DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6640#0059
THE TWENTIETH DYNASTY.
43
traditional costume, the long dress reaching
down to the feet. One of these statues, in a
fair state of preservation, has been carried to
America ; it has on the back the following titles :
(pi. xxxvi. n) the royal son [of Kush, the chie f of
the southern countries, the governor . . . (the
proper name has disappeared). The other,
which is only a fragment, contains a dedication
to Bast, the lady of Bast (Bubastis), the queen
of the gods. Both statues were in black granite.
They close the list of the monuments of some
importance, or of the inscriptions of Ratneses II.,
to which must be added a considerable number
of cartouches left in spite of the usurpations of
Osorkon II.
Not far from Bubastis wras settled a foreign
nation, the Israelites, who from a small tribe
had grown to be a large multitude, and who
had never amalgamated with the Egyptians.
As I stated in another memoir, the land of
Goshen was only a few miles distant; the
restricted limits of the original land had been
broken through, and the Israelites must have
spread in the south towards Heliopolis, and in
the east in the Wadi Tumilat, the road through
which foreign invaders would enter Egypt.
One may well conceive that Rameses, who in
spite of his great display, must have felt how
much his kingdom was weakened, grew anxious
at the presence of a great number of strangers
occupying the very gate of Egypt, and that he
desired to turn their presence to a benefit for
Egypt. Therefore he employed them to build
fortresses, Raamses and Pithom, destined to
protect the land against invaders. As we may
conclude from the discoveries at Bubastis that
this large city was a favourite resort of
Barneses and his family, it is quite possible
that at the time when the events preceding
the Exodus took place, the king was at
Bubastis, and not at Tanis, as was generally
admitted.
We have found Merenphthah as prince royal
and heir presumptive, holding an important
military command. He appeared also as king,
on a sitting statue in red limestone, of which
fragments only remain. They were discovered
on the north side, close to the entrance to the
hall of Nekhthorheb. Very little of the monu-
ment has been left, because red limestone has
been broken and carried away for building
purposes as much as the white. The statue
has on the side the name of Turn, the god of
Heliopolis (pi. xxxviii. d). I should think that
Set was in the inscription on the back.
On the throne we find also the name of the
prince, the royal officer, Seti Merenphthah. This
prince, who is called elsewhere ^J. ^ royal son, and
P li^. ~~~"~ ^ first-born? ascended the throne,
where he does not seem to have remained long.
He is the king usually called Seti II.
THE TWENTIETH DYNASTY.
It is in the hypostyle hall, near the entrance of
the hall of Nekhthorheb, .that we meet with all
the monuments of this dynasty. It seems that
these kings raised there a chapel or a sanctuary
for themselves. Nothing remains of the kings
who followed Seti II., and whose legitimacy is
doubtful. The state of anarchy into which the
country had fallen, and which is described by
Rameses III. in the great Harris papyrus, was
not favourable to raising large constructions,
and must have rather contributed to destroy
what existed before. The first king we meet
with is Rameses III., on the base of a small
statue of which the feet alone have been pre-
served ; they are most elaborately worked,
they have sandals with the end turned upwards
according to the fashion of the nineteenth
dynasty. The monument must have been of
very good workmanship. Part of the inscrip-
tion is left on the back and on the base
8 Leps. Koenigsbuch, No. 47G. Brugsch et Bouriant, Le
livre des liois, No. 499.
43
traditional costume, the long dress reaching
down to the feet. One of these statues, in a
fair state of preservation, has been carried to
America ; it has on the back the following titles :
(pi. xxxvi. n) the royal son [of Kush, the chie f of
the southern countries, the governor . . . (the
proper name has disappeared). The other,
which is only a fragment, contains a dedication
to Bast, the lady of Bast (Bubastis), the queen
of the gods. Both statues were in black granite.
They close the list of the monuments of some
importance, or of the inscriptions of Ratneses II.,
to which must be added a considerable number
of cartouches left in spite of the usurpations of
Osorkon II.
Not far from Bubastis wras settled a foreign
nation, the Israelites, who from a small tribe
had grown to be a large multitude, and who
had never amalgamated with the Egyptians.
As I stated in another memoir, the land of
Goshen was only a few miles distant; the
restricted limits of the original land had been
broken through, and the Israelites must have
spread in the south towards Heliopolis, and in
the east in the Wadi Tumilat, the road through
which foreign invaders would enter Egypt.
One may well conceive that Rameses, who in
spite of his great display, must have felt how
much his kingdom was weakened, grew anxious
at the presence of a great number of strangers
occupying the very gate of Egypt, and that he
desired to turn their presence to a benefit for
Egypt. Therefore he employed them to build
fortresses, Raamses and Pithom, destined to
protect the land against invaders. As we may
conclude from the discoveries at Bubastis that
this large city was a favourite resort of
Barneses and his family, it is quite possible
that at the time when the events preceding
the Exodus took place, the king was at
Bubastis, and not at Tanis, as was generally
admitted.
We have found Merenphthah as prince royal
and heir presumptive, holding an important
military command. He appeared also as king,
on a sitting statue in red limestone, of which
fragments only remain. They were discovered
on the north side, close to the entrance to the
hall of Nekhthorheb. Very little of the monu-
ment has been left, because red limestone has
been broken and carried away for building
purposes as much as the white. The statue
has on the side the name of Turn, the god of
Heliopolis (pi. xxxviii. d). I should think that
Set was in the inscription on the back.
On the throne we find also the name of the
prince, the royal officer, Seti Merenphthah. This
prince, who is called elsewhere ^J. ^ royal son, and
P li^. ~~~"~ ^ first-born? ascended the throne,
where he does not seem to have remained long.
He is the king usually called Seti II.
THE TWENTIETH DYNASTY.
It is in the hypostyle hall, near the entrance of
the hall of Nekhthorheb, .that we meet with all
the monuments of this dynasty. It seems that
these kings raised there a chapel or a sanctuary
for themselves. Nothing remains of the kings
who followed Seti II., and whose legitimacy is
doubtful. The state of anarchy into which the
country had fallen, and which is described by
Rameses III. in the great Harris papyrus, was
not favourable to raising large constructions,
and must have rather contributed to destroy
what existed before. The first king we meet
with is Rameses III., on the base of a small
statue of which the feet alone have been pre-
served ; they are most elaborately worked,
they have sandals with the end turned upwards
according to the fashion of the nineteenth
dynasty. The monument must have been of
very good workmanship. Part of the inscrip-
tion is left on the back and on the base
8 Leps. Koenigsbuch, No. 47G. Brugsch et Bouriant, Le
livre des liois, No. 499.