rvice of Amon, and originally reserved to sing
his praises or share his nuptial couch, those of them who married
transmitted to their children, and more especially to their daughters,
the divine germ which qualified them for the throne. They and their
followers never ceased to look for the day when the national deity
should shake off his apathy, and, becoming the champion of their cause
against the Bubastite or Tanite usurpers, restore their city to the rank
and splendour from which it had fallen. Namroti married one of these
Theban princesses, and thus contrived to ward off the danger of revolt
during his lifetime; but on his death or disappearance an insurrection
broke out. Sheshonq II. had succeeded Osorkon II., and he, in his turn,
was followed by Takeloti II. Takeloti chose Kala-mait, daughter of
Namroti, as his lawful wife, formally recognised her as queen, and set
up numerous statues and votive monuments in her honour. But all in
vain: this concession failed to conciliate the rebellious, and the whole
Thebaid rose against him to a man. In the twelfth year of his reign he
entrusted the task of putting down the revolt to his son Osorkon, at the
same time conferring upon him the office of high priest. It took several
years to repress the rising; defeated in the eleventh year, the rebels
still held the field in the fifteenth year of the king, and it was not
till some time after, between the fifteenth and twenty-second year of
Takeloti II., that they finally laid down their arms.* At the end of
this struggle the king's power was quite exhausted, while that of the
feudal magnates had proportionately increased. Before long, Egypt was
split up into a number of petty states, some of them containing but a
few towns, while others, following the example of Thebes, boldly annexed
several adjacent nomes. A last remnant of respect for the traditional
monarchy kept them from entirely repudiating the authority of Pharaoh.
They still kept up an outward show of submission to his rule; they paid
him military service when called upon, and appealed to him as umpire in
their disputes, without, however, always accepting his rulings, and when
they actually came to blows among themselves, were content to exercise
their right of private warfare under his direction.** The royal domain
gradually became narrowed down to the Memphite nome and the private
appanages of the reigning house, and soon it no longer yielded the sums
necessary for the du