The Essential Works of George Rawlinson: Egypt, The Kings of Israel and Judah, Phoenicia, Parthia, Chaldea, Assyria, Media, Babylon, Persia, Sasanian Empire & Herodotus' Histories. George Rawlinson

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ or Tahai, of northern Phœnicia, and upon the Naïri of the Mesopotamian region, who continually rebelled, and had to be reconquered. The Rutennu seem for the most part to have paid their tribute without resistance and without much difficulty. This may have been partly owing to the judicious system which Thothmes had established among them, whereby each chief was forced to give a son or brother as hostage for his good behaviour, and if the hostage died to send another in his place. It was certainly not because the tribute was light, since it consisted of a number of slaves, silver vases of the weight of 762 pounds, nineteen chariots, 276 head of cattle, 1,622 goats, several hundredweight of iron and lead, a number of suits of armour, and "all kinds of good plants." The Rutennu had also to supply the stations along the military road, whereby Thothmes kept up the communications between Egypt and Mesopopotamia, with bread, wine, dates, incense, honey, and figs.

While thus engaged in enlarging the limits of his empire towards the north and the north-east, the careful monarch did not allow the regions brought under Egyptian influence by former rulers to escape him. He took a tribute of gold, spices, male and female slaves, cattle, ivory, ebony, and panther skins from the land of Punt, of cattle and slaves from Cush, and of the same products from the Uauat. Altogether he is said to have carried off from the subject countries above 11,000 captives, 1,670 chariots, 3,639 horses, 4,491 of the larger cattle, more than 35,000 goats, silver to the amount of 3,940 pounds, and gold to the amount of 9,054 pounds. He also conveyed to Egypt from the conquered lands enormous quantities of corn and wine, together with incense, balsam, honey, ivory, ebony and other rare woods, lapis lazuli, furniture, statues, vases, dishes, basins, tent-poles, bows, habergeons, fruit trees, live birds, and monkeys! With a curiosity which was insatiable, he noted all that was strange or unusual in the lands which he visited, and sought to introduce the various novelties into his own proper country. Two unknown kinds of birds, and a variety of the goose, which he found in Mesopotamia, and transported from the valley of the Khabour to that of the Nile, are said to have been "dearer to the king than anything else." His artists had instructions to make careful studies of the different objects, and to represent them faithfully on his monuments. We see on these "water-lilies as high as trees, plants of a growth like cactuses, all sorts of trees and shrubs, leaves, flowers, and fruits, including melons and pomegranates; oxen and calves also figure, and among them a wonderful animal with three horns. There are likewise herons, sparrow-hawks, geese, and doves. All these objects appear gaily intermixed in the pictures, as suited the simple childlike conception of the artist."18 An inscription tells the intention of the monarch. "Here," it runs, "are all sorts of plants and all sorts of flowers of the Holy Land, which the king discovered when he went to the land of Ruten to conquer it. Thus says the king—I swear by the sun, and I call to witness my father Ammon, that all is plain truth; there is no trace of deception in that which I relate. What the splendid soil brings forth in the way of productions, I have had portrayed in these pictures, with the intention of offering them to my father Ammon, as a memorial for all times."

      Besides his army, Thothmes also maintained a naval force, and used it largely in his expeditions. According to one writer, he placed a fleet on the Euphrates, and in an action which took place with the Assyrians, defeated and chased the enemy for a distance of between seven and eight miles. He certainly upon some occasions made his attacks on Syria and Phœnicia from the sea; nor is it improbable that his maritime forces reduced Cyprus (which was conquered and held in a much less flourishing period by Amasis) and plundered the coast of Cilicia; but a judicious criticism will scarcely extend the voyages of his fleet, as has been done by another writer, to Crete, and the islands of the Ægean, the sea-boards of Greece and Asia Minor, the southern coast of Italy, Algeria, and the waters of the Euxine! There is no evidence in the historical inscriptions of Thothmes of any such far-reaching expeditions. The supposed evidence for them is in a song of victory, put into the mouth of the god, Ammon, and inscribed on one of the walls of the great temple of Karnak. The song is interesting, but it scarcely bears out the deductions that have been drawn from it, as will appear from the subjoined translation.

      (AMMON loquitur.)

      I came, and thou smotest the princes of Zahi;

       I scattered them under thy feet over all their lands;

       I made them regard thy Holiness as the blazing sun;

       Thou shinest in sight of them in my form.

      I came, and thou smotest them that dwell in Asia;

       Thou tookest captive the goat-herds of Ruten;

       I made them behold thy Holiness in thy royal adornments,

       As thou graspest thy weapons in the war-chariot.

      I came, and thou smotest the land of the East;

       Thou marchedst against the dwellers in the Holy Land;

       I made them behold thy Holiness as the star Canopus,

       Which sends forth its heat and disperses the dew.

      I came, and thou smotest the land of the West;

       Kefa and Asebi (i.e. Phœnicia and Cyprus) held thee in fear; I made them look upon thy Holiness as a young bull, Courageous, with sharp horns, which none can approach.

      I came, and thou smotest the subjects of their lords;

       The land of Mathen trembled for fear of thee;

       I made them look upon thy Holiness as upon a crocodile,

       Terrible in the waters, not to be encountered.

      I came, and thou smotest them that dwelt in the Great Sea;

       The inhabitants of the isles were afraid of thy war-cry;

       I made them behold thy Holiness as the Avenger,

       Who shews himself at the back of his victim.

      I came, and thou smotest the land of the Tahennu;

       The people of Uten submitted themselves to thy power;

       I made them see thy Holiness as a lion, fierce of eye,

       Who leaves his den and stalks through the valleys.

      I came, and thou smotest the hinder (i.e. northern) lands; The circuit of the Great Sea is bound in thy grasp; I made them behold thy Holiness as the hovering hawk. Which seizes with his glance whatever pleases him.

      I came, and thou smotest the lands in front:

       Those that sat upon the sand thou carriedst away captive;

       I made them behold thy Holiness like the jackal of the South,

       Which passes through the lands as a hidden wanderer.

      I came, and thou smotest the nomad tribes of Nubia,

       Even to the land of Shut, which thou holdest in thy grasp;

       I made them behold thy Holiness like thy pair of brothers,

Whose hands I have united to give thee power.19

      It is impossible to conclude this sketch of Thothmes III. without some notice of his buildings. He was the greatest of Egyptian conquerors, but he was also one of the greatest of Egyptian builders and patrons of art. The grand temple of Ammon at Thebes was the especial object of his fostering care; and he began his career of builder and restorer by repairs and restorations, СКАЧАТЬ