THE NEGROES AND THE HAMATHITES.
25
afflict your souls. In my manifestation I have smitten them: I curse[1] them in all the seasons that I shine (i.e. at all times).”
The next tetrad of figures[2] in this procession are negroes, who are called
ⲛϩⲥⲟⲩⲉ Nahasi, which we find elsewhere to have been a general appellation of all the dark races of mankind, or, rather, of the inhabitants of the regions to the south and west of Egypt. The dresses of these negroes vary in different copies like the former group. The inscription reads—“O ye who are named the race of Nahasi, the sun
(speaks unto) these: he takes vengeance on their souls; mine eye glistens upon them
in wrath).”
The fourth and last group of this curious picture consists of four men, of a complexion much lighter than the Shemites, and resembling in appearance the Caucasian races. Their hieroglyphic name is
. We shall find, hereafter, that by this group we are to understand the Hamathites, or ancient inhabitants of Syria, which being the farthest point to the north to which the geographical knowledge of the Egyptians- extended, its name was adopted as a general appellation of all countries to the north of Canaan. The costumes, which vary like the rest, will be found described hereafter. The inscription in the tomb of Sethos, which is the only one that has been copied entire, is much mutilated. Enough of it, however, remains to show that the Hamathites were considered to inhabit merely a district in the region of which the Shemites were also inhabitants: for, like them, they
- ↑ Lit. I offer, I devote.
- ↑ Plate 156.
