Two Brothers (Set and Horus), I have gathered together their arms
about thee with [strength].

"I have placed thy Two Sisters (Isis and Nephthys) near thee as
protectresses for thee, the arms of Thy Majesty are [lifted] upwards to
drive away evil. I have made thee strong and glorious, O my beloved Son,
thou Mighty Bull, crowned in Thebes, begotten by me ..., Thothmes, the
everliving, who hast performed for me all that my Ka wished. Thou hast
set up my sanctuary with work that shall endure for ever, thou hast
lengthened it and broadened it more than ever was done before. The great
pylon ... Thou hast celebrated the festival of the beauties of Amen-Ra,
thy monuments are greater than those of any king who hath existed, I
commanded thee to do it. I am satisfied with it. I have stablished thee
upon the throne of Horus for hundreds of thousands of years. Thou shalt
guide life ..."

[Illustration: A Page of the Hieratic Text, from the Great Harris
Papyrus in the British Museum, describing the great Works carried out by
Rameses III about 1200 B.C.]

SUMMARY OF THE REIGN OF RAMESES III

The reign of Rameses III is remarkable in the annals of the New Empire,
and the great works which this king carried out, and his princely
benefactions to the temples of Egypt, are described at great length in
his famous papyrus in the British Museum (Harris, No. 1, No. 9999). The
last section of the papyrus contains an excellent historical summary of
the reign of Rameses III, and as it is one of the finest examples of
this class of literature a translation of it is here given. The text is
written in the hieratic character and reads:

King Usermaatra-meri-Amen (Rameses III), life, strength, health [be to
him!] the great god, said unto the princes, and the chiefs of the land,
and the soldiers, and the charioteers, and the Shartanau soldiers, and
the multitudes of the bowmen, and all those who lived in the land of
Ta-mera (Egypt), Hearken ye, and I will cause you to know the splendid
deeds which I did when I was king of men. The land of Kamt was laid open
to the foreigner, every man [was ejected] from his rightful holding,
there was no "chief mouth" (_i.e._ ruler) for many years in olden times
until the new period [came]. The land of Egypt [was divided among]
chiefs and governors of towns, each one slew his neighbour. ... Another
period followed with years of nothingness (famine?). Arsu, a certain
Syrian, was with them as g