The History of Antiquity, Vol. 1 (of 6)Duncker, Max
History
The History of Antiquity, Vol. 1 (of 6)
Duncker, Max
History, Ancient
Afterwards Amenj with 600 warriors had
conveyed the produce of the goldmines from the canton of Hermopolis to
the stronghold of Coptus. He had loved his canton; and all the works
required for the house of the king he had carried out in his canton by
his own arm, and had paid in the tribute. He had laboured, and the
canton had been in full activity. He had not afflicted the children, or
ill-treated the widows; he had not disturbed the fishermen, or hindered
the herdsmen. Famine had never prevailed, because every plot had been
planted. He had caused the inhabitants to live, had given gifts without
regarding the great before the small.[158] The fragment of a seated
colossus of Sesurtesen I., of black granite, is to be seen in the museum
at Berlin; his colossus of red granite is at Tanis. A third statue of
this king has been found at Abydus.[159]
Amenemha II. and Sesurtesen II. carried on the campaigns of the first
Sesurtesen in the south of Egypt. A monument in the valley of Hamamat
exhibits battles with the Punt, _i.e._ with the tribes of the Arabians
and the negroes.[160] Sesurtesen III., who succeeded Sesurtesen II.,
completed the subjugation of Lower Nubia. To protect the new border
of the kingdom, he caused fortresses to be erected a little above
the falls of the Wadi Halfa, at Semne and Kumne, about 250 miles
south of Syene. A pillar discovered in this district has the following
inscription:--"Southern border; erected in the eighth year, under the
rule of his holiness King Sesurtesen III., who gives life for all
eternity. No negro shall pass over it on his way, except the boats
laden with the oxen, goats, and asses of the negroes."[161]
The third Sesurtesen was followed by the third Amenemha (2221 to 2179
B.C.). Inscriptions in the Wadi Maghara, in the peninsula of Sinai, tell
us that Amenemha III. caused the copper to be conveyed from the mines
there by 734 soldiers, in the second year of his reign; and inscriptions
in the valley of Hamamat show that the quarries there were frequently
used by this king.[162] Near the fortifications of his predecessor, on
the rocks of Semne and Kumne, are found numerous records of the height
reached by the Nile in the reign of Amenemha III. Here we read--"Level
of Hapi (the Nile) in the fourteenth, sixteenth, thirtieth years, &c.,
under his holiness King Amenemha III., who lives for ever." From these
observations we find that the average height of the inundations at that
time was more than twenty-four feet higher than at present; and the
greatest height reached under Amenemha III. was twenty-seven feet above
the greatest height of modern times.[163]
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