DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4393#0264
246 A THOUSAND MILES UP THE NILE.
As regards Pa-Rameses, the other "treasure-city" of
Exodus, it is conjeeturally, but nob positively, identified
by M. ISTaville with the mound of Saft-el-llenneh, the
scene of his explorations in 1886. That Saft-el-IIenneh
was identical with "Kes," or Goshen, the capital town of
the "Land of Goshen," has been unequivocally demon-
strated by the discoverer ; and that it was also known in
the time of Rameses II as " Pa-Barneses" is shown to be
highly probable.* There are remains of a temple built of
black basalt, with pillars, fragments of statues and the like,
all inscribed with the cartouches of Rameses II; and the
distance from Pithom is just twenty Roman miles.
It was from Pa-Rameses that Rameses II set out with his
army to attack the confederate princes of Asia Minor then
lying in ambush near Kadesh ; f and it was hither that
he returned in triumph after the great victory. A con-
temporary letter written by one Panbesa, a scribe, narrates
in glowing terms the beauty and abundance of the royal
city, and tells how the damsels stood at their doors in holi-
day apparel, with nosegays in their hands and sweet oil
upon their locks, "on the day of the arrival of the war-
god of the world." This letter is in the British Museum. J
Other letters written during the reign of Rameses II
have by some been supposed to make direct mention of
the Israelites.
"I have obeyed the orders of my master," writes the
scribe Kauiser to his superior Bak-en-Ptah, "being bidden
fuit illo tempere, id est ubi occurit Joseph patri suo venienti, sicut
scriptuin est in libra Genesis nunc est comes sed grandis quod nos
dicimus vicus . . . nam ipse vicus nunc appelhitur Hero." See
a letter on "Pithom-HeroOpolis" communicated to "The Academy"
by M. Naville, March 22, 1884. See also M. Xaville's memoir,
entitled 'The Store-City of Pithom and the Route of the Exodus"
(third edition); published by order of the committee of the Egypt
Exploration Fund, 1888.
*See M. Xaville's memoir, entitled "Goshen and the Shrine of
Saft-el-Henneh," published by order of the committee of the Egypt
Exploration Fund, 1887.
f Kadesh, otherwise Katesh or Kades. A town on the Orontes.
See a paper entitled " The Campaign of Hamesis II in His Fifth Year
Against Kadesh on the Orontes," by the Rev. G. II. Tomkins, in the
"Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology," 1881, 1882 ;
also in the " Transactions" of the society, vol. viii,
JAnastasi Papyri, No. HI, Brit. Mas,
As regards Pa-Rameses, the other "treasure-city" of
Exodus, it is conjeeturally, but nob positively, identified
by M. ISTaville with the mound of Saft-el-llenneh, the
scene of his explorations in 1886. That Saft-el-IIenneh
was identical with "Kes," or Goshen, the capital town of
the "Land of Goshen," has been unequivocally demon-
strated by the discoverer ; and that it was also known in
the time of Rameses II as " Pa-Barneses" is shown to be
highly probable.* There are remains of a temple built of
black basalt, with pillars, fragments of statues and the like,
all inscribed with the cartouches of Rameses II; and the
distance from Pithom is just twenty Roman miles.
It was from Pa-Rameses that Rameses II set out with his
army to attack the confederate princes of Asia Minor then
lying in ambush near Kadesh ; f and it was hither that
he returned in triumph after the great victory. A con-
temporary letter written by one Panbesa, a scribe, narrates
in glowing terms the beauty and abundance of the royal
city, and tells how the damsels stood at their doors in holi-
day apparel, with nosegays in their hands and sweet oil
upon their locks, "on the day of the arrival of the war-
god of the world." This letter is in the British Museum. J
Other letters written during the reign of Rameses II
have by some been supposed to make direct mention of
the Israelites.
"I have obeyed the orders of my master," writes the
scribe Kauiser to his superior Bak-en-Ptah, "being bidden
fuit illo tempere, id est ubi occurit Joseph patri suo venienti, sicut
scriptuin est in libra Genesis nunc est comes sed grandis quod nos
dicimus vicus . . . nam ipse vicus nunc appelhitur Hero." See
a letter on "Pithom-HeroOpolis" communicated to "The Academy"
by M. Naville, March 22, 1884. See also M. Xaville's memoir,
entitled 'The Store-City of Pithom and the Route of the Exodus"
(third edition); published by order of the committee of the Egypt
Exploration Fund, 1888.
*See M. Xaville's memoir, entitled "Goshen and the Shrine of
Saft-el-Henneh," published by order of the committee of the Egypt
Exploration Fund, 1887.
f Kadesh, otherwise Katesh or Kades. A town on the Orontes.
See a paper entitled " The Campaign of Hamesis II in His Fifth Year
Against Kadesh on the Orontes," by the Rev. G. II. Tomkins, in the
"Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology," 1881, 1882 ;
also in the " Transactions" of the society, vol. viii,
JAnastasi Papyri, No. HI, Brit. Mas,