DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14564#0090
74 CITIES OF EGYPT.
centuries. The sympathies of the new rulers were with
Ethiopia. No doubt it was by aid from the south that
the mastery of Egypt was won : there are indications
which may point to an Ethiopian alliance. As the con-
quering kings, with all the energy of the leaders of a
race newly awakened to discover its strength, passed
eastwards, and speedily subdued an Empire which had
Assyria as the farthest province, the subject race of
Egypt could expect no favour. That race was but part
of the mass of the conquered, the prey of the new force
that impelled the Pharaohs, in expedition after expe-
dition, across the eastern border.
All this time history is silent as to Zoan and the
lands around. They were neglected and oppressed. No
doubt the frontier fortresses were strongly held ; but
much of the old commercial wealth found other channels.
Partly it followed the route of the Red Sea, and crossed
the desert of the Thebais; partly it may have been
diverted to the Phoenician towns, and passed by land
along the military roads, leaving Zoan, and following the
border of the cultivated country towards Memphis.
It is most remarkable that this same period is equally
a blank in the sacred history. For above two centuries,
centuries. The sympathies of the new rulers were with
Ethiopia. No doubt it was by aid from the south that
the mastery of Egypt was won : there are indications
which may point to an Ethiopian alliance. As the con-
quering kings, with all the energy of the leaders of a
race newly awakened to discover its strength, passed
eastwards, and speedily subdued an Empire which had
Assyria as the farthest province, the subject race of
Egypt could expect no favour. That race was but part
of the mass of the conquered, the prey of the new force
that impelled the Pharaohs, in expedition after expe-
dition, across the eastern border.
All this time history is silent as to Zoan and the
lands around. They were neglected and oppressed. No
doubt the frontier fortresses were strongly held ; but
much of the old commercial wealth found other channels.
Partly it followed the route of the Red Sea, and crossed
the desert of the Thebais; partly it may have been
diverted to the Phoenician towns, and passed by land
along the military roads, leaving Zoan, and following the
border of the cultivated country towards Memphis.
It is most remarkable that this same period is equally
a blank in the sacred history. For above two centuries,