42 THE WISDOM OF OLD EGYPT 



and Canaanites over the Egyptian border. They 

 ruled Egypt about two centuries, and then the normal 

 development of the civilization was resumed. 



Again we need not follow the story in detail ; but 

 there was a remarkable development in the fourteenth 

 century that we must notice. After the expulsion of 

 the Hyksos the country grew more wealthy and 

 powerful than ever. The royal armies went far and 

 wide over the world, and commerce " followed the 

 flag," as is said in modern times. The period is 

 compared to the age of Louis XIV of France, one of 

 the most brilliant periods in the history of France. 

 We shall see presently that this beginning of Egyp- 

 tian imperialism on a large scale was also the 

 beginning of an element of decay ; but at the time, as 

 is usual, men saw only a splendour and artistic 

 richness that concealed the seeds of disease which 

 were silently dropped into the soil. 



At this time, shortly before 1,400 B.C., the king 

 was Amenhetep III. His wife, Qeen Tii, seems to 

 have been the Elizabeth or Catherine of the Egyptian 

 line, and the strength of her intellect and character 

 led to a curious development. She was partly of 

 foreign extraction, and she seems to have resented 

 the stupid-looking idols of animal-headed deities 

 which disfigured the civilization. Powerful as she 

 was, she could not alter this ; but she gave such 

 education to her son Amenhetep IV that he tried to 

 suppress polytheism altogether. He was a quiet 

 scholar and artist, yet he braved the rival priest- 

 hoods, and decreed that one god only, " the Lord of 

 the Disk," should henceforward be worshipped in 

 Egypt. The solar disk was to him, of course, only 

 an emblem of the deity. The religion he tried to 



