Tursh (Tyrsemans?). Shardin Isardimans) and 1,nk I Ly,ians). These enemies joined their forees, and had almost reached Memphis when they were met by the Egyptian army and utterly annilii• hated. Dynasty Nineteen ends ingloriously with three kings (of whom one is said to have been a Syrian usurper) and a queen.
Setnaklit. the founder of Dynasty Twenty, re established order. Ills son. Mimeses [II. (e.1210 n.c.), repelled several of the Libyans, and defended Egypt and the Syrian provinces from the raids of the pirates mentioned above, as well as from barbarians coming by land from Asia .Minor. A branch of the hitter. however, the Philistines, settled in Palestine at that time. Rameses plundered the land of the Amorites north of Palestine. his palace and favorite tem p was .
wa at Aledinet Halm. The nine Ramessides after him reigned peacefully to about 1100, when the high priests of Thebes, who had become very rid], especially through the donations of lhameses 111., took the crown. They had soon, however, to yield to a new dynasty (Twenty-one) from Tanis. At that Hine, the police of Thebes gave up the task of prote•timr the royal tombs of dynasties Eighteen to Twenty against thieves, and hid most of the royal mummies in a secret pit, where they were discovered in 1551. A few tombs, which a landslide had made inaccessible to thieves and police, were discovered intact in IS9S.
The Libyan mercenaries had meantime become so powerful that Dynasty Twenty-two (about 950) was founded by one of their generals. Silo shenk 1. (the Nh islud; of the iliblel. who plun dered .Judea and 'Israel under Jeroboam and Rehoboam. Ills successors were called Shoshenk (3). Usorkon (3). Takelot (2). and Pimay. Un der Dynasty Twenty-three (front linhastus. about S001 the country again split up into many small kingdoms ruled by Libyan officers. and the way was thus left open for the attacks of the kings of Ethiopia (q.v.), who had been independent since Dynasty Twenty-one. About 750. I he Ethiopian Pankhy (o• l'iankhy) was prevented from sub jecting all of Egypt by the resistance of Tefnakht, the ruler of Sais and :\ Temphis: but Pankhy's grandson Shabako succeeded in dethroning Tef nakht's son, the wise Boechoris (Bok-en-renef), with whom Dynasty Twenty-four came to an end (e. 720 ?). The Ethiopians form Dynasty T•en ty-tive. After Shabatako. Taharko (the Tirluthrt of the Bible: e. 700?) pursued a policy 'hostile to Esarhaddon. King of Assyria, who attacked Egypt in 673. and conquered it. in 670• The As syrian monarch divided the count ry a MOW twenty tributary princes. descendants of the old Libyan families. The Ethiopians twice again invaded Egypt in 667 under the new King Tan (n)t-amen. but unsuccessfully. The Assyrian vassal Psam metieh. Prince of Sais, a descendant of Dynasty Twenty-four. aided by Greek and Callan merce naries, made himself indeitendent master of the country 1663). when Assyria's power declined. The new dynasty (Twenty-six) is remarkable for its revival of art with archaistic tendencies. Psammetich's son Nekao (Necho) IL (609-5941, slew -Josiah of Judah. and conquered Syria as far as the Euphrates; hut he soon lost it to the new Babylonian Empire. being defeated by Nebu chadnezzar at Carchemish. Necho dug the first canal connecting the Nile, and thus the Mediter ranean, with the Red Sea. Ile also built a fleet, and sent Phomician sailors around Africa. Apries I rahuh•e. the //oph ra of Bible. 5titi 560). the successor of Psantinetich IL. vainly tried to pre vent the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebu chadnezzar (5561. Amosis IL (Amasis, 569
526). in consequence of a military revolt. first took Upper Egypt, and three years later slew .\pries in battle. With diplomatic skill he tained himself against the Babylonians, and later against the Persians: but his son Psam ,.
met ieh I i I, closed this flourishing dynasty by a reign of only one year. in 525 Cambyses de freed him at Pelusium, and Egypt became a Persian province.
The revolts of the Libyan officers Khabbash (457). lnarus. and Amyrta•is (460-450, aided by the Athenians) were suppressed: but in 414 the Persians were expelled. and Egypt was free from their rule until 343. In the interval. how ever. the country was a prey to internal strifes. Tint Persian reconquest was followed by many cruelties: the last Egyptian King, Neetancbus, lied to Ethiopia. Alexander ocenpied Egypt in 332, and founded Alexandria in 331. On the death of Alexander (ux. :323) one of his generals. Ptolemy. son of Lagos, became Macedonian gov ernor of Egypt. From the first he was virtually an independent ruler, though he did not assume the royal title till inc.. 306. lie was a wise and politic sovereign, and under his reign Egypt be came a power of the very first rank. lle concili ated his native subjects by treating with respect their religion and the long-established customs of the country. Under Ptolemy and his succes sors Alexandria. the new capital of Egypt. in creased rapidly in importance, and soon became the foremost city of the world. Its commerce was far-reaching, and brought vast wealth into the hands of its merchants. As a centre of lit erary culture it was even more famous than as a centre of commerce. The celebrated museum and library founded by Ptolemy 1. exerted a pro found influence and attracted to Alexandria men of letters and of science from all parts of tl•e Hellenic world. Ptolemy 1. died in n.c. 254. Ills grandson. Ptolemy 11T. (n.c. 247-222). waged a successful war with Syria. and greatly extended foreign possessions of Egypt. After this there followed a period of steady decline. Antittchus the Great of Syria and Philip V. of Macedon deprived Ptolemy V. (p.c. 205-1S1) of his Syrian and _Egean possessions, and but for the inter vention of Rome would have seized Egypt as well. Tleneeforth, although her commerce in creased in importance. and Alexandria was still the great centre of literature and science. Egypt existed as an independent kingdom only by the sufferance of Rome, and lost all external influ once. Ptolemy XIII. (B.C. 50-52 1 betpwathed his kingdom to his elder daughter Cleopatra (q.v.) and his elder son Ptolemy Cleopatra made herself sole ruler, and finally terminated an ad venturous career by suicide in n.c. 30. With her the kingdom of the Ptolemies came to an end, and Egypt became a Roman province.
Augustus made Egypt a Roman provinee under a Governor of equestrian rank. it remained rather a quiet possession of the Romans. Many temples were erected under the Roman dominion. The invasion IT the Ethiopians (n.c. 24) and that by Zenobia of Palmyra (A.n. 270) are the most important events of this period. The rapacious desert tribes of the Blennnyans were often trou blesome. Christianity spread with special success among the Egyptians. Agnosticism ticism (on heathen models) had their origin here. Paganism was persecuted and forbidden in 391, being tolerated only on the island of Phil.e until the reign of Justinian. Schismatic contests among the Christians did much ha r111.