30 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 



" years saw new expeditions, and Egyptian armies marching through 

 " the length of Syria against the hereditary foe." 



When Thothmes III. died 1566 B. C, the Hittites are still a 

 powerful people, able to force their rivals to respect them. 

 Brugsch says, " Their importance grew from "year to year in such 

 " a way, that even the Egyptian inscriptions do not hesitate to 

 " mention the names of the Kings of the Rheta in a conspicuous 

 "manner, and to speak of their gods with reverence." About 

 half a century after Thothmes' death Rameses I. and Saphel, the 

 Hittite King, entered into an agreement to live at peace, and to de- 

 fend each other from the attacks of outside parties. This treaty led 

 to a breathing time in the long wars waged between Egypt and the 

 Hittites — led the two peoples to respect each others rights and in- 

 terests. 



But the coronation of Seti I. changed the face of Egyptian 

 affairs, renewed the war spirit, and created in the breasts of his sub- 

 jects the desire for conquest and plunder. Nor was it without cause 

 that Egypt girt on arms and went out to the battle plain; for "the 

 " Bedawin and the Syrians had again begun with impunity to make 

 "incursions over the Egyptian border." Seti I. assembled a large 

 army with numerous chariots, and drove back the invaders from 

 his frontiers, and in his two horse chariot he led his army in pursuit 

 of them as far as the fortress Kanaan, which he stormed. Thence 

 he pursued the retreating foe to Samnia in Phoenicia, where he over- 

 threw, with great slaughter, the kings of the land of Phoenicia. 

 Having humbled the tribes daring to make incursions into Egypt, 

 Seti, without a hint, attacked the Hittites in their stronghold Kadesh, 

 and took it by surprise, while the inhabitants were in the fields en- 

 gaged in their peaceful pursuits as honest husbandmen. This Seti 

 did as the avenger of broken treaties. It is more than likely that the 

 inhabitants of Kadesh had assisted the enemies of Egypt, and that 

 this was Seti's idea of teaching them a needed lesson. The scene of 

 battle is represented on the north side of the famous temple of 

 Karnak, and in the representation you can see the Hittites, prince 

 and peasant, slain and lying on the ground before Seti and his tri- 

 umphant hosts. 



Rameses II., the son of Seti, figures prominently in history. 

 He is likely the Pharaoh who oppressed the Children of Israel — 

 likely the Sosestris of the ancient Greeks. During his reign the 



