Piankhi afterwards visited the ancient and far-famed City of the Sun, not far from Memphis. There he ‘offered oblations on the waters of the lake of Horns; he purified himself in the heart of the cool lake, bathing his face in the stream of the sacred waters, wherein Ra bathes his countenance daily.’ Then on the sandy heights of On he made ‘a great sacrifice before the face of Ra at his rising.’ The priest-king then demanded admission into the innermost sanctuary and to the sacred shrine of the god.
The chief priest, possibly somewhat dismayed, offered intercession for the king, duly purified him with incense and sprinkling, and brought him garlands from the temple of the obelisks. He girded on the sacred vestments, and, passing through the outer halls, advanced within the most holy place. ‘The king stood himself, the great one alone; he drew the bolt, he threw back the doors, he saw the face of his father Ra in the temple, and on the sacred bark. Then he closed the doors, and set thereon seals of clay marked with the royal signet, and he commanded the priests, saying: “I have set my seal; let no other king whatever enter therein.”’[85]
During his stay at Memphis the king received the submission and the tributary offerings of all the petty governors and kings, but of those who sought to enter the royal presence none were admitted but Nimrod, because ‘he was not an eater of fish,[86] a thing forbidden in the royal palace.’
Tafnekht did not appear in person from his distant retreat; he sent his submission by an embassy—‘Hail to thee! I could not look upon thy face nor stand before thy terror. I have reached the islands of the Mediterranean. Behold! thy servant is cleansed from his pride. I beseech thee to take my goods into thy treasury, the gold and all the precious stones. O send a messenger unto me as a reconciler.’ Piankhi, after having received the submission of the confederated opponents, returned to Thebes with great rejoicing and triumph.
It is very doubtful, however, whether the supremacy, thus triumphantly acquired, was maintained even so long as during Piankhi’s own lifetime. His successor, Nutmeramen, was moved by a dream to reconquer it. ‘His majesty beheld two snakes, one to his right, the other to his left, and when he awoke he found them no more. He said: “Explain these things to me in a moment,” and lo! they explained it to him, saying: “Thou wilt have the southern lands, and thou shalt seize upon the northern, and both crowns shall be set upon thy head.”’
The king, collecting a numerous army, advanced down the stream, and met with no opposition until he reached Memphis. Here he gained a victory, whereupon the ‘chiefs of the north’ entered their walled towns, so that there was no reaching their retreats. A pause ensued, neither party seeming willing to take further steps. However, the suspense ended by a voluntary surrender of the northern princes, who came to Memphis to offer their homage, and were gladly received and hospitably entertained. Being dismissed from the royal presence, they returned to their respective governments, and the ‘men of the north’ sailed up to the place where his majesty was, to offer gifts and tribute in token of fealty.
The power of the twenty-fifth or ‘Ethiopian’ dynasty was gradually increasing and consolidating itself; its supremacy was in the end recognised in some sort throughout the land, although in Lower Egypt it was always uncertain and precarious. The descendants of the ‘chiefs of the north’ never rendered more than a reluctant and sullen obedience to the rulers from the south. The successors of Piankhi, however, were not content to rule, as he had done, from their distant seat in Napata, but they set up their throne in the heart of Egypt itself, claiming and, as far as possible, exercising the rights of an over-lord.
Stormy times were close at hand, and a strong hand and a resolute will would be wanted at the helm. The Assyrian power, reviving from its deep depression, had gradually gained strength. Tiglath-Pileser ii. (744-726 b.c.) was the founder of the second Assyrian empire, destined to be for more than a century the scourge of every neighbouring nation, and the dread of those that were far off. The lesser states that had risen to power on the fall of the first Assyrian empire, instead of friendly alliance against a common foe, continued the policy of mutual rivalry and bitter antagonism—thus preparing the way for the conqueror’s feet. The two kingdoms into which the empire of Solomon had been split were at enmity with each other, and both were constantly at feud with the king of Syria. On the accession of the feeble Ahaz to the throne of Judah he was sore pressed by the assaults of the Edomites and Philistines, and panic-stricken by the news of a coalition formed by the kings of Syria and Israel to dethrone him and set up a creature of their own in his place. ‘At that time did Ahaz send to the kings of Assyria to help him.’ In an evil hour he declared himself the vassal of Tiglath-Pileser, and confiscated the treasures of the temple, as an offering to his new master. In swift response the Assyrian king advanced, took Damascus, carried its people away captive, and destroyed the power of Syria with a blow. With another fell swoop he desolated the Israelitish territory east of the Jordan, and carried into captivity the tribes who dwelt there. His successor, Shalmaneser, crossed the Jordan, and marching upon Samaria, reduced Hoshea, king of Israel, to vassalage. It was not long, however, before Hoshea threw off the Assyrian yoke, ceased to pay tribute, and sought the aid of Shebek (or Sabaco, the So of 2 Kings xvii. 4), who had succeeded Piankhi on the throne. But the forces sent by Shebek, or by some of the other princes of the north, were routed, and Hoshea carried prisoner to Assyria—‘cut off like foam upon the water.’ The siege of Samaria was begun, but Shalmaneser died soon after. It was his successor Sargon, who not only captured Ashdod, after defeating the Egypto-Ethiopian forces, who aided in its defence, but brought the siege of Samaria to a close 721 b.c., and carried the people of the land into captivity. Egypt, unable to afford any efficient help, seems to have become an asylum of some of the ‘outcasts of Israel.’[87]
Ahaz of Judah appears to have continued submissive and tributary to the end of his days, but his son Hezekiah inaugurated a nobler policy. He cast off the Assyrian yoke, and sought the alliance of Taharak (Tirhakah), king of Ethiopia and Egypt. Tirhakah, at the early age of twenty, began his troubled and eventful reign. Many years had to be spent in assuring his own sovereignty over the land he claimed to rule. That land was, as he must have known, the prize on which the Assyrian kings had ‘cast their eyes,’ but, whilst his grasp of the central power was so uncertain, inaction and delay appeared the safest policy—‘their strength was to sit still’ (Isa. xxx. 7.) The Delta being always in a state of disaffection and disunion, it was no easy task to undertake military enterprises beyond the borders—‘city’ being ever ready to ‘fight against city, and kingdom against kingdom’ (see Isa. xix. 2).
Meantime the rush of Assyrian invasion had swept over Palestine. Sargon had attacked Ashdod; Sennacherib directed his march upon Lachish; both lay on the road that led to Egypt, towards which country the Assyrians had been gradually creeping nearer and nearer across the ruins of conquered states.