EGYPT 461 the same way as the Israelites were allowed to settle in the land of Goshen. After the expul- sion of the shepherds, King Ahmes, who had married an Ethiopian princess, turned his arms toward Nubia, which had revolted, and in a few battles completely subdued the rebels. The remainder of his reign was occupied in works of peace, in rebuilding the temples and the palaces destroyed by the shepherds. The civilization of Egypt appears to have revived immediately with great force, and trade, agri- culture, and the arts to have received a fresh and vigorous expansion. The disasters and depression of four or five centuries of foreign rule seem to have been repaired in a few years. The buildings of this period are among the best in Egypt, and jewels of great richness and of incomparable workmanship have recently been found on the mummy of Queen Aah-hotep, the mother of Ivames. Ahmes is considered the founder of the 18th dynasty, the greatest and most magnificent that ever reigned in Egypt (1703-1462 B. 0. ; according to Rawlinson much later, 1525-1324). With it opens the third his- torical period, known as the new empire. From this time for several centuries Egypt was one of the greatest powers of the world, and her in- fluence was strongly felt by all surrounding na- tions. Her kings made great efforts to conquer Asia, from which quarter experience had shown that danger was chiefly to be apprehended. They also maintained the traditional policy, in- herited from the kings of the 12th dynasty, of endeavoring to subjugate the whole valley of the Nile, which they regarded as belonging le- gitimately to Egypt. During the whole period of this dynasty, therefore, their armies were waging war either to the south or to the north- east. Ahmes conquered Canaan, and his suc^ cessor Amen-hotep, called Amenophis by the Greeks, subdued a large part of Arabia. The next king, Thothmes I., defeated the Rotennu or Syrians near Damascus, crossed the Euphrates, and subdued Mesopotamia, which the Egyp- tians called Naharaina. In these wars the Egyp- tians first learned the use of horses, which seem previously to have been unknown to them, but which throve exceedingly in the rich pastures of the valley of the Nile, and as well as chariots played from that time forward a very conspicuous part in their wars. Thothmes I. reigned 21 years, and was succeeded by his son Thothmes II., whose reign was short. His successor was his brother Thothmes III., a child, whose elder sister Hatasu (or Amen-set) governed for many years in his name. Her reign was brilliant, and distinguished by the conquest of Yemen or Arabia Felix, a rich and fertile country, the possession of which was always greatly coveted by the Egyptian mon- archs. Among the works of Hatasu are the temple of Deir el-Bahri and the two great obe- lisks of Karnak, erected to the memory of her father. Under Thothmes III. Egypt attained the summit of her glory and power. Her in- ternal affairs were well administered, and her empire extended over the countries now call- ed Nubia, Abyssinia, Arabia, Syria, Mesopota- mia, Kurdistan, and Armenia. A great fleet, manned probably chiefly by Phoenician sailors, was created on the Mediterranean, with which Cyprus and Crete and the islands of the ar- chipelago, the southern coasts of Greece, and probably the south of Italy, were conquered, and all northern Africa as far west as Algeria, where monuments of Thothmes III. have been found. In Egypt itself his monuments are very numerous, and are all in the best style of ar- chitecture and of the highest excellence of workmanship. He was succeeded by Amen- hotep or Amenophis II., whose reign was short, as was that of his successor Thothmes IV. The next king, Amen-hotep III., reigned at least 36 years, and was a great builder. His monuments are remarkable for their gran- deur and for the perfection of their sculpture. He built the temple at Luxor and made great additions to that at Karnak, and erected the famous colossal statue at Thebes known to the Greeks and Romans under the name of Memnon. His son and successor Amen-hotep IV., whose mother, Queen Taia, was not an Egyptian, but a woman of some fair-haired, blue- eyed northern race, attempted, apparently under her influence, to reform the religion of Egypt, and to estab- lish in place of polytheism the worship of one God. He closed the temples and effaced the images of the deities, abandoned Thebes and established his capital at a place now called Tell el-Amarna, where he erected monuments on which the ceremonies of his new worship are represented, bearing a singular resemblance to the external forms of Israelitish worship in the wilderness as described in the books of Moses. The persecution of the Israelites which led to their exodus seems to have begun short- ly after this period ; and it has been conjectur- ed that the monotheism of Amen-hotep IV. may have had its origin in Hebrew influence, and that the reaction which followed his at- tempt at religious reformation may have caus- ed the persecution. But the history of Egypt at this period is still very obscure, and nothing is known with certainty except that after the death of Amen-hotep IV. the kingdom became a prey to factions, whose chiefs seized the su- preme power and followed each other at short intervals. Finally, however, the legitimate heir to the throne, Har-em-Hebi, the last son of Amen-hotep III., established his authority and reigned for nearly 40 years. With him ended the glorious 18th dynasty. The first Pharaoh of the 19th dynasty was Rameses I., a grandson of Har-em-Hebi. His reign was very short, and he was succeeded by Seti I., the Sethos of the Greek writers, who seems to have been not his son but his son-in-law, and to have been, strangely enough, of the shepherd race who still remained settled in the eastern part of the Delta. He was one of the greatest of the Pharaohs, and was distinguished not only as a conqueror but as a builder. He erected
