DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.548#0021
18 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
vernor was wanted to keep the turbulent north-
ern states in order, and to this responsible post
it appears that Meneptah was appointed, for his
principal remains are found in Lower Egypt; and
our papyri afford decided proof of his being the
lieutenant of Rameses in the tributary Rephaite
provinces also. The royal rank and titles were
conferred on him as an honorary distinction, and
only for life. Rameses never intended to dis-
member the empire, nor in any way to interfere
with the birthright of Seti and his heirs; and
the marked respect for Meneptah's memory shewn
by those very heirs, in his admission as a legi-
timately crowned king among the predecessors
of Rameses III., proves that the intentions of
his venerable father were fully understood and
approved by Seti and his children, and also, that
Meneptah carried out those intentions worthily,
and never presumed beyond their spirit to set
up an hereditary claim for himself.
Rameses had reigned thirty-three years when he
became blind. My arrangement of his reign with-
in his father's makes his thirty-third year fall eight
years before his death. Meneptah's election must
be posterior to this date, since it was the common
misfortune of Rameses and of his heir Seti, that
called forth and justified the appointment of the
Regent; and Seti, who only recovered after suffering
eleven years, was still blind when he succeeded to
the throne, so that his misfortune dates from about
the same time as his father's, and both circum-
stances limit Meneptah's co-regency to seven or
vernor was wanted to keep the turbulent north-
ern states in order, and to this responsible post
it appears that Meneptah was appointed, for his
principal remains are found in Lower Egypt; and
our papyri afford decided proof of his being the
lieutenant of Rameses in the tributary Rephaite
provinces also. The royal rank and titles were
conferred on him as an honorary distinction, and
only for life. Rameses never intended to dis-
member the empire, nor in any way to interfere
with the birthright of Seti and his heirs; and
the marked respect for Meneptah's memory shewn
by those very heirs, in his admission as a legi-
timately crowned king among the predecessors
of Rameses III., proves that the intentions of
his venerable father were fully understood and
approved by Seti and his children, and also, that
Meneptah carried out those intentions worthily,
and never presumed beyond their spirit to set
up an hereditary claim for himself.
Rameses had reigned thirty-three years when he
became blind. My arrangement of his reign with-
in his father's makes his thirty-third year fall eight
years before his death. Meneptah's election must
be posterior to this date, since it was the common
misfortune of Rameses and of his heir Seti, that
called forth and justified the appointment of the
Regent; and Seti, who only recovered after suffering
eleven years, was still blind when he succeeded to
the throne, so that his misfortune dates from about
the same time as his father's, and both circum-
stances limit Meneptah's co-regency to seven or