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Fourth Egyptian Room); model for a relief, with a figure of the goddess Qetesh (Table-case C, Third Egyptian Room); glazed boomerang (Wall-case 151, Fourth Egyptian Room); bronze figure of the king (Wall-case 191, same room), etc.

The statues and stelae of officials of Rameses II are numerous, and the inscriptions on them supply much information about the works and administration of the country. Thus we have: the statue of Paneḥsi, the scribe and director of the storehouse of gold from the Sûdân (Central Saloon, No. 603); the kneeling figure of Paser, a Governor of the Sûdân (Central Saloon, No. 604); the stele of Amen-emȧnt, a scribe of the soldiers, who held several high offices (Bay 11, No. 607); the stele of Setau, another Governor of the Sûdân (Bay 17, No. 608); the stele of Amen-hetep, a king's messenger (Bay 19, No. 610); the stele of Ptaḥ-em-uȧa, keeper of the king's stables (Bay 20, No. 611); and the stelae of Bakāa and Nefer-ḥrà, who died in the thirty-eighth and sixty-second years of the king's reign respectively (Bay 19, No. 612; Bay 20, No. 613). The inscribed statue of Khāem-Uast (Bay 18, No. 615), a son of Rameses II, is of great interest, both historically and linguistically. Kha-em- Uast was a Sem priest in the temple of Ptah of Memphis, and a man of great learning, and he was held in high repute as a magician. He managed the affairs of the country for about twenty-five years before his death, which took place in the fifty-fifth year of the reign of his father.

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Statue of Kha-em-Uast, son of
Rameses II.

[Southern Egyptian Gallery,

Bay 18, No. 615.]

Mer-en-Ptaḥ, or Menephthah, was associated with his father in the rule of the kingdom for about twelve years before he became sole king. In the fifth year of his reign Egypt was attacked by a confederation of tribes from Libya, and by certain peoples from the northern shores and islands of the Mediterranean.

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Menephthah fortified his towns and collected an army, and in the fierce battle which followed he was victorious. The Libyan king barely escaped with his life; but six of his brothers and sons and over 6,000 of his soldiers were slain, and 9,000 were taken prisoners. It is probable. that the Exodus took place during the early years of this reign. In the year of his victory he caused a Hymn of Triumph to be cut upon the back of a stele of Amen-hetep III at Thebes, and among the peoples of Palestine whom he conquered are mentioned the

Israelites,

His

Statue of Seti II Mer-en-Ptah II, king of
Egypt, B.C. 1266, holding a shrine sur-
mounted by a head of the ram of Amen.
[Southern Egyptian Gallery,

Bay 21, No. 616.]

mummy was found in the tomb of Amenhetep II at Thebes, and is now in Cairo. Like his father he caused his names to be cut on monuments which he had not made, eg, the lion of Amenemhāt III (No. 173), the pillar of Amen-hetep III (No. 419), and a statue (No. 577) and pillar of his father (No. 599). Among the monuments of his reign may be mentioned the door-jamb from his temple

at Memphis (No. 1169). The remaining kings of the XIXth dynasty were:—

1. Seti II Mer-en-Ptaḥ. See his statue holding a shrine with a head of Amen (Bay 21, No. 616), a slab from his tomb at Thebes (Central Saloon, No. 617), and a plaque and a scarab in the Third and Fourth Egyptian Rooms (Wallcase 124 and Table-case D). The D'Orbiney Papyrus in the British Museum containing the Tale of the Two Brothers was written during the reign of this king. 2. Amen-mes, of whose reign nothing is known. 3. Sa-Ptaḥ, of whom many reliefs are found at various places in Egypt. On his death a period of anarchy followed, and nothing like order prevailed in the country unti! Set-nekht, a relative of Rameses II, obtained supreme power.

The smaller monuments of the XIXth dynasty in the British Museum are very interesting, and, though the work of the sculptor and engraver is not so good as that of the XVIIIth dynasty, it is important for illustrating the methods employed at a time when quantity was more valued than quality. The inscriptions too are valuable, for they afford much information on minor points of the Egyptian religion. Among the statues and stelae of this period may be noted : a finely sculptured relief from the tomb of Mes, a priest of the KA (Bay 17, No. 635); the stele of Amen-Ra-mes, a priest of the statue of King Mer-en-Ptaḥ (Bay 20, No. 636); the painted limestone statues of Māḥu and his wife Sebta, fine work (Central Saloon, No. 637); the granite figure of Rui, high-priest of Amen (Central Saloon, No. 638); the stele of Ptah-mes, the comptroller of the grain supply of Egypt (Central Saloon, No. 642); the stele of Pa-ser, the scribe and master mason of all Egypt (Central Saloon, No. 643); the seated figure of Pa-mer-aḥau, a commander-in-chief (Central Saloon, No. 644); the stele of the superintendent of all the priests and all the gold workers of the Sûdân, from Wâdî Halfah (Central Saloon, No. 645); the stele of Qaḥa, a master craftsman, on which are sculptured figures of the Syrian deities Kent and Reshpu and Anthȧt (Anaitis), and the Egyptian god Menu, an important monument (Bay 10, No. 646; see Plate XL); the stele of the god Reshpu (Bay 17, No. 647); stele of Heru, painted with a scene of the worship of Kent, or Qetesh, Reshpu and Menu (Bay 17, No. 650); the stele of Țāṭā-āa, an overseer of scribes (Bay 12, No. 652); the granite coffin of a high-priest of Memphis (Bay 17, No. 654).

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Sepulchral stele of Qaha, sculptured with figures of the foreign deities Kent, Reshpu, and Anthat, and the Egyptian god Menu.

[Northern Egyptian Gallery, Bay 10, No. 646.]

XIXth dynasty.

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