The journal. (Caldwell, Ohio) 1934-1961, 1953-12-31
OUR HISTORY
IN REVIEW
BY
ELLIS MURREY
The decline Of the Egyptian
Empire n

Toward the end of his reign,
Ameuhotep III didn't giYe his
conquered dominions the atten-
ton they needed in order to hold
them under control. The vassal
kings grew less fearful of Amen
hotep III and revolts and in
vasionS were the outcome. The
Hittite king in the north raided
Mitanni and northern Syria, but
this invasion was repulsed.
In 1875 B. e. Amenhotep III
died and he was succeeded by
Amenhotep w who didn't have
the courage and ability as his
predecessor and he changed the
religion from the worship of
many gods to the worship of one
god who he called Atom. Amen
hotep III changed his name to
Ikhnaton and moved the capital
of Egypt from Thebes to Akheta-
ton which was about two hun
dred miles north of Thebes on
the eastern bank Of the Nile.
While Amenhotep w was so
busy with his religious and social
reforms the Asiatic empire,
which has been captured by the
preceding kings, had ceased to
exist and all of Egypt was now
in state of chaos.
An Egyptian vassal by the
name of Aziru conquered most
Of Syria and Phoenicia. The loyal
princes of the once conquered
Egyptian dominions sent appeals
to the Egyptian king for help but
no help come. Another conquer
or, who was a Hittite by the
name Of Shubbiluliuma, over
run the northern lands of Egypt
which the Amorite AZiru had
conquered making Aziru vassal
of the Hittites. The Hittites now
controlled a vast empire south
to the Taurus Mountains. Amen
hotep w died leaving a large
portion of his empire conquered
by the Hittite tribe.
During the reign of Amen
hotep w a general by the name
of Harmhab had been rising to
power. He seized the throne and
founded the Nineteenth Dynasty
which dates from 1850 to 1915
B. G. Harmhad saw that it was
useless to try and reconquer
Syria and he made peace with
the Hittites.
The next two kings after
Harmhab were Rames 1 and
Seti l who ruled from 1915 to
1892 B. c. The king who ruled
after Seti | was Rames II who
made war against the Hittites
and tried to restore the Egyptian
Empire as it was under Thut-
NOSE III.
Rames II fought the Hittites
for sixteen years and the only
gain he had made was Palestine
and southern Syria. A treaty
was signed by Rames III with the
Hittite king, whose name was
Hattushil, in the year 1872 B. c..
Rames II ruled for forty-seven
years after the treaty with the
Hittites. Rames II surpassed
Amenhotep III in building tenn
pies and every city of Egypt was
furnished temple.
Two of the outstanding
temples were the colonnade hall
at Karnak and the mortuary
temple in western Thebes. After
Rames II death, his son, Mernep-
tab succeeded him. Merneptah
struggled against the Libyans,
the Northerns and the rebellious
Asiatic tribes and the Nineteen
tn Dynasty ended with civil
war. During the Twentieth
Dynasty some order was re-
established by Rames III, but in
the twenty-First Dynasty dis
order, disunion and foreign in
vasion continued and the last
creativity in Egyptian history
had ceased The Egyptians later
taught the Greeks the rudiments
Of many manual arts but Egypt's
leadership in the civilization of
the world had ended.
Next topic: Syria, Phoenicia,
and Palestine.