Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Beato.
One of the latter, a man of Semite origin, named Ben-Azana, of Zor-bisana, who had assumed the appellation of his first patron, ramsesûpirnirî, appears to have acted for him as regent. Mînephtah was succeeded, apparently, by one of his sons, called Seti, after his great-grandfather.* Seti II. had doubtless reached middle age at the time of his accession, but his portraits represent him, nevertheless, with the face and figure of a young man.** The expression in these is gentle, refined, haughty, and somewhat melancholic. MU It is the type of Seti I. and Ramses II., but enfeebled and, as it were, saddened. An inscription of his second year attributes to him victories in Asia,*** but others of the same period indicate the existence of disturbances similar to those which had troubled the last years of his father.
* E. de Rougé introduced Amenmeses and Siphtah between
Mînephtah and Seti II., and I had up to the present followed
his example; I have come back to the position of Chabas,
making Seti II. the immediate successor of Mînephtah, which
is also the view of Brugsch, Wiedemann, and Ed. Meyer. The
succession as it is now given does not seem to me to be free
from difficulties; the solution generally adopted has only
the merit of being preferable to that of E. de Rougé, which
I previously supported.
** The last date known of his reign is the year II. which is
found at Silsilis; Chabas was, nevertheless, of the opinion
that he reigned a considerable time.
*** The expressions employed in this document do not vary
much from the usual protocol of all kings of this period.
The triumphal chant of Seti II. preserved in the Anastasi
Papyrus IV. is a copy of the triumphal chant of Mînephtah,
which is in the same Papyrus.
Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph.
These were occasioned by a certain Aiari, who was high priest of Phtah, and who had usurped titles belonged ordinarily to the Pharaoh or his eldest son, in the house of Sibû, “heir and hereditary prince of the two lands.” Seti died, it would seem, without having had time to finish his tomb. We do not know whether he left any legitimate children, but two sovereigns succeeded him who were not directly connected with him, but were probably the grandsons of the Amenmesis and the Siphtah, whom we meet with among the children of Ramses. The first of these was also called Amenmesis,* and he held sway for several years over the whole of Egypt, and over its foreign possessions.
* Graffiti of this sovereign have been found at the second
cataract. Certain expressions have induced E. de Rougé to
believe that he, as well as Siphtah, came originally from
Khibît in the Aphroditopolite nome. This was an allusion, as
Chabas had seen, to the myth of Horus, similar to that
relating to Thûtmosis III., and which we more usually meet
with in the cases of those kings who were not marked out
from their birth onwards for the throne.