The World's Progress Part 9

RAMSES.

Seti I. was followed by his son, the famous Ramses II., or Ramses the Great. Recent historians claim that this king has been given undue prominence, and that he was outranked by several Egyptian monarchs, including his own father. While this is probably true, it would seem that this pharaoh was as popular as any king who ruled in Egypt. He was young and handsome when he ascended the throne, and possessed a power of winning people to himself. That he was filled with self-pride, no one can deny. He attached his name, as we have seen, to every temple and monument where it was possible, and scattered statues of himself broadcast. Yet the only poem that suggests the epic in all Egyptian literature is the one known as "Pentuar's Poem," in which his bravery at the battle of Kadesh was sung.

Ramses had penetrated into Asia to bring the revolting tribes back to submission. During this particular battle, he became separated from his body guard and suddenly found himself facing 2,500 charioteers alone.

His personal bravery on that occasion was splendid; his soldiers pressed on to him quickly, but his daring was seen by them and greatly admired.

The poem of Pentuar was written to celebrate the king's courage in this crisis.

PENTUAR'S POEM.[2]

"Then the King stood forth, and, radiant with courage, He looked like the Sun-G.o.d armed and eager for battle.

The n.o.ble steeds that bore him into the struggle-- 'Victory to Thebes' was the name of one, and the other Was called 'contented Nura'--were foaled in the stables Of him we call 'the elect,' 'the beloved of Amon,'

'Lord of truth,' the chosen vicar of Ra.

Up sprang the king and threw himself on the foe, The swaying ranks of the contemptible Cheta.

He stood alone--alone, and no man with him.

As thus the king stood forth all eyes were upon him, And soon he was enmeshed by men and horses, And by the enemy's chariots, two thousand five hundred, The foe behind hemmed him in, and enclosed him.

Dense the array of the contemptible Cheta, Dense the swarm of warriors out of Arad, Dense the Mysian host, the Pisidian legions.

Every chariot carried three bold warriors, All his foes, and all allied like brothers.

"'Not a prince is with me, not a captain, Not an archer, none to guide my horses!

Fled the riders! fled my troops and horse-- By my side not one is now left standing.'

'Great father Amon, I have known thee well, And can the father thus forget his son?

Have I in any deed forgotten Thee?

Have I done aught without Thy high behest, Or moved or staid against Thy sovereign will?

Great am I--mighty are the Egyptian kings-- But in the sight of Thy commanding might, Small as the chieftain of a wandering tribe.

Immortal Lord, crush Thou this unclean people; Break Thou their necks, annihilate the heathen.

And I--have I not brought Thee many victims, And filled Thy temple with the captive folk?

And for Thy presence built a dwelling place That shall endure for countless years to come?

Thy garners overflow with gifts from me.

"'I offer Thee the world to swell Thy glory, And thirty thousand mighty steers have shed Their smoking blood on fragrant cedar piles.

Tall gateways, flag-decked masts, I raised to Thee, And obelisks from Abu I have brought, And built Thee temples of eternal stone.

For Thee my s.h.i.+ps have brought across the sea The tribute of the nations. This I did-- When were such things done in former time?

For dark the fate of him who would rebel Against Thee; though Thy sway is just and mild.

My father, Amon--as an earthly son His earthly father--so I call on Thee.

Look down from heaven on me, beset by foes, By heathen foes, the folk that know Thee not.

The nations have combined against Thy son; I stand alone--alone, and no man with me.

My foot and horse are fled, I called aloud And no one heard--in vain I called to them.

And yet I say: the sheltering care of Amon Is better succor than a million men, Or than ten thousand knights, or than a thousand Brothers and sons though gathered into one.

And yet I say: the bulwarks raised by men However strong, compared to Thy great works Are but vain shadows, and no human aid Avails against the foe--but thy strong hand.

The counsel of Thy lips shall guide my way; I have obeyed whenever Thou hast ruled; I call on Thee--and, with my fame, Thy glory Shall fill the world, from farthest east to west.'

"Yea, his cry rang forth even far as Hermonthis, And Amon himself appeared at his call; and gave him His hand and shouted in triumph, saying to the pharaoh 'Help is at hand, O Rameses. I will uphold thee-- I thy father am he who now is thy succor, Bearing thee in my hands. For stronger and readier I than a hundred thousand mortal retainers; I am the Lord of victory loving valor.

I rejoice in the brave and give them good counsel, And he whom I counsel certainly shall not miscarry.'

"Then like Menth, with his right he scattered the arrows, And with his left he swung his deadly weapon, Felling the foe--as his foes are felled by Baal.

The chariots were broken and the drivers scattered, Then was the foe overthrown before his horses.

None found a hand to fight; they could not shoot, Nor dared they hurl the spear, but fled at his coming-- Headlong into the river."

Having quelled the disturbances incident to his accession--for a change of rulers was generally the occasion for tribes held in tribute to seek their freedom--Ramses was free to devote the remainder of his reign, some forty years, to internal improvements. New cities, embankments, fortresses, statues, obelisks and temples absorbed his untiring interest. He seems to have been especially fond of grotto temples,--those hewn out of rocky hills or mountain sides. Most beautiful of these was the temple of Abu Simbel, guarded by four famous statues of this king. They stand today much as they stood three thousand years ago. One who has gazed upon the unaltering expression of these sentinels says of them: "The artists who wrought the statues were ...

daunted by no difficulties of scale. Giants themselves, they summoned these giants from out the solid rock and endowed them with superhuman strength and beauty. They sought no quarried blocks of syenite or granite for their work. They fas.h.i.+oned no models of clay. They took a mountain and fell upon it like t.i.tans and hollowed and carved it as though it were a cherry stone; and left it for the feebler men of after ages to marvel at forever. One great hall and fifteen s.p.a.cious chambers they hewed out from the heart of it, then smoothed the rugged precipice toward the river, and cut four huge statues with their faces to the sunrise, two to the right and two to the left of the doorway, there to keep watch to the end of time.

"These tremendous warders sit sixty-six feet high, without the platform under their feet. They measure across the chest twenty-five feet and four inches.... If they stood up, they would tower to a height of at least eighty-three feet, from the soles of their feet to the tops of their enormous double-crowns."[3]

To estimate the cost of all those tremendous undertakings in human life would be impossible. It is believed by some that Ramses II. was the pharaoh of the oppression of the Hebrews. However, during his administration they were well fed and while their tasks were hard, they were not harder than those of other workmen similarly employed. It was left for his son and successor to make their lot so grievous that a deliverer was raised up to lead them out of bondage.

Regard for human life, compa.s.sion for the lowly, and the spirit of humanity were qualities almost unknown in antiquity. The importance of the individual has only in modern times come to be acknowledged. At the period of which we are studying, there was no restraint upon the will of the sovereign. To satisfy his ambition and to gratify his pride, hundreds of thousands of slaves, captives, and impressed citizens were continually sacrificed. Some were driven to the mines: others were harnessed to huge blocks of stone to draw them from the quarry mountain to the building site; some were set to work in the brick fields, and over all were placed overseers to goad the workers on, giving little rest or respite.

Regarding the Hebrews, it must be remembered that before the Nineteenth dynasty, they prospered in the land of Egypt. A new king who "knew not Joseph" looked with disfavor upon these foreign people waxing strong within his borders. Feeling that they might become a menace to the country, he determined to exterminate them by dint of excessive work.

One of the "store-cities" built by them under these circ.u.mstances has been unearthed. It was surrounded by a wall thirty feet thick, which enclosed about twelve acres. Besides a temple, the enclosure contained subterranean cellars built of sun-dried brick. The bricks themselves confirm the biblical version of the story. While some are mixed with straw, as was customary, others were mixed with leaves and reeds--indicating that straw was no longer supplied. Still others were made simply of sun-dried mud.

Ramses II. so covered the land with his works and monuments of his greatness, that his personality has stamped itself everywhere.

It caught the attention of early writers and has ever since impressed itself upon the traveller, so that this king has been exalted to a prominent place in Egyptian history. Best known of Egypt's kings, for that reason, possibly, he has been most popular.

At length Merneptah ruled in his father's stead. Few qualities did he possess to awaken admiration. When his armies were forced to face an invasion of African tribes, reinforced by mercenary troops, he remained in camp while his soldiers won victory for him. The G.o.d Ptah, so he explained, had commanded him to stay inside. This did not deter him from taking full credit for the successes. Upon his monuments were inscribed records similar to this: "These people were meditating to do evil to Egypt. They were as gra.s.shoppers. Lo, I vanquished them; I slaughtered them, making a spoil of their country."

It is supposed that at this time Moses came to the relief of Israel, and asked permission for his people to withdraw a few days into the desert to offer sacrifices to their G.o.d. This was the occasion for the king both to deny the request and to double the tasks meted out to the brickmakers by withholding straw and requiring the same amount of work to be accomplished as before. Then, according to the Hebrew version, grievous plagues were sent upon Egypt, and only when the king's son, with the other first born, was stricken in the night, did the monarch concede to the entreaties of his own people and bid the Hebrews depart from his land. The story is familiar to all--how when he came to think of the six hundred thousand valued bonds-people of which he was now bereft, he dispatched the flower of Egyptian charioteers to prevent the Hebrews crossing the Red Sea and bring them back to do his bidding. To these despairing people to whom light seemed about to dawn, the fact that they were able to cross over while the Egyptian horses were ensnared and drowned, seemed a miracle enacted for their deliverance. It has since been noted that similar tidal action at this point has sometimes repeated itself. To the Hebrews, believing firmly in the inspired mission of Moses, it was regarded later as an example of how for the dutiful "all things work together for good."

TWENTIETH DYNASTY.[4]

Ramses III. was the first important ruler of the Twentieth dynasty. He and his immediate successors were able to hold intact the vast empire won by earlier kings. We hear no more of aggressive wars for conquest.

However, the time had come when Egypt did well when she maintained such territories as belonged to her.

Men of Crete, other islanders and sea-faring people, made common cause against the Asiatic sh.o.r.e early in this reign. Ramses watched their progress until they attacked the Egyptian province of Palestine. Not willing to lose this, the pharaoh marched against the plundering bands and utterly routed them, taking many captives. Three other campaigns were directed by this king, but they were carried on to defend Egyptian borders and hold together tributary provinces.

Like his father, Ramses III. was a builder. Like him, too, he appropriated earlier temples and monuments for his own fame and glory.

He built a fleet on the Red Sea, continued the profitable commercial intercourse with Punt, and caused a large reservoir to be constructed in Palestine. Another thing he did, which all histories have been careful to chronicle: he ordered trees and shrubs to be systematically planted throughout the realm. In a land where for months together the sun pours its hot rays down on a defenseless people, he tried to bring rest and cooling shade where both were sorely needed.

We have often noted the growing power of the priesthood in Egypt, and have seen that a large amount of the booty and tribute which flowed into the country from Asia found its way to the temples. An inventory of the resources of the temples during this reign has come down to us in a statement prepared by Ramses III., known now as the Papyrus Harris. From this it appears that the temples owned 107,000 slaves--or 2 per cent of the entire population; they possessed 750,000 acres, or over 15 per cent of all the arable land in the valley. Some 500,000 head of cattle, over 80 vessels, 53 workshops and s.h.i.+pyards, brought an annual income; and 169 towns in Egypt Kush and Syria were theirs. All this property in a land of less than 10,000 square miles and possibly 6,000,000 people, was exempt from taxation.

The lion's share of all this wealth fell to the temples sacred to Amon.

The priests of Amon had charge of it, and as time went on, they came to be regarded as superior to other priestly orders and their High Priest became the head of all priesthoods in the realm. Of all the temple estates, Amon owned two-thirds. In slaves, this G.o.d owned seven times as many as any other; of the cattle, more than four-fifths; of the s.h.i.+ps, all but five; of the workshops, forty-six of the fifty-three were his.

Regarding Amon's coffers, Ramses had inscribed: "I have filled its treasury with the products of the land of Egypt: gold, silver, every costly stone by the hundred thousand. Its granary was overflowing with barley and wheat; its lands, its herds, their mult.i.tudes were like the sands of the sh.o.r.e. I taxed for it the Southland as well as the Northland; Nubia and Syria came to it, bearing their impost."[5]

In showering all these princely gifts upon Amon, Ramses was but following the example set by his forefathers. The kings themselves held the priests somewhat in fear, believing that they had influence with the G.o.ds and could indirectly influence not only their earthly prosperity but their future welfare.

While this lavish wealth overflowed the coffers of the temples, we find the workmen in the service of the government, laboring in the City of the Dead--the Necropolis--having to resort to strikes, or in older phraseology, "having to lie at home," because their monthly rations were not forthcoming. The revenue of the government had, apparently, become the spoils for corrupt officials who sought to increase their personal incomes at the expense of the public treasury. Repeatedly starving laborers left their work and started with their families to leave Thebes, whereupon part of their rations would be given them and they would be urged to continue at their tasks! Nor was this all. Records have come down to us of bands of robbers who made a profession of rifling tombs of the dead. Worse still, cases for trial were frequently dismissed because officials themselves and priests of lesser position were sharing in the booty! Some of the Ramessides removed their ancestors from the original tombs and had all placed in a shaft where guards could keep watch over them. It was next to impossible to protect the wide-reaching City of the Dead, but it was worse than useless to attempt such a thing when those supposed to lend protection were themselves partic.i.p.ating in the robberies.

After the death of Ramses III., his descendants to the number of ten succeeded him. Then the High Priest of Amon s.n.a.t.c.hed the power from Ramses XIII., taking the t.i.tle of king as well as the authority which he already held. For some time the kings had been practically subservient to him. For almost a hundred and fifty years priests ruled in Egypt.[6]

Under priestly rule the government was quite as corrupt as it had been previously. Discontent on the part of the workmen, bold robberies of tombs, were the order of the day. First Libyan, then Ethiopian chiefs gained possession of the throne. The country fell apart; the days of Egypt's glory were gone.

From this time forward her political power was at an end. To be sure, Ethiopian kings took on Egyptian civilization--as a matter of fact, their country had long been Egyptianized. They tried to rule as pharaohs before them had done, wors.h.i.+pping Egyptian G.o.ds and keeping temples in repair. To the average citizen, life was no doubt much as it had been in former periods. But the old ideas were steadily falling away. The a.s.syrians invaded the country, and later, the Persians under Cambyses conquered it. Now and then a native prince would temporarily get control and repulse the Libyans and Ethiopians on the west and Asiatic peoples on the east. Such reactions and returns to the old order were short-lived, and like the sudden glow of dying embers, bespoke an approaching end.

Foreign people and foreign influences pushed into the valley. Especially did they come from Greece. We have seen that rapid change and quick a.s.similation were alien to the nature of the Egyptian. While the Greeks gained much by this contact, their coming served but to make briefer the remaining years of Egyptian life. Greek learning was taught and Greek religion spread into the valley. Finally with the conquest of Alexander in 331 B.C., the prevailing element in the land became Greek and so remained until Rome extended her sway over all the ancient world.

When we think that each succeeding invasion was the occasion for destruction; when plunder and fire vied with each other in despoiling the conquered land; when later the few temples which had withstood these experiences were robbed of their contents, and obelisks, monuments and statues were scattered among the nations of the earth, to satisfy personal gratification, we can no longer wonder that so little remains of that Egypt we have been studying.