The record-union., 1896-12-06
LIGHT ON PHARAOH.
Condition Of His Kingdom Was Most
DoSolate.
A Great Battle in Which 1000 PriS-
Oners Were Taken-Utter De.
feat for Maury.

to the century Tor august an ac-
count Of his discovery of tablet which
gives the first historic account of the
| oppression of the children of lsrae..
Concerning the character Of Pharaoh
Of the Hard Heart Professor Petrie
writes as follows: A melancholy pros
pect he had seen as. he grew up. His
father had been active in the earlier
years of the reign; after about twen-
| ty years he ceased all personal labor
and seems to have sunk In his fatuOus
pride into mere despot, devoted TO
| perpetuating his effigies on the monu
ments and his family in the harem. The
kingdom went steadily into decay year
after year, and the old man became
more indolent and more fatuOus, while
none of his sons seems to have been al
| lowed to take up the reinS and save the
country. Egypt is desolated and aban-
doned to invasion from all lands; the
barbarians OverrGn it's frontier the re-
VOTERS invade it daily, every country
is pillaging it's cities, raiding its dwell
ings in the fields and on the river. They
abide and settle there for days and
months, seated in the land; they reach
the hills of middle Egypt
3
to fill their bellies, they come to Egypt
to find provision for their mouths"
Such is the melancholy picture drawn
by Merenptah of the state of the coun-
try on his accession-a striking con-
trast to the work of the really great
Kings of Egypt, of the Amenhotep and
Thothmes line, who had handed on the
rule Of Syria from father to son unbro-
ken. The continuous record that we
have of Thothmes Ill shows that every
year regularly he went through Syria
to receive tribute and maintain his
power, taking all the young Princesses
to be educated in Egypt before they
came to act as vasSals in their own
country Until he was over 80 this an
nual outing was kept up and his chill
dren to the third and fourth genera
ton received this dominion in peaceful
succession. But under Rameses all this
stability had vanished; a few raids
which did not cover half the previous
conquests of Syria, treaty on equal
terms with the foe and the boastful
King sunk into an inglorious lethargy,
In which even Egypt itself was largely
given up to the foreigners.
And this decay was what had eaten
into the soul of Merenptah during all
his youth and vigor; until he was at
least 40 nothing could be done by him.
1t was not until the old King had come
to that condition which we can now
see before our eyes in the Cairo Mu-
seum-a withered mummy, which seems
as if still dwelt in and half alive with
the spirit of insensate pride-it was
not until the evil genius of the land
was in his tomb that a stroke could be
struck for the freedom of the country.
Then began careful preparation. For
four years Merenptah was consolidat-
ing his power with apparently one ex-
pedition to Syria. up the coast to the
plain Of Esdraelon and Tyre; this re-
conquest we have learned Of only since
finding the new tablet. But it did not
do more than secure the principal for
tresses near the coast and command the
corn districts Of Philistia and Esdrae-
lon, which were cultivated by the peo-
pie of Israel, among others. 1t is evil
dent that reorganization had been GO
ing on, strengthening the resistance of
the country to the vigor with which
the great Libyan invasion was repelled
after the country had been long sub.
mitting to minor attacks.
At the end of March, in his fifth year,
Merenptah had a dream Ptah, the
great god of Memphis, appeared to him
and warned him to be ready a fortnight
hence. This is, doubtless, priestly
way of putting some warnings from
spies and travellers who reported the
preparations in progress. Then, early
in April, the great tempest of foreign
invasion burst in from the west, COM
ing just when all the harvests were
gathered in, the fields stripped bare,
the whole land naked and open AMI
canals dried up; in short just when the
greatest facilities existed for invasion
and the full granaries tempted the des-
ert peoples.
The warning had not been in vain.
Merenptah was prepared and attacked
| the assembled host with his cavalry;
| the gods fought with them and for one
| long afternoon from midday till dark
| they slew and slew and slew, for six
hours slaughtering the multitude. The
defeat was utter. The King. Maury,
son of Dad. escaped, thanks to the
| darkness; but he did not even secure a
| horse or provisions and fled from the
| fight on foot, completely terrified. His
wives and his rich equipage, his silver
and gold and bronze vessels, the orna-
ments of his wife, his thrones, his bows,
| his weapons and ali that he had We're
a prey to the Egyptians. Some 10000
| bodies lay on the field of battle and
1900 prisoners were taken.
|