♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Sk 



told by the rudely chipped implements found at our very 

 door in this place (Southampton), forms a part of the wider 

 story of the first appearance of man, and of his distribu- 

 tion on the earth. 



WAS K AMESES II. THE PHARAOH 

 OF THE OPPRESSION? 



By Miss Amelia B. Edwards. 



Vni.-C(.iNIMTIOXS OF PLACE AND n.VTE. 

 \ I'lIETHER the mounds of Telel-Maskhuta* do, or 

 W do not, cover the ruins of the city of " Raarases " 

 is a question which can, perhaps, only be placed beyond 

 dispute by the spade of the excavator ; but, pending that 

 linal test (which I trust is not far distant), the evidence 

 in its favour is undoubtedly very much stronger than any 

 which can be adduced in favour of the other sites before 

 mentioned. And, strong as it is, I scarcely think that 

 ever)- point in that evidence — unless very cursorily by 

 myself,+ more than two years ago — has yet been fairly 

 stated. 



Before proceeding to e.vamine that evidence, however, 

 it will be well first to note the conditions which have to 

 be fultilled by any sites claiming to represent the "treasure- 

 cities " of the Bible, and then to see how far these con- 

 ditions agree with the sites advocated by llerr Brugscli, 

 3L Chabas, and others ; namely, Tanis, Pelusium, Helio- 

 polis, Babloon, and Toossoom. 



1. We have to look for two "treasure-cities," or 

 Bekhennu, dating from the reign of Rameses II. ; nev 

 cities, lie it observed, " built for Pharaoh," like so many 

 others during that reign. 



2. We have to look for them (for the reasons already 

 stated) in the land of Goshen ; a district also known at 

 and after the time of Moses as " the land of Rameses." 



■'?. Being twin-cities, the one sacred to Tum, the other 

 sacred to Ra (in the divine person of Rameses), with, as 

 it were, an interdependent worship, we may reasonably 

 e.xp<^t to find them somewhat near together. 



Now, as regards the first condition, that of newness : 



Tanis (Zoan), which Brugsch absolutely identifies with 

 Raamtes, must lie at once rejected ; for the sanctuary of the 

 Grr^at Temple was as old a.s the e.xcessively remote period 

 of the Vlth dynasty ; besides which, the mounds of Zoan 

 are to this day strewn with remains dating from the Xllth 

 and Xlllth dynastie.s, and with remains of the Hykshos 

 perio<l, all many cent'iries earlier than Rame.se8 II. 

 Furtlierraore we have the authority of the Bible (Numbers 

 xiiL, 22) for the fact that " Hebron was built seven years 

 before Zoan in Egypt;" Hebron being a place as old as the 

 times of Abraham. Of Pelusium we cannot speak posi- 

 tively, for the original Egyptian name and early history 

 of this city are unknown ; but Heliopolis was certainly 

 older than Rameses II. by something like sixteen hundred 



• It no hdpf^nii lliBt Ihn valloy in which tho Britidh (roops 

 «rc now fnc<km|X'<) Id-twcon Inmniliiih nnfl Zn(;aziff in tho prcciHo 

 ■ocnoof our pr<».nt incjuiry; aiirj it wa« on Tol-ol-Maskhuta, <1.'- 

 •cribo<I by Tlie 7imM c'rr<n|K.n.lont m "a remarkable nioiind of 

 con«idcrable h«i(rht an<l (rn-at nizc," that Kir Garnet WolHelpj 

 pUnlffrl bi« email Utt-ry daring the enicauompnt r.f AnffiiKt 2-1 

 (8w The Time; AnKniit iiS). TolK.|-K,.l,ir, whrrc Ambiii forcpg nro 

 entrrnchtd, ha», by >omo K(fypt<,lo(ciiitii, Ik-od proponed ax tho 

 poMiblc mte of I'lthom ; bot, sa will hereafter be »hown, another 

 moaoH, locally known u Tel A boo Kooleyman, ha« more evidence 

 in iu f»Tonr— A. B. E. 



t fV.. my letter on "The Sit« of Haamgen," The Arademy, April 



years. The great temple of Heliopolis wa.", at all events, 

 founded by Usertesen 1., second Pharaoh of tho Xllth 

 dynasty. Babloon, a stout old fortress of the Roman 

 period, built in genuine Roman fashion in courses of thin 

 red bricks, is just as much too modern as Heliopolis is too 

 old ; and Toossoom, which consists of a few unimportant 

 remains on a sandy height at the S.E. extremity of Lake 

 Timsah, going from Ismailiah to Suez by the canal, is alto- 

 gether inadmissible. 



Our second condition is that Pa-Ranicses and Pa-Tum 

 shall be situate in the Land of Goshen. Again, therefore, 

 I'anis must be rejected ; for Tanis, the capital of tho pro- 

 vince known to the Greeks as tho Nome Tanitis (of which 

 tho Egyptian name was Khent-Abot) is certainly not in 

 the Land of Goshen. Neither is Heracleopolis Parva, 

 which Brugsch identifies with Pa-Tum (Pithom), and which 

 is represented by a mound close upon the marshy shores of 

 Lake Menzaleh, in a district of which the ancient pro- 

 vincial classification is unknown. Herr Brugsch, according 

 to a proposed derivation which we will presently examine, 

 believes this part of tho sea-board of the Delta to form part 

 of the ancient Sethroitio Nome; but the position of the 

 Sethroitic Nome has yet to be determined. Pelusium, 

 which M. Chabas identifies with " Raamsts," and Etham, 

 which he identifies with " Pithom," are neither of them in 

 the Land of Goshen, but lie oil' upon the coasts near the 

 Pelusiac mouth of the Nile, in that same district which 

 Brugsch ascribes to the Sethroitic Nome. And as for 

 Heliopolis, the capital of tho Heliopolitan Nome, and 

 Babloon, tho Roman fortress already mentioned, so far 

 from being situate in the Land of Goshen, tho ono is but 

 five miles from Cairo, and the other is a part of Cairo, or 

 rather of ancient Fostat, just outside Cairo. 



Lastly, we may expect to find "Raanises" and "Pithom" 

 not very far apart. Pelusium and Etham, 'Janis, and the 

 mound by Lake Menzaleh, are within a moderate distance of 

 each other, and so fairly meet the requirements of the case. 

 But Heliopolis and the rest stand alone ; and even those 

 who recognise Pa-Rameses in one or another of them, have 

 no neighbouring mounds to propose fcr the companion site 

 of Pa-Tum. 



To sum up : — Pa-Rameses was a " treasure city " 

 founded by Rameses 1 1, in the land of Goshen. Neither 

 Tanis, Heliopolis, nor I'.abloon were either founded by 

 Rameses 11. or situate in the land of Goslien. Of the 

 found.ition of Pelusiniii, and of its Egyptian name, we are 

 ignorant ; but it was not situate in the Land of Goshen. 

 Of Toossoom we know nothing, save the insignificance of 

 its remains, the improbability of its position, and the fact 

 that it was in tl'e Arabian Desert, and not in the Land of 

 Goshen. 



{To be continued.) 



THE SEAT OF WAR IN EGYPT. 



I!v MisH A,Mi:i,iA B. Edwards. 



IN a h'tter to the Tiwm, Miss Edwards remarks on the 

 biblical and archieological interest which attaches to 

 the valley through which the British forces are now fight- 

 ing their way from Ismailiah to Zagazig : — 



" The Freshwater Canal by which this valley is traversed 

 follows the course, and in some places flows in the actual 

 bed, of a canal constructed by Seti I., second Pharaoh of 

 the XlXth JJynasty ; which Canal, starting like the present 

 work from the marsh lands near Bubastis (the modem 

 Zagazig), was carried during tho lifetime of Seti as far as 

 the sheet of water now known as Ijike 'J'iiiii-.ah. After his 



