The Storehouses of the King

rroundings, so elaborate that three years' time was required for its completion." A man so wise and so powerful as to be looked upon by the Egyptians as their king was certainly able to m

ne was over th

hemselves; and having so determined, they built a Labyrinth, a little above the lake of M?ris, situated near that called the city of crocodiles. This I have myself seen, and found it greater than can be described. For if anyone should reckon up the buildings and public works of the Grecians, they would be found to have cost less labour and expense than this Labyrinth; though the temple in Ephesus is deserving of mention, and also that in Samos. The Pyramids likewise were beyond description, and each of them comparable to many of the great Grecian structures. Yet the Labyrinth surpasses even the Pyramids. For it has twelve courts enclosed with walls, with doors opposite each other, six facing the north, and six the south, contiguous to one another; and the same exterior wall encloses them. It contains two kinds of rooms, some under ground and some above ground over them, to the number of three thousand, fifteen hundred of each. The rooms above ground I myself went through and saw, and relate from personal inspection. But

solute power given them by Pharaoh, and had the whole land of Egypt under their control; for "Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, 'Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee. The land of Egypt is b

ph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the

desperate condition, the Hebrews governed the nation for Pharaoh, who placed implicit faith in their wisdom and probity. These were the men styled by Egyptologists "Shephe

ease subdued it by force, yet without our hazarding a battle with them.[30] So when they had gotten those that governed us under their power, they afterwards burnt down our cities and demolished the temples of the gods, and used all the inhabitants after a most barbarous manner; nay, so

oper for his purpose, and which lay upon the Bubastic Channel, but, with regard to a certain theologic notion, was called Avaris, this he rebuilt, and made very strong by the walls he built about it, and by a most numerous gar

s among them, who were all along making war with the Egyptians, and were very desirous gradually to destroy them to the very roots. This whole nation was styled Hycsos, that is, Shepherd Kings; for the first syllable Hyc, according to the sacred dialect, denotes a king, as is sos a shepherd, but this according to the ordinary dialect, and of these is compounded Hycsos;

00 acres; this place was named Avaris. The shepherds built a wall round all this place, which was a large and strong wall, and this in order to keep all their possessions and their prey within a place of strength, but that Thummosis,[36] the son of Alisphragmuthosis made an attempt to take them by force and by siege with 480,000 men to lie round about them; but that, upon his despair of taking the place by that siege, they came to a composition with them, that they should leave Egypt, and go

as a historian, to write something, though against his will. His malice against the Hebrews is manifest

long while, the King was desired that he would set apart the city Avaris,[39] which was then l

is, whose name was Osarsiph, and they took their oaths that they would be obedient to him in all things. He then, in the first place, made this law for them: that they should neither worship the Egyptian gods,

ests, and those that were polluted with them, and sent ambassadors to those shepherds who had been driven out of the land by Tethmosis to the city called Jerusalem, whereby he informed them of his own affairs, and of the state of those others that had been treated after such an ignominious manner, and desired that they would come with one cons

their invasion, was in great confusion, as calling to mind what Amenophis, the son of Papis, had foretold him; and, in the first place, he assembled the multitude of the Egyptians, and took counsel with their leaders, and sent

did he not join battle with them; but, thinking that would be to fight against the gods, he returned back and came to Memphis, where he took Apis and the other sacred animals which he had sent for to him, and presently marched into Ethiopia, together with his

usalem, when they came down together with the polluted Egyptians, they treated the men in such a barbarous manner, that those who saw how they subdued the fore-mentioned country, and the horrid wickedness they were guilty of, thought it a most dreadful thing, for they did not only set the cities and villages on fir

h of Heliopolis, and his name Osarsiph, from Osiris, who was the god of Heliopolis; but th

hat Moses and Aaron were negotiating with the King to let the Hebrews go a short journey into the wilderness to hold a festival to the Lord. Pharaoh refusing them leave to do so, the last and direst plague w

hour of affliction the King desired these Hebrews to depart, with everything they possessed. When the permission was obtained, the Israelites borrowed from the Egyptians jewels of gold a

ready his chariot, he took them with him. "And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them, and he pursued after the chil

e dangerous position they were in, Moses, the man gifted with supernatural resources, contrived to make a passage through the sea, and, a strong east wind assisting him throughout th

(of which mention will be made in the course of this narrative)-he it was who contrived and made this passage dur

in the sea prepared for them. The waters were divided; "and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left.

re driven aside, and the waters returned and covered all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea; there escaped not so much as one of them!

late the terrible catastrophe to these unfortunate widows and orphans; and there was neither priest nor grown-up man to record the events of this period in the sacred books

ars as the guest of the king and people of Ethiopia. The son of this Pharaoh, whom Manetho calls Sethos, was at this time, when his father was drowned, five years old; so that at the end

that they seemed to have become almost extinct. They mourned and grieved so long that they appear to have quite forgotten

re the founders of such works of art and magnificence; they never were the players on the harp and other musical instruments depicted on the walls of palaces, nor the refined occupants of those noble apartments, representing the highest culture and intelligence-apartments furnished with chairs, sofas, and

ruled Egypt for her Pharaohs, who possessed discernment enough to app

ms, and despised one another's sacred and accustomed rites, and were very angry one with another on that account, Abram conferred with each of them, and, confuting the reasonings they made use of every one for their own practices, demonstrated that such reasonings were vain and void of truth; whereupon he was admired by them in those conferences as a very wise man, and one of great sagacity, when he

s. Abraham was immensely wealthy, for the Bible says that "Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife Sarai, and all

mietta, Gharbiyeh, Menouf, Mansoura, and Sharkeyeh-were the constructions and erections of Joseph, otherwise called Zaphnath-paaneah, and his eleven brothers; while those found in the Sa?d, or Upper Egypt-

nd re-conquest of Mero?, and the entrance in state of his bride, the Princes Tharbis, daughter of the King of Ethiopia, are commemorated on the walls of the

es went with him and his army. After a residence of nine years with the King, the Ethiopians elected Moses to the throne of Ethi

ed and left Ethiopia. The Ethiopians made him many

ly of the Jewish type. In religion and customs and language they resemble the Jews; the characters of their writing are similar to the Hebrew. This people must have en