h
existed between the priests and the pharaohs. Most frequently the
pharaoh laid rich offerings before the gods and built temples. Then he
lived long, and his name, with his images cut out on monuments, passed
from generation to generation, full of glory. But many pharaohs reigned
for a short period only, and of some not merely the deeds, but the
names disappeared from record. A couple of times it happened that a
dynasty fell, and straightway the cap of the pharaohs, encircled with a
serpent, was taken by a priest.

Egypt continued to develop while a people of one composition, energetic
kings, and wise priests co-operated for the common weal. But a time
came when the people, in consequence of wars, decreased in number and
lost their strength through oppression and extortion; the intrusion of
foreign elements at this period undermined Egyptian race unity. And
when the energy of pharaohs and the wisdom of priests sank in the flood
of Asiatic luxury, and these two powers began to struggle with each
other for undivided authority to plunder the toiling people, then Egypt
fell under foreign control, and the light of civilized life, which had
burnt on the Nile for millenniums, was extinguished.

The following narrative relates to the eleventh century before Christ,
when the twentieth dynasty fell, and after the offspring of the sun,
the eternally living Ramses XIII, Sem-Amen-Herhor, the high priest of
Amon and ever-living offspring of the sun, forced his way to the throne
and adorned his head with the ureus.

CHAPTER I

In the thirty-third year of the happy reign of Ramses XII, Egypt
celebrated two festivals which filled all its faithful inhabitants with
pride and delight.

In the month of Mechir that is, during January the god Khonsu returned
to Thebes covered with costly gifts. For three years and nine months he
had traveled in the country of Buchten, where he restored health to the
king's daughter, Bentres, and expelled an evil spirit not only from the
royal family, but even from the fortress.

So in the month Farmuti (February) Mer-Amen-Ramses XII, the lord of
Upper and Lower Egypt, the ruler of Phoenicia and nine nations, after
consultation with the gods to whom he was equal, named as erpatr, or
heir to the throne, his son, aged twenty years, Cham-Sem Merer-Amen-
Ramses.

This choice delighted the pious priests, the worthy nomarchs, the
valiant army, the faithful people, and every creature living in Egypt,
b