of gold which Solomon had made.”
A.M. 3063. Ant. J.C. 941.
Zerah, king of Ethiopia, and doubtless of Egypt at the same time, made war upon Asa king of Judah.[441] His army consisted of a million of men, and three hundred chariots of war. Asa marched against him, and drawing up his army in order of battle, in full reliance on the God whom he served: “Lord,” says he, “it is nothing for thee to help whether with many, or with them that have no power. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude; O Lord, thou art our God, let not man prevail against thee.” A prayer offered up with such strong faith was heard. God struck the Ethiopians with terror; [pg 072] they fled, and all were irrevocably defeated, being “destroyed before the Lord, and before his host.”
Anysis.[442] He was blind, and under his reign Sabachus, king of Ethiopia, being encouraged by an oracle, entered Egypt with a numerous army, and possessed himself of it. He reigned with great clemency and justice. Instead of putting to death such criminals as had been sentenced to die by the judges, he made them repair the causeys, on which the respective cities to which they belonged were situated. He built several magnificent temples, and among the rest, one in the city of Bubastus, of which Herodotus gives a long and elegant description. After a reign of fifty years, which was the time appointed by the oracle, he retired voluntarily to his old kingdom of Ethiopia, and left the throne of Egypt to Anysis, who, during this time, had concealed himself in the fens.
A.M. 3279. Ant. J.C. 725.
It is believed that this Sabachus was the same with So, whose aid was implored by Hoshea, king of Israel, against Shalmanezer, king of Assyria.[443]
Sethon. He reigned fourteen years.
A.M. 3285. Ant. J.C. 719.
He is the same with Sevechus, the son of Sabacon, or So, the Ethiopian, who reigned so long over Egypt. This prince, so far from discharging the functions of a king, was ambitious of those of a priest; causing himself to be consecrated high-priest of Vulcan. Abandoning himself entirely to superstition, he neglected to defend his kingdom by force of arms; paying no regard to military men, from a firm persuasion that he should never have occasion for their assistance; he, therefore, was so far from endeavouring to gain their affections, that he deprived them of their privileges, and even dispossessed them of their revenues of such lands as his predecessors had given them.
He was soon made sensible of their resentment in a war that broke out suddenly, and from which he delivered himself solely by a miraculous protection, if Herodotus may be credited, who intermixes his account of this war with a great many fabulous particulars. Sanacharib (so Herodotus calls this prince) king of the Arabians and Assyrians, having entered Egypt with a numerous army, the Egyptian officers and soldiers refused to [pg 073] march against him. The high priest of Vulcan, being thus reduced to the greatest extremity, had recourse to his god, who bid him not despond, but march courageously against the enemy with the few soldiers he could raise. Sethon obeyed. A small number of merchants, artificers, and others who were the dregs of the populace, joined him; and with this handful of men, he marched to Pelusium, where Sanacharib had pitched his camp. The night following, a prodigious multitude of rats entered the camp of the Assyrians, and gnawing to pieces all their bowstrings, and the thongs of their shields, rendered them incapable of making the least defence. Being disarmed in this manner, they were obliged to fly; and they retreated with the loss of a great part of their forces. Sethon, when he returned home, ordered a statue of himself to be set up in the temple of Vulcan, holding in his right hand a rat, and these words to be inscribed thereon:—Let the man who beholds me learn to reverence the gods.[444]
It is very obvious that this story, as related here from Herodotus, is an alteration of that which is told in the second book of Kings. We there see,[445] that Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians, having subdued all the neighbouring nations, and made himself master of all the other cities of Judah, resolved to besiege Hezekiah in Jerusalem, his capital city. The ministers of this holy king, in spite of his opposition, and the remonstrances of the prophet Isaiah, who promised them, in God's name, a sure and certain protection, provided they would trust in him only, sent secretly to the Egyptians and Ethiopians for succour. Their armies, being united, marched to the relief of Jerusalem at the time appointed, and were met and vanquished by the Assyrian in a pitched battle. He pursued them into Egypt and entirely laid waste the country. At his return from thence, the very night before he was to have given a general assault to Jerusalem, which then seemed lost to all hopes, the destroying angel made dreadful havoc in the camp of the Assyrians; destroyed a hundred fourscore and five thousand men by fire and sword; and proved evidently, that they had great reason to rely, as Hezekiah had done, on the promise of the God of Israel.
This is the real fact. But as it was no ways honourable to the Egyptians, they endeavoured to turn it to their own advantage, by disguising and corrupting the circumstances of it. Nevertheless, the footsteps of this history, though so much defaced, ought yet to be highly valued, as coming from an historian of so great antiquity and authority as Herodotus.
The prophet Isaiah had foretold, at several times, that this expedition of the Egyptians, which had been concerted, seemingly, with such prudence, conducted with the greatest skill, and in which the forces of two powerful empires were united, in order to relieve the Jews, would not only be of no service to Jerusalem, but even destructive to Egypt itself, whose strongest cities would be taken, its territories plundered, and its inhabitants of all ages and sexes led into captivity. See the 18th, 19th, 20th, 30th, 31st, &c. chapters of his prophecy.
Archbishop Usher and Dean Prideaux suppose that it was at this period that the ruin of the famous city No-Amon,[446] spoken of by the prophet Nahum, happened. That prophet says,[447] that “she was carried away—that her young children were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets—that the enemy cast lots for her honourable men, and that all her great men were bound in chains.” He observes, that all these misfortunes befell that city, when Egypt and Ethiopia were her strength; which seems to refer clearly enough to the time of which we are here speaking, when Tharaca and Sethon had united their forces. However, this opinion is not without some difficulties, and is contradicted by some learned men. It is sufficient for me to have hinted it to the reader.
Till the reign of Sethon, the Egyptian priests computed three hundred and forty-one generations of men;[448] which make eleven thousand three hundred and forty years; allowing three generations to a hundred years. They counted the like number of priests and kings. The latter, whether gods or men, had succeeded one another without interruption, under the [pg 075] name of Piromis, an Egyptian word signifying good and virtuous. The Egyptian priests showed Herodotus three hundred and forty-one wooden colossal statues of these Piromis, all ranged in order in a great hall. Such was the folly of the Egyptians, to lose themselves as it were in a remote antiquity, to which no other people could dare to pretend.
A.M. 3299. Ant. J.C. 705.
Tharaca. He it was who joined Sethon, with an Ethiopian army, to relieve Jerusalem.[449] After the death of Sethon, who had sitten fourteen years on the throne, Tharaca ascended it, and reigned eighteen years. He was the last Ethiopian king who reigned in Egypt.
After his death, the Egyptians, not being able to agree about the succession, were two years in a state of anarchy, during which there were great disorders and confusions among them.
A.M. 3319. Ant. J.C. 685.
At last,[450] twelve of the principal noblemen, conspiring together, seized upon the kingdom, and divided it amongst themselves into as many parts. It was agreed by them, that each should govern his own district with equal power and authority, and that no one should attempt to invade or seize the dominions of another. They thought it necessary to make this agreement, and to bind it with the most dreadful oaths, to elude the prediction of an oracle, which had foretold, that he among them who should offer his libation to Vulcan out of a brazen bowl, should gain the sovereignty of Egypt. They reigned together fifteen years in the utmost harmony: and to leave a famous monument of their concord to posterity, they jointly, and at a common expense, built the famous labyrinth, which was a pile of building consisting of twelve large palaces, with as many edifices underground as appeared above it. I have spoken elsewhere of this labyrinth.
One day, as the twelve kings were assisting at a solemn and periodical sacrifice offered in the temple of Vulcan, the priests, having presented each of them a golden bowl for the libation, one was wanting; when Psammetichus,[451] without any design, [pg 076] supplied the want of this bowl with his brazen helmet, (for each wore one,) and with it performed the ceremony of the libation. This accident struck the rest of the kings, and recalled to their memory the prediction of the oracle above mentioned. They thought it therefore necessary to secure themselves from his attempts, and therefore, with one consent, banished him into the fenny parts of Egypt.
After Psammetichus had passed some years there, waiting a favourable opportunity to revenge himself for the affront which had been put upon him, a courier brought him advice, that brazen men were landed in Egypt. These were Grecian soldiers, Carians and Ionians, who had been cast upon the coasts of Egypt by a storm, and were completely covered with helmets, cuirasses, and other arms of brass. Psammetichus immediately called to mind the oracle, which had answered him, that he should be succoured by brazen men from the sea-coast. He did not doubt but the prediction was now fulfilled. He therefore made a league with these strangers; engaged them with great promises to stay with him; privately levied other forces; and put these Greeks at their head; when giving battle to the eleven kings, he defeated them, and remained sole possessor of Egypt.
A.M. 3334. Ant. J.C. 670.
Psammetichus. As this prince owed his preservation to the Ionians and Carians, he settled them in Egypt, (from which all foreigners hitherto had been excluded;) and, by assigning them sufficient lands and fixed revenues, he made them forget their native country.[452] By his order, Egyptian children were put under their care to learn the Greek tongue; and on this occasion, and by this means, the Egyptians began to have a correspondence with the Greeks; and from that æra, the Egyptian history, which, till then, had been intermixed with pompous fables, by the artifice of the priests, begins, according to Herodotus, to speak with greater truth and certainty.
As soon as Psammetichus was settled on the throne, he engaged in war against the king of Assyria, on the subject of the boundaries of the two empires. This war was of long continuance. Ever since Syria had been conquered by the [pg 077] Assyrians, Palestine, being the only country that separated the two kingdoms, was the subject of continual discord; as afterwards it was between the Ptolemies and the Seleucidæ. They were eternally contending for it, and it was alternately won by the stronger. Psammetichus, seeing himself the peaceable possessor of all Egypt, and having restored the ancient form of government,[453] thought it high time for him to look to his frontiers, and to secure them against the Assyrian, his neighbour, whose power increased daily. For this purpose, he entered Palestine at the head of an army.
Perhaps we are to refer to the beginning of this war, an incident related by Diodorus;[454] that the Egyptians, provoked to see the Greeks posted on the right wing by the king himself, in preference to them, quitted the service, to the number of upwards of two hundred thousand men, and retired into Ethiopia, where they met with an advantageous settlement.
Be this as it will, Psammetichus entered Palestine,[455] where his career was stopped by Azotus, one of the principal cities of the country, which gave him so much trouble, that he was forced to besiege it twenty-nine years before he could take it. This is the longest siege mentioned in ancient history.
This was anciently one of the five capital cities of the Philistines. The Egyptians, having seized it some time before, had fortified it with such care, that it was their strongest bulwark on that side. Nor could Sennacherib enter Egypt, till he had first made himself master of this city,[456] which was taken by Tartan, one of his generals. The Assyrians had possessed it hitherto; and it was not till after the long siege just now mentioned, that the Egyptians recovered it.
In this period,[457] the Scythians, leaving the banks of the Palus Mæotis, made an inroad into Media, defeated Cyaxares, the king of that country, and deprived him of all Upper Asia, of which they kept possession during twenty-eight years. They pushed their conquests in Syria as far as to the frontiers of Egypt. But Psammetichus marching out to meet them, prevailed so far, by his presents and entreaties, that they [pg 078] advanced no farther, and by that means delivered his kingdom from these dangerous enemies.
Till his reign,[458] the Egyptians had imagined themselves to be the most ancient nation upon earth. Psammetichus was desirous to prove this himself, and he employed a very extraordinary experiment for this purpose. He commanded (if we may credit the relation) two children, newly born of poor parents, to be brought up (in the country) in a hovel, that was to be kept continually shut. They were committed to the care of a shepherd, (others say, of nurses, whose tongues were cut out,) who was to feed them with the milk of goats; and was commanded not to suffer any person to enter into this hut, nor himself to speak even a single word in the hearing of these children. At the expiration of two years, as the shepherd was one day coming into the hut to feed these children, they both cried out, with hands extended towards their foster-father, beccos, beccos. The shepherd, surprised to hear a language that was quite new to him, but which they repeated frequently afterwards, sent advice of this to the king, who ordered the children to be brought before him, in order that he himself might be a witness to the truth of what was told him; and accordingly both of them began, in his presence, to stammer out the sounds above mentioned. Nothing now was wanting but to ascertain what nation it was that used this word; and it was found that the Phrygians called bread by this name. From this time they were allowed the honour of antiquity, or rather of priority, which the Egyptians themselves, notwithstanding their jealousy of it, and the many ages they had possessed this glory, were obliged to resign to them. As goats were brought to these children, in order that they might feed upon their milk, and historians do not say that they were deaf, some are of opinion that they might have learnt the word bec, or beccos, by mimicking the cry of those creatures.
Psammetichus died in the 24th year of Josias, king of Judah, and was succeeded by his son Nechao.
A.M. 3388. Ant. J.C. 616.
Nechao.[459] This prince is often mentioned in Scripture under the name of Pharaoh-Necho.[460]
He attempted to join the Nile to the Red-Sea, by cutting a canal from one to the other. The distance which separates them is at least a thousand stadia.[461] After a hundred and twenty thousand workmen had lost their lives in this attempt, Nechao was obliged to desist; the oracle which had been consulted by him, having answered, that this new canal would open a passage to the Barbarians (for so the Egyptians called all other nations) to invade Egypt.
Nechao was more successful in another enterprise.[462] Skilful Phœnician mariners, whom he had taken into his service, having sailed from the Red-Sea in order to discover the coasts of Africa, went successfully round it; and the third year after their setting out, returned to Egypt through the Straits of Gibraltar. This was a very extraordinary voyage, in an age when the compass was not known. It was made twenty-one centuries before Vasco de Gama, a Portuguese, (by discovering the Cape of Good Hope, in the year 1497,) found out the very same way to sail to the Indies, by which these Phœnicians had come from thence into the Mediterranean.
The Babylonians and Medes, having destroyed Nineveh, and with it the empire of the Assyrians, were thereby become so formidable, that they drew upon themselves the jealousy of all their neighbours.[463] Nechao, alarmed at the danger, advanced to the Euphrates, at the head of a powerful army, in order to check their progress. Josiah, king of Judah, so famous for his uncommon piety, observing that he took his route through Judea, resolved to oppose his passage. With this view, he raised all the forces of his kingdom, and posted himself in the valley of Megiddo, (a city on this side Jordan, belonging to the tribe of Manasseh, and called Magdolus by Herodotus.) Nechao informed him, by a herald, that his enterprise was not designed against him; that he had other enemies in view, and that he had undertaken this war in the name of God, who was with him; that for this reason he advised Josiah not to concern himself with this war, for fear lest it otherwise should turn to his disadvantage. However, Josiah was not moved by [pg 080] these reasons: he was sensible that the bare march of so powerful an army through Judea, would entirely ruin it. And besides, he feared that the victor, after the defeat of the Babylonians, would fall upon him, and dispossess him of part of his dominions. He therefore marched to engage Nechao; and was not only overthrown by him, but unfortunately received a wound, of which he died at Jerusalem, whither he had ordered himself to be carried.
Nechao, animated by this victory, continued his march, and advanced towards the Euphrates. He defeated the Babylonians; took Carchemish, a large city in that country; and securing to himself the possession of it by a strong garrison, returned to his own kingdom, after having been absent from it three months.
Being informed in his march homeward, that Jehoahaz had caused himself to be proclaimed king at Jerusalem, without first asking his consent, he commanded him to meet him at Riblah in Syria.[464] The unhappy prince was no sooner arrived there, than he was put in chains by Nechao's order, and sent prisoner to Egypt, where he died. From thence, pursuing his march, he came to Jerusalem, where he placed Eliakim, (called by him Jehoiakim,) another of Josiah's sons, upon the throne, in the room of his brother: and imposed an annual tribute on the land, of a hundred talents of silver, and one talent of gold.[465] This being done, he returned in triumph to Egypt.
Herodotus, mentioning this king's expedition,[466] and the victory gained by him at Magdolus,[467] (as he calls it,) says, that he afterwards took the city Cadytis, which he represents as situated in the mountains of Palestine, and equal in extent to Sardis, the capital at that time not only of Lydia, but of all Asia Minor: this description can suit only Jerusalem, which was situated in the manner above described, and was then the only city in those parts that could be compared to Sardis. It [pg 081] appears besides from Scripture, that Nechao, after his victory, made himself master of this capital of Judea; for he was there in person, when he gave the crown to Jehoiakim. The very name Cadytis, which in Hebrew signifies the Holy, clearly denotes the city of Jerusalem, as is proved by the learned Dean Prideaux.[468]
A.M. 3397. Ant. J.C. 607.
Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, observing that, since the taking of Carchemish by Nechao, all Syria and Palestine had shaken off their allegiance to him, and that his years and infirmities would not permit him to march against the rebels in person, he therefore associated his son Nabuchodonosor, or Nebuchadnezzar, with him in the empire, and sent him at the head of an army into those countries. This young prince vanquished the army of Nechao near the river Euphrates, recovered Carchemish, and reduced the revolted provinces to their allegiance, as Jeremiah had foretold.[469] Thus he dispossessed the Egyptians of all that belonged to them,[470] from the little river[471][472] of Egypt to the Euphrates, which comprehended all Syria and Palestine.
Nechao dying after he had reigned sixteen years, left the kingdom to his son.
A.M. 3404. Ant. J.C. 600.
Psammis. His reign was but of six years' duration; and history has left us nothing memorable concerning him, except that he made an expedition into Ethiopia.[473]
It was to this prince that the Eleans sent a splendid embassy, after having instituted the Olympic games. They had established all the regulations, and arranged every circumstance [pg 082] relating to them, with such care, that, in their opinion, nothing seemed wanting to their perfection, and envy itself could not find any fault with them. However, they did not desire so much to have the opinion, as to gain the approbation of the Egyptians, who were looked upon as the wisest and most judicious people in the world.[474] Accordingly, the king assembled the sages of his nation. After every thing had been heard which could be said in favour of this institution, the Eleans were asked, whether citizens and foreigners were admitted indifferently to these games; to which answer was made, that they were open to every one. To this the Egyptians replied, that the rules of justice would have been more strictly observed, had foreigners only been admitted to these combats; because it was very difficult for the judges, in their award of the victory and the prize, not to be prejudiced in favour of their fellow citizens.
A.M. 3410. Ant. J.C. 594.
Apries. In Scripture he is called Pharaoh-Hophra. He succeeded his father Psammis, and reigned twenty-five years.[475]
During the first years of his reign, he was as fortunate as any of his predecessors. He turned his arms against the island of Cyprus; besieged the city of Sidon by sea and land; took it, and made himself master of all Phœnicia and Palestine.[476]
So rapid a success elated his heart to a prodigious degree, and, as Herodotus informs us, swelled him with so much pride and infatuation, that he boasted, it was not in the power of the gods themselves to dethrone him; so great was the idea he had formed to himself of the firm establishment of his own power. It was with a view to these arrogant notions, that Ezekiel put the vain and impious words following into his mouth: “My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.”[477] But the true God proved to him afterwards that he had a master, and that he was a mere man; and he had threatened him long before, by his prophets, with all the calamities he was resolved to bring upon him, in order to punish him for his pride.
Shortly after Hophra had ascended the throne, Zedekiah, king of Judah, sent an embassy, and concluded an alliance with him; and the year following, breaking the oath of fidelity which he had taken to the king of Babylon, he rebelled openly against him.[478]
Notwithstanding God had so often forbidden his people to have recourse to the Egyptians, or to put any confidence in that people; notwithstanding the repeated calamities which had ensued upon the various attempts which they had made to procure assistance from them; they still thought this nation their most sure refuge in danger, and accordingly could not forbear applying to it. This they had already done in the reign of the holy king Hezekiah; which gave occasion to God's message to his people, by the mouth of his prophet Isaiah: “Wo to them that go down to Egypt for help, and stay on horses and trust in chariots, because they are many; but they look not unto the holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord. The Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, not spirit: when the Lord shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they shall fail together.”[479] But neither the prophet nor the king were heard; and nothing but the most fatal experience could open their eyes, and make them see evidently the truth of God's threatenings.
The Jews behaved in the very same manner on this occasion. Zedekiah, notwithstanding all the remonstrances of Jeremiah to the contrary, resolved to conclude an alliance with the Egyptian monarch; who, puffed up with the success of his arms, and confident that nothing could resist his power, declared himself the protector of Israel, and promised to deliver it from the tyranny of Nabuchodonosor. But God, offended that a mortal had dared to intrude himself into his place, thus declared himself to another prophet: “Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt. Speak and say, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is my own, and I have made it for myself. But I will put [pg 084] hooks in thy jaws,”[480] &c. God, after comparing him to a reed, which breaks under the man who leans upon it, and wounds his hand, adds, “Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee; the land of Egypt shall be desolate, and they shall know that I am the Lord, because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it.”[481] The same prophet, in several succeeding chapters, continues to foretell the calamities with which Egypt was going to be overwhelmed.[482]
Zedekiah was far from giving credit to these predictions. When he heard of the approach of the Egyptian army, and saw Nabuchodonosor raise the siege of Jerusalem, he fancied that his deliverance was completed, and anticipated a triumph. His joy, however, was but of short duration; for the Egyptians seeing the Chaldeans advancing, did not dare to encounter so numerous and well-disciplined an army.
A.M. 3416. Ant. J.C. 588.
They therefore marched back into their own country, and left the unfortunate Zedekiah exposed to all the dangers of a war in which they themselves had involved him.[483] Nabuchodonosor again sat down before Jerusalem, took and burnt it, as Jeremiah had prophesied.
A.M. 3430. Ant. J.C. 574.
Many years after, the chastisements with which God had threatened Apries (Pharaoh-Hophra) began to fall upon him.[484] For the Cyrenians, a Greek colony, which had settled in Africa, between Libya and Egypt, having seized upon, and divided among themselves, a great part of the country belonging to the Libyans, forced these nations, who were thus dispossessed by violence, to throw themselves into the arms of this prince, and implore his protection. Immediately Apries sent a mighty army into Libya to oppose the Cyrenians; but this army being defeated and almost cut to pieces, the Egyptians imagined that Apries had sent it into Libya, only to get it destroyed; and by that means to attain the power of governing his subjects without check or control. This reflection prompted the Egyptians to shake off the yoke of a prince, whom they now considered as their enemy. But Apries, hearing of the rebellion, despatched Amasis, one of his [pg 085] officers, to suppress it, and force the rebels to return to their allegiance. But the moment Amasis began to address them, they placed a helmet upon his head, in token of the exalted dignity to which they intended to raise him, and proclaimed him king. Amasis having accepted the crown, staid with the mutineers, and confirmed them in their rebellion.
Apries, more exasperated than ever at this news, sent Patarbemis, another of his great officers, and one of the principal lords of his court, to put Amasis under an arrest, and bring him before him; but Patarbemis not being able to carry off Amasis from the midst of the rebel army, by which he was surrounded, was treated by Apries, at his return, in the most ignominious and inhuman manner; for his nose and ears were cut off by the command of that prince, who never considered, that only his want of power had prevented his executing his commission. So barbarous an outrage, committed upon a person of such high distinction, exasperated the Egyptians so much, that the greatest part of them joined the rebels, and the insurrection became general. Apries was now forced to retire into Upper Egypt, where he supported himself some years, during which Amasis made himself master of the rest of his dominions.
The troubles which thus distracted Egypt, afforded Nabuchodonosor a favourable opportunity to invade that kingdom; and it was God himself who inspired him with the resolution. This prince, who was the instrument of God's wrath (though he did not know himself to be so) against a people whom he was resolved to chastise, had just before taken Tyre, where himself and his army had laboured under incredible difficulties. To recompense their toils, God abandoned Egypt to their arms. It is wonderful to hear the Creator himself revealing his designs on this subject. There are few passages in Scripture more remarkable than this, or which give a clearer idea of the supreme authority which God exercises over all the princes and kingdoms of the earth: “Son of man, (says the Almighty to his prophet Ezekiel,) Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head [pg 086] was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled:[485] yet had he no wages, nor his army,[486] for the service he had served against it. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey, and it shall be the wages for his army. I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour, wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord God.”[487] Says another prophet: “He shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment, and he shall go forth from thence in peace.”[488] Thus shall he load himself with booty, and thus cover his own shoulders, and those of his fold, with all the spoils of Egypt. Noble expressions! which show the ease with which all the power and riches of a kingdom are carried away, when God appoints the revolution; and shift, like a garment, to a new owner, who has no more to do but to take it, and clothe himself with it.
The king of Babylon, taking advantage, therefore, of the intestine divisions which the rebellion of Amasis had occasioned in that kingdom, marched thither at the head of his army. He subdued Egypt from Migdol or Magdol, a town on the frontiers of the kingdom, as far as Syene, in the opposite extremity where it borders on Ethiopia. He made a horrible devastation wherever he came; killed a great number of the inhabitants, and made such dreadful havoc in the country, that the damage could not be repaired in forty years. Nabuchodonosor, having loaded his army with spoils, and conquered the whole kingdom, came to an accommodation with Amasis; and leaving him as his viceroy there, returned to Babylon.
Apries (Pharaoh-Hophra) now leaving the place where he had concealed himself, advanced towards the sea-coast, (probably [pg 087] on the side of Libya;) and hiring an army of Carians, Ionians, and other foreigners, he marched against Amasis, to whom he gave battle near Memphis; but being overcome, Apries was taken prisoner, carried to the city of Sais, and there strangled in his own palace.[489]
The Almighty had given, by the mouth of his prophets, an astonishing relation of the several circumstances of this mighty event. It was He who had broken the power of Apries, which was once so formidable; and put the sword into the hand of Nabuchodonosor, in order that he might chastise and humble that haughty prince. “I am,” said he, “against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, which were strong, but now are broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand.”[490]—“But I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword into his hand.”[491]—“And they shall know that I am the Lord.”[492]
He enumerates the towns which were to fall a prey to the victors; Pathros, Zoan, No, (called in the Vulgate Alexandria,) Sin, Aven, Phibeseth, &c.[493][494]
He takes notice particularly of the unhappy end of the king, who was to be delivered up to his enemies. Thus saith the Lord; “Behold, I will give Pharaoh-Hophra, the king of Egypt, into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life.”[495]
Lastly, he declares, that during forty years the Egyptians shall be oppressed with every species of calamity, and be reduced to so deplorable a state, “That there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt.”[496] The event verified this prophecy, which was gradually accomplished. Soon after the expiration of these forty years, Egypt was made a province of the Persian empire, to which its kings, though natives of the country, were tributary, and thus the accomplishment of the prediction began. It was completely fulfilled on the death of Nectanebus, the last king of Egyptian extraction, A.M. 3654.
Since that time, Egypt has constantly been governed by foreigners. For since the ruin of the Persian monarchy, it has been subject, successively, to the Macedonians, the Romans, the Saracens, the Mamalukes, and lastly, to the Turks, who possess it to this day.
God was not less punctual in the accomplishment of his prophecies, with regard to such of his own people as had retired, contrary to his prohibition, into Egypt, after the taking of Jerusalem; and had forced Jeremiah along with them.[497] The instant they had reached Egypt, and were arrived at Tahpanhes, (or Tanis,) the prophet, after having hid in their presence (by God's command) stones in a grotto, which was near the king's palace, declared to them, that Nabuchodonosor should soon arrive in Egypt, and that God would establish his throne in that very place; that this prince would lay waste the whole kingdom, and carry fire and sword into all places; that themselves should fall into the hand of these cruel enemies, when one part of them would be massacred, and the rest led captive to Babylon; that only a very small number should escape the common desolation, and be at last restored to their country. All these prophecies had their accomplishment in the appointed time.
A.M. 3435. Ant. J.C. 569.
Amasis. After the death of Apries, Amasis became peaceable possessor of Egypt, and reigned over it forty years. He was, according to Plato, a native of the city of Sais.[498]
As he was but of mean extraction, he met with no respect in the beginning of his reign, but was only contemned by his subjects:[499] he was not insensible of this; but, nevertheless, thought it his interest to subdue their tempers by management and address, and win their affections by gentleness and reason. He had a golden cistern, in which himself and those persons who were admitted to his table, used to wash their feet: he melted it down, and had it cast into a statue, and then exposed the new god to public worship. The people hasted in crowds to pay their adoration to the statue. The king having assembled the people, informed them of the vile uses to which this statue had once been put, which, nevertheless, was now the [pg 089] object of their religious prostrations: the application was easy, and had the desired success; the people thenceforward paid the king all the respect that is due to majesty.
He always used to devote the whole morning to public business, to receive petitions, give audience, pronounce sentence, and hold his councils: the rest of the day was given to pleasure: and as Amasis, in hours of diversion, was extremely gay, and seemed to carry his mirth beyond due bounds, his courtiers took the liberty to represent to him the unsuitableness of such a behaviour; when he answered, that it was as impossible for the mind to be always serious and intent upon business, as for a bow to continue always bent.[500]
It was this king who obliged the inhabitants of every town to enter their names in a book, kept by the magistrate for that purpose, with their profession, and manner of living. Solon inserted this custom among his laws.
He built many magnificent temples, especially at Sais, the place of his birth. Herodotus admired especially a chapel there formed of one single stone, which was twenty-one cubits[501] in front, fourteen in depth, and eight in height; its dimensions within were not quite so large; it had been brought from Elephantina, and two thousand men had employed three years in conveying it along the Nile.
Amasis had a great esteem for the Greeks. He granted them large privileges; and permitted such of them as were desirous of settling in Egypt, to live in the city of Naucratis, so famous for its harbour. When the rebuilding of the temple of Delphi, which had been burnt, was debated on, and the expense was computed at three hundred talents,[502] Amasis furnished the Delphians with a very considerable sum towards discharging their quota, which was the fourth part of the whole charge.
He made an alliance with the Cyrenians, and married a wife from among them.
He is the only king of Egypt who conquered the island of Cyprus, and made it tributary.
Under his reign Pythagoras came into Egypt, being recommended [pg 090] to that monarch by the famous Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, who had contracted a friendship with Amasis, and will be mentioned hereafter. Pythagoras, during his stay in Egypt, was initiated in all the mysteries of the country; and instructed by the priests in whatever was most abstruse and important in their religion. It was here he imbibed his doctrine of the Metempsychosis, or transmigration of souls.
In the expedition in which Cyrus conquered so great a part of the world, Egypt doubtless was subdued, like the rest of the provinces; and Xenophon positively declares this in the beginning of his Cyropædia, or institution of that prince.[503] Probably, after that the forty years of desolation, which had been foretold by the prophet, were expired, Egypt beginning gradually to regain strength, Amasis shook off the yoke, and recovered his liberty.
Accordingly, we find, that one of the first cares of Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, after he had ascended the throne, was to carry his arms into Egypt. On his arrival there, Amasis was just dead, and succeeded by his son Psammenitus.
A.M. 3479. Ant. J.C. 525.
Psammenitus. Cambyses, after having gained a battle, pursued the enemy to Memphis; besieged the city, and soon took it: however, he treated the king with clemency, granted him his life, and assigned him an honourable pension; but being informed that he was secretly concerting measures to reascend his throne, he put him to death. Psammenitus reigned but six months: all Egypt submitted immediately to the victor. The particulars of this history will be related more at large, when I come to that of Cambyses.
Here ends the succession of the Egyptian kings. From this æra the history of this nation, as was before observed, will be blended with that of the Persians and Greeks, till the death of Alexander. At that period, a new monarchy will arise in Egypt, founded by Ptolemy the son of Lagus, which will continue to Cleopatra, that is, for about three hundred years. I shall treat each of these subjects, in the several periods to which they belong.