on which
may be studied, almost day for day, the campaign of Rameses II. against the
Kheta, which took place in the fifth year of his reign. There we see the
Egyptian camp attacked by night; the king's bodyguard surprised during the
march; the defeat of the enemy; their flight; the garrison of Kadesh
sallying forth to the relief of the vanquished; and the disasters which
befell the prince of the Kheta and his generals. Elsewhere, it is not the
war which is represented, but the human sacrifices which anciently
celebrated the close of each campaign. The king is seen in the act of
seizing his prostrate prisoners by the hair of their heads, and uplifting
his mace as if about to shatter their heads at a single blow. At Karnak,
along the whole length of the outer wall, Seti I. pursues the Bedawin of
Sinai. At Medinet Habu Rameses III. destroys the fleet of the peoples of
the great sea, or receives the cut-off hands of the Libyans, which his
soldiers bring to him as trophies. In the next scene, all is peace; and we
behold Pharaoh pouring out a libation of perfumed water to his father Amen.
It would seem as if no link could be established between these subjects,
and yet the one is the necessary consequence of the others. If the god had
not granted victory to the king, the king in his turn would not have
performed these ceremonies in the temple. The sculptor has recorded the
events in their order:--first the victory, then the sacrifice. The favour
of the god precedes the thank-offering of the king. Thus, on closer
examination, we find this multitude of episodes forming the several links
of one continuous chain, while every scene, including such as seem at first
sight to be wholly unexplained, represents one stage in the development of
a single action which begins at the door, is carried through the various
halls, and penetrates to the farthest recesses of the sanctuary. The king
enters the temple. In the courts, he is everywhere confronted by
reminiscences of his victories; and here the god comes forth to greet him,
hidden in his shrine and surrounded by priests. The rites prescribed for
these occasions are graven on the walls of the hypostyle hall in which they
were performed. These being over, king and god together take their way to
the sanctuary. At the door which leads from the public hall to the
mysterious part of the temple, the escort halts. The king crosses the
threshold alone, and is welcomed by the gods. He then performs