DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4669#0169
RECORDS OF RAMESES THE GREAT 141
immediate use. The hollow in which the statue was
found was supposed to have been the lake to the
north of the city excavated by Mena. This is not
probable. The site was in all probability the open
court of the Temple of Ptah, enlarged by this Pharaoh,
and with which special work this statue is believed
by some to be connected. Herodotus says " Sesostris
upon his return home from war, accompanied by a
vast multitude of people whose countries he had
subdued, was received at Daphna: (Tahpanes) near
Pelusium by his brother (whom he had made Viceroy
of Egypt on his departure), and invited to a banquet
which he attended with his wife and sons. The
brother then piled a quantity of wood all round the
building and set it on fire." * (The king, his wife,
and sons escaped, with the exception of one who
perished in the flames.) " Sesostris then returned to
his own land and took vengeance upon his brother ;
after which he proceeded to make use of the multi-
tudes whom he had brought with him, partly to drag
the huge masses of stone which were moved in the
course of his reign to the Temple of Ptah, and partly
to dig the numerous canals with which the whole of
Egypt is intersected." t How much of the account of
the attempt upon his life may be fact or not it is
impossible to say, but there is no question that this
monarch erected by the forced labour of his captives
a magnificent temple 1" Ptah at Memphis, which Dr.
Ebers considers was dedicated as a thankoffering to
Ptah for preserving the king from death by fire.
Rameses also honoured the god Ptah by dedicating
his eldest son Khamuas to his service as high priest in
his temple, and governor of Memphis. This prince
■ Book ii. chap, i'- 1 Six- N< fa (i.
immediate use. The hollow in which the statue was
found was supposed to have been the lake to the
north of the city excavated by Mena. This is not
probable. The site was in all probability the open
court of the Temple of Ptah, enlarged by this Pharaoh,
and with which special work this statue is believed
by some to be connected. Herodotus says " Sesostris
upon his return home from war, accompanied by a
vast multitude of people whose countries he had
subdued, was received at Daphna: (Tahpanes) near
Pelusium by his brother (whom he had made Viceroy
of Egypt on his departure), and invited to a banquet
which he attended with his wife and sons. The
brother then piled a quantity of wood all round the
building and set it on fire." * (The king, his wife,
and sons escaped, with the exception of one who
perished in the flames.) " Sesostris then returned to
his own land and took vengeance upon his brother ;
after which he proceeded to make use of the multi-
tudes whom he had brought with him, partly to drag
the huge masses of stone which were moved in the
course of his reign to the Temple of Ptah, and partly
to dig the numerous canals with which the whole of
Egypt is intersected." t How much of the account of
the attempt upon his life may be fact or not it is
impossible to say, but there is no question that this
monarch erected by the forced labour of his captives
a magnificent temple 1" Ptah at Memphis, which Dr.
Ebers considers was dedicated as a thankoffering to
Ptah for preserving the king from death by fire.
Rameses also honoured the god Ptah by dedicating
his eldest son Khamuas to his service as high priest in
his temple, and governor of Memphis. This prince
■ Book ii. chap, i'- 1 Six- N< fa (i.