Part 5 (1/2)

One day Paqrur of Goshen appeared at Memphis to do him homage, much to the surprise and delight of the Ethiopian king. As Paqrur was the prince of Pi-Sopd or Goshen, who had been sent to Nineveh along with Necho, the date of Tuatan-Amon is pretty clear. How he came to quit Egypt, however, he does not vouchsafe to explain.

Whether Urd-Aman were Rud-Amon or Tuatan-Amon, he gave a good deal of trouble to the a.s.syrians. Thebes was securely in his hands, and from thence he marched upon Memphis. The a.s.syrian garrison and its allies were defeated in front of the city, which was then blockaded and taken after a long siege. Necho was captured and put to death, and Psammetikhos escaped the same fate only by flight into Syria. But a.s.syrian revenge did not tarry long. a.s.sur-bani-pal determined to put an end to Egyptian revolt and Ethiopian invasion once for all. A large army was despatched to the Nile, which overthrew the forces of Rud-Amon in the Delta and pursued him as far as Thebes. Thence he fled to Kipkip in Ethiopia, and a terrible punishment was inflicted on the capital of southern Egypt. The whole of its inhabitants were led away into slavery. Its temples-at once the centres of disaffection and fortresses against attack-were half-demolished, its monuments and palaces were destroyed, and all its treasures, sacred and profane, were carried away. Among the spoil were two obelisks, more than seventy tons in weight, which were removed to Nineveh as trophies of victory. The injuries which Kambyses has been accused of inflicting on the ancient monuments of Thebes were really the work of the a.s.syrians.

How great was the impression made upon the oriental world by the sack of Thebes may be gathered from the reference to it by the prophet Nahum (iii.

8-10). Nineveh itself is threatened with the same overthrow. ”Art thou better than No of Amon, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, (the Nile), and her wall was from the sea? Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers. Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.” As the destruction of Thebes took place about B.C. 665, the date of Nahum's prophecy cannot have been much later.

In the a.s.syrian inscriptions Thebes is called Ni', corresponding with the No of the Old Testament. Both words represent the Egyptian Nu, ”city,”

Thebes being pre-eminently ”the city” of Upper Egypt. Its patron-deity was Amon, to whom its great temple was dedicated, and hence it is that Nahum calls it ”No of Amon.” Divided as it was into two halves by the Nile, and encircled on either side by ca.n.a.ls, one of which-”the southern water”-still runs past the southern front of the temple of Luxor, it could truly be said that its ”rampart was the sea.” To this day the Nile is called ”the sea” by the natives of Egypt.

The Ethiopians penetrated into Egypt no more. The twenty satrapies were re-established; and Psammetikhos received his father's princ.i.p.ality, though the precedence among the va.s.sal-kings was given to Paqrur of Goshen. For a time the country was at peace.

Fifteen years later, however, an event occurred which shook the a.s.syrian empire to its foundations. A revolt broke out which spread throughout the whole of it. The revolt was headed by a.s.sur-bani-pal's brother, the Viceroy of Babylonia, and for some time the result wavered in the balance.

But the good generals.h.i.+p and disciplined forces of a.s.syria eventually prevailed, and she emerged from the struggle, exhausted indeed, but triumphant. The empire, however, was shrunken. Gyges of Lydia had thrown off his allegiance, and had a.s.sisted Psammetikhos of Sais to make Egypt independent. While the a.s.syrian armies were battling for existence in Asia, Psammetikhos, with the Ionian and Karian mercenaries from Lydia, was driving out the a.s.syrian garrisons and overcoming his brother satraps. One by one they disappeared before him, and at last he had the satisfaction of seeing Egypt a united and independent monarchy, under a monarch who claimed to be of native race.

The blood of the founder of the twenty-sixth dynasty was, however, mixed.

He seems to have been, partly at least, of Libyan descent, and it is even doubtful whether his name is pure Egyptian. Like his father, he surrounded himself with foreigners: the Greeks and Karians, with whose help he had gained his throne, were high in favour, and const.i.tuted the royal body-guard. The native Egyptian army, we are told, deserted the king in disgust and made their way to Ethiopia. However that may be, Greek troops were settled in ”camps” in the Delta, Greek merchants were allowed to trade and even to build in Egypt, and the Karians became dragomen, guides, and interpreters between the natives and the European tourists who began to visit the Nile.

It was during the reign of Psammetikhos I. (B.C. 664-610) that the great invasion of nomad Scyths, referred to in the earlier chapters of Jeremiah, swept over Western Asia. They sacked the towns of the Philistines and made their way to the Egyptian frontier, but there they were bought off by Psammetikhos. After their dispersion, the Egyptian Pharaoh turned his eyes towards Palestine, with the intention of restoring the Asiatic empire of Ramses II. The twenty-sixth dynasty was an age of antiquarian revival; not content with restoring Egypt to peace and prosperity, its kings aimed also at restoring the Egypt of the past. Egyptian art again puts on an antique form, temples are repaired or erected in accordance with ancient models, and literature reflects the general tendency. The revival only wanted originality to make it successful; as it is, the art of the twenty-sixth dynasty is careful and good, and under its rule Egypt enjoyed for the last time a St. Luke's summer of culture and renown.

The power of a.s.syria was pa.s.sing away. The great rebellion, and the wars in Elam which followed, had drained it of its resources. The Scythic invasion destroyed what little strength was left. Before Psammetikhos died Nineveh was already surrounded by its foes, and four years later it perished utterly.

The provinces of the west became virtually independent. Josiah of Judah still called himself a va.s.sal of the a.s.syrian monarch, but he acted as if the a.s.syrian monarchy did not exist. The a.s.syrian governor of Samaria was deprived of his authority, and Jewish rule was obeyed throughout what had been the territory of the Ten Tribes.

The weakness of a.s.syria was the opportunity of Egypt. The earlier years of the reign of Psammetikhos were spent in reorganising his kingdom and army, in suppressing all opposition to his government, and in rebuilding the ruined cities and temples. Then he marched into Palestine and endeavoured to secure once more for Egypt the cities of the Philistines. Ashdod was taken after a prolonged siege, and an Egyptian garrison placed in it.

The successor of Psammetikhos was his son Necho, who carried out the foreign policy of his father. The old ca.n.a.l which ran from the Red Sea at Suez to the Nile near Zagazig, and which centuries of neglect had allowed to be choked, was again partially cleared out, and ”the tongue of the Egyptian sea was cut off” (Isa. xi. 15). s.h.i.+ps were also sent from Suez under Phnician pilots to circ.u.mnavigate Africa. Three years did they spend on the voyage, and after pa.s.sing the Straits of Gibraltar, finally arrived safely at the mouths of the Nile. There an incredulous people heard that as they were sailing westward the sun was on their right hand.

But long before the return of his s.h.i.+ps, Necho had placed himself at the head of his army and entered on the invasion of Asia. The Syrians were defeated at Migdol, and Gaza was occupied. The Egyptian army then proceeded to march along the sea-coast by the ancient military road, which struck inland at the Nahr el-Kelb. But the Jewish king, pleading his duty to his a.s.syrian suzerain, attempted to block the way; the result was a battle in the plain of Megiddo, where the Jewish forces were totally routed, and Josiah himself carried from the field mortally wounded. Necho now overran northern Syria as far as the Euphrates, and then returned southward to punish the Jews. Jerusalem was captured by treachery, and Jehoahaz, the new king, deposed after a reign of only three months. The Pharaoh then made his brother Eliakim king in his stead, changing his name to Jehoiakim. The city was fined a talent of gold and a hundred talents of silver, and Necho sent his armour to the temple of Apollo near Miletus as a thank-offering to the G.o.d of his Greek mercenaries.

The empire of Thothmes was restored, at all events in Asia. But it lasted hardly more than three years. In B.C. 605 a decisive battle was fought at Carchemish, on the Euphrates, now Jerablus, between Necho and the Babylonian prince Nebuchadrezzar, who commanded the army of his father Nabopola.s.sar. The Egyptians fled in confusion, and the Asiatic empire was utterly lost. The Jewish king transferred his allegiance to the conqueror, and for three years ”became his servant.” Then he rebelled, probably in consequence of a fresh attempt made by the Egyptians to recover their power in Palestine. The attempt, however, failed, and a Babylonian army was sent against Jerusalem. Jehoiakim was already dead, but his son Jehoiachin, along with the leading citizens, the military cla.s.s, and the artisans-”ten thousand captives” in all-was carried into exile in Babylonia (B.C. 599). His uncle Zedekiah was placed on the throne, and for nearly nine years he remained faithful to his Babylonian master.

Then came temptation from the side of Egypt. Psammetikhos II., who had succeeded his father Necho in B.C. 594, prepared to march into Palestine, and contest the supremacy over Western Asia with the Babylonian monarch. A Babylonian army was already besieging the revolted city of Jerusalem when the forces of the Pharaoh appeared in sight. The Babylonians broke up their camp and retired, and it seemed as if the rebellion of the Jewish king had been successful (Jer. x.x.xvii. 5, 11; Ezek. xvii. 15).

But it was not for long. The Egyptians returned to ”their own land,” and the siege of Jerusalem was recommenced. At last, in B.C. 588, the city was taken, its king and most of its inhabitants led into captivity, and its temple and palace burned with fire. Judah was placed under a Babylonian governor, and the authority of the Babylonians acknowledged as far as Gaza.

Psammetikhos II. had died in the preceding year, and his son Uahabra, the Apries of the Greeks, the Hophra of the Old Testament, occupied his place.

The army which had gone to the help of Zedekiah had doubtless been sent by him. He had recaptured Gaza, and marched along the coast to Sidon, which he captured, and Tyre, which was in rebellion against the Chaldaeans, while his fleet defeated the combined forces of the Cyprians and Phnicians, and held the sea. A hieroglyphic inscription, erected by a native of Gebal and commemorative of the invasion, has recently been found near Sidon. But the Egyptian conquests were again lost almost as quickly as they had been made.

Palestine became a Babylonian province up to the frontiers of Egypt. Many of the Jews who had been left in it fled to Egypt. Their numbers were reinforced by a band of outlaws, of whom Johanan was the leader, who had murdered the Babylonian governor and had dragged into Egypt with them the prophet Jeremiah and his scribe Baruch. Jeremiah in vain protested against their conduct, and predicted that Hophra should be slain by his enemies, and that Nebuchadrezzar should set up his throne on that very pavement ”at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes” where the prophet was then standing. Tahpanhes is almost certainly Tel ed-Defneh, the Daphnae of Greek geography, which stands in the mid-desert about twelve miles to the west of Kantara on the Suez Ca.n.a.l, and where Professor Flinders Petrie made excavations for the Egypt Exploration Fund in 1886. There he found the remains of a great fortress and camp, which had been built by Psammetikhos I. for his Greek mercenaries. The walls of the camp were forty feet in thickness, and the ruins of the fortress still go by the name of the ”Castle of the Jew's Daughter.” In front of it is a brick pavement, just like that described by Jeremiah.

Daphnae, in fact, was one of the chief fortresses of Egypt on the side of Asia, and it was accordingly the chief station of the Greek mercenaries.

It commanded the entrance to the Delta, and was almost the first place in Egypt that the traveller from Palestine who came by the modern caravan road would approach. It was, therefore, the first settlement at which Jewish fugitives who wished to avoid the Babylonian garrison at Gaza would be likely to arrive. And it was also the first object of attack on the part of an invader from the East. Its possession opened to him the way to Memphis.

That Nebuchadrezzar actually invaded Egypt, as Jeremiah had predicted, we now know from a fragment of his annals. In his thirty-seventh year (B.C.

567) he marched into Egypt, defeating the Pharaoh Amasis, and the soldiers of ”Phut of the Ionians,” ”a distant land which is in the midst of the sea.” The enemies, therefore, into whose hands Hophra was to fall were not the Babylonians. They were, in fact, his own subjects.