ther feudal deities, had lavished victories upon them.

* The donations of Ramses III., or rather the total of the
donations made to the gods by the predecessors of that
Pharaoh, and confirmed and augmented by him, are enumerated
at length in the _Great Harris Papyrus_.

** An abridgement of these donations occupies seven large
plates in the _Great Harris Papyrus_.

His domain was at least five times more considerable than that of Ra of
Heliopolis, and ten times greater than that of the Memphite Phtah, and
yet of old, in the earlier times of history, Ra and Phtah were reckoned
the wealthiest of the Egyptian gods. It is easy to understand the
influence which a god thus endowed with the goods of this world
exercised over men in an age when the national wars had the same
consequences for the immortals as for their worshippers, and when the
defeat of a people was regarded as a proof of the inferiority of
its patron gods. The most victorious divinity became necessarily the
wealthiest, before whom all other deities bowed, and whom they, as well
as their subjects, were obliged to serve.

So powerful a god as Amon had but few obstacles to surmount before
becoming the national deity; indeed, he was practically the foremost of
the gods during the Ramesside period, and was generally acknowledged
as Egypt's representative by all foreign nations.* His priests shared in
the prestige he enjoyed, and their influence in state affairs increased
proportionately with his power.

* From the XVIIIth dynasty, at least, the first prophet of
Amon had taken the precedence of the high priests of
Heliopolis and Memphis, as is proved by the position he
occupies in the Egyptian hierarchy in the _Hood Papyrus_.

The chief of their hierarchy, however, did not bear the high titles
which in ancient times distinguished those of Memphis and Heliopolis; he
was content with the humble appellation of first prophet of Amon. He
had for several generations been nominated by the sovereign, but he was
generally chosen from the families attached hereditarily or otherwise
to the temple of Karnak, and must previously have passed through every
grade of the priestly hierarchy. Those who aspired to this honour had to
graduate as "divine fathers;" this was the first step in the initiation,
and one at which many were content to remain, but the more ambitious or
favoured advanced by successive stages to the dignity o