Facsimile · p. 657
THOTHMES III.
Punt, and this fact seems to suggest that in the reign of Thothmes III. the three great provinces of the Sudan were Kash, Uauat, and Punt. These countries appear to have sent tribute to Egypt every one or two years, and the kinds of gifts they sent were always the same. At this period Uauat appears to have been Nubia so far as Wadi Haifa, Kash extended from Wadi Haifa to Khartum, and Punt represented all the region to the south, east, and west of that city for a considerable distance.
The detailed account of the expeditions of Thothmes III. given upon the walls of the temple of Karnak contains no information which would lead us to suppose that the king marched into Nubia in person. We see from it that his time was fully occupied in collecting the tribute from Western Asia, which was far more valuable than any which Nubia could set before him, and we learn from the inscription of his general, Amen-em-heb,' that he found relaxation in hunting elephants, of which he killed one hundred and twenty. In spite of this, however, more buildings were set up in Nubia in the reign of Thothmes III. than under any other king, and, if we may believe the list of places conquered in the Sudan which appears on the wall of a pylon at Thebes, we are justified in saying that Egyptian rule in Nubia was never so effective as at this period. The list is divided into three parts, which contain the names of places conquered by the king, and "wherein he made a great slaughter," in " Kash the vile," Uauat and Punt, respectively ; the first includes twenty-three names, the second twenty-four, and the third one hundred and ninety-five.
There is no reason to doubt the reality of the king's power in the Sudan, but we have no evidence which would justify us in assuming that he took any personal part in the formation of it, or that it was the result of the efforts of any except Nehi.** the fearless and vigorous " Prince of Kash." Reference may now be made to the temples, &c., in Nubia which bear the names of Thothmes III.
1 His tomb is at 'Abd al-Kurna at Thebes. For the text, see Ebers, Aeg.
Zeit., 1873, pp. 1-9 ; and for English translations, see Birch, Records, vol. ii., p. 53 ; Brugsch, Egypt tinder the Pharaohs, vol. i., p. 395.
- Brugsch, Egypt tender the Pharaohs, vol. i., p. 406.
• See Lepsius, Denkmdier, Abth. iii., Bl. 45, 46.
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