without his own intervention. This expedition was at first successful. On its way down the river, below Thebes, it fell in with the advancing fleet of the enemy and completely defeated it. The rebel chiefs, abandoning Hermopolis and the middle Nile, fell back upon Sutensenen, or Heracleopolis, where they concentrated their forces and awaited a second attack. This was not long deferred. Piankhi's army, having besieged and taken Hermopolis, descended the river to Sutensenen, gave the confederates a second naval defeat, and disembarking followed up their success with another great victory by land, completely routing the enemy, and driving them to take refuge in Lower Egypt or in the towns along the banks of the Nile below Heracleopolis. But now a strange reverse of fortune befell them. Namrut, the Hermopolitan monarch, hearing that his capital was in the enemy's power, resolved on a bold attempt to retake it, and, having collected a number of ships and troops, quitted his confederates, sailed up the Nile, besieged the Ethiopian garrison which had been left to hold the city, overpowered them, and recovered the place. Hereupon Piankhi made up his mind that his own personal presence was necessary in order to quell the revolt. Quitting Napata in the first month of the year, he reached Thebes in the second, and after performing sundry religious ceremonies in honour of the great god, Ammon, advanced against Hermopolis, pitched his camp to the south-west of the city, and prepared to take it by storm. Towers were raised to

1 Records of the Past, vol. ii. p. 83, § 8; Brugsch, History of Egypt, vol. ii. p. 232, 1st ed.

2 Brugsch, History of Egypt, vol. |

ii. p. 234, § 22, 1st ed.

Ibid. p. 235.

Ibid. p. 236, § 29. Compare Records of the Past, vol. ii. p. 88.

Cn. XXV.]

SUBMISSION OF NAMRUT.

441

a greater height than the walls, from which the archers shot into the city, and the catapult-men hurled stones into it, with such effect, that in a short time the inhabitants could not bear the stench of the corpses1 and insisted on a surrender.. Namrut consented. Having first softened the great king's heart by sending his wife as a suppliant to Piankhi's harem, to prostrate herself before his wives, daughters, and sisters, and beseech their intercession in his favour, he himself came forth from the city, and presented himself before Piankhi in equally humble fashion, leading his horse with his left hand, and holding a sistrum in his right—

Piankhi receiving the submission of Namrut and others.

the instrument wherewith it was usual for worshippers to approach a god. Piankhi had this scene engraved at a later date on the monument which he set up to record his victories; 2 but at the time he seems not to have been much impressed by it, and to have declined to receive Namrut into favour.

Pefaabast, king of Heracleopolis Magna, who shortly afterwards surrendered, was treated with equal coldness. Piankhi seems to have felt himself strong enough to sup

1 Some doubt whether this is intended literally, but both Brugsch and Birch so understand the pas

sage.

2 See Mariette, Monuments Divers, pl. 1, from which the accompanying woodcut is taken.

press the revolt without the help of any of the subject princes, and reserved the question of punishing or condoning their offences until the struggle should be over.

Bent on putting down all opposition, Piankhi now proceeded from Heracleopolis along the course of the Nile towards Memphis, receiving the submission of the cities on either bank of the river upon his way, and in a short time appeared before the southern capital, and summoned it to surrender at discretion. But Tafnekht had recently paid the city a visit, strengthened its defences, augmented its supplies, and reinforced its garrison with an addition of 8,000 men, thereby greatly inspiriting its defenders. Resistance was therefore resolved upon; the gates were closed, the walls. manned, and Piankhi challenged to do his worst. Then was his Majesty furious against them like a panther.' 2 Collecting vessels of every sort and size, and taking the command in person, he attacked the city from the water, brought the ships close to the houses, and, using the masts and yards of the vessels for ladders, succeeded in forcing an entrance, and captured the place after a great slaughter. Aupot, Petisis, and Merkaneshu, a leader of mercenaries, upon this surrendered, and armed resistance to the authority of Piankhi ceased. Two chiefs, however, had still to make their submission, Tafnekht, the leader of the rebellion, and Osarkon, the prince of Bubastis. Proceeding against the latter, Piankhi had reached Heliopolis, where he was received with acclamations and

CH. XXV.] COMPLETE SUPPRESSION OF THE REVOLT. 443

hailed as indestructible Horus,' 1 when Osarkon, seeing that resistance was hopeless, came into his camp and did homage. Nothing remained but that Tafnekht should bow to fortune. That prince, after the capture of Memphis, had fled beyond the seas-to Cyprus, as one writer conjectures2- and was thus in no personal danger; but the condition of a refugee is irksome, and Piankhi had shown himself so clement to the other chiefs, that even the arch-rebel felt he might perhaps be forgiven. Tafnekht, therefore, from his island refuge sent an embassy to Piankhi, with a sufficiently humble message, desiring pardon and proffering a new oath of allegiance. The Ethiopian monarch accepted the overture; the oath was taken, the pacification of Egypt effected; and, amid music and song, the conqueror re-ascended the Nile, and returned, laden with the good things of Egypt, Syria, and Arabia, to his own capital city, Napata.

It would seem that Egypt now returned to its previous condition, all the rebel chiefs being allowed to resume their several governments and to exercise the same powers as before. Piankhi showed himself of a mild and merciful disposition, deposed no one, deprived no one of any portion of his territories, did not even

1 Records of the Past, vol. ii. p. | 98, § 105.

Birch, Ancient Egypt, p. 162. Brugsch thinks that he had merely fled to one of the Nile islands (History of Egypt, vol. ii. p. 246, § 129, 1st ed.)

3 Brugsch, History of Egypt, vol. ii. pp. 246-7, 1st ed."

The inscription of Piankhi terminates as follows: When his Majesty sailed up the river, his heart was glad; all its banks resounded with music. The inhabitants of the west and east took to make melody at his Majesty's |

approach.

To the notes of the music they sang: "O king, thou conqueror! O Piankhi, thou conquering king! Thou hast come and smitten Lower Egypt; thou madest the men as women. The heart of thy mother rejoices, who bore such a son; for he who begat thee dwells in the vale of death. Happiness be to thee, O cow who hast borne the bull! Thou shalt live for ever in after ages. Thy victory shall endure, O king and friend of Thebes." (Brugsch, l.s.c.; De Rougé, Inscription Historique du Roi PianchiMériamoun, p. 15.)

take hostages, but trusted that their experience of the futility of revolt would prevent the chiefs from making any further efforts.

It is uncertain whether or no he personally witnessed the disappointment of his expectations. Egypt revolted and threw off the Ethiopian yoke within a few years of its reimposition, but perhaps not until Piankhi himself had been gathered to his fathers. The leader of the rebellion on this occasion was a certain Bek-en-ranf, , whom the Greeks called

Bocchoris or Bonchoris,' a native of Saïs, and perhaps a son of Tafnekht." The circumstances of his revolt are wholly unknown to us, since the monuments are silent, barely mentioning his name, and neither Manetho nor the native Greek writers were aware of the subjection of Egypt by Piankhi. Bocchoris is regarded by the Greeks as a somewhat remarkable personage, feeble in body and avaricious, but with a certain renown for wisdom, and the author of laws which had the approval of his countrymen. According to Africanus, Manetho gave him a reign of six years only, and as this number is found also upon one of the Apis stelæ,6 we may accept it as probably marking the real duration of his reign. The Ethiopians, evidently stronger at this period than the Egyptians, are not likely to have allowed him a long respite, and when Sabaco, who had

1 Diod. Sic. i. 79-94; Manetho | in one of the Apis tombs, and was ap. Syncell. Chronograph. p. 74 B. also traced in black on one of the walls. (Mariette, Sérapéum de Memphis, p. 24, and pl. 34.)

2 The statement of Diodorus to this effect (i. 45, § 2) receives some confirmation from the stêlé of Piankhi, which makes Tafnekht king of Saïs a little before the time of Bocchoris.

3 The name of Bocchoris (Beken-ranf) has been found nowhere but at the Serapeum of Memphis, where it appeared on several ste'

4 See Diod. Sic. i. 79, §§ 1-3; 94, § 5.

5

Ap. Syncell. Chronograph, p. 74 B.

Mariette, Sérapéum de Memphis, p. 24. The authority of Eusebius is always weak, compared with that of Africanus. Here his num