oke. Egypt felt the shame of
being ruled by a foreigner of a race that she despised; and a prince was
found after a time, a descendant of the Ramesside line, who unfurled the
national banner, and commenced a war of independence. This prince, who
bore the name of Set-nekht, or "Set the victorious," is thought by some
to have been a son of Seti II., and so a grandson of Menephthah; but the
evidence is insufficient to establish any such relationship. There is
reason to believe that the blood of the nineteenth dynasty, of Seti I.
and Ramesses II., ran in his veins; but no particular relationship to
any former monarch can be made out. And certainly he owed his crown less
to his descent than to his strong arm and his stout heart. It was by
dint of severe fighting that he forced his way to the throne, defeating
Aarsu, and gradually reducing all Egypt under his power.

Set-nekht's reign must have been short He set himself to "put the whole
land in order, to execute the abominables, to set up the temples, and
re-establish the divine offerings for the service of the gods, as their
statutes prescribed," But he was unable to effect very much. He could
not even discharge properly the main duty of a king towards himself,
which was to prepare a fitting receptacle for his remains when he should
quit the earth. To excavate a rock-tomb in the style fashionable at the
day was a task requiring several years for its due accomplishment;
Set-nekht felt that he could not look forward to many years--perhaps not
even to many months--of life. In this difficulty, he felt no shame in
appropriating to himself a royal tomb recently constructed by a king,
named Siphthah, whom he looked upon as a usurper, and therefore as
unworthy of consideration. In this sepulchre we see the names of
Siphthah and his queen, Taouris, erased by the chisel from their
cartouches, and the name of Set-nekht substituted in their place. By one
and the same act the king punished an unworthy predecessor, and provided
himself with a ready--made tomb befitting his dignity.

It was also, probably, on account of his advanced age at his accession,
that he almost immediately associated in the kingdom his son Ramesses, a
prince of much promise, whom he made "Chief of On," and viceroy over
Lower Egypt, with Heliopolis (On) for his residence and capital.
Ramesses the Third, as he is commonly called, was one of the most
distinguished of Egyptian monarchs, and the last who acquired any g