[Illustration:  397.jpg TABLE OF KINGS]

Their actual domain barely extended as far as Siut, but their suzerainty was acknowledged by the Said as well as by all or part of Ethiopia, and the Tanite Pharaohs maintained their authority with such vigour, that they had it in their power on several occasions to expel the high priests of Amon, and to restore, at least for a time, the unity of the empire.  To accomplish this, it would have been sufficient for them to have assumed the priestly dignity at Thebes, and this was what no doubt took place at times when a vacancy in the high priesthood occurred; but it was merely in an interim, and the Tanite sovereigns always relinquished the office, after a brief lapse of time, in favour of some member of the family of Hrihor whose right of primogeniture entitled him to succeed to it.* It indeed seemed as if custom and religious etiquette had made the two offices of the pontificate and the royal dignity incompatible for one individual to hold simultaneously.  The priestly duties had become marvellously complicated during the Theban hegemony, and the minute observances which they entailed absorbed the whole life of those who dedicated themselves to their performance.**

* This is only true if the personage who entitles himself once within a cartouche, “the Master of the two lands, First Prophet of Amon, Psiukhan-nit,” is really the Tanite king, and not the high priest Psiukhannit.

** The first book of Diodorus contains a picture of the life of the kings of Egypt, which, in common with much information contained in the work, is taken from a lost book of Hecataeus.  The historical romance written by the latter appears to have been composed from information taken from Theban sources.  The comparison of it with the inscribed monuments and the ritual of the cultus of Amon proves that the ideal description given in this work of the life of the kings, merely reproduces the chief characteristics of the lives of the Theban and Ethiopian high priests; hence the greater part of the minute observances which we remark therein apply to the latter only, and not to the Pharaohs properly so called.

They had daily to fulfil a multitude of rites, distributed over the various hours in such a manner that it seemed impossible to find leisure for any fresh occupation without encroaching on the time allotted to absolute bodily needs.  The high priest rose each morning at an appointed hour; he had certain times for taking food, for recreation, for giving audience, for dispensing justice, for attending to worldly affairs, and for relaxation with his wives and children; at night he kept watch, or rose at intervals to prepare for the various ceremonies which could only be celebrated at sunrise.  He was responsible for the superintendence of the priests of Amon in the numberless festivals held in honour of the gods, from which he could not absent himself except for some legitimate reason.