At the head of the Red Sea the king constructed a well, carefully guarded by fortifications, and re-opened trade with Punt by way of Koptos and the sea. He also renewed the working of the mafek[73] and copper mines. Then he tells us he planted trees and shrubs throughout the land, that the people might sit under the shade, and he says further, that the country was so safe that the weakest woman might travel alone without fear of molestation. ‘The soldiers of the horse and foot,’ continues his account, ‘live at ease; the Sardinian and Libyan auxiliaries stretch themselves full length upon their backs. They are not on the watch, for the enemy have ceased to invade. Their bows and arrows lie useless. They eat and drink with their wives and children, and make themselves merry. I am among them as a protector ready to defend.’
But soon another dark cloud, gathering in the distance, rapidly approached, and broke in a torrent of invasion upon the northern shore. The foe came this time from the distant regions of Asia Minor.
The old claims of Egypt to supremacy in Asia had long been suffered to lapse, and the course of time brought many changes.
In the earliest ages, strong and civilised kingdoms (perhaps coeval with the pyramids) had existed at Ur, Larsa, and other cities of Chaldea. But they had fallen and passed away when Thothmes III. entered Mesopotamia. The country was then divided into petty principalities, which were subdued with little difficulty. By the time Rameses ii. was on the throne (the fourteenth century b.c.), Nineveh and Babylon had become the capitals of strong and important states, and were constantly engaged in mortal conflict for supremacy. They were absorbed in this mutual strife and in warding off the hostile assaults of the Elamites and other neighbouring nations; neither state was as yet thinking of far-extended conquest and dominion. The Israelites entered Canaan and carried on a war of extermination against its inhabitants, but they only succeeded in establishing themselves in parts of the country, generally in the more hilly districts, as the Canaanites, possessing chariots and horses, were able to maintain possession of the plains. The Egyptians probably viewed this fierce conflict with indifference, careful only that the great military road should not be interfered with, and the Israelites, maintaining their hold of the ‘promised land’ with much difficulty, were by no means prepared for any such attempt. North of Syria the power of the Kheta had greatly diminished, and was still further weakened by the assault of a mighty host of confederated tribes, which, emerging at this juncture from the hills and coast lands of Asia Minor, poured in a resistless stream towards the south. With them may have been allied, in hope of plunder, Etruscans, pirates from of old, and not unlikely roving Greeks from the isles and shores of the Mediterranean, probably little better than pirates themselves. For this formidable onslaught was made by sea and land simultaneously. The land forces defeated the Kheta, occupied Kadi (Galilee), and pitched their camp for a while in the land of the Amorites, ravaging and plundering as they went. The sequel may be described in the graphic narrative of Rameses iii.: ‘They came leaping from their coasts and islands, and spread themselves at once over all lands; no people stood before their arms. Their nostrils snuffed the air of the southern lands; their desire was to breathe a balmy atmosphere. On they came against the Egyptian land. But there was in readiness a fiery furnace before their faces on the side of Egypt. Their hearts were full of confidence, their minds of plans. But an ambush was prepared for them, and they were taken in the snare like birds. They who reached the boundaries of my land never reaped harvest more. Their soul and spirit passed away for ever. A mighty firebrand was lighted before those who were assembled on the great sea in front of the mouths of the river. A wall of iron shut them in on the lake. They were caught like birds in a net, and were made prisoners; their ships and all they possessed lay strewn on the mirror of the water. Those who came by the way of the land, Amen-Ra pursued and annihilated them. Thus have I taken from the nations the desire to direct their thoughts against Egypt.’ This account of the great battle of Migdol, which secured a long period of repose from hostile attack, is inscribed upon the walls of the great temple which Rameses iii. erected not far from the colossi of Amenhotep iii. in Western Thebes. Here are also pictorial representations of the scene where naval warfare is for the first time depicted. No doubt the services of the mercenaries, so largely employed in the fleet, stood the Egyptians in good stead at this crisis, the naval service never being popular with the native population.
The great temple of Rameses iii. at Medinet Habou (to which, for the first time, so far as we know, a palace was annexed) was enriched with vast donations by the king; he also conferred immense gifts on other temples, which are detailed in almost endless lists. For Rameses iii., at some period, undertook wars of retribution, and won victories, and acquired rich spoil, both on the mainland and in the Mediterranean isles, more especially in Cilicia and in Cyprus. Fabulous stories were current in after times concerning King Rampsinitus (as the Greeks called this monarch) and his wonderful treasure-house. Herodotus heard some of these sensational narratives, and recorded them at full length in his writings.
In the construction of this temple, Rameses iii. did not scruple to employ materials taken from those of his predecessors. Bricks with the names of Seti i. and Rameses ii. were freely used to build up its walls. Nor was this all he borrowed, for, as if he had not acquired sufficient renown on his own account, he adopted an inscription in honour of Rameses the Great as his own. It is a long panegyric in the most grandiloquent language, and not only abounds in general phrases of much high-flown glorification of the king, but especially commemorates his building up of the city of Zoan and his first meeting with the Princess of Kheta. Rameses iii. had the whole panegyric copied, with a few slight necessary changes. He, however, let it appear as if he had been the builder of Zoan, only stopping short of claiming the Khetan princess as his bride. It is curious that, after all, these attempts of the third Rameses to associate and almost to identify himself with the second Rameses may be said to have so far succeeded that they were in fact often confused with each other by foreign historians, and it is doubtful to this day which of the two was meant by the Sesostris of the Greeks—the probability being that he was a personage created out the confused traditions of both the Egyptian conquerors.
In spite of riches and renown, the throne of the third Rameses was not too securely based. It may have been that he was not of the ancient race, so long venerated and deified by the people, or it may have been that there was a general decay in Egyptian loyalty, but the fact is certain that a conspiracy of the most alarming extent was discovered, originating in the royal household itself. The conspirators were detected in time, and the record of their trial has been preserved. Many officers of high rank and many ladies in the palace were implicated. The first page of the papyrus is unfortunately defaced, so that the precise object and nature of the plot must remain uncertain. The royal commission to the judges is in the following terms:—‘Those who are accused by the country I give them into your charge. As to the talk of men I know nothing about it. Go ye and judge. Let what they have done be upon their own heads.’ Sentence of death[74] was pronounced on most of the criminals, others were condemned to have their noses and ears cut off, the women appear to have been sentenced to a sort of penal servitude.
Amongst the means resorted to by the conspirators magic and sorcery played a conspicuous part. One Penhi, superintendent of the herds, is reported to have said:—‘If only I possessed a writing that would give me power and strength!’ Having succeeded in procuring such a writing, an ‘enchantment fell upon him so that he gained admittance to the women’s house and to the deep and secret place. He made human figures in wax for the purpose of alienating the mind of one of the maidens and of bewitching another, inciting them to all kinds of wickedness and villainy by his writings.’
There is good evidence that the practice of sorcery and magical arts of all sorts was greatly on the increase. The very tales that have been preserved belonging to this period are of wonder and enchantment; superstition was rife on all hands. The god especially honoured under the twentieth dynasty was the oracle-giving Khons;[75] the chapters of the ritual assigned to this date are full of elaborate ceremonial, and the use of certain portions as a spell or talisman is more and more insisted on. Great virtue was also assigned to the mere repetition of long and apparently meaningless names. Omens of all kinds were much regarded, and so were lucky and unlucky days in the calendar.[76] Nevertheless, alongside of these superstitious notions and practices there existed a higher and a nobler life; no hymns preserved to us are more lofty and beautiful in tone than some that are assigned to this period. In one addressed to Amen-Ra, we read:—
‘O Ra, adored in Thebes! Thy love pervades the earth. Thou makest grass for the cattle and fruit-bearing trees for men. He causeth fish to live in the river, and giveth food to the birds upon the wing, food to the mice in their holes, and to the flying creatures on the trees.