Cleopatra's Needle Part 4

On the pyramidion of the obelisk he is represented by a sphinx presenting gifts of water and wine to Tum, the setting sun, a solar deity wors.h.i.+pped at Heliopolis. On the hieroglyphic paintings at Karnak, the fact of the heliacal rising of Sothis, the dog-star, is stated to have taken place during this reign, from which it appears that Thothmes III. occupied the throne of Egypt about 1450 B.C. This is one of the few dates of Egyptian chronology that can be authenticated.

Thothmes III. belonged to the XVIIIth dynasty, which included some of the greatest of Egyptian monarchs. Among the kings of this dynasty were four that bore the name of Thothmes, and four the name of Amenophis, which means "peace of Amen." The monarchs of this dynasty were Thebans.

The father of Thothmes III. was a great warrior. He conquered the Canaanitish nations of Palestine, took Nineveh from the Rutennu, the confederate tribes of Syria, laid waste Mesopotamia, and introduced the war-chariots and horses into the army of Egypt.

Thothmes III., however, was even a greater warrior than his father; and during his long reign Egypt reached the climax of her greatness. His predecessors of the XVIIIth dynasty had extended the dominions of Egypt far into Asia and the interior of Africa. He was a king of great capacity and a warrior of considerable courage. The records of his campaigns are for the most part preserved on a sandstone wall surrounding the great temple of Karnak, built by Thothmes III. in honour of Amen-Ra. From these hieroglyphic inscriptions it appears that Thothmes' first great campaign was made in the twenty-second year of his reign, when an expedition was made into the land of Taneter, that is, Palestine. A full account of his marches and victories is given, together with a list of one hundred and nineteen conquered towns.

This monarch lived before the time of Joshua, and therefore the records of his conquests present us with the ancient Canaanite nomenclature of places in Palestine between the times of the patriarchs and the conquest of the land by the Israelites under Joshua. Thothmes set out with his army from Tanis, that is, Zoan; and after taking Gaza, he proceeded, by way of the plain of Sharon, to the more northern parts of Palestine. At the battle of Megiddo he overthrew the confederated troops of native princes; and in consequence of this signal victory the whole of Palestine was subdued.

Crossing the Jordan near the Sea of Galilee, Thothmes pursued his march to Damascus, which he took by the sword; and then returning homewards by the Judean hills and the south country of Palestine, he returned to Egypt laden with the spoils of victory.

In the thirtieth year of his reign Thothmes lead an expedition against the Rutennu, the people of Northern Syria. In this campaign he attacked and captured Kadesh, a strong fortress in the valley of Orontes, and the capital town of the Rutennu. The king pushed his conquests into Mesopotamia, and occupied the strong fortress of Carchemish, on the banks of the Euphrates. He then led his conquering troops northwards to the sources of the Tigris and the Euphrates, so that the kings of Damascus, Nineveh, and a.s.sur became his va.s.sals, and paid tribute to Egypt.

Punt or Arabia was also subdued, and in Africa his conquests extended to Cush or Ethiopia. His fleet of s.h.i.+ps sailed triumphantly over the waters of the Black Sea. Thus Thothmes ruled over lands extending from the mountains of Caucasus to the sh.o.r.es of the Indian Ocean, and from the Libyan Desert to the great river Tigris.

"Besides distinguis.h.i.+ng himself as a warrior and as a record writer, Thothmes III. was one of the greatest of Egyptian builders and patrons of art. The great temple of Ammon at Thebes was the special object of his fostering care, and he began his career of builder and restorer by repairing the damages which his sister Hatasu had inflicted on that glorious edifice to gratify her dislike of her brother Thothmes II., and her father Thothmes I. Statues of Thothmes I. and his father Amenophis, which Hatasu had thrown down, were re-erected by Thothmes III. before the southern propylaea of the temple in the first year of his independent reign. The central sanctuary which Usertesen I. had built in common stone, was next replaced by the present granite edifice, under the directions of the young prince, who then proceeded to build in rear of the old temple a magnificent hall or pillared chamber of dimensions previously unknown in Egypt. This edifice was an oblong square one hundred and forty-three feet long by fifty-five feet wide, or nearly half as large again as the nave of Canterbury Cathedral. The whole of this apartment was roofed in with slabs of solid stone; two rows of circular pillars thirty feet in height supported the central part, dividing it into three avenues, while on each side of the pillars was a row of square piers, still further extending the width of the chamber, and breaking it up into five long vistas. In connection with this n.o.ble hall, on three sides of it, north, east, and south, Thothmes erected further chambers and corridors, one of the former situated towards the south containing the 'Great Table of Karnak.'

"Other erections of this distinguished monarch are the enclosure of the temple of the Sun at Heliopolis, and the obelisks belonging to the same building, which the irony of fate has now removed to Rome, England, and America; the temple of Ptah at Thebes; the small temple at Medinet Abou; a temple at Kneph, adorned with obelisks, at Elephantine, and a series of temples and monuments at Ombos, Esneh, Abydos, Coptos, Denderah, Eileithyia, Hermonthis and Memphis in Egypt; and at Amada, Corte, Talmis, Pselus, Semneh, and Koummeh in Nubia. Large remains still exist in the Koummeh and Semneh temples, where Thothmes wors.h.i.+ps Totun, the Nubian Kneph, in conjunction with Usertesen III., his own ancestor. There are also extensive ruins of his great buildings at Denderah, Ombos, and Napata. Altogether Thothmes III. is p.r.o.nounced to have 'left more monuments than any other Pharaoh, excepting Rameses II.,' and though occasionally showing himself as a builder somewhat capricious and whimsical, yet still on the whole to have worked in 'a pure style,' and proved that he was 'not deficient in good taste.'

"There is reason to believe that the great constructions of this mighty monarch were, in part at least, the product of forced labours. Doubtless his eleven thousand captives were for the most part held in slavery, and compelled to employ their energies in helping towards the accomplishment of those grand works which his active mind was continually engaged in devising. We find among the monuments of his time a representation of the mode in which the services of these foreign bondsmen were made to subserve the glory of the Pharaoh who had carried them away captive. Some are seen kneading and cutting up the clay; others bear them water from a neighbouring pool; others again, with the a.s.sistance of a wooden mould, shape the clay into bricks, which are then taken and placed in long rows to dry; finally, when the bricks are sufficiently hard, the highest cla.s.s of labourers proceed to build them into walls. All the work is performed under the eyes of taskmasters, armed with sticks, who address the labourers with the words: 'The stick is in my hand, be not idle.' Over the whole is an inscription which says: 'Here are to be seen the prisoners which have been carried away as living captives in very great numbers; they work at the building with active fingers; their overseers are in sight; they insist with vehemence' (on the others working), 'obeying the orders of the great skilled lord' (_i.e._, the head architect), 'who prescribes to them the works, and gives directions to the masters; they are rewarded with wine and all kinds of good dishes; they perform their service with a mind full of love for the king; they build for Thothmes Ra-men-khepr a Holy of Holies for the G.o.ds. May it be rewarded to him through a range of many years.'"[4]

[Ill.u.s.tration: COLOSSAL HEAD OF THOTHMES III.]

"In person Thothmes III. does not appear to have been very remarkable. His countenance was thoroughly Egyptian, but not characterised by any strong individuality. The long, well-shaped, but somewhat delicate nose, almost in a line with the forehead, gives a slightly feminine appearance to the face, which is generally represented as beardless and moderately plump.

The eye, prominent, and larger than that of the ordinary Egyptian, has a pensive but resolute expression, and is suggestive of mental force. The mouth is somewhat too full for beauty, but is resolute, like the eye, and less sensual than that of most Egyptians. There is an appearance of weakness about the chin, which is short, and retreats slightly, thus helping to give the entire countenance a womanish look. Altogether, the face has less of strength and determination than we should have expected, but is not wholly without indications of some of those qualities."[5]

Thothmes III. died after a long and prosperous reign of fifty-four years, and when he was probably about sixty years old, his father having died when he was only an infant.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER VIII.

THE HIEROGLYPHICS OF THOTHMES III.

_Translation of the First Side._

"The Horus, powerful Bull, crowned in Uas, King of Upper and Lower Egypt, 'Ra-men-Kheper.' He has made as it were monuments to his father Haremakhu; he has set up two great obelisks capped with gold at the first festival of Triakonteris. According to his wish he has done it, Son of the Sun, Thothmes, beloved of Haremakhu, ever-living."

[Ill.u.s.tration: "Horus, powerful Bull, crowned in Uas."]

HAWK (=bak=) _Horus_. Horus is a solar deity, and represented the rising sun, or the sun in the horizon. Horus is here represented by a hawk, surmounted by the double crown of Egypt called PSCHENT. The hawk flew higher than any other bird of Egypt, and therefore became the usual emblem of any solar deity, just as the eagle, from its lofty soaring, is an emblem of sublimity, and therefore an emblem of St.

John. The double crown named PSCHENT is composed of a conical hat called HET, the crown and emblem of Upper Egypt, and the TESHER, or red crown, the emblem of Lower Egypt. The wearer of the double crown was supposed to exercise authority over the two Egypts. The oblong form upon the top of which the sacred hawk, the symbol of Horus, stands, is thought by some to be a representation of the standard of the monarch. Dr. Birch thinks it is the ground plan of a palace, and the avenue and approaches to the palace.

BULL (=Mnevis=). The _Mnevis_ was the name of the black bull, or sacred ox of Heliopolis. It was regarded as an avatar or incarnation of a solar deity. On the London Obelisk Mnevis appears twelve times on the palatial t.i.tles, and twice on the lateral columns of Rameses II.

ARM WITH STICK (=khu=) _powerful_, is the common symbol of power. In the Bible also an arm stands for power. "The Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm" (Deut. xxvi.

8). There are twelve palatial t.i.tles on the obelisk, three on each face, and in eleven cases occurs the arm holding a stick in its hand.

In each case this hieroglyph may be rendered by the word _powerful_.

The same hieroglyph appears several times in both the central and lateral columns.

CROWN (=kha=) _crowned_, because placed on the head at the time of coronation. This hieroglyph is thought by some to be a part of a dress.

OWL (=em=) _in_, is a preposition.

SCEPTRE (=Uas=) _Western Thebes_. The sceptre here depicted is that carried in the left hand of Theban kings. It is composed of three parts, the top is the head of a greyhound, the shaft is the long stalk of some reed, perhaps that of the papyrus or lotus, while the curved bottom represents the claws of the crocodile, an animal common in Upper Egypt in ancient times. This sceptre, called KAKUFA, was often represented by an ostrich feather, the common symbol of truth, and stands for _Uas_, the name of that part of Thebes which stood on the western bank of the Nile. The sceptre as an ideograph means power, in the same manner as the sceptre carried by our monarch on state occasions is a badge of authority.

Thus the palatial t.i.tle may be rendered, "The powerful bull, crowned in Western Thebes."

Above the cartouche will be noticed a group of four hieroglyphs, namely, a _reed_, _bee_, and two _semicircles_. This group is usually placed above the cartouche containing the prenomen or sacred name of the king, and the four are descriptive of the authority exercised by the monarch. They may be thus explained:--

[Ill.u.s.tration]

REED (=su=) is the symbol of Upper Egypt, where reeds of this kind were probably common, especially by the banks of the Nile. A flower or plant is often used as the emblem of a nation.

In ancient times the vine was the emblem of the king of Judah, and on the same principle the reed was the emblem of Upper Egypt. The semicircle below is called _tu_, and here stands for king. The two hieroglyphs together are called SUTEN, and may be rendered "king of Upper Egypt."

BEE (=kheb=) is the emblem of Lower Egypt.

The four hieroglyphs are called SUTEN-KHEB, and mean "king of Upper and Lower Egypt."

The bee was an insect that received great attention among the ancient Egyptians. They were kept in hives which resembled our own, and when flowers were not numerous, the owners of bees often carried their hives in boats to various spots on the banks of the Nile where many flowers were blooming. The wild bees frequented the sunny banks and made their habitations in the clefts of the rocks. Moses says that G.o.d made His people to "suck honey out of the rock," and the Psalmist repeats the same idea, when he says, "with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee."

Below this group of hieroglyphs stands what is called the cartouche of Thothmes III. The word was first used by Champollion, and signifies a scroll or label, or escutcheon on which the name of a king is inscribed.

The oval form of the cartouche was probably taken from the scarabeus or sacred beetle, an emblem of the resurrection and immortality; and thus the very framework on which the king inscribed his name spoke of the eternity of a future state. The form, however, may be from a plate of armour. The cartouche is somewhat a.n.a.logous to a heraldic s.h.i.+eld bearing a coat of arms, and its object was probably to give prominence to the king's name, just as an aureole in Christian art gives prominence to the figure it encloses.

The three hieroglyphs charged in this cartouche make up the divine name of Thothmes, and consist of a solar disk, chessboard, and beetle. Each monarch had two names, respectively called prenomen, or divine name, somewhat a.n.a.logous to our Christian name, and the nomen, corresponding to our surname. The prenomen is called the divine name, because it contains the name of the G.o.d from whom the king claims his descent, and often the deities also by whom he is beloved, and with whom he claims relations.h.i.+p.

The king not only claimed descent from the G.o.ds, but he was accounted by his subjects as a representation of the deity.

The t.i.tle of Pharaoh applied to their kings is derived from Phaa or Ra, the midday sun, and the notion was taught that kingly power was derived from the supreme solar deity. The divine right of kings was thus an article of faith among the ancient Egyptians. He was the head of their religious system, defender of the faith; and in all matters, ecclesiastical as well as civil, the king was supreme. He was consequently instructed in the mysteries of the G.o.ds, the services of the temples, and the duties of the priesthood. The Theban kings claimed relations.h.i.+p with Amen, the supreme G.o.d of Thebes; and most kings also claimed Ra, the supreme solar deity, wors.h.i.+pped at Heliopolis, as their grand ancestor.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

SUN'S DISK (=aten=) was the emblem of Ra, who was said to have in perfection all the attributes possessed by inferior deities. He was all in all; from him came, and to him return, the souls of men.

Ra or Phra was, properly speaking, the mid-day sun; and as the sun s.h.i.+nes with greatest power and brightness at mid-day, the attributes of majesty and authority were intimately a.s.sociated with this deity.

Amen-Ra, the G.o.d of Thebes, was supposed to possess the attributes of Amen and Ra.

The ATEN was originally circular, and thus in shape resembled the sun's disk, but in many inscriptions the shape is oval, or that of an oblate-spheroid, considerably flattened at top and bottom.

CHESSBOARD (=men=) is by many thought to be a battlemented wall, but it is probably a chessboard; for at Thebes a picture represents Rameses III. playing a game at chess, or some kindred game. What appears to be a battlement is really the chessmen on the board.

MEN, as part of the divine name of Thothmes, may be the shortened form of Amen, the supreme G.o.d of Thebes, just as Tum is the shortened form of Atum. Ptah was the supreme G.o.d of Memphis, and Ra the supreme G.o.d of Heliopolis. Amen literally means "the concealed one," and was the name applied to the sun after it had sunk below the horizon. He was reputed to be the oldest and most venerable of deities, called the "dweller in eternity," and the source of light and life. Before the creation he dwelt alone in the lower world, but on his saying "come,"

the sun appeared, and drove away the darkness of night. Sometimes he is called Amen-Ra, and his princ.i.p.al temple was at Thebes. He is generally represented by the figure of a man with his face concealed under the head of a horned ram. The figure is coloured blue, the sacred colour of the source of life.

SACRED BEETLE (=kheper=) usually called _scarabeus_ or _scarabee_. It was thought that the beetle hid its eggs in the sand, where they remained until the young beetles broke forth to life. Thus the scarabeus became the symbol of the resurrection and a future life.