Thothmes III. was succeeded by his son, Amenhotep, whom historians commonly term Amenophis the Second.  This king was a warrior like his father, and succeeded in reducing, without much difficulty, the various nations that had thrown off the authority of Egypt on receiving the news of his father’s death.  He even carried his arms, according to some, as far as Nineveh, which he claims to have besieged and taken; he does not, however, mention the Assyrians as his opponents.  His contests were with the Nairi, the Rutennu, and the Shasu (Arabs) in Asia, with the Tahennu (Libyans) and Nubians in Africa.  On all sides victory crowned his arms; but he stained the fair fame that his victories would have otherwise secured him by barbarous practices, and cruel and unnecessary bloodshed.  He tells us that at Takhisa in northern Syria he killed seven kings with his own hand, and he represents himself in the act of destroying them with his war-club, not in the heat of battle, but after they have been taken prisoners.  He further adds that, after killing them, he suspended their bodies from the prow of the vessel In which he returned to Egypt, and brought them, as trophies of victory, to Thebes, where he hung six of the seven outside the walls of the city, as the Philistines hung the bodies of Saul and Jonathan on the wall of Beth-shan (i Sam. xxxi. 10, 12); while he had the seventh conveyed to Napata in Nubia, and there similarly exposed, to terrify his enemies in that quarter.  It has been said of the Russians—­not perhaps without some justice—­“Grattez le Russe et vous trouverez le Tartare;” with far greater reason may we say of the ancient Egyptians, that, notwithstanding the veneer of civilization which they for the most part present to our observation, there was In their nature, even at the best of times, an underlying ingrained barbarism which could not be concealed, but was continually showing itself.

Amenophis II. appears to have had a short reign; his seventh year is the last noted upon his monuments.  As a builder he was unenterprizing.  One temple at Amada, one hall at Thebes, and his tomb at Abd-el-Qurnah, form almost the whole of his known constructions.  None of them is remarkable.  Egypt under his sway had a brief rest before she braced herself to fresh efforts, military and architectural.

FOOTNOTES: 

[17] Layard, “Nineveh and Babylon,” pp. 280-282.

[18] Brugsch, “History of Egypt,” vol. 1. pp. 367, 368.

[19] Brugsch, “History of Egypt” (first ed., 1879), vol. 1. pp. 371, 372.

[20] Wilkinson in Rawlinson’s “Herodotus,” vol. ii. p. 302.

XIII.

AMENHOTEP III.  AND HIS GREAT WORKS—­THE VOCAL MEMNON.