t ever since the
accession of the Ramessides. The rebuilding of the cities which had
been destroyed there during the wars with the Hyksos had restricted the
extent of territory on which they could pasture their herds. Ramses II.
treated them as slaves of the treasury,** and the Hebrews were not long
under his rule before they began to look back with regret on the time of
the monarchs "who knew Joseph."**

* The name Babylon comes probably from _Banbonu, Barbonu,
Babonu_--a term which, under the form _Hat-Banbonu,_ served
to designate a quarter of Heliopolis, or rather a suburban
village of that city. Troja was, as we have seen, the
ancient city of Troiu, now Turah, celebrated for its
quarries of fine limestone. The narratives collected by the
historians whom Diodorus consulted were products of the
Saite period, and intended to explain to Greeks the
existence on Egyptian territory of names recalling those of
Babylon in Chaldaea and of Homeric Troy.

** A very ancient tradition identifies Ramses II. with the
Pharaoh "who knew not Joseph" (_Exod._ i. 8). Recent
excavations showing that the great works in the east of the
Delta began under this king, or under Seti II. at the
earliest, confirm in a general way the accuracy of the
traditional view: I have, therefore, accepted it in part,
and placed the Exodus after the death of Ramses II. Other
authorities place it further back, and Lieblein in 1863 was
inclined to put it under Amenothes III.

The Egyptians set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their
burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.
But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew.
And they were "grieved because of the children of Israel."* A secondary
version of the same narrative gives a more detailed account of their
condition: "They made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar
and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field."** The
unfortunate slaves awaited only an opportunity to escape from the
cruelty of their persecutors.

* _Exod_. i. 11, 12. Excavations made by Naville have
brought to light near Tel el-Maskhutah the ruins of one of
the towns which the Hebrews of the Alexandrine period
identified with the cities constructed by their ancestors in
Egypt: the town excavated by Naville is Pitumu, and
consequen