80 



indeed Rameses tlie Second. But^ as to the mummy-case, 

 it was a new one supplied by a Pharaoli whose history is 

 one of great interest. He was of the XXIst Dynasty, the 

 celebrated founder of that line. A very talented lady learned 

 in Egyptology, Miss Edwards, suggested that the face found 

 on Rameses's mummy-case was that of this King Herhor. I 

 put in juxtaposition the delicate, refined profile of the Priest- 

 king Herhor fi'om Rosellini, with a photograph of the face on 

 the coffin of Rameses II., and I think any one will say that the 

 profile goes along with the full face of the former. If that 

 be so, it gives a very interesting portrait in the first style of 

 Egyptian carving, of King Herhor, the founder of the XXIst 

 Dynasty, of the Priest-kings of Thebes. 



But with Rameses was not his son Mereuptah, the Pharaoh 

 of the Exodus. Whatsoever the manner of his death at an 

 advanced age, he was not found with his fathers. 



Some interesting points bearing on the Biblical history of 

 this great time may be mentioned here. 



Merenptah was the thirteenth son of Rameses. 



Kha-em-uas, an elder son of his royal mother Isi-nefert, 

 had been co-regent with his father, but had died during his 

 lifetime, on which Merenptah was exalted to his late brother's 

 place. Kha-em-uas was a religious devotee, and chose to 

 be buried in an Apis-sepulchre where Mariette found his 

 remains. 



A similar cast of character marked Merenptah, of whom 

 M. Lenormant writes {Hist., ii. 281), ''^he was neither a soldier 

 nor an administrator, but a spirit turned almost exclusively 

 towards the chimjsras of theurgy and magic, resembling in 

 this respect his brother Kha-em-uas. When the book of 

 Exodus makes him reside in Lower Egypt, a little way from 

 the land of Goshen, it speaks with the most precise historic 

 truth, for this prince dwelt almost constantly at Memphis or 

 Tanis. And the Biblical book is not less exact when it depicts 

 him surrounded by magician-priests.'" 



The monuments agree with the Bible in showing that 

 Merenptah lost a son, of his own name, co-regent with him- 

 self, and presumably his eldest son. This is testified by an 

 inscription on a statue of Usertesen I. at Berlin (Ebers, Durc/i 

 Gosen, &o., 90, 541). 



When we remember the exalted rank of the Hebrew Moses, 

 and the previous greatness of Joseph, it is most interesting to 

 find such a record as Mariette has described in his Catalogue 

 of Ahijdos (p. 421). Some sepulchral inscriptions show that 

 Merenptah had a Prime Minister bearing the true Egyptian 

 nanies Rameses-em-pi-Ru Meri-An, who was nevertheless an 



