Dynasties XV: and XVI., Hyksos or Shepherd Kings. The Hyksos kings, according to Manetho, were: Josephus, quoting Manetho, says that the Hyksos kept possession of Egypt for 511 years, and Julius Africanus declares that the period was 518 years; but it is impossible for the total of the reigns of the XVth dynasty to amount to either of these numbers of years. The chief god of the The Hyksos kings of whom remains exist are: Rā-aa-user Apepȧ. Ra-aa-qenen Apepȧ. Set-aa-peḥpeḥ Nubti. Ra-seuser-en Khian. To this period may belong the kings: battle, and is probably the king who succeeded in inflicting a crushin defeat on the Hyksos. B.C. Kames. Rā-senekht-en, who was, perhaps, succeeded by Dynasty XVIII., from Thebes. 1700. Aāḥmes I., who re-established the independence of Egypt. He captured the city of Avaris, and reconquered the tribes of the Eastern Desert and Syria, and made an expedition into the Sûdân. 1666. Amen-hetep (Amenophis) I. He founded the brotherhood of Åmen at Thebes. 1533. Teḥuti-mes (Thothmes) I. He occupied Nubia so far south as Napata (Gebel Barkal). 1600. Teḥuti-mes (Thothmes) II. Son of Thothmes I. and Mut-nefert. He married Hatshepset. 1550. Hat-shepset, daughter of Thothmes I. and Queen Aāḥmes, and sister and wife of Thothmes II. She sent an expedition to Punt. The architect Sen-Mut built for her the famous temple TCHESER TCHESERU, ie, the "Holy of Holies," commonly known as the "Temple of Dêr alBaḥarî." She sent an expedition to Punt by sea. Her tomb was opened by Mr. Theodore M. Davis in 1904. Tehuti-mes (Thothmes) III., the son of Thothmes II. by the lady Åset, made at least thirteen expeditions into Mesopotamia and other countries, and returned laden with spoil. On the death of his aunt Ḥat-shepset, he caused her name to be obliterated in several places on the walls of her temple. He was one of the greatest kings that ever ruled over Egypt. The best summary of the conquests of Thothmes III. is given on a stele in to conquer. B.C. the Museum in Cairo. The text is a speech of 1550. the god Amen-Rã addressed to Thothmes. After describing the glory and might which he has attached to his name, he goes on to mention the countries which he had made his son Thothmes The countries enumerated include Tchah and Ruthen in northern Syria, Phoenicia and Cyprus, Mathen or Mitani on the borders of Mesopotamia by the Euphrates, the countries along the Red Sea, the land of Nubia and the countries lying to the south of it, and the northern parts of Africa. Although Thothmes wasted and destroyed these lands, it cannot be said that he was successful in imposing the yoke of Egypt upon them permanently, for history shows that on the accession to the throne of each of his successors it was necessary to re-conquer them. Many of the phrases are stereotyped expressions which we find repeated in the texts of other kings. This monument was found at Karnak, on the site of the famous temple of Amen of the Apts, and shows marks of erasures made by the order of Amenophis IV., the king who vainly tried to upset the worship of Amen. 1566. Àmen-hetep II. Son of Thothmes III. and Ḥātshepset, the daughter of the great queen of the same name. He made an expedition into Syria, and slew seven chiefs with his own hand. Two statues of this king were found at Wâd Bâ Nagaa, which seems to prove that his rule extended over the Island of Meroë. 1533. Tehuti-mes IV. He cleared the Sphinx from the sand under which it was buried. The tomb of this king was opened by Mr. Theodore M. Davis in 1902 and 1903. B.C. 1500. Amen-hetep III., the Memnon of the Greeks, warred successfully in the lands to the south ago Dr. Birch proposed to read the name of this 1450. Amen-hetep IV. or Khu-en-Åten ("spirit of the solar disk"). He was the founder of the city Khuȧten, the ruins of which are called Tell al-Amarna, and of the "heresy" of the diskworshippers. The god whom this king delighted to worship was Åten mm, i.e., the solar disk, which was regarded as the source of all things. The religion appears to have been a sort of glorified materialism, and the ceremonies connected with it were similar to those of the old Heliopolitan sun-god. In so far as it rejected all other gods, the Åten religion was monotheistic. He was succeeded by kings who were worshippers of B.C. Åmen, and who obtained the throne through 1450. marriage with his daughters. Tut-ankh-Amen, son of Amen-hetep IV by a lady Dynasty XIX., from Thebes. 1400. Rameses I. He waged a war against the Kheta in Western Syria, and was obliged to make a treaty with their Chief. 1366. Seti I., son of Rameses I., conquered the rebellious tribes in Western Asia, and built the Memnonium at Abydos. He was famous as a builder, and attended with great care to the material welfare of his kingdom. He is said to have built a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea. It is a noteworthy fact that this king is called after the name of the god Set, the chief power of evil in the Egyptian theological system. He encouraged the goldmining industry by building wells in the Eastern Desert, and he founded a temple in the Third Cataract near the modern village of Dulgo. 1333. Rameses II. subjugated Libya, Nubia, Syria, and Mesopotamia. He was a great builder, and a liberal patron of the arts and sciences; learned men like Pentaurt were attached to his court. He is famous as one of the oppressors of the Israelites, and as the builder of the treasure cities of Pithom and Raamses. The chief event in his reign was his war against the Kheta, a confederation of tribes of Northern Syria. The Kheta suffered severely in |