| mean a group of nations subdued and ruled over by the most powerful
among them. Government began with tiny city-states (§
38), which gradually merged together into nations (§
74); but the organization of men had now reached the point
where many nations were combined into an empire including a large part
of the early oriental world. This world power of the Pharaohs lasted from
the early sixteenth cdntury to the twelfth century B. C. — something over
four hundred years.
FIG. 60. A PHARAOH OF THE EMPIRE FIGHTING IN HIS CHARIOT The tiny figures of the enemy are scattered beneath the Pharaoh’s horses. This is one of an enormous series of such scenes, 170 feet long, carved in relief on the outside of the Great Hall of Karnak (Fig. 68). Such sculpture was brightly colored and served to enhance the architectural effect and to impress the people with the heroism of the Pharaoh. The color has now entirely disappeared, and the sculpture is much battered and weatherworn. This is the cause of the indistinctness in the above sketch. |
