APPENDIX III. 481 



XIX. Dynasti/ : Theban. 

 M. 1462, B. 1400. 



Eamses I. (Eameses). M. 1462, B. 1400. 



Sethi or Meeptah I. (Sethos), a warlike prince who overran a large part of Western 

 Asia, and constructed the first canal between the Red Sea and the Eiver 

 Nile. Numerous monuments dating from his reign still exist at Karnak, 

 Kurneh, Abydos, and other places, while of all the royal tombs on the 

 left bank of the river at Thebes that of Sethi is in every respect the most 

 remarkable. B. 1366. 



Ramses II., surnamed the Great, the Sesostris of whom so many fabulous events are 

 related by the Greek historians. His triumphs are recorded not only on 

 innumerable monuments in Egypt itself, but also on others raised by him 

 in the countries which he overran. Such is the rock tablet at the mouth 

 of the Nahr-el-Kelb, near Beyrut, in Syria. During his reign of sixty- 

 seven years he erected many famous buildings in Egypt, besides appro- 

 priating some of those built by his predecessors, which now bear his 

 cartouche. B. 1333. 



The true character of Ramses II. is revealed in the numerous native 

 documents of all kinds wliich survive from this period. Instead of 

 extending the limits of the empire consolidated by Thothmes III., he 

 scarcely succeeded in keeping it together. During his reign the colossal 

 power built up by the sovereigns of the eighteenth dynasty everywhere 

 shows symptoms of approaching decay. South, north, and west all the 

 nations reduced by the Thothmes and Amenhoteps break out in open revolt 

 against their Egyptian masters. Nubia is agitated, and the waRs of the 

 temples are covered with representations of the many victories gained by 

 the viceroys of Ethiopia over the rebels in this region. At the same time 

 the northern provinces are threatened and sometimes hard pressed by the 

 nomad Libyans from the west, and by other strangers with "blue eyes 

 and light hair " descending on the African continent from the islands of 

 the Mediterranean. The reaction against Egyptian supremacy also 

 spreads to Asia, where the warlike Hittites, who fight with chariots, form 

 with many other nations a formidable alliance against Ramses. After 

 eighteen years of incessant warfare Ramses is compelled to make a treaty 

 with the allies, leaving them in possession of all their territories. The 

 terms of the treaty, which is stiU extant, appear to be much more 

 favourable to the Hittites than to the Egyptian monarch. 



The more his history becomes unravelled the less the king shows him- 

 self worthy of the surname of "Great" given to him by the early 

 interpreters of the Egyptian records. Enough is already known of his 

 career to justify the conclusion of Lenormant that he was a commonplace 

 individuality, an unbridled despot devoured by an overvaulting ambition, 

 and carrying his vanity so far as, wherever possible, to efface from the 

 monuments the names of their builders and substitute his own. 



During his whole reign he lived on the reputation gained by an exploit 

 performed when about twenty years old. Towards the close of the Hittite 

 wars, having fallen into an ambush, he succeeded in rescuing himself and 

 his escort by cutting his way through the ranks of the enemy. This 

 skirmish reappears continually in all the large battle-pieces sculptured on 

 the buildings erected by him. It also forms the subject of a poem, 

 which is the only specimen of Egyptian epic poetry that has survived to 

 our times. 



31— AF. 



