Then, as in the history of all countries, there was an apparent decline. The machinery of government seems to have become antiquated, so that during many dynasties the power of the central government became enfeebled ; the subordinate rulers of the several " nomes " or states into which the long narrow Nile Valley was naturally divided came to gain more and more power at the expense off the king, and there was an increasing tendency to anarchy, which affected the general advance. But the probability is that though the advance was slow, it continued fairly steadily, especially in the distinctively Egyptian forms of civilization, which depended on im provements in methods of irrigation. The seat of the centralized government during these early times was always near the head of the Delta, so it was natural that when one of the smaller states grew into importance by extending its influence over neighbouring states, the new power should be far from that central control.
Hence when Egypt again, about 2500 B.C., attained to a position of greatness under the kings of the 12th Dynasty, it was Thebes rather than Herakleopolis or Memphis that was the focus of Egyptian life. Under these kings the prosperity of the country increased, great works in connection with irrigation were carried out, and wealth became great, so that in some respects the country reached its highest developments at this time.
Thereafter the rule again became weak, and eventu ally, without any formal invasion the power fell into the hands of the Hyksos, tribes who had either been attracted to the Delta by the advantage of life there, or forced by other causes to find a refuge from their enemies. These tribes in the main adopted the civilization of the land, and were absorbed by the people among whom they lived. The Princes of Thebes, again partly because they were far from the Delta, the seat of the Hyksos power, having dispossessed these rulers and driven some of the people from the land, took the lead in the country.
For the first time in the history of Egypt invaders, though they came in peace, had been driven out of the land, and for the first time Egypt began, about 1600 B.C., a career of foreign conquest, under the kings of the 18th Dynasty, the Thotmes and Amenheteps, which was continued till Egyptian power extended northwards to the mountains of Armenia. On three occasions in Egyptian history points are reached which stand out as Golden Ages, not only because the gradual advance in civilization was more marked at these periods, but also because there was added the saving in energy due to the centralization of government—a saving to which was partly due that other more rapid advance. In
material wealth and prosperity this third Golden Age marks the highest point reached by Egyptian civiliza tion. Thenceforward, though the Rameses were still to come, Egyptian power and even civilization were on the downward path. Other conditions arose, some non-geographical, which modified the control exercised by the geographical conditions which up to this time had been of most effect. Other geographical conditions began to exercise their controlling effect. When Senna cherib defeated the " kings of Egypt," it was but the first of many invasions which brought Egypt under the rule of many different nations, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Turks and British. Since 330 B.C. Egypt has never been independent.
It was not to the inherent excellence of its inhabitants that the advance of the Egyptian state is due, for not withstanding the extent to which the land is protected, we find that two, if not three, separate races successively inhabited the land in times known to history, and each possessed a high standard of civilization for the times in which they lived, and reached much higher levels of living than did the inhabitants of other lands at the same time.
It was the geographical conditions already referred to, and specially the exceedingly protected state of Egypt, that allowed the advance. The land was invaded, but the length of the period and the fewness of the invasions must be noticed. It is probable that for 4000 years, or 1500 years longer than the time that separates us from them, Egyptians never saw an invading host in their midst. Except for a period of a few hundred years native kings ruled the land. It was only after 2500 B.c. that the native monarchy appeared worn out, and gave place for a time to rulers of foreign extraction, and after these were driven out by the native kings of Upper Egypt, who had only acknowledged a suzerain and had not been de posed, there remained 1000 years of Egyptian empire before she finally gave place to other civilizations to which she had contributed not a little of the original stimulus which brought them into existence.
Think of the histories of all the states of the world. There is not one that lasted for half the time free from invasion. The length of time during which the state lasted was due to this absence of invasion or the possi bility of invasion, which in turn was due to the protection afforded by the desert—a protection which during long ages allowed of slow natural growth through different forms of civilization, without the disturbing effects of interference from without during periods of transition.