an effectual substitute for armour, nor could it resist the spear or the metal-pointed arrow. They either wore a close or a full cap; and their arms were occasionally decked with bracelets, as their dresses with brilliant colours. Their cars were drawn by two horses, like those of Egypt, but they each contained three men, and some had wheels with four instead of six spokes; in both which respects they differed from those of their opponents. They had some cavalry: but large masses of infantry, with a formidable body of chariots, constituted the principal force of their numerous and well appointed army; and if, from the manner in which they posted their corps de reserve, we may infer them to have been a people skilled in war, some idea may also be formed of the strength of their army from the numbers composing that division, which amounted to 24,000 men*, drawn up in three close phalanxes, consisting each of 8000.

The nation of Sheta seems to have been composed of two distinct tribest, both comprehended under the same name, uniting in one common cause, and probably subject to the same government. They differed in their costume and general appearance; one having a large cap, and the long loose robe, with open sleeves or capes covering the shoulders, worn by many Asiatic people already mentioned, a square or oblong shield‡, and sometimes a

* At the Memnonium. Vide my Egypt and Thebes, p. 19. + Vide wood-cut, No. 69. figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5.

The Persian shield was square or oblong, or of the form of a diamond, called yɛppoи by the Greeks. Strabo, xv.

large beard; the other the dress and shield before described, and no beard. They both fought in cars, and used the same weapons; and we even find they lived together, or garrisoned the same

towns.

Whether or no they were Scythians, or a nation inhabiting the banks of the Euphrates, I do not yet pretend to decide: the name strongly argues in favour of the former opinion, which is that of the much regretted Champollion; and if any confirmation can be obtained from the sculptures of the accounts given by Herodotus, Diodorus, Tacitus, and other historians, relating to the march of Sesostris or Rhamses*, it is certainly to be looked for in those of the second and third Remeses; and the possibility of such extended conquests is not inconsistent with the known power and resources of ancient Egypt.

Several other nations and tribes, who inhabited parts of Asia, are shown by the monuments† to have been invaded and reduced to subjection by the arms of the Pharaohs; and in the names of some‡ we recognise towns or districts of Syria, as in Asmaori, Lemanon§, Kanana, and Ascalon.

66

* Vide my Egypt and Thebes, p. 22., and the Introduction. Tacitus says, the Egyptians over-ran all Libya and Ethiopia, and subdued the Medes and Persians, the Bactrians and Scythians, with the extensive regions inhabited by the Syrians, the Armenians, and the Cappadocians; and by this conquest a tract of country, extending from Bithynia on the Pontic Sea, to the coast of Lycia on the Mediterranean, was reduced to subjection." Ann. ii. 60.

+ Vide wood-cut, No. 69. opposite page.

Vide wood-cut, No. 69. figs. 6, 7, and 8.

I have noticed the frequent use of M for B in Coptic and other languages. Vide Egypt and Thebes, p. 192, note 3.

fig. 1

No. 69.

6

7

8

The inhabitants of the two first are figured with a round full head-dress, bound with a fillet: and those of Kanana are distinguished by a coat of mail and helmet, and the use of spears, javelins, and a battle-axe similar to that of Egypt.*

Thus we find that the Theban sculptors intentionally maintained a marked difference in the arms and costume peculiar to many of these people, though the same attention was not always extended to their faces. They were frequently conventional; a certain general style being adopted for Eastern nationst, another for those of the North, a third for the Ethiopians, and a fourth for the Blacks of the interior of Africa; and accuracy in portraying the features was dispensed with, except in the larger and more detailed sculptures, or when any remarkable difference was observable, as in the prominent nose of one of their allies.‡

Some are clad in loose, others in tight dresses ; some have shields of a square, others of an oblong, round, or other form, which are merely held by a single handle in the centre, like those now used by the Ababdeh and modern Ethiopians.

The country of Lemanon is shown by the artist to have been mountainous, inaccessible to chariots, and abounding in lofty trees, which the affrighted mountaineers are engaged in felling, in order to impede the advance of the invading army. Having taken by assault the fortified towns on the frontier,

* Wood-cut, No. 69. fig. 8. In Joshua, xvii. 16. the Canaanites are said to "have chariots of iron."

They are sometimes represented tattooed or branded. The Assyrians had this custom.

Vide wood-cut, No. 11. fig. 2., and wood-cut, No. 62. fig. 3.

the Egyptian monarch advances with the light infantry in pursuit of the fugitives, who had escaped, and taken refuge in the woods; and sending a herald to offer terms on condition of their surrender, the chiefs are induced to trust to his clemency, and return to their allegiance; as are those of Kanana, whose strong-holds yield in like manner to the arms of the conqueror.

That these two names point out the inhabitants of Mount Lebanon and Canaan is highly probable, since the campaign is said to have taken place in the first year, or soon after the accession, of Osirei, the father of the great Remeses; and the events which previously occurred in Egypt, during the reign of Amunoph III., and the unwarlike character of his two successors, may have given an opportunity to these people, though so near Egypt, to rebel, and assert their independence.

Many black nations were also conquered by the early monarchs of the 18th and 19th dynasties, as the Toreses, the Tareáo, and another whose name is lost *, as well as the Cusht, or Ethiopians. These last were long at war with the Egyptians ; and part of their country, which was reduced at a very remote period by the arms of the Pharaohs, was obliged to pay an annual tribute to the conquerors: but whether the name of Cush was applied merely to the lower districts of Ethiopia, or comprehended the whole of the southern portion of that country, I am unable to determine.

* Vide wood-cut, No. 69. fig. 12.

+ It is the scriptural as well as the hieroglyphical name. Woodcut, No. 69. fig. 13. a, b, c, and d.