days, and even that they were actually inspected by them in Syria, Palestine, Arabia, and Ethiopia. The inscription which these proud monuments every where bore was to the following effect: "Sesostris, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, subdued this country by his arms." Another circumstance corroborative of the general accuracy of the old annalists has been already mentioned,—the establishment of an Egyptian colony in the province of Colchis. The descendants of this military association, presenting the dark complexion and woolly hair of Africa, were long distinguishable from the natives of the district among whom they dwelt. Nay, it is possible, we believe, at the present day, to find among the Circassians certain families whose blood might be traced to the soldiers of Sesostris, and whose features still verify the traditional affinity which connects them with the ancient inhabitants of the Nile. It is usual, in all countries, that the fame of a popular monarch shall be increased by having ascribed to him, not only all the heroic deeds which have been transmitted by the chroniclers of the olden time, but that he shall be regarded by the multitude as the founder of all the magnificent palaces and gorgeous temples of which the remains still continue to testify that their nation was once wealthy and powerful. On this account it is not improbable that Sesostris, under the several names or titles of Osymandias, Ramesses, Sethosis, and Sethon, has had attributed to him the merit of erecting several splendid edifices which are due to sovereigns of a less imposing celebrity. At all events, it is not doubted by any one that both Memphis and Thebes owed some of their finest structures to the conqueror of Asia; and it is even recorded by his panegyrists, that the riches and the immense number of prisoners which crowned his successes in the East enabled him to decorate all the towns of Egypt without exacting from his native subjects any portion of their labour or revenue. Memphis, the new capital, was enlarged and ornamented with the most profuse expenditure. The statues, the temples, and the obelisks which adorned it are described by historians in their most pompous language; but the infelicity of its situation, which F exposed it to the inundations of the Nile, has so completely obliterated all traces of its existence as to have created a question among antiquaries as to the precise spot on which it stood. Thebes, on the contrary, which enjoyed a more secure position, and was perhaps built of more lasting materials, displays at the present day the magnificence of her princes, combined with the learning and taste which distinguished her inhabitants. The Palace, or Sepulchral Temple (for the ruins of the two have been confounded), appears to have been an edifice of exquisite workmanship as well as of vast extent. In front there was a court of immense size; adjoining which there arose a portico four hundred feet long, the roof of which was supported by figures fifteen cubits in height. This portico led into another court similar to the first, but more superb, and adorned with statues of great magnitude, which are said to have represented the king and certain members of his family. Amid a numerous succession of halls and galleries the chisel had sculptured with wonderful art the triumphs of the sovereign, the sacrifices which he had offered, the administration of justice in his courts of law, and such other functions as were appropriated to the head of a great nation. But the tomb, properly so called, is especially remarkable for the astronomical emblems which it exhibits. It is encompassed with a golden circle three hundred and sixty-five cubits in circumference, to represent the number of days comprehended in the year. The rising and setting of the stars are likewise depicted with considerable accuracy, and show that great attention was already paid to the motions and periods of the heavenly bodies. Thus it is rendered manifest, that whatever doubt may exist as to the identity of Sesostris and Osymandias, or in regard to the period at which one or other ascended the throne, the light of civilization and the improvement of the arts had made great progress in Upper Egypt more than thirteen centuries before the Christian era. The statue of the monarch himself represented in a sitting posture, was considered by the ancients as the largest in the country. The foot alone was seven cubits in length; and the following epitaph appropriated this gigantic work of art to the renowned commander whose name it was meant to perpetuate : "I am Osymandias, King of Kings; if any one desire to know what a prince I am, and where I lie, let him excel my exploits." The successors of this great prince, for several generations, did not perform any remarkable action, nor allow their ambitious views to extend beyond the limits of their native kingdom. Perhaps it might be said that the power of Egypt was not more than sufficient to defend her own borders against the erratic hordes who constantly threatened her on the east, and the more regular armaments of Abyssinia, which occasionally made an inroad from the south. About 770 B. C. Sabaco the Ethiopian descended the Nile, and drove Anysis from the throne. Sixty years later, Sennacherib, King of Assyria, meditated the conquest of the same country, and had actually entered its territories, when his immense host was destroyed by a Divine visitation. Disgusted with the weakness or misfortune of their sovereigns, the Egyptians made the experiment of an oligarchy of twelve governors, who directed the administration about fifteen years. But, in 619 B. C., Pharaoh Necho was elevated to an undivided throne. His reign is remarkable for the success he obtained against Jerusalem, which he took, and against the good prince Josiah, whom he slew. He made several attempts to connect, for the purposes of commerce, the Nile with the Red Sea; and afterward accomplished what must have been then esteemed the still more arduous enterprise of circumnavigating Africa, from the Strait of Babelmandeb to the Mediterranean. About this period the Assyrian monarchy, which had acquired an ascendant over all the neighbouring nations from the Euphrates to the shores of the Great Sea, became formidable also to Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar on more than one occasion made the weight of his power to be felt on the banks of the Nile; but the conquest of the whole of that country was reserved for the great Cyrus, who marshalled under his standard nearly all the states of Western Asia. It appears, however, that the liberal policy of this famed warrior restored to the Egyptians, as well as to the Jews, a certain degree of national independence,-a boon which the former were thought to have abused so much that one of the first measures adopted by his successor had for its object their entire and permanent subjugation. The effects produced upon Egypt by the victories of Cambyses are too important to be passed over with so slight a notice as that now given. It should seem that the way was paved for him by the treachery of two great officers, who sought revenge for a personal insult by throwing open the kingdom to a foreign enemy. When, however, the Persian monarch appeared before Pelusium, he found that preparations had been made for a vigorous resistance; but, availing himself of the miserable superstition of the garrison, he placed their sacred animals in front of his army, and advanced to the attack. The city surrendered without opposition. A general engagement, which ensued immediately afterward, terminated in the total discomfiture of Psammenitus and the reduction of Memphis. The conqueror disgraced his triumph by the most wanton cruelties, and particularly by putting to death the son of the king, together with two thousand individuals of high rank. He also gave vent to his rage against the priests and religion of the country, on suspicion that they were employed to undermine his authority. Regardless of public opinion, he gave orders to slay the bull Apis, the object of so much veneration among all classes; and, because the magistrates and guardians of the temple interposed to prevent this horrible sacrilege, he slew the one and scourged the other. A similar feeling dictated the mad attempt to seize the consecrated fane of Jupiter Ammon, situated in the Greater Oasis. The loss of half his army, the disaffection of the remainder, and the universal hatred of his new subjects, compelled him to return to Persia, where he soon afterward became the victim of accident or of conspiracy. The government of Persia, interrupted only by a series of unsuccessful revolts, was maintained during more than two hundred years; at the end of which Alexander the Great, who soon afterward wrested from the hands of Darius the sceptre of the empire itself, took possession of the kingdom of the Pharaohs, now one of its most remote provinces. Before we proceed to the history of the Grecian rulers, we shall present a tabular view of the several dynasties from the death of Moris to the accession of the first Ptolemy. FIFTH DYNASTY, 342 YEARS. 1. Sethos, Sesostris, or Osymandias.. 2. Rampses or Pheron... 3. Cetes, Proteus, or Ramesses. 4. Amenophis IV.... 5. Rampsinites .............. 6. Cheops or Chemmis 7. Cephrenes, Cephres, or Sesah 8. Mycerinus or Cherinus Cyrus conquers Egypt. 7. Psammenitus. First revolt of Egypt, (6 mo.) EIGHTH DYNASTY, PERSIAN KINGS, 112 YEARS. 15-673 39-658 16-619 6-603 28-597 44-569 535 525 148 |