an army in Egypt. The Egyptian forces seem to have gone as far as
Hamath; at all events, they occupied southern Palestine, capturing Gaza,
Hebron, and Jerusalem, and made their way across the Jordan into Moab.
Another campaign carried the Egyptian troops into Edom, where they
burned the "tents" of the Bedâwin, and for the first and last time in
history planted the Egyptian standard on the slopes of Mount Seir.
Ramses now turned to the internal administration of his country, and the
copper-mines of Sinai, like the gold-mines of the eastern desert, were
worked with fresh vigour. The spoil won from the northern invaders made
the Pharaoh the richest monarch of the age. Temples were built, and
endowed with lavish generosity, and the priesthood must have grieved
when he died at last after a reign of thirty-three years.

He was followed by a line of feeble princes. The high-priests of Amon at
Thebes usurped their power, and finally dispossessed the last of them of
the throne. A new dynasty arose in the Delta. In the south the
government was practically in the hands of the Theban high-priests. With
a divided kingdom the strength of Egypt passed away.

It was restored by a foreigner, Shishak I., the captain of the Libyan
mercenaries. The Pharaoh whose daughter was married by Solomon must have
been the last king of the old dynasty. Perhaps he sought to strengthen
himself against his enemies in Egypt by an alliance with his powerful
neighbour. At all events, the King of Israel allowed his army to march
through Palestine as far as Gezer. The Egyptians flattered themselves
that they had thereby asserted their old claim to sovereignty over
Palestine, but the substantial gainer was the Israelitish monarch. He
won the last independent Canaanite city without effort or expenditure,
and was allowed to marry into the Solar race.