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

388 RISE OF THE ETHIOPIAN POWER oh. xvi.

It is difficult to say who it was of the race of
Her-Hor that first made preparations for the foundation
of that Ethiopian kingdom which became afterwards so
dangerous to the Egyptians. The Ethiopian monu-
ments, from which the cartouches have been carefully
erased by a later Egyptian dynasty, give not the
slightest information on this point. So much the more
important, therefore, is the circumstance, that several
successors of this priest—among whom was the son and
successor of Her-Hor—bore the same name, namely,
that of the priest-king Piankhi, an Egyptian word,
which signifies ' the living one.' The sovereign en-
throned at Napata, ' the City of the Holy Mountain,'
called himself ' King of the land of Cush.' The Theban
Amen-Ea was reverenced as the supreme god of the
country. The king's full name was formed exactly
according to the Egyptian pattern. The Egyptian
language and writing, divisions of time, and everything
else relating to manners and customs were preserved.
A distinguished position was assigned to the mother,
daughters, and sisters of the king; each of whom bore
the title of ' Queen of Cush.'

In the course of time the power of the Ethiopians-
increased, until at last the whole of Patoris came into
their possession, and the ' great city' of Maa, that is,
Thebes, became their capital. While the Assyrians
regarded Lower Egypt—the Muzur so often men-
tioned in the cuneiform inscriptions—as their permanent
fief, the districts of Patoris were virtually an Ethiopian
province. Middle Egypt formed a ' march,' contested
on both sides between the two kingdoms, and at the
same time a barrier which tended to hinder the out-
break of open hostilities between the one and the
other.

Thus the old priestly race succeeded in again ac-