From: Subject: FROM THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY TO THE TIME OF RAMSES II Date: Sun, 4 May 2008 18:07:28 +0300 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="windows-1255" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://localhost:8780/pubs/journals/kronos/vol0303/003end.htm X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3198 FROM THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY TO THE TIME OF = RAMSES II

FROM THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY TO THE TIME OF RAMSES II

IMMANUEL VELIKOVSKY

Editor's Note: The material presented here basically = constitutes=20 Chapter I of the original unpublished sequel volume to Ages in = Chaos,=20 Volume I. That sequel has since been expanded into additional volumes, = covering the Assyrian Conquest and the Dark Age of Greece = (forthcoming),=20 Ramses II and His Time (1978), and Peoples of the = Sea=20 (1977). The present material has been modified only slightly since it = was=20 first written more than thirty years ago. It should be read = immediately after=20 Ages in Chaos, Volume I, and before Ramses II and His = Time=20 -- see page 95 (Notices) in this issue.

WHEN THE HOUSE OF AKHNATON DIED OUT

Stormy and unsettled was the period of the eighth and seventh = centuries=20 before the present era. The world was in a tumultuous state. Terrifying = portents=20 were seen in the sky and were followed by great perturbations such as=20 earthquakes and other disturbances. The nations of the ancient East were = in=20 turmoil, and armies marched along military roads, engaging one another = in strife=20 and wars. Peoples from the steppes of the north crossed mountain = barriers and=20 transgressed the boundaries of states. Civilian unrest flared up in many = places.

On the eve of these developments, at the end of the ninth century, = the=20 glorious Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt had come to an end and the house of = Akhnaton degenerated and was extirpated.

For only a short time did Akhnaton's residence city, Akhet-Aton, = enjoy the=20 sounds of agitated life, with messengers and ambassadors coming and = going. Soon=20 the place was abandoned by men, and desert sands swept over and buried = it, to=20 make place at last for the few poor settlements of el-Amarna.

This much is known: the religious reform of Akhnaton was abolished, = his line=20 died out, and his palace and his city were abandoned; but history = professes not=20 to know the cause of all this, nor the personal fate of Akhnaton, nor = what=20 happened during the anarchy which followed or which may also have = preceded the=20 end of this glorious dynasty.

The circumstances under which the Nineteenth Dynasty was established = are=20 supposedly not known. This is the dynasty of Ramses I, Seti the Great, = Ramses=20 II, and Merneptah. Still another name is preserved, that of Haremhab. He = belonged neither to the Eighteenth nor to the Nineteenth Dynasty; he was = not a=20 descendant of Akhnaton, nor was he an ancestor of the Ramessides. He is = supposed=20 to have ruled over Egypt during the interregnum. It is not apparent why = he was=20 "chosen to be the king" and to administer Egypt. Nothing is known of his = end.

The transition of power from the Eighteenth to the Nineteenth Dynasty = is=20 regarded as an obscure period in Egyptian history.

With the close of the el-Amarna period we have reached, according to = our=20 revised scheme, the latter part of the ninth century. The eighth century = and the=20 beginning of the seventh were the periods of the Libyan and, Ethiopian = Dynasties=20 in Egypt. The conventional scheme assigns the el-Amarna period to the = latter=20 part of the fifteenth and the earlier part of the fourteenth centuries = and has=20 the Nineteenth Dynasty (that of Seti and Ramses II), the Twentieth = Dynasty (that=20 of Ramses III the last great pharaoh of Egypt), and the Twenty first = Dynasty=20 (that of the priest-kings) follow before the Libyans, and then the = Ethiopians=20 ruled Egypt. The Ethiopian Dynasty is correctly ascribed by the = conventional=20 chronology to the decades around -- 700. Where, then, should we place = the great=20 Nineteenth and Twentieth Dynasties?

As I shall endeavor to show on the pages that follow, the Libyan and=20 Ethiopian Dynasties in Egypt closely followed the Eighteenth Dynasty and = preceded the Nineteenth Dynasty, that of Seti and Ramses II, and the = Twentieth=20 Dynasty, that of Ramses III. This result of the present reconstruction = is=20 probably the most unexpected of all. With the whole scheme upset by an = error of=20 almost six hundred years, the proper assignment of one period alone -- = that of=20 the Ethiopian Dynasty in Egypt -- creates a great confusion in sequence. = The=20 so-called Nineteenth Dynasty is found to be displaced, not only by the = usual=20 five to six hundred years, but also by an additional one hundred and = fifty years=20 or so, the total error amounting to the huge figure of three quarters of = a=20 millennium. The kings of the Nineteenth Dynasty, as we shall see, were = identical=20 with the kings of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty; thus they live twice on the = pages of=20 history.

Because one period was torn out of a dislocated order of events, = causes=20 wrongly became consequences and consequences changed to causes, and = descendants=20 became ancestors, while progenitors were turned into offspring.

SEQUENCE OF DYNASTIES: EVIDENCES FROM LANGUAGE, = ART, AND=20 ARCHAEOLOGY

The Egyptian language and orthography under the Ethiopians and the=20 Twenty-sixth (called also Saitic) Dynasty were so similar to the style = and=20 orthography under the Eighteenth Dynasty that experts have often engaged = in=20 disputes about the date of a literary relic, with six to eight hundred = years at=20 stake. One of the cases is that of the Sphinx stele, on which is a text = of a=20 prophetic dream of Thutmose IV.

Thutmose IV (father of Amenhotep III of the el-Amarna correspondence) = had an=20 oracular dream, according to this Egyptian text written on a stele. A. = Erman, an=20 eminent Egyptologist, tried to prove that the text is a product of the = Saitic=20 time, especially because of its late spelling.(1) But he was disputed by = another=20 equally excellent Egyptologist, Spiegelberg, who presented the argument = that the=20 "late spelling" is actually not late and that the texts of the Saitic = time,=20 seven or eight hundred years after the Eighteenth Dynasty, are = conspicuous=20 through their employing a classical orthography; and that thus no marked = difference is evident between the texts of these two periods. The Sphinx = stele=20 with the dream of Thutmose IV is, according to the last-named scholar, = an=20 original text of the Eighteenth Dynasty.(2)

The Eighteenth Dynasty and the Saitic time in Egypt (Libyan, = Ethiopian,=20 Twenty-sixth Dynasties) produced very similar literary works. In no = language,=20 ancient or new, would eight hundred years have passed without very = considerable=20 changes: one should think only of the metamorphosis of English between = the time=20 of Geoffrey Chaucer and that of Oscar Wilde. It was no different with = the=20 Egyptian language; but the two epochs under consideration showed so = little=20 change only because there was so little time difference.

In order to substantiate further our identification of the Nineteenth = and=20 Twenty-sixth Dynasties, I could point to the fact that no mummies have = been=20 found of the kings of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, but there are mummies of = almost=20 all the kings of the Nineteenth Dynasty; that no bronzes were discovered = from=20 the Nineteenth Dynasty, whereas there are many bronzes of the Eighteenth = and=20 Twenty-sixth Dynasties, as well as of the Libyan and

Ethiopian domination in Egypt (dynasties Twenty-second to = Twenty-fifth);(3)=20 that among the sarcophagi ascribed to the Nineteenth as well as among = those=20 ascribed to the Twenty-sixth Dynasty there is a peculiar type with the=20 sculptured figure of the deceased lying on the lid of the sarcophagus, a = form=20 not found under any other dynasty;(4) that in Thebes, next to the rock = tombs of=20 the Eighteenth Dynasty, are the large rock tombs of the Ethiopian = Dynasty,=20 proving that there was still a place for them, but no rock tombs of the=20 Nineteenth Dynasty are found; that the Ethiopian artists followed the = style of=20 the Eighteenth Dynasty, and more especially imitated the forms of human = bodies=20 so characteristic in the art of Akhnaton's artists;(5) that in the = temple of Mut=20 in Karnak the lion figures of Sekhmet were partly built by Amenhotep III = and=20 partly by Sosenk, one of the Libyan pharaohs.(6)

In the present reconstruction the sequence will be established as: = Eighteenth=20 Dynasty, Libyans, Ethiopians, Nineteenth Dynasty, which is the same as = the=20 Twenty-sixth.

____________________________

1. A. Erman, "Die Sphinx Stele," Sitzungsberichte der = Preussischen=20 Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-historische Klasse, = 1904, pp.=20 428-44.
2. W. Spiegelberg, "Die Datierung der Sphinxstele,"=20 Orientalistische Literaturzeitung, Vll (1904), 288-91, 34344. = He says:=20 "Die guten archaisierenden Texte der Saïtenzeit zeichnen sich = gerade durch=20 korrekte 'klassische' Orthographie aus."
3. N. Dorin = Ischlondsky,=20 "Problems of Dating a Unique Egyptian Bronze," Journal of Near = Eastern=20 Studies, 25 (1966), pp. 101 ff.
4. Valdemar Schmidt, Levende = og Døde=20 det Gamle Aegypten, Album (Copenhagen, 1919), p. 107, fig. 560 and = p. 205,=20 fig. 1172.
5. A. Wiedemann, "Die Uschebti-Formel Amenophis' III,"=20 Sphinx, XVI (1912), pp. 33-54; J.D. Cooney, "Three Early Saite = Tomb=20 Reliefs", JNES, IX (1950), pp. 193-203.
6. Percy E. Newberry, "The = Sekhemet=20 statues of the Temple of Mut at Karnak," Proceedings of the Society = of=20 Biblical Archaeology, XXV (1903), pp. 217-221; Henri Gauthier, "Les = Statues=20 Thébaines de la déesse Sakhmet," Annales du Service = des Antiquités de=20 l'Égypte, XIX (1920), pp. 177-207; Kurt Sethe, "Zu den = Sachmet Statuen=20 Amenophis' III," Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und=20 Altertumskunde," 58 (1923), pp. 43-44.=20

THE HOUSE OF OMRI

In Palestine, the house of Judah and the house of Israel went through = a=20 series of revolutions. These kindred nations waged wars with each other = and=20 against the Syrians.

Under Jehu and his son Jehoahaz, Israel was oppressed by Hazael of = Damascus,=20 one of the el-Amarna correspondents, and his son Ben-Hadad. Relief came = only in=20 the days of Joash, grandson of Jehu. The Second Book of Kings gives this = vivid=20 picture:

"Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. And = Joash the=20 king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face.... And Elisha = said=20 unto him, Take bow and arrows. And he took unto him bow and arrows. And = he said=20 to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow. And he put his hand = upon it:=20 and Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands. And he said, Open the = window=20 eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he = said,=20 The arrow of the Lord's deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from=20 Syria."

Jeroboam II, son of Joash, "restored the coast of Israel from the = entering of=20 Hamath," and possessed Damascus too. He reigned forty and one years in = Samaria=20 in the palace built by Omri and Ahab.

The forty-one-year reign of Jeroboam II was Israel's swan song. Soon = after=20 his death a series of revolutions took place in the palace at Samaria, = the=20 Assyrian king interceded and exacted tribute from the = contestants.(1)

In the days of Pekah, one of the kings of that time, Israel made an = alliance=20 with the king of Damascus and warred against Judah. Ahaz, king of Judah, = sent=20 messengers to Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, with presents and with = the=20 request to be saved from the hands of the kings of Syria and Israel.=20 Tiglath-Pileser went up against Damascus and took it and exiled its = population;=20 he went also against Israel and took away Gilead and Galilee and the = land of=20 Naphtali and carried their population to Assyria.(2)

_____________________

1. II Kings 15:19.
2. II Kings 15:29.=20

PHARAOH SO

The next, and last king of Israel, Hoshea son of Elah, reigned nine = years. He=20 paid the regular tribute of a vassal to the new king of Assyria, = Shalmaneser IV,=20 but in the sixth year he discontinued the tribute:

II Kings 17:4. And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: = for he=20 had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the = king of=20 Assyria, as he had done year by year.

Who was Pharaoh So, to whom the king of Israel gave allegiance? He is = not=20 identified by historians.

During the greater part of the eighth century the Libyan Dynasty of = Osorkons=20 and Sosenks (Shoshenks) ruled over Egypt. The kings of this dynasty vied = with=20 the kings of Assyria for influence in Palestine and Phoenicia. Elibaal, = king of=20 Byblos, had an Egyptian artist carve a statue of Osorkon I and write on = it:=20 "Elibaal, king of Gebal [Byblos], prepared this statue."(1) Abibaal, = another=20 king of Byblos, ordered a statue of a Sosenk.

This Sosenk of the Libyan Dynasty left a bas-relief on a wall of the = Karnak=20 temple that shows scores of men with shields symbolizing cities in = northern=20 Palestine. It imitates the bas-relief of Thutmose III with the captured = cities=20 of Palestine, but, whereas the names of the cities claimed by Thutmose = are all=20 identifiable names, mainly of Judea, the cities listed by Sosenk are = only partly=20 identified, and those are sites in Samaria and Galilee, not in Judea.(2) = There=20 is no Egyptian record of an expedition by Sosenk into Palestine, nor is = the=20 booty of a sacked temple or palace reproduced; next to the bas-relief of = Sosenk=20 in Karnak there is a brief mention of tribute from Syria (Kharu), = received by=20 Sosenk. It is generally regarded that Sosenk was the Pharaoh Shishak who = sacked=20 the Temple of Solomon in the days of Rehoboam, Solomon's son. Some = scholars,=20 however, have emphasized that the receipt of tribute and the depiction = of cities=20 as tribute-bound do not mean that there must have been an actual = conquest, but=20 imply only that the cities were within the sphere of influence of the = pharaoh=20 and, in accordance with their dependent status, brought presents to = him.(3) In=20 the Bible, on the other hand, an actual conquest is described.

Pharaoh Sosenk who left the bas-relief of tribute-paying Israelite = cities was=20 the biblical Pharaoh So, who received tribute from Hoshea, king of = Israel.

In the Scriptures there is a record of tribute paid by Rehoboam, son = of=20 Solomon, to Pharaoh Shishak, and there is a record of tribute paid two = hundred=20 years later by Hoshea of Israel to Pharaoh So. In Egypt there are two=20 bas-reliefs depicting tribute received in Palestine: by Thutmose III of = the=20 Eighteenth Dynasty and by Sosenk of the Libyan Dynasty. We have = identified the=20 first of the two pharaohs who received tribute (from Rehoboam) as = Thutmose=20 III,(4) and the second, who received tribute from Hoshea, as Sosenk; = thus two=20 biblical records and two Egyptian documents are in complete agreement.=20 Conventional history, however, by making the Libyan Sosenk the sacker of = Solomon's Temple, has no Palestinian counterpart to the records of = Thutmose III=20 concerning his campaign in Palestine or tribute paid to him; and it has = no=20 Egyptian counterpart to the biblical record of a tribute paid by Israel = to=20 Pharaoh So.

When Samaria chose to give her allegiance to Egypt, Isaiah regarded = it as a=20 political mistake.

Isaiah 30:1 Woe to the rebellious children

2 That walk to go down into Egypt . . . to strengthen themselves in = the=20 strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt

4 For his princes were at Zoan [Tanis] and his ambassadors came to=20 Hanes.

Because of the tribute Sosenk received from Hoshea, king of Samaria, = the Ten=20 Tribes of Israel were doomed to lose their homeland. Shalmaneser IV = besieged=20 Samaria. It is doubtful whether Sosenk sent a military expedition into = Palestine=20 to relieve the siege of Samaria by the Assyrians. There is no mention of = it in=20 the books of Kings or Chronicles, nor in extant Egyptian documents. = Isaiah said:=20 "For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose." "Therefore = shall the=20 strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt = your=20 confusion." This leaves open the question of an Egyptian detachment at = the walls=20 of Samaria.

For three long years the Assyrian host besieged Samaria, conquering = it in the=20 first year of Sargon II. Israel was dragged to remote parts of the = Assyrian=20 Empire.

Sargon, referring to another of his campaigns (against Babylon), = wrote: "I=20 bespatted his people with the venom of death." Of his campaign against = Elam he=20 wrote: "Into all their cities I cast gloom and turned all of their = provinces=20 into deserted mounds." He did likewise to Israel and to Israel's land. = 'And the=20 Lord . . . had cast them out of his sight" (II Kings 17:20).

The king of Assyria brought throngs of settlers from the north and = east and=20 placed them in the cities of Samaria. The turn of Jerusalem to face the = Assyrian=20 onslaught came one generation later.

____________________

1. Osorkon I having been made a contemporary of Asa, Elibaal was also = placed=20 in the ninth century, over a hundred years before his actual time. = Abibaal was=20 placed in the tenth century as a contemporary of Sosenk I. The = epigraphists, who=20 must take directives from the archaeologists, tried to reconcile the = dates=20 derived from these inscriptions with the characters on the stele of = Mesha and on=20 the ivories from Samaria of the middle of the ninth century, and were = rather=20 puzzled. For more on this subject see Ramses II and His Time, = Chapter=20 III, "The Tomb of Ahiram."
2. See Ages in Chaos, I, = 174-76.
3.=20 Breasted, Records, Vol. IV, Sec. 709; J.A. Wilson, "Egyptian = Historical=20 Texts," Ancient Near Eastern Texts, ed. Pritchard.
4. = Ages in=20 Chaos, I, 143-7 7.=20

THE YEAR -- 702

"With the dust of their feet they covered the wide heavens like a = mighty=20 storm with masses of dense clouds." Thus wrote Sennacherib, son of = Sargon, about=20 his army. "The tents of the steppe . . . I turned into a mass of flames = . . . I=20 swept like a hurricane. I besieged, I captured, I destroyed, I = devastated, I=20 burned with fire."

After two campaigns against his enemies in the north, and still early = in his=20 reign, Sennacherib led his forces toward Syria and Palestine. The = Assyrian army=20 swept along the coast. It attacked Sidon, and Lalu, its king, fled into = the sea.=20 Sennacherib appointed a new king and received tribute from him. Arvad = and=20 Ashdod, Ammon and Edom, brought him gifts and "kissed his feet."(1)

Sennacherib encircled Beth-Dagon, Jaffa, and Bne-Brak and conquered = them.=20 "The people of Ekron became afraid and called upon the Egyptian king, = the=20 bowmen, chariots and horses of the king of Melukha [Ethiopia], a = countless host,=20 and these came to their aid.

"I fought with them and brought about their defeat. The Egyptian = charioteers=20 and princes, together with the charioteers of the Ethiopian king my = hands took=20 alive in the midst of the battle." The Egyptian-Ethiopian army was = defeated at=20 the walls of the stronghold of Eltekeh in Palestine. The inhabitants of=20 neighboring Ekron were killed, and their corpses were hung on spikes = around the=20 town.

"The proud Hazakiah jaudau (Hezekiah the Judean) did not accept my = yoke. I=20 surrounded walled cities of his and strongholds and small towns without = number.=20 I closed him in Jerusalem as a bird in a cage.

"Hazakiah . . . and his courageous warriors laid down their arms; 30 = talents=20 of gold and 800 talents of silver, precious stones, lapis lazuli, a = tremendous=20 treasure," Sennacherib took to Nineveh, his capital. Jerusalem paid a = ransom for=20 release and was not entered by his army. The corresponding biblical = record in=20 the Second Book of Kings differs in the detail of the quantity of silver = in the=20 ransom. It, too, mentions thirty talents of gold, but only three hundred = talents=20 of silver.

Besides this record on a clay prism, bas-reliefs show the siege of = Lachish in=20 southern Palestine, on the way from Jerusalem to Egypt. What was the = fate of=20 Egypt? In the extant inscriptions Sennacherib did not mention a specific = campaign in Egypt and Ethiopia, but he did refer to himself as the king = of=20 Ethiopia.

Since early times the question has occupied the historians: Did = Sennacherib=20 invade Egypt and Ethiopia or did he not?

Jewish tradition knows of the conquest of Egypt by Sennacherib and of = his=20 march toward Ethiopia.(2) Berosus, who wrote a history of Chaldea, said = that=20 Sennacherib conducted an expedition against "all Asia and Egypt."(3) = Herodotus=20 wrote that Sennacherib, king of Arabia and Assyria, invaded the land of = Egypt=20 and besieged Pelusium on its northeastern frontier.(4)

It appears that after the battle of Eltekeh in southern Palestine, = where he=20 was victorious over the Ethiopian-Egyptian army, Sennacherib crossed the = border=20 of Egypt proper and at Pelusium, east of the Delta, received a = declaration of=20 submission.

_________________

1. The Annals of Sennacherib (trans. D.D. Luckenbill; = Publications=20 of the Oriental Institute, Chicago University, 1924), II, 30.
2. = Josephus,=20 Jewish Antiquities, X, 17-20. Talmudic sources relate that = Sennacherib,=20 after conquering Egypt, carried away from there the throne of Solomon. = For=20 Sennacherib in Ethiopia see L. Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, = Vl,=20 365.
3. Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, X, i, 4.
4. = Herodotus, II,=20 141.=20

THE YEAR -- 687

Sennacherib turned toward the lands east of Assyria, and in the = following=20 years, in his fourth to eighth campaigns, he warred against Babylon and = Elam.=20 Meanwhile, Hezekiah fortified his cities, repaired the citadel Millo at=20 Jerusalem, prepared arrows and shields, ordered that the fountains and = the=20 brooks in the land be stopped at the first sign of invasion, and with = the help=20 of the prophet Isaiah heartened the people. Once more he concluded an = alliance=20 with the Egyptians and Ethiopians and waited for Sennacherib to come = again.

The annals of Sennacherib record only eight campaigns. The second = march into=20 Palestine, which ended disastrously and which probably was his last = military=20 undertaking, was not recorded by the Assyrian king, who had no intention = of=20 preserving for posterity the story of his reverses.

In the last century scholars became aware that there were two = invasions of=20 Palestine by Sennacherib and that it is possible to discern in the = scriptural=20 record an early and a late campaign against Hezekiah.(1) The first = campaign to=20 Palestine took place about -- 702. The second campaign is fixed by = modern=20 historians as having occurred in -- 687 or -- 686.(2)

When Sennacherib came to Palestine for the second time, Hezekiah = refused to=20 submit or to pay tribute. The Ethiopian king Tirhakah (Taharka) stood = together=20 with his Egyptian confederate at the border of Egypt, prepared to meet = the=20 threat.(3) Sennacherib sent his messengers to Hezekiah from Lachish and = again=20 from Libnah to demand submission; he also wrote him an ultimatum and = blasphemed=20 the Hebrew God.

But in a single night the Assyrian host, about 185,000 warriors, = perished,=20 destroyed by some natural cause.(4)

Herodotus (II, 141) relates this event and gives a version he heard = from the=20 Egyptians when he visited their land two and a half centuries later. = When=20 Sennacherib invaded Pelusium, the priest-king Sethos went with a weak = army to=20 defend the frontier. In a single night hordes of field mice overran the = Assyrian=20 camp, devoured quivers, bows, and shield handles, and put the Assyrian = army to=20 flight. Another version was given by Berosus, the Chaldean priest of the = third=20 century before the present era; Josephus intended to give Berosus' = version, as=20 different from that of Herodotus, but in the extant manuscripts of = Josephus the=20 quotation, though announced, is omitted.

This event and the writings relating to it have been investigated in=20 Worlds in Collision, which deals with the natural history of = the=20 period.(5) A sequence of natural phenomena that bewildered the world for = almost=20 a hundred years, during the eighth and at the beginning of the seventh=20 centuries, is investigated and described in that volume. With knowledge = of the=20 precise character and time of these physical phenomena, an exact = synchronism can=20 be established. As in the first chapter of Ages in Chaos, where = investigation into the nature of the cataclysm at the time of the Exodus = was=20 purposely excluded, the natural phenomena of the eighth and seventh = centuries=20 are not examined and explained here; for the purposes of the present = book, I=20 borrow from Worlds in Collision the exact date: Sennacherib's = army was=20 annihilated on the night of March 23, -- 687. The calculations of modern = historians, who place the second invasion of Palestine by Sennacherib in = -- 687,=20 are correct.

________________________

1. The first to realize that there were two Palestinian campaigns by=20 Sennacherib was Henry Rawlinson. It was especially the reference to = Lachish on=20 both occasions in the Second Book of Kings that caused the apparent = confusion of=20 the two campaigns as one. K. Fullerton, The Invasion of = Sennacherib,=20 Bibliotheca Sacra, No. 63 (1906), 577-634, remarked that Richard Coeur = de Lion=20 also used Lachish as a base of operations on two crusades. See also J.V. = Prásek,=20 "Sanheribs Feldzüge gegen Juda," Mitteilungen, = Vorderasiatisch-ägyptische=20 Gesellschaft, VIII (1903), No. 4, 2; R.W. Rogers, "Sennacherib and = Judah,"=20 Studien Julius Welihausen Gewidmet (Giessen, 1914), pp. 317 ff. =
2.=20 H.R. Hall, The Ancient History of the Near East (New York, = 1913), pp.=20 490-91.
4. II Kings = 19:35; Isaiah=20 37:36.
5. Worlds in Collision, pp. 227-43, 309-10, 350-51.=20

SETHOS

At the head of the defending army that was shielding Egypt when = catastrophe=20 overtook the host of Sennacherib was Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, = successor to=20 Shabaka and Shabataka, earlier kings of Ethiopia. The name of Tirhakah = appears=20 Sethos, headed the army gathered against Sennacherib, when a catastrophe = destroyed the Assyrian army in a single night.

"We have no official Egyptian account of the disaster [which = occurred] to=20 Sennacherib. In the popular tradition preserved by Herodotus the name of = the=20 Egyptian king is given as 'Sethos' . . .; the true appellation of the = monarch=20 has disappeared in favor of that of the great Seti .... It is impossible = to=20 reject the whole story to the actual period of Seti in face of the = direct=20 mention of Sennacherib (Sanacharibos)."(1)

In the conventional scheme of history, Seti the Great lived in the = fourteenth=20 century; the event with which we are now concerned took place in -- = 687.

However, Herodotus also gave a second name of the Egyptian king who = opposed=20 Sennacherib. He called him Sethos and Psammetich. He said that after the = departure of the Ethiopian king Sabacos [Shabaka] from Egypt Sethos = became king;=20 but in another place he said that, after the departure of the Ethiopian = king=20 Sabacos, Psammetich ("for the second time") became king.(2)

The king of the seventh century who bore the name of Seti (Sethos) = was not=20 Seti the Great; he was his grandfather. His famous grandson was probably = not yet=20 born when "The Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, And = breathed in the=20 face of the foe as he passed."(3)

The confusion of history, for which Herodotus is not to be blamed, = put the=20 grandson six hundred years before his grandfather. If the Nineteenth and = the=20 Twenty-sixth Dynasties are substantially one and the same, then we shall = recognize not only the identity of Psammetich I, called Sethos by = Herodotus, and=20 Seti I but also the identity of Necho I and Ramses I, Psammetich II and = Seti II=20 (the Great), Necho II and Ramses II, and Apries and Merneptah. We shall = also=20 recognize the time and the role of Haremhab.

_______________

1. Hall, The Ancient History of the Near East, p. 492. See = also=20 Cambridge Ancient History, III, 279: "It is simpler to suppose = that it=20 is merely a traditional confusion of the old name Seti in a wrong=20 setting."
2. Herodotus, II,141 and 152.
3. Lord Byron, The = Destruction=20 of Sennacherib.=20

ESARHADDON AND TIRHAKAH

Several years after Sennacherib returned from his ill-fated campaign = against=20 Judea and Egypt, he was slain by two of his sons while worshiping in a = temple.=20 Esarhaddon, his heir, pursued his brothers and killed them. Then he = tried to=20 re-establish the shattered authority of Assyria in Syria and on the = Phoenician=20 shore.

"I besieged, I captured, I plundered, I destroyed, I devastated, I = burned=20 with fire," wrote Esarhaddon. "I hung the heads of the kings upon the = shoulders=20 of their nobles and with singing and music I paraded." He threatened = Tyre, then=20 besieged it, and deposed its king. He also marched into the desert = "where=20 serpents and scorpions cover the plain like ants." And having thus = ensured the=20 safety of his rear and flank along the roads to Egypt, he moved his army = against=20 that country.

"In the sixth year the troops of Assyria went to Egypt; they fled = before a=20 storm." This laconic item in the short "Esarhaddon Chronicle,"(1) = written more=20 than one hundred years after his death, may actually refer to the = debacle of=20 Sennacherib; or, one may conjecture, at certain ominous signs in the = sky, the=20 persistent recollection of the disaster to Sennacherib's army threw the = army of=20 his son into a panic.

Thereafter, "in the tenth year, the troops of Assyria went to Egypt." = The=20 battles of this campaign are described by Esarhaddon himself.(2) "I = conquered=20 Egypt, Upper Egypt, and Ethiopia (Musur, Patursi, and Kusi). Tirhakah, = its king,=20 five times I fought with him with my javelin, and I brought all of his = land=20 under my sway, I ruled it."(3)

Battling Tirhakah during a march of fifteen days, Esarhaddon came = first to=20 Memphis. "Memphis, his royal city, in half a day, with mines, tunnels, = assaults,=20 I besieged, I captured, I destroyed, I devastated, I burned with = fire."(4)

"From Egypt I departed, to Melukha (Ethiopia) I marched = straightway."(5) He=20 describes briefly the march of thirty days from Memphis to Ethiopia.

Sennacherib and his son Esarhaddon regularly replaced the kings of = the realms=20 they conquered with native princes in whose loyalty they trusted. It is = very=20 probable that these tributary vice-kings appointed by the Assyrian kings = had=20 already served in the Assyrian army. Rabshakeh, a general of = Sennacherib, who=20 came to Jerusalem and spoke in Hebrew to the people on the wall (II = Kings=20 18:28), was, according to Talmudic tradition, a Hebrew, and some rabbis=20 maintained that he was even of the royal seed -- a son of Hezekiah and = brother=20 of Manasseh.(6) He was probably destined by Sennacherib

to be the viceroy of Judea after the expected fall of Jerusalem. The = Assyrian=20 representatives had to restore order after the conquest, introduce = Assyrian laws=20 and customs, keep the people under the supervision of a garrison, and = pay=20 tribute to the Assyrian crown by delivering the agricultural products of = the=20 land and the yield of the mines.

After his conquest of Egypt, Esarhaddon wrote: "Over all of Egypt I = appointed=20 new kings, viceroys, governors, commandants, and scribes." The word = "new" may=20 mean that kings and governors had already once been appointed by his = father=20 Sennacherib.

Esarhaddon called himself "king of Sumur and Akkad, king of the kings = of=20 Egypt, Upper Egypt and Ethiopia, the son of Sennacherib, king of = Assyria."

___________________

1. "The Esarhaddon Chronicle," in Sidney Smith, Babylonian = Historical=20 Texts Relating to the Capture and Downfall of Babylon (London, = 1924), p.=20 14.
2. Esarhaddon's campaigns in Egypt and Ethiopia are recorded on = his stele=20 found in Senjirli in northern Syria; his stele at Nahr el-Kelb (Dog = River),=20 close to Beirut, also describes the campaign against Egypt and the = capture of=20 Memphis.
3. Luckenbill, Records of Assyria, II, Sec. = 710.
4.=20 Ibid., Sec. 580.
5. Ibid, Sec. 557.
6. Ginzberg, = Legends, Vl, 370.=20

HAREMHAB, AN APPOINTED PHARAOH

It is not known how and when Haremhab became king of Egypt. Some = think that=20 he was the last king of the Eighteenth Dynasty; some place him at the = beginning=20 of the Nineteenth Dynasty.(1) He did not claim a royal origin nor was he = the=20 father of Ramses I, who followed him.(2) He was appointed by a king to = rule the=20 country, and sometime after a campaign of conquest or reconquest = directed=20 against Ethiopia he was designated by the king to be crowned. Nowhere is = found=20 the name of the king who appointed him to this extraordinary office. = Wherever=20 the king's name or likeness was carved into stone, it was broken off. = Who could=20 he have been? It is often surmised that he was Akhnaton. But Akhnaton = was=20 succeeded by Smenkhkare and Tutankhamen. Tutankhamen? But he was = followed by an=20 old general, Aye.

Had Haremhab been a prominent official in the days of el-Amarna, he, = like=20 other generals and courtiers, would have had a sepulchral chamber built = for him=20 in the necropolis of Akhet-Aton (el-Amarna).(3) But no tomb prepared for = him has=20 been discovered there. However, while yet a general he built for himself = a tomb=20 near Memphis, a place rather neglected during the Eighteenth = Dynasty.

Haremhab's own statement of his title at the time his sepulcher was = being=20 prepared is:

King's follower on his expeditions in the south and north country. = Greatest=20 of the great, mightiest of the mighty, great lord of the people, = King's=20 messenger at the head of his army, to the south and north country.

Chosen of the King, presider over the Two Lands (Egypt), in order = to carry=20 on the administration of the Two Lands, general of generals of the = Lord of the=20 Two Lands.(4)

"Such titles no officer under the king had ever borne. Under what = ruler he=20 thus served is not certain, but whoever he was such power in the hands = of a=20 subject must necessarily have endangered his throne. "(5)

On another fragment from his tomb he is called "The = commander-in-chief of the=20 army, Haremhab," and on still another, "Deputy of the king, presiding = over the=20 Two Lands," and "The general in chief . . . the two eyes of the king in = the Two=20 Lands."(6) But in the picture next to these inscriptions he wears the = diadem=20 with a uraeus, a cobra, the emblem of royal power in Egypt.

The scholars are thus compelled to the conclusion: "Incongruity in = the tomb:=20 Throughout its reliefs the figure of the General Haremhab wears the = uraeus."(7)=20 It is rather unusual in Egyptian art that a uraeus should crown the head = of a=20 person who does not occupy the throne.

Then the general, who already wore the uraeus, was crowned. In = Haremhab's=20 coronation inscription it is said:

The heart of the King was satisfied with his affairs; he rejoiced = at his=20 choice; he appointed him to be chief [r'-hry] of the land, to = administer the laws of the Two Lands as hereditary prince of all this = land; he=20 was unique, without his second.(3)

He was appointed to administer Egypt after a march of conquest. He = was the=20 king of Egypt by appointment. If there was a monarch in Egypt, why did = he give=20 his crown to Haremhab, and that -- as the inscription says -- in his, = the=20 monarch's, own lifetime? It appears that the other king must have been = not an=20 Egyptian king but a king by whom Egypt had been conquered. The question = has=20 never been put in this way, but the conclusion is implicit in the = records.

Haremhab described himself as the very faithful companion of the = king, who=20 bestowed on him the supreme honor and crowned him. But in his Great = Edict=20 Haremhab wrote:

Hear ye these commands which my majesty has made for the first = time,=20 governing the whole land, when my majesty remembered these cases of=20 oppression.(9)

And he gave his edict to deliver "the Egyptians from the oppressions = which=20 were among them."

The king who bestowed the crown on Haremhab was exalted by him, and = at the=20 same time the rule of the land preceding that of Haremhab was branded by = him as=20 a wicked rule. Here again is an incongruity, unless the king who gave = him the=20 crown was not the king who ruled Egypt as a native ruler. The rule of = Haremhab=20 must be considered as that of a king named to administer Egypt by the = decree of=20 a foreign king.

Haremhab's position is understood when in proper historical = perspective. He=20 was appointed to his post in Egypt by Sennacherib or Esarhaddon. He was = thus the=20 king of Egypt by the grace of a king conqueror and subordinate to the=20 latter.

A series of other matters with respect to Haremhab ceases to baffle = us when=20 this solution is kept in mind.

On a fragment from the tomb of Haremhab many horses are seen, = indicating that=20 horsemen were pictured parading in the presence of Haremhab. "We have = here a=20 unique scene on an Egyptian monument -- a troop of Asiatic = horsemen."(10)

The Assyrians are credited with the development of cavalry; in the = words of a=20 Hebrew prophet, "Assyrians . . . horsemen riding upon horses. "(11)

Haremhab's Great Edict is a manifesto of his policy for keeping the = state in=20 order. The language of the Edict differs from the usual mode of = expression in=20 Egyptian edicts. It is a dry, juridical document, clear, and, apart from = the=20 introduction, free from the usual verbosity and figurative exaltations = of=20 Egyptian inscriptions. In such language were written the legal documents = of the=20 Assyrians.

Throughout the Edict of Haremhab emphasis is placed on the principle = of=20 justice. The Edict "might be entitled 'The Justice of the King. ' = "(12)

INSERT KIII3_18.JPG HERE

Sennacherib wrote of himself as one "who likes justice, who = established=20 order."(13) Haremhab used the same expression.

The Edict of Haremhab contains provisions for martial law. Punishment = for=20 offenders was severe.

His nose shall be cut off and he shall be sent to = Tharu.(14)

This penalty was not known in Egypt before Haremhab; but in the time = of=20 Sennacherib it was a customary punishment inflicted by the Assyrians on=20 vanquished peoples. Sennacherib wrote in the annals of his eighth = campaign,=20 against Palestine and Egypt: "With sharp swords I cut off their = noses."

For this reason Tharu, the place of exile of the mutilated offenders, = was=20 called Rhinocorura or Rhinocolura (meaning "cut-off noses") by Greek = authors.=20 Rhinocolura is el-Arish, on the Palestinian border of Egypt.(15)

Referring to Palestine, Haremhab stated in his sepulchral = inscription, the=20 greater part of which is missing: " . . . Asiatics, others have been = placed in=20 their abodes."(16) Sargon, father of Sennacherib, had removed the Ten = Tribes=20 from Samaria and her cities, and settled others in their place (II Kings = 17:24),=20 and, according to his prism inscriptions, Sennacherib removed large = numbers of=20 people of Judea, over two hundred thousand, from their land to = exile.(17)

On the wall of a great burial chamber constructed in the time of the=20 Ethiopian Dynasty, the name of Haremhab was found engraved.(18) Haremhab = is=20 supposed to have reigned more than six hundred years before the time the = chamber=20 was built. But as we now see, there is nothing mysterious in this sign = on the=20 wall of the sepulcher; Haremhab, as a viceroy under Sennacherib, warred = against=20 the Ethiopians.

Haremhab reigned in the first quarter of the seventh century, not in = the last=20 quarter of the fourteenth century. A papyrus mentions a fifty-ninth year = of=20 Haremhab.(19) It probably refers to the Assyrian era of Nabonassar, = which=20 started in -- 747. This era was connected with astronomical phenomena = and was=20 used as a time-point of

reference in Egypt even in the days of the Roman Empire.(20) The 59th = year of=20 that era would fall in -- 688, one year before Sennacherib's disastrous = last=20 campaign.

___________________

1. "It is difficult at the present day to know what position to = assign him=20 [Haremhab] in the Pharaonic lists: while some regard him as the last of = the=20 XVIIIth Dynasty others prefer to place him at the head of the XIXth." = Maspero,=20 The Struggle of the Nations, p. 369.
2. Meyer, = Geschichte des=20 Altertums, Vol. II, Pt. 1, p. 427.
3. "An individual of the = importance=20 of Harmhabi, living alongside the king, would at least have had a tomb = begun for=20 him at Tell el-Amarna." Maspero, The Struggle of the Nations, = p. 342,=20 note.
4. Breasted, Records, Vol. III, Sec. 20.
5. = Breasted,=20 History of Egypt, pp. 399-400.
6. The Leiden and London=20 fragments.
7. Breasted, Records, Vol. III, Sec. 12. Breasted = assumes=20 that the uraeus was added to the bas-relief some time after Haremhab = became=20 king. See Breasted, History of Egypt, Fig. 150; however, the = reliefs do=20 not offer any supporting evidence.
8. Breasted, Records, = Vol. III,=20 Sec. 25.
9. Ibid., Sec. 67.
10. Ibid, Sec. 7, = note.=20 Boeser, Beschreibung des Niederländischen Reichmuseums der = Altertümer in=20 Leiden, Vol. IV, Plates XXIV and XXVI.
11. Ezekiel 23:12. = Compare Sidney=20 Smith, Assyrian Sculptures in the British Museum from Shalmaneser = III to=20 Sennacherib (London, 1938), reproducing the horsemen of = Sennacherib.
12.=20 Petrie, History of Egypt, II, 251.
13. Sennacherib's Prism=20 inscription, the first campaign.
14. Breasted, Records Vol. = III,=20 Sec. 51.
15. Strabo, XVI, ii, ii, Diodorus of Sicily, I, 60. See the=20 discussion on the identification of Tharu with Auaris in Vol. I of = Ages in=20 Chaos, pp. 86-89.
16. Breasted, Records, Vol. III, Sec. = 11.
17. 200,125, according to the Taylor Prism.
18. F.W. von = Bissing, "Das=20 Grab des Petamenophis in Theben," Zeitschrift für = ägyptische Sprache und=20 Altertumskunde, LXXIV (1938), 24. Gauthier, Le Livre des rois=20 d'Egypte, II, 388.
19. Gauthier, Le Livre des rois = d'Egypte,=20 II, 386.
20. See Worlds in Collision, p. 210.=20

HAREMHAB -- HARMAIS

The question to decide is not whether Haremhab lived in the = fourteenth or the=20 seventh century, but only whether he assumed his post in Egypt in the = days of=20 Sennacherib or of Esarhaddon, son of Sennacherib. Historical evidence = points to=20 the first alternative. A tentative reconstruction of events would = suggest the=20 following sequence.

After the battle of Eltekeh in about -- 702, when the Ethiopians and = the=20 Egyptians were defeated, Haremhab, an Egyptian priest entrusted with the = administration of the kingdom in the absence of King Sethos, declared = himself on=20 the side of the Assyrians and went over to Sennacherib. Under orders = from the=20 Assyrian monarch, he cleared Egypt of the followers of Sethos and also = undertook=20 a campaign against Ethiopia. He succeeded in penetrating Nubia and = memorialized=20 this expedition in reliefs which have survived to this day. Haremhab was = also=20 active in the region between Egypt and Palestine. Inasmuch as the = overthrow of=20 Sethos in Egypt and the campaign against Ethiopia were the work of = Haremhab,=20 executed when Sennacherib may still have been tarrying at Lachish in = Palestine,=20 the Assyrian king did not take the credit for the campaign, but he = assumed the=20 title of King of Egypt and Ethiopia. After a number of years ("Behold, = he=20 administered the Two Lands during a period of many years . . ."), = Haremhab was=20 elevated to a higher position, that of a viceroy of Egypt. "The heart of = the=20 king was satisfied with his affairs, he rejoiced at his choice." The = coronation=20 inscription relates this advance in the career of Haremhab.

About -- 689 Tirhakah invaded Egypt in alliance with Sethos. Haremhab = ("of=20 the end of Haremhab we know nothing."(1)) fled, but not to Palestine, = for Judah=20 under Hezekiah also rebelled against the Assyrians. Sennacherib left = Nineveh for=20 his second campaign into Palestine. Then came the disaster, and = Sennacherib=20 hurriedly withdrew.

Josephus preserved a story he found in Manetho, the origin of which = is in the=20 adventures of Haremhab. The heroes of the story are Sethosis and = Harmais, two=20 brothers. Sethosis was the king of Egypt. His name is like that of King = Sethos,=20 who, according to Herodotus, went to war against Sennacherib and was = saved by=20 the miraculous events of that fateful night.

This Sethosis of Manetho, "who possessed an army of cavalry and a = strong=20 fleet, made his brother Harmais viceroy of Egypt and conferred upon him = all=20 royal prerogatives, except that he enjoined upon him not to wear the = diadem, nor=20 to wrong the queen....

He then departed on a campaign against Cyprus and Phoenicia, and = later=20 against the Assyrians and Medes.... Meanwhile, some time after his = [Sethosis']=20 departure, Harmais, whom he had left in Egypt . . . violated the queen = and . . .=20 put on a diadem and rose in revolt against his brother.... Sethosis = instantly=20 returned to Pelusium and recovered his kingdom, and the country was = called after=20 him Aegyptus. For Manetho states that Sethosis was called Aegyptus and = his=20 brother Harmais, Danaus. Such is Manetho's account."(2)

Manetho, in his Sethosis, amalgamated Sethos of Herodotus, who went = to war=20 against the Assyrians under Sennacherib, and Seti the Great, who fought = against=20 the Babylonians and the Medes. Harmais (Haremhab) as a brother of the = king=20 probably reflects the true situation.(3) Like Sethos, he was educated to = be a=20 priest. The eponym Danaus may give a clue to Haremhab's place of = refuge.(4)

Subsequently, the Assyrians re-established their dominion over = Egypt.

____________________

1. Petrie, History of Egypt, II, 252.
2. Josephus, = Against=20 Apion, I, 97-102.
3. A manuscript copy of Josephus has, as a = marginal=20 note, a variation: Sethos, Ramses, and Harmais as three brothers (See a = note by=20 Thackeray in his translation of Contra Apionem, Loeb Classical = Library=20 edition, pp. 202-203). Sethos was either an uncle of Seti the Great or = more=20 probably his grandfather, as it is known that the father of Ramses I was = Seti I=20 (Sethos).
4. According to Diodorus of Sicily, Danaus, when expelled = by his=20 brother, fled to Argos. But cf. Luckenbill, Ancient Records of = Assyria,=20 II, Sec. 709.=20

NECHO I

"I am powerful, I am all-powerful, I am a hero, I am gigantic, I am = colossal,=20 I am without an equal among the kings," wrote Esarhaddon. He died after = a reign=20 of twelve years. "In the twelfth year the king of Assyria went to Egypt, = fell=20 sick on the road and died on the tenth day of the month of Marcheswan."=20 "Esarhaddon exercised sovereign power in Assyria twelve years," narrates = the=20 chronicle of his reign, written more than one hundred years later.(1) At = the=20 time of his death Egypt was divided among twenty vice-kings and = governors,=20 vassals of Assyria. Tirhakah again came from Ethiopia, occupied Egypt, = and=20 deposed the vice-kings. Esarhaddon's last march against Egypt, = interrupted by=20 his death, was apparently in response to this development.

Assurbanipal, succeeding Esarhaddon, immediately undertook a campaign = against=20 "Tarku [Tirhakah], king of Egypt and Ethiopia, whom Esarhaddon, king of = Assyria,=20 the father who begot me, had defeated. " "Against the kings, the = governors, whom=20 my father had installed in Egypt, he [Tirhakah] marched.... He = established=20 himself in Memphis."(2) Assurbanipal defeated the army of Tirhakah, who = fled to=20 Thebes (Ni). The Assyrian then "seized Ni." Twenty vice kings and = governors were=20 reinstated by him, and he reorganized the administration of Egypt.

But when Assurbanipal returned to Nineveh the vice-kings of Egypt = secretly=20 made common cause with Tirhakah, whereupon they were arrested by order = of=20 Assurbanipal and sent to Nineveh in chains. Assurbanipal gives the names = of the=20 twenty vice-kings; Harsiese, an old priest, was among them.(3) All were = put to=20 death save one: Nikku, vice-king of Memphis and Sais, was not only = allowed to=20 live but was given royal power and was sent back to Egypt as the sole = vassal=20 king of that country. "On Nikku, the vassal of mine whom my father had = set up as=20 king in Kar-bel-matate [Sais], I took pity and passed judgment in his = favor. I=20 laid upon him an oath more severe than the former. I inspired his heart = with=20 confidence, clothed him in splendid (bright/colored) garments, laid upon = him a=20 golden chain as the emblem of his royalty.... Chariots, horses and mules = I=20 presented to him for his royal riding. My officials I sent with him, at = his=20 request."(4)

This Nikku (Necho), a brother or a son(S) of Seti I (Sethos), = inaugurated a=20 new era in Egypt. He lives in history as Ramses I of the Nineteenth and = Necho I=20 of the Twenty-sixth Dynasties. In both his existences he lived only one = year and=20 a few months after being crowned. He was assassinated by Tirhakah's = successor on=20 the throne of Ethiopia, Tandamane.

Tirhakah, who fought against Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and = Assurbanipal, died:=20 "The night of death overtook him." "Tandamane son of Shabaku mustered = troops=20 against Assyria in Memphis," wrote Assurbanipal.

We know from Herodotus that Necho, called by him Necos, was killed by = the=20 Ethiopians.(6) His son, a youth, escaped to Palestine and lived there in = exile.=20 But "when the Ethiopian departed by reason of what he saw in a dream, = the=20 Egyptians of the province of Sais brought him [the son of Necho] back = from=20 Syria."

The Ethiopian left Egypt, not so much because of a dream, but because = of=20 Assurbanipal, who set his legions on a hurried march. "Against Egypt and = Ethiopia I waged bitter warfare and established my might." This was the = second=20 of Assurbanipal's campaigns, once more against Egypt. Tandamane fled = from=20 Memphis to Thebes, and from there farther southward. Assurbanipal = captured=20 Memphis and Thebes, robbed their treasuries, and devastated the = cities.

Seti-Psammetich, the young exile, returned to Egypt following the = chariot of=20 Assurbanipal.

_______________________

1. Smith, "The Esarhaddon Chronicle," Babylonian Historical = Texts,=20 p. 15.
2. Luckenbill, Records of Assyria, II, Sec. 770 (the = Rassam=20 Cylinder).
3. Ibid, Secs. 772-774.
4. Ibid., = Sec.=20 905.
5. See note 3 of the preceding section.
6. Herodotus, II, = 152.=20 Herodotus' statement calls for a correction. Not Sabacos (Shabaku) but=20 Tandamane, son of Sabacos, killed Necos.=20

THE FIRST GREEKS IN EGYPT

When upon the death of Necho Assurbanipal reconquered Egypt he = re-established=20 the system of numerous vice-kings, who "came to meet me and kissed my = feet."

We are informed by Assurbanipal that this governmental organization = was=20 discontinued a few years later, when one of the vice kings took all the = power to=20 himself, accomplishing this with the help of the soldiers who arrived in = Egypt=20 from Sardis on the Aegean shore of Asia Minor. Gyges was at that time = king of=20 Sardis in Lydia.

At first Gyges sent messengers to Assurbanipal: "Guggu (Gyges), king = of=20 Lydia, a district of the other side of the sea, a distant place, whose = name the=20 kings, my fathers, had not heard, he dispatched his messengers to bring=20 greetings to me."(1)

But after a few years, Gyges ceased to ally himself with = Assurbanipal. "His=20 messengers, whom he kept sending to me to bring greetings, he = discontinued."=20 According to Assurbanipal, Gyges sent his forces to the aid of the king = of=20 Egypt,(2) "who had thrown off the yoke of my sovereignty."

Herodotus wrote that Psammetich, one of the twelve vice-kings, = deposed his=20 eleven co-rulers, and he did it with the help of Ionian and Carian=20 mercenaries.

According to Herodotus, the Greek and Carian mercenaries arrived in = Egypt in=20 the days of Psammetich, brought by a gale.

. . . Certain Ionians and Carians, voyaging for plunder, were = forced to put=20 in on the coast of Egypt, where they disembarked in their mail of = bronze.

. . . Psammetichus made friends with the Ionians and Carians and = promised=20 them great rewards if they would join him.(3)

The Egyptian sovereign placed them in two camps on opposite shores of = the=20 Pelusian branch of the Nile and "paid them all that he had = promised."

Moreover he put Egyptian boys in their hands to be taught the Greek = tongue;=20 these, learning Greek, were the ancestors of the Egyptian = interpreters.

The Ionians and Carians dwelt a long time in these places, which = are near=20 the sea, on the arm of the Nile called the Pelusian, a little way = below the=20 town of Bubastis.

Herodotus states they "were the first men of alien speech to settle = in that=20 country" (II, 154).

A glance at a historical map of the western shore of Asia Minor = reveals that=20 the tiny maritime states of Ionia and Caria jutted well into the border = of=20 Lydia, whose capital was Sardis. Gyges was able to provide Egypt with = Ionian=20 mercenaries because he had recently occupied Colophon in Ionia.(4) Thus = it=20 appears that Ionians and Carians arrived at the shores of Egypt in mail = of=20 bronze, not because of a gale, but because of an agreement with King = Gyges of=20 Sardis, as stated by Assurbanipal.

Diodorus of Sicily, too, wrote about the first meeting of the = Egyptians with=20 the Greeks on the soil of Egypt, when Ionians and Carians arrived and = were hired=20 as mercenaries.

He [Psammetich] was the first Egyptian king to open to other = nations the=20 trading places throughout the rest of Egypt.... For his predecessors = in power=20 had consistently closed Egypt to strangers.(5)

Diodorus also said that Psammetich was a great admirer of the = Hellenes and=20 gave his son, the future Ramses II, a Greek education.

Greek arms, utensils and vases, and the very bones of the Greek = mercenaries=20 in their peculiar sarcophagi, have been found in and near the Delta, = often=20 together with objects of the Nineteenth Dynasty (6)

Formations of mercenaries from Sardis, called Shardana or Sardan, = were in the=20 service of Seti the Great.

The time of Seti is, in the conventional scheme, the end of the = fourteenth=20 century; of Psammetich, the seventh century. Herodotus, who lived in the = fifth=20 century, wrote that in the days of Psammetich, only two hundred years = before,=20 Greeks for the first time came to live in Egypt. He must have been well=20 informed, for not merely the history of Egypt was involved but that of = his own=20 people likewise: his birthplace was Halicarnassus in Ionia-Caria.

Also, in Beth-Shan in Palestine, where the excavators were able to = determine=20 the successive layers of the tell (mound), tombs of mercenaries from the = Aegean-Anatolian region have been unearthed. "Doubtless among all these = troops=20 [of Seti] were many Mediterranean (Aegean-Anatolian) mercenaries, = including the=20 redoubtable Sherdenen [Shardana]; these must have formed the major part = of the=20 garrison left at Beth-shan by Seti."(7) Thus wrote the archaeologist of = that=20 place.

Does this mean that Lydians and Ionians were present in Egypt when = the=20 Israelites were there in bondage? If, as many scholars believe, Ramses = II was=20 the Pharaoh of Oppression, the presence of soldiers from the = Aegean-Anatolian=20 region in the Delta in his days and in the days of his father Seti would = signify=20 a meeting of Greek and Israelite peoples in pre-Exodus Egypt. The = problem thus=20 stated will not appeal to those same historians.

The explanation of the presence of Greek mercenaries in the army of = Seti,=20 seven hundred years before Psammetich, is simple: Seti was the = Psammetich of=20 Herodotus and other Greek writers, and he lived seven hundred years = after the=20 time assigned to him by modern historians.

___________________

1. Luckenbill, Records of Assyria, II, Sec. 784.
2.=20 Ibid, Sec. 785. Assurbanipal called the Egyptian king who = received=20 military support from Gyges, Tushamilki. It is known that at that time=20 Psammetich became the sole king of Egypt. The Assyrian kings = occasionally gave=20 Egyptian cities and Egyptian kings Assyrian names. Assurbanipal called = Sais=20 Kar-bel-matate.
3. Herodotus, II, 152 ff.
4. Herodotus, I, 14. See = E.M.=20 Smith, Naukratis (Vienna, 1926), p. 14, n. 16.
5. Diodorus = (trans.=20 C.H. Oldfather, 1933), I, 66-67.
6. See Naville, The Mound of the = Jew (London, 1893), Plate 13; cf. A. Rowe, The Topography and = History=20 of Beth-shan (Philadelphia, 1930), pp. 2, 26, 39.
7. Rowe,=20 Topography and History of Beth-shan, p. 26.=20

SETI BECOMES AN ALLY OF ASSURBANIPAL

Two campaigns against Egypt and Ethiopia and one against Tyre, and=20 Assurbanipal found himself surrounded by enemies. The instigator was his = brother=20 Shamash-shum-ukin, to whom Esarhaddon had bequeathed Babylonia, leaving = Assyria=20 to Assurbanipal Shamashshum-ukin corresponded with Tirhakah the = Ethiopian until=20 the death of the latter, and with the kings of Elam, Aram (Damascus), = and other=20 countries that were alarmed by-Assyria's aggressive policy.

After a campaign toward Elam, whose king "plotted" against him, = Assurbanipal=20 became aware that his own brother was his chief enemy. "In these days=20 Shamash-shum-ukin, the faithless brother of mine, king of Babylon, = stirred to=20 revolt against me the people of Akkad, Chaldea, the Arameans . . . along = with=20 the kings of Gute, Amurru and Melukha [Ethiopia]."(1)

Assurbanipal was no longer able to interfere in the affairs of Egypt, = and=20 Seti succeeded in overcoming the eleven vice-kings of the nomes and = regained the=20 throne of his father. The revolt stirred up all around Assyria absorbed=20 Assurbanipal's entire attention. In the fraternal war he captured = Babylon, and=20 his brother Shamashshum-ukin killed himself. But a number of years later = a new=20 opponent, an untiring avenger, arose in the person of Nabopolassar.

Nabopolassar, together with the king of the Medes, waged a protracted = war=20 against Assurbanipal, who desperately needed an ally. Assurbanipal found = him in=20 Seti, whose father had been pardoned and crowned by him. In this way = Seti rose=20 from the status of a vassal to that of a partner of the Assyrian king in = a long=20 war.

Seti may have numbered the years of his reign from the day he became = the sole=20 king of Egypt, or from the day he achieved independence for Egypt and = was=20 recognized as Assurbanipal's ally. This explains the fact that already = in his=20 first year Seti, in recording his accomplishments, could refer to his = campaigns=20 in Palestine, Arabia, and Libya.(2)

The princes of Babylon, Nabopolassar and his brother, revolting = against=20 Assyria, sent emissaries to Aleppo, Hamath, and Damascus, and to the = chieftains=20 of the unsettled tribes of the desert, inciting them to create = disturbances in=20 the Assyrian domain. At that time, in the reign of Assurbanipal, the = provinces=20 were ruled more by anarchy than by the will of the despot. Usurper = replaced=20 usurper, to be assassinated in his turn, and there was neither order nor = authority in northern Palestine and Syria. "They have taken to cursing = and=20 quarreling, each of them slaying his neighbor,"(3) wrote Seti.

He moved into Galilee. The land of the Ten Tribes was desolate after = the=20 exile, and the new settlers were unable to protect their habitations = against=20 bands from the desert or even against wild beasts (II Kings = 17:25f.).

_____________

1. Luckenbill, Records of Assyria, II, Sec. 789.
2. = Breasted,=20 Records, Vol. III, Sec. 81.
3. Ibid, Sec. 101.=20

MENASHE (MANASSEH), A CONTEMPORARY OF SETI

In the days of Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal, Menashe (Manasseh), son = of=20 Hezekiah, reigned in Judea. For fifty-five years he occupied the throne = of=20 Jerusalem. The Scriptures do not mention any war of Menashe, only his = being=20 carried away into a short captivity in Babylon. In those turbulent times = fifty-five years could hardly have passed without involving Judea more = than once=20 in greater or lesser conflicts. Menashe certainly must have been = successful in=20 his politics if he could keep Judea out of war that long.

Seti repeatedly led military expeditions toward the Euphrates; he = also took=20 measures to secure the safety of the cities of Galilee and defended them = against=20 bands from the desert. His activities in Galilee and his numerous = marches across=20 the plains of the Philistines, close to Judea, might easily have = infringed on=20 Menashe's territorial rights. But apparently Menashe leaned toward = Assyria and=20 Egypt; he called his son Amon, a sacred name among the Egyptians. He = tried to=20 avoid a major conflict.

The latter part of Menashe's long reign coincided with the earlier = part of=20 the long reign of Seti, and it would be strange indeed if, in Seti's = account of=20 his march to Galilee and Syria, he did not mention Menashe. With this = thought in=20 mind, it is worthwhile to reread the annals of Seti. There we find = Seti's boast=20 that he had "set terror in Retenu [Palestine] ," had taken from there = "every=20 costly stone of God's land," and had "beat down the men of Menate = (M-n-ty)." The=20 men of Menate, twice named in this passage of Seti's annals,(1) are the = men of=20 Menashe. We have here the name we had every reason to expect to find, = inasmuch=20 as Seti and Menashe were contemporaries.

The question, Why do not the Scriptures mention the presence of a = pharaoh in=20 Palestine in the days of Menashe? is not in point. Although the = Scriptures=20 contain no reference to this fact, the historians admit that a pharaoh = went with=20 his army on a prolonged expedition to Palestine in the time of Menashe, = but they=20 call him Psammetich, as Herodotus narrated.

The reason for the omission on the part of the Scriptures is at hand. = Since=20 the time of Hezekiah, the father of Menashe, the land of the Ten Tribes = had been=20 settled by non-Israelites, and the Books of Kings and of Chronicles no = longer=20 occupy themselves with the history of the place, in respect to this or = any other=20 event.

_________________

1. Breasted, Records, III, Sec. 118. On M-n-ty, meaning the = tribe=20 Menashe, see Ages in Chaos, I, 173.

INSERT KIII3_28.JPG HERE

PEKANON, A CITY OF PEKAH

"Not far into Asia, Seti apparently meets a fortified town, to which = the=20 relief gives the name Pekanan [Pekanon].... Exactly what this name means = here is=20 not certain."(1) A scene on a bas-relief illustrates the occupation of = the=20 fortress Pekanon in Palestine. The accompanying inscription reads:

Town of Pekanan (P'-k'-n'-n'), Year I, King of Upper and Lower = Egypt,=20 Menmare (Seti). The destruction which the mighty sword of Pharaoh made = among=20 the vanquished of the Shasu (invading Bedouins) from the fortress of = Tharu (in=20 Egypt) to Pekanan, when his majesty marched against them like a = fierce-eyed=20 lion, making them carcasses in their valleys, overturned in their = blood. .=20 "(2)

A few other places in the plain of Jezreel are also mentioned as = having been=20 occupied with the intention of repelling the invasion of the foreigners, = but=20 prominence is given to Pekanon.

No reference to the city of Pekanon is found in previous lists of = Palestinian=20 cities compiled by the pharaohs, nor had the Israelites found a city by = that=20 name when they occupied Canaan. Some scholars presume that it may mean = Pi-Canaan=20 or "The Canaan," but others disagree.(3) The name has the sign of a = country, but=20 it is pictured on the bas-relief as a city. This suggests that the city = was the=20 capital of a country.

The city of Pekanon must have existed for but a short moment. It is = conceded=20 that Egyptian documents before Seti (whose reign, according to the = conventional=20 chronology, started in -- 1310) do not know such a city. Hebrew annals=20 containing a list of the Palestinian cities of the thirteenth century = (the=20 supposed time of the conquest by Joshua) do not know it either. In the = Egyptian=20 sources Pekanon is met once more on the stele of Merneptah (the grandson = of=20 Seti), who mentions the Israelites in Palestine. Thus the name Pekanon = became a=20 hopeless issue in historical geography.

Pekanon was a city fortified by Pekah, the next to the last king of=20 Israel.(4) Cities built, rebuilt, or fortified by kings were often named = in=20 their honor. Pekah, son of Remaliah, reigned in Samaria for twenty years = (II=20 Kings 15:27). He was a ruler eager for enterprises, from the day he slew = Pekahiah, his master, until the day he slaughtered 120,000 people of = Judah and=20 "carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand" (II = Chronicles=20 28:8), only to release them shortly thereafter.

According to the reconstruction of history offered here, Pekah = preceded Seti=20 the Great by two generations. This order of things explains why, in the = list of=20 Thutmose III containing the names of hundreds of Palestinian and Syrian=20 localities, the name of Pekanon does not appear, and why, in the = biblical=20 register of cities of Canaan, there is no mention of this name in the = days of=20 Joshua's conquest or later. Judging by the significance attached to = Pekanon in=20 the records of Seti, it was an important city in or near the Esdraelon = Valley,=20 renamed by King Pekah, who rebuilt or fortified it.

________________

1. Breasted, Records, Vol. III, Sec. 87. See W.M. Muller, = Asien=20 und Europa nach Altägyptischen Denkmälern, p. 205.
2. = Breasted,=20 Records, Vol. III, Sec. 88.
3. G. Steindorff, Journal = of=20 Egyptian Archaeology, XXV (1939), 32, supports this equation; = Gauthier,=20 Dictionnaire des noms géographiques contenus dans les textes=20 hiéroglyphiques (Cairo, 1925-31), v, 187-88, questions = it.
4. The form=20 "Pekanon" is derived from Pekah, like Shomron from Shemer (I Kings 16 = 24).=20 Pekanon could also be Shomron (Samaria) renamed by Pekah.=20

SETI IN SCYTHOPOLIS

Seti, who, as an ally of Assyria, took it upon himself to attend to=20 rebellious Syria, moved with his army along the Esdraelon Valley and = came to the=20 city of Beth-Shan not far from the Jordan. A stele of Seti was found in=20 Beth-Shan, the inscription of which reads:

The wretched enemy who was in the city of Hamath, he had collected = to=20 himself many people, was taking away the town of=20 Bethdhan....(1)

The stele further states that the Egyptian army of Ra, called also = "Many=20 Braves," captured the city of Beth-Shan at the command of the pharaoh. = The=20 erection of the stele in that place indicates that Seti succeeded in = conquering=20 this city-fortress.

Beth-Shan guards the road from Gilead in Trans-Jordan and also from = Galilee=20 along the valley of the Jordan; consequently it is an important = strategic point=20 at a crossroads, protecting the eastern gate of the Esdraelon Valley = against=20 encroachment from the north and east.

In the days of Assurbanipal's father, Esarhaddon, the Scythians came = down=20 from the steppes of Russia and, crossing the Caucasus, arrived at the = lake of=20 Urmia. Their king went to the help of Assurbanipal when the Medes and = the=20 Babylonians marched against Assyria.(2)

Herodotus(3) narrates that the Scythians descended from the slopes of = the=20 Caucasus, battled the Medes who were pressing on Nineveh, and, moving = southward,=20 reached Palestine. There they were met by Psammetich, the pharaoh, who = for a=20 long time tarried in Palestine.

Chapters 4-6 of the young Jeremiah are generally regarded as = expressing the=20 fear of the people of Palestine at the approach of the Scythian hordes. = The=20 prophet spoke of the evil that would come down from the north and a = great=20 destruction (4:6), of whole cities that would "flee for the noise of the = horsemen and bowmen" (4:29), of "a mighty nation . . . whose language = thou=20 knowest not" (5: 15). "Behold, a people cometh from the north country, = and a=20 great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth" (6:22).

The Egyptian king, however, succeeded by persuasion in halting their = advance=20 toward Egypt. He, like the Scythians, was an ally of Assurbanipal. = According to=20 Herodotus, Psammetich was besieging a city in Palestine when the = Scythians=20 reached that country.

I have identified Seti the Great with Psammetich of Herodotus. Now we = are=20 bound to ask: What city was Psammetich besieging when the Scythians = descended=20 from the north?

The translation of the Seventy (Septuagint) calls Beth-Shan by the = name of=20 Scythopolis;(4) so do Josephus(5) and Eusebius.(6) Georgius = Syncellus,(7) the=20 Byzantine chronologist, explained that the use of the name Scythopolis = for=20 Beth-Shan was due to the presence of Scythians, who had remained there = from=20 among the invading hordes in the days of Psammetich.

As has been said above, Beth-Shan was besieged and occupied by Seti, = and his=20 steles and the graves of the Greek mercenaries who served with him were=20 discovered there. Ramses II, his successor, also occupied Beth-Shan for = some=20 time, but no vestiges have been found there of Egyptian kings of later = times.=20 The conventional chronology compelled the archaeologists of Beth-Shan to = conclude that after Seti and Ramses II the city was practically = uninhabited=20 until the time of the Neo-Babylonian Empire in the seventh century, = although=20 from the Scriptures we know that Beth-Shan was an important city in the = days of=20 Judges and Kings.

Seti-meri-en-Ptah Men-maat-Re, who left his steles in Beth-Shan, was=20 Psammetich of Herodotus. It was the seventh century.

___________________

1. The stele was found by the expedition of the University of = Pennsylvania in=20 1923. See Rowe, Topography and History of Beth-Shan, = p.28.
2.=20 Bartatua, the king of the Scythians, proposed an alliance to Assyria and = asked a=20 daughter of Esarhaddon for wife. Madyas, the son of Bartatua (Madyas, = son of=20 Rotothyas, according to Herodotus), came to the help of Assurbanipal = when=20 Cyaxares of the Medes marched against Assyria.
3. I, 103ff.
4. = Judges=20 1:27; see also II Maccabees 12:29 ff.
5. Jewish Antiquities, = V, 83=20 ("Beth Sana, now called Scythopolis"), and XII, 348 ("Beth-Sane, by the = Greeks=20 called Scythopolis").
6. Eusebius, Chronicle, 237, 55. See = also=20 Pliny, Natural History, V, 74: "Scythopolis where a colony of = Scythians=20 are settled."
7. Chronographia, I, 405.=20

SETI IN THE VALLEY OF THE EUPHRATES

There is a mural that shows Seti capturing a city called Kadesh. = Modern=20 scholars recognized that this Kadesh or Temple City was not the Kadesh = mentioned=20 in the annals of Thutmose.(1) Whereas the Kadesh of Thutmose was in = southern=20 Palestine, the Kadesh of Seti was in Coele-Syria. The position of the = northern=20 city suggested that it was Dunip, the site of an Amon temple built in = the days=20 of Thutmose III. Dunip, in its turn, was identified as Baalbek.(2)

Following the Orontes, which has its source not far from Baalbek, = Seti=20 occupied the site of Tell Nebi-Mend near the village of Riblah and built = a=20 fortified mound. A stele of his was unearthed there. Then he proceeded = farther=20 to the north and fought in the valley of the Euphrates. In his war = record on the=20 wall of the Karnak temple he wrote that he fought in Mesopotamia = (Naharin), but=20 with the destruction of the upper row of his bas-reliefs the = illustrations of=20 this part of the campaign were lost.(3)

The war in the valley of the Euphrates is described by Seti, king of = Egypt,=20 by Assurbanipal, king of Assyria, by Nabopolassar, king of Babylonia, = and by=20 Greek authors. But there is still another description of this war. We = have=20 documentary sources in the so-called Hittite annals. However, I leave = the=20 narration of this last phase of Seti's long campaign for the volume = Ramses=20 II and His Time.

Nabopolassar, the Chaldean, was allied with the king of the Medes and = the=20 prince of Damascus; Assurbanipal, the Assyrian, was aided by Pharaoh = Seti and=20 for some time by the king of the Scythians. For many years the fortunes = of war=20 changed camps. Then Nabopolassar and Cyaxares, the Mede, brought the = Scythians=20 over to their side. Their armies advanced from three sides against = Nineveh. The=20 dam on the Tigris was breached, and Nineveh was stormed. In a single = night the=20 city that was the splendor of its epoch went up in flames, and the = centuries-old=20 empire that ceaselessly carried sword and fire to the four quarters of = the=20 ancient world -- as far as Elam and Lydia, Sarmatia and Ethiopia -- = ceased to=20 exist forever.

"The shield of [the] mighty men is made red, the valiant men are in = scarlet;=20 the chariots are fire of steel.... The chariots rush madly in the = streets, they=20 jostle one against another in the broad places; the appearance of them = is like=20 torches, they run to and fro like the lightnings.... Hark! the whip, and = hark!=20 the rattling of wheels; and prancing horses, and bounding chariots; the = horsemen=20 charging, and the flashing sword, and the glittering spear; and a = multitude of=20 slain, and a heap of carcasses . . . and they stumble upon their = corpses....=20 Nineveh is laid waste; who will bemoan her?"

Thus did Nahum, a contemporary seer, describe the end of Nineveh and=20 Assyria.(4)

The Assyrian king Sin-shar-ishkun, perished in the flames of his own=20 palace.

Nabopolassar founded the Neo-Babylonian Empire and defended and = strengthened=20 it in endless wars. When he was struck by illness and after a time died, = the=20 empire was threatened with disintegration. But his young sons = successfully=20 defended it against all enemies. The most formidable among the latter = was the=20 new king of Egypt, the successor to Seti.

___________________

1. Breasted, Records, Vol. III, Sec. 140, note. Cf. Ages = in=20 Chaos, Vol. I, "Kadesh in Judah".
2. Gauthier Dictionnaire = des noms=20 geographiques.
3. Breasted, Records, Vol. III, Sec. 114 = ff.
4. Nahum chs. 2 and 3 (trans. of the Holy Scriptures by the = Jewish=20 Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1917).=20

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