Part 8 (1/2)
CAPTURE OF MEGIDDO BY THOTHMES III
The following is the official account of the Battle of Megiddo in Syria, which was won by Thothmes III in the twenty-third year of his reign. The narrative is taken from the Annals of Thothmes III. The king set out from Thebes and marched into Syria, and received the submission of several small towns, and having made his way with difficulty through the hilly region to the south of the city of Megiddo, he camped there to prepare for the battle. ”Then the tents of His Majesty were pitched, and orders were sent out to the whole army, saying, Arm yourselves, get your weapons ready, for we shall set out to do battle with the miserable enemy at daybreak. The king sat in his tent, the officers made their preparations, and the rations of the servants were provided. The military sentries went about crying, Be firm of heart. Be firm of heart.
Keep watch, keep watch. Keep watch over the life of the king in his tent. And a report was brought to His Majesty that the country was quiet, and that the foot soldiers of the south and north were ready. On the twenty-first day of the first month of the season Shemu (March-April) of the twenty-third year of the reign of His Majesty, and the day of the festival of the new moon, which was also the anniversary of the king's coronation, at dawn, behold, the order was given to set the whole army in motion. His Majesty set out in his chariot of silver-gold, and he had girded on himself the weapons of battle, like Horus the Slayer, the lord of might, and he was like unto Menthu [the War-G.o.d] of Thebes, and Amen his father gave strength to his arms. The southern half of the army was stationed on a hill to the south of the stream Kina, and the northern half lay to the south-west of Megiddo; His Majesty was between them, and Amen was protecting him and giving strength to his body. His Majesty at the head of his army attacked his enemies, and broke their line, and when they saw that he was overwhelming them they broke and fled to Megiddo in a panic, leaving their horses and their gold and silver chariots on the field. [The fugitives] were pulled up by the people over the walls into the city; now they let down their clothes by which to pull them up. If the soldiers of His Majesty had not devoted themselves to securing loot of the enemy, they would have been able to capture the city of Megiddo at the moment when the vile foes from Kadesh and the vile foes from this city were being dragged up hurriedly over the walls into this city; for the terror of His Majesty had entered into them, and their arms dropped helplessly, and the serpent on his crown overthrew them. Their horses and their chariots [which were decorated] with gold and silver were seized as spoil, and their mighty men of war lay stretched out dead upon the ground like fishes, and the conquering soldiers of His Majesty went about counting their shares. And behold, the tent of the vile chief of the enemy, wherein was his son, was also captured. Then all the soldiers rejoiced greatly, and they glorified Amen, because he had made his son (_i.e._ the king) victorious on that day, and they praised His Majesty greatly, and acclaimed his triumph. And they collected the loot which they had taken, viz. hands [cut off the dead], prisoners, horses, chariots [decorated with] gold and silver,” etc.
In spite of the joy of the army Thothmes was angry with his troops for having failed to capture the city. Every rebel chief was in Megiddo, and its capture would have been worth more than the capture of a thousand other cities, for he could have slain all the rebel chiefs, and the revolt would have collapsed completely. Thothmes then laid siege to the city, and he threw up a strong wall round about it, through which none might pa.s.s, and the daily progress of the siege was recorded on a leather roll, which was subsequently preserved in the temple of Amen at Thebes. After a time the chiefs in Megiddo left their city and advanced to the gate in the siege-wall and reported that they had come to tender their submission to His Majesty, and it was accepted. They brought to him rich gifts of gold, silver, lapis-lazuli, turquoise, wheat, wine, cattle, sheep, goats, &c., and he reappointed many of the penitent chiefs to their former towns as va.s.sals of Egypt. Among the gifts were 340 prisoners, 83 hands, 2041 mares, 191 foals, 6 stallions, a royal chariot with a golden pole, a second royal chariot, 892 chariots, total 924 chariots; 2 royal coats of mail, 200 ordinary coats of mail, 502 bows, 7 tent poles inlaid with gold, 1929 cattle, 2000 goats, and 20,500 sheep.
THE CONQUESTS OF THOTHMES III SUMMARISED BY AMEN-RA, KING OF THE G.o.dS
The conquests of Thothmes III were indeed splendid achievements, and the scribes of his time summarised them very skilfully in a fine text which they had cut in hieroglyphs on a large stele at Karnak. The treatment is, of course, somewhat poetical, but there are enough historical facts underlying the statements to justify a rendering of it being given in this chapter. The text is supposed to be a speech of Amen-Ra, the lord of the thrones of the Two Lands, to the king. He says:
”Thou hast come to me, thou hast rejoiced in beholding my beneficence, O my son, my advocate, Menkheperra, living for ever! I rise upon thee through my love for thee. My heart rejoiceth at thy auspicious comings to my temple. My hands knit together thy limbs with the fluid of life; sweet unto me are thy gracious acts towards my person. I have stablished thee in my sanctuary. I have made thee to be a source of wonder [to men]. I have given unto thee strength and conquests over all lands. I have set thy Souls and the fear of thee in all lands. The terror of thee hath penetrated to the four pillars of the sky. I have made great the awe of thee in all bodies. I have set the roar of Thy Majesty everywhere [in the lands of] the Nine Bows (_i.e._ Nubia). The Chiefs of all lands are grouped in a bunch within thy fist. I put out my two hands; I tied them in a bundle for thee. I collected the Antiu of Ta-sti[1] in tens of thousands and thousands, and I made captives by the hundred thousand of the Northern Nations. I have cast down thy foes under thy sandals, thou hast trampled upon the hateful and vile-hearted foes even as I commanded thee. The length and breadth of the earth are thine, and those who dwell in the East and the West are va.s.sals unto thee. Thou hast trodden upon all countries, thy heart is expanded (_i.e._ glad). No one dareth to approach Thy Majesty with hostility, because I am thy guide to conduct thee to them. Thou didst sail over the Great Circuit of water (the Euphrates) of Nehren (Aram Naharayim, or Mesopotamia) with strength and power. I have commanded for thee that they should hear thy roarings, and run away into holes in the ground. I stopped up their nostrils [shutting out] the breath of life. I have set the victories of Thy Majesty in their minds. The fiery serpent Khut which is on thy forehead burnt them up. It made thee to grasp as an easy prey the Ketu peoples, it burnt up the dwellers in their marshes with its fire. The Princes of the Aamu (Asiatics) have been slaughtered, not one of them remains, and the sons of the mighty men have fallen. I have made thy mighty deeds to go throughout all lands, the serpent on my crown hath illumined thy territory, nothing that is an abomination unto thee existeth in all the wide heaven, and the people come bearing offerings upon their backs, bowing to the ground before Thy Majesty, in accordance with my decree. I made impotent those who dared to attack thee, their hearts melted and their limbs quaked.
[Footnote 1: The natives of the Eastern Desert of Nubia.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Stele on which is cut the Speech of Amen-Ra, summarising the Conquests of Thothmes III.]
”I have come, making thee to trample under foot the Chief of Tchah (Syria), I have cast them down under thy feet in all the lands, I have made them to behold Thy Majesty as the 'lord of beams' (_i.e._ the Sun-G.o.d), thou hast shone on their faces as the image of me.
”I have come, making thee to trample under foot the people of Asia, thou hast led away captive the Chiefs of the Aamu of Retenu, I have made them to behold Thy Majesty arrayed in thy decorations, grasping the weapons for battle, [mounted] on thy chariot.
”I have come, making thee to trample under foot the land of the East, thou hast trodden upon those who dwell in the districts of the Land of the G.o.d, I have made them to see thee as the brilliant star that shooteth out light and fire and scattereth its dew.
”I have come, making thee to trample under foot the land of the West, Kefti (Phnicia) and Asi (Cyprus) are in awe of thee. I have made them to see Thy Majesty as a young bull, steady-hearted, with horns ready to strike, invincible.
”I have come, making thee to trample under foot those who are in their marshes, the Lands of Methen (Mitani) quake through their fear of thee.
I have made them to see Thy Majesty as the crocodile, the lord of terror in the water, una.s.sailable.
”I have come, making thee to trample under foot those who dwell in the Islands, those who live in the Great Green (Mediterranean) hear thy roarings, I have made them to see Thy Majesty as the slayer when he mounteth on the back of his sacrificial animal.
”I have come, making thee to trample under foot the Thehenu (Libyans), the Islands of the Uthentiu [have submitted to] the power of thy Souls.
I have made them to see Thy Majesty as a savage lion, which hath scattered the dead bodies of the people throughout their valleys.
”I have come, making thee to trample under foot the uttermost ends of the earth, the Circuit of the Great Circuit is in thy grasp, I have made them to see Thy Majesty as the hawk, which seizeth what it seeth when it pleaseth.
”I have come, making thee to trample upon those who are on their frontiers(?), thou hast smitten 'those on their sand' (_i.e._ the desert dwellers), making them living captives. I have made them to see Thy Majesty as a jackal of the south, moving fleetly and stealthily, and traversing the Two Lands.
”I have come, making thee to trample under foot the Antiu of Ta-sti, as far as ... they are in thy grasp. I have made them to see Thy Majesty as the Two Brothers (Set and Horus), I have gathered together their arms about thee with [strength].
”I have placed thy Two Sisters (Isis and Nephthys) near thee as protectresses for thee, the arms of Thy Majesty are [lifted] upwards to drive away evil. I have made thee strong and glorious, O my beloved Son, thou Mighty Bull, crowned in Thebes, begotten by me ..., Thothmes, the everliving, who hast performed for me all that my Ka wished. Thou hast set up my sanctuary with work that shall endure for ever, thou hast lengthened it and broadened it more than ever was done before. The great pylon ... Thou hast celebrated the festival of the beauties of Amen-Ra, thy monuments are greater than those of any king who hath existed, I commanded thee to do it. I am satisfied with it. I have stablished thee upon the throne of Horus for hundreds of thousands of years. Thou shalt guide life ...”
[Ill.u.s.tration: A Page of the Hieratic Text, from the Great Harris Papyrus in the British Museum, describing the great Works carried out by Rameses III about 1200 B.C.]
SUMMARY OF THE REIGN OF RAMESES III
The reign of Rameses III is remarkable in the annals of the New Empire, and the great works which this king carried out, and his princely benefactions to the temples of Egypt, are described at great length in his famous papyrus in the British Museum (Harris, No. 1, No. 9999). The last section of the papyrus contains an excellent historical summary of the reign of Rameses III, and as it is one of the finest examples of this cla.s.s of literature a translation of it is here given. The text is written in the hieratic character and reads:
King Usermaatra-meri-Amen (Rameses III), life, strength, health [be to him!] the great G.o.d, said unto the princes, and the chiefs of the land, and the soldiers, and the charioteers, and the Shartanau soldiers, and the mult.i.tudes of the bowmen, and all those who lived in the land of Ta-mera (Egypt), Hearken ye, and I will cause you to know the splendid deeds which I did when I was king of men. The land of Kamt was laid open to the foreigner, every man [was ejected] from his rightful holding, there was no ”chief mouth” (_i.e._ ruler) for many years in olden times until the new period [came]. The land of Egypt [was divided among]
chiefs and governors of towns, each one slew his neighbour. ... Another period followed with years of nothingness (famine?). Arsu, a certain Syrian, was with them as governor, he made the whole land to be one holding before him. He collected his va.s.sals, and mulcted them of their possessions heavily. They treated the G.o.ds as if they were men, and they offered up no propitiatory offerings in their temples. Now when the G.o.ds turned themselves back to peace, and to the restoration of what was right in the land, according to its accustomed and proper form, they established their son who proceeded from their body to be Governor, life, strength, health [be to him!], of every land, upon their great throne, namely, Userkhara-setep-en-Amen-meri-Amen, life strength, health [be to him!], the son of Ra, Set-nekht-merr-Ra-meri-Amen, life, strength, health [be to him!]. He was like Khepra-Set when he is wroth.
He quieted the whole country which had been in rebellion. He slew the evil-hearted ones who were in Ta-mera (Egypt). He purified the great throne of Egypt. He was the Governor, life, strength, health [be to him!], of the Two Lands, on the throne of Amen. He made to appear the faces that had withdrawn themselves. Of those who had been behind walls every man recognised his fellow. He endowed the temples with offerings to offer as was right to the Nine G.o.ds, according to use and wont. He made me by a decree to be the Hereditary Chief in the seat of Keb. I became the ”Great High Mouth” of the lands of Egypt, I directed the affairs of the whole land, which had been made one. He set on his double horizon (_i.e._ he died) like the Nine G.o.ds. There was performed for him what was performed for Osiris; sailing in his royal boat on the river, and resting [finally] in his house of eternity (_i.e._ the tomb) in Western Thebes.