It is supposed that at this time Moses came to the relief of Israel, and asked permission for his people to withdraw a few days into the desert to offer sacrifices to their God. This was the occasion for the king both to deny the request and to double the tasks meted out to the brickmakers by withholding straw and requiring the same amount of work to be accomplished as before. Then, according to the Hebrew version, grievous plagues were sent upon Egypt, and only when the king's son, with the other first born, was stricken in the night, did the monarch concede to the entreaties of his own people and bid the Hebrews depart from his land. The story is familiar to all—how when he came to think of the six hundred thousand valued bonds-people of which he was now bereft, he dispatched the flower of Egyptian charioteers to prevent the Hebrews crossing the Red Sea and bring them back to do his bidding. To these despairing people to whom light seemed about to dawn, the fact that they were able to cross over while the Egyptian horses were ensnared and drowned, seemed a miracle enacted for their deliverance. It has since been noted that similar tidal action at this point has sometimes repeated itself. To the Hebrews, believing firmly in the inspired mission of Moses, it was regarded later as an example of how for the dutiful "all things work together for good."
Twentieth Dynasty.[4]
Ramses III. was the first important ruler of the Twentieth dynasty. He and his immediate successors were able to hold intact the vast empire won by earlier kings. We hear no more of aggressive wars for conquest. However, the time had come when Egypt did well when she maintained such territories as belonged to her.
Men of Crete, other islanders and sea-faring people, made common cause against the Asiatic shore early in this reign. Ramses watched their progress until they attacked the Egyptian province of Palestine. Not willing to lose this, the pharaoh marched against the plundering bands and utterly routed them, taking many captives. Three other campaigns were directed by this king, but they were carried on to defend Egyptian borders and hold together tributary provinces.
Like his father, Ramses III. was a builder. Like him, too, he appropriated earlier temples and monuments for his own fame and glory. He built a fleet on the Red Sea, continued the profitable commercial intercourse with Punt, and caused a large reservoir to be constructed in Palestine. Another thing he did, which all histories have been careful to chronicle: he ordered trees and shrubs to be systematically planted throughout the realm. In a land where for months together the sun pours its hot rays down on a defenseless people, he tried to bring rest and cooling shade where both were sorely needed.
We have often noted the growing power of the priesthood in Egypt, and have seen that a large amount of the booty and tribute which flowed into the country from Asia found its way to the temples. An inventory of the resources of the temples during this reign has come down to us in a statement prepared by Ramses III., known now as the Papyrus Harris. From this it appears that the temples owned 107,000 slaves—or 2 per cent of the entire population; they possessed 750,000 acres, or over 15 per cent of all the arable land in the valley. Some 500,000 head of cattle, over 80 vessels, 53 workshops and shipyards, brought an annual income; and 169 towns in Egypt Kush and Syria were theirs. All this property in a land of less than 10,000 square miles and possibly 6,000,000 people, was exempt from taxation.
The lion's share of all this wealth fell to the temples sacred to Amon. The priests of Amon had charge of it, and as time went on, they came to be regarded as superior to other priestly orders and their High Priest became the head of all priesthoods in the realm. Of all the temple estates, Amon owned two-thirds. In slaves, this god owned seven times as many as any other; of the cattle, more than four-fifths; of the ships, all but five; of the workshops, forty-six of the fifty-three were his. Regarding Amon's coffers, Ramses had inscribed: "I have filled its treasury with the products of the land of Egypt: gold, silver, every costly stone by the hundred thousand. Its granary was overflowing with barley and wheat; its lands, its herds, their multitudes were like the sands of the shore. I taxed for it the Southland as well as the Northland; Nubia and Syria came to it, bearing their impost."[5]
In showering all these princely gifts upon Amon, Ramses was but following the example set by his forefathers. The kings themselves held the priests somewhat in fear, believing that they had influence with the gods and could indirectly influence not only their earthly prosperity but their future welfare.
While this lavish wealth overflowed the coffers of the temples, we find the workmen in the service of the government, laboring in the City of the Dead—the Necropolis—having to resort to strikes, or in older phraseology, "having to lie at home," because their monthly rations were not forthcoming. The revenue of the government had, apparently, become the spoils for corrupt officials who sought to increase their personal incomes at the expense of the public treasury. Repeatedly starving laborers left their work and started with their families to leave Thebes, whereupon part of their rations would be given them and they would be urged to continue at their tasks! Nor was this all. Records have come down to us of bands of robbers who made a profession of rifling tombs of the dead. Worse still, cases for trial were frequently dismissed because officials themselves and priests of lesser position were sharing in the booty! Some of the Ramessides removed their ancestors from the original tombs and had all placed in a shaft where guards could keep watch over them. It was next to impossible to protect the wide-reaching City of the Dead, but it was worse than useless to attempt such a thing when those supposed to lend protection were themselves participating in the robberies.
After the death of Ramses III., his descendants to the number of ten succeeded him. Then the High Priest of Amon snatched the power from Ramses XIII., taking the title of king as well as the authority which he already held. For some time the kings had been practically subservient to him. For almost a hundred and fifty years priests ruled in Egypt.[6] Under priestly rule the government was quite as corrupt as it had been previously. Discontent on the part of the workmen, bold robberies of tombs, were the order of the day. First Libyan, then Ethiopian chiefs gained possession of the throne. The country fell apart; the days of Egypt's glory were gone.