a theocratic government, in which the kingly office was merged in that of the high priest.  Separated from Asia by the length of the Delta, it turned its attention, like the Pharaohs of the VIth and XIIth dynasties, to Ethiopia, and owing to its distance from the Mediterranean, and from the new civilization developed on its shores, it became more and more isolated, till at length it was reduced to a purely African state.  Northern Egypt, on the contrary, maintained contact with European and Asiatic nations; it took an interest in their future, it borrowed from them to a certain extent whatever struck it as being useful or beautiful, and when the occasion presented itself, it acted in concert with Mediterranean powers.  There was an almost constant struggle between these two divisions of the empire, at times breaking out into an open rupture, to end as often in a temporary re-establishment of unity.  At one time Ethiopia would succeed in annexing Egypt, and again Egypt would seize some part of Ethiopia; but the settlement of affairs was never final, and the conflicting elements, brought with difficulty into harmony, relapsed into their usual condition at the end of a few years.  A kingdom thus divided against itself could never succeed in maintaining its authority over those provinces which, even in the heyday of its power, had proved impatient of its yoke.

Asia was associated henceforward in the minds of the Egyptians with painful memories of thwarted ambitions, rather than as offering a field for present conquest.  They were pursued by the memories of their former triumphs, and the very monuments of their cities recalled what they were anxious to forget.  Wherever they looked within their towns they encountered the representation of some Asiatic scene; they read the names of the cities of Syria on the walls of their temples; they saw depicted on them its princes and its armies, whose defeat was recorded by the inscriptions as well as the tribute which they had been forced to pay.  The sense of their own weakness prevented the Egyptians from passing from useless regrets to action; when, however, one or other of the Pharaohs felt sufficiently secure on the throne to carry his troops far afield, he was always attracted to Syria, and crossed her frontiers, often, alas! merely to encounter defeat.

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CHAPTER II—­THE RISE OF THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE

PHOENICIA AND THE NORTHERN NATIONS AFTER THE DEATH OP RAMSES III.—­THE FIRST ASSYRIAN EMPIRE:  TIGLATH-PILESUR I.—­THE ARAMAEANS AND THE KHATI.

The continuance of Egyptian influence over Syrian civilization after the death of Ramses III.—­Egyptian myths in Phoenicia:  Osiris and Isis at Byblos—­Horus, Thot, and the origin of the Egyptian alphabet—­The tombs at Arvad and the Kabr-Hiram; Egyptian designs in Phoenician glass and goldsmiths’work—­Commerce with Egypt, the withdrawal of Phoenician colonies in the AEgean Sea and the Achaeans in Cyprus; maritime expeditions in the Western Mediterranean.