APPENDIX A
ON the east side of the northern wall of the great Hypostyle Hall in Amun’s temple at Karnak we find two series of scenes distributed symmetrically on either side of the entrance to the temple. The action of the scenes converges towards the door at the centre, near which the god Amun stands to welcome the victorious Seti I. At the two extreme ends, far from the doorway, we find depicted the battles that took place in distant lands, and as we move towards the door we are shown the capture of war prisoners, followed by the arrival back in Egypt, the presentation of captives and spoils to Amun, culminating in the slaying of prisoners as sacrifices to the god. The scenes are arranged in three horizontal rows, each showing a different war.
The first chronologically, the bottom row of the east wall, is a representation of the war against the Shasu. After setting out on the route from Zarw to Gaza – known in the Bible as ‘the way of the land of the Philistines’ (Exodus, 13:17) – and passing the fortified water stations, ‘pushing along this road in the Negeb the king scatters the Shasu, who from time to time gather in sufficient numbers to meet him. One of these actions is depicted in this relief as taking place on the desert road.1 … Over the battle scene stands the inscription: “The Good God, Sun of Egypt, Moon of all land, Montu (the Theban god of war) in the foreign countries: irresistible, mighty-hearted like Baal (an Asiatic god, the counterpart of the Egyptian Seth), there is none that approaches him on the day of drawing up the battle-line … The rebels, they know not how they shall (flee); the vanquished of the Shasu (becoming like) that which exist not.”2 In his campaign it seems that Seti I pursued the Shasu into the northern Sinai area and Edom, which includes ‘the waters of Meribah’, as well as Moab – the borders between Sinai and Canaan/Jordan – before returning to continue his march along the northern Sinai road between Zarw and Gaza until he reached Canaan itself. Just across the Egyptian border he arrived at a fortified town whose name is given as Pe-Kanan (the Canaan), which, according to Gardiner, is the city of Gaza.3
In another scene we find the following inscription over the defeated Shasu: ‘Year 1. King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Menmare (Seti I). The destruction which the mighty sword of Pharaoh … made among the vanquished of the Shasu from the fortress of Tharu (Zarw) to Pe-kanan, when His Majesty marched against them like a fierce-eyed lion, making them carcasses in their valleys, overturned in their blood like those that exist not. Everyone that escapes his fingers says: “His might towards distant countries is the might of his father, Amun, who hath assigned to him victorious valour in the countries.” ’4
In addition to those Shasu he had already slaughtered in battle, Seti brought many bedouin prisoners back to Egypt, tied to his chariot, to be sacrificed. The scene showing the king being welcomed back on his arrival at Zarw has an inscription that provides the reason for Pharaoh’s campaign against the Shasu: ‘One came to say to His Majesty: “The foe belonging to the Shasu are plotting rebellion. Their tribal chiefs are gathered in one place, waiting on the mountain ranges of Kharu.”5 … Now as the good god (Pharaoh), he exults at undertaking combat; he delights at an attack on him; his heart is satisfied at the sight of blood. He cuts off the heads of the perverse of heart. He loves an instant of trampling more than a day of jubilation. His Majesty kills them at one time, and leaves no heirs among them. He who is spared by his hand is a living prisoner, carried off to Egypt.’6
The king, as can be seen from the following scenes, then proceeded with his Shasu prisoners to the temple of Amun at Karnak. Over them we find: ‘Captives which His Majesty carried off from the Shasu, whom His Majesty himself overthrew, in Year 1.’7 Then comes the depiction of the final act – the sacrifice by Seti I personally of his Shasu captives at the feet of the Theban god Amun.
(ii) The Hattusili Peace Treaty
Year 21, first month of Winter, day 21, under the majesty of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt Usimare Setpenre, son of Re, Ramses-mi-Amun, granted life eternally and forever, beloved of Amun-Re, Harakhti, Ptah South-of-His-Wall, lord of Onkhtowe, Mut lady of Ishru and Khns-Neferhotpe, being arisen upon the Horus-throne of the Living like his father Harakhti eternally and evermore.
On this day, when His Majesty was at the town of Pi-Ramses-mi-Amun doing the pleasure of his father Amun-Re, Harakhti, Atum lord-of-the-two-lands-of-Heliopolis, Amun-of-Ramses-mi-Amun, Ptah of Ramses-mi-Amun and Setekh great-of-valour, son of Nut, according as they give to him an infinity of sed festivals and an eternity of peaceful years, all lands and all hill countries being prostrate under his sandals; there came the king’s messenger … the messenger of Hatti (the land of the Hittites) … carrying [the tablet of silver which?] the great chief of Hatti, Hattusili [caused] to be brought to Pharaoh in order to beg pe[ace from the Majesty of Usimare] Setpenre …
The treaty which the great prince of Hatti, Hattusili, the strong, son of Mursili, the great chief of Hatti, the strong, the son of Suppi[luliuma, the great chief of Hatti, the str]ong, made upon a tablet of silver for Usimare … : the good treaty of peace and brotherhood, giving peace … forever. But hereafter, beginning from this day, the great chief of Hatti, is [in?] a treaty for making permanent the policy which … so as not to permit hostilities to be made between them forever. And the children of the children [of] the great chief of Hatti shall be [?] in brotherhood and at peace with the children of Ramses-mi-Amun, the great ruler of Egypt; they being in our policy of brotherhood and our policy [of peace]. [And the land of Egypt?] with the land Hatti [shall be?] at peace and in brotherhood like us forever; and hostilities shall not be made between them forever.1
(iii) A Dissenting Voice
In discussing where the battles of Ramses II against the Shasu took place Dr Kenneth A. Kitchen of Liverpool University says: ‘The area in question is indicated by two or three other sources … One is Obelisk I at Tanis: “Terrible and raging lion who despoils the Shasu-land, who plunders the mountain of Seir with his valiant arm.” Here, Shasu is by parallelism equated with Mount Seir, “which is Edom” (cf. Genesis, 36: 8, 9). The second source is a topographical list of Ramses II at Amara West in which the words t ŠSW Shasu-land, are qualified by each one in turn of the six names S’r, Rbn, Pysps, Yhw, Šm′t and Wrbr. Thus Seir is classed as being at least part of the Shasu-land along with the rest. Of the other names, Bernard Grdseloff, the Polish Egyptologist, has aptly compared Rbn with the Laban of Deuteronomy, 1:1 (and Libnah of Numbers, 33: 20, 21) and Šm′t with the Shimeathites of I Chronicles, 2:55, all in the area of Seir/Edom, the Negeb, or the Araba rift valley between them. Thirdly one may cite a stela of Ramses II from Gebel Shaluf.
‘On the right edge (among other things) Anath says to the king: “[I] give to thee [the] Shasu-land …” while line two on the front of the stela surely must be read: “ḥk dw [n] s[′r … ], i.e. who plundered the mountain [of] Se[′ir].” Again, Shasu and Seir go together. This evidence clearly suggests that Ramses or troops of his raided the Negeb, the uplands of Seir or Edom, and perhaps part of the intervening Araba rift valley … Thus we have evidence for the activity of Ramses II (or at least of his forces) in both Edom and Moab.’1
After dealing with possible dates for the confrontation between Ramses II and the Shasu, Dr Kitchen makes the following comment on the latter’s sudden appearance on the scene with the beginning of the Nineteenth Dynasty: ‘It is significant that, after the mentions of Shutu in the nineteenth century BC (six centuries earlier), no more clear Egyptian reference to southern Transjordan occurs before the reign of Seti I.’2
We therefore have the situation, as we saw earlier, that, in the first year of Seti I, the Shasu were emerging from Sinai and posing a threat to Canaan, Edom and Moab. Then, at the time of Ramses II, about two decades later, they have left Sinai and are to be found in Edom and Moab. If we compare the sudden appearance of the Shasu bedouin and their movements with the Israelite Exodus from Sinai we find that they followed the very same route. Dr Kitchen, too, was struck by this fact: ‘For Old Testament studies, the new information has some bearing on the date of the Hebrew conquest of central Transjordan and their entry into W. Palestine, not to mention the date of the Exodus.’3
Nevertheless, after showing that both movements were similar, Dr Kitchen rejected the possibility that they might be identical: ‘Now it would be highly unrealistic to have Ramses’s forces invading the region of Dibon, north of the Arnon [in the land of Moab], once the Hebrews under Moses and Joshua had taken over this area.’ What made Dr Kitchen believe that this would be unrealistic? ‘Otherwise, one might expect a mention of “Israel” in the same class of records of Ramses II that mention “Seir” and “Moab” before its known occurrence on Merenptah’s famous Israel stela.’4
Although he saw the close similarity between Shasu movements and the emigration of the Israelite tribes from Sinai to Palestine as recorded in the Bible, Dr Kitchen failed to recognize that these were the very same people. This was a consequence of his preconceptions about when and how the Exodus took place. His acceptance of 430 years as the length of the Sojourn, as well as the idea that the Israelites should have their separate geographical land of Israel once they had crossed the border, prevented him from grasping the historical reality to which his own translations pointed.