Twentieth Dynasty
It was not until after the defeat of Pinhasi that his title of King's Son of
Cush, together with other offices which went with it, could be annexed by
a personage of vastly greater importance. The earlier stages of Hrihor's
career are wrapped in mystery. His parentage is unknown, for he never
mentions either father or mother. That his overwhelming power rested
upon his tenure of the post of high-priest at Karnak is certain, since his
name is almost invariably preceded by the epithet 'First prophet of
Amen-Re', King of the Gods'. We shall soon find him portraying in that
capacity. It is unlikely that so important a post, commanding as it did the
accumulated wealth of centuries, should have been left vacant for long. It
is natural to suppose that Hrihor was the immediate successor of
Amenhotpe. There is no evidence, however, that he passed through the
various priestly grades which normally led up to the high-priesthood,
from where it has become fashionable to suppose that originally he, like
King Haremhab before him, had previously been an army officer. It is true
that together with the son and grandson who succeeded him, he habitually
used the title 'Commander of the Army', or 'Great commander of the army
of Upper Egypt', but those functions may have been dictated merely by the
necessities of the times. They may have been prompted by his taking over
the dignities of Pinhasi, whose governorship of Nubia he is unlikely ever
to have exercised. At some uncertain moment, he also laid claim to the
title of vizier, though there are grounds for thinking that this post was
actually in another's hands. There is one tenuous clue which might account
for Ramesses XI having chosen him to become high-priest. His wife
Nodjme, who by reason of her marriage to him would naturally acquire
the station of 'great one of the concubines of Amen-Re' was the daughter
of a lady named Hrere, who bore the same title and was consequently in
all probability the widow of Amenhotpe. If so, Hrihor may have attained
his principal honor through marriage, though his own strong character will
in any case have played a large part in the appointment.
The development of this great pontiff's ambition may best be seen in the
temple at Karnak which Ramesses III had begun to erect in honor of
Chons, the youngest member of the Theban triad. The original founder and
his son Ramesses IV had succeeded in completing no more than the
sanctuary and the surrounding inner chambers. It was not until the reign of
Ramesses XI that the building was continued southwards with a hypostyle
hall. In some of the scenes of this hall Ramesses is shown making
offerings to the local gods in the traditional fashion. In others Hrihor
obtains a predominance never before accorded to a mere subject. It is not
entirely unnatural that as high-priest of Amen-Re' he should be depicted
sensing the on-coming or halted bark of the supreme deity, especially
since mention of Ramesses is made in the words with which Amun
expresses his gratification at the splendid monument bestowed upon the
city by the king. However, on four of the eight columns occupying the
center of the hall, it is Hrihor who with unheard-of presumption caused
himself to be displayed performing some ritual act before one or other
member of the triad. In two of the three dedicatory inscriptions running
along the base of the walls, Hrihor alone is named as the donor, the king's
person being completely ignored. When, possibly only a year or two later,
Hrihor added a forecourt still farther south. We here find him with the
royal uraeus upon his brow or even wearing the double crown, though
still arrayed in the costume of the high-priest. What is still more
significant , he has now, in the absence of any allusion to Ramesses,
assumed the full titulary of a Pharaoh, with a Horus-name of his own and
separate cartouches for Prenomen and Nomen: 'Horus
Strong-Bull-son-of-Amun, King of Upper and Lower Egypt, lord of the
Two Lands, First-prophet-of-Amun, bodily son of Re',
Son-of-Amun-Hrihor.'
In the face of this evidence, it is comprehensible that the older
Egyptologists should have interpreted the accession of Hrihor as the final
triumph of the priesthood of Amun, and should have assumed that he did
not claim the throne until natural or unnatural death had removed the last
of the legitimate Pharaohs. Gradually, however, fresh testimony has come
to light which compels us to reconstruct the facts in a different way.
Instead of dates continuing to be expressed, as normally, in terms of the
regnal years of the monarch, a mysterious new era named the
Repetition-of-Births makes its appearance. When we recall that the
usurper Ammenemes I had adopted the expression Weham-meswe
'Repeater of Births' as his Horus name, and that Sethos I, very nearly the
founder of Dyn. XIX, had appended the same words as here to datings of
his first and second years. It is obvious that some sort of Renaissance was
signified thereby. Fortunately, we are able to determine the exact regnal
dated of this. Papyrus Mayer A in the Liverpool Museum is headed 'Year
1 in the Repetition-of-Births' and enumerates precisely the same thieves
as are listed on the verso of the already much-discussed Papyrus Abbott,
which bears the date 'Year 1, first month of the Inundation season, day 2,
corresponding to Year 19'. After much hesitation and discussion, it has
been realized that this year 19 could only belong to the reign of Ramesses
XI who, however, was known from stele found at Abydos to have
survived until his twenty-seventh year. Now it could hardly be doubted
that the Renaissance in question referred to some momentous occurrence
or decision in Hrihor's career, so that this must have fallen at a time when
the rule of the last Ramesses had run only two thirds of its course. The
question has been clinched by a relatively recent discovery. A scene and
inscription carved upon a wall of the temple of Karnak illustrates one of
those oracles which became more and more frequent about this period. A
scribe of the storehouse at Karnak had to be appointed, and the name of
one Nesamun had been put forward. The god's approval was indicated by
a 'great nod' or downward inclination of the bark of Amen-Re' as it was
carried in procession on the shoulders of the priests. The importance of
this incident lies in the personality of the high-priest who put the question
and in the date at the beginning of the inscription. The date is given as
'Year 7 of the Repetition of Births...under Ramesses XI', accordingly in
the twenty-fifth year of that king's reign. The figure of the high-priest is
accompanied by the words 'The fan-bearer to the right of the King, the
King's Son of Cush, the First prophet of Amen-Re', King of the Gods, the
Commander of the Army, the Prince Pay'onkh'. Now Pay'onkh was
Hrihor's eldest son, and since it is inconceivable that Hrihor should have
relinquished the high-priesthood during his lifetime, we cannot but
conclude that he died before the seventh year of the Renaissance and at
any rate more than a year before his sovereign.
In the light of these circumstances, the Theban theocracy founded by
Hrihor assumes a considerably changed aspect. That he united all the
powers of the State in his own person and handed them on to his
descendants seems clear form the military, judicial, administrative, and
sacerdotal titles which he and they bore, but actual assumption of the
Double Crown was denied him. So long as Ramesses XI lived, it was he
who was referred to as Pharaoh. Within the precincts of the great temple
of Karnak, Hrihor might certainly flaunt a royal titulary, even if he could
there find for himself no more imposing a Prenomen than 'First prophet of
Amun'. In the few cases where his name occurs outside Karnak, it is never
enclosed in a cartouche, nor did he ever venture to employ regnal years of
his own. The dating by years of the 'Reception of Births' probably refers
to some favorable turn in the fortunes of the country, but this did not bring
Ramesses back to Thebes where his tomb was left incomplete and
unoccupied. Concerning Hrihor's own tomb, our records are completely
silent and excavations have revealed no trace of him in the Biban
el-Moluk. His wife Nodjme, who apparently gave him nineteen sons and
five daughters, seems to have survived him and more will be heard of her
later. A long inscription at Karnak may have cast further light on Hrihor's
life, but is too fragmentary to supply any useful information. The coffins of
Sethos I and Ramesses II, found in the cache at Der el-Bahri, carry
dockets stating that in year 6 (clearly of the Renaissance) Hrihor caused
those kings to be buried anew, but obviously not in their final
resting-place. A statue at Cairo and a stele in the Leyden Museum are the
only remaining records of importance, apart form a papyrus which paints
so broad and convincing a picture that the often debated question whether
it is genuine history or fiction founded upon fact becomes largely
academic. Most scholars would probably subscribe to Lefebvre's verdict
'C'est un roman historique'. This fascinating document was bought in
Cairo by Golenischeff in 1891 together with two other literary papyri of
which one at all events was written by the same hand. It tells the story of
the misfortunes of Wenamun, a Theban sent on a mission to Syria at the
very close of Dyn. XX. The narrative is dated in a year 5 which, in the
light of what is now known must belong to the Renaissance, explained
above. Hrihor is the high-priest at Karnak, while Tanis is ruled by that
Nesbanebded who subsequently became the first king of Manetho's Dyn.
XXI. These two great men are on good terms with one another, neither of
them as yet claiming the kingship. The real Pharaoh, namely Ramesses XI,
is mentioned only once in a cryptic utterance. In such circumstances,
Egypt was evidently too weak to command respect abroad, and the
conversations of Wenamun with the princes whom he met afford a
revelation of the contemporary world unequaled in the entire literature of
the Nearer East. It is for that reason that, departing from our usual habit,
we give in the following pages a virtually complete translation.
Year 5, fourth month of the Summer season, day 16; the day on which
Wenamun, the elder of the portal of the estate of Amun, lord of the
Thrones of the Two Lands, set forth to fetch the timber for the great
noble bark of Amen-Re', King of the Gods, which is upon the river and
is called Amen-user-her. On the day of my arrival at Tanis, the place
where Nesbanebded and Tentamun are, I gave them the dispatches of
Amen-Re', King of the Gods. They caused them to be read before them
and they said: 'We will surely do as Amen-Re', King of the Gods, our
lord has said.'
I stayed until the fourth month of the Summer season in Tanis. And
Nesbanebded and Tentamun sent me forth with the ship's captain
Mengebet, and I went down upon the great sea of Syria in the first
month of the Summer season. And I arrived at Dor, a Tjekker-town, and
Beder its prince caused to be brought to me 50 loaves, one flagon of
wine, and one haunch of an ox. And a man of my ship fled after stealing
one vessel of gold worth 5 deben, four jars of silver worth 20 deben,
and a bag of silver, 11 deben; total of what he stole, gold 5 deben,
silver 31 deben. And I arose in the morning and went to the place where
the prince was and said to him: I have been robbed in your harbor. But
you are the prince of this land and you are its controller. Search for my
money, for indeed the money belongs to Amen-Re', King of the Gods, the
lord of the lands, it belongs to Nesbanebded, it belongs to Hrihor my
lord and to the other great ones of Egypt; it belongs to you, it belongs
to Waret, it belongs to Mekamar, it belongs to Tjikarba'al the prince of
Byblos.' He said to me: 'Are you in earnest or are you inventing? For
indeed I know nothing of this tale that you have told me. If it had been a
thief belonging to my land who had gone down into your ship and had
stolen your money, I would have replaced it for you from my
storehouse, until your thief had been found, whoever he may be. But in
fact the thief who robbed you, he is yours, he belongs to your ship.
Spend a few days here with me, that I may search for him.'
I stayed nine days anchored in his harbor, and then I went before him
and said to him: 'Look, you have not found my money.'
There follows a much broken passage the gist of which may be guessed to
be as follows: Wenamun expresses the wish to depart with some ship's
captains about to put to sea, but the prince urges him to refrain, suggesting
that he should seize goods belonging to the suspected persons until they
had gone to search for the thief. Wenamun, however, prefers to continue
his journey and after touching at Tyre leaves that port at daybreak. He is
soon at Byblos, where Tjikarba'al is the prince. There he comes across a
ship that contains 30 deben of silver, which he annexes saying that the
money shall remain with him until those whom he addresses have found
the thief.
...They departed, and I celebrated in a tent on the shore of the sea in the
harbor of Byblos. And I found a hiding place for Amun-of-the-Road and
placed his possessions within it. And the prince of Byblos sent to me
saying: 'Remove yourself from my harbor.' And I sent to him saying:
'Where shall I go?...If you can find a ship to carry me, let me be taken
back to Egypt.' And I spent twenty-nine days in his harbor and he spent
time sending to me daily to say: 'Remove yourself from my harbor.'
Now whilst he was offering to his gods, the god seized a young man of
his young men and put him in a frenzy and said to him: 'Bring the god
up and bring up the envoy who is carrying him. It is Amun who sent him,
it is he who caused him to come.' And the frenzied one was in a frenzy
during this night, when I had found a ship with its face set towards
Egypt and had loaded all my belongings onto it and was watching for
the darkness saying 'When it descends, I will put the god aboard so that
no other eye shall see him.' And the harbor-master came to me saying:
'Wait here until tomorrow, so says the prince.' And I said to him: 'Was
it not you who spent time coming to me daily saying 'Remove yourself
from my harbor', and have you not said 'Wait here this night' in order
to let the ship which I have found depart, and then you will come again
and tell me to go?' And he went and told it to the prince. And the prince
sent to the captain of the ship saying 'Wait until the morning--so says
the prince.'
And when the morning came, he sent and brought me up, while the god
was reposing in the tent where he was on the shore of the sea. And I
found him seated in his upper chamber with his back against a window,
while the waves of the great sea of Syria beat behind his head. And I
said to him: 'Amun be merciful(?).' And he said to me: 'How long until
today is it since you came from the place where Amun is?' And I said to
him: 'Five whole months until now.' And he said to me: 'Supposing you
are right, where is the dispatch of Amun which is in your hand, and
where is the letter of the First Prophet of Amun which is in your hand?'
And I said to him: 'I gave them to Nesbanebded and Tentamun.' Then he
was very angry and said to me: 'Well now, dispatch or letter there is
none in your hand, but where is the ship of pinewood which
Nesbanebded gave you and where is its Syrian crew? Did he not entrust
you to this barbarian ship's captain to cause him to kill you and that
they should throw you into the sea? From whom then would the god
have been sought for, and you too, from whom would you too have been
sought for?' So he said to me. But I said to him: 'Is it not an Egyptian
ship and an Egyptian crew which carry Nesbanebded? He has no Syrian
crews.' And he said to me: 'Are there not twenty vessels here in my
harbor which do business with Nesbanebded, and as for that Sidon, that
other place by which you passed, are there not fifty more ships there
which do business with Waraktir, and which toil to his house?'
I kept silence at that great moment.
Then he proceeded to say to me: 'On what commission have you come?'
And I said to him: 'I have come in quest of the timber for the great
noble bark of Amen-Re', King of the Gods. What your father did and
what the father of your father did, you too will do it.' So I said to him.
And he said to me: 'They did it in truth. You shall pay me for doing it,
and I will do it. Certainly my people performed this commission, but
only after Pharaoh had caused to be brought six ships laden with
Egyptian goods and they had unloaded them into their storehouses. But
you--what have you brought to me myself?' And he caused the daybook
rolls of his fathers to be brought and he caused them to be read before
me. And they found entered on his roll a thousand deben of silver,
things of all sorts. And he said to me: 'If the ruler of Egypt had been the
possessor of mine own and I too his servant, he would not have caused
silver and gold to be brought when he said 'Perform the commission of
Amun'; it was no gratuitous gift that they used to make for my father.
And as for me too, I myself, I am not your servant, and I am not the
servant of him who sent you either. When I cry aloud to the Lebanon,
the heaven opens and the timber lies here on the shore of the sea. Give
me the sails that you brought to carry your ships which are to bear your
timber to Egypt. Give me the ropes that you have brought to lash
together the cedars which I am to fell for you in order to make them for
you...which I am to make for the sails of your ships and the yards may
be too heavy and may break and you may perish in the midst of the sea.
Behold, Amun will give voice in the heaven having placed Sutekh beside
himself. True, Amun fitted out all the lands. He fitted them out after
having earlier fitted out the land of Egypt whence you have come. And
craftsmanship came forth from it reaching to the place where I am. And
learning came forth from it reaching to the place where I am. What then
are these foolish journeyings which you have been caused to make?' But
I said to him: 'False! No foolish journeyings are these on which I am
now engaged. There are no boats on the river which do not belong to
Amun. His is the sea, and his the Lebanon about which you say 'It is
mine'. It is the growing-place for Amen-user-he the lord of all ships.
Truly it was Amen-Re', King of the Gods, who said to Hrihor my master
'Send him', and he caused me to come with this great god. But now see,
you have let this great god spend these twenty-nine days moored in you
harbor without your knowing. Is he not here, is he not what he was?
And you stand chauffeuring over the Lebanon with Amun its lord. As for
what you say that the former kings caused silver and gold to be
brought, if they had possessed Life and Health, they would not have
caused the goods to be brought; it was in place of Life and Health that
they caused the goods to be brought to your fathers. But Amen-Re', the
King of Gods, he is the lord of this Life and Health, and was the lord of
your fathers. They passed their lifetime offering to Amun, and you too,
you at the servant of Amun. If you say 'Yes, I will do it' to Amun, and
you complete his commission you will live, will be prosperous, will be
in health, and will be good for your entire land and your people. Do not
covet ought belonging to Amen-Re', King of the Gods--truly a lion loves
his property. Let your scribe be brought to me that I may send him to
Nesbanebded and Tentamun, the officers whom Amun has given to the
north of his land, and they will cause to be brought until I have gone to
the south' and I will cause to be brought to you all your deficit as well.'
So I said to him.
And he placed my letter in the hand of his envoy, and put on board the
keel, the prow-piece, and the stern-piece, together with four other hewn
planks, total 7, and he caused them to be brought to Egypt. And his
envoy who had gone to Egypt returned to me in Syria in the first month
of the Winter season, Nesbanebded and Tentamun having sent gold, 4
jars; 1 kakmen-vessel; silver, 5 jars; coverlets of royal linen, 10 pieces;
fine Upper Egyptian linen, 10 veils; plain mats, 500; ox-hides, 500;
ropes, 500; lentils, 20 sacks; fish, 30 baskets. And she sent to me
coverlets, fine Upper Egyptian linen, 5 pieces; fine Upper Egyptian
linen, 5 veils; lentils, 1 sack, and fish, 5 baskets. And the prince
rejoiced, and he fitted out 300 men and 300 oxen, and he placed
superintendents in charge of them to cause them to fell the logs. And
they felled them and they lay there during the winter. And in the third
month of Summer they dragged them to the shore of the sea. And the
prince went forth and stood by them, and he sent to me telling me to
come. And when I had been brought into his presence, the shadow of his
lotus-fan fell upon me. And Penamun, a butler of his, approached me
saying: 'The shadow of Pharaoh your lord has fallen upon you.' And he
was angry with him and said 'Leave him alone.' And I was brought into
his presence and he proceeded to say to me: 'Look, the commission
which my fathers performed formerly, I having performed it--but you
have not done for me yourself what your fathers did for mine. Look, the
last of your timber has arrived and is in its place. Do according to my
will and come and place it on board, for will they not give it to you? Do
not come to look at the terrors of the sea, but if you look at the terrors
of the sea, look at my own. Assuredly I have not done to you what was
done to the envoys of Kha'emwise when they passed seventeen years in
this land and died on the spot.' And he said to his butler: 'Take him and
let him see their tomb where they lie.' But I said to him: 'Do not make
me see it. As regards Kha'emwise, those envoys whom he sent to you
were men, and he himself was a man. But you have not here one of his
envoys when you say 'Go and look at your companions'. Do you not
rejoice that you can cause to be made for yourself a stele and that you
can say on it: 'Amen-Re', King of the Gods, sent me Amun-of-the-Road
his envoy, together with Wenamun his human envoy, in quest of the
timber for the great noble bark of Amen-Re', King of the Gods. I felled
it and I put it on board and I provided it with my ships and my crews.
And I caused them to reach Egypt so as to beg for me from Amun fifty
years of life over and above my fate.' And it would come to pass if after
another day an envoy who had knowledge of writing were to come from
the land of Egypt and were to read your name upon the stele, you would
receive water of the West just like the gods who are there.' And he said
to me: 'This is a great testimony of speech that you have said to me.'
And I said to him: 'As regards the many things which you have said to
me, if I reach the place where the First prophet of Amun is, and he see
your commission, your commission will draw profit unto you.'
And I went off to the shore of the sea to the place where the logs ere
laid, and I saw eleven ships coming from the sea which belonged to the
Tjekker, they saying: 'Imprison him, let no ship of his leave for the land
of Egypt.' Thereupon I sat and wept. And the letter-writer of the prince
came out to me and said to me: 'What ails you?' And I said to him: 'Do
you not see the migrant birds which go down twice to Egypt? Look at
them, how they come to the cool waters. Until what arrives am I to be
abandoned here? And do you not see those who have come to imprison
me again?' And he went and told it to the prince. And the prince began
to weep on account of the words that were said to him, they being so
painful. And he sent out his letter-writer to me bringing me two flagons
of wine and a sheep. And he caused to be brought to me Tentne, an
Egyptian singing-woman whom he had , saying: 'Sing to him, do not let
his heart be worried.' And he sent to me saying: 'Eat and drink, and let
not your heart be worried. You shall hear tomorrow all that I shall say.'
The morrow came and he caused his council to be summoned and he
stood among them and said to the Tjekker: 'What mean these
journeyings of yours?' And they said to him: 'We have come in pursuit
of the fighting vessels which you are sending to Egypt with our
adversaries.' And he said to them: 'I cannot imprison the envoy of Amun
within my land. Let me send him away, and you shall go after him to
imprison him.' And he loaded me up and sent me thence to the harbor of
the sea. And the wind drove me to the land of Alasiya. And the
inhabitants of the place came out against me to kill me, but I forced my
way through them to the place where Hatiba, the female prince of the
town was. And I found her as she was going out from her one house and
was entering into her other house. And I greeted her, and said to the
people who stood around her: 'Is there not one among you who
understands the language of Egypt?' And one among them said: 'I
understand it.' And I said to him: 'Tell my mistress: as far as Ne, as the
place where Amun is, I used to hear that injustice is done in every town,
but that justice is done in the land of Alasiya. Is then injustice done
every day here?' And she said: 'What indeed do you mean by saying it?'
And I said to her: 'If the sea is angry and the wind drives me to the land
where you are, will you cause me to be received so as to kill me,
although I am the envoy of Amun? Look now, as regards myself they
would seek me to the end of time. But as regards this crew of the prince
of Byblos whom they seek to kill, will not their master find ten crews of
yours and himself too kill them?' And she caused the people to be
summoned, and they were made to attend. And she said to me: 'Pass the
night....
The rest is lost. Wenamun must have succeeded in reaching home,
otherwise his report could never have been written. We now stand on the
threshold of an entirely different Egypt, but before we pass to the
consideration of Dyn. XXI mention must be made of an important series of
letters discovered early in the nineteenth century and now scattered among
many museums and private collections. The excellent edition by J. Cerny
shows that they are all concerned with the life and doings of a scribe of
the royal tomb at Thebes named Dhutmose and with his son Butehamun,
together with their relatives and friends. Much of the contents turns upon
domestic affairs, but there are many allusions to current historic events.
Hrihor's son and heir Pay'onkh is now the high-priest of Amen-Re' and it
is certain that he never claimed the kingship. The correspondence seldom
mentions him by name, but no doubt it is he who is often alluded to as the
'Commander of the Army'. The close relationship between this exalted
personage and Dhutmose was due to the latter acting as a sort of agent for
him at Thebes, while Pay'onkh was engaged on a campaign in the south,
apparently against the former King's Son of Cush Pinhasi. The kinsfolk of
Dhutmose express great anxiety for the safety of Dhutmose in his
journeyings to bring weapons and other supplies to his chief. Almost a
dozen letters emerge from Pay'onkh himself, written by his secretaries in a
trenchant style. In three almost identical letters to his mother Nodjme, to
Dhutmose, and to another official the general instructs them to stop the
mouths of two Madjoi-policemen who have spoken indiscreetly by killing
them and having them thrown into the river by night. It would be
interesting to know the exact reason for so sinister an order, but at least it
testifies to the unhappy state of affairs prevailing at this troubled moment
in Egyptian history. There are, added to the letter addressed to Dhutmose,
some words that can hardly be construed otherwise than as a reference to
the absentee Ramesses XI: 'As for Pharaoh, how shall he reach this land?
Whose master is Pharaoh still?'
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