Critical Information Infrastructures Security: 12th International Conference, CRITIS 2017, Lucca, Italy, October 8-13, 2017, Revised Selected Papers Gregorio D'Agostino All Chapters Instant Download
Critical Information Infrastructures Security: 12th International Conference, CRITIS 2017, Lucca, Italy, October 8-13, 2017, Revised Selected Papers Gregorio D'Agostino All Chapters Instant Download
Critical Information Infrastructures Security: 12th International Conference, CRITIS 2017, Lucca, Italy, October 8-13, 2017, Revised Selected Papers Gregorio D'Agostino All Chapters Instant Download
com
https://textbookfull.com/product/at-their-feet-piety-towards-
parents-1st-edition-ibn-al-jawzi/
textbookfull.com
https://textbookfull.com/product/the-handbook-of-science-and-
technology-studies-ulrike-felt/
textbookfull.com
https://textbookfull.com/product/pythium-diagnosis-diseases-and-
management-1st-edition-mahendra-rai-editor/
textbookfull.com
Big Data and Analytics Applications in Government Current
Practices and Future Opportunities 1st Edition Gregory
Richards
https://textbookfull.com/product/big-data-and-analytics-applications-
in-government-current-practices-and-future-opportunities-1st-edition-
gregory-richards/
textbookfull.com
Gregorio D’Agostino
Antonio Scala (Eds.)
LNCS 10707
Critical Information
Infrastructures Security
12th International Conference, CRITIS 2017
Lucca, Italy, October 8–13, 2017
Revised Selected Papers
123
Lecture Notes in Computer Science 10707
Commenced Publication in 1973
Founding and Former Series Editors:
Gerhard Goos, Juris Hartmanis, and Jan van Leeuwen
Editorial Board
David Hutchison
Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
Takeo Kanade
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Josef Kittler
University of Surrey, Guildford, UK
Jon M. Kleinberg
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
Friedemann Mattern
ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
John C. Mitchell
Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Moni Naor
Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
C. Pandu Rangan
Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India
Bernhard Steffen
TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany
Demetri Terzopoulos
University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Doug Tygar
University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
Gerhard Weikum
Max Planck Institute for Informatics, Saarbrücken, Germany
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/7410
Gregorio D’Agostino Antonio Scala (Eds.)
•
Critical Information
Infrastructures Security
12th International Conference, CRITIS 2017
Lucca, Italy, October 8–13, 2017
Revised Selected Papers
123
Editors
Gregorio D’Agostino Antonio Scala
ENEA “Casaccia” CNR - Institute for Complex Systems (ISC)
and Network of Networks - Netonets Rome, Italy
Rome, Italy
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface
This volume contains the papers presented at CRITIS 2017 – the 12th Inter-
national Conference on Critical Information Infrastructures Security held during
October 8–13, 2017, in Lucca.
CRITIS 2017 continued the tradition of presenting innovative research and
exploring new challenges in the field of critical (information) infrastructures protection
(C(I)IP) and fostering dialogue with stakeholders. CRITIS 2017 renewed efforts to
bring together researchers and professionals from academia, industry, and govern-
mental organizations working in the field of the security of critical (information)
infrastructure systems.
As in previous years, distinguished invited speakers and special events comple-
mented a program of original research contributions. According to the tradition, the
conference invited the different research communities and disciplines involved in the
C(I)IP space, and encouraged discussions and multi-disciplinary approaches to relevant
C(I)IP problems.
This 2017 edition of CRITIS was hosted in Lucca, Italy, by the IMT School for
Advanced Studies Lucca, an Italian public academic institution organized as a graduate
school and research center that focuses on the analysis of economic, social, techno-
logical, and cultural systems.
Two satellite workshops on energy security and on water security took place on the
closing days of the main conference.
Some specific innovations were introduced: beside the traditional sessions where
original works and significant improvements were presented, specific sessions devoted
to ongoing projects and operators took place. The “Projects Dissemination Session”
provided an opportunity for the dissemination of ongoing project results both at the
European and the Member States level for a total of 12 European and three Italian
projects. The operators session in this edition was limited to the ICT sector and was led
by TIM (the former Italian national telecommunication operator).
There were 63 papers submitted. Each submission was reviewed by at least two, and
on average 2.8, Program Committee members. The committee decided to accept 21 full
papers and four extended abstracts with a rejection rate of 67% ( 60% accounting
for the extended abstracts). Extended abstracts were selected among the 20 submissions
accepted for poster presentation.
Each accepted full paper was allowed a 20-min slot for oral presentation. The
program also included four keynote talks and one institutional talk; none of the invited
speakers contributed with a non- reviewed proceedings paper.
As in previous editions, CRITIS 2017 awarded three prizes to the best contribution
from young (<32 years) scientists. The winners were selected after a joint evaluation by
both the audience and the academic committee of the Young CRITIS Award (YCA).
CRITIS 2017 received the endorsement of the Presidency of the Italian Council of
Ministers (“patrocinio della Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri”) UCE F 735/2017.
VI Preface
Program Committee
Cristina Alcaraz UMA
Marc Antoni International Union of Railways
Fabrizio Baiardi Dipartimento di informatica, Università di Pisa
Robin Bloomfield City, University of London, UK
Maria Cristina Brugnoli CNIT
Arslan Brömme GI Biometrics Special interest Group (BIOSIG)
Emiliano Casalicchio Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden
Simona Cavallini Fondazione Formit, Italy
Michal Choras ITTI Ltd.
Kris Christmann University of Huddersfield, UK
Gregorio D’Agostino ENEA
Myriam Dunn ETH Center for Security Studies Zurich, Switzerland
Mohamed Eid commissariat à l’enrgie atomique et aux energies
alternatives
Angelo Facchini IMT
Adrian Gheorghe Old Dominion University, USA
Dimitris Gritzalis Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece
Stefanos Gritzalis University of the Aegean, Greece
Bernhard Haemmerli Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts,
Switzerland, and Acris GmbH
Chris Hankin Imperial College London, UK
Grigore M. Havarneanu International Union of Railways
Apiniti Jotisankasa Kasetsart University, Bangkok
Sokratis Katsikas Center for Cyber and Information Security, NTNU
Marieke Klaver TNO
Panayiotis Kotzanikolaou University of Piraeus, Greece
Rafal Kozik UTP Bydgoszcz, Poland
Boban Krsic DENIC eG
Elias Kyriakides University of Cyprus, Cyprus
Javier Lopez University of Malaga, Spain
Eric Luiijf TNO
Jose Marti The University of British Columbia, Canada
Richard Mcevoy NTNU, Norway and HPE Ltd.
Maddalen Mendizabal Tecnalia R&I
Iogor Nai Fovino Joint Research Centre
Aristotelis Naniopoulos Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Hypatia Nassopoulos EIVP
Eiji Okamoto University of Tsukuba, Japan
VIII Organization
Additional Reviewers
Kasse, Paraskevi
Lykou, Georgia
Lückerath, Daniel
Malatras, Apostolos
Mentzelioti, Despina
Mohammadi, Farnaz
Moulinos, Konstantinos
Virvilis, Nick
Xie, Jingquan
Contents
1 Introduction
2 Problem Formulation
The resilience of the system of Critical Infrastructures (CI) considering the interde-
pendencies among these CI can be measured in terms of the Human Well-being
Table (HWT) [1]. The HWT is an example of the input-output HRT table concept [16]
that relates an output resource or index value to a series of inputs. Table 1 shows an
example of an HWT for some sample city. The output column y of the table gives the
level of well-being, which in this simple example depends on the availability of
electricity, water, services, and ICT. The least available resource determines the output
level. To bring the level of well-being to 50%, we first need to restore services to
14 hr/day. Then restoring electricity to 22 hr/day, services to 18 hr/day, and ICT to
12 hr/day will bring the well-being level to 75%.
In mathematical terms, the HWL is defined as a function of N-nonlinear, inde-
pendent eigenvectors, one for each human need, and its value is determined by the
output level that corresponds to the least available input resource, as follows,
Resilience of Electrical Distribution Systems with Critical Load Prioritization 3
Resilience index (2) is a measure of for how long and by how much the HWL stays
below the “normal” value (100% in Table 1) before the system is restored.
PM
y Dtm
R¼ 0 n ð2Þ
tM t0
The better the restoration strategy, the less time the well-being level will stay below
the normal level and the higher the R value will be.
In this paper, the electrical distribution network is assumed to be radial and a
number of simultaneous faults are assumed (Fig. 1).
For the electrical service to be considered “available”, the electrical constraints of
operation need to be satisfied:
2
P2f þ Q2f \ðSmax
f Þ ;f 2 F ð5Þ
Start
Fault Occurrence
Multiple Critical
Yes Repair Algorithms
nodes failed
No
End
Using graph theory, we can map each bus and each branch in the electrical distribution
system into a vertex and an edge. The system can then be represented as a graph G (V,
E) using a sparse adjacency matrix. The reconfiguration of the distribution system is
essentially the reconnection of the graph G (V, E).
Distribution systems are normally operated in radial configurations [17], with the
primary substation in the root node and all other nodes connected without loops. The
resulting structures correspond to spanning trees in graph theory, containing all the
vertices without any loops [18]. Compared with mixed integer non-linear programming
and heuristic searches, the spanning tree search requires fewer switches’ commutations
and less computational time [9]. For a multi-feeder system, the tree graph can be
viewed as a forest (a graph with more than one tree). If all the roots of the trees can be
centralized and viewed as one main root, as in [9], then the multi-feeder system
optimization problem can be reduced into a single feeder problem.
When a fault occurs, the circuit breaker at the primary substation of the faulted
feeder will disconnect the supply to the feeder and all loads in the feeder will stop being
supplied. If reclosing is unsuccessful, the substation breaker will stay open until the
fault is isolated. With the substation breaker open, sectionalizing breakers along the
feeder can be opened to isolate the faulted section. The substation breaker can then be
reclosed and supply can be restored to the loads upstream from the faulted section
towards the substation. If next the normally-open tie switches between feeders are
closed, the downstream feeder load can be fed from a different primary substation.
Spanning tree search schemes can be used to restore most of the load without violating
electrical constraints. The distribution system is required to maintain a radial structure
during the reconfiguration process.
Two different search schemes were tested in this work: (a) The Minimum Spanning
Tree (MST) Search, and (b) The Shortest Path Problem.
The minimum spanning tree search aims at connecting all nodes in such a way as to
achieve the least total weight in a connected graph, following Prim’s algorithm [19].
Certain edges can be weighted so as to force the structure of the tree. For example, we
can assign a higher weight to a line with normally open switches, which reduces the
possibility of electrical and operational violations.
The shortest path problem aims at finding a path between two nodes (or vertices) in
a graph such that the summation of the weights of its candidate path is minimized [20].
6 Z. Yang and J. R. Marti
During faults, load shedding schemes are needed to maintain the electrical operating
limits. There are typically two load shedding approaches: load curtailment and pruning.
Load Curtailment is characterized by the ability to alter the amount of electrical
power consumed by a specific load bus [21]. This traditional approach seeks to opti-
mize the power flow so that load and generation match precisely, and prevents elec-
trical violations (3)–(5) as well as transient voltage stability conditions. If electrical
violations occur at critical loads, non-critical loads should be curtailed. This paper adds
a fast voltage stability index from [22] to determine the sequence of curtailment of non-
critical loads. This strategy helps to preserve the critical loads and eliminate the
unstable lines.
However, this approach requires extra network reconfiguration switches, with
corresponding additional capital costs to install these breakers, and additional opera-
tions for each breaker, with a corresponding increase in breaker wear, malfunctioning,
and deceased reliability [23].
We propose a hybrid load shedding scheme that combines load curtailment and
pruning (Fig. 3). Pruning alone aims at isolating functional sections of the power
system so that a contingency does not cascade [24] and avoids violations from
reconfiguration. The required switching operations are comparatively lower than with
the load curtailment approach. However, the disadvantage is that critical load preser-
vation may not be guaranteed if there is not an adequate placement of the pruned buses.
In our proposed hybrid scheme, the system always tries to remove the leaf nodes
first (nodes with degree one) until all remaining leaf nodes are critical nodes. Then load
curtailment is performed. This results in reduced switching operations while preserving
the critical loads.
i2SIM [16] is a tool for modelling interdependencies among complex critical infras-
tructures. In this work, i2SIM is used to determine the sequence in which critical loads
must be restored (if required) after the topological reconfiguration is achieved. Two
Resilience of Electrical Distribution Systems with Critical Load Prioritization 7
In this section, the proposed reconfiguration strategy is applied to two systems: (a) an
IEEE 33-bus one-feeder system to validate the reconfiguration scheme, and (b) a 70-
bus four-feeder system that illustrates the importance of infrastructure interdependen-
cies in recovering the Human Wellness Level.
Multiple line faults and multiple critical nodes are generated for each test system.
The computational tasks are performed on a personal computer with an Intel Core i5
Processor (2.66 GHz) and 8-GB of RAM.
node, we set one failure location (line 2–3) close to the root node, and we include an
extra line (line 16–17) between the critical nodes.
The results from Table 2 are based on four different reconfiguration methodologies.
For the more severe scenario, the pruning scheme with MST cannot preserve the
critical loads, although it has the lowest amount of shedded loads and switching
operations. The rest of the three methodologies are capable of preserving the critical
loads with almost the same amount of shedded loads. The hybrid load shedding with
SPT has the best performance in terms of the least number of switching operations, and
will be the strategy adopted for improving the Human Wellness Level.
Visit https://textbookfull.com
now to explore a rich
collection of eBooks, textbook
and enjoy exciting offers!
Resilience of Electrical Distribution Systems with Critical Load Prioritization 9
11 12 18 38 58 62
ICT 1
Hospital 1 Hospital 2
ICT
Master
Water Water
Station 1 Station 2
Electricity Supply
Communication
the node status. For example, given five critical nodes 01000 indicates that the second
critical node has service “on”.
Each binary status of the node supplying electricity is transferred into a decimal
number before implementing the shortest path algorithm to find the global optimal
operation sequences. The simplified scheme is as described in Sect. 4, that is, the
adjacent critical nodes (11, 12) are regarded as one variable. Figure 7 gives the repair
sequence (2–3–4–5–1) for each failure location to prioritize the post-contingency
response when emergency crews are limited.
3 11011
11111
1
11010
11110 GOA
2
01011
01110
1 11101
11000 10011
10010
11100 10111 0.6
01001
0
10110
HWL
01101
01000 00011
01100 00111
0.4
-1 10001 00010
10000 00110
10101
-2
10100
0.2
00001
00101
00000
-3 00100
0
0 1 2 3 4
-4 Time (hour)
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4
Fig. 7. Results of simplified critical-node Fig. 8. HWL results for GOA and
repairing sequence from i2SIM based on greedy algorithm
GOA
For comparison, a greedy algorithm was also implemented to find the local optimal
solution. The outputs from the HWL in i2SIM are shown in Fig. 8 throughout the
recovery process. The global optimized repair sequence with i2SIM has the highest
overall resilience index, which validates our proposed strategy (Fig. 8).
50 40
Results from Greedy Algorithm
40
30
Results from GOA
30
20
20
10
10
0 0
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
Distribution of Resilience Indices Distribution of Resilience Indices
Randomly Distributed Failure Locations. To test the effect of the fault location on
the optimization results, the failure locations are randomly selected for 200 different
cases. The Gaussian distribution results of the resilience objective R are shown in
Fig. 9. The mean values for the GOA and Greedy Algorithms are 0.7211 and 0.6439,
respectively. This result validates that for the interdependent DSR, the GOA enhances
the resilience of the HWL better than the greedy algorithm.
Resilience of Electrical Distribution Systems with Critical Load Prioritization 11
The proposed strategy for Human Well-being Level based Distribution System
Restoration (HWL-DSR) combines a shortest path tree search algorithm and a priority-
load load-shedding scheme, scheduled by i2SIM, to find an optimal distribution
reconfiguration and restoration sequence that maximizes the availability of the most
critical loads without electrical system violations. By using the HWL table, the pro-
posed solution maximizes the Human Well-being resilience. The proposed framework
can be applied both for long term planning and for optimal fast response during
extreme contingencies.
The study cases assume radiality of the distribution system network, which is the
most common scheme in current electrical distribution systems (DS). As technology
improves, smart DS of the future will incorporate islanded sub-regions and mesh
schemes. Further work is needed to extend this work for more complex interdependent
schemes.
The paper assumes that the load demand and the generation are constant during the
restoration period. A more accurate scenario will have to consider the variability of the
load during the daily cycle, as well as the effect of the intermittence of the renewable
energy sources (e.g., wind and solar).
In current electrical distribution systems, not all load nodes are equipped with
remotely-controlled disconnect switches, and many of these switches have to be
operated manually. This brings about the additional dimension of optimizing the repair
crew transportation time needed to open or close the disconnect switches.
References
1. Martí, J.R., Ghahremani, E., Martí, A.: The GDW index: an extension of the GDP index to
include human well-being. Eur. CIIP Newsl. 10(2), 23–26 (2016)
2. Hokstad, P.: Risk and Interdependencies in Critical Infrastructures A Guideline for Analysis,
pp. 67–79. Springer, London (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4661-2
3. Veremyeva, A., Sorokin, A., Boginski, V., Pasiliao, E.L.: Minimum vertex cover problem
for coupled interdependent networks with cascading failures. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 232(3), 499–
511 (2014)
4. Rahnamay-Naeini, M., Hayat, M.M.: Cascading failures in interdependent infrastructures: an
interdependent Markov-chain approach. IEEE Trans. Smart Grid 7(4), 1997–2006 (2016)
5. Khushalani, S., Solanki, J.M., Schulz, N.N.: Optimized restoration of unbalanced
distribution systems. IEEE Trans. Power Syst. 22(2), 624–630 (2007)
6. Romero, R., Franco, J.F., Leão, F.B., Rider, M.J., de Souza, E.S.: A new mathematical
model for the restoration problem in balanced radial distribution systems. IEEE Trans. Power
Syst. 31(2), 1259–1268 (2016)
7. Liu, C.-C., Lee, S.-J., Venkata, S.S.: An expert system operational aid for restoration and
loss reduction of distribution systems. IEEE Trans. Power Syst. 3(2), 619–626 (1988)
8. D’Agostino, F., Silvestro, F., Schneider, K.P., Liu, C.-C., Xu, Y., Ton, D.T.: Reliability
assessment of distribution systems incorporating feeder restoration actions. In: Power
Systems Computation Conference (PSCC), Genoa, pp. 1–7 (2016)
12 Z. Yang and J. R. Marti
9. Li, J., Ma, X.Y., Liu, C.C., Schneider, K.P.: Distribution system restoration with microgrids
using spanning tree search. IEEE Trans. Power Syst. 29(6), 3021–3029 (2014)
10. Alsubaie, A.: Improving critical infrastructure resilience with application to power
distribution networks. University of British Columbia. Accessed (2016). https://open.
library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/24/items/1.0319263
11. Gao, H., Chen, Y., Yin, X., Liu, C.-C.: Resilience-oriented critical load restoration using
microgrids in distribution systems. IEEE Trans. Smart Grid 7, 2837–2848 (2016)
12. Ahmadi, H., Alsubaie, A., Martí, J.R.: Distribution system restoration considering critical
infrastructures interdependencies. In: IEEE PES General Meeting—Conference & Exposi-
tion, pp. 1–5 (2014)
13. Bie, Z., Lin, Y., Li, G., Li, F.: Battling the extreme: a study on the power system resilience.
In: Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. PP, no. 99, pp. 1–14 (2017)
14. D’Agostino, G., et al.: Methodologies for inter-dependency assessment. In: 5th International
Conference on Critical Infrastructure (CRIS), Beijing, pp. 1–7 (2010)
15. Fioriti, V., D’Agostino, G., Bologna, S.: On modeling and measuring inter-dependencies
among critical infrastructures. In: 2010 Complexity in Engineering, pp. 85–87, Rome (2010)
16. Martí, José R.: Multisystem simulation: analysis of critical infrastructures for disaster
response. In: D’Agostino, G., Scala, A. (eds.) Networks of Networks: The Last Frontier of
Complexity. UCS, pp. 255–277. Springer, Cham (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-
03518-5_12
17. Brown, R.E.: Electric Power Distribution Reliability. CRC Press, Boca Raton (2008)
18. Graham, R.L., Hell, P.: On the history of the minimum spanning tree problem. Ann. Hist.
Comput. 7(1), 43–57 (1985)
19. Sheng, Y., Qin, Z., Shi, G.: Minimum spanning tree problem of uncertain random network.
J. Intell. Manuf. 1–10 (2014)
20. Verayiah, R., Ramasamy, A., Abidin, H.I.Z., Musirin, I.: Under voltage load shedding
(UVLS) study for 746 test bus system. In: 3rd International Conference on Energy and
Environment (ICEE), pp. 98–103, Malacca (2009)
21. Meier, R., Cotilla-Sánchez, E., Fern, A.: A policy switching approach to consolidating load
shedding and Islanding protection schemes. In: 2014 Power Systems Computation
Conference, pp. 1–7, Wroclaw (2014)
22. Verayiah, R., Ramasamy, A., Abidin, H.I.Z., Musirin, I.: Under voltage load shedding
(UVLS) study for 746 test bus system. In: 2009 3rd International Conference on Energy and
Environment (ICEE), pp. 98–103, Malacca (2009)
23. Safdarian, A., Farajollahi, M., Fotuhi-Firuzabad, M.: Impacts of remote control switch
malfunction on distribution system reliability. IEEE Trans. Power Syst. 32(2), 1572–1573
(2017)
24. Yusof, N.A., Mokhlis, H., Karimi, M., Laghari, J.A., Illias, H.A., Sapori, N.M.: Under-
voltage load shedding scheme based on voltage stability index for distribution network. In:
3rd IET International Conference on Clean Energy and Technology (CEAT), pp. 1–5,
Kuching (2014)
25. Cormen, M.L.A., Thomas, H., et al.: Greedy Algorithms. Introduction to Algorithms 1,
pp. 329–355 (2001)
26. Hokstad, P.: Risk and Interdependencies in Critical Infrastructures: A Guideline for Analysis,
pp. 67–79. Springer, Heidelberg (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4661-2
27. Baran, M.E., Wu, F.F.: Network reconfiguration in distribution systems for loss reduction
and load balancing. IEEE Trans. Power Deliv. 4(2), 1401–1407 (1989)
28. Das, D.: A fuzzy multiobjective approach for network reconfiguration of distribution
systems. IEEE Trans. Power Deliv. 21(1), 202–209 (2006)
Public Tolerance Levels of Transportation
Resilience: A Focus on the Oresund Region
Within the IMPROVER Project
1 Introduction
Maintaining a minimum level of service and recovering quickly after a crisis event are
key components of infrastructure resilience. While no consensus exists on the precise
meaning of these two terms, one way to measure them is to examine public expecta-
tions of service levels and recovery time. While research often points to an “expectation
gap” between what the public expect and what operators are capable of [1, 2], few
studies have empirically investigated these aspects. The EU Horizon 2020 project
IMPROVER (Improved risk evaluation and implementation of resilience concepts to
critical infrastructure), makes use of Living Labs, or clustered regions of different types
of infrastructure which provide specific services to a city or region. One such Living
Lab is the Oresund region. This paper discusses the above expectation gap by exam-
ining Swedish public tolerance levels of the transportation sector through the use of an
online questionnaire. The obtained results were then compared to the changes in
population habits caused by an alternation in the Oresund Crossing service due to the
“To the King of Egypt, my lord,” runs the letter. “The inhabitants of
Tunip, thy servant. May it be well with thee, and at the feet of our lord we
fall. My lord, Tunip, thy servant, speaks, saying: Who formerly could have
plundered Tunip without being plundered by Thothmes III.? The gods ...
of the King of Egypt, my lord, dwell in Tunip. May our lord ask his old men
[if it be not so.] Now, however, we belong no more to our lord, the King of
Egypt.... If his soldiers and chariots come too late, Aziru will make us like
the city of Niy. If, however, we have to mourn, then the King of Egypt will
mourn over these things which Aziru has done, for he will turn his hand
against our lord. And when Aziru enters Simyra Aziru will do to us as he
pleases, in the territory of our lord the King, and on account of these
things our lord will have to lament. And now Tunip, thy city, weeps, and
her tears are flowing, and there is no help for us. For twenty years we
have been sending to our lord the King, the King of Egypt, but there has
not come to us a word—no, not one.”
Several points become apparent from this letter. One sees that in the
more distant cities of Syria the significance of Akhnaton’s new
religion was not understood. The governor of Tunip refers to the old
gods of Egypt worshipped in that town, and he knows not, or cannot
be brought to believe, that Akhnaton has become a monotheist. One
sees that the memory of the terrible Thothmes III. and his victorious
armies was still in men’s minds, and was probably one of the main
causes of the long-continued peace in Syria. Akhnaton’s father,
Amonhotep III., had not concerned himself greatly with regard to his
foreign dominions, and, as the people of Tunip had been asking for
assistance for twenty years, it would seem that the danger which
now beset them was already feared before that Pharaoh’s death.
Letter from Ribaddi to the King of Egypt, reporting the progress of the rebellion
under Aziru.
(British Museum, No. 29,801.)
How, one asks, could Akhnaton read such a letter as this, and yet
refuse to send a relieving army to Syria? Byblos and Simyra were still
loyally holding out; and troops disembarked at these ports could
speedily be marched inland to Tunip, could crush Hakama at Kadesh,
and could frighten Aziru into giving real assistance to Dushratta and
other loyal kings in holding the Hittites back behind the Amanus
Mountains. But this was Akhnaton’s Gethsemane, if one may say so
with reverence; and like that greater Teacher who, thirteen hundred
years later, was to preach the self-same doctrine of personal
sacrifice, one may suppose that the Pharaoh suffered a very Agony
as he realised that his principles were leading him to the loss of all
his dearest possessions. His restless generals in Egypt, eager to
march into Syria, must have brought every argument to bear upon
him; but the boy would not now turn back. “Put up thy sword into
his place,” he seems to have said; “for all they that take the sword
shall perish with the sword.”
At this time the King of Byblos was one named Ribaddi, a fine old
soldier who was loyal to Egypt in his every thought and deed. He
wrote to Akhnaton urging him to send troops to relieve the garrison
of Simyra, upon which Aziru was again pressing close; for if Simyra
fell, he knew that Byblos could not for long hold out. Presently we
find that Zimrida, the king of the neighbouring port of Sidon, has
opened his gates to Aziru, and has marched with him against Tyre.
Abimilki, the King of Tyre, at once wrote to Akhnaton asking for
assistance; but on receiving no reply he, too, appears to have
thrown in his lot with Aziru. Ribaddi was now quite isolated at
Byblos; and from the beleaguered city he wrote to the Pharaoh
telling him that “Simyra is like a bird in a snare.” Akhnaton made no
reply; and in a short time Ribaddi wrote again, saying, “Simyra, your
fortress, is now in the power of the Khabiri.”
These Khabiri were the Beduin from behind Palestine, who were
being used as mercenaries by Aziru, and who themselves were
making small conquest in the south on their own behalf. Thus the
southern cities of Megiddo, Askalon, Gezer, and others, write to the
Pharaoh asking for aid against them. Exasperated, however, by
Akhnaton’s inaction, Askalon and Gezer, together with the city of
Lachish, threw off the Egyptian yoke and attacked Jerusalem, which
was still loyal to Egypt, being held by an officer named Abdkhiba.
This loyal soldier at once sent a despatch to Akhnaton, part of which
read as follows:—
The King’s whole land, which has begun hostilities with me, will be lost.
Behold the territory of Seir, as far as Carmel, its princes are wholly lost;
and hostility prevails against me.... As long as ships were upon the sea
the strong arm of the King occupied Naharin and Kash, but now the
Khabiri are occupying the King’s cities. There remains not one prince to
my lord, the King; every one is ruined.... Let the King take care of his
land, and ... let him send troops.... For if no troops come in this year, the
whole territory of my lord the King will perish.... If there are no troops in
this year, let the King send his officer to fetch me and my brothers, that
we may die with our lord, the King.
It is possible that the Pharaoh now realised his position, and one
may suppose that he tried as best he could to pacify the turbulent
princes by all the arts of diplomacy. It does not seem, however, that
he yet fully appreciated the catastrophe which was now almost
inevitable—the complete loss of Syria. He could not bring himself to
believe that the princes of that country would play him false; and he
could have had no idea that he was being so entirely fooled by such
men as Aziru. But when at last the tribute ceased to come in
regularly, then, too late, he knew that disaster was upon him.
The thoughts which now must have held sway in his mind could
not have failed to carry him down the dark steps of depression to
the very pit of despair, and one may picture him daily cast prone
upon the floor before the high altar of the Aton, and nightly tossing
sleepless upon his royal bed. It seems that he had placed great
reliance upon a certain official, named Bikhuru, who was acting as
Egyptian commissioner in Palestine; but now it is probable that he
received news of that unfortunate personage’s flight, and later of his
murder.[78] Then came the report that Byblos had fallen, and one is
led to suppose that that truly noble soldier Ribaddi did not survive
the fall of the city which he had so tenaciously held. The news of the
surrender of other important Egyptian strongholds followed rapidly,
and still there came the pathetic appeal for help from the minor
posts which yet held out.
Akhnaton was now about twenty-eight years of age, and already
the cares of the whole world seemed to rest upon his shoulders.
Lean and lank was his body; his face was thin and lined with worry;
and in his eye one might, perhaps, have seen that hunted look
which comes to those who are dogged by disaster. It is probable
that he now suffered acutely from the distressing malady to which
he was a victim, and there must have been times when he felt
himself upon the verge of madness. His misshapen skull came nigh
to bursting with the full thoughts of his aching brain, and the sad
knowledge that he had failed must have pressed upon his mind like
some unrelenting finger. The invocations to the Aton which rang in
his head made confusion with the cry of Syria. Now he listened to
the voices of his choirs lauding the sweetness of life; and now,
breaking in upon the chant, did he not hear the solemn voices of his
fathers calling to him from the Hills of the West to give account of
his stewardship? Could he then find solace in trees and in flowers?
Could he cry “Peace” when there was red tumult in his brain?
His moods at this time must have given cause for the greatest
alarm, and his behaviour was, no doubt, sufficiently erratic to render
even those nobles who had so blindly followed him mistrustful of
their leader. In a frenzy of zeal in the adoration of the Aton,
Akhnaton now gave orders that the name of all other gods should
suffer the same fate as that of Amon, and should be erased from
every inscription throughout the land. This order was never fully
carried out; but one may still see in the temples of Karnak, Medinet
Habu, and elsewhere, and upon many lesser monuments, the chisel
marks which have partially blurred out the names of Ptah, Hathor,
and other deities, and have obliterated the offending word “gods.”
The consternation which this action must have caused was almost
sufficient to bring about a revolution in the provinces, where the old
gods were still dearly loved by the people. The erasing of the name
of Amon had been, after all, a direct war upon a certain priesthood,
and did not very materially affect any other localities than that of
Thebes. But the suppression of the numerous priesthoods of the
many deities who held sway throughout Egypt threw into disorder
the whole country, and struck at the heart not of one but of a
hundred cities. Was the kindly old artificer Ptah, with his hammer
and his chisel, to be tumbled into empty space? Was the beautiful,
the gracious Hathor—the Venus of the Nile—to be thrown down from
her celestial seat? Was it possible to banish Khnum, the goat-headed
potter who lived in the caves of the Cataract, from the life of the city
of Elephantine; the mysterious jackal Wepwat from the hearts of the
men of Abydos; or the ancient crocodile Sebek from the ships and
the fields of Ombos? Every town had its local god, and every god its
priesthood; and surely the Pharaoh was mad who attempted to
make war upon these legions of heaven. This Aton, whom the king
called upon them to worship, was so remote, so infinitely above their
heads. Aton did not sit with them at their hearth-side to watch the
kettle boil; Aton did not play a sweet-toned flute amongst the reeds
of the river; Aton did not bring a fairy gift to the new-born babe.
Where was the sacred tree in whose branches one might hope to
see him seated?—where was the eddy of the Nile in which he loved
to bathe?—and where was the rock at whose foot one might place,
as a fond offering, a bowl of milk? The people loved their old gods,
whose simple ways, kind hearts, and quick tempers made them
understandable to mortal minds. But a god who reigned alone in
solitary isolation, who, more remote even than the Jehovah of the
Hebrews, rode not upon the clouds nor moved upon the wings of
the wind, was hardly a deity to whom they could open their hearts.
True, the sunrise and the sunset were the visible signs of the
godhead; but let the reader ask any modern Egyptian peasant
whether there is aught to stir the pulses in these two great
phenomena, and he will realise that the glory of the skies could not
have appealed particularly to the lesser subjects of Akhnaton, who,
moreover, were not permitted to bow the knee to the flaming orb
itself. When the Christian religion took hold of these peasants, and
presented for their acceptance the same idea of a remote though
loving and considerate God, it was only by the elevation of saints
and devils, angels and powers of darkness, almost to the rank of
demigods, that the faith prospered. But Akhnaton allowed no such
tampering with the primary doctrine, and St George and all the
saints would have suffered the erasure of their very names.
The neglected shrines of the old gods once more echoed with the
chants of the priests throughout the whole land of Egypt.
Inscriptions tell us that Horemheb “restored the temples from the
pools of the Delta marshes to Nubia. He fashioned a hundred images
... with all splendid and costly stones. He established for them daily
offerings every day. All the vessels of their temples were wrought of
silver and gold. He equipped them with priests and with ritual
priests, and with the choicest of the army. He transferred to them
lands and cattle, supplied with all necessary equipment.” By these
gifts to the neglected gods Horemheb was striving to bring Egypt
back to its natural condition; and with a strong hand he was guiding
the country from chaos to order, from fantastic Utopia to the solid
old Egypt of the past. He was, in fact, the preacher of sanity, the
very apostle of the Normal.
He led his armies into the Sudan, and returned with a procession
of captive chieftains roped before him. He had none of Akhnaton’s
qualms regarding human suffering, and these unfortunate prisoners
are seen to have their arms bound in the most cruel manner. Finding
the country to be lawless he drafted a number of stern laws, and
with sound justice administered his kingdom. Knowing that Syria
could not long remain quiet, he organised the Egyptian troops, and
so prepared them that, but a few years after his death, the soldiers
of the reigning Pharaoh were swarming once more over the lands
which Akhnaton had lost.