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

DYN. XIX.

TRIUMPHAL RETURN OF SETI I.

247

The king, it appears, had made known certain
wishes, for an Egyptian scribe assures him, ' All shall be
accomplished as thou hast said.' They related to the
felling of cedars in the wooded mountain region of
Lebanon for the building of a new Nile ship, to be used
m the service of Amen and for the fabrication of those
tall masts which adorned the front of the temple gate-
towers. Iu the lively representation still preserved the
^anaanites are seen employed in felling the highest and
straightest trees. With this the deeds of Seti, in the
-East, had reached their conclusion.

He had smitten the wandering peoples (An), and struck to
the ground the agricultural peoples (Menti), and had placed his
boundaries at the beginning of the -world, and at the utmost
"orders of the river-land of Naharain . . . which the great sea
encircles.

His return took the form of a specially festive
triumphal procession. Laden with booty from the land
of Euthen, with silver and gold, with blue, green, red,
and other precious stones, accompanied by numerous
captives from lands, which he had again subjected to the
supremacy of Egypt, Seti reached his home by the same
road which had led him from Egypt into the foreign
countries. At the frontier, near Khetam, the priests
and great men of the land waited to meet him with
gifts of flowers.

The priests, the great ones, and the most distinguished men of
South and North Egypt have arrived to praise the divine benefactor
on his return from the land of Ruthen, accompanied by an im-
mensely rich booty, such as never had happened since the time of
the Sun-god Ra. They speak thus in praise of the king and in
glorification of his fame :

' Thou hast returned home from the foreign countries which thou
hast overcome. Thou hast triumphed over thy enemies which are
subjected to thee. May the duration of thy life as king be as long
as the sun in heaven ! Thou hast quenched thy wrath upon the
nine foreign nations. The Sun-god himself has established thy