The Pharaohs and Their People: Scenes of old Egyptian life and historyBerkley, E.
History
The Pharaohs and Their People: Scenes of old Egyptian life and history
Berkley, E.
Egypt -- History -- To 332 B.C.
lord of the country. I will take care of it because it is right and
seemly.’ He is answered with profuse flatteries, and is assured that
none but he and Horus, son of Isis, imagine and perform such things.
The king then appoints the following song for his own honour and in his
father’s memory:—
‘Awake, lift up thy face towards heaven; behold
the sun, O my father, thou who hast become like God.
Here am I who will make thy name to live. I myself, I
myself am come here to build thy temple near to that of
Unnefer,[48] the eternal king.’
Rameses proceeds to tell of all his gifts and rich endowments, and then
addresses his father thus:—
‘Thou hast entered into the realm of heaven. Thou art
in the company of Ra. Thou art united with the moon and
stars. Thou restest in the deep like those who dwell
with Unnefer the eternal king. When the sun ariseth
thou dost behold its splendour: when he sinketh down
to rest, thou art in his train. Thou enterest within
the secret house, and remainest in the company of the
gods. Speak thou to Ra and to Unnefer with a heart
full of love, that he may grant long years and feasts
of jubilee unto King Rameses. Well will it be for thee
that I should reign for a long time, for thou wilt be
honoured by a good son who remembers his father.’
In answer to this invocation Seti appears and promises all that the
heart of a king could desire, and more especially the length of days
entreated by his son.
Long life was certainly appointed to King Rameses, who reigned for 67
years. Whilst still a youth he was summoned to serious conflict. Not
only had the Syrian princes again risen, but the powerful and civilised
nation of the Kheta had prepared to put forth all its strength against
its mighty rival. Their country lay north of Syria, and their dominion
extended eastward over a part of Mesopotamia, and westward to the coast
of Asia Minor. Seti had encountered them, but although he claimed a
great victory, he had found it advisable immediately afterwards to
conclude a treaty and to return home. Khetasir, king of the Kheta,
encouraged perhaps by the extreme youth of Seti’s successor, had
formed a strong confederacy against Egypt, and placed himself at its
head. Besides his Syrian and Phœnician allies, he had called together
the inhabitants of Mesopotamia on the east, and of the towns on the
sea-coast, including, some have imagined, a contingent from Ilium,[49]
as yet unbesieged of Greek, and unknown in song. The Egyptian forces
reached Kadesh and pitched their camp in its neighbourhood.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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