Monuments to the Truth of the Scriptures. 299 This Rameses during his reign of sixty-seven years was among the greatest builders of the Egyptian monarchs. It is estimated that nearly half of the extant temples were built in his rei gn , among which are those at Karnak, Luxor, Abydos, Memphis, and Bubastis. The great Ramesseum at Thebes is also his work, and his name is found carved on almost every monument in Egypt. His oppression of the children of Israel was but an incident in his remarkable career. ' While engaged in his Asiatic campaigns he naturally made his headquarters at Bubastis, in the land of Goshen, near where the old canal and the present railroad turn off from the delta toward the Bitter Lakes and the Gulf of Suez. Here the ruins of the m tem en p t l s e o r f ef i e n r n r u ed me to ra a b r l e e o s f ta i t m ue m s e a n n se d e m x o te n n u t m a e n n d ts in w cl h u i d c e h t b h e e ar fra th g e impress of the great oppressor. At length, also, his mummy has been identified; so that now we have a photograph of it which illustrates in all its lineaments the strong features of his character. THE STORE CITIES OF PITHOM AND RAMESES. But most interesting of all, in 1883, there were uncovered, a short distance east of Bubastis, the remains of vast vaults, p w a h r i a c t h or h y ad to e s v u id p e p n ly tl i y ng se m rv il e i d ta a ry s r a e n c d ep o t t a h c e l r es ex fo p r ed st i o ti r o i n n s g s g et r t a i i n n g p o r u et for Palestine and the far East. Unwittingly, the engineers of the railroad had named the station Rameses. But from the inscriptions that were found it is seen that its original name was Pithom, and its founder was none other than Rameses II., and it proves to be the very place where it is said in the Bible that the children of Israel "built for Pharaoh store-cities, Pithom and Raamses" (Ex. 1 :11), when the Egyptians "made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick." It was in connection with the building of these cities that the oppression of the children of Israel reached its climax, when they were compelled (after the straw with which the brick
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