s allotted to the next three Pharaohs would bring
us down to 880, and it is in this year that I am, for the
present, inclined to place the death of Osorkon II.

[Illustration: 242.jpg BRONZE]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from. Lanzone's statuette.

[Illustration: 243.jpg THE GREAT TEMPLE OF BUBASTIS DURINGNAVILLE's
EXCAVATIONS]

Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Naville.

These monarchs regarded themselves as traditionary suzerains of the
country of Kharu, i.e. of Israel, Judah, Ammon, and Moab, and their
authority may perhaps have been recognised by the Philistines in the
main, but they seldom stirred from their own territory, and contented
themselves with protecting their frontiers against the customary
depredations of the Libyan and Asiatic nomads.*

* Repressive measures of this kind are evidently referred to
in passages similar to those in which Osorkon II. boasts of
having "overthrown beneath his feet the Upper and Lower
Lotanu," and speaks of the exploits of the sons of Queen
Kalamait against certain tribes whose name, though
mutilated, seems to have been Libyan in character.

Under their rule, Egypt enjoyed fifty years of profound peace, which was
spent in works of public utility, especially in the Delta, where, thanks
to their efforts, Bubastis came to be one of the most splendid among the
cities of secondary importance.*

* All our knowledge of the history of the temple of Bubastis
dates from Naville's excavations.

Its temple, which had been rebuilt by Ramses II. and decorated by the
Rames-sides, was in a sorry plight when the XXIInd dynasty came into
power. Sheshonq I. did little or nothing to it, but Osorkon I. entirely
remodelled it, and Osorkon II. added several new halls, including,
amongst others, one in which he celebrated, in the twenty-second year
of his reign, the festival of his deification. A record of some of the
ceremonies observed has come down to us in the mural paintings. There
we see the king, in a chapel, consecrating a statue of himself in
accordance with the ritual in use since the time of Amenothes III., and
offering the figure devout and earnest worship; all the divinities of
Egypt have assembled to witness the enthronement of this new member of
their confraternity, and take part in the sacrifices accompanying
his consecration. This gathering of the gods is balanced by a human
festival, attended by Nubians and Kushi