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

364

CHAPTEE XV.

DYNASTIES XXI.-XXIV.'

THE PEIEST HER-HOR AND HIS SUCCESSORS.
1100-966 CIR. B.C.

' The king of Upper and Lower Egypt, the chief priest
• of Amen, Se-Amen (Son of Amen) Her-iior ':—

Thus did the ambitious priest of Amen, the head of
the Theban clergy, style himself officially, when he took
possession of the Thebai'd. Ea-messu XIIL had, before
his own fall, honoured the first servant of the god
Amen in a distinguished manner, inasmuch as he had
entrusted him with the most important offices of the
government. Her-Hor calls himself on the monuments
an ' hereditary prince, the fan-bearer on the right of
the king, King's son of Cush, chief architect of the
king, chief general of the army in Upper and Lower
Egypt, administrator of the granaries,' as Joseph was
■of old at the court of Pharaoh. Such high dignities,
which in the course of time were held by one and the
same person, either together or in succession, must
have essentially facilitated his project of overthrowing
the sovereign. His position as the chief priest of
Amen secured to Her-Hor no inconsiderable following
among the most powerful of all the priestly societies
in the whole country. As in Upper Egypt it was the
inhabitants of the Theban nome and the priests of
Amen who took part with the new king, so, on the

' For Table of Kings see pp. xxv.-vi.