CHAPTER XII.
Twentieth and Twenty-first Dynasties—The Ramessidæ and the Priest-Kings. (Circa 1200-970 B.C.)
It may be doubtful whether Rameses III.,
son of the Setnekht who pacified Egypt and
restored order, was connected by blood with
the preceding dynasties. He bore the name
of an illustrious predecessor, however, and
throughout his reign he appears to have made
it his aim to emulate the great Rameses. His
first task was to reorganise the public service,
which had fallen into great disorder; to appoint
and to regulate the station and office of the
prince-governors, of the soldiers of the army
and their foreign auxiliaries, of the inferior servants
and the bondsmen. The earliest years
of his reign were disturbed by invasion both
from east and west. The Shashu and the
Libyans, ever hanging on the confines, were
always ready to cross the border of the Delta
