Brugsch, Heinrich: Egypt under the pharaohs: a history derived entirely from the monuments (London, 1891)

dxn. xv.-xvn. APEPI'S MESSAGE TO SEQEXEN-RA 111

The messenger of Apepi, thus addressed, first an-
swered the governor in these simple words : ' It is King
Apepi who sends to thee,' and thereupon he delivered
his message, the purport of which was very disquieting
and related to the stopping of a canal.

(6) And the governor of the city in the South country was for
a long time troubled, so that he could not (7) answer the messenger
of King Apepi.

After the foreign messenger had been hospitably
entertained, Seqenen-Ba nerved himself to reply. The
messenger then returned to Apepi, and Seqenen-Ba
called

his great and chief men, likewise the captains and generals who
accompanied him, (2) in order [to communicate] to them all the
messages which King Apepi had sent to him. But they were silent
all of them (lit. all with one mouth) through great grief, and wist
not what to answer him good or bad.

Although the narrative is frequently interrupted by
holes, owing to the splitting of the papj^rus, sometimes
in the most important passages, that which remains is
quite sufficient to make clear the persons, the scenes,
and the subject of the historical drama. Apepi is the
chief hero ; his residence is at Avails ; he worships his
own divinity, Sutekh ; the Egyptian form of the Semitic
Baal-Zapuna, the Baal-Zephon of Holy Scripture. He
builds a splendid temple to his god, and he appoints
festivals and offerings to him.

At No, the city of the South, that is, at Thebes,
there resides a scion of the oppressed Pharaohs,
Seqenen-Ba, who is invested with the title of a Haq, or
petty king.

Apepi is the all-powerful lord. Among his cour-
tiers are some who bear the title of Rekhi-khet, that is,
' temple-scribes.' These give the king bad counsel,
for they induce him to send a messenger to the petty