2150 Accession of the Usurtasen I Obelisks erected at Heliopolis and 12th Dynasty in the Fayoum. Great Temple of (Theban). Karne.k commenced Usurwenill Ethiopia conSuered. Frontier advanced to the econd Cataract. Amenemhat m. Construction of the Labyrinth, and the artificial Lake Mmris. 1960 Aceession of the Egypt invaded by nomadic races 13th Dynasty from Asia. (Tbeban). 1900 Aecession of the Set (or Sai'tac;). Great Shepherd invasion under 17th Dynasty Set. Destruction of Egyptian (Shepherds). monuments and records. Apepi (or Apophis). 170C Accession of the Aahmes. Shepherds driven out. Ave.ris 18th Dynasty taken. (Tbeban). Thothmes I. Southem frontier adv1111ced. Asia invaded Campaign in Meeopo- ta.mia. Temple of Ka.ma.It en- le.rged. Obelisks erected. Queen Hatasu. Egyptian ships navigate the Red Sea. Thothmesill Campaigns in Asia. Syria and Western Mesopotamia conquered. Assyria invaded and forced to pay 11 tribute. Great add.itio11S made to the Ka.ma.It temple. Erection of llUJllerous obelisks I and colossi. A fleet employed in the Med.iter- ranean. Amenophisill Conquests of Tbothmes III maintained. Luxor temicle erected. The two great sitting co ossi set up Amenophie IV. ( or Disk-worship introduced. Khuenaten~ Saanekht, •, 1111d Tutankhamen (heretic kings). Hor-em-het. Best.oration of the Old Religion. HUO Accession of the RameeesL Campaign in Syria. Treaty with 19th Dynasty Hittites (Theban). Seti I. Great victories over the Shaso (Arabs), Hittites, e.rid natives ol N. Africa. Egyptian power re- established in Mesopotamia. lend.id additione Illllde to the ~ emple of Ke.rnak. Rameseum and city of Pa-Rameau commenced. • Among tbeee were I.Deluded the talleot existing one, that before the Church of 8. J oho Lateran at ltome,, IMIJ. ••c oiJelia.l< receDLi.f placed on the Twunes Embankment.. INTRODUCTION. xxvii
TABULAR Vu;w 01!' TRl!I CHIEI!' EVENTS IN EGYPTIAN HISTOBY l!'IIOM THE TwELFl'H TO TIIE TWENTIETH DYNASTY, WITH APPBOXDIATE DATEB.-Continued.
.AoouY B.C. DrKABTIES. Cmu Kmoe. EVERTB.
1400 Rameses II. (reigns Acme of Egyptian civilisation, 67 years). architecture, and art. Military decline begins. Peace made with the Hittites on terms of perfect equality. Mesopotamia. relin- quished. Great magnificence in building. Rameseum completed and adorned with huge colossi. Rock-temple of Ipsambul con- structed. Canal completed between the Nile and the Red Sea. City of Pa-Ramesu completed. Menephthah. Great attack on Egypt from the north and north-west repulsed. Friendly relations maintained with the Hittites. Expulsion of the "lepers " from Egypt according to Manetho. Reign terminates in troubles and disturbances. Seti II. ( or Seti- Crown claimed by a pretender, Menephthah). called Amon-mes, and afterwards by another called Siphthah. Long stmggle, terminating in anarchy 1280 Accession of the Set-Nekht. 20th Dynasty (Theban). Rameses m. (reigns Combined attack on Egypt of 31 years). Asiatics and Europeans by land and sea. from the north-east re- pulsed. Nations of N. Africa de- feated. Syria overrun, and power of Egypt re-established as far as Carchemish. Temple of Ammon at Medinet Abou built. Com- merce encouraged. 1100 Close of the 20th Rameses IV. to General decline of Egypt. No Dynasty XIII. wars. No great works. Scarcely any liter11ture. The kings gr11- dually sink into faineants, and power passes into the hands of the high-priests of Ammon.
0N THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE EXODUS AND OF THE W.ANDERINGS AS FAR AS SINAI.
The difficulties in the way of tracing the route whereby the Israelites passed from the Land of Goshen to Sinai, always considerable, have been recently much enhanced by the propounding of an entirely new line of march by a scholar of high reputation, Dr. Heinrich Brugsch. 1 It is true 1 See a paper read before the International Congress of Orientalists in London, Sept. 17, 187-1, and afterwards published under the title 'L'Exode et les Monuments Egyptiens,' rn'l'RODUCTION.
that the same theory was )_)ut forward many ycal's ago by two other learned Germans, Messrs. Unruh and Schleiden, but their views attracted little attention, ha-.ing no great local knowledge to recommend them, whereas Dr. Brugsch is probably the highest authority living on the subject of Egyptian geography, and a view which has his support cannot possibly be ignored or passed over. We must, then, commence the examination of the subject before us by discussing the theory of Dr. Brugsch, which is regarded in some quarters as " a brilliant one," and as having " at any rate prima facie much to recommend it." 1 Dr. Brugsch supposes that the "Rameses" from which the Israelites started (Ex. x:ii. 37; Num. xxxiii. 3) was the same place as Tanis or Zoan, now San, a large town situated on the Tanitic branch of the Nile, about lat. 31° and long. 31° 50' E. from Greenwich. He brings abundant proof to show that this town, which was rebuilt by Rameses II., was known in his reign and in that of his son, Menephthah, as Pa-Rame1m, or" the city of Rameses," that it was a place of great importance, and a common residence, if not the common residence, of the court at that period. Placing the Exodus, as we do ourselves, in the reign of Menephthah, he naturally concludes that the miracles of Moses and his interviews with the Egyptian king took place at this city, the only "city of Rameses" known to have existed at the time, and that it was the starting-point from which he and his company commenced their journey. In proof that he is right, he very properly adduces the statement of the psalmist, probably Asaph, that the miracles of Moses were wrought "in the field of Zoan" (Ps. lxxviii. 12, 43). These arguments are of so much weight that we, at any rate, do not care to dispute them, and we shall assume as highly probable, if not absolutely certain, that the Rameses from which the Israelites started was Zoan- Rameses, the capital city of Rameses II. and Menephthah, now marked by the extensive ruins at San-el-Hagar, which have lately been visited and described by Mr. Greville Chester. 2 The children of Israel journeyed "from Rameses to Succoth" (Ex. xii. 37). Dr. Brugsch assumes the identity of this word, Succoth, with an Egyptian name, Thuku or Thukot, which he finds applied to the marshy district east and south-east of Tanis, and suggests that the place where the Israelites encamped was a certain fort, called "the barrier of Thukot," which, he says, is mentioned in papyri, and which he believes to have lain to the south-east of Tanis, halfway between that place and the modern Tel-Defneh, the ancient Daphnre. We quite agree as to the direction in