The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1898-08-27
PHARAOH.
Condition Of His Kingdom on His
Accession.

~Exypt II DesolateA and Abandensd to
lnvaston from All Lands" Was the
Piesaee He Drsw-Duudiag
Up His Power.
Prof. Flinders Petrie contributes an
account of his discovery OF q tablet
which gives the first historic account of
the oppression of the Children OF Israel.
Concerning the character of "Pharaoh
of the Hard Heart" Prof. Petrie writes
is follows: A melancholy prospect he
had seen as he grew up. His father had
been active in the earlier years of the
reign; but after about 90 years he
ceased all personal labor, and seems to
have sunk in his fatuous pride into a
mere despot, devoted to pcrpetuating
his efigies on the monuments, and his
family in the harem. The kingdom
went steadily into decay year after
year, and the old man became more in
lolent and more fatuous, while none of
his sons seems to have been allowed to
take up the reins and save the country.
Egypt is desolated, and abandoned to
invasion from all lands; the barbarians
overrun it's frontier, the revolters in
wade it daily, every country is pillaging
its cities, raiding its dwellings in the
fields and on the river. They abide and
settle there for days and months seat
I'd in the land; they reach the hills Of
middle Egypt. They search
for the corn land, seeking to fill their
bellies; they come to Egypt to find pro-
vision 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 down
the rule.of Syria from father to son un-
broken. The continuous record that
,ye have of Thothmes III. shows that
every year regularly he went through
Syria to receive tribute and maintain
his power. taking all the young princes
to be educated in Egypt before they
came to act as vassals in their own coun-
try. Until he was over 50 this annual
outing was kept up, and his children tc
the third and fourth generation re-
ceived this dominion in peaceful success
sion. But under Rameses all this sta
bility had vanished; n few raids which
lid not cover half the previous con.
quests of Syria, a treaty on equal terms
with the foe, and the boastful king sunk
into an inglorious lethargy, in which
even Egypt itself was largely given VI
to the foreigners.
And this decay was what had eaten
into the soul Of .Merenptah during al
his youth and vigor; until he was al
least 40 nothing could be done by him
IT was not until the old king had come
TO that condition which we can now sec
before our eyes in the Cairo museum
a withered mummy, which seems as il
still dwelt in and half alive with the
, spirit of insensate pride-it was not
until this evil genius of the land was IL
| his tomb that stroke could be strucls
| for the freedom of the country.
Then began careful preparation. Fol
four years Merenptah was consolidat
ing his power, with apparently one ex
redition 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 moi
do more than secure the principal for
tresses near the coast, and command
the corn districts of Philistia and Es
]raelon, which were cultivated by thu
people of Israel, among others. 1t j:
l va
going on, strengthening the resistance
of the country, by 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, tn
great god Of Memphis, appeared to him
| and warned him to be ready fortnigh
| hence. This is doubtless priestly wa,
| of putting some warnings from spie
4 or travellers who reported the prepara
tons in progress. Then, early in April
the great tempest of foreign invasion
burst in from the west. just when al
the harvests were gathered in. th'
fields stripped bare, the whole Ian
naked and open, and canals dried up
in short, just when the greatest facili
ties existed for invasion. and the ful
rranarics tempted the desert peoples
The warning had not been in vain. Mer
enptah was prepared, and attacked tn
assembled host with his cavalry; tn
| gods fought with them, and for on
long afternoon, from midday till darl
they slew, and slew, and slew, for 81
hours Strengthening the titude. Th
defeat was utter, The king. Maury
son of Dad, escaped, thanks to the dark
ness; but he did not even secure hors
or provisions, and fled from the fight O
foot, completely terrified. His wive
and his rich equipage, his silver an
gold and bronze vessels, the ornament
OF his wife, his thrones. his bows, hi
weapons, and all that he had were
prey to the Egyptians. Some 1900
bodies lay on the field OF battle. an
5000 prisoners were taken.---Century.
| An EMHffCA VIEW