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

264 COMPLETION OF THE TEMPLE AT ABYDOS cu. xn-

The spirit of the deceased king then appears from
the under world to answer the vows of Eamses. To
him, the son, be all good fortune, glory, health, and
joy, and whatever else a man could wish, but above
all what Eamses most coveted, a very long term of life,
to be measured by the thirt3r years' feast of jubilee.
What gives this inscription its special value in relation
to history may be stated in a few words. It is that
Seti I. was apparently buried first of all in Abydos,
where the soil, impregnated with salt, is favourable to
the preservation of the dead; and the jsosition of his
temple, dedicated to Osiris, quite agrees with this. His
body was probably removed afterwards to Thebes.

In the course of his long reign Eamses II. completed
the temple begun by his father at Abydos. He must
have been advanced in years when it was finished, since
not less than sixty sons and fifty-nine daughters greeted
in their effigies the entrance of the pilgrims at the
principal gate.

In proportion as the works executed under Seti I.
present splendid examples of Egyptian architecture and
sculpture, just so poor and inferior are the buildings
executed by Eamses II. The feeling also of gratitude
towards his parent seems to have gradually faded away,
as years increased upon him, to such a degree that he
did not even deem it wrong to chisel out the names and
memorials of his father in many places of the temple
walls, and to substitute his own.

In the fifth year of this king's reign a great war broke
out between Egypt and the Klieta, in which Eadesh was
the rallying-point. Besides the prince of the Kheta,
there were as his allies the kings and peoples of Arathu
(Aradus), Khilibu (Haleb), of the river-land of Naharain,
of Qazauadana (Gauzanitis—-Goshen), of Malunna, of
Eidasa (Pidasis), of Leka (the Ligyes), of the Dardani,