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

172 OCCUPATION OF THE FOREIGN CAPTIVES oh. Tin.

render the tone ■which pervades the songs of antiquity.
A Homer remains Homer only in his Greek garb.

The foregoing epic by the unknown Theban poet,
the similar pasans in honour of the kings Eamses II.
and III., the heroic song of the poet Pentaur on the
great deeds of Eamses H., during his campaign against
the king of Kadesh and his allies, will remain for all
times unrivalled specimens of the old Egyptian lan-
guage in its highest vigour. Only one of these songs,
the poem of the priest Pentaur, has as yet undergone
an examination worthy of its contents, through the
exhaustive researches of the late Yiscount E. de Eouge.

The victories of Tehuti-mes III., who during his
numerous campaigns brought the countries and cities
of Western Asia into his power, to whom were subject
Libya and the people of Nubia and Ethiopia, as far as
the promontory now called Guardafui, opposite to the
south coast of Arabia, had brought to Egypt number-
less prisoners of every race, who found their occupa-
tion in the public works. It was principally on the
great imperial edifices, and among these the temple of
Amen, that they were forced to labour, under the super-
intendence of the overseers (Rois), who had to carry
out the orders and directions of the king's chief archi-
tect. In those days a certain Puam (his name, ' one
who has his mouth full of food,' is of Semitic origin)
was invested with this high office.

Fate has preserved, on the walls of a sepulchral
chamber in the hill of Abd-el-Gurnah, in the region of
the melancholy ' land of the coffin-hill' (Du-neb-ankh),
a representation in which the artist has portrayed in
lively colours the industry of the prisoners. Far more
convincingly than the explanations, written by the side,
do these curious drawings themselves enable us to
realise the hard work of the unfortunate prisoners.