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The Silsila Inscription of Horemheb
Campaign of Pharaoh Horemheb (Late 8th - Early 7th centuries) against the Nubians. Horemheb's/Armais brother Sethos supported the Ethiopian cause.
"... he [Sethosis/Sethos] made an expedition against Cyprus, and Phoenicia, and besides against the Assyrians and the Medes. He then subdued them all, some by his arms, some without fighting, and some by the terror of his great army; and being puffed up by the great successes he had had, he went on still the more boldly, and overthrew the cities and countries that lay in the eastern parts ..." [Josephus, `Against Apion', Bk. I, Sec 15]
When Sethos had put Horemheb/Armais in charge during his lengthy absences from the palace while on campaigns Horemheb did, against the instructions of his brother, all he could to gain the crown.
"After him [Amenophis] came Sethosis. This king appointed his brother Armais, to be his deputy over Egypt. ... so he appointed another of his brethren to be his deputy over Egypt. He also gave him all the other authority of a king, but with these only injunctions, that he should not wear the diadem, nor be injurious to the queen, the mother of his children, and that he should not meddle with the other concubines of the king; while made an expedition against ... Cyprus ... Assyria ..." [Ibid.]
But Armais gradually developed a plan on how he might gain the crown.
"... Armais, who was left in Egypt, did all those very things, by way of opposition, which his brother had forbidden him to do, without fear; for he used violence to the queen, and continued to make use of the rest of the concubines, without sparing any of them; nay, at the persuasion of his friends he put on the diadem, and set up to oppose his brother ... he (Sethosis) therefore returned back to Pelusium immediately and recovered his kingdom again." [Ibid.]
The reign of Sethosis did not last much longer and eventually Armais/Horemheb made his allegiance to Assyria known and married the daughter of Sennacherib who appointed him to be king over Egypt. He commenced to support his appointment by claiming a link to the last kings of the 18th Dynasty, in particular Tutankhamen and that is why we find his glyphs sometimes in association with those of a pedigreed 18th Dynasty king.
To see a continuous view of the Nile at Silsila go to Dennis Forbes, `Where Tourists Seldom Venture' in KMT, Vol. 15, Fall 2004, p. 64-75.
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Walter Wreszinsky, `Atlas zur altägyptischen Geschichte'.
Meryamun Djeserkheperure Setepenre also known as Pharaoh Horemheb, Harmhab and Armais of the Three Brothers. The 2 sets of circled cartouches contain the hieroglyphics making up his name shown.
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