Herhor's son, Piankh, who became High-Priest of Ammon on his father's
abdication of the office, does not appear to have succeeded him in the
kingdom. Perhaps he did not outlive his father. At any rate, the kingly
office seems to have passed from Herhor to his grandson, Pinetem, who
was a monarch of some distinction, and had a reign of at least
twenty-five years. Pinetem's right to the crown was disputed by
descendants of the Ramesside line of kings; and he thought it worth
while to strengthen his title by contracting a marriage with a princess
of that royal stock, a certain Ramaka, or Rakama, whose name appears on
his monuments. But compromise with treason has rarely a tranquillizing
effect; and Pinetem's concession to the prejudices which formed the
stock-in-trade of his opponents only exasperated them and urged them to
greater efforts. The focus of the conspiracy passed from the Oasis to
Thebes, which had grown disaffected because Pinetem had removed the seat
of government to Tanis in the Delta, which was the birthplace of his
grandfather, Herhor. So threatening had become the general aspect of
affairs, that the king thought it prudent to send his son, Ra-men-khepr
or Men-khepr-ra, the existing high-priest of the Temple of Ammon at
Thebes, from Tanis to the southern capital, in order that he should make
himself acquainted with the secret strength, and with the designs of the
disaffected, and see whether he could not either persuade or coerce
them. It was a curious part for the Priest of Ammon to play. Ordinarily
an absentee from Thebes and from the duties of his office, he visits the
place as Royal Commissioner, entrusted with plenary powers to punish or
forgive offenders at his pleasure. His fellow-townsmen are in the main
hostile to him; but the terror of the king's name is such that they do
not dare to offer him any resistance, and he singles out those who
appear to him most guilty for punishment, and has them executed, while
he grants the royal pardon to others without any let or hindrance on the
part of the civic authorities. Finally, having removed all those whom he