Erection of magnificent palaces and temples at Thebes. (Ruins near the present villages of Carnac, Luxor, and Medinet-Abu; near the latter two sitting colossi, statues of Amenhotep, one of which the Greeks called the musical Statue of Memnon.)

1438-1388. Similar success in war fell to the lot of Seti I. (Sethos). Expeditions to Ethiopia, Arabia, and to the Euphrates. Temple of Ammon on the left bank of the Nile, opposite Thebes. His son, 1388-1322. Ramessu II., the Great (Sestu-Ra, Ramses), was victorious in the early part of his reign, but could not long maintain his supremacy over Syria (XIXth dynasty).

In spite of this a peculiar tradition transformed him into that military hero whom the Greeks knew as Sesostris (Herodotus, II. 102– 110), or Sesoosis (Diod. Sic. I. 53-58), and to whom they ascribed fabulous expeditions to Thrace and India. This tradition seems to have had its origin in the bombastic expressions common to the royal inscriptions of the Egyptians, and in poetic exaltations of his earlier victories. In the Greek account we have besides a confusion of recollections of the glorious deeds of Thutmes and Amenhotep, of Seti and Ramessu III.

During his long reign he covered Egypt with magnificent buildings. Splendid palace known as "the House of Ramses," south of Carnac; temple of Ammon, 400 miles above Syene. Commencement of a canal between the Red Sea and the Nile. Ramessu II. was probably the oppressor of the Hebrews. Under his successor,

1322-1302. Mineptah, i. e. "beloved of Ptah," occurred the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt (see page 8).1

1269-1244. Ramessu III. (Rhampsinitus, XXth dynasty). Successful resistance offered to the Libyan and Semitic tribes; expeditions as far as Phoenicia and Syria. (Story of the theft from the treasury, Herodotus, II. 121.)

1244-1091. Decay of the empire under the later kings of the name of Ramses.

1091. A new dynasty (XXI.) came to the throne with King Hirhor (Smendes). The seat of their power was Tanis, in the Delta, whence they are called Tanites.

Loss of supremacy over Ethiopia, where the kingdom of Napata or Meroe was founded.

961-940. Shashang I. (Sesonchis, Shisak), from Bubastis, founded a new dynasty (XXII.).2 He undertook (949) a successful expedition against Judæa. Jerusalem conquered and plundered.

1 It may have occurred under his successor of the same name; the date of whose reign, as well as the reigns of the kings immediately preceding, would have to be placed several decades earlier, in agreement with Duncker and Maspero.

2 The opinion of Brugsch, History of Egypt, II. 198, that an Assyrian conquest of Egypt occurred at this time, and that Shashang I. was the son of the conqueror, Nimrod, king of Assyria, has not found favor among Egyptologists. [TRANS.]

730.

The Ethiopians, under Shabak (Sabako), conquered Egypt, which they governed for fifty-eight years under three successive kings. (XXVth dynasty.)

672. An expedition of the Assyrians, under Esarhaddon (p. 15), against Egypt. The king of the Assyrians and his son, Asshurbanipal (Sardanapalus), put an end to the rule of the Ethiopians (under Taharak or Tirhakah, the second successor of Shabak), and entrusted the government of Egypt to twenty governors, most of whom were natives.

653. One of these governors, Psamethik, in alliance with Gyges, king of Lydia, with the help of Carians, Phœnicians, and Ionians, made himself independent of Assyria, and sole ruler of Egypt (XXVIth dynasty, of Saïs). The tale of the twelve native princes (the Dodecarchy of Herodotus and Diodorus), according to which Psammeticus defeated his eleven co-regents at Momemphis, is not historical. The number, 12, is derived from the twelve courts of columns in the Labyrinth, which, according to Herodotus and Diodorus, was built by the twelve princes, whereas this gigantic building had already been standing 1500 years (p. 4).

653-610. Psamethik I., king of Egypt, from the mouths

of the Nile to Elephantine, above which place the Ethiopians held the supremacy. (XXVIth dynasty.)

New capital, Saïs, in the Delta, where Psamethik built a magnificent palace. Egypt opened to foreigners, who were favored in the army and settled at various points. Caste of Interpreters. Greek factory at Naucrătis. Dissatisfaction among the military caste; emigrations upward along the Nile to Ethiopia.

Psamethik carried on wars in Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine; they were probably undertaken in the first instance to strengthen his frontier against a new attack by the Assyrians, which he dreaded. These wars led to no lasting conquests. The son of Psamethik, 610-595. Neku (Necho), revived the plan of Ramses to unite the Nile and the Red Sea by a canal, but did not succeed in carrying it out. By his orders Africa was circumnavigated by Phoenician seamen. He undertook expeditions to Syria where he was at first successful, and defeated the king of Judah in the battle of Megiddo (609), but was afterwards defeated by the Babylonians in the

605. Battle of Carchemish. Loss of all his conquests in Asia. Neku's son,

595-589. Psamethik II. Expedition against Ethiopia without success. His son,

589-570. Hophra (Apries), fought without lasting success against Nebuchadnezzar, and sent help to the tribes of Libya against Cyrene. His defeated army revolted, and he was defeated at the head of Ionian and Carian mercenaries, captured and strangled.

570-526. Aahmes (Amāsis), an Egyptian of low origin, ascended the throne. Encouragement of foreigners, especially of the Greeks, carried still farther; numerous Grecian temples erected in Naucratis. Friendship with Cyrene and Polycrates of Samos. Magnificent buildings, especially in Saïs. The son of Amasis, 525. Psamethik III., defeated in the battle of Pelusium by Cambyses. Egypt a Persian province.

§ 2. JEWS (HEBREWS, ISRAELITES). Semitic.

Geography. The land of the Jews is bounded N. by Calo-Syria; W. by Phoenicia, the Mediterranean, and the land of the Philistines; S. by Arabia Petræa; E. by the Arabian Desert.

The name Canaan,1 i. e. "low land," was originally applied to the region along the coast, but was at an early date extended to the inland country.

The names Canaanite and Phoenician have properly the same meaning; the first was the Semitic, the second the Grecian name for the inhabitants of the whole land before the Jewish conquest.

Palestine was originally the name of the southern coast-land, which was so called after the Semitic tribe of the Philistines (Pelishtim) which had possession of it, but was transferred by Egyptians and Greeks to the land occupied by the Jews. In the Bible the country is called "the promised land," i. e. the land promised by Jehovah to the children of Israel.

The river Jordan, which rises in the mountain range of Antilebanon and empties into the Dead Sea (Sodom, Gomorrah), runs through the middle of the country. After the Jewish conquest the country was divided into the twelve provinces of the twelve tribes; after the death of Solomon into the kingdoms of Judah and Israel; at the time of Christ into four districts: 1. Judæa (Jerusalem, Hebr. Jerushalaïm; Greek 'Iepoobλvua, with the fortress of Zion and the Temple on Mt. Moriah; Bethlehem, Jericho, Joppa, now Jaffa, on the coast); 2. Samaria (Samaria, Sichem); 3. Galilæa (Nazareth, Capernaum on the sea of Tiberias or Genezareth, Cana); east from Jordan 4. Peræa.

In the country of the Philistines, the coast region between Palestine and Egypt: Ashdod, Ascalon, Gaza, Ekron, Gath.

Chronology. As is the case with the earliest history of all nations, the chronology of Jewish history is uncertain. There is a long and a short system, but here the short system found favor on the continent, while the long system prevails in England.

2000 (?). Abraham (Abram), Patriarch of the Hebrews

(i. e. "those from the other side," because they immigrated from Ur in Babylonia), Israelites, or Jews. According to the traditions of the Hebrews, Abraham had two sons: Ishmael by Hagar, the ancestor of the Ishmaelites (Arabians); and Isaac, by his lawful wife Sarah. The son of Isaac by Rebekah, Jacob

1 Cf. Kiepert, Atlas antiquus, Tab III.

2 Cf. Duncker, History of Antiquity, II. 112, note.

or Israel, the true tribal ancestor of the Hebrews. Jacob's twelve sons by Leah Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulon; by Rachel-Joseph, Benjamin; by Bilhah— Dan, Naphtali; by Zilpah – Gad, Asher.

1550 (?). Joseph. The tribe of the Hebrews migrated to Egypt. They settled in the land of Goshen, on the right bank of the Pelusian mouth of the Nile. It is claimed that the master of Joseph was Apepi, the last of the Shepherd kings of Egypt (see p. 4, where the chronology does not agree with the theory, which, however, is no objection, as it could be easily made to conform.)

1320 (?).1

Moses conducted the Hebrews out of Egypt. Ten commandments at Mt. Sinai. The laws of Moses.

About 1250. The Israelites (Joshua) after a long nomadic life in the peninsula of Sinai and on the east of Jordan conquered the Promised Land, but without entirely subjugating the former inhabitants.

Theocracy, i. e. the nation was under the immediate guidance of Jehovah. The office of the high priest was hereditary in the family of Aaron, the brother of Moses. The Tabernacle, a portable temple or holy tent. The Ark of the Covenant. To the family of Levi (son of Jacob-Israel) was given the exclusive care and service of the tabernacle and all things used in the religious ceremonial.

The other twelve tribes (named from ten sons of Jacob (see above) and two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh) settled in separate districts, which were more or less cut off from one another by remnants of the former inhabitants, and formed an exceedingly loose union of twelve small states under tribal chiefs, which was at times hard pressed by neighboring tribes.

Judges (Shofetim): men raised up by Jehovah in times of need, especially military leaders in the wars against the Canaanite tribes: Amorites (of whom the Jebusites were a part), Amalekites, Hittites, Hivites, and against the Philistines, Midianites, Ammonites, Moabites. Judges: Ehud; the heroine Deborah ; Gideon, conqueror of the Midianites; Jephthah, conqueror of the Ammonites; Samson, the terror of the Philistines.

1070. The Philistines subjugated the whole country this side Jordan.

At the demand of the people, Samuel, the last "Judge in Israel," anointed a brave man of the tribe of Benjamin,

1055 (?). Saul, as king of the Jews.

Victory of Saul over the Moabites, Philistines, Edomites, and Amalekites. Samuel, being at variance with Saul, anointed David, from the tribe of Judah, as king, at the command of Jehovah. David fled to the Philistines from the persecution of Saul. Saul defeated by the Philistines, put an end to his life (1033 ?). For seven years David 1 English scholars place the Exodus at 1652 or 1491.

was recognized as king by the tribe of Judah only, the other tribes under the influence of the captain, Abner, adhering to Saul's son, Ishbosheth. After the murder of Abner and Ish-bosheth, all the tribes acknowledged David as king in the assembly at Hebron.

1025 (?). David. Kingdom of the Jews at the highest point of its power. David wrested Jerusalem from the Jebusites, and made it his residence. He restrained the Philistines within their own borders. His sway extended from the N.E. end of the Red Sea to Damascus. Erection of a royal palace at Zion. Ark of the Covenant placed in Jerusalem. Organization of the army. Religious poetry of the Hebrews at the height of its development. The Psalms. Revolt and death of Absalom (Ahithophel). David passed over his son Adonijah, by Haggith, and other sons, and appointed his son by Bathsheba his

successor.

993 (?).

Solomon. Erection of the Temple of Jehovah and a new palace in Jerusalem, with the aid of workmen from Tyre. Magnificent court. Standing army. Extensive commerce. Defection of Damascus. Foundation of Tadmor in an oasis of the Syrian desert. At the close of Solomon's reign, toleration of foreign idolatry in Jerusalem. After the death of Solomon,

953 (?), Division of the kingdom of the Jews.1

The tribe of Judah, the tribe of Simeon, which had become united with Judah, and a part of Benjamin with the Levites, remained true to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, and formed the Kingdom of Judah (capital, Jerusalem); the other tribes, under Jeroboam, formed the Kingdom of Israel farther north (capital at first Sichem, still later Samaria and Jezreel). These two kingdoms were frequently at war with one another.

Kingdom of Israel.

After the death of the energetic Jeroboam (953-927), his son Nadab was murdered by the captain Baasha, who ascended the throne (925). His son and successor Elah was slain by Zimri; Tibni and Omri disputed the throne, but Omri prevailed in the end (899). The son of Omri, Ahab, married Jezebel, princess of Tyre, whereby the practice of Phoenician idolatry (Baal and Astarte) was extended in Israel.

Contest of the Prophets (Elijah, Elisha, etc.) with the idolatrous monarchy. Israel and Judah united for a short time. Ahab's son Ahaziah (853-851). The captain Jehu, anointed king by Elisha, slew the brother of Ahaziah, Joram (851-843), and put to death Jezebel and seventy sons and grandsons of Ahab. Jehu (843-815) destroyed the temple of Baal and put to death the priests of that god. Decline of Israel's power, which was only temporarily revived by the 1 About the chronology, cf. Duncker, II. 234, note. The long system gives 975 B. C.