250 head of the Nahsi, or Negroes, and 55 satem ash,[1] judges
(or auditors of plaints), probably village rulers, or sheikhs, with
175 of their children, making a total of 740 hving head of
people. Besides these were 312 preserved hands (tid-u ari-u)[2]
making a grand total of 1052. This took place during the
local administration of Meri-mes, a royal scribe, or secretary
of state, who had been appointed the Prince of Kush, or
Æthiopia. The jurisdiction of this prince probably extended
to Syene, and he has recorded a proscynema to the name
of Amenophis III. on the rocks of Bigghe.[3] In a tomb at
Thebes, of a person deceased, in the reign of the King,
several Asiatic and Negro prisoners are represented. In one
part the monarch is seated on his throne, attended by the
goddess Athor, who gives him life, and a rich collar. A
crowd of military officers and foreigners prostrate their faces
to the ground, and have laid tusks of ivory, ostrich feathers,
panther skins, and baskets of ores, or metals, before the King.[4]
In another sepulchre,[5] Amenophis receives the account of the
corn raised in his thirtieth[6] year from the storekeepers of
granaries and governors of Upper and Lower Egypt. Round
his throne are ten Asiatic prisoners, representing the nations
vanquished by Egypt. There are the Northern lands, Seba,
the South lands, Sam,[7] the North, Petama,[8] Tahennu[9] Pet, or Phut,[10] the Mena en shaa[11] or Nomads of the Waste. On
- ↑ The words satem-ash, are two well-known Egyptian words, signifying to hear plaints. Bunsen, l. c. p. 558, 15, 458, 100. It occurs frequently, as satem ash en ma, —hearer of the cry of the place of Truth or Judge. Champollion, Diet, 122. This differs from the word " chief," written ur or hur, the Coptic hello—the English old, eld-er. Bunsen, l. c. 570, 5. Several monuments of judges are given in the Tablets and other Egyptian monuments, from the collections of the Earl of Belmore. Fo. London, 1843.
- ↑ The word hand generally means a dead or slain enemy, whose hands were counted. Cf. Rosellini, M. R., No. cxxxii, No. cxxxv. It would appear from this literally guarded, and carried back to Egypt; the hand was called kep, the phallus, karunatu. Rosellini, l. c.
- ↑ Champollion, Not. descr. p. 161.
- ↑ Ibid.
- ↑ Prisse, Mon. Egypt., pl. xxxix.
- ↑ Bunsen, Ægyptens Stelle, B. iii., s. 77, gives the xxxv. year, or even xxxvi. Ibid. s. 115.
- ↑ This name occurs in all the great Ethnic tables. Wilkinson, Mat. Hier., pl. viii; Rosellini, M. R., No. lxi.
- ↑ Cf. Wilkinson and Rosellini, l. c.
- ↑ Great difficulty is experienced to decide whom the Tahennu are intended for. A substance called Hat en tahnnu, heart or essence of the Tahennu, is mentioned at the twelfth dynasty. They were the most Northern people known to Egypt (cf. Champollion, Lettres Écrites), and are often called Tamahu, or Tenmahu. Rosellini, il. R, No. clix. Mr. Osburn, Egypt her Testimony, p. clix. supposes the Tahennu to be the Hittites, and the Tamahu to be the Hamathites. Colonel Mure, Annali, 1836, p. 1—20.
- ↑ The Libyans, according to most inscription that the hands were preserved authorities. This name in the precited Ethnic tables is determined by a pool, showing that it is a maritime or fluvial country. It often appears as a generic name for foreigners, thus Cheops conquers the Peti or Phut at the Wady Magara. Laborde, Voy. Arab. Petr., pi.
- ↑ The reading of the latter part of this
N. Africa, 8vo., New York, 1844, p. 110,similar to the Heb. (
Hebrew characters) mat. It may possibly refer to castrati, Arabic makhsi.
