The following extract illustrates the inscriptions in which Thutmose II
describes an expedition into Nubia which he has conducted
with success. It is
cut in hieroglyphs on a rock by the side of the old road leading from
Elephantine to Philae and is dated in the first year of the Pharaoh's
reign.
The opening lines enumerate the names and titles of the Pharaoh, and
proclaim his sovereignty over the Haunebu, or the dwellers in the
northern Delta and on the sea coast, Upper and Lower Egypt, Nubia and
the Eastern Desert, including Sinai , Syria, the lands of the Fenkhu, and
the countries that lie to the south of the modern town of Khartum.
The next section states: "A messenger came in and saluted His Majesty and
said: The vile people of Kush (Northern Nubia) are in
revolt. The subjects of the Lord of the Two Lands (the Pharaoh of
Egypt) have become hostile to him, and they have begun to fight. The
Egyptians [in Nubia] are driving down their cattle from the shelter of
the stronghold which thy father Thutmose I built to keep back the
tribes of the South and the tribes of the Eastern Desert."
The last part
of the envoy's message contain a statement that some of the
Egyptians who had settled in Nubia had thrown in their lot with the
Sudani folk who were in revolt. The text continues: "When His Majesty
heard these words he became furious like a panther (or leopard), and he
said: I swear by Ra, who loveth me, and by my father Amun, king of the
gods, lord of the thrones of the Two Lands, that I will not leave any
male alive among them. Then His Majesty sent a multitude of soldiers
into Nubia, now this was his first war, to effect the overthrow of all
those who had rebelled against the Lord of the Two Lands, and of all
those who were disaffected towards His Majesty. And the soldiers of His
Majesty arrived in the miserable land of Kush, and overthrew these
savages, and according to the command of His Majesty they left no male
alive, except one of the sons of the miserable Prince of Kush, who was
carried away alive with some of their servants to the place where His
Majesty was. His Majesty took his seat on his throne, and when the
prisoners whom his soldiers had captured were brought to him they were
placed under the feet of the good god. Their land was reduced to its
former state of subjection, and the people rejoiced and their chiefs
were glad. They ascribed praise to the Lord of the Two Lands, and they
glorified the god for his divine beneficence. This took place because of
the bravery of His Majesty, whom his father Amun loved more than any
other Pharaoh of Egypt from the very beginning, the Pharaoh of the South and
North, Aakheperenra, the son of Ra, Thutmose II, whose crowns are
glorious, endowed with life, stability, and serenity, like Ra for ever."
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