Buried Cities and Bible Countries

Front matter

BURIED CITIES AND BIBLE COUNTRIES. RUINS OF A GALILEAN synagogue (kefr birim). (By favour of the Palestine Exploration Fund.) Frontispiece. BURIED CITIES AND BIBLE COUNTRIES BY GEORGE ST CLAIR, F.G.S., MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL ARCHÆOLOGY; MEMBER OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, AND TEN YEARS LECTURER FOR THE PALESTINE EXPLORATION FUND LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO. Ltd. CHAP. CONTENTS. PACE Preface ....... 9 I. Egypt and the Bible— i. The Rosetta Stone. Decipherment of the Egyptian Hieroglyphs . . . . . . 1 1 2. Kings and Dynasties of Egypt . . . 16 3. The Finding of the Mummies ... 19 4. Egyptians in Palestine before the Exodus. Wars with the Hittites ..... 27 5. Semites in Egypt before the Oppression. The Tell-el-Amarna Tablets .... 40 6. Israel in Egypt . . . . 47 7.

Buried Cities ...*.. 54 8. Biblical Sites in Egypt .... 57 9. The Route of the Exodus .... 76 10. The Wilderness Wanderings . . . 81 II. Palestine Exploration— 1. Palestine generally .... 86 2. Physical Features of Palestine ... 88 3. The Dead Sea ..... 99 4. The Cities of the Plain . . . . 104 5. "Lot's Wife" 112 6. The Natural History of Palestine, as dependent on its Physical Geography . . . . 114 7. The Topographical Survey of Western Palestine . 121 8. Israel's Wars and Worship considered in connection with the Physical Features of the Country — The Conquest and Wars . . . 125 9. The Sacred Sites ..... 161 10. The Method of the Survey, and Incidents of the Work . . . . . . 171 11. The East of Jordan ..... CONTENTS. VI CHAP. »*GE III. Jerusalem ...... 203 i. The City as it is . . . . . 204 2.

The Sieges of the City and Fortunes of its Walls . 220 3. Excavations in Jerusalem .... 227 4. Jerusalem as it Was : The Hills and Valleys . 249 5. Jerusalem as it Was : The Walls and Gates of the City 259 6. Incidents of the History better realized now . 277 7. Sieges of the City understood through improved Knowledge of the Topography . . . 293 IV. Gospel History in the Light of Palestine Exploration — 1. Christ in the Provinces .... 3°° 2. Christ in the Capital . . . . • 32S V. Mesopotamia and the Bible— I. Assyria ...... 340 2. Babylonia ...... 357 3. How the Writings were Read . . . 370 The Vandalism of Orientals . . . LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Ruins of Synagogue Frontispiece. Mummies of Seti I. and Rameses II 25 Hittite Portraits 32 Hittite Inscription 37 Map of Nile Delta and Sinai Desert ....

Preface

. This book contains a description of some of the most important modern discoveries bearing upon the Bible, the selection being made to meet the wants of those who have no time to follow the course of exploration, and no taste for technical details. The preparation of such a volume has often been urged upon me by those who have listened to my lectures on Palestine Exploration. In such a work accuracy is of more value than origin ality ; and therefore I have not hesitated to gather information from the best sources, and to use it freely. The authorities and sources will be found in a list at the end of each chapter ; and thus, while due acknowledgment is made, the reader will know where to go to for further information. In one chapter, indeed — that relating to the topography of Jerusalem in Scripture times — I do venture to state my own views, and give my own map of localities ; but it is only because my special study of the subject seems to justify my confidence, and compels me to differ from other writers.

I desire to express my special obligation to the Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund for allowing the use of their plates for the illustrations of this volume ;

PREFACE.

. X to Herr Schick of Jerusalem, for leave to use his plan of the Second Wall, to Wilfrid H. Hudleston, M.A., F.R.S., for the geological sketch-map and section, and to W. Harry Rylands, F.S.A., Secretary to the Society of Biblical Archæology, for the special favour of an original drawing from one of the Hamath stones. GEORGE ST CLAIR. BURIED CITIES AND BIBLE COUNTRIES.

Chapter I. Egypt And The Bible

I. Tlie Rosetta Stone: Decipherment of the Egyptian Hieroglyphs. To all who are interested in the ancient history of man kind, the decipherment of the Egyptian hieroglyphs is a fact of the highest importance. As early as the fourth dynasty, and probably as early as the first, the Egyptians possessed the art of writing ; but for thousands of years before the present century the hieroglyphs had become a dead language, which nobody could read. Temples and tombs in the valley of the Nile contained records which might be of surpassing interest ; but the clue to them was lost, and the riddle remained unguessed. At length a discovery was made which began to open the way, and has proved to be one of the most remarkable events in the intellectual history of Europe. In the year 1799, when Napoleon's army was in Egypt, a French artillery officer, by name Boussard, while engaged in certain works on the redoubt of St Julian, at Rosetta, discovered a large slab of black granite, bearing a triple inscription.

The first or upper part was in hieroglyphs, BURLED CITIES AND BIBLE COUNTRIES. 12 the middle one was in the enchorial or popular character, and the lower one in Greek. The hieroglyphic text was partly broken away and lost, but the other two were nearly complete. The Greek text showed that the monument was designed by the priests of Memphis, in honour of the Pharaohs, and particularly of Ptolemy Epiphanes, who was reigning at the time when the decree was made (198 B.C.). The monument stood originally in the temple of Turn, the god of the setting sun ; and there were to be copies of it in other places. Among other things, the priests say of Ptolemy that " he was pious towards the gods, he ameliorated the life of man, he was full of generous piety, he showed forth with all his might his sentiments of humanity."

He lightened taxation, so that the people might have plenty ; he re leased prisoners and the defendants in law suits ; he ordered that the revenues of the temples, whether in provisions or money, should remain what they had been. As to the priests, he commanded that they should pay no new promotion fees, that those who had been obliged to make an annual voyage to Alexandria should be free from the obligation ; and that what had been neglected in temple services should be re-established. Naturally the priests were grateful, and they ordered this testimonial of recognition to be engraved upon stone, in the sacred characters of Egypt, in the vernacular, and in Greek. All this was speedily made out from the Greek text, and it was thus clear that the other two forms of the inscription must be of the same purport.

Here then at last was a key to the long-lost language of the hieroglyphs. The value of the monument was at once per ceived, and after having been copied it was set apart and packed up. The victory of the English at Alexandria, and the surrender of the city in 1S01, placed the Rosetta Stone in the hands of Mr. W. R. Hamilton, the British EGYPT AND THE BIBLE. 13 Commissioner, one of the most distinguished and zealous scholars of the day. The treasure was despatched to England, and has found a fitting resting-place in the British Museum. This seemingly insignificant stone (says Baron Bunsen) shares, with the great and splendid work, " La Description de 1'Egypte," the honour of being the only result of vital importance to universal history, accruing from a vast expedition, a brilliant conquest, and a bloody combat for the possession of Egypt.

The men of science and letters who accompanied Napoleon's army in Egypt, employed themselves actively in collecting the precious materials for that great work on the antiquities, the topography, natural history, &c, of that wonderful country. When the work appeared, the monuments that it contained, and the learned commentaries by which they were accompanied, aroused the general attention of the European public to Egyptian research, which had been previously all but abandoned. This collection comprised not only the most important monuments of Egypt, but also the great funereal papyrus, and other Egyptian records of the highest value. But the monuments were mute, the hieroglyphics could not be read, and the riddle of the sphinx still remained unsolved. Attempts had been made, but without much success, and it was the Rosetta Stone which, in reality, unloosed the tongue of both monuments and records, and rendered them accessible to historical investigation.

This stone was the mighty agency which, by the light it shed on the mysteries of the Egyptian language and writing, was to enable science to penetrate through the darkness of thousands of years, extend the limits of history, and even open up a possibility of unfolding the primeval secrets of the human race. As engraved copies of the Rosetta Stone became common in Europe — for which object the English scholars BURIED CLTLES AND BLBLE COUNTRIES. 14 had provided without delay — confidence was entertained that the hieroglyphs would be deciphered. However (says Mariette), we must not imagine that the deciphering of hieroglyphs by means of the Rosetta Stone was accomplished at the first trial, and without groping in the dark. On the contrary, the savants tried for twenty years without success. At last Champollion appeared.

Prior to him people thought each of the letters that compose hieroglyphic writing was a symbol; that is, that in every single one of these letters a complete idea was expressed. The merit of Champollion consisted in proving that Egyptian writing contains signs which express sounds ; in other words, that it is alpliabetic. He noticed that wherever in the Greek text the proper name Ptolemy is met with, there may be found, at a corresponding place of the Egyptian text, a certain number of signs enclosed within an elliptic ring. From this he concluded (i) that the names of kings were indicated, in the hieroglyphic system, in a sort of escutcheon, which he styled a cartouche ; (2) that the signs contained in the cartouche must be letter for letter the name of Ptolemy (Ptolemaios). Even supposing the vowels omitted, Champollion was already in possession of five letters — P.T.L.M.S. Again, Champollion knew, according to a second Greek inscription, engraved on an obelisk of Philae, that on this obelisk a hieroglyphic cartouche is visible which must be that of Cleopatra.

If his first reading was correct, the P, the L, and the T of Ptolemy must be found again in the second proper name ; while, at the same time, this second proper name would furnish K and R. Although very imperfect as yet, the alphabet thus revealed to Champollion, when applied to other cartouches, put him in possession of nearly all the other consonants. Thenceforth he had no need to hesitate concerning the pronunciation of signs ; for, from the day this proof was EGYBT AND THE BIBLE. 15 furnished, he could certify that he possessed the Egyptian alphabet. But now remained the language ; for pro nouncing words is nothing, if we know not what they mean. Here Champollion's genius could soar. He per ceived that his alphabet, drawn from proper names and applied to words of the language, simply furnished Coptic.

Now Coptic, in its turn, is a language which, without being so well explored as Greek, had for a long time been not less accessible. (It was a spoken language until the sixteenth century, and three spoken dialects remained, sufficiently resembling the old Egyptian to enable all the grammatical forms and structure to be examined.) There fore the veil was completely removed. The Egyptian language was only Coptic written in hieroglyphs ; or, to speak more correctly, Coptic is only the language of the ancient Pharaohs, written in Greek letters. The rest may be inferred. From sign to sign Champollion really pro ceeded from the known to the unknown, and soon the illustrious father of Egyptology could lay the foundations of this beautiful science, which has for its object the inter pretation of the hieroglyphs.

Further, as remarked by Dr Birch, Egyptologists have patiently traced word after word, through several thousands of texts and inscriptions, until they have found its correct meaning. It was ascertained at length that almost every word consists of two portions — hieroglyphs to represent the sound, followed by hieroglyphs expressing its general or specific meaning. Provided with these materials the enquiry advanced. The result is that we are gradually recovering a knowledge of the history of Egypt and the religion of its people, from a time long anterior to the birth of Moses down to the latest period of the empire. The hieroglyphs reveal a rich literature, including not only the annals of the empire, but books on ethics, romances, works on mathematics, medicine, morals, legal and other COUNTRIES. reports ; while the great religious work is the Book of the Dead. {Authorities and Sources : — " Egypt's Place in Uni versal History."

By Christian C. J. Bunsen. "The Monuments of Upper Egypt." By Auguste Mariette-Bey. "The Monumental History of Egypt." Rede Lecture. By S. Birch, LL.D.] 2. Kings and Dynasties of Egypt. It will be useful to give here a table of Egyptian Dynasties, so that when we come to speak of Israel in Egypt the reader may have some idea of the long antecedent history of the Empire, and the political circum stances of the time. Unfortunately we must be content at present with approximate dates, for the records of the Egyptians are not dated, and the chronology is but very imperfectly known. Table of the Egyptian Dynasties* Dynasty. Capital. Modem Name. S-g S-b _; _.o. B80S •;__. '■_ <J ii p o . M'5 o " -0<_ p.S-5 " aji.S^ a. tt ex fj ir* «*Q <0 £ The Old E: [PIRE. I. Thinite II. Thinite III. Memphite IV.

Memphite V. Memphite VI. Elephantine VII. Memphite VIII. Memphite IX. Heracleopolite X. Heracleopolite XI. Diospolitan This This Memphis Memphis Memphis Elephantine Memphis Memphis Heracleopolis Heracleopolis Thebes Girgeh Girgeh Mitrahenny Mitrahenny Mitrahenny Geziret-Assouan Mitrahenny Mitrahenny Ahnas el-Medineh Ahnas el-Medineh Luxor, &c. 5004 4751 4449 4235 3951 3703 35°° 35°° 335« 3249 3064 565° 54°° 5100 4«75 4600 4450 4250 425° 4000 37°° 351° "From "R< -cords of the Pæ it." New Series, vol BIBLE. 17 Table of the Egyptian Dynasties — continued. In the time of passed its zenith Moses the Egyptian power had already -e had been and begun to decay. There an Old Empire, with the City of This for its first capital and Menes as its first king. Dynasty had succeeded dynasty, during perhaps two thousand years, and the capital had been changed several times, when the Middle Empire came in, and the kings ruled from Thebes and afterwards from Xois.

There had now been fourteen B Dynasty. Capital. Modern Name. S-i 11 -A a".S__ aw -5 <Q ■ i*H c p U O -fl 'I » wl ls-2-S o-rt __ The Middle Empire. XII. Diospolitan Thebes XIII. Diospolitan Thebes XIV. Xoite Xois Luxor, &c. Luxor &c, Sakha j 2851 I 3450 3250 | 239S | 2800 The Shepiier d Kings. XV. Hyksos Tanis (Zoan) -,-ry / Hyksos Tanis ' \ Diospolitan Thebes -.-,_- J Hyksos Tanis ' \ Diospolitan Thebes San San Luxor, &c. San Luxor, &c. 2214 2325 2050 1 800 The New E -MPIRE. XVIIL Diospolitan Thebes XIX. Diospolitan Thebes XX. Diospolitan Thebes XXI. Tanite Tanis XXII. Bubastite Bubastis XXIII. Tanite Tanis XXIV. Saite Sais XXV. Ethiopian Napata XXVI. Saite Sais XXVII. Persian Persepolis XXVIII. Saite Sais XXIX. Mendesian Mendes XXX. Sebennyte Sebennytos Luxor, &c. Luxor, &c. Luxor, &c. San Tel Bast San Sa el-Hagar Mount Barkal Sa el-Hagar Sa el-Hagar Eshmun er-Roman Semenhiid 1700 1750 1400 1490 1200 1280 1 100 1 100 960 975 766 810 753 72° 700 715 666 664 527 525 415 399 4°S 378 COUNTRLES. dynasties altogether ; and the power of the kingdom was so far weakened that it was unable to keep out the invader.

The Shepherd Kings, coming from Midian, or perhaps from Mesopotamia, established themselves in the Delta, and held possession for several centuries. Their conquest, however, did not extend to Upper Egypt, and so the native dynasties reigned contemporaneously, enthroned at Thebes, while the Hyksos kings were seated at Zoan. It was probably towards the close of the Hyksos period chat Joseph was made governor of Egypt, under the latest of the Shepherd Kings. The seventeenth dynasty saw the last of these foreigners, and after their expulsion the New Empire began, near the end of the eighteenth century before Christ. The eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties included several monarchs of great renown ; and as the Israelitish sojourn falls chiefly within this period, it will be useful to give here a chronological list.

Monarchs of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties, with approximate dates, according to Brugsch. Eighteenth Dynasty. B. c. Aahmes, Amosis ; its founder 1700 Amenhotep I. (Amenophis) 1666 Thothmes I. (Thotmosis) 1633 Thothmes II. and his sister-wife Hatshepsu . . 1600 Thothmes III. Amenhotep II., Son of Thothmes III. . . . 1566 Thothmes IV 1533 Amenhotep III., Son of Queen Mutemna . . 1500 Amenhotep IV., afterwards called Khuenaten . . 1466 Nineteenth Dynasty. Rameses I. 1400 Seti I. (Sethos) Menephtah I. .... 1366 Rameses II. (Sesostris) Miamun .... 1333 Menephtah II. (Menepthes) 1300 Seti II. Menephtah III., son of Menephtah II. . 1266 Setnakht-Merer-Miamun II 1233 Rameses II. was the Pharaoh of the Oppression ; and the Israelites left Egypt in the reign of his successor, Menephtah. BLBLE. 19 3.

The Finding of the Mummies. In 1878 the Khedive Said Pasha authorised Professor Maspero to found a Museum at Boulak (a suburb of Cairo), for the reception of all the antiquities found in the country and calculated to throw light on Egyptian history. Under the successive direction of Professor Maspero and Professor Grebaut the collection has become one of the most valuable and most instructive in the world. In 1 88 1 the museum was enriched by the most important archæological discovery of modern times. On the 5th of July of that year a cave in the plain of Deir el-Bahari, near Thebes, was explored, and its rich contents were bodily removed to Boulak. They consisted of mummies of kings, queens, and princesses, and other persons of distinction, with numerous articles of clothing, papyri, vases, &c. Hieratic inscriptions on the coffins of several of the kings gave the date of the transfer of the bodies from their original sepulchres in the valley of Bab el Malook, near Luxor, to this pit or tomb, and also of the periodical inspection to which the depot was subjected.

The cave is proved to be the tomb of the Priest-Kings of Amen, the usurpers of the throne of the Ramessides, from Her- Hor to Pinotem III. The reason for bringing so many kings of different dynasties into this tomb is not accurately known ; but the following circumstances afford ground for reasonable con jecture. "After Rameses II., the last great warrior of Egypt, had laid aside his javelin and bow, in the fourteenth century before Christ, luxury and indolence were followed by their usual concomitants, poverty and discontent. The artizans and labourers, instead of joining in one common effort to improve the condition of the country, had recourse to violence and robbery. The pillage of the tombs for the BURLED CLTLES AND BLBLE COUNTRIES. 20 sake of their precious contents became a common practice, and in the reign of Rameses IX., of the twentieth dynasty, about the eleventh century before the birth of Christ, an inquiry was instituted to ascertain the extent of the depre dations.

The robbers were arrested and arraigned, and several of them were condemned to die by their own hands — a common mode of punishment in ancient Egypt. It was discovered likewise that the tombs of the Pharaohs, which had hitherto been respected, were, like the rest, subjected to danger." The preservers, however, were at work as well as the robbers ; the priests of the Egyptian Church appear to have shielded the remains of many of the great kings, by hiding them so effectually that they were never found again until the third quarter of the present century. " It was an extraordinary discovery, not only for Egyptian archæology, but likewise for Egyptian history, and the fortunate discoverer was Professor Maspero, chief conservator of the Egyptian Museum at Boulak. The discovery came about in the following manner.

For some years past, so far back as the time of Mariette, it had been observed that objects of value and interest, tablets, papyri, &c, had found their way into the museums of Europe, and some into private hands. There exists a law in Egypt, that tombs and cemeteries are not to be explored except by direct permission of the Khedive, and all traffic in objects of archaic interest is strictly forbidden. Never theless a kind of contraband was in existence, the actual source of which was unknown. Another observation had also been made, namely, that the large majority of the objects were of about the same period, and seemed to have a common origin. When His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, was in Egypt, he was presented by a certain Mustapha Aga of Thebes, with a valuable papyrus, which the Prince has very generously deposited in the British Museum.

It was subsequently ascertained that the docu ment in question is only half a papyrus (this curious discovery is due to the acute research of Miss Amelia B. Edwards, one of the Honorary Secretaries of the Egypt Exploration Fund), the other, the hinder half, being in the possession of the Museum of the Louvre at Paris. The Prince of Wales' papyrus was written for a queen, Notem Maut, related to the great priest-king of the twenty-first dynasty, Her-Hor — possibly his wife, but more probably his mother. Another, and a remarkably fine papyrus, was bought by Colonel Campbell in 1876, for the large sum of .£400. The latter had evidently been obtained from the mummy of the High Priest Pinotem, descendant of Her- Hor. The coincidence was striking, and led Professor Maspero to the conclusion that a tomb of the priest-kings was in the possession of the Arabs of the district of Thebes, a class of persons who live in the tombs, and gain a living out of the produce of their search.

Suspicion quickly pointed to the parties implicated. The chief, Ahmed Ab-der-Rassoul, one of five brothers engaged in the traffic of antikas (antiques), was arrested, and shortly afterwards another of the brothers made a confession and conducted the authorities to the hiding-place in which all these treasures were concealed. " Near the site of an old temple, known as Deir el-Bahari, at the foot of a rugged mass of precipitous rock, so hidden from view that it might be passed by a hundred times without being seen, was a perpendicular shaft, 35 feet deep, and 6 feet in diameter. At the bottom of the shaft, in its western corner, was an opening a little more than 2 feet high and 5 feet wide, the entrance of a narrow passage tunnelled in the rock. This passage or tunnel led due west for 25 feet, and then turned abruptly to the north for 200 feet, ending in an oblong chamber 260 feet long, the entire length of the tunnel being nearly 500 feet.

Through- PbRIED CITIES AND BIBLE COUNTRIES. out the whole of this extensive area the floor was encum bered with coffins and funereal gear, packed together so closely that for some distance it was necessary to crawl upon hands and feet to make any progress. The collection within this strange hiding-place consisted of sarco phagi, coffins, mummies, funereal furniture, and funereal ornaments, the gathered fragments of four or five dynasties, more particularly the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth and twenty-first, comprehending a period of more than five hundred years, and ranging between the eighteenth and twelfth centuries before Christ. . . . " It was a hot forty-eight hours' work, under the burning sun of Egypt, to bring all those objects to the surface, and a toilsome labour, enlisting the services of three hundred Arabs, to convey them to Luxor, and subsequently to pile them on the deck of the Museum steamer which had jour neyed up the river to receive them.

The passage down the river partook of the character of a funeral ovation : women with dishevelled hair ran along the banks uttering shrieks and funereal chants, others threw dust upon their heads, men discharged guns, and the funeral of a defunct monarch of to-day could not have excited more apparent emotion." The coffins and mummies included the following : — RASKENEN, king of Upper Egypt, a descendant of the old Theban royal race, but at this time tributary to the Hyksos or Shepherd kings. According to the Sallier papyrus in the British Museum, he quarrelled with the Hyksos monarch Apopi, in reference to the cession of an important well. This brought about the overthrow and expulsion of the Hyksos, who had ruled the country for five centuries. According to the same authority, Joseph arrived in Egypt during the reign of the Pharaoh Nub (B.C. 1730), and rose to honour under Apopi.

AAHMES I., founder of the eighteenth dynasty. 2j Amenhotep I. (Amenophis), coffin and mummy. Thothmes I. — The coffin was occupied by the mummy of a priest-king, Pinotem, of the twenty-first dynasty. The mummy of Thothmes was not found. The first known representation of a horse occurs on a monument of this reign ; and it is supposed that the horse was introduced into Egypt from Asia about this time. Thothmes II. — The coffin and mummy were both found. Thothmes II. reigned but a short time. Thothmes III., one of the most famous of Egyptian kings. He continued his predecessors' offensive move ments against the Hyksos and their allies, and extended his conquests as far as the Tigris. In his reign Egypt was at the pinnacle of its greatness. The walls of his magni ficent temple at Karnak are covered with inscriptions recounting his triumphs, and giving a list of the countries and peoples conquered by him.

A stela of black granite found at Karnac, and now in the Egyptian National Museum, contains a poem in celebration of the victories of this king. The coffin and mummy found were broken. HATSHEPSU, the great woman-king, sister and wife of Thothmes II. Becoming regent for her younger brother, Thothmes III., she assumed a king's dress and masculine style. Neither the coffin nor the mummy were found. But it was the practice of the Egyptians in embalming to take out the intestines and preserve them separately ; and the liver of Hatshepsu was discovered enclosed in a cabinet of wood, inlaid with ivory, which was marked with her name. Rameses I., founder of the nineteenth dynasty, was found placed in a coffin of the fashion of the twenty-first dynasty, from which the name of the original owner had been carefully scraped off.

Seti I., his successor (coffin and mummy). The superb alabaster sarcophagus of this monarch was already in the Soane Museum, in Lincoln's Inn Fields. When COUNTRIES. 24 Belzoni discovered it in 1817, in the original sepulchre in the valley of the kings at Thebes, he was astonished to find the mummy and coffin gone. When the mummy of this Pharaoh was unrolled it was found that the body was long, fleshless, of a yellow-black colour, and had the arms crossed upon the breast. The head was covered with a mask of fine linen, blackened with bitumen, which it was necessary to remove with scissors. This operation brought to view the most beautiful mummy-head ever seen in the museum. The sculptors of Thebes and Abydos did not flatter this Pharaoh when they gave him that delicate, sweet, smiling profile which is known to travellers.

After a lapse of thirty-two centuries the mummy retains the same expression which characterised the features of the living man. Seti I. must have died at an advanced age. The head is shaven, the eyebrows are white, the condition of the body points to more than threescore years of life ; thus confirming the opinion of the learned, who have attributed a long reign to this king. Seti I. built the Hall of Columns in the Great Temple of Ammon, at Karnac. There exist numerous remains also at Koorneh, Abydos, and elsewhere, of the extensive and magnificent buildings which he erected with the aid of the conquered Semites, among whom the Israelites must probably be included. During his reign a great canal, the first of its kind, was completed, connecting the Nile with the Red Sea. Rameses II., the renowned soldier, son of Seti I., known to the Greeks as Sesostris.

The oppression of the Israelites, probably begun by Seti I., was continued under Rameses II. In the sixth year of his reign, however, Moses was born. The mummy of Rameses II. was found deposited in a coffin of the twenty-first dynasty, like that of Rameses I. This gave rise to doubts as to which particular Rameses was enclosed, but on unwrapping the mummy an inscription was found, explaining that the RAMESES II. SETI I. COUFi TRIES. original coffin had been accidentally broken, and leaving no doubt that this was Rameses II. Most striking, when compared with the mummy of Seti I., is the astonishing resemblance between father and son. The nose, mouth, chin, all the features are the same, but in the father they are more refined than in the son. Rameses II. was over six feet in height, and we see by the breadth of his chest and the squareness of his shoulders that he must have been a man of great bodily strength.