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diff --git a/17322-8.txt b/17322-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e1e088b --- /dev/null +++ b/17322-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10467 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History Of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, +Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 2 (of 12), by G. Maspero + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History Of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 2 (of 12) + +Author: G. Maspero + +Editor: A.H. Sayce + +Translator: M.L. McClure + +Release Date: December 16, 2005 [EBook #17322] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF EGYPT, CHALDÆA *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +[Illustration: Spines] + +[Illustration: Cover] + +HISTORY OF EGYPT CHALDEA, SYRIA, BABYLONIA, AND ASSYRIA + +By G. MASPERO, Honorable Doctor of Civil Laws, and Fellow of Queen's +College, Oxford; Member of the Institute and Professor at the College of +France + +Edited by A. H. SAYCE, Professor of Assyriology, Oxford + +Translated by M. L. McCLURE, Member of the Committee of the Egypt +Exploration Fund + + +CONTAINING OVER TWELVE HUNDRED COLORED PLATES AND ILLUSTRATIONS + +Volume II., Part A. + + +LONDON + +THE GROLIER SOCIETY + +PUBLISHERS + +[Illustration: Frontispiece] + +[Illustration: Titlepage] + + +_THE POLITICAL CONSTITUTION OF EGYPT_ + +_THE KING, QUEEN, AND ROYAL PRINCES--PHARAONIC ADMINISTRATION_ + +_FEUDALISM AND THE EGYPTIAN PRIESTHOOD, THE MILITARY--THE CITIZENS AND +THE COUNTRY-PEOPLE._ + +_The cemeteries of Gizeh and Saqqâra: the Great Sphinx; the mastabas, +their chapel and its decoration, the statues of the double, the +sepulchral vault--Importance of the wall-paintings and texts of the +mastabas in determining the history of the Memphite dynasties._ + +_The king and the royal family--Double nature and titles of the +sovereign: his Horus-names, and the progressive formation of the +Pharaonic Protocol--Royal etiquette an actual divine worship; the +insignia and prophetic statues of Pharaoh, Pharaoh the mediator between +the gods and his subjects--Pharaoh in family life; his amusements, his +occupations, his cares--His harem: the women, the queen, her origin, her +duties to the king--His children: their position in the State; rivalry +among them during the old age and at the death of their father; +succession to the throne, consequent revolutions._ + +_The royal city: the palace and its occupants--The royal household and +its officers: Pharaoh's jesters, dwarfs, and magicians--The royal domain +and the slaves, the treasury and the establishments which provided for +its service: the buildings and places for the receipt of taxes--The +scribe, his education, his chances of promotion: the career of Amten, +his successive offices, the value of his personal property at his +death._ + +_Egyptian feudalism: the status of the lords, their rights, their +amusements, their obligations to the sovereign--The influence of the +gods: gifts to the temples, and possessions in mortmain; the priesthood, +its hierarchy, and the method of recruiting its ranks--The military: +foreign mercenaries; native militia, their privileges, their training._ + +_The people of the towns--The slaves, men without a master--Workmen and +artisans; corporations: misery of handicraftsmen--Aspect of the towns: +houses, furniture, women in family life--Festivals; periodic markets, +bazaars: commerce by barter, the weighing of precious metals._ + +_The country people--The villages; serfs, free peasantry--Rural domains; +the survey, taxes; the bastinado, the corvée--Administration of justice, +the relations between peasants and their lords; misery of the peasantry; +their resignation and natural cheerfulness; their improvidence; their +indifference to political revolutions._ + +[Illustration: 003.jpg PAGE IMAGE] + + + + +CHAPTER I--THE POLITICAL CONSTITUTION OF EGYPT + + +_The king, the queen, and the royal princes--Administration under +the Pharaohs--Feudalism and the Egyptian priesthood, the military--The +citizens and country people._ + + +Between the Fayûm and the apex of the Delta, the Lybian range expands +and forms a vast and slightly undulating table-land, which runs parallel +to the Nile for nearly thirty leagues. The Great Sphinx Harmakhis has +mounted guard over its northern extremity ever since the time of the +Followers of Horus. + + Illustration: Drawn by Boudier, from _La Description de + l'Egypte,_ A., vol. v. pl. 7. vignette, which is also by + Boudier, represents a man bewailing the dead, in the + attitude adopted at funerals by professional mourners of + both sexes; the right fist resting on the ground, while the + left hand scatters on the hair the dust which he has just + gathered up. The statue is in the Gîzeh Museum. + +Hewn out of the solid rock at the extreme margin of the +mountain-plateau, he seems to raise his head in order that he may be the +first to behold across the valley the rising of his father the Sun. Only +the general outline of the lion can now be traced in his weather-worn +body. The lower portion of the head-dress has fallen, so that the neck +appears too slender to support the weight of the head. The cannon-shot +of the fanatical Mamelukes has injured both the nose and beard, and +the red colouring which gave animation to his features has now almost +entirely disappeared. But in spite of this, even in its decay, it still +bears a commanding expression of strength and dignity. The eyes look +into the far-off distance with an intensity of deep thought, the lips +still smile, the whole face is pervaded with calmness and power. The +art that could conceive and hew this gigantic statue out of the +mountain-side, was an art in its maturity, master of itself and sure of +its effects. How many centuries were needed to bring it to this degree +of development and perfection! + +[Illustration: 004.jpg THE MASTABA OF KHOMTINI IN THE NECROPOLIS OF +GÎZEH] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch by Lepsius. The + cornerstone at the top of the mastaba, at the extreme left + of the hieroglyphic frieze, had been loosened and thrown to + the ground by some explorer; the artist has restored it to + its original position. + +In later times, a chapel of alabaster and rose granite was erected +alongside the god; temples were built here and there in the more +accessible places, and round these were grouped the tombs of the whole +country. The bodies of the common people, usually naked and uncoffined, +were thrust under the sand, at a depth of barely three feet from the +surface. Those of a better class rested in mean rectangular chambers, +hastily built of yellow bricks, and roofed with pointed vaulting. +No ornaments or treasures gladdened the deceased in his miserable +resting-place; a few vessels, however, of coarse pottery contained +the provisions left to nourish him during the period of his second +existence. + +Some of the wealthy class had their tombs cut out of the mountain-side; +but the majority preferred an isolated tomb, a "mastaba,"* comprising a +chapel above ground, a shaft, and some subterranean vaults. + + * "The Arabic word 'mastaba,' plur. 'masatib,' denotes the + stone bench or platform seen in the streets of Egyptian + towns in front of each shop. A carpet is spread on the + 'mastaba,' and the customer sits upon it to transact his + business, usually side by side with the seller. In the + necropolis of Saqqâra, there is a temple of gigantic + proportions in the shape of a 'mastaba.'The inhabitants of + the neighbourhood call it 'Mastabat-el-Farâoun,' the seat of + Pharaoh, in the belief that anciently one of the Pharaohs + sat there to dispense justice. The Memphite tombs of the + Ancient Empire, which thickly cover the Saqqâra plateau, are + more or less miniature copies of the 'Mastabat-el- + Farâoun.'Hence the name of mastabas, which has always been + given to this kind of tomb, in the necropolis of Saqqâra." + +From a distance these chapels have the appearance of truncated pyramids, +varying in size according to the fortune or taste of the owner; there +are some which measure 30 to 40 ft. in height, with a façade 160 ft. +long, and a depth from back to front of some 80 ft., while others attain +only a height of some 10 ft. upon a base of 16 ft. square.* + + * The mastaba of Sabû is 175 ft. 9 in. long, by about 87 ft. + 9 in. deep, but two of its sides have lost their facing; + that of Ranimait measures 171 ft. 3 in. by 84 ft. 6 in. on + the south front, and 100 ft. on the north front. On the + other hand, the mastaba of Papû is only 19 ft. 4 in. by 29 + ft. long, and that of KMbiûphtah 42 ft. 4 in. by 21 ft. 8 + in. + +The walls slope uniformly towards one another, and usually have a smooth +surface; sometimes, however, their courses are set back one above the +other almost like steps. + +[Illustration: 006.jpg THE GREAT SPHINX OF GÎZEH PARTIALLY UNCOVERED, +AND THE PYRAMID OF KHEPHREN] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Émil Brugsch-Bey, + taken in the course of the excavations begun in 1886, with + the funds furnished by a public subscription opened by the + _Journal des Débats._ + +The brick mastabas were carefully cemented externally, and the layers +bound together internally by fine sand poured into the interstices. +Stone mastabas, on the contrary, present a regularity in the decoration +of their facings alone; in nine cases out of ten the core is built of +rough stone blocks, rudely cut into squares, cemented with gravel and +dried mud, or thrown together pell-mell without mortar of any kind. The +whole building should have been orientated according to rule, the four +sides to the four cardinal points, the greatest axis directed north and +south; but the masons seldom troubled themselves to find the true north, +and the orientation is usually incorrect.* + + * Thus the axis of the tomb of Pirsenû is 17° east of the + magnetic north. In some cases the divergence is only 1° or + 2°, more often it is 6°, 7°, 8°, or 9°, as can be easily + ascertained by consulting the work of Mariette. + +The doors face east, sometimes north or south, but never west. One of +these is but the semblance of a door, a high narrow niche, contrived +so as to face east, and decorated with grooves framing a carefully +walled-up entrance; this was for the use of the dead, and it was +believed that the ghost entered or left it at will. The door for the +use of the living, sometimes preceded by a portico, was almost always +characterized by great simplicity. Over it is a cylindrical tympanum, +or a smooth flagstone, bearing sometimes merely the name of the dead +person, sometimes his titles and descent, sometimes a prayer for his +welfare, and an enumeration of the days during which he was entitled to +receive the worship due to ancestors. They invoked on his behalf, and +almost always precisely in the same words, the "Great God," the Osiris +of Mendes, or else Anubis, dwelling in the Divine Palace, that burial +might be granted to him in Amentît, the land of the West, the very great +and very good, to him the vassal of the Great God; that he might walk +in the ways in which it is good to walk, he the vassal of the Great +God; that he might have offerings of bread, cakes, and drink, at the New +Year's Feast, at the feast of Thot, on the first day of the year, on the +feast of Ûagaît, at the great fire festival, at the procession of the +god Mînû, at the feast of offerings, at the monthly and half-monthly +festivals, and every day. + +[Illustration: 008.jpg TETINIÔNKHÛ, SITTING BEFORE THE FUNERAL REPAST] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph of the original monument + which is preserved in the Liverpool Museum; cf. Gatty, + _Catalogue of the Mayer Collection;_ I. Egyptian + Antiquities, No. 294, p. 45. + +The chapel is usually small, and is almost lost in the great extent +of the building.* It generally consists merely of an oblong chamber, +approached by a rather short passage.** + + * Thus the chapel of the mastaba of Sabu is only 14 ft. 4 + in. long, by about 3 ft. 3 in. deep, and that of the tomb of + Phtahshopsisû, 10 ft. 4 in. by 3 ft. 7 in. + + ** The mastaba of Tinti has four chambers, as has also that + of Assi-ônkhû; but these are exceptions, as may be + ascertained by consulting the work of Mariette. Most of + those which contain several rooms are ancient one-roomed + mastabas, which have been subsequently altered or enlarged; + this is the case with the mastabas of Shopsi and of + Ankhaftûka. A few, however, were constructed from the outset + with all their apartments--that of Râônkhûmai, with six + chambers and several niches; that of Khâbiûphtah, with three + chambers, niches, and doorway ornamented with two pillars; + that of Ti, with two chambers, a court surrounded with + pillars, a doorway, and long inscribed passages; and that of + Phtahhotpû, with seven chambers, besides niches. + +[Illustration: 009.jpg THE FAÇADE AND THE STELE OF THE TOMB OF +PHTAHSHOPSISU AT SAQQARA] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Dûhichen. + +At the far end, and set back into the western wall, is a huge +quadrangular stele, at the foot of which is seen the table of offerings, +made of alabaster, granite or limestone placed flat upon the ground, +and sometimes two little obelisks or two altars, hollowed at the top to +receive the gifts mentioned in the inscription on the exterior of the +tomb. The general appearance is that of a rather low, narrow doorway, +too small to be a practicable entrance. The recess thus formed is almost +always left empty; sometimes, however, the piety of relatives placed +within it a statue of the deceased. Standing there, with shoulders +thrown back, head erect, and smiling face, the statue seems to step +forth to lead the double from its dark lodging where it lies embalmed, +to those glowing plains where he dwelt in freedom during his earthly +life: another moment, crossing the threshold, he must descend the few +steps leading into the public hall. On festivals and days of offering, +when the priest and family presented the banquet with the customary +rites, this great painted figure, in the act of advancing, and seen +by the light of flickering torches or smoking lamps, might well appear +endued with life. It was as if the dead ancestor himself stepped out of +the wall and mysteriously stood before his descendants to claim their +homage. The inscription on the lintel repeats once more the name and +rank of the dead. Faithful portraits of him and of other members of his +family figure in the bas-reliefs on the door-posts. + +[Illustration: 010.jpg STELE IN THE FORM OF A DOOR] + +The little scene at the far end represents him seated tranquilly at +table, with the details of the feast carefully recorded at his side, +from the first moment when water is brought to him for ablution, to that +when, all culinary skill being exhausted, he has but to return to his +dwelling, in a state of beatified satisfaction. The stele represented to +the visitor the door leading to the private apartments of the deceased; +the fact of its being walled up for ever showing that no living mortal +might cross its threshold. The inscription which covered its surface was +not a mere epitaph informing future generations who it was that reposed +beneath. It perpetuated the name and genealogy of the deceased, and +gave him a civil status, without which he could not have preserved his +personality in the world beyond; the nameless dead, like a living man +without a name, was reckoned as non-existing. Nor was this the only use +of the stele; the pictures and prayers inscribed upon it acted as so +many talismans for ensuring the continuous existence of the ancestor, +whose memory they recalled. They compelled the god therein invoked, +whether Osiris or the jackal Anubis, to act as mediator between the +living and the departed; they granted to the god the enjoyment of +sacrifices and those good things abundantly offered to the deities, and +by which they live, on condition that a share of them might first be +set aside for the deceased. By the divine favour, the soul or rather the +doubles of the bread, meat, and beverages passed into the other world, +and there refreshed the human double. It was not, however, necessary +that the offering should have a material existence, in order to be +effective; the first comer who should repeat aloud the name and the +formulas inscribed upon the stone, secured for the unknown occupant, by +this means alone, the immediate possession of all the things which he +enumerated. + +The stele constitutes the essential part of the chapel and tomb. In many +cases it was the only inscribed portion, it alone being necessary to +ensure the identity and continuous existence of the dead man; often, +however, the sides of the chamber and passage were not left bare. When +time or the wealth of the owner permitted, they were covered with scenes +and writing, expressing at greater length the ideas summarized by the +figures and inscriptions of the stele. + +[Illustration: 014.jpg A REPRESENTATION OF THE DOMAINS OF THE LORD TI, +BRINGING TO HIM OFFERINGS IN PROCESSION] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin taken from a "squeeze" taken from the + tomb of Ti. The domains are represented as women. The name + is written before each figure with the designation of the + landowner. + + +Neither pictorial effect nor the caprice of the moment was permitted +to guide the artist in the choice of his subjects; all that he drew, +pictures or words, bad a magical purpose. Every individual who built for +himself an "eternal house," either attached to it a staff of priests +of the double, of inspectors, scribes, and slaves, or else made an +agreement with the priests of a neighbouring temple to serve the chapel +in perpetuity. Lands taken from his patrimony, which thus became the +"Domains of the Eternal House," rewarded them for their trouble, and +supplied them with meats, vegetables, fruits, liquors, linen and vessels +for sacrifice. + +[Illustration: 015.jpg THE REPRESENTATION OF THE LORD TI ASSISTING AT +THE PRELIMINARIES OF THE SACRIFICE AND OFFERINGS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Dumichen, + Besultate, vol. i. pl. 13. + +In theory, these "liturgies" were perpetuated from year to year, until +the end of time; but in practice, after three or four generations, the +older ancestors were forsaken for those who had died more recently. +Notwithstanding the imprecations and threats of the donor against the +priests who should neglect their duty, or against those who should usurp +the funeral endowments, sooner or later there came a time when, forsaken +by all, the double was in danger of perishing for want of sustenance. In +order to ensure that the promised gifts, offered in substance on the day +of burial, should be maintained throughout the centuries, the relatives +not only depicted them upon the chapel walls, but represented in +addition the lands which produced them, and the labour which contributed +to their production. On one side we see ploughing, sowing, reaping, the +carrying of the corn, the storing of the grain, the fattening of the +poultry, and the driving of the cattle. A little further on, workmen of +all descriptions are engaged in their several trades: shoemakers ply +the awl, glassmakers blow through their tubes, metal founders watch over +their smelting-pots, carpenters hew down trees and build a ship; groups +of women weave or spin under the eye of a frowning taskmaster, who seems +impatient of their chatter. Did the double in his hunger desire meat? He +might choose from the pictures on the wall the animal that pleased him +best, whether kid, ox, or gazelle; he might follow the course of its +life, from its birth in the meadows to the slaughter-house and the +kitchen, and might satisfy his hunger with its flesh. The double saw +himself represented in the paintings as hunting, and to the hunt he +went; he was painted eating and drinking with his wife, and he ate and +drank with her; the pictured ploughing, harvesting, and gathering into +barns, thus became to him actual realities. In fine, this painted world +of men and things represented upon the wall was quickened by the same +life which animated the double, upon whom it all depended: the _picture_ +of a meal or of a slave was perhaps that which best suited the _shade_ +of guest or of master. + +Even to-day, when we enter one of these decorated chapels, the idea of +death scarcely presents itself: we have rather the impression of being +in some old-world house, to which the master may at any moment return. +We see him portrayed everywhere upon the walls, followed by his +servants, and surrounded by everything which made his earthly life +enjoyable. One or two statues of him stand at the end of the room, in +constant readiness to undergo the "Opening of the Mouth" and to receive +offerings. Should these be accidentally removed, others, secreted in +a little chamber hidden in the thickness of the masonry, are there to +replace them. These inner chambers have rarely any external outlet, +though occasionally they are connected with the chapel by a small +opening, so narrow that it will hardly admit of a hand being passed +through it. Those who came to repeat prayers and burn incense at this +aperture were received by the dead in person. The statues were not mere +images, devoid of consciousness. Just as the double of a god could be +linked to an idol in the temple sanctuary in order to transform it into +a prophetic being, capable of speech and movement, so when the double of +a man was attached to the effigy of his earthly body, whether in stone, +metal, or wood, a real living person was created and was introduced into +the tomb. So strong was this conviction that the belief has lived on +through two changes of religion until the present day. The double still +haunts the statues with which he was associated in the past. As in +former times, he yet strikes with madness or death any who dare to +disturb is repose; and one can only be protected from him by breaking, +at the moment of discovery, the perfect statues which the vault +contains. The double is weakened or killed by the mutilation of these +his sustainers.* + + * The legends still current about the pyramids of Gîzeh + furnish some good examples of this kind of superstition. + "The guardian of the Eastern pyramid was an idol... who had + both eyes open, and was seated on a throne, having a sort of + halberd near it, on which, if any one fixed his eye, he + heard a fearful noise, which struck terror to his heart, and + caused the death of the hearer. There was a spirit appointed + to wait on each guardian, who departed not from before + him." The keeping of the other two pyramids was in like + manner entrusted to a statue, assisted by a spirit. I have + collected a certain number of tales resembling that of + Mourtadi in the _Études de Mythologie et Archéologie + Égyptiennes,_ vol. i. p. 77, et seq. + +The statues furnish in their modelling a more correct idea of the +deceased than his mummy, disfigured as it was by the work of the +embalmers; they were also less easily destroyed, and any number could +be made at will. Hence arose the really incredible number of statues +sometimes hidden away in the same tomb. These sustainers or imperishable +bodies of the double were multiplied so as to insure for him a practical +immortality; and the care with which they were shut into a secure +hiding-place, increased their chances of preservation. All the same, no +precaution was neglected that could save a mummy from destruction. The +shaft leading to it descended to a mean depth of forty to fifty feet, +but sometimes it reached, and even exceeded, a hundred feet. Running +horizontally from it is a passage so low as to prevent a man standing +upright in it, which leads to the sepulchral chamber properly so called, +hewn out of the solid rock and devoid of all ornament; the sarcophagus, +whether of fine limestone, rose-granite, or black basalt, does not +always bear the name and titles of the deceased. The servants who +deposited the body in it placed beside it on the dusty floor the +quarters of the ox, previously slaughtered in the chapel, as well as +phials of perfume, and large vases of red pottery containing muddy +water; after which they walled up the entrance to the passage and filled +the shaft with chips of stone intermingled with earth and gravel. The +whole, being well watered, soon hardened into a compact mass, which +protected the vault and its master from desecration. + +During the course of centuries, the ever-increasing number of tombs at +length formed an almost uninterrupted chain of burying-places on the +table-land. At Gîzeh they follow a symmetrical plan, and line the sides +of regular roads; at Saqqâra they are scattered about on the surface +of the ground, in some places sparsely, in others huddled confusedly +together. Everywhere the tombs are rich in inscriptions, statues, and +painted or sculptured scenes, each revealing some characteristic custom, +or some detail of contemporary civilization. From the womb, as it were, +of these cemeteries, the Egypt of the Memphite dynasties gradually takes +new life, and reappears in the full daylight of history. Nobles and +fellahs, soldiers and priests, scribes and craftsmen,--the whole nation +lives anew before us; each with his manners, his dress, his daily round +of occupation and pleasures. It is a perfect picture, and although in +places the drawing is defaced and the colour dimmed, yet these may be +restored with no great difficulty, and with almost absolute certainty. +The king stands out boldly in the foreground, and his tall figure towers +over all else. He so completely transcends his surroundings, that at +first sight one may well ask if he does not represent a god rather than +a man; and, as a matter of fact, he is a god to his subjects. They call +him "the good god," "the great god," and connect him with Râ through the +intervening kings, the successors of the gods who ruled the two worlds. +His father before him was "Son of Râ," as was also his grandfather, and +his great-grandfather, and so through all his ancestors, until from +"son of Râ" to "son of Râ" they at last reached Râ himself. Sometimes +an adventurer of unknown antecedents is abruptly inserted in the series, +and we might imagine that he would interrupt the succession of the solar +line; but on closer examination we always find that either the intruder +is connected with the god by a genealogy hitherto unsuspected, or that +he is even more closely related to him than his predecessors, inasmuch +as Râ, having secretly descended upon the earth, had begotten him by a +mortal mother in order to rejuvenate the race.* + + * A legend, preserved for us in the Westcar Papyrus (Erman's + edition, pl. ix. 11. 5-11, pl. x. 1. 5, et seq.), maintains + that the first three kings of the Vth dynasty, Ûsirkaf, + Sahûrî, and Kakiû, were children born to Râ, lord of + Sakhîbû, by Rûdîtdidît, wife of a priest attached to the + temple of that town. + +If things came to the worst, a marriage with some princess would soon +legitimise, if not the usurper himself, at least his descendants, and +thus firmly re-establish the succession. + +[Illustration: 021.jpg THE BIRTH OF A KING AND HIS DOUBLE] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Gay et. The + king is Amenôthes III., whose conception and birth are + represented in the temple of Luxor, with the same wealth of + details that we should have expected, had he been a son of + the god Amon and the goddess Mût. + +The Pharaohs, therefore, are blood-relations of the Sun-god, some +through their father, others through their mother, directly begotten +by the God, and their souls as well as their bodies have a supernatural +origin; each soul being a double detached from Horus, the successor of +Osiris, and the first to reign alone over Egypt. This divine double +is infused into the royal infant at birth, in the same manner as the +ordinary double is incarnate in common mortals. It always remained +concealed, and seemed to lie dormant in those princes whom destiny did +not call upon to reign, but it awoke to full self-consciousness in those +who ascended the throne at the moment of their accession. From that time +to the hour of their death, and beyond it, all that they possessed of +ordinary humanity was completely effaced; they were from henceforth +only "the sons of Râ," the Horus, dwelling upon earth, who, during his +sojourn here below, renews the blessings of Horus, son of Isis. Their +complex nature was revealed at the outset in the form and arrangement of +their names. Among the Egyptians the choice of a name was not a matter +of indifference; not only did men and beasts, but even inanimate +objects, require one or more names, and it may be said that no person or +thing in the world could attain to complete existence until the name +had been conferred. The most ancient names were often only a short word, +which denoted some moral or physical quality, as Titi the Runner, Mini +the Lasting, Qonqeni the Crusher, Sondi the Formidable, Uznasît the +Flowery-tongued. They consisted also of short sentences, by which +the royal child confessed his faith in the power of the gods, and his +participation in the acts of the Sun's life--"Khâfrî," his rising is +Râ; "Men-kaûhorû," the doubles of Horus last for ever; "Usirkerî," the +double of Râ is omnipotent. Sometimes the sentence is shortened, and the +name of the god is understood: as for instance, "Ûsirkaf," his double is +omnipotent; "Snofmi," he has made me good; "Khûfïïi," he has protected +me, are put for the names "Usirkerî," "Ptahsnofrûi," "Khnûmkhûfûi," with +the suppression of Râ, Phtah, and Khnûrnû. + +[Illustration: 023.jpg PAGE IMAGE] + +The name having once, as it were, taken possession of a man on his +entrance into life, never leaves him either in this world or the next; +the prince who had been called Unas or Assi at the moment of his birth, +retained this name even after death, so long as his mummy existed, and +his double was not annihilated. + + {Hieroglyphics indicated by [--], see the page images in + the HTML file} + +When the Egyptians wished to denote that a person or thing was in a +certain place, they inserted their names within the picture of the place +in question. Thus the name of Teti is written inside a picture of Teti's +castle, the result being the compound hieroglyph [--] Again, when the +son of a king became king in his turn, they enclose his ordinary name +in the long flat-bottomed frame [--] which we call a cartouche; +the elliptical part [--] of which is a kind of plan of the world, a +representation of those regions passed over by Râ in his journey, and +over which Pharaoh, because he is a son of Râ, exercises his rule. +When the names of Teti or Snofrûi, following the group [----] which +respectively express sovereignty over the two halves of Egypt, the +South and the North, the whole expression describing exactly the visible +person of Pharaoh during his abode among mortals. But this first name +chosen for the child did not include the whole man; it left without +appropriate designation the double of Horus, which was revealed in +the prince at the moment of accession. The double therefore received a +special title, which is always constructed on a uniform plan: first the +picture [--] hawk-god, who desired to leave to his descendants a portion +of his soul, then a simple or compound epithet, specifying that virtue +of Horus which the Pharaoh wished particularly to possess--"Horû +nîb-mâîfc," Horus master of Truth; "Horû miri-toûi," Horus friend of +both lands; "Horû nîbkhâùû," Horus master of the risings; "Horu mazîti," +Horus who crushes his enemies. + +[Illustration: 024.jpg THE ADULT KING ADVANCING, FOLLOWED BY HIS DOUBLE] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from an illustration in Arundale- + Bonomi-Birch's _Gallery of Antiquities from the British + Museum,_ pl. 31. The king thus represented is Thutmosis II. + of the XVIIIth dynasty; the spear, surmounted by a man's + head, which the double holds in his hand, probably recalls + the human victims formerly sacrificed at the burial of a + chief. + +The variable part of these terms is usually written in an oblong +rectangle, terminated at the lower end by a number of lines portraying +in a summary way the façade of a monument, in the centre of which a +bolted door may sometimes be distinguished: this is the representation +of the chapel where the double will one day rest, and the closed door is +the portal of the tomb.* The stereotyped part of the names and titles, +which is represented by the figure of the god, is placed outside the +rectangle, sometimes by the side of it, sometimes upon its top: the hawk +is, in fact, free by nature, and could nowhere remain imprisoned against +his will. + + * This is what is usually known as the "Banner Name;" + indeed, it was for some time believed that this sign + represented a piece of stuff, ornamented at the bottom by + embroidery or fringe, and bearing on the upper part the + title of a king. Wilkinson thought that this "square title," + as he called it, represented a house. The real meaning of + the expression was determined by Professor Flinders Petrie + and by myself. + +This artless preamble was not enough to satisfy the love of precision +which is the essential characteristic of the Egyptians. When they wished +to represent the double in his sepulchral chamber, they left out of +consideration the period in his existence during which he had presided +over the earthly destinies of the sovereign, in order to render them +similar to those of Horus, from whom the double proceeded. + +[Illustration: 026.jpg Page Image] + +They, therefore, withdrew him from the tomb which should have been his +lot, and there was substituted for the ordinary sparrow-hawk one of +those groups which symbolize sovereignty over the two countries of the +Nile--the coiled urasus of the North, and the vulture of the South, +[--]; there was then finally added a second sparrow-hawk, the golden +sparrow-hawk, [--], the triumphant sparrow-hawk which had delivered +Egypt from Typhon. The soul of Snofrai, which is called, as a surviving +double, [--], "Horus master of Truth," is, as a living double, entitled +"[--]" "[--]" the Lord of the Vulture and of the "Urous," master of +Truth, and Horus triumphant.* + + * The Ka, or double name, represented in this illustration + is that of the Pharaoh Khephren, the builder of the second + of the great pyramids at Gîzeh; it reads "Horu usir-Hâîti," + Horus powerful of heart. + +On the other hand, the royal prince, when he put on the diadem, +received, from the moment of his advancement to the highest rank, such +an increase of dignity, that his birth-name--even when framed in a +cartouche and enhanced with brilliant epithets--was no longer able to +fully represent him. This exaltation of his person was therefore marked +by a new designation. As he was the living flesh of the sun, so his +surname always makes allusion to some point in his relations with his +father, and proclaims the love which he felt for the latter, "Mirirî," +or that the latter experienced for him, "Mirnirî," or else it indicates +the stability of the doubles of Râ, "Tatkerî," their goodness, +"Nofirkerî," or some other of their sovereign virtues. Several Pharaohs +of the IVth dynasty had already dignified themselves by these surnames; +those of the VIth were the first to incorporate them regularly into the +royal preamble. + +[Illustration: 027.jpg PAGE IMAGE] + +There was some hesitation at first as to the position the surname ought +to occupy, and it was sometimes placed after the birth-name, as in "Papi +Nofirkerî," sometimes before it, as in [--] "Nofirkerî Papî." It was +finally decided to place it at the beginning, preceded by the group [--] +"King of Upper and Lower Egypt," which expresses in its fullest extent +the power granted by the gods to the Pharaoh alone; the other, or +birth-name, came after it, accompanied by the words [--]. "Son of the +Sun." There were inscribed, either before or above these two solar names +--which are exclusively applied to the visible and living body of the +master--the two names of the sparrow-hawk, which belonged especially to +the soul; first, that of the double in the tomb, and then that of the +double while still incarnate. Four terms seemed thus necessary to the +Egyptians in order to define accurately the Pharaoh, both in time and in +eternity. + +Long centuries were needed before this subtle analysis of the royal +person, and the learned graduation of the formulas which corresponded to +it, could transform the Nome chief, become by conquest suzerain over all +other chiefs and king of all Egypt, into a living god here below, the +all-powerful son and successor of the gods; but the divine concept of +royalty, once implanted in the mind, quickly produced its inevitable +consequences. From the moment that the Pharaoh became god upon earth, +the gods of heaven, his fathers or his brothers, and the goddesses +recognized him as their son, and, according to the ceremonial imposed +by custom in such cases, consecrated his adoption by offering him the +breast to suck, as they would have done to their own child. + +[Illustration: 028.jpg THE GODDESS ADOPTS THE KING BY SUCKLING HIM] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Insinger. The + original is in the great speos of Silsilis. The king here + represented is Harmhabît of the XVIIIth dynasty; cf. + Champollion, _Monuments de l'Egypt et de la Nubie,_ pl. + cix., No. 3; Rosellini, _Monumenti Storici,_ pl. xliv. 5; + Lepsius, Denkm., iii. 121 b. + +Ordinary mortals spoke of him only in symbolic words, designating him by +some periphrasis: Pharaoh, "Pirûi-Aûi," the Double Palace, "Prûîti," the +Sublime Porte, His Majesty,* the Sun of the two lands, Horus master of +the palace, or, less ceremoniously, by the indeterminate pronoun "One." + + * The title "Honûf" is translated by the same authors, + sometimes as "His Majesty," sometimes as "His Holiness." The + reasons for translating it "His Majesty," as was originally + proposed by Champollion, and afterwards generally adopted, + have been given last of all by E. de Rougé. + +The greater number of these terms is always accompanied by a wish +addressed to the sovereign for his "life," "health," and "strength," the +initial signs of which are written after all his titles. He accepts all +this graciously, and even on his own initiative, swears by his own life, +or by the favour of Râ, but he forbids his subjects to imitate him: for +them it is a sin, punishable in this world and in the next, to adjure +the person of the sovereign, except in the case in which a magistrate +requires from them a judicial oath. + +[Illustration: 029.jpg THE CUCUPHA-HEADED SCEPTRE.] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the engraving in Prisse + d'Avennes, _Recherches sur les légendes royales et l'époque + du règne de Schai ou Scheraï,_ in the _Revue Archéologique_, + 1st series, vol. ii. p. 467. The original is now preserved + in the Bibliothèque Nationale, to which it was presented by + Prisse d'Avennes. It is of glazed earthenware, of very + delicate and careful workmanship. + +He is approached, moreover, as a god is approached, with downcast eyes, +and head or back bent; they "sniff the earth" before him, they veil their +faces with both hands to shut out the splendour of his appearance; they +chant a devout form of adoration before submitting to him a petition. +No one is free from this obligation: his ministers themselves, and the +great ones of his kingdom, cannot deliberate with him on matters of +state, without inaugurating the proceeding by a sort of solemn service +in his honour, and reciting to him at length a eulogy of his divinity. +They did not, indeed, openly exalt him above the other gods, but these +were rather too numerous to share heaven among them, whilst he alone +rules over the "Entire Circuit of the Sun," and the whole earth, its +mountains and plains, are in subjection under his sandalled feet. +People, no doubt, might be met with who did not obey him, but these +were rebels, adherents of Sît, "Children of Euin," who, sooner or later, +would be overtaken by punishment. + +[Illustration: 030.jpg DIFFERENT POSTURES FOR APPROACHING THE KING] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Insinger. The + picture represents Khâmhaît presenting the superintendents + of storehouses to Tûtânkhamon, of the XVIIIth dynasty. + +While hoping that his fictitious claim to universal dominion would be +realized, the king adopted, in addition to the simple costume of the old +chiefs, the long or short petticoat, the jackal's tail, the turned-up +sandals, and the insignia of the supreme gods,--the ankh, the crook, the +flail, and the sceptre tipped with the head of a jerboa or a hare, which +we misname the cucupha-headed sceptre.* He put on the many-coloured +diadems of the gods, the head-dresses covered with feathers, the white +and the red crowns either separately or combined so as to form the +pshent. The viper or uraeus, in metal or gilded wood, which rose from +his forehead, was imbued with a mysterious life, which made it a means +of executing his vengeance and accomplishing his secret purposes. It was +supposed to vomit flames and to destroy those who should dare to attack +its master in battle. The supernatural virtues which it communicated to +the crown, made it an enchanted thing which no one could resist. Lastly, +Pharaoh had his temples where his enthroned statue, animated by one +of his doubles, received worship, prophesied, and fulfilled all the +functions of a Divine Being, both during his life, and after he had +rejoined in the tomb his ancestors the gods, who existed before him and +who now reposed impassively within the depths of their pyramids.** + + * This identification, suggested by Champollion, is, from + force of custom, still adhered to, in nearly all works on + Egyptology. But we know from ancient evidence that the + cucupha was a bird, perhaps a hoopoe; the sceptre of the + gods, moreover, is really surmounted by the head of a + quadruped having a pointed snout and long retreating ears, + and belonging to the greyhound, jackal, or jerboa species. + + ** This method of distinguishing deceased kings is met with + as far back as the "Song of the Harpist," which the + Egyptians of the Ramesside period attributed to the founder + of the XIth dynasty. The first known instance of a temple + raised by an Egyptian king to his double is that of + Amenôthes III. + +Man, as far as his body was concerned, and god in virtue of his soul and +its attributes, the Pharaoh, in right of this double nature, acted as a +constant mediator between heaven and earth. He alone was fit to transmit +the prayers of men to his fathers and his brethren the gods. Just as the +head of a family was in his household the priest _par excellence_ of the +gods of that family,--just as the chief of a nome was in his nome the +priest _par excellence_ in regard to the gods of the nome,--so was +Pharaoh the priest _par excellence_ of the gods of all Egypt, who were +his special deities. He accompanied their images in solemn processions; +he poured out before them the wine and mystic milk, recited the formulas +in their hearing, seized the bull who was the victim with a lasso and +slaughtered it according to the rite consecrated by ancient tradition. +Private individuals had recourse to his intercession, when they asked +some favour from on high; as, however, it was impossible for every +sacrifice to pass actually through his hands, the celebrating priest +proclaimed at the beginning of each ceremony that it was the king who +made the offering--_Sûtni di hotpu_--he and none other, to Osiris, +Phtah, and Ka-Harmakhis, so that they might grant to the faithful +who implored the object of their desires, and, the declaration being +accepted in lieu of the act, the king was thus regarded as really +officiating on every occasion for his subjects.* + + *I do not agree with Prof. Ed. Meyer, or with Prof. Erman, + who imagine that this was the first instance of the + practice, and that it had been introduced into Nubia before + its adoption on Egyptian soil. Under the Ancient Empire we + meet with more than one functionary who styles himself, in + some cases during his master's lifetime, in others shortly + after his death, "Prophet of Horus who lives in the palace," + or "Prophet of Kheops," "Prophet of Sondi," "Prophet of + Kheops, of Mykerinos, of Usirkaf," or "of other sovereigns." + +He thus maintained daily intercourse with the gods, and they, on their +part, did not neglect any occasion of communicating with him. They +appeared to him in dreams to foretell his future, to command him to +restore a monument which was threatened with ruin, to advise him to set +out to war, to forbid him risking his life in the thick of the fight.* + + * Among other examples, the texts mention the dream in which + Thûtmosis IV., while still a royal prince, received from + Phrâ-Harmakhis orders to unearth the Great Sphinx, the dream + in which Phtah forbids Minephtah to take part in the battle + against the peoples of the sea, that by which Tonûatamon, + King of Napata, is persuaded to undertake the conquest of + Egypt. Herodotus had already made us familiar with the + dreams of Sabaco and of the high priest Sethos. + +Communication by prophetic dreams was not, however, the method usually +selected by the gods: they employed as interpreters of their wishes +the priests and the statues in the temples. The king entered the chapel +where the statue was kept, and performed in its presence the invocatory +rites, and questioned it upon the subject which occupied his mind. The +priest replied under direct inspiration from on high, and the dialogue +thus entered upon might last a long time. Interminable discourses, +whose records cover the walls of the Theban temples, inform us what +the Pharaoh said on such occasions, and in what emphatic tones the +gods replied. Sometimes the animated statues raised their voices in +the darkness of the sanctuary and themselves announced their will; more +frequently they were content to indicate it by a gesture. When they were +consulted on some particular subject and returned no sign, it was their +way of signifying their disapprobation. If, on the other hand, they +significantly bowed their head, once or twice, the subject was an +acceptable one, and they approved it. No state affair was settled +without asking their advice, and without their giving it in one way or +another. + +The monuments, which throw full light on the supernatural character +of the Pharaohs in general, tell us but little of the individual +disposition of any king in particular, or of their everyday life. When +by chance we come into closer intimacy for a moment with the sovereign, +he is revealed to us as being less divine and majestic than we might +have been led to believe, had we judged him only by his impassive +expression and by the pomp with which he was surrounded in public. Not +that he ever quite laid aside his grandeur; even in his home life, +in his chamber or his garden, during those hours when he felt himself +withdrawn from public gaze, those highest in rank might never forget +when they approached him that he was a god. He showed himself to be a +kind father, a good-natured husband,* ready to dally with his wives and +caress them on the cheek as they offered him a flower, or moved a piece +upon the draught-board. + + * As a literary example of what the conduct of a king was + like in his family circle, we may quote the description of + King Minîbphtah, in the story of Satni-Khâmoîs. The pictures + of the tombs at Tel-el-Amarna show us the intimate terms on + which King Khuniaton lived with his wife and daughters, both + big and little. + +He took an interest in those who waited on him, allowed them certain +breaches of etiquette when he was pleased with them, and was indulgent +to their little failings. If they had just returned from foreign lands, +a little countrified after a lengthy exile from the court, he would +break out into pleasantries over their embarrassment and their +unfashionable costume,--kingly pleasantries which excited the forced +mirth of the bystanders, but which soon fell flat and had no meaning for +those outside the palace. The Pharaoh was fond of laughing and drinking; +indeed, if we may believe evil tongues, he took so much at times as to +incapacitate him for business. The chase was not always a pleasure +to him, hunting in the desert, at least, where the lions evinced a +provoking tendency to show as little respect for the divinity of the +prince as for his mortal subjects; but, like the chiefs of old, he felt +it a duty to his people to destroy wild beasts, and he ended by counting +the slain in hundreds, however short his reign might be.* + + *Amenôthes III. had killed as many as a hundred and two + lions during the first ten years of his reign. + +A considerable part of his time was taken up in war--in the east, +against the Libyans in the regions of the Oasis; in the Nile Valley to +the south of Aswan against the Nubians; on the Isthmus of Suez and in +the Sinaitic Peninsula against the Bedouin; frequently also in a civil +war against some ambitious noble or some turbulent member of his own +family. He travelled frequently from south to north, and from north to +south, leaving in every possible place marked traces of his visits--on +the rocks of Elephantine and of the first cataract, on those of Silsilis +or of El-Kab, and he appeared to his vassals as Tûmû himself arisen +among them to repress injustice and disorder. He restored or enlarged +the monuments, regulated equitably the assessment of taxes and +charges, settled or dismissed the lawsuits between one town and another +concerning the appropriation of the water, or the possession of certain +territories, distributed fiefs which had fallen vacant, among his +faithful servants, and granted pensions to be paid out of the royal +revenues.* + + * These details are not found on the historical monuments, + but are furnished to us by the description given in "The + Book of Knowledge of what there is in the other world" of + the course of the sun across the domain of the hours of + night; the god is there described as a Pharaoh passing + through his kingdom, and all that he does for his vassals, + the dead, is identical with what Pharaoh was accustomed to + do for his subjects, the living. + +At length he re-entered Memphis, or one of his usual residences, where +fresh labours awaited him. He gave audience daily to all, whether high +or low, who were, or believed that they were, wronged by some official, +and who came to appeal to the justice of the master against the +injustice of his servant. If he quitted the palace when the cause +had been heard, to take boat or to go to the temple, he was not left +undisturbed, but petitions and supplications assailed him by the way. +In addition to this, there were the daily sacrifices, the despatch +of current affairs, the ceremonies which demanded the presence of the +Pharaoh, and the reception of nobles or foreign envoys. One would think +that in the midst of so many occupations he would never feel time hang +heavy on his hands. He was, however, a prey to that profound _ennui_ +which most Oriental monarchs feel so keenly, and which neither the cares +nor the pleasures of ordinary life could dispel. Like the Sultans of the +"Arabian Nights," the Pharaohs were accustomed to have marvellous tales +related to them, or they assembled their councillors to ask them to +suggest some fresh amusement: a happy thought would sometimes strike one +of them, as in the case of him who aroused the interest of Snofrûi by +recommending him to have his boat manned by young girls barely clad in +large-meshed network. + +[Illustration: 037.jpg PHARAOH IN HIS HAREM] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin. + +All his pastimes were not so playful. The Egyptians by nature were not +cruel, and we have very few records either in history or tradition of +bloodthirsty Pharaohs; but the life of an ordinary individual was of so +little value in their eyes, that they never hesitated to sacrifice it, +even for a caprice. A sorcerer had no sooner boasted before Kheops of +being able to raise the dead, than the king proposed that he should try +the experiment on a prisoner whose head was to be forthwith cut off. +The anger of Pharaoh was quickly excited, and once aroused, became an +all-consuming fire; the Egyptians were wont to say, in describing its +intensity, "His Majesty became as furious as a panther." The wild beast +often revealed itself in the half-civilized man. + +The royal family was very numerous. The women were principally chosen +from the relatives of court officials of high rank, or from the +daughters of the great feudal lords; there were, however, many strangers +among them, daughters or sisters of petty Libyan, Nubian, or Asiatic +kings; they were brought into Pharaoh's house as hostages for the +submission of their respective peoples. They did not all enjoy the same +treatment or consideration, and their original position decided their +status in the harem, unless the amorous caprice of their master should +otherwise decide. Most of them remained merely concubines for life, +others were raised to the rank of "royal spouses," and at least one +received the title and privileges of "great spouse," or queen. This was +rarely accorded to a stranger, but almost always to a princess born in +the purple, a daughter of Râ, if possible a sister of the Pharaoh, and +who, inheriting in the same degree and in equal proportion the flesh and +blood of the Sun-god, had, more than others, the right to share the bed +and throne of her brother.* + + * It would seem that Queen Mirisônkhû, wife of Khephren, was + the daughter of Kheops, and consequently her husband's + sister. + +[Illustration: 039.jpg PHARAOH GIVES SOLEMN AUDIENCE TO ONE OF HIS +MINISTERS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, after Lepsius. The king is Amenôthes + III. (XVIIIth. dynasty). + +She had her own house, and a train of servants and followers as large +as those of the king; while the women of inferior rank were more or less +shut up in the parts of the palace assigned to them, she came and went +at pleasure, and appeared in public with or without her husband. The +preamble of official documents in which she is mentioned, solemnly +recognizes her as the living follower of Horus, the associate of +the Lord of the Vulture and the Uraeus, the very gentle, the very +praiseworthy, she who sees her Horus, or Horus and Sit, face to face. +Her union with the god-king rendered her a goddess, and entailed upon +her the fulfilment of all the duties which a goddess owed to a god. They +were varied and important. The woman, indeed, was supposed to combine +in herself more completely than a man the qualities necessary for the +exercise of magic, whether legitimate or otherwise: she saw and heard +that which the eyes and ears of man could not perceive; her voice, being +more flexible and piercing, was heard at greater distances; she was by +nature mistress of the art of summoning or banishing invisible +beings. While Pharaoh was engaged in sacrificing, the queen, by her +incantations, protected him from malignant deities, whose interest it +was to divert the attention of the celebrant from holy things: she put +them to flight by the sound of prayer and sistrum, she poured libations +and offered perfumes and flowers. In processions she walked behind her +husband, gave audience with him, governed for him while he was engaged +in foreign wars, or during his progresses through his kingdom: such +was the work of Isis while her brother Osiris was conquering the world. +Widowhood did not always entirely disqualify her. If she belonged to the +solar race, and the new sovereign was a minor, she acted as regent by +hereditary right, and retained the authority for some years longer.* + + * The best-known of these queen regencies is that which + occurred during the minority of Thûtmosis III., about the + middle of the XVIIIth dynasty. Queen Tûaû also appears to + have acted as regent for her son Ramses II. during his first + Syrian campaigns. + +It occasionally happened that she had no posterity, or that the child +of another woman inherited the crown. In that case there was no law or +custom to prevent a young and beautiful widow from wedding the son, and +thus regaining her rank as Queen by a marriage with the successor of her +deceased husband. It was in this manner that, during the earlier part +of the IVth dynasty, the Princess Mirtîttefsi ingratiated herself +successively in the favour of Snofrûi and Kheops.* Such a case did not +often arise, and a queen who had once quitted the throne had but little +chance of again ascending it. Her titles, her duties, her supremacy over +the rest of the family, passed to a younger rival: formerly she had been +the active companion of the king, she now became only the nominal spouse +of the god,** and her office came to an end when the god, of whom she +had been the goddess, quitting his body, departed heavenward to rejoin +his father the Sun on the far-distant horizon. + +Children swarmed in the palace, as in the houses of private individuals: +in spite of the number who died in infancy, they were reckoned by tens, +sometimes by the hundred, and more than one Pharaoh must have been +puzzled to remember exactly the number and names of his offspring.*** + + * M. de Rougé was the first to bring this fact to light in + his _Becherches sur les monuments qu'on peut attribuer aux + six premières dynasties de Manéthon,_ pp. 36-38. Mirtîttefsi + also lived in the harem of Khephren, but the title which + connects her with this king--_Amahhit_, the vassal--proves + that she was then merely a nominal wife; she was probably by + that time, as M. de Rougé says, of too advanced an age to + remain the favourite of a third Pharaoh. + + ** The title of "divine spouse" is not, so far as we know at + present, met with prior to the XVIIIth dynasty. It was given + to the wife of a living monarch, and was retained by her + after his death; the divinity to whom it referred was no + other than the king himself. + + *** This was probably so in the case of the Pharaoh Ramses + II., more than one hundred and fifty of whose children, boys + and girls, are known to us, and who certainly had others + besides of whom we know nothing. + +[Illustration: THE QUEEN SHAKES THE SISTKUJU WHILE THE KING OFFERS THE +SACRIFICE] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a bas-relief in the temple of + Ibsambûl: Nofrîtari shakes behind Ramses II. two sistra, on + which are representations of the head of Hâthor. + +The origin and rank of their mothers greatly influenced the condition +of the children. No doubt the divine blood which they took from a common +father raised them all above the vulgar herd but those connected with +the solar line on the maternal side occupied a decidedly much higher +position than the rest: as long as one of these was living, none of his +less nobly-born brothers might aspire to the crown.* + + * Proof of this fact is furnished us, in so far as the + XVIIIth dynasty is concerned, by the history of the + immediate successors of Thûtmosis I., the Pharaohs Thûtmosis + IL, Thûtmosis III., Queen Hâtshopsîtû, Queen Mûtnofrît, and + Isis, concubine of Thûtmosis IL and mother of Thûtmosis III. + +Those princesses who did not attain to the rank of queen by marriage, +were given in early youth to some well-to-do relative, or to some +courtier of high descent whom Pharaoh wished to honour; they filled the +office of priestesses to the goddesses Nît or Hâthor, and bore in their +households titles which they transmitted to their children, with such +rights to the crown as belonged to them. The most favoured of the +princes married an heiress rich in fiefs, settled on her domain, and +founded a race of feudal lords. Most of the royal sons remained at +court, at first in their father's service and subsequently in that of +their brothers' or nephews': the most difficult and best remunerated +functions of the administration were assigned to them, the +superintendence of public works, the important offices of the +priesthood, the command of the army. It could have been no easy matter +to manage without friction this multitude of relations and connections, +past and present queens, sisters, concubines, uncles, brothers, cousins, +nephews, sons and grandsons of kings who crowded the harem and the +palace. The women contended among themselves for the affection of the +master, on behalf of themselves or their children. The children were +jealous of one another, and had often no bond of union except a common +hatred for the son whom the chances of birth had destined to be their +ruler. As long as he was full of vigour and energy, Pharaoh maintained +order in his family; but when his advancing years and failing strength +betokened an approaching change in the succession, competition showed +itself more openly, and intrigue thickened around him or around his +nearest heirs. Sometimes, indeed, he took precautions to prevent an +outbreak and its disastrous consequences, by solemnly associating with +himself in the royal power the son he had chosen to succeed him: Egypt +in this case had to obey two masters, the younger of whom attended +to the more active duties of royalty, such as progresses through the +country, the conducting of military expeditions, the hunting of wild +beasts, and the administration of justice; while the other preferred to +confine himself to the _rôle_ of adviser or benevolent counsellor. Even +this precaution, however, was insufficient to prevent disasters. The +women of the seraglio, encouraged from without by their relations or +friends, plotted secretly for the removal of the irksome sovereign.* +Those princes who had been deprived by their father's decision of any +legitimate hope of reigning, concealed their discontent to no purpose; +they were arrested on the first suspicion of disloyalty, and were +massacred wholesale; their only chance of escaping summary execution was +either by rebellion** or by taking refuge with some independent tribe of +Libya or of the desert of Sinai. + + * The passage of the Uni inscription, in which mention is + made of a lawsuit carried on against Queen Amîtsi, probably + refers to some harem conspiracy. The celebrated lawsuit, + some details of which are preserved for us in a papyrus of + Turin, gives us some information in regard to a conspiracy + which was hatched in the harem against Ramses II. + + ** A passage in the "Instructions of Amenemhâît" describes in + somewhat obscure terms an attack on the palace by + conspirators, and the wars which followed their undertaking. + +[Illustration: 044.jpg The Island and Temple of Philæ] + +Did we but know the details of the internal history of Egypt, it would +appear to us as stormy and as bloody as that of other Oriental +empires: intrigues of the harem, conspiracies in the palace, murders of +heirs-apparent, divisions and rebellions in the royal family, were +the almost inevitable accompaniment of every accession to the Egyptian +throne. + +The earliest dynasties had their origin in the "White Wall," but the +Pharaohs hardly ever made this town their residence, and it would be +incorrect to say that they considered it as their capital; each king +chose for himself in the Memphite or Letopolite nome, between the +entrance to the Fayûni and the apex of the Delta, a special residence, +where he dwelt with his court, and from whence he governed Egypt. Such +a multitude as formed his court needed not an ordinary palace, but an +entire city. A brick wall, surmounted by battlements, formed a square +or rectangular enclosure around it, and was of sufficient thickness +and height not only to defy a popular insurrection or the surprises of +marauding Bedouin, but to resist for a long time a regular siege. At the +extreme end of one of its façades, was a single tall and narrow opening, +closed by a wooden door supported on bronze hinges, and surmounted with +a row of pointed metal ornaments; this opened into a long narrow passage +between the external wall and a partition wall of equal strength; at +the end of the passage in the angle was a second door, sometimes leading +into a second passage, but more often opening into a large courtyard, +where the dwelling-houses were somewhat crowded together: assailants ran +the risk of being annihilated in the passage before reaching the centre +of the place.* The royal residence could be immediately distinguished by +the projecting balconies on its façade, from which, as from a tribune, +Pharaoh could watch the evolutions of his guard, the stately approach of +foreign envoys, Egyptian nobles seeking audience, or such officials as +he desired to reward for their services. They advanced from the far +end of the court, stopped before the balcony, and after prostrating +themselves stood up, bowed their heads, wrung and twisted their hands, +now quickly, now slowly, in a rhythmical manner, and rendered worship to +their master, chanting his praises, before receiving the necklaces and +jewels of gold which he presented to them by his chamberlains, or which +he himself deigned to fling to them.** + + * No plan or exact drawing of any of the palaces of the + Ancient Empire has come down to us, but, as Erman has very + justly pointed out, the signs found in contemporary + inscriptions give us a good general idea of them. The doors + which lead from one of the hours of the night to another, in + the "Book of the Other World," show us the double passage + leading to the courtyard. The hieroglyph [--] gives us the + name Ûôskhît (literally, _the broad_ [place]) of the + courtyard on to which the passage opened, at the end of + which the palace and royal judgment-seat (or, in the other + world, the tribunal of Osiris, the court of the double + truth) were situated. + + ** The ceremonial of these receptions is not represented on + any monuments with which we are at present acquainted, prior + to the XVIIIth dynasty. + +It is difficult for us to catch a glimpse of the detail of the internal +arrangements: we find, however, mention made of large halls "resembling +the hall of Atûmû in the heavens," whither the king repaired to deal +with state affairs in council, to dispense justice and sometimes also to +preside at state banquets. Long rows of tall columns, carved out of +rare woods and painted with bright colours, supported the roofs of these +chambers, which were entered by doors inlaid with gold and silver, and +incrusted with malachite or lapis-lazuli.* + + * This is the description of the palace of Amon built by + Ramses III. Ramses II. was seated in one of these halls, on + a throne of gold, when he deliberated with his councillors + in regard to the construction of a cistern in the desert for + the miners who were going to the gold-mines of Akiti. The + room in which the king stopped, after leaving his + apartments, for the purpose of putting on his ceremonial + dress and receiving the homage of his ministers, appears to + me to have been called during the Ancient Empire "Pi-dait" + --"The House of Adoration," the house in which the king was + worshipped, as in temples of the Ptolemaic epoch, was that + in which the statue of the god, on leaving the sanctuary, + was dressed and worshipped by the faithful. Sinûhît, under + the XIIth dynasty, was granted an audience in the "Hall of + Electrum." + +The private apartments, the "âkhonûiti," were entirely separate, but +they communicated with the queen's dwelling and with the harem of the +wives of inferior rank. The "royal children" occupied a quarter to +themselves, under the care of their tutors; they had their own houses +and a train of servants proportionate to their rank, age, and the +fortune of their mother's family. The nobles who had appointments +at court and the royal domestics lived in the palace itself, but the +offices of the different functionaries, the storehouses for their +provisions, the dwellings of their _employés_, formed distinct quarters +outside the palace, grouped around narrow courts, and communicating +with each other by a labyrinth of lanes or covered passages. The entire +building was constructed of wood or bricks, less frequently of roughly +dressed stone, badly built, and wanting in solidity. The ancient +Pharaohs were no more inclined than the Sultans of later days to occupy +palaces in which their predecessors had lived and died. Each king +desired to possess a habitation after his own heart, one which would not +be haunted by the memory, or perchance the double, of another sovereign. +These royal mansions, hastily erected, hastily filled with occupants, +were vacated and fell into ruin with no less rapidity: they grew old +with their master, or even more rapidly than he, and his disappearance +almost always entailed their ruin. In the neighbourhood of Memphis many +of these palaces might be seen, which their short-lived masters had +built for eternity, an eternity which did not last longer than the lives +of their builders.* + +Nothing could present a greater variety than the population of these +ephemeral cities in the climax of their splendour. We have first the +people who immediately surrounded the Pharaoh,** the retainers of +the palace and of the harem, whose highly complex degrees of rank are +revealed to us on the monuments.*** His person was, as it were, minutely +subdivided into departments, each requiring its attendants and their +appointed chiefs. + + * The song of the harp-player on the tomb of King Antûf + contains an allusion to these ruined palaces: "The gods + [kings] who were of yore, and who repose in their tombs, + mummies and manes, all buried alike in their pyramids, when + castles are built they no longer have a place in them; see, + thus it is done with them! I have heard the poems in praise + of Imhotpû and of Hardidif which are sung in the songs, and + yet, see, where are their places to-day? their walls are + destroyed, their places no more, as though they have never + existed!" + + ** They are designated by the general terms of Shonîtiû, the + "people of the circle," and Qonbîtiû, the "people of the + corner." These words are found in religious inscriptions + referring to the staff of the temples, and denote the + attendants or court of each god; they are used to + distinguish the notables of a town or borough, the sheikhs, + who enjoyed the right to superintend local administration + and dispense justice. + + *** The Egyptian scribes had endeavoured to draw up an + hierarchical list of these offices. At present we possess + the remains of two lists of this description. One of these, + preserved in the "Hood Papyrus" in the British Museum, has + been published and translated by Maspero, in _Études + Égyptiennes,_ vol. ii. pp. 1-66; another and more complete + copy, discovered in 1890, is in the possession of M. + Golénischeff. The other list, also in the British Museum, + was published by Prof. Petrie in a memoir of _The Egypt + Exploration Fund _; in this latter the names and titles are + intermingled with various other matter. To these two works + may be added the lists of professions and trades to be found + _passim_ on the monuments, and which have been commented on + by Brugsch. + +His toilet alone gave employment to a score of different trades. There +were royal barbers, who had the privilege of shaving his head and chin; +hairdressers who made, curled, and put on his black or blue wigs and +adjusted the diadems to them; there were manicurists who pared and +polished his nails, perfumers who prepared the scented oils and pomades +for the anointing of his body, the kohl for blackening his eyelids, the +_rouge_ for spreading on his lips and cheeks. His wardrobe required a +whole troop of shoemakers, belt-makers, and tailors, some of whom had +the care of stuffs in the piece, others presided over the body-linen, +while others took charge of his garments, comprising long or short, +transparent or thick petticoats, fitting tightly to the hips or cut with +ample fulness, draped mantles and flowing pelisses. Side by side +with these officials, the laundresses plied their trade, which was an +important one among a people devoted to white, and in whose estimation +want of cleanliness in dress entailed religious impurity. Like the +fellahîn of the present time, they took their linen daily to wash in +the river; they rinsed, starched, smoothed, and pleated it without +intermission to supply the incessant demands of Pharaoh and his family.* + + * The "royal laundrymen" and their chiefs are mentioned in + the Conte des deux frères under the XIXth dynasty, as well + as their laundries on the banks of the Nile. + + +[Illustration: 051.jpg MEN AND WOMEN SINGERS, FLUTE-PLAYERS, HARPISTS, +AND DANCERS, FROM THE TOMB OF TI] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin from a squeeze taken at Saqqâra in + 1878 by Mariette + +The task of those set over the jewels was no easy one, when we consider +the enormous variety of necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings, and +sceptres of rich workmanship which ceremonial costume required for +particular times and occasions. The guardianship of the crowns almost +approached to the dignity of the priesthood; for was not the uraeus, +which ornamented each one, a living goddess? The queen required numerous +waiting-women, and the same ample number of attendants were to be +encountered in the establishments of the other ladies of the harem. +Troops of musicians, singers, dancers, and almehs whiled away the +tedious hours, supplemented by buffoons and dwarfs. The great Egyptian +lords evinced a curious liking for these unfortunate beings, and amused +themselves by getting together the ugliest and most deformed creatures. +They are often represented on the tombs beside their masters in company +with his pet dog, or a gazelle, or with a monkey which they sometimes +hold in leash, or sometimes are engaged in teasing. Sometimes the +Pharaoh bestowed his friendship on his dwarfs, and confided to +them occupations in his household. One of them, Khnûmhotpû, died +superintendent of the royal linen. The staff of servants required for +supplying the table exceeded all the others in number. It could scarcely +be otherwise if we consider that the master had to provide food, not +only for his regular servants,* but for all those of his _employés_ and +subjects whose business brought them to the royal residence: even those +poor wretches who came to complain to him of some more or less imaginary +grievance were fed at his expense while awaiting his judicial verdict. +Head-cooks, butlers, pantlers, pastrycooks, fishmongers, game or fruit +dealers--if all enumerated, would be endless. The bakers who baked the +ordinary bread were not to be confounded with those who manufactured +biscuits. The makers of pancakes and dough-nuts took precedence of the +cake-bakers, and those who concocted delicate fruit preserves ranked +higher than the common dryer of dates. + + * Even after death they remained inscribed on the registers + of the palace, and had rations served out to them every day + as funeral offerings. + +[Illustration: 052.jpg THE DWARF KHNUMHOTPU, SUPERINTENDENT OF THE ROYAL +LINEN] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Emil Brugsch- + Bey; the original is at Gizeh + +If one had held a post in the royal household, however low the +occupation, it was something to be proud of all one's life, and after +death to boast of in one's epitaph. The chiefs to whom this army of +servants rendered obedience at times rose from the ranks; on some +occasion their master had noticed them in the crowd, and had transferred +them, some by a single promotion, others by slow degrees, to the +highest offices of the state. Many among them, however, belonged to +old families, and held positions in the palace which their fathers +and grandfathers had occupied before them, some were members of the +provincial nobility, distant descendants of former royal princes and +princesses, more or less nearly related to the reigning sovereign.* + + * It was the former who, I believe, formed the class of + _rokhu sûton_ so often mentioned on the monuments. This + title is generally supposed to have been a mark of + relationship with the royal family. M. de Rougé proved long + ago that this was not so, and that functionaries might bear + this title even though they were not blood relations of the + Pharaohs. It seems to me to have been used to indicate a + class of courtiers whom the king condescended to "know" + (_rokhu_) directly, without the intermediary of a + chamberlain, the "persons known by the king;" the others + were only his "friends" (samirû). + +They had been sought out to be the companions of his education and of +his pastimes, while he was still living an obscure life in the "House +of the Children;" he had grown up with them and had kept them about his +person as his "sole friends" and counsellors. He lavished titles and +offices upon them by the dozen, according to the confidence he felt in +their capacity or to the amount of faithfulness with which he credited +them. A few of the most favoured were called "Masters of the Secret of +the Royal House;" they knew all the innermost recesses of the palace, +all the passwords needed in going from one part of it to another, the +place where the royal treasures were kept, and the modes of access to +it. Several of them were "Masters of the Secret of all the Royal Words," +and had authority over the high courtiers of the palace, which gave +them the power of banishing whom they pleased from the person of the +sovereign. Upon others devolved the task of arranging his amusements; +they rejoiced the heart of his Majesty by pleasant songs, while the +chiefs of the sailors and soldiers kept watch over his safety. To these +active services were attached honorary privileges which were highly +esteemed, such as the right to retain their sandals in the palace, while +the general crowd of courtiers could only enter unshod; that of kissing +the knees and not the feet of the "good god," and that of wearing the +panther's skin. Among those who enjoyed these distinctions were the +physicians of the king, chaplains, and men of the roll--"khri-habi." +The latter did not confine themselves to the task of guiding Pharaoh +through the intricacies of ritual, nor to that of prompting him with the +necessary formulas needed to make the sacrifice efficacious; they were +styled "Masters of the Secrets of Heaven," those who see what is in the +firmament, on the earth and in Hades, those who know all the charms +of the soothsayers, prophets, or magicians. The laws relating to the +government of the seasons and the stars presented no mysteries to them, +neither were they ignorant of the months, days, or hours propitious to +the undertakings of everyday life or the starting out on an expedition, +nor of those times during which any action was dangerous. They drew +their inspirations from the books of magic written by Thot, which +taught them the art of interpreting dreams or of curing the sick, or +of invoking and obliging the gods to assist them, and of arresting +or hastening the progress of the sun on the celestial ocean. Some are +mentioned as being able to divide the waters at their will, and to +cause them to return to their natural place, merely by means of a short +formula. An image of a man or animal made by them out of enchanted +wax, was imbued with life at their command, and became an irresistible +instrument of their wrath. Popular stories reveal them to us at work. +"Is it true," said Kheops to one of them, "that thou canst replace a +head which has been cut off?" On his admitting that he could do so, +Pharaoh immediately desired to test his power. "Bring me a prisoner from +prison and let him be slain." The magician, at this proposal, exclaimed: +"Nay, nay, not a man, sire my master; do not command that this sin +should be committed; a fine animal will suffice!" A goose was brought, +"its head was cut off and the body was placed on the right side, and +the head of the goose on the left side of the hall: he recited what he +recited from his book of magic, the goose began to hop forward, the head +moved on to it, and, when both were united, the goose began to cackle. +A pelican was produced, and underwent the same process. His Majesty then +caused a bull to be brought forward, and its head was smitten to the +ground: the magician recited what he recited from his book of magic, +the bull at once arose, and he replaced on it what had fallen to the +earth." The great lords themselves deigned to become initiated into +the occult sciences, and were invested with these formidable powers. +A prince who practised magic would enjoy amongst us nowadays but small +esteem: in Egypt sorcery was not considered incompatible with royalty, +and the magicians of Pharaoh often took Pharaoh himself as their pupil.* + +Such were the king's household, the people about his person, and those +attached to the service of his family. His capital sheltered a still +greater number of officials and functionaries who were charged with +the administration of his fortune--that is to say, what he possessed +in Egypt.** In theory it was always supposed that the whole of the +soil belonged to him, but that he and his predecessors had diverted and +parcelled off such an amount of it for the benefit of their favourites, +or for the hereditary lords, that only half of the actual territory +remained under his immediate control. He governed most of the nomes of +the Delta in person:*** beyond the Fayum, he merely retained isolated +lands, enclosed in the middle of feudal principalities and often at +considerable distance from each other. + + * We know the reputation, extending even to the classical + writers of antiquity, of the Pharaohs Nechepso and Nectanebo + for their skill in magic. Arab writers have, moreover, + collected a number of traditions concerning the marvels + which the sorcerers of Egypt were in the habit of + performing; as an instance, I may quote the description + given by Makrîzî of one of their meetings, which is probably + taken from some earlier writer. + + ** They were frequently distinguished from their provincial + or manorial colleagues by the addition of the word _khonû_ + to their titles, a term which indicates, in a general + manner, the royal residence. They formed what we should + nowadays call the departmental staff of the public officers, + and might be deputed to act, at least temporarily, in the + provinces, or in the service of one of the feudal princes, + without thereby losing their status as functionaries of the + _khonû_ or central administration. + + *** This seems, at any rate, an obvious inference from the + almost total absence of feudal titles on the most ancient + monuments of the Delta. Erman, who was struck by this fact, + attributed it to a different degree of civilization in the + two halves of Egypt; I attribute it to a difference in + government. Feudal titles naturally predominate in the + South, royal administrative titles in the North. + +The extent of the royal domain varied with different dynasties, and even +from reign to reign: if it sometimes decreased, owing to too frequently +repeated concessions,* its losses were generally amply compensated by +the confiscation of certain fiefs, or by their lapsing to the crown. The +domain was always of sufficient extent to oblige the Pharaoh to confide +the larger portion of it to officials of various kinds, and to farm +merely a small remainder of the "royal slaves:" in the latter case, +he reserved for himself all the profits, but at the expense of all the +annoyance and all the outlay; in the former case, he obtained without +any risk the annual dues, the amount of which was fixed on the spot, +according to the resources of the nome. + + * We find, at different periods, persons who call themselves + masters of new domains or strongholds--Pahûrnofir, under the + IIIrd dynasty; several princes of Hermopolis, under the VIth + and VIIth; Khnûmhotpû at the begining of the XIIth. In + connection with the last named, we shall have occasion, + later on, to show in what manner and with what rapidity one + of these great _new_ fiefs was formed. + +In order to understand the manner in which the government of Egypt was +conducted, we should never forget that the world was still ignorant of +the use of money, and that gold, silver, and copper, however abundant we +may suppose them to have been, were mere articles of exchange, like +the most common products of Egyptian soil. Pharaoh was not then, as the +State is with us, a treasurer who calculates the total of his receipts +and expenses in ready money, banks his revenue in specie occupying but +little space, and settles his accounts from the same source. His fiscal +receipts were in kind, and it was in kind that he remunerated his +servants for their labour: cattle, cereals, fermented drinks, oils, +stuffs, common or precious metals,--"all that the heavens give, all +that the earth produces, all that the Nile brings from its mysterious +sources,"* --constituted the coinage in which his subjects paid him their +contributions, and which he passed on to his vassals by way of salary. + + * This was the most usual formula for the offering on the + funerary stelo, and sums up more completely than any other + the nature of the tax paid to the gods by the living, and + consequently the nature of that paid to the king; here, as + elsewhere, the domain of the gods is modelled on that of the + Pharaohs. + +One room, a few feet square, and, if need be, one safe, would easily +contain the entire revenue of one of our modern empires: the largest +of our emporiums would not always have sufficed to hold the mass of +incongruous objects which represented the returns of a single Egyptian +province. As the products in which the tax was paid took various forms, +it was necessary to have an infinite variety of special agents and +suitable places to receive it; herdsmen and sheds for the oxen, +measurers and granaries for the grain, butlers and cellarers for +the wine, beer, and oils. The product of the tax, while awaiting +redistribution, could only be kept from deteriorating in value by +incessant labour, in which a score of different classes of clerks and +workmen in the service of the treasury all took part, according to their +trades. If the tax were received in oxen, it was led to pasturage, or at +times, when a murrain threatened to destroy it, to the slaughter-house +and the currier; if it were in corn, it was bolted, ground to flour, and +made into bread and pastry; if it were in stuffs, it was washed, ironed, +and folded, to be retailed as garments or in the piece. The royal +treasury partook of the character of the farm, the warehouse, and the +manufactory. + +Each of the departments which helped to swell its contents, occupied +within the palace enclosure a building, or group of buildings, which was +called its "house," or, as we should say, its storehouse. + +[Illustration: 059.jpg THE PACKING OF THE LINEN AND ITS REMOVAL TO THE +WHITE STOREHOUSE.] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a chromolithograph in Lepsius, + _Denhm._, ii. 96. + +There was the "White Storehouse," where the stuffs and jewels were +kept, and at times the wine; the "Storehouse of the Oxen," the "Gold +Storehouse," the "Storehouse for Preserved Fruits," the "Storehouse for +Grain," the "Storehouse for Liquors," and ten other storehouses of the +application of which we are not always sure. In the "Storehouse of +Weapons" (or Armoury) were ranged thousands of clubs, maces, pikes, +daggers, bows, and bundles of arrows, which Pharaoh distributed to his +recruits whenever a war forced him to call out his army, and which were +again warehoused after the campaign. The "storehouses" were further +subdivided into rooms or store-chambers,* each reserved for its own +category of objects. + + * Aît, Âî. Lefébure has collected a number of passages in + which these storehouses are mentioned, in his notes _Sur + différents mots et noms Égyptiens._ In many of the cases + which he quotes, and in which he recognizes an office of the + State, I believe reference to be made to a trade: many of + the ari âît-afû, "people of the store-chambers for meat," + were probably butchers; many of the ari âît-hiqÎtû, "people + of the store-chamber for beer," were probably keepers of + drink-shops, trading on their own account in the town of + Abydos, and not _employés_ attached to the exchequer of + Pharaoh or of the ruler of Thinis. + +It would be difficult to enumerate the number of store-chambers in +the outbuildings of the "Storehouse of Provisions"--store-chambers for +butcher's meat, for fruits, for beer, bread, and wine, in which were +deposited as much of each article of food as would be required by the +court for some days, or at most for a few weeks. They were brought there +from the larger storehouses, the wines from vaults, the oxen from their +stalls, the corn from the granaries. The latter were vast brick-built +receptacles, ten or more in a row, circular in shape and surmounted by +cupolas, but having no communication with each other. They had only two +openings, one at the top for pouring in the grain, another on the ground +level for drawing it out; a notice posted up outside, often on the +shutter which closed the chamber, indicated the character and quantity +of the cereals within. For the security and management of these, there +were employed troops of porters, store-keepers, accountants, "primates" +who superintended the works, record-keepers, and directors. Great nobles +coveted the administration of the "storehouses," and even the sons +of kings did not think it derogatory to their dignity to be entitled +"Directors of the Granaries," or "Directors of the Armoury." There was +no law against pluralists, and more than one of them boasts on his tomb +of having held simultaneously five or six offices. These storehouses +participated like all the other dependencies of the crown, in that +duality which characterized the person of the Pharaoh. They would +be called in common parlance, the Storehouse or the Double White +Storehouse, the Storehouse or the Double Gold Storehouse, the Double +Warehouse, the Double Granary. + +[Illustration: 061.jpg MEASURING THE WHEAT AND DEPOSITING IT IN THE +GRANARIES] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a scene on the tomb of Amoni at + Beni-Hasan. On the right, near the door, is a heap of grain, + from which the measurer fills his measure in order to empty + it into the sack which one of the porters holds open. In the + centre is a train of slaves ascending the stairs which lead + to the loft above the granaries; one of them empties his + sack into a hole above the granary in the presence of the + overseer. The inscriptions in ink on the outer wall of the + receptacles, which have already been filled, indicate the + number of measures which each one of them contains. + +The large towns, as well as the capital, possessed their double +storehouses and their store-chambers, into which were gathered the +products of the neighbourhood, but where a complete staff of employés +was not always required: in such towns we meet with "localities" +in which the commodities were housed merely temporarily. The least +perishable part of the provincial dues was forwarded by boat to the +royal residence,* and swelled the central treasury. + + * The boats employed for this purpose formed a flotilla, and + their commanders constituted a regularly organized transport + corps, who are frequently to be found represented on the + monuments of the New Empire, carrying tribute to the + residence of the king or of the prince, whose retainers they + were. + +The remainder was used on the spot for paying workman's wages, and for +the needs of the Administration. We see from the inscriptions, that +the staffs of officials who administered affairs in the provinces was +similar to that in the royal city. Starting from the top, and going down +to the bottom of the scale, each functionary supervised those beneath +him, while, as a body, they were all responsible for their depot. Any +irregularity in the entries entailed the bastinado; peculators were +punished by imprisonment, mutilation, or death, according to the gravity +of the offence. Those whom illness or old age rendered unfit for work, +were pensioned for the remainder of their life. + +[Illustration: 063.jpg PLAN OF A PRINCELY STOREHOUSE FOR PROVISIONS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Lepsius, _Denkm_., iii. 95. The + illustration is taken from one of the tombs at Tel el- + Amarna. The storehouse consists of four blocks, isolated by + two avenues planted with trees, which intersect each other + in the form of a cross. Behind the entrance gate, in a small + courtyard, is a kiosque, in which the master sat for the + purpose of receiving the stores or of superintending their + distribution; two arms of the cross are lined by porticoes, + under which are the entrances to the "chambers" (dît) for + the stores, which are filled with jars of wine, linen- + chests, dried fish, and other articles. + +The writer, or, as we call him, the scribe, was the mainspring of +all this machinery. We come across him in all grades of the staff: an +insignificant registrar of oxen, a clerk of the Double White Storehouse, +ragged, humble, and badly paid, was a scribe just as much as the noble, +the priest, or the king's son. Thus the title of scribe was of no value +in itself, and did not designate, as one might naturally think, a savant +educated in a school of high culture, or a man of the world, versed in +the sciences and the literature of his time; El-kab was a scribe who +knew how to read, write, and cipher, was fairly proficient in wording +the administrative formulas, and could easily apply the elementary rules +of book-keeping. There was no public school in which the scribe could be +prepared for his future career; but as soon as a child had acquired the +first rudiments of letters with some old pedagogue, his father took him +with him to his office, or entrusted him to some friend who agreed to +undertake his education. The apprentice observed what went on around +him, imitated the mode of procedure of the _employés_, copied in his +spare time old papers, letters, bills, flowerily-worded petitions, +reports, complimentary addresses to his superiors or to the Pharaoh, all +of which his patron examined and corrected, noting on the margin letters +or words imperfectly written, improving the style, and recasting or +completing the incorrect expressions.* As soon as he could put together +a certain number of sentences or figures without a mistake, he was +allowed to draw up bills, or to have the sole superintendence of some +department of the treasury, his work being gradually increased in amount +and difficulty; when he was considered to be sufficiently _au courant_ +with the ordinary business, his education was declared to be finished, +and a situation was found for him either in the place where he had begun +his probation, or in some neighbouring office.** + + * We still possess school exercises of the XIXth and XXth + dynasties, e.g. the _Papyrus Anastasi n IV_., and the + _Anastasi Papyrus n V._, in which we find a whole string of + pieces of every possible style and description--business + letters, requests for leave of absence, complimentary verses + addressed to a superior, all probably a collection of + exercises compiled by some professor, and copied by his + pupils in order to complete their education as scribes; the + master's corrections are made at the top and bottom of the + pages in a bold and skilful hand, very different from that + of the pupil, though the writing of the latter is generally + more legible to our modern eyes (_Select Papyri,_ vol. i. + pls. lxxxiii.-cxxi.). + + ** Evidence of this state of things seems to be furnished by + all the biographies of scribes with which we are acquainted, + e.g. that of Amten; it is, moreover, what took place + regularly throughout the whole of Egypt, down to the latest + times, and what probably still occurs in those parts of the + country where European ideas have not yet made any deep + impression. + +[Illustration: 065.jpg THE STAFF OF A GOVERNMENT OFFICER IN THE TIME OF +THE MEMPHITE DYNASTIES] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a wall-painting on the tomb of + Khûnas. Two scribes are writing on tablets. Before the + scribe in the upper part of the picture we see a palette, + with two saucers, on a vessel which serves as an ink-bottle, + and a packet of tablets tied together, the whole supported + by a bundle of archives. The scribe in the lower part rests + his tablet against an ink-bottle, a box for archives being + placed before him. Behind them a _nakht-khrôû_ announces the + delivery of a tablet covered with figures which the third + scribe is presenting to the master. + + +[Illustration: THE CRIER ANNOUNCES THE ARRIVAL OF FIVE REGISTRARS OF THE +TEMPLE OF KING ÛSIRNIRÎ, OF THE Vth DYNASTY] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a picture in the tomb of + Shopsisûri. Four registrars of the funerary temple of + Ûsirnirî advance in a crawling posture towards the master, + the fifth has just risen and holds himself in a stooping + attitude, while an usher introduces him and transmits to him + an order to send in his accounts. + +Thus equipped, the young man ended usually by succeeding his father or +his patron: in most of the government administrations, we find whole +dynasties of scribes on a small scale, whose members inherited the same +post for several centuries. The position was an insignificant one, and +the salary poor, but the means of existence were assured, the occupant +was exempted from forced labour and from military service, and he +exercised a certain authority in the narrow world in which he lived; it +sufficed to make him think himself happy, and in fact to be so. "One has +only to be a scribe," said the wise man, "for the scribe takes the lead +of all." Sometimes, however, one of these contented officials, more +intelligent or ambitious than his fellows, succeeded in rising above +the common mediocrity: his fine handwriting, the happy choice of his +sentences, his activity, his obliging manner, his honesty--perhaps also +his discreet dishonesty--attracted the attention of his superiors and +were the cause of his promotion. The son of a peasant or of some poor +wretch, who had begun life by keeping a register of the bread and +vegetables in some provincial government office, had been often known +to crown his long and successful career by exercising a kind of +vice-regency over the half of Egypt. His granaries overflowed with corn, +his storehouses were always full of gold, fine stuffs, and precious +vases, his stalls "multiplied the backs" of his oxen; the sons of his +early patrons, having now become in turn his _protégés_, did not venture +to approach him except with bowed head and bended knee. + +No doubt the Amten whose tomb was removed to Berlin by Lepsius, and put +together piece by piece in the museum, was a _parvenu_ of this kind. He +was born rather more than four thousand years before our era under one +of the last kings of the IIIrd dynasty, and he lived until the reign of +the first king of the IVth dynasty, Snofrûi. He probably came from the +Nome of the Bull, if not from Xoïs itself, in the heart of the Delta. +His father, the scribe Anûpûmonkhû, held, in addition to his office, +several landed estates, producing large returns; but his mother, +Nibsonît, who appears to have been merely a concubine, had no personal +fortune, and would have been unable even to give her child an education. +Anûpûmonkhû made himself entirely responsible for the necessary +expenses, "giving him all the necessities of life, at a time when he had +not as yet either corn, barley, income, house, men or women servants, +or troops of asses, pigs, or oxen." As soon as he was in a condition to +provide for himself, his father obtained for him, in his native Nome, +the post of chief scribe attached to one of the "localities" which +belonged to the Administration of Provisions. On behalf of the Pharaoh, +the young man received, registered, and distributed the meat, cakes, +fruits, and fresh vegetables which constituted the taxes, all on his +own responsibility, except that he had to give an account of them to the +"Director of the Storehouse" who was nearest to him. We are not told how +long he remained in this occupation; we see merely that he was +raised successively to posts of an analogous kind, but of increasing +importance. The provincial offices comprised a small staff of _employés, +_ consisting always of the same officials:--a chief, whose ordinary +function was "Director of the Storehouse;" a few scribes to keep the +accounts, one or two of whom added to his ordinary calling that of +keeper of the archives; paid ushers to introduce clients, and, if need +be, to bastinado them summarily at the order of the "director;" lastly, +the "strong of voice," the criers, who superintended the incomings and +outgoings, and proclaimed the account of them to the scribes to be noted +down forthwith. A vigilant and honest crier was a man of great value. + +[Illustration: 068.jpg THE FUNERAL STELE OF THE TOMB OF AMTEN, THE +"GRAND HUNTSMAN."] + +He obliged the taxpayer not only to deliver the exact number of measures +prescribed as his quota, but also compelled him to deliver good measure +in each case; a dishonest crier, on the contrary, could easily favour +cheating, provided that he shared in the spoil. Amten was at once +"crier" and "taxer of the colonists" to the civil administrator of the +Xoïte nome: he announced the names of the peasants and the payments they +made, then estimated the amount of the local tax which each, according +to his income, had to pay. He distinguished himself so pre-eminently in +these delicate duties, that the civil administrator of Xoïs made him one +of his subordinates. He became "Chief of the Ushers," afterwards "Master +Crier," then "Director of all the King's flax" in the Xoïfce nome--an +office which entailed on him the supervision of the culture, cutting, +and general preparation of flax for the manufacture which was carried +on in Pharaoh's own domain. It was one of the highest offices in the +Provincial Administration, and Amten must have congratulated himself on +his appointment. + +From that moment his career became a great one, and he advanced quickly. +Up to that time he had been confined in offices; he now left them to +perform more active service. The Pharaohs, extremely jealous of their +own authority, usually avoided placing at the head of the nomes in their +domain, a single ruler, who would have appeared too much like a prince; +they preferred having in each centre of civil administration, governors +of the town or province, as well as military commanders who were jealous +of one another, supervised one another, counterbalanced one another, and +did not remain long enough in office to become dangerous. Amten held all +these posts successively in most of the nomes situated in the centre or +to the west of the Delta. His first appointment was to the government +of the village of Pidosû, an unimportant post in itself, but one which +entitled him to a staff of office, and in consequence procured for him +one of the greatest indulgences of vanity that an Egyptian could enjoy. +The staff was, in fact, a symbol of command which only the nobles, +and the officials associated with the nobility, could carry without +transgressing custom; the assumption of it, as that of the sword with +us, showed every one that the bearer was a member of a privileged class. + +[Illustration: 072.jpg STATUE OF AMTEN, FOUND IN HIS TOMB] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Lepsius, Denkm., ii. 120 a; + the original is in the Berlin Museum. + +Amten was no sooner ennobled, than his functions began to expand; +villages were rapidly added to villages, then towns to towns, including +such an important one as Bûto, and finally the nomes of the Harpoon, of +the Bull, of the Silurus, the western half of the Saïte nome, the nome +of the Haunch, and a part of the Fayûm came within his jurisdiction. The +western half of the Saïte nome, where he long resided, corresponded with +what was called later the Libyan nome. It reached nearly from the apex +of the Delta to the sea, and was bounded on one side by the Canopic +branch of the Nile, on the other by the Libyan range; a part of the +desert as well as the Oases fell under its rule. It included among +its population, as did many of the provinces of Upper Egypt, regiments +composed of nomad hunters, who were compelled to pay their tribute +in living or dead game. Amten was metamorphosed into Chief Huntsman, +scoured the mountains with his men, and thereupon became one of the most +important personages in the defence of the country. The Pharaohs had +built fortified stations, and had from time to time constructed walls at +certain points where the roads entered the valley--at Syene, at Coptos, +and at the entrance to the Wady Tûmilât. Amten having been proclaimed +"Primate of the Western Gate," that is, governor of the Libyan marches, +undertook to protect the frontier against the wandering Bedouin from the +other side of Lake Mareotis. His duties as Chief Huntsman had been +the best preparation he could have had for this arduous task. They had +forced him to make incessant expeditions among the mountains, to explore +the gorges and ravines, to be acquainted with the routes marked out by +wells which the marauders were obliged to follow in their incursions, +and the pathways and passes by which they could descend into the plain +of the Delta; in running the game to earth, he had gained all the +knowledge needful for repulsing the enemy. Such a combination of +capabilities made Amten the most important noble in this part of Egypt. +When old age at last prevented him from leading an active life, he +accepted, by way of a pension, the governorship of the nome of +the Haunch: with civil authority, military command, local priestly +functions, and honorary distinctions, he lacked only one thing to make +him the equal of the nobles of ancient family, and that was permission +to bequeath without restriction his towns and offices to his children. + +His private fortune was not as great as we might be led to think. He +inherited from his father only one estate, but had acquired twelve +others in the nomes of the Delta whither his successive appointments had +led him--namely, in the Saïte, Xoïte, and Letopolite nomes. He received +subsequently, as a reward for his services, two hundred portions of +cultivated land, with numerous peasants, both male and female, and an +income of one hundred loaves daily, a first charge upon the funeral +provision of Queen Hâpûnimâit. He took advantage of this windfall to +endow his family suitably. His only son was already provided for, thanks +to the munificence of Pharaoh; he had begun his administrative career by +holding the same post of scribe, in addition to the office of provision +registrar, which his father had held, and over and above these he +received by royal grant, four portions of cornland with their population +and stock. Amten gave twelve portions to his other children and fifty to +his mother Nibsonît, by means of which she lived comfortably in her old +age, and left an annuity for maintaining worship at her tomb. He built +upon the remainder of the land a magnificent villa, of which he has +considerately left us the description. The boundary wall formed a square +of 350 feet on each face, and consequently contained a superficies of +122,500 square feet. The well-built dwelling-house, completely furnished +with all the necessities of life, was surrounded by ornamental and +fruit-bearing trees,--the common palm, the nebbek, fig trees, and +acacias; several ponds, neatly bordered with greenery, afforded a +habitat for aquatic birds; trellised vines, according to custom, ran in +front of the house, and two plots of ground, planted with vines in full +bearing, amply supplied the owner with wine every year. + +[Illustration: 075.jpg PLAN OF THE VILLA OF A GREAT EGYPTIAN NOBLE] + + This plan is taken from a Theban tomb of the XVIIIth + dynasty; but it corresponds exactly with the description + which Amten has left us of his villa. + +It was there, doubtless, that Amten ended his days in peace and quietude +of mind. The tableland whereon the Sphinx has watched for so many +centuries was then crowned by no pyramids, but mastabas of fine white +stone rose here and there from out of the sand: that in which the mummy +of Amten was to be enclosed was situated not far from the modern village +of Abûsîr, on the confines of the nome of the Haunch, and almost in +sight of the mansion in which his declining years were spent.* + + * The site of Amten's manorial mansion is nowhere mentioned + in the inscriptions; but the custom of the Egyptians to + construct their tombs as near as possible to the places + where they resided, leads me to consider it as almost + certain that we ought to look for its site in the Memphite + plain, in the vicinity of the town of Abûsîr, but in a + northern direction, so as to keep within the territory of + the Letopolite nome, where Amten governed in the name of the + king. + +The number of persons of obscure origin, who in this manner had risen in +a few years to the highest honours, and died governors of provinces or +ministers of Pharaoh, must have been considerable. Their descendants +followed in their fathers' footsteps, until the day came when royal +favour or an advantageous marriage secured them the possession of an +hereditary fief, and transformed the son or grandson of a prosperous +scribe into a feudal lord. It was from people of this class, and from +the children of the Pharaoh, that the nobility was mostly recruited. +In the Delta, where the authority of the Pharaoh was almost everywhere +directly felt, the power of the nobility was weakened and much +curtailed; in Middle Egypt it gained ground, and became stronger and +stronger in proportion as one advanced southward. The nobles held the +principalities of the Gazelle, of the Hare, of the Serpent Mountain, of +Akhmîm, of Thinis, of Qasr-es-Sayad, of El-Kab, of Aswan, and doubtless +others of which we shall some day discover the monuments. + +[Illustration: 077.jpg HUNTING WITH THE BOOMERANG AND FISHING WITH THE +DOUBLE HARPOON IN A MARSH OR POOL] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Gayet. + +They accepted without difficulty the fiction according to which Pharaoh +claimed to be absolute master of the soil, and ceded to his subjects +only the usufruct of their fiefs; but apart from the admission of the +principle, each lord proclaimed himself sovereign in his own domain, and +exercised in it, on a small scale, complete royal authority. + +[Illustration: 078.jpg PRINCE API, BORNE IN A PALANQUIN, INSPECTS HIS +FUNERARY DOMAIN] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Emil Brugsch- + Bey. The tomb of Api was discovered at Saqqâra in 1884. It + had been pulled down in ancient times, and a new tomb built + on its ruins, about the time of the XIIth dynasty; all that + remains of it is now in the museum at Gîzeh. + +Everything within the limits of this petty state belonged to him--woods, +canals, fields, even the desert-sand: after the example of the Pharaoh, +he farmed a part himself, and let out the remainder, either in farms or +as fiefs, to those of his followers who had gained his confidence or +his friendship. After the example of Pharaoh, also, he was a priest, and +exercised priestly functions in relation to all the gods--that is, +not of all Egypt, but of all the deities of the nome. He was an +administrator of civil and criminal law, received the complaints of his +vassals and serfs at the gate of his palace, and against his decisions +there was no appeal. He kept up a flotilla, and raised on his estate a +small army, of which he was commander-in-chief by hereditary right. He +inhabited a fortified mansion, situated sometimes within the capital of +the principality itself, sometimes in its neighbourhood, and in which +the arrangements of the royal city were reproduced on a smaller scale. + +[Illustration: 079.jpg A DWARF PLAYING WITH CYNOCEPHALI AND A TAME IBIS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a chromolithograph in Flinders + Petrie's _Medûm,_ pl. xxiv. + +Side by side with the reception halls was the harem, where the +legitimate wife, often a princess of solar rank, played the rôle of +queen, surrounded by concubines, dancers, and slaves. The offices of +the various departments were crowded into the enclosure, with their +directors, governors, scribes of all ranks, custodians, and workmen, who +bore the same titles as the corresponding employés in the departments of +the State: their White Storehouse, their Gold Storehouse, their Granary, +were at times called the Double White Storehouse, the Double Gold +Storehouse, the Double Granary, as were those of the Pharaoh. Amusements +at the court of the vassal did not differ from those at that of the +sovereign: hunting in the desert and the marshes, fishing, inspection of +agricultural works, military exercises, games, songs, dancing, doubtless +the recital of long stories, and exhibitions of magic, even down to the +contortions of the court buffoon and the grimaces of the dwarfs. + +[Illustration: 080.jpg IN A NILE BOAT] + +It amused the prince to see one of these wretched favourites leading to +him by the paw a cynocephalus larger than himself, while a mischievous +monkey slyly pulled a tame and stately ibis by the tail. From time to +time the great lord proceeded to inspect his domain: on these occasions +he travelled in a kind of sedan chair, supported by two mules yoked +together; or he was borne in a palanquin by some thirty men, while +fanned by large flabella; or possibly he went up the Nile and the canals +in his beautiful painted barge. The life of the Egyptian lords may be +aptly described as in every respect an exact reproduction of the life of +the Pharaoh on a smaller scale. + +Inheritance in a direct or indirect line was the rule, but in every +case of transmission the new lord had to receive the investiture of +the sovereign either by letter or in person. The duties enforced by the +feudal state do not appear to have been onerous. In the first place, +there was the regular payment of a tribute, proportionate to the +extent and resources of the fief. In the next place, there was military +service: the vassal agreed to supply, when called upon, a fixed number +of armed men, whom he himself commanded, unless he could offer a +reasonable excuse such as illness or senile incapacity.* + + * Prince Amoni, of the Gazelle nome, led a body of four + hundred men and another body of six hundred, levied in his + principality, into Ethiopia under these conditions; the + first that he served in the royal army, was as a substitute + for his father, who had grown too old. Similarly, under the + XVIIIth dynasty, Âhmosis of El-Kab commanded the war-ship, + the Calf, in place of his father. The Uni inscription + furnishes us with an instance of a general levy of the + feudal contingents in the time of the VIth dynasty (1. 14, + et seq.). + +Attendance at court was not obligatory: we notice, however, many nobles +about the person of Pharaoh, and there are numerous examples of princes, +with whose lives we are familiar, filling offices which appear to have +demanded at least a temporary residence in the palace, as, for instance, +the charge of the royal wardrobe. When the king travelled, the great +vassals were compelled to entertain him and his suite, and to escort +him to the frontier of their domain. On the occasion of such visits, the +king would often take away with him one of their sons to be brought +up with his own children: an act which they on their part considered a +great honour, while the king on his had a guarantee of their fidelity in +the person of these hostages. Such of these young people as returned to +their fathers' roof when their education was finished, were usually most +loyal to the reigning dynasty. They often brought back with them +some maiden born in the purple, who consented to share their little +provincial sovereignty, while in exchange one or more of their sisters +entered the harem of the Pharaoh. Marriages made and marred in their +turn the fortunes of the great feudal houses. Whether she were +a princess or not, each woman received as her dowry a portion of +territory, and enlarged by that amount her husband's little state; +but the property she brought might, in a few years, be taken by her +daughters as portions and enrich other houses. The fief seldom could +bear up against such dismemberment; it fell away piecemeal, and by +the third or fourth generation had disappeared. Sometimes, however, +it gained more than it lost in this matrimonial game, and extended its +borders till they encroached on neighbouring nomes or else completely +absorbed them. There were always in the course of each reign several +great principalities formed, or in the process of formation, whose +chiefs might be said to hold in their hands the destinies of the +country. Pharaoh himself was obliged to treat them with deference, +and he purchased their allegiance by renewed and ever-increasing +concessions. + +Their ambition was never satisfied; when they were loaded with favours, +and did not venture to ask for more for themselves, they impudently +demanded them for such of their children as they thought were poorly +provided for. Their eldest son "knew not the high favours which came +from the king. Other princes were his privy counsellers, his chosen +friends, or foremost among his friends!" he had no share in all this. +Pharaoh took good care not to reject a petition presented so humbly: +he proceeded to lavish appointments, titles, and estates on the son in +question; if necessity required it, he would even seek out a wife for +him, who might give him, together with her hand, a property equal to +that of his father. The majority of these great vassals secretly aspired +to the crown: they frequently had reason to believe that they had some +right to it, either through their mother or one of their ancestors. Had +they combined against the reigning house, they could easily have gained +the upper hand, but their mutual jealousies prevented this, and the +overthrow of a dynasty to which they owed so much would, for the most +part, have profited them but little: as soon as one of them revolted, +the remainder took arms in Pharaoh's defence, led his armies and +fought his battles. If at times their ambition and greed harassed +their suzerain, at least their power was at his service, and their +self-interested allegiance was often the means of delaying the downfall +of his house. + +Two things were specially needful both for them and for Pharaoh in order +to maintain or increase their authority--the protection of the gods, +and a military organization which enabled them to mobilize the whole of +their forces at the first signal. The celestial world was the faithful +image of our own; it had its empires and its feudal organization, the +arrangement of which corresponded to that of the terrestrial world. The +gods who inhabited it were dependent upon the gifts of mortals, and the +resources of each individual deity, and consequently his power, depended +on the wealth and number of his worshippers; anything influencing one +had an immediate effect on the other. The gods dispensed happiness, +health, and vigour;* to those who made them large offerings and +instituted pious foundations, they lent their own weapons, and inspired +them with needful strength to overcome their enemies. They even came +down to assist in battle, and every great encounter of armies involved +an invisible struggle among the immortals. The gods of the side which +was victorious shared with it in the triumph, and received a tithe of +the spoil as the price of their help; the gods of the vanquished were +so much the poorer, their priests and their statues were reduced +to slavery, and the destruction of their people entailed their own +downfall. + + * I may here remind my readers of the numberless bas-reliefs + and stelae on which the king is represented as making an + offering to a god, who replies in some such formula as the + following: "I give thee health and strength;" or, "I give + thee joy and life for millions of years." + +It was, therefore, to the special interest of every one in Egypt, from +the Pharaoh to the humblest of his vassals, to maintain the good will +and power of the gods, so that their protection might be effectively +ensured in the hour of danger. Pains were taken to embellish their +temples with obelisks, colossi, altars, and bas-reliefs; new buildings +were added to the old; the parts threatened with ruin were restored or +entirely rebuilt; daily gifts were brought of every kind--animals which +were sacrificed on the spot, bread, flowers, fruit, drinks, as well +as perfumes, stuffs, vases, jewels, bricks or bars of gold, silver, +lapis-lazuli, which were all heaped up in the treasury within the +recesses of the crypts.* If a dignitary of high rank wished to +perpetuate the remembrance of his honours or his services, and at the +same time to procure for his double the benefit of endless prayers and +sacrifices, he placed "by special permission"** a statue of himself on a +votive stele in the part of the temple reserved for this purpose,--in +a courtyard, chamber, encircling passage, as at Karnak,*** or on +the staircase of Osiris as in that leading up to the terrace in the +sanctuary of Abydos; he then sealed a formal agreement with the priests, +by which the latter engaged to perform a service in his name, in front +of this commemorative monument, a stated number of times in the year, on +the days fixed by universal observance or by local custom. + + * See the "Poem of Pentaûîrît" for the grounds on which + Ramses II. bases his imperative appeal to Araon for help: + "Have I not made thee numerous offerings? I have filled thy + temple with my prisoners. I have built thee an everlasting + temple, and have not spared my wealth in endowing it for + thee; I lay the whole world under contribution in order to + stock thy domain.... I have built thee whole pylons in + stone, and have myself reared the flagstaffs which adorn + them; I have brought thee obelisks from Elephantine." + + ** The majority of the votive statues were lodged in a + temple "by special favour of a king "--em HOSÎtû nti KUÎr + sûton--as a recompense for services rendered. Some only of + the stelae bear an inscription to the above effect, no + authorization from the king was required for the + consecration of a stele in a temple. + + *** It was in the encircling passage of the limestone temple + built by the kings of the XIIth dynasty, and now completely + destroyed, that all the Karnak votive statues were + discovered. Some of them still rest on the stone ledge on + which they were placed by the priests of the god at the + moment of consecration. + +For this purpose he assigned to them annuities in kind, charges on his +patrimonial estates, or in some cases, if he were a great lord, on the +revenues of his fief,--such as a fixed quantity of loaves and drinks +for each of the celebrants, a fourth part of the sacrificial victim, +a garment, frequently also lands with their cattle, serfs, existing +buildings, farming implements and produce, along with the conditions +of service with which the lands were burdened. These gifts to the +god--"notir hotpûû"--were, it appears, effected by agreements analogous +to those dealing with property in mortmain in modern Egypt; in each +nome they constituted, in addition to the original temporalities of the +temple, a considerable domain, constantly enlarged by fresh endowments. +The gods had no daughters for whom to provide, nor sons among whom to +divide their inheritance; all that fell to them remained theirs for +ever, and in the contracts were inserted imprecations threatening with +terrible ills, in this world and the next, those who should abstract the +smallest portion from them. Such menaces did not always prevent the king +or the lords from laying hands on the temple revenues: had this not been +the case, Egypt would soon have become a sacerdotal country from one end +to the other. Even when reduced by periodic usurpations, the domain of +the gods formed, at all periods, about one-third of the whole country.* + + * The tradition handed down by Diodorus tells us that the + goddess Isis assigned a third of the country to the priests; + the whole of Egypt is said to have been divided into three + equal parts, the first of which belonged to the priests, the + second to the kings, and the third to the warrior class. + When we read, in the great Harris Papyrus, the list of the + property possessed by the temple of the Theban Amon alone, + all over Egypt, under Ramses III., we can readily believe + that the tradition of the Greek epoch in no way exaggerated + matters. + +Its administration was not vested in a single body of Priests, +representing the whole of Egypt and recruited or ruled everywhere in +the same fashion. There were as many bodies of priests as there were +temples, and every temple preserved its independent constitution with +which the clergy of the neighbouring temples had nothing to do: the +only master they acknowledged was the lord of the territory on which +the temple was built, either Pharaoh or one of his nobles. The tradition +which made Pharaoh the head of the different worships in Egypt* +prevailed everywhere, but Pharaoh soared too far above this world +to confine himself to the functions of any one particular order of +priests: he officiated before all the gods without being specially +the minister of any, and only exerted his supremacy in order to make +appointments to important sacerdotal posts in his domain.** + + * The only exception to this rule was in the case of the + Theban kings of the XXIst dynasty, and even here the + exception is more apparent than real. As a matter of fact, + these kings, Hrihor and Pinozmû, began by being high priests + of Amon before ascending the throne; they were pontiffs who + became Pharaohs, not Pharaohs who created themselves + pontiffs. Possibly we ought to place Smonkharî of the XIVth + dynasty in the same category, if, as Brugsch assures us, his + name, Mîr-mâshâù, is identical with the title of the high + priest of Osiris at Mendes, thus proving that he was pontiff + of Osiris in that town before he became king. + + ** Among other instances, we have that of the king of the + XXIst Tanite dynasty, who appointed Mankhopirrî, high priest + of the Theban Amon, and that of the last king of the same + dynasty, Psûsennes IL, who conferred the same office on + prince Aûpûti, son of Sheshonqû. The king's right of + nomination harmonized very well with the hereditary + transmission of the priestly office through members of the + same family, as we shall have occasion to show later on. + +He reserved the high priesthood of the Memphite Phtah and that of Râ of +Heliopolis either for the princes of his own family or more often for +his most faithful servants; they were the docile instruments of his +will, through whom he exerted the influence of the gods, and disposed +of their property without having the trouble of administrating it. The +feudal lords, less removed from mortal affairs than the Pharaoh, did not +disdain to combine the priesthood of the temples dependent on them with +the general supervision of the different worships practised on their +lands. The princes of the Gazelle nome, for instance, bore the title +of "Directors of the Prophets of all the Gods," but were, correctly +speaking, prophets of Horus, of Khnûmû master of Haoîrît, and of Pakhît +mistress of the Speos-Artemidos. The religious suzerainty of such +princes was the complement of their civil and military power, and their +ordinary income was augmented by some portion at least of the revenues +which the lands in mortmain furnished annually. The subordinate +sacerdotal functions were filled by professional priests whose status +varied according to the gods they served and the provinces in which they +were located. Although between the mere priest and the chief prophet +there were a number of grades to which the majority never attained, +still the temples attracted many people from divers sources, who, once +established in this calling of life, not only never left it, but never +rested until they had introduced into it the members of their families. +The offices they filled were not necessarily hereditary, but the +children, born and bred in the shelter of the sanctuary, almost always +succeeded to the positions of their fathers, and certain families thus +continuing in the same occupation for generations, at last came to be +established as a sort of sacerdotal nobility.* + + * We possess the coffins of the priests of the Theban Montû + for nearly thirty generations, viz. from the XXVth dynasty + to the time of the Ptolemies. The inscriptions give us their + genealogies, as well as their intermarriages, and show us + that they belonged almost exclusively to two or three + important families who intermarried with one another or took + their wives from the families of the priests of Amon. + +The sacrifices supplied them with daily meat and drink; the temple +buildings provided them with their lodging, and its revenues furnished +them with a salary proportionate to their position. They were exempted +from the ordinary taxes, from military service, and from forced labour; +it is not surprising, therefore, that those who were not actually +members of the priestly families strove to have at least a share in +their advantages. The servitors, the workmen and the _employés_ who +congregated about them and constituted the temple corporation, the +scribes attached to the administration of the domains, and to the +receipt of offerings, shared _de facto_ if not _de jure_ in the immunity +of the priesthood; as a body they formed a separate religious society, +side by side, but distinct from, the civil population, and freed from +most of the burdens which weighed so heavily on the latter. + +The soldiers were far from possessing the wealth and influence of the +clergy. Military service in Egypt was not universally compulsory, but +rather the profession and privilege of a special class of whose +origin but little is known. Perhaps originally it comprised only the +descendants of the conquering race, but in historic times it was not +exclusively confined to the latter, and recruits were raised everywhere +among the fellahs,* the Bedouin of the neighbourhood, the negroes,** +the Nubians,*** and even from among the prisoners of war, or adventurers +from beyond the sea.**** + + * This is shown, _inter alia,_ by the real or supposititious + letters in which the master-scribe endeavours to deter his + pupil from adopting a military career, recommending that of + a scribe in preference. + + ** Uni, under Papi I., recruited his army from among the + inhabitants of the whole of Egypt, from Elephantine to + Letopolis at the mouth of the Delta, and as far as the + Mediterranean, from among the Bedouin of Libya and of the + Isthmus, and even from the six negro races of Nubia + _(Inscription d'Ouni, 11. 14-19)_. + + *** The Nubian tribe of the Mâzaiû, afterwards known as the + Libyan tribe of the Mâshaûasha, furnished troops to the + Egyptian kings and princes for centuries; indeed, the Mâzaiû + formed such an integral part of the Egyptian armies that + their name came to be used in Coptic as a synonym for + soldier, under the form "matoï." + + **** Later on we shall come across the Shardana of the Royal + Guard under Ramses II. (E. de Rougé, _Extrait d'un mémoire + sur les attaques,_ p. 5); later still, the Ionians, Carians, + and Greek mercenaries will be found to play a decisive part + in the history of the Saïte dynasties. + +This motley collection of foreign mercenaries composed ordinarily the +body-guard of the king or of his barons, the permanent nucleus round +which in times of war the levies of native recruits were rallied. Every +Egyptian soldier received from the chief to whom he was attached, a +holding of land for the maintenance of himself and his family. In the +fifth century B.C. twelve _aruræ_ of arable land was estimated as ample +pay for each man,* and tradition attributes to the fabulous Sesostris +the law which fixed the pay at this rate. The soldiers were not taxed, +and were exempt from forced labour during the time that they were away +from home on active service; with this exception they were liable to the +same charges as the rest of the population. Many among them possessed +no other income, and lived the precarious life of the fellah,--tilling, +reaping, drawing water, and pasturing their cattle,--in the interval +between two musters. Others possessed of private fortunes let their +holdings out at a moderate rental, which formed an addition to their +patrimonial income.** + + * Herodotus, ii. 168. The arura being equal to 27.82 ares + [an are = 100 square metres], the military fief contained + 27*82 x 12 = 333.84 ares. [The "arura," according to F. L. + Griffith, was a square of 100 Egyptian cubits, making about + 3/5 of an acre, or 2600 square metres.--Trs.] The _chifliks_ + created by Mohammed-Ali, with a view to bringing the + abandoned districts into cultivation, allotted to each + labourer who offered to reclaim it, a plot of land varying + from one to three feddans, i.e. from 4200.83 square metres + to 12602.49 square metres, according to the nature of the + soil and the necessities of each family. The military fiefs + of ancient Egypt were, therefore, nearly three times as + great in extent as these _abadiyehs_, which were considered, + in modern Egypt, sufficient to supply the wants of a whole + family of peasants; they must, therefore, have secured not + merely a bare subsistence, but ample provision for their + proprietors. + + ** Diodorus Siculus says in so many words (i. 74) that "the + farmers spent their life in cultivating lands which had been + let to them at a moderate rent by the king, by the priests, + and _by the warriors_." + +Lest they should forget the conditions upon which they possessed this +military holding, and should regard themselves as absolute masters +of it, they were seldom left long in possession of the same place: +Herodotus asserts that their allotments were taken away-yearly and +replaced by others of equal extent. It is difficult to say if this law +of perpetual change was always in force; at any rate, it did not prevent +the soldiers from forming themselves in time into a kind of aristocracy, +which even kings and barons of highest rank could not ignore. They were +enrolled in special registers, with the indication of the holding which +was temporarily assigned to them. A military scribe kept this register +in every royal nome or principality. + +[Illustration: 092.jpg SOME OF THE MILITARY ATHLETIC EXERCISES] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a scene in the tomb of Amoni- + Amenemhâît at Beni-Hasan. + +He superintended the redistribution of the lands, the registration of +privileges, and in addition to his administrative functions, he had in +time of war the command of the troops furnished by his own district; in +which case he was assisted by a "lieutenant," who as opportunity offered +acted as his substitute in the office or on the battle-field. Military +service was not hereditary, but its advantages, however trifling they +may appear to us, seemed in the eyes of the fellahs so great, that +for the most part those who were engaged in it had their children also +enrolled. While still young the latter were taken to the barracks, where +they were taught not only the use of the bow, the battle-axe, the mace, +the lance, and the shield, but were all instructed in such exercises as +rendered the body supple, and prepared them for manoeuvring, regimental +marching, running, jumping, and wrestling either with closed or open +hand. They prepared themselves for battle by a regular war-dance, +pirouetting, leaping, and brandishing their bows and quivers in the +air. Their training being finished, they were incorporated into local +companies, and invested with their privileges. When they were required +for service, part or the whole of the class was mustered; arms kept in +the arsenal were distributed among them, and they were conveyed in boats +to the scene of action. The Egyptians were not martial by temperament; +they became soldiers rather from interest than inclination. + +The power of Pharaoh and his barons rested entirely upon these two +classes, the priests and the soldiers; the remainder, the commonalty and +the peasantry, were, in their hands, merely an inert mass, to be +taxed and subjected to forced labour at will. The slaves were probably +regarded as of little importance; the bulk of the people consisted of +free families who were at liberty to dispose of themselves and their +goods. Every fellah and townsman in the service of the king, or of +one of his great nobles, could leave his work and his village when +he pleased, could pass from the domain in which he was born into a +different one, and could traverse the country from one end to the other, +as the Egyptians of to-day still do. + +His absence entailed neither loss of goods, nor persecution of the +relatives he left behind, and he himself had punishment to fear only +when he left the Nile Valley without permission, to reside for some time +in a foreign land.* But although this independence and liberty were in +accordance with the laws and customs of the land, yet they gave rise to +inconveniences from which it was difficult to escape in practical life. +Every Egyptian, the King excepted, was obliged, in order to get on in +life, to depend on one more powerful than himself, whom he called his +master. The feudal lord was proud to recognize Pharaoh as his master, +and he himself was master of the soldiers and priests in his own petty +state. + + * The treaty between Ramses and the Prince of Khiti contains + a formal extradition clause in reference to Egyptians or + Hittites, who had quitted their native country, of course + without the permission of their sovereign. The two + contracting parties expressly stipulate that persons + extradited on one side or the other shall not be punished + for having emigrated, that their property is not to be + confiscated, nor are their families to be held responsible + for their flight. From this clause it follows that in + ordinary times unauthorized emigration brought upon the + culprit corporal punishment and the confiscation of his + goods, as well as various penalties on his family. The way + in which Sinûhît makes excuses for his flight, the fact of + his asking pardon before returning to Egypt, the very terms + of the letter in which the king recalls him and assures him + of impunity, show us that the laws against emigration were + in full force under the XIIth dynasty. + + ** The expressions which bear witness to this fact are very + numerous: Miri nîbûf = "He who loves his master;" Aqû hâîti + ni nîbûf = "He who enters into the heart of his master," etc. + They recur so frequently in the texts in the case of persons + of all ranks, that it was thought no importance ought to be + attached to them. But the constant repetition of the word + NIB, "master," shows that we must alter this view, and give + these phrases their full meaning. + +From the top to the bottom of the social scale every free man +acknowledged a master, who secured to him justice and protection in +exchange for his obedience and fealty. The moment an Egyptian tried to +withdraw himself from this subjection, the peace of his life was at +an end; he became a man without a master, and therefore without a +recognized protector.* + + * The expression, "a man without a master," occurs several + times in the _Berlin Papyrus_, No. ii. For instance, the + peasant who is the hero of the story, says of the lord + Mirûitensi, that he is "the rudder of heaven, the guide of + the earth, the balance which carries the offerings, the + buttress of tottering walls, the support of that which + falls, _the great master who takes whoever is without a + master_ to lavish on him the goods of his house, a jug of + beer and three loaves" each day. + +Any one might stop him on the way, steal his cattle, merchandise, or +property on the most trivial pretext, and if he attempted to protest, +might beat him with almost certain impunity. + +[Illustration: 095.jpg WAR-DANCE PERFORMED BY EGYPTIAN SOLDIERS BEFORE A +BATTLE] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the tomb of Khîti at Beni- + Hasan. These are soldiers of the nome of Gazelle. + +The only resource of the victim was to sit at the gate of the palace, +waiting to appeal for justice till the lord or the king should appear. +If by chance, after many rebuffs, his humble petition were granted, it +was only the beginning of fresh troubles. Even if the justice of the +cause were indisputable, the fact that he was a man without home or +master inspired his judges with an obstinate mistrust, and delayed the +satisfaction of his claims. In vain he followed his judges with his +complaints and flatteries, chanting their virtues in every key: "Thou +art the father of the unfortunate, the husband of the widow, the brother +of the orphan, the clothing of the motherless: enable me to proclaim +thy name as a law throughout the land. Good lord, guide without caprice, +great without littleness, thou who destroyest falsehood and causest +truth to be, come at the words of my mouth; I speak, listen and do +justice. O generous one, generous of the generous, destroy the cause of +my trouble; here I am, uplift me; judge me, for behold me a suppliant +before thee." If he were an eloquent speaker and the judge were inclined +to listen, he was willingly heard, but his cause made no progress, and +delays, counted on by his adversary, effected his ruin. The religious +law, no doubt, prescribed equitable treatment for all devotees of +Osiris, and condemned the slightest departure from justice as one of the +gravest sins, even in the case of a great noble, or in that of the +king himself; but how could impartiality be shown when the one was the +recognized protector, the "master" of the culprit, while the plaintiff +was a vagabond, attached to no one, "a man without a master"! + +The population of the towns included many privileged persons other than +the soldiers, priests, or those engaged in the service of the +temples. Those employed in royal or feudal administration, from the +"superintendent of the storehouse" to the humblest scribe, though +perhaps not entirely exempt from forced labour, had but a small part +of it to bear.* These _employés_ constituted a middle class of several +grades, and enjoyed a fixed income and regular employment: they were +fairly well educated, very self-satisfied, and always ready to declare +loudly their superiority over any who were obliged to gain their +living by manual labour. Each class of workmen recognized one or more +chiefs,--the shoemakers, their master-shoemakers, the masons, their +master-masons, the blacksmiths, their master-blacksmiths,--who +looked after their interests and represented them before the local +authorities.** + + * This is a fair inference from the indirect testimony of + the Letters: the writer, in enumerating the liabilities of + the various professions, implies by contrast that the scribe + (i.e. the _employé_ in general) is not subject to them, or + is subject to a less onerous share of them than others. The + beginning and end of the instructions of Khîti would in + themselves be sufficient to show us the advantages which the + middle classes under the XIIth dynasty believed they could + derive from adopting the profession of scribe. + + ** The stelæ of Abydos are very useful to those who desire + to study the populations of a small town. They give us the + names of the head-men of trades of all kinds; the head-mason + Didiû, the master-mason Aa, the master-shoemaker Kahikhonti, + the head-smiths Ûsirtasen-Ûati, Hotpû, Hot-pûrekhsû. + +It was said among the Greeks, that even robbers were united in a +corporation like the others, and maintained an accredited superior as +their representative with the police, to discuss the somewhat delicate +questions which the practice of their trade gave occasion to. When the +members of the association had stolen any object of value, it was +to this superior that the person robbed resorted, in order to regain +possession of it: it was he who fixed the amount required for its +redemption, and returned it without fail, upon the payment of this sum. +Most of the workmen who formed a state corporation, lodged, or at least +all of them had their stalls, in the same quarter or street, under the +direction of their chief. Besides the poll and the house tax, they were +subject to a special toll, a trade licence which they paid in products +of their commerce or industry.* + + * The registers (for the most part unpublished), which are + contained in European museums show us that fishermen paid in + fish, gardeners in flowers and vegetables, etc., the taxes + or tribute which they owed to their lords. In the great + inscription of Abydos the weavers attached to the temple of + Seti I. are stated to have paid their tribute in stuffs. + +[Illustration: 098.jpg TWO BLACKSMITHS WORKING THE BELLOWS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Rosellini, Monumenti Civili, + pl. 2 a. + +Their lot was a hard one, if we are to believe the description which +ancient writers have handed down to us: "I have never seen a blacksmith +on an embassy--nor a smelter sent on a mission--but what I have seen +is the metal worker at his toil,--at the mouth of the furnace of his +forge,--his fingers as rugged as the crocodile,--and stinking more than +fish-spawn.--The artisan of any kind who handles the chisel,--does not +employ so much movement as he who handles the hoe;* + + * The literal translation would be, "The artisan of all + kinds who handles the chisel is more motionless than he who + handles the hoe." Both here, and in several other passages + of this little satiric poem, I have been obliged to + paraphrase the text in order to render it intelligible to + the modern reader. + +[Illustration: 099.jpg STONE-CUTTERS FINISHING THE DRESSING OF LIMESTONE +BLOCKS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Rosellini, _Monumenti civili_, + pl. xlviii. 2. + +--but for him his fields are the timber, his business is the metal,--and +at night when the other is free,--he, he works with his hands over and +above what he has already done,--for at night, he works at home by the +lamp.--The stone-cutter who seeks his living by working in all kinds of +durable stone,--when at last he has earned something--and his two arms +are worn out, he stops;--but if at sunrise he remain sitting,--his legs +are tied to his back.* --The barber who shaves until the evening,--when +he falls to and eats, it is without sitting down** --while running from +street to street to seek custom;--if he is constant [at work] his two +arms fill his belly--as the bee eats in proportion to its toil.--Shall +I tell thee of the mason--how he endures misery?--Exposed to all the +winds--while he builds without any garment but a belt--and while the +bunch of lotus-flowers [which is fixed] on the [completed] houses--is +still far out of his reach,*** + + * This is an allusion to the cruel manner in which the + Egyptians were accustomed to bind their prisoners, as it + were in a bundle, with the legs bent backward along the back + and attached to the arms. The working-day commenced then, as + now, at sunrise, and lasted till sunset, with a short + interval of one or two hours at midday for the workmen's + dinner and siesta. + + ** Literally, "He places himself on his elbow." The metaphor + seems to me to be taken from the practice of the trade + itself: the barber keeps his elbow raised when shaving and + lowers it when he is eating. + + *** This passage is conjecturally translated. I suppose the + Egyptian masons had a custom analogous to that of our own, + and attached a bunch of lotus to the highest part of a + building they had just finished: nothing, however, has come + to light to confirm this conjecture. + +--his two arms are worn out with work; his provisions are placed +higgledy piggledy amongst his refuse,--he consumes himself, for he has +no other bread than his fingers--and he becomes wearied all at once.--He +is much and dreadfully exhausted--for there is [always] a block [to be +dragged] in this or that building,--a block of ten cubits by six,--there +is [always] a block [to be dragged] in this or that month [as far as +the] scaffolding poles [to which is fixed] the bunch of lotus-flowers +on the [completed] houses.--When the work is quite finished,--if he has +bread, he returns home,--and his children have been beaten unmercifully +[during his absence].--The weaver within doors is worse off there than +a woman;--squatting, his knees against his chest,--he does not +breathe.--If during the day he slackens weaving,--he is bound fast as +the lotuses of the lake;--and it is by giving bread to the doorkeeper, +that the latter permits him to see the light. + +[Illustration: 101.jpg A WORKSHOP OF SHOEMAKERS MANUFACTURING SANDALS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Champollion's _Monuments de + l'Êypte et de la Nubie_. This Picture belongs to the XVIIIth + dynasty; but the sandals in it are, however, quite like + those to be seen on more ancient monuments. + +The dyer, his fingers reeking--and their smell is that of +fish-spawn;--his two eyes are oppressed with fatigue,--his hand does not +stop,--and, as he spends his time in cutting out rags--he has a +hatred of garments.--The shoemaker is very unfortunate;--he moans +ceaselessly,--his health is the health of the spawning fish,--and he +gnaws the leather.--The baker makes dough,--subjects the loaves to the +fire;--while his head is inside the oven,--his son holds him by the +legs;--if he slips from the hands of his son,--he falls there into the +flames." These are the miseries inherent to the trades themselves: the +levying of the tax added to the catalogue a long sequel of vexations +and annoyances, which were renewed several times in the year at regular +intervals. + +[Illustration: 101.jpg THE BAKER MAKING HIS BREAD AND PLACING IT IN THE +OVEN] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the painted picture in one of + the small antechambers of the tomb of Ramses III., at Bab- + el-Molûk. + +Even at the present day, the fellah does not pay his contributions +except under protest and by compulsion, but the determination not to +meet obligations except beneath the stick, was proverbial from ancient +times: whoever paid his dues before he had received a merciless beating +would be overwhelmed with reproaches by his family, and jeered at +without pity by his neighbours. The time when the tax fell due, came +upon the nomes as a terrible crisis which affected the whole population. +For several days there was nothing to be heard but protestations, +threats, beating, cries of pain from the tax-payers, and piercing +lamentations from women and children. The performance over, calm was +re-established, and the good people, binding up their wounds, resumed +their round of daily life until the next tax-gathering. + +The towns of this period presented nearly the same confined and +mysterious appearance as those of the present day.* + + * I have had occasion to make "soundings" or excavations at + various points in very ancient towns and villages, at + Thebes, Abydos and Mataniyeh, and I give here a _résumé_ of + my observations. Professor Petrie has brought to light and + regularly explored several cities of the XIIth and XVIIIth + dynasties, situated at the entrance to the Fayûm. I have + borrowed many points in my description from the various + works which he has published on the subject, _Kahun, Gurob + and Hawara,_ 1890; and _Illahun, Kahun and Gurob_, 1891. + +[Illustration: 103.jpg THE HOUSE OF A GREAT EGYPTIAN LORD] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a water-colour by Boussac, _Le + Tombeau d'Anna_ in the _Mémoires de la Mission Française_. + The house was situated at Thebes, and belonged to the + XVIIIth dynasty. The remains of the houses brought to light + by Mariette at Abydos belong to the same type, and date back + to the XIIth dynasty. By means of these, Mariette was + enabled to reconstruct an ancient Egyptian house at the + Paris Exhibition of 1877. The picture of the tomb of Anna + reproduces in most respects, we may therefore assume, the + appearance of a nobleman's dwelling at all periods. At the + side of the main building we see two corn granaries with + conical roofs, and a great storehouse for provisions. + +They were grouped around one or more temples, each of which was +surrounded by its own brick enclosing wall, with its enormous gateways: +the gods dwelt there in real castles, or, if this word appears too +ambitious, redouts, in which the population could take refuge in cases +of sudden attack, and where they could be in safety. + +[Illustration: 104.jpg PLAN OF A PART OF THE ANCIENT TOWN OF KAHUN] + + From a plan made and published by Professor Flinders Petrie, + _Illahun, Kahun and Gurob_, pl. xiv. + + +The towns, which had all been built at one period by some king or +prince, were on a tolerably regular ground plan; the streets were paved +and fairly wide; they crossed each other at right angles, and were +bordered with buildings on the same line of frontage. The cities of +ancient origin, which had increased with the chance growth of centuries, +presented a totally different aspect. + +[Illustration: 105.jpg STELE OF SÎTÛ, REPRESENTING THE FRONT OF A HOUSE] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Emil Brugsch-Bey. The + monument is the stele of Sîtû (IVth dynasty), in the Gîzeh + Museum. + +A network of lanes and blind alleys, narrow, dark, damp, and badly +built, spread itself out between the houses, apparently at random: here +and there was an arm of a canal, all but dried up, or a muddy pool where +the cattle came to drink, and from which the women fetched the water for +their households; then followed an open space of irregular shape, shaded +by acacias or sycamores, where the country-folk of the suburbs held +their market on certain days, twice or thrice a month; then came +waste ground covered with filth and refuse, over which the dogs of +the neighbourhood fought with hawks and vultures. The residence of +the prince or royal governor, and the houses of rich private persons, +covered a considerable area, and generally presented to the street a +long extent of bare walls, crenellated like those of a fortress: the +only ornament admitted on them consisted of angular grooves, each +surmounted by two open lotus flowers having their stems intertwined. + +[Illustration: 106.jpg A STREET IN THE HIGHER QUARTER OF MODERN SIÛT] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph, taken in 1884, by Emil + Brugsch-Bey. + +Within these walls domestic life was entirely secluded, and as it were +confined to its own resources; the pleasure of watching passers-by was +sacrificed to the advantage of not being seen from outside. The entrance +alone denoted at times the importance of the great man who concealed +himself within the enclosure. Two or three steps led up to the door, +which sometimes had a columned portico, ornamented with statues, lending +an air of importance to the building. The houses of the citizens were +small, and built of brick; they contained, however, some half-dozen +rooms, either vaulted, or having flat roofs, and communicating with each +other usually by arched doorways. + +[Illustration: 107.jpg A HALL WITH COLUMNS IN ONE OF THE XIIth DYNASTY +HOUSES AT GUROB] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch by Professor Petrie, + _Elahun, Kahun and Gurob_, pl. xvi. 3. + +A few houses boasted of two or three stories; all possessed a terrace, +on which the Egyptians of old, like those of to-day, passed most +of their time, attending to household cares or gossiping with their +neighbours over the party wall or across the street. The hearth was +hollowed out in the ground, usually against a wall, and the smoke +escaped through a hole in the ceiling: they made their fires of sticks, +wood charcoal, and the dung of oxen and asses. In the houses of the +rich we meet with state apartments, lighted in the centre by a square +opening, and supported by rows of wooden columns; the shafts, which were +octagonal, measured ten inches in diameter, and were fixed into flat +circular stone bases. + +[Illustration: 108a.jpg WOODEN HEAD-REST] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a head-rest in my possession + obtained at Gebelên (XIth dynasty): the foot of the head- + rest is usually solid, and cut out of a single piece of + wood. + +[Illustration: 108b.jpg PIGEON ON WHEELS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch by Petrie, _Hawara, + Biahmu, and Arsinoe_, pl. xiii. 21. The original, of rough + wood, is now in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. + +The family crowded themselves together into two or three rooms in +winter, and slept on the roof in the open air in summer, in spite of +risk from affections of the stomach and eyes; the remainder of the +dwelling was used for stables or warehouses. The store-chambers +were often built in pairs; they were of brick, carefully limewashed +internally, and usually assumed the form of an elongated cone, in +imitation of the Government storehouses. For the valuables which +constituted the wealth of each household--wedges of gold or silver, +precious stones, ornaments for men or women--there were places of +concealment, in which the possessors attempted to hide them from robbers +or from the tax-collectors. But the latter, accustomed to the craft of +the citizens, evinced a peculiar aptitude for ferreting out the hoard: +they tapped the walls, lifted and pierced the roofs, dug down into the +soil below the foundations, and often brought to light, not only the +treasure of the owner, but all the surroundings of the grave and human +corruption. It was actually the custom, among the lower and middle +classes, to bury in the middle of the house children who had died at the +breast. The little body was placed in an old tool or linen box, without +any attempt at embalming, and its favourite playthings and amulets were +buried with it: two or three infants are often found occupying the same +coffin. The playthings were of an artless but very varied character; +dolls of limestone, enamelled pottery or wood, with movable arms and +wigs of artificial hair; pigs, crocodiles, ducks, and pigeons on wheels, +pottery boats, miniature sets of household furniture, skin balls filled +with hay, marbles, and stone bowls. However, strange it may appear, we +have to fancy the small boys of ancient Egypt as playing at bowls +like ours, or impudently whipping their tops along the streets without +respect for the legs of the passers-by. + +[Illustration: 109.jpg APPARATUS FOR STRIKING A LIGHT] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch published in Fl. + Petrie, _Illahun, Kdhun and Gurob,_ pl. vii. The bow is + represented in the centre; on the left, at the top, is the + nut; below it the fire-stick, which was attached to the end + of the stock; at the bottom and right, two pieces of wood + with round carbonized holes, which took fire from the + friction of the rapidly rotating stick. + +Some care was employed upon the decoration of the chambers. The +rough-casting of mud often preserves its original grey colour; +sometimes, however, it was limewashed, and coloured red or yellow, or +decorated with pictures of jars, provisions, and the interiors as well +as the exteriors of houses. + +[Illustration: 110.jpg MITRAL PAINTINGS IN THE RUINS OF AN ANCIENT HOUSE +AT KAHUN] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the facsimile in Petrie's + _Illahun, Kahun and Gurob_, pl. xvi. 6. + +The bed was not on legs, but consisted of a low framework, like the +"angarebs" of the modern Nubians, or of mats which were folded up in the +daytime, but upon which they lay in their clothes during the night, the +head being supported by a head-rest of pottery, limestone, or wood: the +remaining articles of furniture consisted of one or two roughly hewn +seats of stone, a few lion-legged chairs or stools, boxes and trunks +of varying sizes for linen and implements, kohl, or perfume, pots of +ababaster or porcelain, and lastly, the fire-stick with the bow by which +it was set in motion, and some roughly made pots and pans of clay or +bronze. + +[Illustration: 111.jpg WOMAN GRINDING GRAIN] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Béchard (cf. + Mariette, _Alburn photographique du Musée de Boulaq_, pl. + 20; Maspero, _Guide du Visiteur_, P- 220, Nos. 1012, 1013). + +Men rarely entered their houses except to eat and sleep; their +employments or handicrafts were such as to require them for the most +part to work out-of-doors. The middle-class families owned, almost +always, one or two slaves--either purchased or born in the house--who +did all the hard work: they looked after the cattle, watched over the +children, acted as cooks, and fetched water from the nearest pool or +well. Among the poor the drudgery of the household fell entirely upon +the woman. She spun, wove, cut out and mended garments, fetched fresh +water and provisions, cooked the dinner, and made the daily bread. She +spread some handfuls of grain upon an oblong slab of stone, slightly +hollowed on its upper surface, and proceeded to crush them with a +smaller stone like a painter's muller, which she moistened from time to +time. For an hour and more she laboured with her arms, shoulders, loins, +in fact, all her body; but an indifferent result followed from the great +exertion. The flour, made to undergo several grindings in this rustic +mortar, was coarse, uneven, mixed with bran, or whole grains, which had +escaped the pestle, and contaminated with dust and abraded particles +of the stone. She kneaded it with a little water, blended with it, as a +sort of yeast, a piece of stale dough of the day before, and made from +the mass round cakes, about half an inch thick and some four inches in +diameter, which she placed upon a flat flint, covering them with hot +ashes. The bread, imperfectly raised, often badly cooked, borrowed, from +the organic fuel under which it was buried, a special odour, and a taste +to which strangers did not readily accustom themselves. The impurities +which it contained were sufficient in the long run to ruin the strongest +teeth; eating it was an action of grinding rather than chewing, and old +men were not unfrequently met with whose teeth had been gradually worn +away to the level of the gums, like those of an aged ass or ox.* + + * The description of the woman grinding grain and kneading + dough is founded on statues in the Gîzeh Museum. All the + European museums possess numerous specimens of the bread in + question, and the effect which it produces in the long run + on the teeth of those who habitually used it as an article + of diet, has been observed in mummies of the most important + personages. + +Movement and animation were not lacking at certain hours of the day, +particularly during the morning, in the markets and in the neighbourhood +of the temples and government buildings: there was but little traffic +anywhere else; the streets were silent, and the town dull and sleepy. It +woke up completely only three or four times a year, at seasons of solemn +assemblies "of heaven and earth:" the houses were then opened and their +inhabitants streamed forth, the lively crowd thronging the squares and +crossways. To begin with, there was New Year's Day, quickly followed +by the Festival of the Bead, the "Ûagaît." On the night of the 17th +of Thot, the priests kindled before the statues in the sanctuaries and +sepulchral chapels, the fire for the use of the gods and doubles during +the twelve ensuing months. Almost at the same moment the whole country +was lit up from one end to the other: there was scarcely a family, +however poor, who did not place in front of their door a new lamp in +which burned an oil saturated with salt, and who did not spend the whole +night in feasting and gossiping.* + + * The night of the 17th Thot--which, according to our + computation, would be the night of the 16th to the 17th + --was, as may be seen from the Great Inscription of Siût, + appointed for the ceremony of "lighting the fire" before the + statues of the dead and of the gods. As at the "Feast of + Lamps" + + + +The festivals of the living gods attracted considerable crowds, who +came not only from the nearest nomes, but also from great distances in +caravans and in boats laden with merchandise, for religious sentiment +did not exclude commercial interests, and the pilgrimage ended in a +fair. + +[Illustration: 114.jpg TWO WOMEN WEAVING LINEN AT A HORIZANTAL LOOM] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a picture on the tomb of Khnûm- + hotpû at Beni-Hasan. This is the loom which was + reconstructed in 1889 for the Paris Exhibition, and which is + now to be seen in the galleries of the Trocadero. + +For several days the people occupied mentioned by Herodotus, the +religious ceremony was accompanied by a general illumination which +lasted all the night; the object of this, probably, was to facilitate +the visit which the souls of the dead were supposed to pay at this time +to the family residence themselves solely in prayers, sacrifices, and +processions, in which the faithful, clad in white, with palms in their +hands, chanted hymns as they escorted the priests on their way. "The +gods of heaven exclaim 'Ah! ah! 'in satisfaction, the inhabitants of +the earth are full of gladness, the Hâthors beat their tabors, the great +ladies wave their mystic whips, all those who are gathered together in +the town are drunk with wine and crowned with flowers; the tradespeople +of the place walk joyously about, their heads scented with perfumed +oils, all the children rejoice in honour of the goddess, from the rising +to the setting of the sun."* + + * The people of Dendera crudely enough called this the + "Feast of Drunkenness." From what we know of the earlier + epochs, we are justified in making this description a + general one, and in applying it, as I have done here, to the + festivals of other towns besides Dendera. + +The nights were as noisy as the days: for a few hours, they made up +energetically for long months of torpor and monotonous existence. The +god having re-entered the temple and the pilgrims taken their departure, +the regular routine was resumed and dragged on its tedious course, +interrupted only by the weekly market. At an early hour on that day, +the peasant folk came in from the surrounding country in an interminable +stream, and installed themselves in some open space, reserved from time +immemorial for their use. The sheep, geese, goats, and large-horned +cattle were grouped in the centre, awaiting purchasers. +Market-gardeners, fishermen, fowlers and gazelle-hunters, potters, and +small tradesmen, squatted on the roadsides or against the houses, and +offered their wares for the inspection of their customers, heaped up +in reed baskets, or piled on low round tables: vegetables and fruits, +loaves or cakes baked during the night, meat either raw or cooked in +various ways, stuffs, perfumes, ornaments,--all the necessities and +luxuries of daily life. It was a good opportunity for the workpeople, as +well as for the townsfolk, to lay in a store of provisions at a cheaper +rate than from the ordinary shops; and they took advantage of it, each +according to his means. + +Business was mostly carried on by barter. The purchasers brought with +them some product of their toil--a new tool, a pair of shoes, a reed +mat, pots of unguents or cordials; often, too, rows of cowries and +a small box full of rings, each weighing a "tabnû," made of copper, +silver, or even gold, all destined to be bartered for such things as +they needed. When it came to be a question of some large animal or of +objects of considerable value, the discussions which arose were keen and +stormy: it was necessary to be agreed not only as to the amount, but +as to the nature of the payment to be made, and to draw up a sort of +invoice, or in fact an inventory, in which beds, sticks, honey, oil, +pick-axes, and garments, all figure as equivalents for a bull or +a she-ass. Smaller retail bargains did not demand so many or such +complicated calculations. Two townsfolk stop for a moment in front of +a fellah who offers onions and corn in a basket for sale. The first +appears to possess no other circulating medium than two necklaces +made of glass beads or many-coloured enamelled terra-cotta; the other +flourishes about a circular fan with a wooden handle, and one of those +triangular contrivances used by cooks for blowing up the fire. "Here is +a fine necklace which will suit you," cries the former, "it is just what +you are wanting;" while the other breaks in with: "Here is a fan and a +ventilator." The fellah, however, does not let himself be disconcerted +by this double attack, and proceeding methodically, he takes one of the +necklaces to examine it at his leisure: "Give it to me to look at, +that I may fix the price." The one asks too much, the other offers too +little; after many concessions, they at last come to an agreement, +and settle on the number of onions or the quantity of grain which +corresponds exactly with the value of the necklace or the fan. A little +further on, a customer wishes to get some perfumes in exchange for a +pair of sandals, and conscientiously praises his wares: "Here," says +he, "is a strong pair of shoes." But the merchant has no wish to be shod +just then, and demands a row of cowries for his little pots: "You have +merely to take a few drops of this to see how delicious it is," he urges +in a persuasive tone. A seated customer has two jars thrust under his +nose by a woman--they probably contain some kind of unguent: "Here is +something which smells good enough to tempt you." Behind this group two +men are discussing the relative merits of a bracelet and a bundle of +fish-hooks; a woman, with a small box in her hand, is having an argument +with a merchant selling necklaces; another woman seeks to obtain a +reduction in the price of a fish which is being scraped in front of her. +Exchanging commodities for metal necessitated two or three operations +not required in ordinary barter. The rings or thin bent strips of metal +which formed the "tabnû" and its multiples,* did not always contain the +regulation amount of gold or silver, and were often of light weight. + + * The rings of gold in the Museum at Leyden, which were used + as a basis of exchange, are made on the Chaldæo-Babylonian + pattern, and belong to the Asiatic system. + +[Illustration: 118.jpg one of the forms of egyptian scales] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, after a sketch by Rosellini + +They had to be weighed at every fresh transaction in order to estimate +their true value, and the interested parties never missed this excellent +opportunity for a heated discussion: after having declared for a quarter +of an hour that the scales were out of order, that the weighing had been +carelessly performed, and that it should be done over again, they at +last came to terms, exhausted with wrangling, and then went their way +fairly satisfied with one another.* It sometimes happened that a clever +and unscrupulous dealer would alloy the rings, and mix with the precious +metal as much of a baser sort as would be possible without danger of +detection. The honest merchant who thought he was receiving in payment +for some article, say eight tabnû of fine gold, and who had handed to +him eight tabnû of some alloy resembling gold, but containing one-third +of silver, lost in a single transaction, without suspecting it, almost +one-third of his goods. The fear of such counterfeits was instrumental +in restraining the use of tabnû for a long time among the people, and +restricted the buying and selling in the markets to exchange in natural +products or manufactured objects. + + * The weighing of rings is often represented on the + monuments from the XVIIIth dynasty onwards. I am not + acquainted with any instance of this on the bas-reliefs of + the Ancient Empire. The giving of false weight is alluded to + in the paragraph in the "Negative Confession," in which the + dead man declares that he has not interfered with the beam + of the scales (cf. vol. i. p. 271) _civili,_ pl. lii. 1. As + to the construction of the Egyptian scales, and the working + of their various parts, see Flinders Petrie's remarks in _A + Season in Egypt_, P- 42, and the drawings which he has + brought together on pl. xx. of the same work. + + +[Illustration: 118b.jpg SCENES IN A BAZAAR] + +We must, perhaps, agree with Fr. Lenormant, in his conclusion that the +only kind of national metal of exchange in use in Egypt was a copper +wire or plate bent thus [--]. this being the sign invariably used in the +hieroglyphics in writing the word _tàbnû_. + +The present rural population of Egypt scarcely ever live in isolated +and scattered farms; they are almost all concentrated in hamlets and +villages of considerable extent, divided into quarters often at some +distance from each other. The same state of things existed in ancient +times, and those who would realize what a village in the past was +like, have only to visit any one of the modern market towns scattered +at intervals along the valley of the Nile:--half a dozen fairly built +houses, inhabited by the principal people of the place; groups of brick +or clay cottages thatched with durra stalks, so low that a man standing +upright almost touches the roof with his head; courtyards filled with +tall circular mud-built sheds, in which the corn and durra for the +household is carefully stored, and wherever we turn, pigeons, ducks, +geese, and animals all living higgledly-piggledly with the family. The +majority of the peasantry were of the lower class, but they were not +everywhere subjected to the same degree of servitude. The slaves, +properly so called, came from other countries; they had been bought from +foreign merchants, or they had been seized in a raid and had lost their +liberty by the fortune of war.* Their master removed them from place +to place, sold them, used them as he pleased, pursued them if they +succeeded in escaping, and had the right of recapturing them as soon as +he received information of their whereabouts. They worked for him under +his overseer's orders, receiving no regular wages, and with no hope of +recovering their liberty.** + + * The first allusion to prisoners of war brought back to + Egypt, is found in the biography of Uni. The method in which + they were distributed among the officers and soldiers is + indicated in several inscriptions of the New Empire, in that + of Ahmosis Pannekhabît, in that of Ahmosis si-Abîna, where + one of the inscriptions contains a list of slaves, some of + whom are foreigners, in that of Amenemhabi. We may form + some idea of the number of slaves in Egypt from the fact + that in thirty years Ramses III. presented 113,433 of them + to the temples alone. The "Directors of the Royal Slaves," + at all periods, occupied an important position at the court + of the Pharaohs. + + ** A scene reproduced by Lepsius shows us, about the time of + the VIth dynasty, the harvest gathered by the "royal slaves" + in concert with the tenants of the dead man. One of the + petty princes defeated by the Ethiopian Piônkhi Miamûn + proclaims himself to be "one of the royal slaves who pay + tribute in kind to the royal treasury." Amten repeatedly + mentions slaves of this kind, "sûtiû." + +Many chose concubines from their own class, or intermarried with the +natives and had families: at the end of two or three generations their +descendants became assimilated with the indigenous race, and were +neither more nor less than actual serfs attached to the soil, who were +made over or exchanged with it.* The landed proprietors, lords, kings, +or gods, accommodated this population either in the outbuildings +belonging to their residences, or in villages built for the purpose, +where everything belonged to them, both houses and people. + + * This is the status of serfs, or _mirîtiû,_ as shown in the + texts of every period. They are mentioned along with the + fields or cattle attached to a temple or belonging to a + noble. Ramses II. granted to the temple of Abydos "an + appanage in cultivated lands, in serfs (_mirîtiû_), in + cattle." The scribe Anna sees in his tomb "stalls of bulls, + of oxen, of calves, of milch cows, as well as serfs, in the + mortmain of Amon." Ptolemy I. returned to the temple at Bûto + "the domains, the boroughs, the serfs, the tillage, the + water supply, the cattle, the geese, the flocks, all the + things" which Xerxes had taken away from Kabbisha. The + expression passed into the language, as a word used to + express the condition of a subject race: "I cause," said + Thûtmosis III., "Egypt to be a sovereign (_hirît_) to whom + all the earth is a slave" (_mirîtû_). + +[Illustration: 123.jpg PART OF THE MODERN VILLAGE OF KARNAK, TO THE WEST +OF THE TEMPLE OF APÎT] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Beato, taken in 1886. + +The condition of the free agricultural labourer was in many respects +analogous to that of the modern fellah. Some of them possessed no other +property than a mud cabin, just large enough for a man and his wife, +and hired themselves out by the day or the year as farm servants. Others +were emboldened to lease land from the lord or from a soldier in the +neighbourhood. The most fortunate acquired some domain of which they +were supposed to receive only the product, the freehold of the property +remaining primarily in the hands of the Pharaoh, and secondarily in +that of lay or religious feudatories who held it of the sovereign: they +could, moreover, bequeath, give, or sell these lands and buy fresh ones +without any opposition. They paid, besides the capitation tax, a ground +rent proportionate to the extent of their property, and to the kind of +land of which it consisted.* + + * The capitation tax, the ground rent, and the house duty of + the time of the Ptolemies, already existed under the rule of + the native Pharaohs. Brugsch has shown that these taxes are + mentioned in an inscription of the time of Ameuôthes III. + +It was not without reason that all the ancients attributed the invention +of geometry to the Egyptians. The perpetual encroachments of the Nile +and the displacements it occasioned, the facility with which it effaced +the boundaries of the fields, and in one summer modified the whole face +of a nome, had forced them from early times to measure with the greatest +exactitude the ground to which they owed their sustenance. The territory +belonging to each town and nome was subjected to repeated surveys made +and co-ordinated by the Royal Administration, thus enabling Pharaoh +to know the exact area of his estates. The unit of measurement was the +arura; that is to say, a square of a hundred cubits, comprising in +round numbers twenty-eight ares.* A considerable staff of scribes and +surveyors was continually occupied in verifying the old measurements +or in making fresh ones, and in recording in the State registers any +changes which might have taken place.** Each estate had its boundaries +marked out by a line of stelas which frequently bore the name of the +tenant at the time, and the date when the landmarks were last fixed.*** + + * [One "are" equals 100 square metres.--Tr.] + + ** We learn from the expressions employed in the great + inscription of Beni-Hasan (11. 13--58, 131-148) that the + cadastral survey had existed from the very earliest times; + there are references in it to previous surveys. We find a + surveying scene on the tomb of Zosirkerîsonbû at Thebes, + under the XVIIIth dynasty. Two persons are measuring a field + of wheat by means of a cord; a third notes down the result + of their work. + + *** The great inscription of Beni-Hasan tells us of the + stelæ which bounded the principality of the Gazelle on the + North and South, and of those in the plain which marked the + northern boundary of the nome of the Jackal; we also possess + three other stelo which were used by Amenôthes IV. to + indicate the extreme limits of his new city of Khûtniaton. + In addition to the above stele, we also know of two others + belonging to the XIIth dynasty which marked the boundaries + of a private estate, and which are reproduced, one on plate + 106, the other in the text of _Monuments divers_, p. 30; + also the stele of Bûhani under Thûtmosis IV. + +[Illustration: 125.jpg a boundary stele] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph given by Mariette, + Monuments divers, pl. 47 a. The stele marked the boundary of + the estate given to a priest of the Theban Amon by Pharaoh + Thûtmosis IV. of the XVIIIth dynasty. The original is now in + the Museum at Gizeh. + +Once set up, the stele received a name which gave it, as it were, a +living and independent personality. It sometimes recorded the nature +of the soil, its situation, or some characteristic which made it +remarkable--the "Lake of the South," the "Eastern Meadow," the "Green +Island," the "Fisher's Pool," the "Willow Plot," the "Vineyard," the +"Vine Arbour," the "Sycamore;" sometimes also it bore the name of +the first master or the Pharaoh under whom it had been erected--the +"Nurse-Phtahhotpû," the "Verdure-Kheops," the "Meadow-Didifrî," the +"Abundance-Sahûri," "Khafri-Great-among-the Doubles." Once given, the +name clung to it for centuries, and neither sales, nor redistributions, +nor revolutions, nor changes of dynasty, could cause it to be forgotten. +The officers of the survey inscribed it in their books, together with +the name of the proprietor, those of the owners of adjoining lands, +and the area and nature of the ground. They noted down, to within a +few cubits, the extent of the sand, marshland, pools, canals, groups +of palms, gardens or orchards, vineyards and cornfields,* which it +contained. + + * See in the great inscription of Beni-Hasan the passage in + which are enumerated at full length, in a legal document, + the constituent parts of the principality of the Gazelle, + "its watercourses, its fields, its trees, its sands, from + the river to the mountain of the West" (11. 46-53). + +The cornland in its turn was divided into several classes, according to +whether it was regularly inundated, or situated above the highest rise +of the water, and consequently dependent on a more or less costly system +of artificial irrigation. All this was so much information of which the +scribes took advantage in regulating the assessment of the land-tax. + +Everything tends to make us believe that this tax represented one-tenth +of the gross produce, but the amount of the latter varied. It depended +on the annual rise of the Nile, and it followed the course of it with +almost mathematical exactitude: if there were too much or too little +water, it was immediately lessened, and might even be reduced to nothing +in extreme cases. The king in his capital and the great lords in their +fiefs had set up nilo-meters, by means of which, in the critical weeks, +the height of the rising or subsiding flood was taken daily. Messengers +carried the news of it over the country: the people, kept regularly +informed of what was happening, soon knew what kind of season to expect, +and they could calculate to within very little what they would have to +pay. In theory, the collecting of the tax was based on the actual amount +of land covered by the water, and the produce of it was constantly +varying. In practice it was regulated by taking the average of preceding +years, and deducting from that a fixed sum, which was never departed +from except in extraordinary circumstances.* + + * We know that this was so, in so far as the Roman period is + concerned, from a passage in the edict of Tiberius + Alexander. The practice was such a natural one, that I have + no hesitation in tracing it back to the time of the Ancient + Empire; repeatedly condemned as a piece of bad + administration, it reappeared continually. At Beni-Hasan, + the nomarch Amoni boasts that, "when there had been abundant + Niles, and the owners of wheat and barley crops had thriven, + he had not increased the rate of the land-tax," which seems + to indicate that, so far as he was concerned, he had fixed + the tax to pay his dues without difficulty. + +[Illustration: 128.jpg THE LEVYING OF THE TAX: THE TAXPAYER IN THE +SCRIBE'S OFFICE] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a picture at Beni-Hasan. This + picture and those which follow it represent a census in the + principality of the Gazelle under the XIIth dynasty as well + as the collection of a tax. + +The year would have to be a very bad one before the authorities would +lower the ordinary rate: the State in ancient times was not more willing +to deduct anything from its revenue than the modern State would be.* + + * The two decrees of Rosetta and of Canopus, however, + mention reductions granted by the Ptolemies after an + insufficient rise of the Nile. + +The payment of taxes was exacted in wheat, durra, beans, and field +produce, which were stored in the granaries of the nome. It would seem +that the previous deduction of one-tenth of the gross amount of the +harvest could not be a heavy burden, and that the wretched fellah ought +to have been in a position on land at a permanent figure, based on the +average of good and bad harvests. + +It was not so, however, and the same writers who have given us such a +lamentable picture of the condition of the workmen in the towns, have +painted for us in even darker colours the miseries which overwhelmed the +country people. "Dost thou not recall the picture of the farmer, when +the tenth of his grain is levied? Worms have destroyed half of the +wheat, and the hippopotami have eaten the rest; there are swarms of rats +in the fields, the grasshoppers alight there, the cattle devour, the +little birds pilfer, and if the farmer lose sight for an instant of +what remains upon the ground, it is carried off by robbers;* the thongs, +moreover, which bind the iron and the hoe are worn out, and the team has +died at the plough. It is then that the scribe steps out of the boat at +the landing-place to levy the tithe, and there come the keepers of +the doors of the granary with cudgels and the negroes with ribs of +palm-leaves, who come crying: 'Come now, corn!' There is none, and they +throw the cultivator full length upon the ground; bound, dragged to the +canal, they fling him in head first;** his wife is bound with him, his +children are put into chains; the neighbours, in the mean time, leave +him and fly to save their grain." + + * This last danger survives even to the present day. During + part of the year the fellahîn spend the night in their + fields; if they did not see to it, their neighbours would + not hesitate to come and cut their wheat before the harvest, + or root up their vegetables while still immature. + + ** The same kind of torture is mentioned in the decree of + Harmhabi, in which the lawless soldiery are represented as + "running from house to house, dealing blows right and left + with their sticks, ducking the fellahîn head downwards in + the water, and not leaving one of them with a whole skin." + This treatment was still resorted to in Egypt not long ago, + in order to extract money from those taxpayers whom beatings + had failed to bring to reason. + +One might be tempted to declare that the picture is too dark a one to be +true, did one not know from other sources of the brutal ways of filling +the treasury which Egypt has retained even to the present day. In the +same way as in the town, the stick facilitated the operations of the +tax-collector in the country: it quickly opened the granaries of the +rich, it revealed resources to the poor of which he had been ignorant, +and it only failed in the case of those who had really nothing to give. +Those who were insolvent were not let off even when they had been more +than half killed: they and their families were sent to prison, and they +had to work out in forced labour the amount which they had failed to pay +in current merchandise.* + + * This is evident from a passage in the _Sallier Papyrus n° + I_, quoted above, in which we see the taxpayer in fetters, + dragged out to clean the canals, his whole family, wife and + children, accompanying him in bonds. + +[Illustration: 130.jpg LEVYING THE TAX: THE TAXPAYER IN THE HANDS OF THE +EXACTORS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a picture on the tomb of Khîti + at Beni-Hasan (cf. Champollion, _Monuments de l'Egypte_, pl. + cccxc. 4; Rosellini, _Monumenti civili_, pl. cxxiv. b). + +The collection of the taxes was usually terminated by a rapid revision +of the survey. The scribe once more recorded the dimensions and +character of the domain lands in order to determine afresh the amount +of the tax which should be imposed upon them. It often happened, indeed, +that, owing to some freak of the Nile, a tract of ground which had been +fertile enough the preceding year would be buried under a gravel bed, or +transformed into a marsh. The owners who thus suffered were allowed an +equivalent deduction; as for the farmers, no deductions of the burden +were permitted in their case, but a tract equalling in value that of the +part they had lost was granted to them out of the royal or seignorial +domain, and their property was thus made up to its original worth. + +[Illustration: 131.jpg LEVYING THE TAX: THE BASTINADO] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a picture on the tomb of Khîti + at Beni-Hasan. + +What the collection of the taxes had begun was almost always brought +to a climax by the _corvées_. However numerous the royal and seignorial +slaves might have been, they were insufficient for the cultivation of +all the lands of the domains, and a part of Egypt must always have lain +fallow, had not the number of workers been augmented by the addition of +those who were in the position of freemen. + +This excess of cultivable land was subdivided into portions of equal +dimensions, which were distributed among the inhabitants of neighbouring +villages by the officers of a "regent" nominated for that purpose. Those +dispensed from agricultural service were--the destitute, soldiers on +service and their families, certain _employés_ of the public works, and +servitors of the temple;* all other country-folk without exception +had to submit to it, and one or more portions were allotted to each, +according to his capabilities.** Orders issued at fixed periods called +them together, themselves, their servants and their beasts of burden, to +dig, sow, keep watch in the fields while the harvest was proceeding, to +cut and carry the crops, the whole work being done at their own expense +and to the detriment of their own interests.*** + + * That the scribes, i.e. the employés of the royal or + princely government, were exempt from enforced labour, is + manifest from the contrast drawn by the letter-writers of + the Sallier and Anastasi Papyri between themselves and the + peasants, or persons belonging to other professions who were + liable to it. The circular of Dorion defines the classes of + soldiers who were either temporarily or permanently exempt + under the Greek kings. + + ** Several fragments of the Turin papyri contain memoranda + of enforced labour performed on behalf of the temples, and + of lists of persons liable to be called on for such labour. + + *** All these details are set forth in the Ptolemaic period, + in the letter to Dorion which refers to a royal edict. As + Signor Lumbroso has well remarked, the Ptolemies merely + copied exactly the misdeeds of the old native governments. + Indeed, we come across frequent allusions to the enforced + labour of men and beasts in inscriptions of the Middle + Empire at Beni-Hasan or at Siût; many of the pictures on the + Memphite tombs show bands of such labourers at work in the + fields of the great landowners or of the king. + +[Illustration: 132.jpg COLLOSAL STATUE OF A KING] + +As a sort of indemnity, a few allotments were left uncultivated for +their benefit; to these they sent their flocks after the subsidence of +the inundation, for the pasturage on them was so rich that the sheep +were doubly productive in wool and offspring. This was a mere apology +for a wage: the forced labour for the irrigation brought them no +compensation. The dykes which separate the basins, and the network +of canals for distributing the water and irrigating the land, demand +continual attention: every year some need strengthening, others +re-excavating or cleaning out. The men employed in this work pass whole +days standing in the water, scraping up the mud with both hands in order +to fill the baskets of platted leaves, which boys and girls lift on to +their heads and carry to the top of the bank: the semi-liquid contents +ooze through the basket, trickle over their faces and soon coat their +bodies with a black shining mess, disgusting even to look at. Sheikhs +preside over the work, and urge it on with abuse and blows. When the +gangs of workmen had toiled all day, with only an interval of two hours +about noon for a siesta and a meagre pittance of food, the poor wretches +slept on the spot, in the open air, huddled one against another and but +ill protected by their rags from the chilly nights. The task was so hard +a one, that malefactors, bankrupts, and prisoners of war were condemned +to it; it wore out so many hands that the free peasantry were scarcely +ever exempt. Having returned to their homes, they were not called until +the next year to any established or periodic _corvée_, but many an +irregular one came and surprised them in the midst of their work, and +forced them to abandon all else to attend to the affairs of king or +lord. Was a new chamber to be added to some neighbouring temple, were +materials wanted to strengthen or rebuild some piece of wall which had +been undermined by the inundation, orders were issued to the engineers +to go and fetch a stated quantity of limestone or sandstone, and the +peasants were commanded to assemble at the nearest quarry to cut +the blocks from it, and if needful to ship and convey them to their +destination. Or perhaps the sovereign had caused a gigantic statue of +himself to be carved, and a few hundred men were requisitioned to haul +it to the place where he wished it to be set up. The undertaking ended +in a gala, and doubtless in a distribution of food and drink: the +unfortunate creatures who had been got together to execute the work +could not always have felt fitly compensated for the precious time they +had lost, by one day of drunkenness and rejoicing. + +[Illustration: 136.jpg COLORED SCULPTURES IN THE PALACE] + +We may ask if all these corvées were equally legal? Even if some of them +were illegal, the peasant on whom they fell could not have found the +means to escape from them, nor could he have demanded legal reparation +for the injury which they caused him. Justice, in Egypt and in the whole +Oriental world, necessarily emanates from political authority, and is +only one branch of the administration amongst others, in the hands +of the lord and his representatives. Professional magistrates were +unknown--men brought up to the study of law, whose duty it was to ensure +the observance of it, apart from any other calling--but the same men +who commanded armies, offered sacrifices, and assessed or received +taxes, investigated the disputes of ordinary citizens, or settled the +differences which arose between them and the representatives of the +lords or of the Pharaoh. In every town and village, those who held by +birth or favour the position of governor were ex-officio invested with +the right of administering justice. For a certain number of days in the +month, they sat at the gate of the town or of the building which served +as their residence, and all those in the town or neighbourhood possessed +of any title, position, or property, the superior priesthood of the +temples, scribes who had advanced or grown old in office, those +in command of the militia or the police, the heads of divisions or +corporations, the "qonbîtiû," the "people of the angle," might if +they thought fit take their place beside them, and help them to decide +ordinary lawsuits. The police were mostly recruited from foreigners and +negroes, or Bedouin belonging to the Nubian tribe of the Mâzaiû. The +litigants appeared at the tribunal, and waited under the superintendence +of the police until their turn came to speak: the majority of the +questions were decided in a few minutes by a judgment by which there was +no appeal; only the more serious cases necessitated a cross-examination +and prolonged discussion. All else was carried on before this +patriarchal jury as in our own courts of justice, except that +the inevitable stick too often elucidated the truth and cut short +discussions: the depositions of the witnesses, the speeches on both +sides, the examination of the documents, could not proceed without the +frequent taking of oaths "by the life of the king" or "by the favour of +the gods," in which the truth often suffered severely. Penalties were +varied somewhat--the bastinado, imprisonment, additional days of work +for the corvée, and, for grave offences, forced labour in the Ethiopian +mines, the loss of nose and ears, and finally, death by strangulation, +by beheading,* by empalement, and at the stake. + + * The only known instance of an execution by hanging is that + of Pharaoh's chief baker, in Gen. xl. 19, 22, xli. 13; but + in a tomb at Thebes we see two human victims executed by + strangulation. The Egyptian hell contains men who have been + decapitated, and the block on which the damned were beheaded + is frequently mentioned in the texts. + +Criminals of high rank obtained permission to carry out on themselves +the sentence passed upon them, and thus avoided by suicide the shame of +public execution. Before tribunals thus constituted, the fellah who came +to appeal against the exactions of which he was the victim had little +chance of obtaining a hearing: had not the scribe who had overtaxed him, +or who had imposed a fresh corvée upon him, the right to appear among +the Judges to whom he addressed himself? Nothing, indeed, prevented +him from appealing from the latter to his feudal lord, and from him to +Pharaoh, but such an appeal would be for him a mere delusion. When he +had left his village and presented his petition, he had many delays +to encounter before a solution could be arrived at; and if the adverse +party were at all in favour at court, or could command any influence, +the sovereign decision would confirm, even if it did not aggravate, the +sentence of the previous judges. In the mean while the peasants' +land remained uncultivated, his wife and children bewailed their +wretchedness, and the last resources of the family were consumed in +proceedings and delays: it would have been better for him at the outset +to have made up his mind to submit without resistance to a fate from +which he could not escape. + +In spite of taxes, requisitions, and forced labour, the fellahîn came +off fairly well, when the chief to whom they belonged proved a kind +master, and did not add the exactions of his own personal caprice to +those of the State. The inscriptions which princes caused to be devoted +to their own glorification, are so many enthusiastic panegyrics dealing +only with their uprightness and kindness towards the poor and lowly. +Every one of them represents himself as faultless: "the staff of support +to the aged, the foster father of the children, the counsellor of the +unfortunate, the refuge in which those who suffer from the cold in +Thebes may warm themselves, the bread of the afflicted which never +failed in the city of the South." Their solicitude embraced everybody +and everything: "I have caused no child of tender age to mourn; I have +despoiled no widow; I have driven away no tiller of the soil; I have +taken no workmen away from their foreman for the public works; none +have been unfortunate about me, nor starving in my time. When years of +scarcity arose, as I had cultivated all the lands of the nome of the +Gazelle to its northern and southern boundaries, causing its inhabitants +to live, and creating provisions, none who were hungry were found there, +for I gave to the widow as well as to the woman who had a husband, and I +made no distinction between high and low in all that I gave. If, on the +contrary, there were high Niles, the possessors of lands became rich in +all things, for I did not raise the rate of the tax upon the fields." +The canals engrossed all the prince's attention; he cleaned them out, +enlarged them, and dug fresh ones, which were the means of bringing +fertility and plenty into the most remote corners of his property. His +serfs had a constant supply of clean water at their door, and were no +longer content with such food as durra; they ate wheaten bread daily. +His vigilance and severity were such that the brigands dared no longer +appear within reach of his arm, and his soldiers kept strict discipline: +"When night fell, whoever slept by the roadside blessed me, and was [in +safety] as a man in his own house; the fear of my police protected him, +the cattle remained in the fields as in the stable; the thief was as the +abomination of the god, and he no more fell upon the vassal, so that the +latter no more complained, but paid exactly the dues of his domain, for +love" of the master who had procured for him this freedom from care. +This theme might be pursued at length, for the composers of epitaphs +varied it with remarkable cleverness and versatility of imagination. The +very zeal which they display in describing the lord's virtues betrays +how precarious was the condition of his subjects. There was nothing to +hinder the unjust prince or the prevaricating officer from ruining and +ill-treating as he chose the people who were under his authority. He +had only to give an order, and the corvée fell upon the proprietors of a +village, carried off their slaves and obliged them to leave their lands +uncultivated; should they declare that they were incapable of paying +the contributions laid on them, the prison opened for them and their +families. If a dyke were cut, or the course of a channel altered, the +nome was deprived of water: prompt and inevitable ruin came upon the +unfortunate inhabitants, and their property, confiscated by the treasury +in payment of the tax, passed for a small consideration into the hands +of the scribe or of the dishonest administrator. Two or three years of +neglect were almost enough to destroy a system of irrigation: the canals +became filled with mud, the banks crumbled, the inundation either failed +to reach the ground, or spread over it too quickly and lay upon it +too long. Famine soon followed with its attendant sicknesses: men and +animals died by the hundred, and it was the work of nearly a whole +generation to restore prosperity to the district. + +The lot of the fellah of old was, as we have seen, as hard as that +of the fellah of to-day. He himself felt the bitterness of it, and +complained at times, or rather the scribes complained for him, when with +selfish complacency they contrasted their calling with his. He had to +toil the whole year round,--digging, sowing, working the shadouf from +morning to night for weeks, hastening at the first requisition to the +corvée, paying a heavy and cruel tax,--all without even the certainty +of enjoying what remained to him in peace, or of seeing his wife and +children profit by it. So great, however, was the elasticity of his +temperament that his misery was not sufficient to depress him: those +monuments upon which his life is portrayed in all its minutias, +represent him as animated with inexhaustible cheerfulness. The summer +months ended, the ground again becomes visible, the river retires into +its bed, the time of sowing is at hand: the peasant takes his team and +his implements with him and goes off to the fields. In many places, the +soil, softened by the water, offers no resistance, and the hoe easily +turns it up; elsewhere it is hard, and only yields to the plough. While +one of the farm-servants, almost bent double, leans his whole weight +on the handles to force the ploughshare deep into the soil, his comrade +drives the oxen and encourages them by his songs: these are only two +or three short sentences, set to an unvarying chant, and with the time +beaten on the back of the nearest animal. Now and again he turns round +towards his comrade and encourages him: "Lean hard!"--"Hold fast!" + +[Illustration: 142a.jpg TWO FELLAHÎN WORK THE SHADOUF IN A GARDEN] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph. + +The sower follows behind and throws handfuls of grain into the furrow: a +flock of sheep or goats brings up the rear, and as they walk, they tread +the seed into the ground. The herdsmen crack their whips and sing some +country song at the top of their voices,--based on the complaint of some +fellah seized by the corvée to clean out a canal. "The digger is in the +water with the fish,--he talks to the silurus, and exchanges greetings +with the oxyrrhynchus:--West! your digger is a digger from the West!"* + + * The silurus is the electrical fish of the Nile. The text + ironically hints that the digger, up to his waist in water, + engaged in dredging the dykes or repairing a bank swept away + by an inundation, is liable at any moment to salute, i.e. to + meet with a silurus or an oxyrrhynchus ready to attack him; + he is doomed to death, and this fact the couplet expresses + by the words, "West! your digger is a digger from the West." + The West was the region of the tombs; and the digger, owing + to the dangers of his calling, was on his way thither. + +[Illustration: 142b.jpg CUTTING AND CARRYING THE HARVEST] + +All this takes place under the vigilant eye of the master: as soon as +his attention is relaxed, the work slackens, quarrels arise, and +the spirit of idleness and theft gains the ascendency. Two men have +unharnessed their team. One of them quickly milks one of the cows, the +other holds the animal and impatiently awaits his turn: "Be quick, while +the farmer is not there." They run the risk of a beating for a potful +of milk. The weeks pass, the corn has ripened, the harvest begins. The +fellahîn, armed with a short sickle, cut or rather saw the stalks, a +handful at a time. As they advance in line, a flute-player plays them +captivating tunes, a man joins in with his voice marking the rhythm by +clapping his hands, the foreman throwing in now and then a few words of +exhortation: "What lad among you, when the season is over, can say: +'It is I who say it, to thee and to my comrades, you are all of you but +idlers!'--Who among you can say: 'An active lad for the job am I!'" A +servant moves among the gang with a tall jar of beer, offering it to +those who wish for it. "Is it not good!" says he; and the one who drinks +answers politely: "'Tis true, the master's beer is better than a cake +of durra!" The sheaves once bound, are carried to the singing of fresh +songs addressed to the donkeys who bear them: "Those who quit the ranks +will be tied, those who roll on the ground will be beaten,--Geeho! +then." And thus threatened, the ass trots forward. Even when a tragic +element enters the scene, and the bastinado is represented, the +sculptor, catching the bantering spirit of the people among whom he +lives, manages to insinuate a vein of comedy. A peasant, summarily +condemned for some misdeed, lies flat upon the ground with bared back: +two friends take hold of his arms, and two others his legs, to keep him +in the proper position. His wife or his son intercedes for him to the +man with the stick: "For mercy's sake strike on the ground!" And as a +fact, the bastinado was commonly rather a mere form of chastisement than +an actual punishment: the blows, dealt with apparent ferocity, missed +their aim and fell upon the earth; the culprit howled loudly, but was +let off with only a few bruises. + +An Arab writer of the Middle Ages remarks, not without irony, that the +Egyptians were perhaps the only people in the world who never kept any +stores of provisions by them, but each one went daily to the market to +buy the pittance for his family. The improvidence which he laments +over in his contemporaries had been handed down from their most remote +ancestors. Workmen, fellahîn, _employés_, small townsfolk, all lived +from hand to mouth in the Egypt of the Pharaohs. Pay-days were almost +everywhere days of rejoicing and extra eating: no one spared either +the grain, oil, or beer of the treasury, and copious feasting continued +unsparingly, as long as anything was left of their wages. As their +resources were almost always exhausted before the day of distribution +once more came round, beggary succeeded to fulness of living, and a part +of the population was literally starving for several days. This almost +constant alternation of abundance and dearth had a reactionary +influence on daily work: there were scarcely any seignorial workshops or +undertakings which did not come to a standstill every month on account +of the exhaustion of the workmen, and help had to be provided for the +starving in order to avoid popular seditions. Their improvidence, +like their cheerfulness, was perhaps an innate trait in the national +character: it was certainly fostered and developed by the system of +government adopted by Egypt from the earliest times. What incentive was +there for a man of the people to calculate his resources and to lay up +for the future, when he knew that his wife, his children, his cattle, +his goods, all that belonged to him, and himself to boot, might be +carried off at any moment, without his having the right or the power +to resent it? He was born, he lived, and he died in the possession of a +master. + +[Illustration: 147.jpg A FLOCK OF GOATS AND THE SONG OF A GOATHERD] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Émil Brugsch- + Bey. The picture is taken from the tomb of Ti. + +The lands or houses which his father had left him, were his merely on +sufferance, and he enjoyed them only by permission of his lord. Those +which he acquired by his own labour went to swell his master's domain. +If he married and had sons, they were but servants for the master from +the moment they were brought into the world. Whatever he might enjoy +to-day, would his master allow him possession of it to-morrow? Even life +in the world beyond did not offer him much more security or liberty: +he only entered it in his master's service and to do his bidding; he +existed in it on tolerance, as he had lived upon this earth, and he +found there no rest or freedom unless he provided himself abundantly +with "respondents" and charmed statuettes. He therefore concentrated his +mind and energies on the present moment, to make the most of it as of +almost the only thing which belonged to him: he left to his master the +task of anticipating and providing for the future. In truth, his masters +were often changed; now the lord of one town, now that of another; now a +Pharaoh of the Memphite or Theban dynasties, now a stranger installed +by chance upon the throne of Horns. The condition of the people never +changed; the burden which crushed them was never lightened, and whatever +hand happened to hold the stick, it never fell the less heavily upon +their backs. + +[Illustration: 148.jpg TAILPIECE] + + + + +Volume II., Part B. + + +_THE MEMPHITE EMPIRE_ + +_THE ROYAL PYRAMID BUILDERS: KHEOPS, KHEPHREN, MYKERINOS--MEMPHITE +LITERATURE AND ART--EXTENSION OF EGYPT TOWARDS THE SOUTH, AND THE +CONQUEST OP NUBIA BY THE PHARAOHS._ + +_Snofrûi--The desert which separates Africa from Asia: its physical +configuration, its inhabitants, their incursions into Egypt, and their +relations with the Egyptians--The peninsula of Sinai: the turquoise +and copper mines, the mining works of the Pharaohs--The two tombs of +Snofrûi: the pyramid and the mastabas of Mêdûm, the statues of Bahotpû +and his wife Nofrît._ + +_Kheops, Ehephren, and Myherinos--The Great Pyramid: its construction +and internal arrangements--The pyramids of Khephren and Myherinos; the +rifling of them--Legend about the royal pyramid builders: the impiety +of Kheops and Khephren, the piety of Myherinos; the brick pyramid of +Asychis--The materials employed in building, and the quarries of Turah; +the plans, the worship of the royal "double;" the Arab legends about +the guardian genii of the pyramids._ + +_The kings of the fifth dynasty: Ùsirkaf, Sahûri, Kalciû, and the +romance about their advent--The relations of the Delta to the peoples +of the North: the shipping and maritime commerce of the Egyptians--Nubia +and its tribes: the Ûaûaiû and the Mazaiû, Pûanît, the dwarfs and +the Danga--Egyptian literature: the Proverbs of Phtahhotpû--The arts: +architecture, statuary and its chief examples, bas-reliefs, painting, +industrial art._ + +_The development of Egyptian feudalism, and the advent of the sixth +dynasty: Ati, Imhotpâ, Teti--Papi I. and his minister Uni: the affair +of Queen Amitsi; the wars against the Hirû-Shâîtû and the country of +Tiba--Metesûphis I. and the second Papi: progress of the Egyptian power +in Nubia--the lords of Elephantine; Hirkhûf, Papinakhîti: the way +for conquest prepared by their explorations, the occupation of the +Oases--The pyramids of Saqqâra: Metesûphis the Second--Nitokris and the +legend concerning her--Preponderance of the feudal lords, and fall of +the Memphite dynasty._ + + +[Illustration: 151.jpg PAGE IMAGE] + + + + +CHAPTER II--THE MEMPHITE EMPIRE + + +_The royal pyramid builders: Kheops, Khephren, Mykerinos--Memphite +literature and art--Extension of Egypt towards the South, and the +conquest of Nubia by the Pharaohs._ + + +At that time "the Majesty of King Huni died, and the Majesty of King +Snofrûi arose to be a sovereign benefactor over this whole earth." All +that we know of him is contained in one sentence: he fought against the +nomads of Sinai, constructed fortresses to protect the eastern frontier +of the Delta, and made for himself a tomb in the form of a pyramid. + +The almost uninhabited country which connects Africa with Asia is +flanked towards the south by two chains of hills which unite at right +angles, and together form the so-called Gebel et-Tîh. This country is +a tableland, gently inclined from south to north, bare, sombre, covered +with flint-shingle, and siliceous rocks, and breaking out at frequent +intervals into long low chalky hills, seamed with wadys, the largest +of which--that of El-Arish--having drained all the others into itself, +opens into the Mediterranean halfway between Pelusiam and Gaza. Torrents +of rain are not infrequent in winter and spring, but the small quantity +of water which they furnish is quickly evaporated, and barely keeps +alive the meagre vegetation in the bottom of the valleys. Sometimes, +after months of absolute drought, a tempest breaks over the more +elevated parts of the desert.* + + * In chap. viii. of the _Account of the Survey_, pp. 226- + 228, Mr. Holland describes a sudden rainstorm or "sell" on + December 3, 1867, which drowned thirty persons, destroyed + droves of camels and asses, flocks of sheep and goats, and + swept away, in the Wady Feîrân, a thousand palm trees and a + grove of tamarisks, two miles in length. Towards 4.30 in the + afternoon, a few drops of rain began to fall, but the storm + did not break till 5 p.m. At 5.15 it was at its height, and + it was not over till 9.30. The torrent, which at 8 p.m. was + 10 feet deep, and was about 1000 feet in width, was, at 6 + a.m. the next day, reduced to a small streamlet. + +The wind rises suddenly in squall-like blasts; thick clouds, borne one +knows not whence, are riven by lightning to the incessant accompaniment +of thunder; it would seem as if the heavens had broken up and were +crashing down upon the mountains. In a few moments streams of muddy +water rushing down the ravines, through the gulleys and along the +slightest depressions, hurry to the low grounds, and meeting there in a +foaming concourse, follow the fall of the land; a few minutes later, +and the space between one hillside and the other is occupied by a deep +river, flowing with terrible velocity and irresistible force. At the end +of eight or ten hours the air becomes clear, the wind falls, the rain +ceases; the hastily formed river dwindles, and for lack of supply is +exhausted; the inundation comes to an end almost as quickly as it began. +In a short time nothing remains of it but some shallow pools scattered +in the hollows, or here and there small streamlets which rapidly dry up. +The flood, however, accelerated by its acquired velocity, continues to +descend towards the sea. The devastated flanks of the hills, their +torn and corroded bases, the accumulated masses of shingle left by +the eddies, the long lines of rocks and sand, mark its route and bear +evidence everywhere of its power. The inhabitants, taught by experience, +avoid a sojourn in places where tempests have once occurred. It is in +vain that the sky is serene above them and the sun shines overhead; they +always fear that at the moment in which danger seems least likely to +threaten them, the torrent, taking its origin some twenty leagues off, +may be on its headlong way to surprise them. And, indeed, it comes so +suddenly and so violently that nothing in its course can escape it: +men and beasts, before there is time to fly, often even before they +are aware of its approach, are swept away and pitilessly destroyed. The +Egyptians applied to the entire country the characteristic epithet of +To-Shûît, the land of Emptiness, the land of Aridity. + +[Illustration: 154.jpg MAP SINAITIC PENINSULAR, TIME OF MEMPHITE EMPIRE] + +They divided it into various districts--the upper and lower Tonû, Aia, +Kadûma. They called its inhabitants Hirû-Shâîtû, the lords of the Sands; +Nomiû-Shâîtû, the rovers of the Sands; and they associated them with the +Amu--that is to say, with a race which we recognize as Semitic. The type +of these barbarians, indeed, reminds one of the Semitic massive +head, aquiline nose, retreating forehead, long beard, thick and not +infrequently crisp hair. They went barefoot, and the monuments represent +them as girt with a short kilt, though they also wore the _abayah_. +Their arms were those commonly used by the Egyptians--the bow, lance, +club, knife, battle-axe, and shield. They possessed great flocks of +goats or sheep, but the horse and camel were unknown to them, as well as +to their African neighbours. They lived chiefly upon the milk of their +flocks, and the fruit of the date-palm. A section of them tilled the +soil: settled around springs or wells, they managed by industrious +labour to cultivate moderately sized but fertile fields, flourishing +orchards, groups of palms, fig and olive trees, and vines. In spite of +all this their resources were insufficient, and their position would +have been precarious if they had not been able to supplement their +stock of provisions from Egypt or Southern Syria. They bartered at the +frontier markets their honey, wool, gums, manna, and small quantities +of charcoal, for the products of local manufacture, but especially for +wheat, or the cereals of which they stood in need. The sight of the +riches gathered together in the eastern plain, from Tanis to Bubastis, +excited their pillaging instincts, and awoke in them an irrepressible +covetousness. The Egyptian annals make mention of their incursions at +the very commencement of history, and they maintained that even the gods +had to take steps to protect themselves from them. The Gulf of Suez and +the mountainous rampart of Gebel Geneffeh in the south, and the marshes +of Pelusium on the north, protected almost completely the eastern +boundary of the Delta; but the Wady Tumilât laid open the heart of the +country to the invaders. The Pharaohs of the divine dynasties in the +first place, and then those of the human dynasties, had fortified this +natural opening, some say by a continuous wall, others by a line of +military posts, flanked on the one side by the waters of the gulf.* + + * The existence of the wall, or of the line of military + posts, is of very ancient date, for the name Kîm-Oîrît is + already followed by the hieroglyph of the wall, or by that + of a fortified enclosure in the texts of the Pyramids. + +[Illustration: 156.jpg A BARBARIAN MONÎTI FROM SINAI] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Petrie. The + original is of the time of Nectanebo, and is at Karnak; I + have chosen it for reproduction in preference to the heads + of the time of the Ancient Empire, which are more injured, + and of which this is only the traditional copy. + +Snofrûi restored or constructed several castles in this district, which +perpetuated his name for a long time after his death. These had the +square or rectangular form of the towers, whose ruins are still to +be seen on the banks of the Nile. Standing night and day upon the +battlements, the sentinels kept a strict look-out over the desert, ready +to give alarm at the slightest suspicious movement. + +[Illustration: 157.jpg TWO REFUGE TOWERS OF THE HIRÛ-SHÂÎTÛ, IN THE WADY +BÎAR] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the vignette by E. H. Palmer, + _The Desert of the Exodus_, p. 317. + + The expression Kîm-Oîrît, "the very black," is applied to + the northern part of the Red Sea, in contradistinction to + Ûaz-Oîrît, Uazît-Oîrît, "the very green," the + Mediterranean; a town, probably built at a short distance + from the village of Maghfâr, had taken its name from the + gulf on which it was situated, and was also called Kîm- + Oîrît. + +The marauders took advantage of any inequality in the ground to approach +unperceived, and they were often successful in getting through the +lines; they scattered themselves over the country, surprised a village +or two, bore off such women and children as they could lay their hands +on, took possession of herds of animals, and, without carrying their +depredations further, hastened to regain their solitudes before +information of their exploits could have reached the garrison. If their +expeditions became numerous, the general of the Eastern Marches, or the +Pharaoh himself, at the head of a small army, started on a campaign of +reprisals against them. The marauders did not wait to be attacked, but +betook themselves to refuges constructed by them beforehand at certain +points in their territory. They erected here and there, on the crest of +some steep hill, or at the confluence of several wadys, stone towers put +together without mortar, and rounded at the top like so many beehives, +in unequal groups of three, ten, or thirty; here they massed themselves +as well as they could, and defended the position with the greatest +obstinacy, in the hope that their assailants, from the lack of water and +provisions, would soon be forced to retreat.* + + * The members of the English Commission do not hesitate to + attribute the construction of these towers to the remotest + antiquity; the Bedouin call them "namûs," plur. "nawamîs," + mosquito-houses, and they say that the children of Israel + built them as a shelter during the night from mosquitos at + the time of the Exodus. The resemblance of these buildings + to the "Talayôt" of the Balearic Isles, and to the Scotch + beehive-shaped houses, has struck all travellers. + +Elsewhere they possessed fortified "duars," where not only their +families but also their herds could find a refuge--circular or oval +enclosures, surrounded by low walls of massive rough stones crowned by a +thick rampart made of branches of acacia interlaced with thorny bushes, +the tents or huts being ranged behind, while in the centre was an empty +space for the cattle. These primitive fortresses were strong enough to +overawe nomads; regular troops made short work of them. The Egyptians +took them by assault, overturned them, cut down the fruit trees, burned +the crops, and retreated in security, after having destroyed everything +in their march. Each of their campaigns, which hardly lasted more than a +few days, secured the tranquillity of the frontier for some years.* + + * The inscription of Uni (11. 22-32) furnishes us with the + invariable type of the Egyptian campaigns against the Hirû- + Shâîtû: the bas-reliefs of Karnak might serve to illustrate + it, as they represent the great raid led by Seti I. into the + territory of the Shaûsûs and their allies, between the + frontier of Egypt and the town of Hebron. + +[Illustration: 159.jpg VIEW OF THE OASIS OF WADY FEÎKÂN IN THE PENINSULA +OF SINAI] + + Drawn by Boudier, from the water-colour drawing published by + Lepsius, _Denhn._, i. 7, No. 2. + +To the south of Gebel et-Tîh, and cut off from it almost completely by a +moat of wadys, a triangular group of mountains known as Sinai thrusts a +wedge-shaped spur into the Red Sea, forcing back its waters to the right +and left into two narrow gulfs, that of Akabah and that of Suez. Gebel +Katherin stands up from the centre and overlooks the whole peninsula. A +sinuous chain detaches itself from it and ends at Gebel Serbâl, at +some distance to the northwest; another trends to the south, and after +attaining in Gebel Umm-Shomer an elevation equal to that of Gebel +Katherin, gradually diminishes in height, and plunges into the sea at +Ras-Mohammed. A complicated system of gorges and valleys--Wady Nasb, +Wady Kidd, Wady Hebrân, Wady Baba--furrows the country and holds it as +in a network of unequal meshes. Wady Feîrân contains the most fertile +oasis in the peninsula. A never-failing stream waters it for about two +or three miles of its length; quite a little forest of palms enlivens +both banks--somewhat meagre and thin, it is true, but intermingled with +acacias, tamarisks, nabecas, carob trees, and willows. Birds sing amid +their branches, sheep wander in the pastures, while the huts of the +inhabitants peep out at intervals from among the trees. Valleys and +plains, even in some places the slopes of the hills, are sparsely +covered with those delicate aromatic herbs which affect a stony soil. +Their life is a perpetual struggle against the sun: scorched, dried up, +to all appearance dead, and so friable that they crumble to pieces in +the fingers when one attempts to gather them, the spring rains annually +infuse into them new life, and bestow upon them, almost before one's +eyes, a green and perfumed youth of some days' duration. The summits of +the hills remain always naked, and no vegetation softens the ruggedness +of their outlines, or the glare of their colouring. The core of the +peninsula is hewn, as it were, out of a block of granite, in which +white, rose-colour, brown, or black predominate, according to the +quantities of felspar, quartz, or oxides of iron which the rocks +contain. Towards the north, the masses of sandstone which join on to +Gebel et-Tîh assume all possible shades of red and grey, from a delicate +lilac neutral tint to dark purple. The tones of colour, although placed +crudely side by side, present nothing jarring nor offensive to the eye; +the sun floods all, and blends them in his light. The Sinaitic peninsula +is at intervals swept, like the desert to the east of Egypt, by terrible +tempests, which denude its mountains and transform its wadys into so +many ephemeral torrents. The Monîtû who frequented this region from the +dawn of history did not differ much from the "Lords of the Sands;" they +were of the same type, had the same costume, the same arms, the same +nomadic instincts, and in districts where the soil permitted it, made +similar brief efforts to cultivate it. They worshipped a god and a +goddess whom the Egyptians identified with Horus and Hâthor; one of +these appeared to represent the light, perhaps the sun, the other the +heavens. They had discovered at an early period in the sides of the +hills rich metalliferous veins, and strata, bearing precious stones; +from these they learned to extract iron, oxides of copper and manganese, +and turquoises, which they exported to the Delta. The fame of their +riches, carried to the banks of the Nile, excited the cupidity of the +Pharaohs; expeditions started from different points of the valley, swept +down upon the peninsula, and established themselves by main force in the +midst of the districts where the mines lay. These were situated to the +north-west, in the region of sandstone, between the western branch +of Gebel et-Tîh and the Gulf of Suez. They were collectively called +Mafkaît, the country of turquoises, a fact which accounts for the +application of the local epithet, lady of Mafkaît, to Hâthor. The +earliest district explored, that which the Egyptians first attacked, was +separated from the coast by a narrow plain and a single range of hills: +the produce of the mines could be thence transported to the sea in a +few hours without difficulty. Pharaoh's labourers called this region the +district of Baîfc, the mine _par excellence_, or of Bebît, the country +of grottoes, from the numerous tunnels which their predecessors had made +there: the name Wady Maghara, Valley of the Cavern, by which the site +is now designated, is simply an Arabic translation of the old Egyptian +word. + +The Monîtû did not accept this usurpation of their rights without a +struggle, and the Egyptians who came to work among them had either to +purchase their forbearance by a tribute, or to hold themselves always in +readiness to repulse the assaults of the Monîtû by force of arms. Zosiri +had already taken steps to ensure the safety of the turquoise-seekers +at their work; Snofrûi was not, therefore, the first Pharaoh who passed +that way, but none of his predecessors had left so many traces of his +presence as he did in this out-of-the-way corner of the empire. There +may still be seen, on the north-west slope of the Wady Maghara, the +bas-relief which one of his lieutenants engraved there in memory of a +victory gained over the Monîtû. A Bedouin sheikh fallen on his knees +prays for mercy with suppliant gesture, but Pharaoh has already seized +him by his long hair, and brandishes above his head a white stone mace +to fell him with a single blow. + +[Illustration: 163.jpg THE MINING WORKS OF WADY MAGHARA] + + Plan made by Thuillier, from the sketch by Brugscii, + _Wanderung nach den Tiirhis Minen_, p. 70. + +The workmen, partly recruited from the country itself, partly despatched +from the banks of the Nile, dwelt in an entrenched camp upon an isolated +peak at the confluence of Wady Genneh and Wady Maghara. A zigzag pathway +on its smoothest slope ends, about seventeen feet below the summit, at +the extremity of a small and slightly inclined tableland, upon which are +found the ruins of a large village; this is the High Castle--Hâît-Qaît +of the ancient inscriptions. Two hundred habitations can still be made +out here, some round, some rectangular, constructed of sandstone blocks +without mortar, and not larger than the huts of the fellahîn: in former +times a flat roof of wicker-work and puddled clay extended over each. +The entrance was not so much a door as a narrow opening, through which +a fat man would find it difficult to pass; the interior consisted of +a single chamber, except in the case of the chief of the works, whose +dwelling contained two. + +[Illustration: 164.jpg THE HIGH CASTLE OF THE MINERS--HAÎT-QAÎT--AT THE +CONFLUENCE OF WADY GENNEH AND WADY MAGHARA] + + Drawn by Boudier, from the photograph published in the + Ordnance Survey of the Peninsula of Sinai, Photographs, vol. + ii. pls. 59, 60. + +A rough stone bench from two to two and a half feet high surrounds the +plateau on which the village stands; a _cheval défrise_ made of thorny +brushwood probably completed the defence, as in the _duars_ of the +desert. The position was very strong and easily defended. Watchmen +scattered over the neighbouring summits kept an outlook over the distant +plain and the defiles of the mountains. Whenever the cries of these +sentinels announced the approach of the foe, the workmen immediately +deserted the mine and took refuge in their citadel, which a handful of +resolute men could successfully hold, as long as hunger and thirst did +not enter into the question. As the ordinary springs and wells would +not have been sufficient to supply the needs of the colony, they had +transformed the bottom of the valley into an artificial lake. A dam +thrown across it prevented the escape of the waters, which filled the +reservoir more or less completely according to the season. It never +became empty, and several species of shellfish flourished in it--among +others, a kind of large mussel which the inhabitants generally used as +food, which with dates, milk, oil, coarse bread, a few vegetables, and +from time to time a fowl or a joint of meat, made up their scanty fare. +Other things were of the same primitive character. The tools found in +the village are all of flint: knives, scrapers, saws, hammers, and heads +of lances and arrows. A few vases brought from Egypt are distinguished +by the fineness of the material and the purity of the design; but the +pottery in common use was made on the spot from coarse clay without +care, and regardless of beauty. As for jewellery, the villagers had +beads of glass or blue enamel, and necklaces of strung cowrie-shells. +In the mines, as in their own houses, the workmen employed stone tools +only, with handles of wood, or of plaited willow twigs, but their +chisels or hammers were more than sufficient to cut the yellow +sandstone, coarse-grained and very friable as it was, in the midst of +which they worked.* + + * E. H. Palmer, however, from his observations, is of + opinion that the work in the tunnels of the mines was + executed entirely by means of bronze chisels and tools; the + flint implements serving only to incise the scenes which + cover the surfaces of the rocks. + +The tunnels running straight into the mountain were low and wide, and +were supported at intervals by pillars of sandstone left _in situ_. +These tunnels led into chambers of various sizes, whence they followed +the lead of the veins of precious mineral. The turquoise sparkled on +every side--on the ceiling and on the walls--and the miners, profiting +by the slightest fissures, cut round it, and then with forcible blows +detached the blocks, and reduced them to small fragments, which they +crushed, and carefully sifted so as not to lose a particle of the gem. +The oxides of copper and of manganese which they met with here and +elsewhere in moderate quantities, were used in the manufacture of those +beautiful blue enamels of various shades which the Egyptians esteemed +so highly. The few hundreds of men of which the permanent population was +composed, provided for the daily exigencies of industry and commerce. +Royal inspectors arrived from time to time to examine into their +condition, to rekindle their zeal, and to collect the product of their +toil. When Pharaoh had need of a greater quantity than usual of minerals +or turquoises, he sent thither one of his officers, with a select body +of carriers, mining experts, and stone-dressers. Sometimes as many +as two or three thousand men poured suddenly into the peninsula, and +remained there one or two months; the work went briskly forward, and +advantage was taken of the occasion to extract and transport to Egypt +beautiful blocks of diorite, serpentine or granite, to be afterwards +manufactured there into sarcophagi or statues. Engraved stelæ, to be +seen on the sides of the mountains, recorded the names of the principal +chiefs, the different bodies of handicraftsmen who had participated in +the campaign, the name of the sovereign who had ordered it and often the +year of his reign. + +It was not one tomb only which Snofrui had caused to be built, but two. +He called them "Khâ," the Rising, the place where the dead Pharaoh, +identified with the sun, is raised above the world for ever. One of +these was probably situated near Dahshur; the other, the "Khâ rîsi," the +Southern Rising, appears to be identical with the monument of Mêdûm. + +[Illustration: 167.jpg THE PYRAMID OF MÊDÛM] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the plans of Flinders Petrie, + _Medum_, pl. ii. + +The pyramid, like the mastaba,* represents a tumulus with four sides, +in which the earthwork is replaced by a structure of stone or brick. It +indicates the place in which lies a prince, chief, or person of rank in +his tribe or province. It was built on a base of varying area, and was +raised to a greater or less elevation according to the fortune of the +deceased or of his family.** + + * No satisfactory etymon for the word _pyramid_, has as yet + been proposed: the least far-fetched is that put forward by + Cantor-Eisenlohr, according to which _pyramid_ is the Greek + form, irupauç, of the compound term "piri-m-ûisi," which in + Egyptian mathematical phraseology designates the _salient + angle_, the ridge or height of the pyramid. + + ** The brick pyramids of Abydos were all built for private + persons. The word "mirit," which designates a pyramid in + the texts, is elsewhere applied to the tombs of nobles and + commoners as well as to those of kings. + +The fashion of burying in a pyramid was not adopted in the environs of +Memphis until tolerably late times, and the Pharaohs of the primitive +dynasties were interred, as their subjects were, in sepulchral chambers +of mastabas. Zosiri was the only exception, if the step-pyramid of +Saqqâra, as is probable, served for his tomb.* + + * It is difficult to admit that a pyramid of considerable + dimensions could have disappeared without leaving any traces + behind, especially when we see the enormous masses of + masonry which still mark the sites of those which have been + most injured; besides, the inscriptions connect none of the + predecessors of Snofrûi with a pyramid, unless it be Zosiri. + The step-pyramid of Saqqâra, which is attributed to the + latter, belongs to the same type as that of Mêdûm; so does + also the pyramid of Rigah, whose occupant is unknown. If we + admit that this last-mentioned pyramid served as a tomb to + some intermediate Pharaoh between Zosiri and Snofrûi--for + instance, Hûni--the use of pyramids would be merely + exceptional for sovereigns anterior to the IVth dynasty. + +The motive which determined Snofrûi's choice of Mêdûm as a site, is +unknown to us: perhaps he dwelt in that city of Heracleopolis, which in +course of time frequently became the favourite residence of the kings; +perhaps he improvised for himself a city in the plain between El-Wastah +and Kafr el-Ayat. His pyramid, at the present time, is composed of three +large unequal cubes with slightly inclined sides, arranged in steps one +above the other. Some centuries ago five could be still determined, and +in ancient times, before ruin had set in, as many as seven. Each block +marked a progressive increase of the total mass, and bad its external +face polished--a fact which we can still determine by examining the +slabs one behind another; a facing of large blocks, of which many of the +courses still exist towards the base, covered the whole, at one angle +from the apex to the foot, and brought it into conformity with the type +of the classic pyramid. The passage had its orifice in the middle of the +north face about sixty feèt above the ground: it is five feet high, and +dips at a tolerably steep angle through the solid masonry. At a depth of +a hundred and ninety-seven feet it becomes level, without increasing +in aperture, runs for forty feet on this plane, traversing two low and +narrow chambers, then making a sharp turn it ascends perpendicularly +until it reaches the floor of the vault. The latter is hewn out of the +mountain rock, and is small, rough, and devoid of ornament: the ceiling +appears to be in three heavy horizontal courses of masonry, which +project one beyond the other corbel-wise, and give the impression of a +sort of acutely pointed arch. Snofrûi slept there for ages; then robbers +found a way to him, despoiled and broke up his mummy, scattered the +fragments of his coffin upon the ground, and carried off the stone +sarcophagus. The apparatus of beams and cords of which they made use for +the descent, hung in their place above the mouth of the shaft until ten +years ago. The rifling of the tomb took place at a remote date, for from +the XXth dynasty onwards the curious were accustomed to penetrate into +the passage: two scribes have scrawled their names in ink on the back +of the framework in which the stone cover was originally inserted. +The sepulchral chapel was built a little in front of the east face; it +consisted of two small-sized rooms with bare surfaces, a court whose +walls abutted on the pyramid, and in the court, facing the door, +a massive table of offerings flanked by two large stelo without +inscriptions, as if the death of the king had put a stop to the +decoration before the period determined on by the architects. It was +still accessible to any one during the XVIIIth dynasty, and people came +there to render homage to the memory of Snofrûi or his wife Mirisônkhû. +Visitors recorded in ink on the walls their enthusiastic, but +stereotyped impressions: they compared the "Castle of Snofrûi" with the +firmament, "when the sun arises in it; the heaven rains incense there +and pours out perfumes on the roof." Ramses II., who had little respect +for the works of his predecessors, demolished a part of the pyramid in +order to procure cheaply the materials necessary for the buildings which +he restored to Heracleopolis. His workmen threw down the waste stone +and mortar beneath the place where they were working, without troubling +themselves as to what might be beneath; the court became choked up, +the sand borne by the wind gradually invaded the chambers, the chapel +disappeared, and remained buried for more than three thousand years. + +The officers of Snofrûi, his servants, and the people of his city +wished, according to custom, to rest beside him, and thus to form a +court for him in the other world as they had done in this. The menials +were buried in roughly made trenches, frequently in the ground merely, +without coffins or sarcophagi. The body was not laid out its whole +length on its back in the attitude of repose: it more frequently rested +on its left side, the head to the north, the face to the east, the legs +bent, the right arm brought up against the breast, the left following +the outline of the chest and legs.* + + * W. Fl. Petrie, _Medum_, pp. 21, 22. Many of these mummies + were mutilated, some lacking a leg, others an arm or a hand; + these were probably workmen who had fallen victims to an + accident during the building of the pyramid. In the majority + of cases the detached limb had been carefully placed with + the body, doubtless in order that the double might find it + in the other world, and complete himself when he pleased for + the exigencies of his new existence. + +The people who were interred in a posture so different from that with +which we are familiar in the case of ordinary mummies, belonged to +a foreign race, who had retained in the treatment of their dead the +customs of their native country. + +[Illustration: 171.jpg THE COURT AND THE TWO STELÆ OF THE CHAPEL +ADJOINING THE PYRAMID OF MÊDÛM] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch by Fl. Petrie, _Ten + Years' Digging in Egypt_, p. 141. + +The Pharaohs often peopled their royal cities with prisoners of war, +captured on the field of battle, or picked up in an expedition through +an enemy's country. Snofrûi peopled his city with men from the Libyan +tribes living on the borders of the Western desert or Monîtû captives.* + + * Petrie thinks that the people who were interred in a + contracted position belonged to the aboriginal race of the + valley, reduced to a condition of servitude by a race who + had come from Asia, and who had established the kingdom of + Egypt. The latter were represented by the mummies disposed + at full length (_Medum_, p. 21). + +The body having been placed in the grave, the relatives who had taken +part in the mourning heaped together in a neighbouring hole the funerary +furniture, flint implements, copper needles, miniature pots and pans +made of rough and badly burned clay, bread, dates, and eatables in +dishes wrapped up in linen. The nobles ranged their mastabas in a single +line to the north of the pyramid; these form fine-looking masses of +considerable size, but they are for the most part unfinished and empty. +Snofrûi having disappeared from the scene, Kheops who succeeded him +forsook the place, and his courtiers, abandoning their unfinished tombs, +went off to construct for themselves others around that of the new king. +We rarely find at Mêdûm finished and occupied sepulchres except that of +individuals who had died before or shortly after Snofrûi. The mummy of +Eânofir, found in one of them, shows how far the Egyptians had carried +the art of embalming at this period. His body, though much shrunken, +is well preserved: it had been clothed in some fine stuff, then covered +over with a layer of resin, which a clever sculptor had modelled in such +a manner as to present an image resembling the deceased; it was then +rolled in three or four folds of thin and almost transparent gauze. + +Of these tombs the most important belonged to the Prince Nofirmâît +and his wife Atiti: it is decorated with bas-reliefs of a peculiar +composition; the figures have been cut in outline in the limestone, and +the hollows thus made are filled in with a mosaic of tinted pastes which +show the moulding and colour of the parts. Everywhere else the ordinary +methods of sculpture have been employed, the bas-reliefs being enhanced +by brilliant colouring in a simple and delicate manner. + +[Illustration: 173.jpg NOFKÎT, LADY OF MÊDÛM] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph taken by Éinil Brugsch- + Bey. + +The figures of men and animals are portrayed with a vivacity of manner +which is astonishing; and the other objects, even the hieroglyphs, are +rendered with an accuracy which does not neglect the smallest detail. +The statues of Eâhotpû and of the lady Nofrît, discovered in a +half-ruined mastaba, have fortunately reached us without having suffered +the least damage, almost without losing anything of their original +freshness; they are to be seen in the Gîzeh Museum just as they were +when they left the hands of the workman. Eâhotpû was the son of a king, +perhaps of Snofrûi: but in spite of his high origin, I find something +humble and retiring in his physiognomy. Nofrît, on the contrary, has +an imposing appearance: an indescribable air of resolution and command +invests her whole person, and the sculptor has cleverly given expression +to it. She is represented in a robe with a pointed opening in the front: +the shoulders, the bosom, the waist, and hips, are shown under the +material of the dress with a purity and delicate grace which one does +not always find in more modern works of art. The wig, secured on the +forehead by a richly embroidered band, frames with its somewhat heavy +masses the firm and rather plump face: the eyes are living, the nostrils +breathe, the mouth smiles and is about to speak. The art of Egypt has at +times been as fully inspired; it has never been more so than on the day +in which it produced the statue of Nofrît. + +The worship of Snofrûi was perpetuated from century to century. +After the fall of the Memphite empire it passed through periods of +intermittence, during which it ceased to be observed, or was observed +only in an irregular way; it reappeared under the Ptolemies for the last +time before becoming extinct for ever. Snofrûi was probably, therefore, +one of the most popular kings of the good old times; but his fame, +however great it may have been among the Egyptians, has been eclipsed in +our eyes by that of the Pharaohs who immediately followed him--Kheops, +Khephren, and Mykerinos. Not that we are really better acquainted with +their history. All we know of them is made up of two or three series +of facts, always the same, which the contemporaneous monuments teach us +concerning these rulers. Khnûmû-Khûfûi,* abbreviated into Khûfûi, the +Kheops** of the Greeks, was probably the son of Snofrûi.*** + + * The existence of the two cartouches Khûfûi and Khnûmû- + Khûfûi on the same monuments has caused much embarrassment + to Egyptologists: the majority have been inclined to see + here two different kings, the second of whom, according to + M. Robiou, would have been the person who bore the pre-nomen + of Dadûfri. Khnûmû-Khûfûi signifies "the god Khnûmû protects + me." + + ** Kheops is the usual form, borrowed from the account of + Herodotus; Diodorus writes Khembes or Khemmes, Eratosthenes + Saôphis, and Manetho Souphis. + + *** The story in the "Westcar" papyrus speaks of Snofrûi as + father of Khûfûi; but this is a title of honour, and proves + nothing. The few records which we have of this period give + one, however, the impression that Kheops was the son of + Snofrûi, and, in spite of the hesitation of de Rougé, this + affiliation is adopted by the majority of modern historians. + +[175.jpg alabaster statue of kheops] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Émil Brugsch-Bey. + +He reigned twenty-three years, and successfully defended the mines of +the Sinaitic peninsula against the Bedouin; he may still be seen on the +face of the rocks in the Wady Maghara sacrificing his Asiatic prisoners, +now before the jackal Anubis, now before the ibis-headed Thot. The gods +reaped advantage from his activity and riches; he restored the temple +of Hâ-thor at Den-dera, embellished that of Bubastis, built a stone +sanctuary to the Isis of the Sphinx, and consecrated there gold, silver, +bronze, and wooden statues of Horus, Nephthys, Selkît, Phtah, Sokhît, +Osiris, Thot, and Hâpis. Scores of other Pharaohs had done as much or +more, on whom no one bestowed a thought a century after their death, and +Kheops would have succumbed to the same indifference had he not forcibly +attracted the continuous attention of posterity by the immensity of his +tomb.* + + * All the details relating to the Isis of the Sphinx are + furnished by a stele of the daughter of Kheops, discovered + in the little temple of the XXIst dynasty, situated to the + west of the Great Pyramid, and preserved in the Gîzeh + Museum. It was not a work entirely of the XXIst dynasty, as + Mr. Petrie asserts, but the inscription, barely readable, + engraved on the face of the plinth, indicates that it was + remade by a king of the Saïte period, perhaps by Sabaco, in + order to replace an ancient stele of the same import which + had fallen into decay. + +[Illustration: 176.jpg THE TRIUMPHAL BAS-RELIEFS OF KHEOPS ON THE ROCKS +OF WADY MAGHARA] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph published in the + _Ordnance Survey, Photographs_, vol. iii. pl. 5. On the left + stands the Pharaoh, and knocks down a Monîti before the + Ibis-headed Thot; upon the right the picture is destroyed, + and we see the royal titles only, without figures. The + statue bears no cartouche, and considerations purely + artistic cause me to attribute it to Kheops: it may equally + well represent Dadûfrî, the successor of Kheops, or + Shopsiskaf, who followed Mykerinos. + +[Illustration: 176b.jpg PROFILE OF HEAD OF A MUMMY, (A MAN) THEBES] + +[Illustration: 177.jpg PYRAMIDS OF GIZEH] + +The Egyptians of the Theban period were compelled to form their opinions +of the Pharaohs of the Memphite dynasties in the same way as we do, less +by the positive evidence of their acts than by the size and number +of their monuments: they measured the magnificence of Kheops by the +dimensions of his pyramid, and all nations having followed this example, +Kheops has continued to be one of the three or four names of former +times which sound familiar to our ears. The hills of Gîzeh in his time +terminated in a bare wind-swept table-land. A few solitary mastabas were +scattered here and there on its surface, similar to those whose ruins +still crown the hill of Dahshur.* The Sphinx, buried even in ancient +times to its shoulders, raised its head half-way down the eastern slope, +at its southern angle;** beside him*** the temple of Osiris, lord of the +Necropolis, was fast disappearing under the sand; and still further back +old abandoned tombs honey-combed the rock.**** + + * No one has noticed, I believe, that several of the + mastabas constructed under Kheops, around the pyramid, + contain in the masonry fragments of stone belonging to some + more ancient structures. Those which I saw bore carvings of + the same style as those on the beautiful mastabas of + Dahshur. + + ** The stele of the Sphinx bears, on line 13, the cartouche + of Khephren in the middle of a blank. We have here, I + believe, an indication of the clearing of the Sphinx + effected under this prince, consequently an almost certain + proof that the Sphinx was already buried in sand in the time + of Kheops and his predecessors. + + *** Mariette identifies the temple which he discovered to + the south of the Sphinx with that of Osiris, lord of the + Necropolis, which is mentioned in the inscription of the + daughter of Kheops. This temple is so placed that it must + have been sanded up at the same time as the Sphinx; I + believe, therefore, that the restoration effected by Kheops, + according to the inscription, was merely a clearing away of + the sand from the Sphinx analogous to that accomplished by + Khephren. + + **** These sepulchral chambers are not decorated in the + majority of instances. The careful scrutiny to which I + subjected them in 1885-86 causes me to believe that many of + them must be almost contemporaneous with the Sphinx; that is + to say, that they had been hollowed out and occupied a + considerable time before the period of the IVth dynasty. + +Kheops chose a site for his Pyramid on the northern edge of the plateau, +whence a view of the city of the White Wall, and at the same time of the +holy city of Heliopolis, could be obtained. + +[Illustration: 179.jpg KHÛÎT, THE GREAT PYRAMID OF GÎZEH, THE SPHINX, +AND THE TEMPLE OF THE SPHINX] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Émil Brugsch-Bey. The + temple of the Sphinx is in the foreground, covered with sand + up to the top of the walls. The second of the little + pyramids below the large one is that whose construction is + attributed to Honîtsonû, the daughter of Kheops, and with + regard to which the dragomans of the Saite period told such + strange stories to Herodotus. + +A small mound which commanded this prospect was roughly squared, and +incorporated into the masonry; the rest of the site was levelled to +receive the first course of stones. The pyramid when completed had a +height of 476 feet on a base 764 feet square; but the decaying influence +of time has reduced these dimensions to 450 and 730 feet respectively. +It possessed, up to the Arab conquest, its polished facing, coloured +by age, and so subtily jointed that one would have said that it was a +single slab from top to bottom.* The work of facing the pyramid began +at the top; that of the point was first placed in position, then the +courses were successively covered until the bottom was reached.** + + * The blocks which still exist are of white limestone. + Letronne, after having asserted in his youth (Recherches sur + Dicuil, p. 107), on the authority of a fragment attributed + to Philo of Byzantium, that the facing was formed of + polychromatic zones of granite, of green breccia and other + different kinds of stone, renounced this view owing to the + evidence of Vyse. Perrot and Chipiez have revived it, with + some hesitation. + + ** Herodotus, ii. 125, the word "point" should not be taken + literally. The Great Pyramid terminated, like its neighbour, + in a platform, of which each side measured nine English feet + (six cubits, according to Diodorus Siculus, i. 63), and + which has become larger in the process of time, especially + since the destruction of the facing. The summit viewed from + below must have appeared as a sharp point. "Having regard + to the size of the monument, a platform of three metres + square would have been a more pointed extremity than that + which terminates the obelisks" (Letronne). + +In the interior every device had been employed to conceal the exact +position of the sarcophagus, and to discourage the excavators whom +chance or persistent search might have put upon the right track. Their +first difficulty would be to discover the entrance under the limestone +casing. It lay hidden almost in the middle of the northern face, on +the level of the eighteenth course, at about forty-five feet above the +ground. A movable flagstone, working on a stone pivot, disguised it so +effectively that no one except the priests and custodians could have +distinguished this stone from its neighbours. When it was tilted up, a +yawning passage was revealed,* three and a half feet in height, with a +breadth of four feet. + + * Strabo expressly states that in his time the subterranean + parts of the Great Pyramid were accessible: "It has on its + side, at a moderate elevation, a stone which can be moved, + [--Greek phrase--]". "When it has been lifted up, a tortuous + passage is seen which leads to the tomb." The meaning of + Strabo's statement had not been mastered until Mr. Petrie + showed, what we may still see, at the entrance of one of the + pyramids of Dahshur, arrangements which bore witness to the + existence of a movable stone mounted on a pivot to serve as + a door. It was a method of closing of the same kind as that + described by Strabo, perhaps after he had seen it himself, + or had heard of it from the guides, and like that which Mr. + Petrie had reinstated, with much probability, at the + entrance of the Great Pyramid. + +[Illustration: 181a.jpg THE MOVABLE FLAGSTONE AT THE entrance to the +great pyramid] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Petrie's The Pyramids and + Temples of Gîzeh, pl. xi. + +The passage is an inclined plane, extending partly through the masonry +and partly through the solid rock for a distance of 318 feet; it passes +through an unfinished chamber and ends in a _cul-de-sac_ 59 feet +further on. The blocks are so nicely adjusted, and the surface so finely +polished, that the joints can be determined only with difficulty. The +corridor which leads to the sepulchral chamber meets the roof at an +angle of 120° to the descending passage, and at a distance of 62 feet +from the entrance. It ascends for 108 feet to a wide landing-place, +where it divides into two branches. One of these penetrates straight +towards the centre, and terminates in a granite chamber with a +high-pitched roof. This is called, but without reason, the "Chamber +of the Queen." The other passage continues to ascend, but its form and +appearance are altered. It now becomes a gallery 148 feet long and some +28 feet high, constructed of beautiful Mokattam stone. The lower courses +are placed perpendicularly one on the top of the other; each of the +upper courses projects above the one beneath, and the last two, which +support the ceiling, are only about 1 foot 8 inches distant from each +other. The small horizontal passage which separates the upper landing +from the sarcophagus chamber itself, presents features imperfectly +explained. It is intersected almost in the middle by a kind of depressed +hall, whose walls are channelled at equal intervals on each side by four +longitudinal grooves. The first of these still supports a fine flagstone +of granite which seems to hang 3 feet 7 inches above the ground, and the +three others were probably intended to receive similar slabs. The latter +is a kind of rectangular granite box, with a flat roof, 19 feet 10 +inches high, 1 foot 5 inches deep, and 17 feet broad. No figures or +hieroglyphs are to be seen, but merely a mutilated granite sarcophagus +without a cover. Such were the precautions taken against man: the result +witnessed to their efficacy, for the pyramid preserved its contents +intact for more than four thousand years.* But a more serious danger +threatened them in the great weight of the materials above. In order +to prevent the vault from being crushed under the burden of the hundred +metres of limestone which surmounted it, they arranged above it five +low chambers placed exactly one above the other in order to relieve the +superincumbent stress. The highest of these was protected by a pointed +roof consisting of enormous blocks made to lean against each other at +the top: this ingenious device served to transfer the perpendicular +thrust almost entirely to the lateral faces of the blocks. Although an +earthquake has to some extent dislocated the mass of masonry, not one +of the stones which encase the chamber of the king has been crushed, +not one has yielded by a hair's-breadth, since the day when the workmen +fixed it in its place. + + * Professor Petrie thinks that the pyramids of Gîzeh were + rifled, and the mummies which they contained destroyed + during the long civil wars which raged in the interval + between the VIth and XIIth dynasties. If this be true, it + will be necessary to admit that the kings of one of the + subsequent dynasties must have restored what had been + damaged, for the workmen of the Caliph Al-Mamoun brought + from the sepulchral chamber of the "Horizon" "a stone + trough, in which lay a stone statue in human form, enclosing + a man who had on his breast a golden pectoral, adorned with + precious stones, and a sword of inestimable value, and on + his head a carbuncle of the size of an egg, brilliant as the + sun, having characters which no man can read." All the Arab + authors, whose accounts have been collected by Jomard, + relate in general the same story; one can easily recognize + from this description the sarcophagus still in its place, a + stone case in human shape, and the mummy of Kheops loaded + with jewels and arms, like the body of Queen Âhhotpû I. + +[Illustration: 181b.jpg the interior of the great pyramid] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from pl. ix., Petrie, The Pyramids + and Temples of Gîzeh. A is the descending passage, B the + unfinished chamber, and C the horizontal passage pierced in + the rock. D is the narrow passage which provides a + communication between chamber B and the landing where the + roads divide, and with the passage FG leading to the + "Chamber of the Queen." E is the ascending passage, H the + high gallery, I and J the chamber of barriers, K the + sepulchral vault, L indicates the chambers for relieving the + stress; finally, a, are vents which served for the + aeration of the chambers during construction, and through + which libations were introduced on certain feast-days in + honour of Kheops. The draughtsman has endeavoured to render, + by lines of unequal thickness, the varying height of the + courses of masonry; the facing, which is now wanting, has + been reinstated, and the broken line behind it indicates the + visible ending of the courses which now form the northern + face of the pyramid. + +[Illustration: 183.jpg The ascending passage OF THE great pyramid] + + Facsimile by Boudier of a drawing published in the + _Description de l'Egypte, Ant._, vol. v. pl. xiii. 2. + +Four barriers in all were thus interposed between the external world and +the vault.* + + * This appears to me to follow from the analogous + arrangements which I met with in the pyramid of Saqqâra. Mr. + Petrie refuses to recognize here a barrier chamber (cf. the + notes which he has appended to the English translation of my + _Archéologie égyptienne_, p. 327, note 27,) but he confesses + that the arrangement of the grooves and of the flagstone is + still an enigma to him. Perhaps only one of the four + intended barriers was inserted in its place--that which + still remains. + +The Great Pyramid was called Khûît, the "Horizon" in which Khûfûî had to +be swallowed up, as his father the Sun was engulfed every evening in +the horizon of the west. It contained only the chambers of the deceased, +without a word of inscription, and we should not know to whom it +belonged, if the masons, during its construction, had not daubed here +and there in red paint among their private marks the name of the king, +and the dates of his reign.* + + * The workmen often drew on the stones the cartouches of the + Pharaoh under whose reign they had been taken from the + quarry, with the exact date of their extraction; the + inscribed blocks of the pyramid of Kheops bear, among + others, a date of the year XVI. + +Worship was rendered to this Pharaoh in a temple constructed a little in +front of the eastern side of the pyramid, but of which nothing remains +but a mass of ruins. Pharaoh had no need to wait until he was mummified +before he became a god; religious rites in his honour were established +on his accession; and many of the individuals who made up his court +attached themselves to his double long before his double had become +disembodied. They served him faithfully during their life, to repose +finally in his shadow in the little pyramids and mastabas which +clustered around him. Of Dadûfri, his immediate successor, we can +probably say that he reigned eight years;* but Khephren, the next son +who succeeded to the throne,** erected temples and a gigantic pyramid, +like his father. + + * According to the arrangement proposed by E. de Rougé for + the fragments of the Turin Canon. E. de Rougé reads the name + Râ-tot-ef, and proposes to identify it with the Ratoises of + the lists of Manetho, which the copyists had erroneously put + out of its proper place. This identification has been + generally accepted. Analogy compels us to read Dadûfrî, like + Khâfrî, Menkaurî, in which case the hypothesis of de Rougé + falls to the ground. The worship of Dadûfrî was renewed + towards the Saite period, together with that of Kheops and + Khephren, according to some tradition which connected his + reign with that of these two kings. On the general scheme of + the Manethonian history of these times, see Maspero, _Notes + sur quelques points de Grammaire et d'Histoire dans le + Recueil de Travaux_, vol. xvii. pp. 122-138. + + ** The Westcar Papyrus considers Khâfri to be the son of + Khûfû; this falls in with information given us, in this + respect, by Diodorus Siculus. The form which this historian + assigns--I do not know on what authority--to the name of the + king, Khabryies, is nearer the original than the Khephren of + Herodotus. + +He placed it some 394 feet to the south-west of that of Kheops; and +called it Ûîrû, the Great. It is, however, smaller than its neighbour, +and attains a height of only 443 feet, but at a distance the difference +in height disappears, and many travellers have thus been led to +attribute the same elevation to the two. The facing, of which about +one-fourth exists from the summit downwards, is of nummulite limestone, +compact, hard, and more homogeneous than that of the courses, with +rusty patches here and there due to masses of a reddish lichen, but +grey elsewhere, and with a low polish which, at a distance, reflects the +sun's rays. Thick walls of unwrought stone enclose the monument on +three sides, and there may be seen behind the west front, in an oblong +enclosure, a row of stone sheds hastily constructed of limestone and +Nile mud. + +[Illustration: 187.jpg THE NAME OF KHEOPS DRAWN IN RED ON SEVERAL BLOCKS +OF THE GREAT PYRAMID] + + Facsimile by Faucher-Gudin of the sketch in Lepsius, Denkm., + ii., 1 c. + +Here the labourers employed on the works came every evening to huddle +together, and the refuse of their occupation still encumbers the ruins +of their dwellings, potsherds, chips of various kinds of hard stone +which they had been cutting, granite, alabaster, diorite, fragments of +statues broken in the process of sculpture, and blocks of smooth granite +ready for use. The chapel commands a view of the eastern face of the +pyramid, and communicated by a paved causeway with the temple of the +Sphinx, to which it must have borne a striking resemblance.* The plan of +it can be still clearly traced on the ground, and the rubbish cannot +be disturbed without bringing to light portions of statues, vases, and +tables of offerings, some of them covered with hieroglyphs, like the +mace-head of white stone which belonged in its day to Khephren himself. + + * The connection of the temple of the Sphinx with that of + the second pyramid was discovered in December, 1880, during + the last diggings of Mariette. I ought to say that the whole + of that part of the building into which the passage leads + shows traces of having been hastily executed, and at a time + long after the construction of the rest of the edifice; it + is possible that the present condition of the place does not + date back further than the time of the Antonines, when the + Sphinx was cleared for the last time in ancient days. + +[Illustration: 188.jpg ALABASTER STATUE OF KHEPHREN] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Emil Brugsch-Bey. See + on p. 199 the carefully executed drawing of the best + preserved among the diorite statues which the Gîzeh Museum + now possesses of this Pharaoh. + +The internal arrangements of the pyramid are of the simplest character; +they consist of a granite-built passage carefully concealed in the north +face, running at first at an angle of 25°, and then horizontally, until +stopped by a granite barrier at a point which indicates a change of +direction; a second passage, which begins on the outside, at a distance +of some yards in advance of the base of the pyramid, and proceeds, after +passing through an unfinished chamber, to rejoin the first; finally, a +chamber hollowed in the rock, but surmounted by a pointed roof of fine +limestone slabs. + +[Illustration: 188b.jpg THE PYRAMID OF KHEPHREN] + +The sarcophagus was of granite, and, like that of Kheops, bore neither +the name of a king nor the representation of a god. The cover was fitted +so firmly to the trough that the Arabs could not succeed in detaching +it when they rifled the tomb in the year 1200 of our era; they were, +therefore, compelled to break through one of the sides with a hammer +before they could reach the coffin and take from it the mummy of the +Pharaoh.* + + * The second pyramid was opened to Europeans in 1816 by + Belzoni. The exact date of the entrance of the Arabs is + given us by an inscription, written in ink, on one of the + walls of the sarcophagus chamber: "Mohammed Ahmed Effendi, + the quarryman, opened it; Othman Effendi was present, as + well as the King Ali Mohammed, at the beginning and at the + closing." The King Ali Mohammed was the son and successor of + Saladin. + +Of Khephren's sons, Menkaûrî (Mykerinos), who was his successor, could +scarcely dream of excelling his father and grandfather;* his pyramid, +the Supreme--Hirû** --barely attained an elevation of 216 feet, and was +exceeded in height by those which were built at a later date.*** Up to +one-fourth of its height it was faced with syenite, and the remainder, +up to the summit, with limestone.**** + + * Classical tradition makes Mykerinos the son of Kheops. + Egyptian tradition regards him as the son of Khephren, and + with this agrees a passage in the Westcar Papyrus, in which + a magician prophesies that after Kheops his son (Khâfrî) + will yet reign, then the son of the latter (Menkaûrî), then + a prince of another family. + + ** An inscription, unfortunately much mutilated, from the + tomb of Tabhûni, gives an account of the construction of the + pyramid, and of the transport of the sarcophagus. + + *** Professor Petrie reckons the exact height of the pyramid + at 2564 ±15 or 2580 ± 2 inches; that is to say, 214 or 215 + feet in round numbers. + + **** According to Herodotus, the casing of granite extended + to half the height. Diodorus states that it did not go + beyond the fifteenth course. Professor Petrie discovered + that there were actually sixteen lower courses in red + granite. + +For lack of time, doubtless, the dressing of the granite was not +completed, but the limestone received all the polish it was capable of +taking. The enclosing wall was extended to the north so as to meet, and +become one with, that of the second pyramid. The temple was connected +with the plain by a long and almost straight causeway, which ran for +the greater part of its course* upon an embankment raised above the +neighbouring ground. This temple was in fair condition in the early +years of the eighteenth century,** and so much of it as has escaped +the ravages of the Mameluks, bears witness to the scrupulous care and +refined art employed in its construction. + + * This causeway should not be confounded, as is frequently + done, with that which may be seen at some distance to the + east in the plain: the latter led to limestone quarries in + the mountain to the south of the plateau on which the + pyramids stand. These quarries were worked in very ancient + times. + + ** Benoit de Maillet visited this temple between 1692 and + 1708. "It is almost square in form. There are to be found + inside four pillars which doubtless supported a vaulted roof + covering the altar of the idol, and one moved around these + pillars as in an ambulatory. These stones were cased with + granitic marble. I found some pieces still unbroken which + had been attached to the stones with mastic. I believe that + the exterior as well as the interior of the temple was cased + with this marble" (Le Mascrier, Description de l'Egypte, + 1735, pp. 223, 224). + +[Illustration: 192.jpg DIORITE STATUE OF MENRAÛRÏ] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph, by Emil Brugsch-Bey, of + a statue preserved in the Museum of Gîzeh. + +Coming from the plain, we first meet with an immense halting-place +measuring 100 feet by 46 feet, and afterwards enter a large court with +an egress on each side: beyond this we can distinguish the ground-plan +only of five chambers, the central one, which is in continuation with +the hall, terminating at a distance of some 42 feet from the pyramid, +exactly opposite the middle point of the eastern face. The whole mass +of the building covers a rectangular area 184 feet long by a little +over 177 feet broad. Its walls, like those of the temple of the Sphinx, +contained a core of lime-stone 7 feet 10 inches thick, of which the +blocks have been so ingeniously put together as to suggest the idea that +the whole is cut out of the rock. This core was covered with a casing +of granite and alabaster, of which the remains preserve no trace of +hieroglyphs or of wall scenes: the founder had caused his name to be +inscribed on the statues, which received, on his behalf, the offerings, +and also on the northern face of the pyramid, where it was still shown +to the curious towards the first century of our era. The arrangement of +the interior of the pyramid is somewhat complicated, and bears witness +to changes brought unexpectedly about in the course of construction. The +original central mass probably did not exceed 180 feet in breadth at the +base, with a vertical height of 154 feet. It contained a sloping passage +cut into the hill itself, and an oblong low-roofed cell devoid of +ornament. The main bulk of the work had been already completed, and the +casing not yet begun, when it was decided to alter the proportions of +the whole. + +[Illustration: 194.jpg THE COFFIN OF MYKERINOS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin. The coffin is in the British Museum. + The drawing of it was published by Vyse, by Birch-Lenormant, + and by Lepsius. Herr Sethe has recently revived an ancient + hypothesis, according to which it had been reworked in the + Saite period, and he has added to archaeological + considerations, up to that time alone brought to bear upon + the question, new philological facts. + +Mykerinos was not, it appears, the eldest son and appointed heir of +Khephren; while still a mere prince he was preparing for himself a +pyramid similar to those which lie near the "Horizon," when the deaths +of his father and brother called him to the throne. What was sufficient +for him as a child, was no longer suitable for him as a Pharaoh; the +mass of the structure was increased to its present dimensions, and a new +inclined passage was effected in it, at the end of which a hall +panelled with granite gave access to a kind of antechamber.* The latter +communicated by a horizontal corridor with the first vault, which was +deepened for the occasion; the old entrance, now no longer of use, was +roughly filled up.** + + * Vyse discovered here fragments of a granite sarcophagus, + perhaps that of the queen; the legends which Herodotus (ii. + 134, 135), and several Greek authors after him, tell + concerning this, show clearly that an ancient tradition + assumed the existence of a female mummy in the third pyramid + alongside of that of the founder Mykerinos. + + ** Vyse has noticed, in regard to the details of the + structure, that the passage now filled up is the only one + driven from the outside to the interior; all the others were + made from the inside to the outside, and consequently at a + period when this passage, being the only means of + penetrating into the interior of the monument, had not yet + received its present dimensions. + +Mykerinos did not find his last resting-place in this upper level of the +interior of the pyramid: a narrow passage, hidden behind the slabbing +of the second chamber, descended into a secret crypt, lined with granite +and covered with a barrel-vaulted roof. The sarcophagus was a single +block of blue-black basalt, polished, and carved into the form of a +house, with a façade having three doors and three openings in the form +of windows, the whole framed in a rounded moulding and surmounted by a +projecting cornice such as we are accustomed to see on the temples.* + + * It was lost off the coast of Spain in the vessel which was + bringing it to England. We have only the drawing remaining + which was made at the time of its discovery, and published + by Vyse. M. Borchardt has attempted to show that it was + reworked under the XXVIth Saite dynasty as well as the + wooden coffin of the king. + +The mummy-case of cedar-wood had a man's head, and was shaped to +the form of the human body; it was neither painted nor gilt, but an +inscription in two columns, cut on its front, contained the name of the +Pharaoh, and a prayer on his behalf: "Osiris, King of the two Egypts, +Menkaûrî, living eternally, given birth to by heaven, conceived by Nûît, +flesh of Sibii, thy mother Nûît has spread herself out over thee in +her name of 'Mystery of the Heavens,' and she has granted that thou +shouldest be a god, and that thou shouldest repulse thine enemies, O +King of the two Egypts, Menkaûrî, living eternally." The Arabs opened +the mummy to see if it contained any precious jewels, but found within +it only some leaves of gold, probably a mask or a pectoral covered +with hieroglyphs. When Vyse reopened the vault in 1837, the bones lay +scattered about in confusion on the dusty floor, mingled with bundles of +dirty rags and wrappings of yellowish woollen cloth. + +The worship of the three great pyramid-building kings continued in +Memphis down to the time of the Greeks and Romans. Their statues, in +granite, limestone, and alabaster, were preserved also in the buildings +annexed to the temple of Phtah, where visitors could contemplate these +Pharaohs as they were when alive. + +[Illustration: 196.jpg THE GRANITE SARCOPHAGUS OF MYKERINOS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a chromolithograph in Prisse + D'Avennes, _Histoire de l'Art Égyptien_. + +Those of Khephren show us the king at different ages, when young, +mature, or already in his decadence. They are in most cases cut out of +a breccia of green diorite, with long irregular yellowish veins, and of +such hardness that it is difficult to determine the tool with which they +were worked. The Pharaoh sits squarely on his royal throne, his hands on +his lap, his body firm and upright, and his head thrown back with a look +of self-satisfaction. A sparrow-hawk perched on the back of his seat +covers his head with its wings--an image of the god Horus protecting +his son. The modelling of the torso and legs of the largest of these +statues, the dignity of its pose, and the animation of its expression, +make of it a unique work of art which may be compared with the most +perfect products of antiquity. Even if the cartouches which tell us the +name of the king had been hammered away and the insignia of his rank +destroyed, we should still be able to determine the Pharaoh by his +bearing: his whole appearance indicates a man accustomed from his +infancy to feel himself invested with limitless authority. Mykerinos +stands out less impassive and haughty: he does not appear so far removed +from humanity as his predecessor, and the expression of his countenance +agrees, somewhat singularly, with the account of his piety and good +nature preserved by the legends. The Egyptians of the Theban dynasties, +when comparing the two great pyramids with the third, imagined that the +disproportion in their size corresponded with a difference of character +between their royal occupants. Accustomed as they were from infancy to +gigantic structures, they did not experience before "the Horizon" and +"the Great" the feeling of wonder and awe which impresses the beholder +of to-day. They were not the less apt on this account to estimate +the amount of labour and effort required to complete them from top to +bottom. This labour seemed to them to surpass the most excessive corvée +which a just ruler had a right to impose upon his subjects, and the +reputation of Kheops and Khephren suffered much in consequence. They +were accused of sacrilege, of cruelty, and profligacy. + +[Illustration: 198.jpg DIORITE STATUE OF KHEPHREN, GÎZEU MUSEUM] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Émil Brugsch-Bey. It + is one of the most complete statues found by Mariette in the + temple of the Sphinx. + +It was urged against them that they had arrested the whole life of their +people for more than a century for the erection of their tombs. +Kheops began by closing the temples and by prohibiting the offering of +sacrifices: he then compelled all the Egyptians to work for him. To some +he assigned the task of dragging the blocks from the quarries of the +Arabian chain to the Nile: once shipped, the duty was incumbent on +others of transporting them as far as the Libyan chain. A hundred +thousand men worked at a time, and were relieved every three months.* + + * Professor Petrie thinks that this detail rests upon an + authentic tradition. The inundation, he says, lasts three + months, during which the mass of the people have nothing to + do; it was during these three months that Kheops raised the + 100,000 men to work at the transport of the stone. The + explanation is very ingenious, but it is not supported by + the text: Herodotus does not relate that 100,000 men were + called by the corvée for three months every year; but from + three months to three months, possibly four times a year, + bodies of 100,000 men relieved each other at the work. The + figures which he quotes are well-known legendary numbers, + and we must leave the responsibility for them to the popular + imagination (Wiedemann, Herodots Zweites Buck, p. 465). + +The period of the people's suffering was divided as follows: ten years +in making the causeway along which the blocks were dragged--a work, in +my opinion, very little less onerous than that of erecting the pyramid, +for its length was five _stadia_, its breadth ten _orgyio_, its greatest +height eight, and it was made of cut stone and covered with figures.* +Ten years, therefore, were consumed in constructing this causeway +and the subterranean chambers hollowed out in the hill.... As for the +pyramid itself, twenty years were employed in the making of it.... There +are recorded on it, in Egyptian characters, the value of the sums paid +in turnips, onions, and garlic, for the labourers attached to the works; +if I remember aright, the interpreter who deciphered the inscription +told me that the total amounted to sixteen hundred talents of silver. +If this were the case, how much must have been expended for iron to make +tools, and for provisions and clothing for the workmen?** + + * Diodorus Siculus declares that there were no causeways to + be seen in his time. The remains of one of them appear to + have been discovered and restored by Vyse. + + ** Herodotus, ii. 124, 125. The inscriptions which were read + upon the pyramids were the graffiti of visitors, some of + them carefully executed. The figures which were shown to + Herodotus represented, according to the dragoman, the value + of the sums expended for vegetables for the workmen; we + ought, probably, to regard them as the thousands which, in + many of the votive temples, served to mark the quantities of + different things presented to the god, that they might be + transmitted to the deceased. + +The whole resources of the royal treasure were not sufficient for such +necessaries: a tradition represents Kheops as at the end of his means, +and as selling his daughter to any one that offered, in order to procure +money.* Another legend, less disrespectful to the royal dignity and to +paternal authority, assures us that he repented in his old age, and that +he wrote a sacred book much esteemed by the devout.** + + * Herodotus, ii. 126. She had profited by what she received + to build a pyramid for herself in the neighbourhood of the + great one--the middle one of the three small pyramids: it + would appear in fact, that this pyramid contained the mummy + of a daughter of Kheops, Honîtsonû. + + ** Manetho, Unger's edition, p. 91. The ascription of a book + to Kheops, or rather the account of the discovery of a + "sacred book" under Kheops, is quite in conformity with + Egyptian ideas. The British Museum possesses two books, + which were thus discovered under this king; the one, a + medical treatise, in a temple at Coptos; the other comes + from Tanis. Among the works on alchemy published by M. + Berthelot, there are two small treatises ascribed to Sophé, + possibly Souphis or Kheops: they are of the same kind as the + book mentioned by Manetho, and which Syncellus says was + bought in Egypt. + +Khephren had imitated, and thus shared with, him, the hatred of +posterity. The Egyptians avoided naming these wretches: their work was +attributed to a shepherd called Philitis, who in ancient times pastured +his flocks in the mountain; and even those who did not refuse to them +the glory of having built the most enormous sepulchres in the world, +related that they had not the satisfaction of reposing in them after +their death. The people, exasperated at the tyranny to which they had +been subject, swore that they would tear the bodies of these Pharaohs +from their tombs, and scatter their fragments to the winds: they had +to be buried in crypts so securely placed that no one has succeeded in +finding them. + +Like the two older pyramids, "the Supreme" had its anecdotal history, +in which the Egyptians gave free rein to their imagination. We know +that its plan had been rearranged in the course of building, that it +contained two sepulchral chambers, two sarcophagi, and two mummies: +these modifications, it was said, belonged to two distinct reigns; for +Mykerinos had left his tomb unfinished, and a woman had finished it at +a later date--according to some, Nitokris, the last queen of the VIth +dynasty; according to others, Rhodopis, the Ionian who was the mistress +of Psammetichus I. or of Ainasis.* + + * Zoega had already recognized that the Rhodopis of the + Greeks was no other than the Nitokris of Manetho, and his + opinion was adopted and developed by Bunsen. The legend of + Rhodopis was completed by the additional ascription to the + ancient Egyptian queen of the character of a courtesan: this + repugnant trait seems to have been borrowed from the same + class of legends as that which concerned itself with the + daughter of Kheops and her pyramid. The narrative thus + developed was in a similar manner confounded with another + popular story, in which occurs the episode of the slipper, + so well known from the tale of Cinderella. Herodotus + connects Rhodopis with his Amasis, Ælian with King + Psammetichus of the XXVIth dynasty. + +The beauty and richness of the granite casing dazzled all eyes, and +induced many visitors to prefer the least of the pyramids to its two +imposing sisters; its comparatively small size is excused on the ground +that its founder had returned to that moderation and piety which +ought to characterize a good king. "The actions of his father were not +pleasing to him; he reopened the temples and sent the people, reduced +to the extreme of misery, back to their religious observances and their +occupations; finally, he administered justice more equitably than all +other kings. On this head he is praised above those who have at any time +reigned in Egypt: for not only did he administer good justice, but if +any one complained of his decision he gratified him with some present in +order to appease his wrath." There was one point, however, which excited +the anxiety of many in a country where the mystic virtue of numbers +was an article of faith: in order that the laws of celestial arithmetic +should be observed in the construction of the pyramids, it was necessary +that three of them should be of the same size. The anomaly of a third +pyramid out of proportion to the two others could be explained only on +the hypothesis that Mykerinos, having broken with paternal usage, +had ignorantly infringed a decree of destiny--a deed for which he was +mercilessly punished. He first lost his only daughter; a short time +after he learned from an oracle that he had only six more years to +remain upon the earth. He enclosed the corpse of his child in a hollow +wooden heifer, which he sent to Sais, where it was honoured with divine +worship.* + + * Herodotus, ii. 129-133. The manner in which Herodotus + describes the cow which was shown to him in the temple of + Sais, proves that he was dealing with Nit, in animal form, + Mihî-ûîrît, the great celestial heifer who had given birth + to the Sun. How the people could have attached to this + statue the legend of a daughter of Mykerinos is now + difficult to understand. The idea of a mummy or a corpse + shut up in a statue, or in a coffin, was familiar to the + Egyptians: two of the queens interred at Déir el-Baharî, + Nofritari Ahhotpû II., were found hidden in the centre of + immense Osirian figures of wood, covered with stuccoed + fabric. Egyptian tradition supposed that the bodies of the + gods rested upon the earth. The cow Mîhî-ûîrît might, + therefore, be bodily enclosed in a sarcophagus in the form + of a heifer, just as the mummified gazelle of Déîr el-Baharî + is enclosed in a sarcophagus of gazelle form; it is even + possible that the statue shown to Herodotus really contained + what was thought to be a mummy of the goddess. + +"He then communicated his reproaches to the god, complaining that his +father and his uncle, after having closed the temples, forgotten the +gods and oppressed mankind, had enjoyed a long life, while he, devout as +he was, was so soon about to perish. The oracle answered that it was for +this very reason that his days were shortened, for he had not done that +which he ought to have done. Egypt had to suffer for a hundred and fifty +years, and the two kings his predecessors had known this, while he had +not. On receiving this answer, Mykerinos, feeling himself condemned, +manufactured a number of lamps, lit them every evening at dusk, began to +drink and to lead a life of jollity, without ceasing for a moment night +and day, wandering by the lakes and in the woods wherever he thought to +find an occasion of pleasure. He had planned this in order to convince +the oracle of having spoken falsely, and to live twelve years, the +nights counting as so many days." Legend places after him Asychis or +Sasychis, a later builder of pyramids, but of a different kind. The +latter preferred brick as a building material, except in one place, +where he introduced a stone bearing the following inscription: "Do not +despise me on account of the stone pyramids: I surpass them as much as +Zeus the other gods. Because, a pole being plunged into a lake and the +clay which stuck to it being collected, the brick out of which I was +constructed was moulded from it." The virtues of Asychis and Mykerinos +helped to counteract the bad impression which Kheops and Khephren had +left behind them. Among the five legislators of Egypt Asychis stood out +as one of the best. He regulated, to minute details, the ceremonies of +worship. He invented geometry and the art of observing the heavens.* + + * Diodorus, i. 94. It seems probable that Diodorus had + received knowledge from some Alexandrian writer, now lost, + of traditions concerning the legislative acts of Shashanqû + I. of the XXIInd dynasty; but the name of the king, commonly + written Sesonkhis, had been corrupted by the dragoman into + Sasykhis. + +He put forth a law on lending, in which he authorized the borrower to +pledge in forfeit the mummy of his father, while the creditor had the +right of treating as his own the tomb of the debtor: so that if the +debt was not met, the latter could not obtain a last resting-place for +himself or his family either in his paternal or any other tomb. + +History knows nothing either of this judicious sovereign or of many +other Pharaohs of the same type, which the dragomans of the Greek period +assiduously enforced upon the respectful attention of travellers. It +merely affirms that the example given by Kheops, Khephren, and Mykerinos +were by no means lost in later times. From the beginning of the IVth +to the end of the XIVth dynasty--during more than fifteen hundred +years--the construction of pyramids was a common State affair, provided +for by the administration, secured by special services. Not only did +the Pharaohs build them for themselves, but the princes and princesses +belonging to the family of the Pharaohs constructed theirs, each one +according to his resources; three of these secondary mausoleums are +ranged opposite the eastern side of "the Horizon," three opposite the +southern face of "the Supreme," and everywhere else--near Abousir, at +Saqqâra, at Dahshur or in the Fayûm--the majority of the royal pyramids +attracted around them a more or less numerous cortège of pyramids of +princely foundation often debased in shape and faulty in proportion. The +materials for them were brought from the Arabian chain. A spur of the +latter, projecting in a straight line towards the Nile, as far as +the village of Troiû, is nothing but a mass of the finest and whitest +limestone. The Egyptians had quarries here from the earliest times. By +cutting off the stone in every direction, they lowered the point of this +spur for a depth of some hundreds of metres. The appearance of these +quarries is almost as astonishing as that of the monuments made out of +their material. The extraction of the stone was carried on with a skill +and regularity which denoted ages of experience. The tunnels were so +made as to exhaust the finest and whitest seams without waste, and the +chambers were of an enormous extent; the walls were dressed, the pillars +and roofs neatly finished, the passages and doorways made of a regular +width, so that the whole presented more the appearance of a subterranean +temple than of a place for the extraction of building materials.* + + * The description of the quarries of Turah, as they were at + the beginning of the century, was somewhat briefly given by + Jomard, afterwards more completely by Perring. During the + last thirty years the Cairo masons have destroyed the + greater part of the ancient remains formerly existing in + this district, and have completely changed the appearance of + the place. + +Hastily written graffiti, in red and black ink, preserve the names of +workmen, overseers, and engineers, who had laboured here at certain +dates, calculations of pay or rations, diagrams of interesting details, +as well as capitals and shafts of columns, which were shaped out on the +spot to reduce their weight for transport. Here and there true official +stelas are to be found set apart in a suitable place, recording that +after a long interruption such or such an illustrious sovereign had +resumed the excavations, and opened fresh chambers. Alabaster was met +with not far from here in the Wady Gerrauî. The Pharaohs of very early +times established a regular colony here, in the very middle of the +desert, to cut the material into small blocks for transport: a strongly +built dam, thrown across the valley, served to store up the winter and +spring rains, and formed a pond whence the workers could always supply +themselves with water. Kheops and his successors drew their alabaster +from Hâtnûbû, in the neighbourhood of Hermopolis, their granite from +Syene, their diorite and other hard rocks, the favourite material for +their sarcophagi, from the volcanic valleys which separate the Nile from +the Red Sea--especially from the Wady Hammamât. As these were the only +materials of which the quantity required could not be determined in +advance, and which had to be brought from a distance, every king was +accustomed to send the principal persons of his court to the quarries +of Upper Egypt, and the rapidity with which they brought back the stone +constituted a high claim on the favour of their master. If the building +was to be of brick, the bricks were made on the spot, in the plain +at the foot of the hills. If it was to be a limestone structure, the +neighbouring parts of the plateau furnished the rough material in +abundance. For the construction of chambers and for casing walls, the +rose granite of Elephantine and the limestone of Troiu were commonly +employed, but they were spared the labour of procuring these specially +for the occasion. The city of the White Wall had always at hand a supply +of them in its stores, and they might be drawn upon freely for public +buildings, and consequently for the royal tomb. The blocks chosen from +this reserve, and conveyed in boats close under the mountain-side, were +drawn up slightly inclined causeways by oxen to the place selected by +the architect. + +The internal arrangements, the length of the passages and the height +of the pyramids, varied much: the least of them had a height of some +thirty-three feet merely. As it is difficult to determine the motives +which influenced the Pharaohs in building them of different sizes, some +writers have thought that the mass of each increased in proportion to +the time bestowed upon its construction--that is to say, to the length +of each reign. As soon as a prince mounted the throne, he would probably +begin by roughly sketching out a pyramid sufficiently capacious to +contain the essential elements of the tomb; he would then, from year to +year, have added fresh layers to the original nucleus, until the day of +his death put an end for ever to the growth of the monument.* + + * This was the theory formulated by Lepsius, after the + researches made by himself, and the work done by Erbkam, and + the majority of Egyptologists adopted it, and still maintain + it. It was vigorously attacked by Perrot-Chipiez and by + Petrie; it was afterwards revived, with amendments, by + Borchardt whose conclusions have been accepted by Ed. Meyer. + The examinations which I have had the opportunity of + bestowing on the pyramids of Saqqâra, Abusir, Dahshur, + Rîgah, and Lisht have shown me that the theory is not + applicable to any of these monuments. + +This hypothesis is not borne out by facts: such a small pyramid as that +of Saqqâra belonged to a Pharaoh who reigned thirty years, while +"the Horizon" of Gîzeh is the work of Kheops, whose rule lasted only +twenty-three years. + +[Illustration: 208.jpg MAP OLEANDER LOWER] + +The plan of each pyramid was arranged once for all by the architect, +according to the instructions he had received, and the resources at his +command. Once set on foot, the work was continued until its completion, +without addition or diminution, unless something unforeseen occurred. +The pyramids, like the mastabas, ought to present their faces to the +four cardinal points; but owing to unskilfulness or negligence, the +majority of them are not very accurately orientated, and several of them +vary sensibly from the true north. The great pyramid of Saqqâra does not +describe a perfect square at its base, but is an oblong rectangle, with +its longest sides east and west; it is stepped--that is to say, the six +sloping sided cubes of which it is composed are placed upon one another +so as to form a series of treads and risers, the former being about two +yards wide and the latter of unequal heights. The highest of the stone +pyramids of Dahshur makes at its lower part an angle of 54° 41' with the +horizon, but at half its height the angle becomes suddenly more acute +and is reduced to 42° 59'. It reminds one of a mastaba with a sort of +huge attic on the top. Each of these monuments had its enclosing wall, +its chapel and its college of priests, who performed there for ages +sacred rites in honour of the deceased prince, while its property in +mortmain was administered by the chief of the "priests of the double." +Each one received a name, such as "the Fresh," "the Beautiful," "the +Divine in its places," which conferred upon it a personality and, as it +were, a living soul. These pyramids formed to the west of the White Wall +a long serrated line whose extremities were lost towards the south and +north in the distant horizon: Pharaoh could see them from the terraces +of his palace, from the gardens of his villa, and from every point in +the plain in which he might reside between Heliopolis and Mêdûm--as a +constant reminder of the lot which awaited him in spite of his divine +origin. The people, awed and inspired by the number of them, and by the +variety of their form and appearance, were accustomed to tell stories +of them to one another, in which the supernatural played a predominant +part. They were able to estimate within a few ounces the heaps of gold +and silver, the jewels and precious stones, which adorned the royal +mummies or rilled the sepulchral chambers: they were acquainted with +every precaution taken by the architects to ensure the safety of all +these riches from robbers, and were convinced that magic had added to +such safeguards the more effective protection of talismans and genii. +There was no pyramid so insignificant that it had not its mysterious +protectors, associated with some amulet--in most cases with a statue, +animated by the double of the founder. The Arabs of to-day are still +well acquainted with these protectors, and possess a traditional respect +for them. The great pyramid concealed a black and white image, seated +on a throne and invested with the kingly sceptre. He who looked upon the +statue "heard a terrible noise proceeding from it which almost caused +his heart to stop beating, and he who had heard this noise would die." +An image of rose-coloured granite watched over the pyramid of Khephren, +standing upright, a sceptre in its hand and the urous on its brow, +"which serpent threw himself upon him who approached it, coiled +itself around his neck, and killed him." A sorcerer had invested these +protectors of the ancient Pharaohs with their powers, but another +equally potent magician could elude their vigilance, paralyze their +energies, if not for ever, at least for a sufficient length of time +to ferret out the treasure and rifle the mummy. The cupidity of the +fellahîn, highly inflamed by the stories which they were accustomed to +hear, gained the mastery over their terror, and emboldened them to risk +their lives in these well-guarded tombs. How many pyramids had been +already rifled at the beginning of the second Theban empire! + +The IVth dynasty became extinct in the person of Shop-siskaf, the +successor and probably the son of Mykerinos.* The learned of the time of +Ramses II. regarded the family which replaced this dynasty as merely +a secondary branch of the line of Snofrûi, raised to power by the +capricious laws which settled hereditary questions.** + + * The series of kings beginning with Mykerinos was drawn up + for the first time in an accurate manner by E. de Rougé, + _recherches sur les Monu-mails qu'on peut attribuer aux six + premières dynasties_, pp. 66-84, M. de Rouge's results have + been since adopted by all Egyptologists. The table of the + IVTH dynasty, restored as far as possible with the + approximate dates, is subjoined:-- + +[Illustration: 211.jpg TABLE OF THE IVTH DYNASTY] + + ** The fragments of the royal Turin Papyrus exhibit, in + fact, no separation between the kings which Manetho + attributes to the IVth dynasty and those which he ascribes + to the Vth, which seems to show that the Egyptian annalist + considered them all as belonging to one and the same family + of Pharaohs. + +Nothing on the contemporary monuments, it is true, gives indication of a +violent change attended by civil war, or resulting from a revolution at +court: the construction and decoration of the tombs continued without +interruption and without indication of haste, the sons-in-law of +Shopsiskaf and of Mykerinos, their daughters and grandchildren, possess +under the new kings, the same favour, the same property, the same +privileges, which they had enjoyed previously. It was stated, however, +in the time of the Ptolemies, that the Vth dynasty had no connection +with the IVth; it was regarded at Memphis as an intruder, and it was +asserted that it came from Elephantine.* The tradition was a very old +one, and its influence is betrayed in a popular story, which was current +at Thebes in the first years of the New Empire. Kheops, while in search +of the mysterious books of Thot in order to transcribe from them the +text for his sepulchral chamber,** had asked the magician Didi to be +good enough to procure them for him; but the latter refused the perilous +task imposed upon him. + + * Such is the tradition accepted by Manetho. Lepsius thinks + that the copyists of Manetho were under some distracting + influence, which made them transfer the record of the origin + of the VIth dynasty to the Vth: it must have been the VIth + dynasty which took its origin from Elephantine. I think the + safest plan is to respect the text of Manetho until we know + more, and to admit that he knew of a tradition ascribing the + origin of the Vth dynasty to Elephantine. + + ** The Great Pyramid is mute, but we find in other pyramids + inscriptions of some hundreds of lines. The author of the + story, who knew how much certain kings of the VIth dynasty + had laboured to have extracts of the sacred books engraved + within their tombs, fancied, no doubt, that his Kheops had + done the like, but had not succeeded in procuring the texts + in question, probably on account of the impiety ascribed to + him by the legends. It was one of the methods of explaining + the absence of any religious or funereal inscription in the + Great Pyramid. + +"'Sire, my lord, it is not I who shall bring them to thee.' His Majesty +asks: 'Who, then, will bring them to me?' Didi replies, 'It is the +eldest of the three children who are in the womb of Rudîtdidît who will +bring them to thee.' His Majesty says: 'By the love of Râ! what is this +that thou tellest me; and who is she, this Rudîtdidît?' Didi says to +him: 'She is the wife of a priest of Râ, lord of Sakhîbû. She carries in +her womb three children of Râ, lord of Sakhîbû, and the god has promised +to her that they shall fulfil this beneficent office in this whole +earth,* and that the eldest shall be the high priest at Heliopolis." His +Majesty, his heart was troubled at it, but Didi says to him: "'What are +these thoughts, sire, my lord? Is it because of these three children? +Then I say to thee: 'Thy son, his son, then one of these.'"** The good +King Kheops doubtless tried to lay his hands upon this threatening trio +at the moment of their birth; but Râ had anticipated this, and saved his +offspring. When the time for their birth drew near, the Majesty of Râ, +lord of Sakhîbû, gave orders to Isis, Nephthys, Maskhonît, Hiquît,*** +and Khnûmû: "Come, make haste and run to deliver Budîtdidît of these +three children which she carries in her womb to fulfil that beneficent +office in this whole earth, and they will build you temples, they will +furnish your altars with offerings, they will supply your tables with +libations, and they will increase your mortmain possessions." + + * This kind of circumlocution is employed on several + occasions in the old texts to designate royalty. It was + contrary to etiquette to mention directly, in common speech, + the Pharaoh, or anything belonging to his functions or his + family. Cf. pp. 28, 29 of this History. + + ** This phrase is couched in oracular form, as befitting the + reply of a magician. It appears to have been intended to + reassure the king in affirming that the advent of the three + sons of Râ would not be immediate: his son, then a son of + this son, would succeed him before destiny would be + accomplished, and one of these divine children succeed to + the throne in his turn. The author of the story took no + notice of Dadufrî or Shopsiskaf, of whose reigns little was + known in his time. + + *** Hiquît as the frog-goddess, or with a frog's head, was + one of the mid-wives who is present at the birth of the sun + every morning. Her presence is, therefore, natural in the + case of the spouse about to give birth to royal sons of the + sun. + +The goddesses disguised themselves as dancers and itinerant musicians: +Khnûmû assumed the character of servant to this band of nautch-girls and +filled the bag with provisions, and they all then proceeded together +to knock at the door of the house in which Budîtdidît was awaiting her +delivery. The earthly husband Baûsîr, unconscious of the honour that the +gods had in store for him, introduced them to the presence of his wife, +and immediately three male children were brought into the world one +after the other. Isis named them, Maskhonît predicted for them their +royal fortune, while Khnûmû. infused into their limbs vigour and health; +the eldest was called Ûsirkaf, the second Sahûrî, the third Kakiû. +Kaûsîr was anxious to discharge his obligation to these unknown persons, +and proposed to do so in wheat, as if they were ordinary mortals: they +had accepted it without compunction, and were already on their way to +the firmament, when Isis recalled them to a sense of their dignity, and +commanded them to store the honorarium bestowed upon them in one of +the chambers of the house, where henceforth prodigies of the strangest +character never ceased to manifest themselves. Every time one entered +the place a murmur was heard of singing, music, and dancing, while +acclamations such as those with which kings are wont to be received gave +sure presage of the destiny which awaited the newly born. The manuscript +is mutilated, and we do not know how the prediction was fulfilled. If we +may trust the romance, the three first princes of the Vth dynasty were +brothers, and of priestly descent, but our experience of similar stories +does not encourage us to take this one very seriously: did not such +tales affirm that Kheops and Khephren were brothers also? + +The Vth dynasty manifested itself in every respect as the sequel and +complement of the IVth.* It reckons nine Pharaohs after the three which +tradition made sons of the god Râ himself and of Rudîtdidîfc. They +reigned for a century and a half; the majority of them have left +monuments, and the last four, at least, Ûsirnirî Ânû, Menkaû-horû, +Dadkerî Assi, and Unas, appear to have ruled gloriously. They all built +pyramids,** they repaired temples and founded cities.*** + + * A list is appended of the known Pharaohs of the Vth + dynasty, restored as far as can be, with the closest + approximate dates of their reigns:-- + +[Illustration: 215.jpg TABLE OF PHARAOHS OF THE VTH DYNASTY] + + ** It is pretty generally admitted, but without convincing + proofs, that the pyramids of Abûsîr served as tombs for the + Pharaohs in the Vth dynasty, one for Sahûrî, another to + Ûsirnirî Anû, although Wiedemann considers that the + truncated pyramid of Dahshur was the tomb of this king. I am + inclined to think that one of the pyramids of Saqqâra was + constructed by Assi; the pyramid of Unas was opened in 1881, + and the results made known by Maspero, _Études de Mythologie + et d'Archéologie_, vol. i. p. 150, et seq., and _Recueil de + Travaux_, vols. iv. and v. The names of the majority of the + pyramids are known to us from the monuments: that of Ûsirkaf + was called "Ûâbisîtu"; that of Sahûrî, "Khâbi"; that of + Nofiririkerî, "Bi"; that of Anû, "Min-isûîtû"; that of + Menkaûhorû, "Nûtirisûîtû"; that of Assi, "Nutir"; that of + Unas, "Nofir-isûîtû." + + *** Pa Sahûrî, near Esneh, for instance, was built by + Sahûrî. The modern name of the village of Sahoura still + preserves, on the same spot, without the inhabitants + suspecting it, the name of the ancient Pharaoh. + +[Illustration: 210.jpg STATUE IN ROSE-COLOURED GRANITE OF THE PHARAOH +ANÛ, IN THE GÎZEH MUSEUM] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Emil Brugsch-Bey. + +The Bedouin of the Sinaitic peninsula gave them much to do. Sahûrî +brought these nomads to reason, and perpetuated the memory of his +victories by a stele, engraved on the face of one of the rocks in the +Wady Magharah; Anû obtained some successes over them, and Assi repulsed +them in the fourth year of his reign. On the whole, they maintained +Egypt in the position of prosperity and splendour to which their +predecessors had raised it. + +In one respect they even increased it. Egypt was not so far isolated +from the rest of the world as to prevent her inhabitants from knowing, +either by personal contact or by hearsay, at least some of the peoples +dwelling outside Africa, to the north and east. + + +[Illustration: 217.jpg TRIUMPHAL BAS-RELIEF OF PHARAOH SAHÛRÛ, ON THE +ROCKS OF WADY MAGHARAH.] + + Drawn by Boudier, from the water-colour published in + Lepsius, _Denhn._, i. pl. 8, No. 2 + +They knew that beyond the "Very Green," almost at the foot of the +mountains behind which the sun travelled during the night, stretched +fertile islands or countries and nations without number, some barbarous +or semi-barbarous, others as civilized as they were themselves. They +cared but little by what names they were known, but called them all by +a common epithet, the Peoples beyond the Seas, "Haûi-nîbû." If they +travelled in person to collect the riches which were offered to them by +these peoples in exchange for the products of the Nile, the Egyptians +could not have been the unadventurous and home-loving people we have +imagined. They willingly left their own towns in pursuit of fortune +or adventure, and the sea did not inspire them with fear or religious +horror. The ships which they launched upon it were built on the model of +the Nile boats, and only differed from the latter in details which would +now pass unnoticed. The hull, which was built on a curved keel, was +narrow, had a sharp stem and stern, was decked from end to end, low +forward and much raised aft, and had a long deck cabin: the steering +apparatus consisted of one or two large stout oars, each supported on +a forked post and managed by a steersman. It had one mast, sometimes +composed of a single tree, sometimes formed of a group of smaller masts +planted at a slight distance from each other, but united at the top by +strong ligatures and strengthened at intervals by crosspieces which made +it look like a ladder; its single sail was bent sometimes to one yard, +sometimes to two; while its complement consisted of some fifty men, +oarsmen, sailors, pilots, and passengers. Such were the vessels for +cruising or pleasure; the merchant ships resembled them, but they were +of heavier build, of greater tonnage, and had a higher freeboard. They +had no hold; the merchandise had to remain piled up on deck, leaving +only just enough room for the working of the vessel. They nevertheless +succeeded in making lengthy voyages, and in transporting troops into the +enemy's territory from the mouths of the Nile to the southern coast of +Syria. Inveterate prejudice alone could prevent us from admitting that +the Egyptians of the Memphite period went to the ports of Asia and to +the Haûi-nîbû by sea. Some, at all events, of the wood required for +building* and for joiner's work of a civil or funereal character, such +as pine, cypress or cedar, was brought from the forests of Lebanon or +those of Amanus. + + * Cedar-wood must have been continually imported into Egypt. + It is mentioned in the Pyramid texts; in the tomb of Ti, and + in the other tombs of Saqqâra or Gîzeh, workmen are + represented making furniture of it. Chips of wood from the + coffins of the VIth dynasty, detached in ancient times and + found in several mastabas at Saqqâra, have been pronounced + to be, some cedar of Lebanon, others a species of pine which + still grows in Cilicia and in the north of Syria. + +[Illustration: 219.jpg PASSENGER VESSEL UNDER SAIL] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Emil Brugsch- + Bey; the picture is taken from one of the walls of the tomb + of Api, discovered at Saqqâra, and now preserved in the + Gîzeh Museum (VIth dynasty). The man standing at the bow is + the fore-pilot, whose duty it is to take soundings of the + channel, and to indicate the direction of the vessel to the + pilot aft, who works the rudder-oars. + +Beads of amber are still found near Abydos in the tombs of the oldest +necropolis, and we may well ask how many hands they had passed through +before reaching the banks of the Nile from the shores of the Baltic.* +The tin used to alloy copper for making bronze,** and perhaps bronze +itself, entered doubtless by the same route as the amber. + + * I have picked up in the tombs of the VIth dynasty at Kom- + es-Sultan, and in the part of the necropolis of Abydos + containing the tombs of the XIth and XIIth dynasties, a + number of amber beads, most of which were very small. + Mariette, who had found some on the same site, and who had + placed them in the Boulaq Museum, mistook them for corroded + yellow or brown glass beads. The electric properties which + they still possess have established their identity. + + ** I may recall the fact that the analysis of some objects + discovered at Mèdûm by Professor Petrie proved that they + were made of bronze, and contained 9.l per cent, of tin; the + Egyptians, therefore, used bronze from the IVth dynasty + downwards, side by side with pure copper. + +The tribes of unknown race who then peopled the coasts of the Ægean Sea, +were amongst the latest to receive these metals, and they transmitted +them either directly to the Egyptians or Asiatic intermediaries, who +carried them to the Nile Valley. Asia Minor had, moreover, its treasures +of metal as well as those of wood--copper, lead, and iron, which +certain tribes of miners and smiths, had worked from the earliest times. +Caravans plied between Egypt and the lands of Chaldæan civilization, +crossing Syria and Mesopotamia, perhaps even by the shortest desert +route, as far as Ur and Babylon. The communications between nation and +nation were frequent from this time forward, and very productive, but +their existence and importance are matters of inference, as we have no +direct evidence of them. The relations with these nations continued to +be pacific, and, with the exception of Sinai, Pharaoh had no desire to +leave the Nile Valley and take long journeys to pillage or subjugate +countries from whence came so much treasure. The desert and the sea +which protected Egypt on the north and east from Asiatic cupidity, +protected Asia with equal security from the greed of Egypt. + +On the other hand, towards the south, the Nile afforded an easy means +of access to those who wished to penetrate into the heart of Africa. The +Egyptians had, at the outset, possessed only the northern extremity of +the valley, from the sea to the narrow pass of Silsileh; they had then +advanced as far as the first cataract, and Syene for some time marked +the extreme limit of their empire. At what period did they cross this +second frontier and resume their march southwards, as if again to seek +the cradle of their race? They had approached nearer and nearer to the +great bend described by the river near the present village of Korosko,* +but the territory thus conquered had, under the Vth dynasty, not as yet +either name or separate organization: it was a dependency of the fiefdom +of Elephantine, and was under the immediate authority of its princes. + + * This appears to follow from a passage in the inscription + of Uni. This minister was raising troops and exacting wood + for building among the desert tribes whose territories + adjoined at this part of the valley: the manner in which the + requisitions were effected shows that it was not a question + of a new exaction, but a familiar operation, and + consequently that the peoples mentioned had been under + regular treaty obligations to the Egyptians, at least for + some time previously. + +Those natives who dwelt on the banks of the river appear to have offered +but a slight resistance to the invaders: the desert tribes proved more +difficult to conquer. The Nile divided them into two distinct bodies. On +the right side, the confederation of the Uaûaiu spread in the direction +of the Bed Sea, from the district around Ombos to the neighbourhood of +Korosko, in the valleys now occupied by the Ababdehs: it was bounded on +the south by the Mâzaiû tribes, from whom our contemporary Mâazeh have +probably descended. The Amamiu were settled on the left bank opposite +to the Mâzaiû, and the country of Iritît lay facing the territory of the +Uaûaiu. None of these barbarous peoples were subject to Egypt, but +they all acknowledged its suzerainty,--a somewhat dubious one, indeed, +analogous to that exercised over their descendants by the Khedives of +to-day. The desert does not furnish them with the means of subsistence: +the scanty pasturages of their wadys support a few flocks of sheep and +asses, and still fewer oxen, but the patches of cultivation which they +attempt in the neighbourhood of springs, yield only a poor produce of +vegetables or dourah. They would literally die of starvation were they +not able to have access to the banks of the Nile for provisions. On +the other hand, it is a great temptation to them to fall unawares on +villages or isolated habitations on the outskirts of the fertile lands, +and to carry off cattle, grain, and male and female slaves; they would +almost always have time to reach the mountains again with their spoil +and to protect themselves there from pursuit, before even the news +of the attack could reach the nearest police station. Under treaties +concluded with the authorities of the country, they are permitted to +descend into the plain in order to exchange peaceably for corn and +dourah, the acacia-wood of their forests, the charcoal that they make, +gums, game, skins of animals, and the gold and precious stones which +they get from their mines: they agree in return to refrain from any +act of plunder, and to constitute a desert police, provided that they +receive a regular pay. + +[Illustration: 223.jpg MAP OF NUBIA IN THE TIME OF THE MEMPHITE EMPIRE] + +The same arrangement existed in ancient times. The tribes hired +themselves out to Pharaoh. They brought him beams of "sont" at the first +demand, when he was in need of materials to build a fleet beyond the +first cataract. They provided him with bands of men ready armed, when +a campaign against the Libyans or the Asiatic tribes forced him to seek +recruits for his armies: the Mâzaiû entered the Egyptian service in such +numbers, that their name served to designate the soldiery in general, +just as in Cairo porters and night watchmen are all called Berberines. +Among these people respect for their oath of fealty yielded sometimes +to their natural disposition, and they allowed themselves to be carried +away to plunder the principalities which they had agreed to defend: the +colonists in Nubia were often obliged to complain of their exactions. +When these exceeded all limits, and it became impossible to wink at +their misdoings any longer, light-armed troops were sent against +them, who quickly brought them to reason. As at Sinai, these were easy +victories. They recovered in one expedition what the Ûaûaiû had +stolen in ten, both in flocks and fellahîn, and the successful general +perpetuated the memory of his exploits by inscribing, as he returned, +the name of Pharaoh on some rock at Syene or Elephantine: we may surmise +that it was after this fashion that Usirkaf, Nofiririkerî, and Unas +carried on the wars in Nubia. Their armies probably never went beyond +the second cataract, if they even reached so far: further south the +country was only known by the accounts of the natives or by the few +merchants who had made their way into it. Beyond the Mâzaiû, but still +between the Nile and the Red Sea, lay the country of Pûanît, rich in +ivory, ebony, gold, metals, gums, and sweet-smelling resins. When some +Egyptian, bolder than his fellows, ventured to travel thither, he could +choose one of several routes for approaching it by land or sea. The +navigation of the Red Sea was, indeed, far more frequent than is usually +believed, and the same kind of vessels in which the Egyptians coasted +along the Mediterranean, conveyed them, by following the coast of +Africa, as far as the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb. They preferred, however, +to reach it by land, and they returned with caravans of heavily laden +asses and slaves. + +[Illustration: 225.jpg HEAD OF AN INHABITANT OF PÛANÎT] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Professor + Petrie. This head was taken from the bas-relief at Karnak, + on which the Pharaoh Harmhabi of the XVIIIth dynasty + recorded his victories over the peoples of the south of + Egypt. + +All that lay beyond Pûanît was held to be a fabulous region, a kind +of intermediate boundary land between the world of men and that of the +gods, the "Island of the Double," "Land of the Shades," where the living +came into close contact with the souls of the departed. It was inhabited +by the Dangas, tribes of half-savage dwarfs, whose grotesque faces and +wild gestures reminded the Egyptians of the god Bîsû (Bes). The chances +of war or trade brought some of them from time to time to Pûanît, or +among the Amamiû: the merchant who succeeded in acquiring and bringing +them to Egypt had his fortune made. Pharaoh valued the Dangas highly, +and was anxious to have some of them at any price among the dwarfs with +whom he loved to be surrounded; none knew better than they the dance +of the god--that to which Bîsû unrestrainedly gave way in his merry +moments. Towards the end of his reign Assi procured one which a certain +Biûrdidi had purchased in Pûanît. Was this the first which had made its +appearance at court, or had others preceded it in the good graces of +the Pharaohs? His wildness and activity, and the extraordinary positions +which he assumed, made a lively impression upon the courtiers of the +time, and nearly a century later there were still reminiscences of him. + +A great official born in the time of Shopsiskaf, and living on to a +great age into the reign of Nofiririkerî, is described on his tomb as +the "Scribe of the House of Books." This simple designation, occurring +incidentally among two higher titles, would have been sufficient +in itself to indicate the extraordinary development which Egyptian +civilization had attained at this time. The "House of Books" was +doubtless, in the first place, a depository of official documents, such +as the registers of the survey and taxes, the correspondence between +the court and the provincial governors or feudal lords, deeds of gift +to temples or individuals, and all kinds of papers required in the +administration of the State. It contained I also, however, literary +works, many of which even at this early date were already old, prayers +drawn up during the first dynasties, devout poetry belonging to times +prior to the misty personage called Mini--hymns to the gods of light, +formulas of black magic, collections of mystical works, such as the +"Book of the Dead"* and the "Ritual of the Tomb;" scientific treatises +on medicine, geometry, mathematics, and astronomy; manuals of practical +morals; and lastly, romances, or those marvellous stories which preceded +the romance among Oriental peoples. + + * The "Book of the Dead" must have existed from + prehistoric times, certain chapters excepted, whose + relatively modern origin has been indicated by those who + ascribe the editing of the work to the time of the first + human dynasties. + +All these, if we had them, would form "a library much more precious to +us than that of Alexandria;" unfortunately up to the present we have +been able to collect only insignificant remains of such rich stores. In +the tombs have been found here and there fragments of popular songs. +The pyramids have furnished almost intact a ritual of the dead which +is distinguished by its verbosity, its numerous pious platitudes, and +obscure allusions to things of the other world; but, among all this +trash, are certain portions full of movement and savage vigour, in which +poetic glow and religious emotion reveal their presence in a mass of +mythological phraseology. In the Berlin Papyrus we may read the end of +a philosophic dialogue between an Egyptian and his soul, in which the +latter applies himself to show that death has nothing terrifying to man. +"I say to myself every day: As is the convalescence of a sick person, +who goes to the court after his affliction, such is death.... I say to +myself every day: As is the inhaling of the scent of a perfume, as a +seat under the protection of an outstretched curtain, on that day, such +is death.... I say to myself every day: As the inhaling of the odour +of a garden of flowers, as a seat upon the mountain of the Country of +Intoxication, such is death.... I say to myself every day: As a road +which passes over the flood of inundation, as a man who goes as a +soldier whom nothing resists, such is death.... I say to myself every +day: As the clearing again of the sky, as a man who goes out to catch +birds with a net, and suddenly finds himself in an unknown district, +such is death." Another papyrus, presented by Prisse d'Avennes to the +_Bibliothèque Nationale_, Paris, contains the only complete work of +their primitive wisdom which has come down to us. It was certainly +transcribed before the XVIIIth dynasty, and contains the works of two +classic writers, one of whom is assumed to have lived under the +IIIrd and the other under the Vth dynasty; it is not without reason, +therefore, that it has been called "the oldest book in the world." The +first leaves are wanting, and the portion preserved has, towards +its end, the beginning of a moral treatise attributed to Qaqimnî, a +contemporary of Hûni. Then followed a work now lost: one of the +ancient possessors of the papyrus having effaced it with the view of +substituting for it another piece, which was never transcribed. + +The last fifteen pages are occupied by a kind of pamphlet, which has +had a considerable reputation, under the name of the "Proverbs of +Phtahhotpû." + +This Phtahhotpû, a king's son, flourished under Menkaûhorû and Assi: his +tomb is still to be seen in the necropolis of Saqqâra. He had sufficient +reputation to permit the ascription to him, without violence to +probability, of the editing of a collection of political and moral +maxims which indicate a profound knowledge of the court and of men +generally. It is supposed that he presented himself, in his declining +years, before the Pharaoh Assi, exhibited to him the piteous state to +which old age had reduced him, and asked authority to hand down for the +benefit of posterity the treasures of wisdom which he had stored up in +his long career. The nomarch Phtahhotpû says: "'Sire, my lord, when +age is at that point, and decrepitude has arrived, debility comes and +a second infancy, upon which misery falls heavily every day: the eyes +become smaller, the ears narrower, strength is worn out while the heart +continues to beat; the mouth is silent and speaks no more; the heart +becomes darkened and no longer remembers yesterday; the bones become +painful, everything which was good becomes bad, taste vanishes entirely; +old age renders a man miserable in every respect, for his nostrils close +up, and he breathes no longer, whether he rises up or sits down. If the +humble servant who is in thy presence receives an order to enter on a +discourse befitting an old man, then I will tell to thee the language +of those who know the history of the past, of those who have heard +the gods; for if thou conductest thyself like them, discontent shall +disappear from among men, and the two lands shall work for thee!' The +majesty of this god says: 'Instruct me in the language of old times, for +it will work a wonder for the children of the nobles; whosoever enters +and understands it, his heart weighs carefully what it says, and it does +not produce satiety.'" We must not expect to find in this work any great +profundity of thought. Clever analyses, subtle discussions, metaphysical +abstractions, were not in fashion in the time of Phtahhotpû. Actual +facts were preferred to speculative fancies: man himself was the subject +of observation, his passions, his habits, his temptations and his +defects, not for the purpose of constructing a system therefrom, but in +the hope of reforming the imperfections of his nature and of pointing +out to him the road to fortune. Phtahhotpû, therefore, does not show +much invention or make deductions. He writes down his reflections just +as they occur to him, without formulating them or drawing any conclusion +from them as a whole. Knowledge is indispensable to getting on in the +world; hence he recommends knowledge. Gentleness to subordinates is +politic, and shows good education; hence he praises gentleness. He +mingles advice throughout on the behaviour to be observed in the various +circumstances of life, on being introduced into the presence of a +haughty and choleric man, on entering society, on the occasion of dining +with a dignitary, on being married. "If thou art wise, thou wilt go +up into thine house, and love thy wife at home; thou wilt give her +abundance of food, thou wilt clothe her back with garments; all that +covers her limbs, her perfumes, is the joy of her life; as long as thou +lookest to this, she is as a profitable field to her master." To analyse +such a work in detail is impossible: it is still more impossible to +translate the whole of it. The nature of the subject, the strangeness of +certain precepts, the character of the style, all tend to disconcert the +reader and to mislead him in his interpretations. From the very earliest +times ethics has been considered as a healthy and praiseworthy subject +in itself, but so hackneyed was it, that a change in the mode of +expressing it could alone give it freshness. Phtahhotpû is a victim +to the exigencies of the style he adopted. Others before him had given +utterance to the truths he wished to convey: he was obliged to clothe +them in a startling and interesting form to arrest the attention of his +readers. In some places he has expressed his thought with such subtlety, +that the meaning is lost in the jingle of the words. The art of the +Memphite dynasties has suffered as much as the literature from the +hand of time, but in the case of the former the fragments are at least +numerous and accessible to all. The kings of this period erected temples +in their cities, and, not to speak of the chapel of the Sphinx, we find +in the remains still existing of these buildings chambers of granite, +alabaster and limestone, covered with religious scenes like those of +more recent periods, although in some cases the walls are left bare. +Their public buildings have all, or nearly all, perished; breaches have +been made in them by invading armies or by civil wars, and they have +been altered, enlarged, and restored scores of times in the course of +ages; but the tombs of the old kings remain, and afford proof of the +skill and perseverance exhibited by the architects in devising and +carrying out their plans. Many of the mastabas occurring at intervals +between Gîzeh and Mêdûm have, indeed, been hastily and carelessly built, +as if by those who were anxious to get them finished, or who had an eye +to economy; we may observe in all of them neglect and imperfection,--all +the trade-tricks which an unscrupulous jerry-builder then, as now, could +be guilty of, in order to keep down the net cost and satisfy the natural +parsimony of his patrons without lessening his own profits.* Where, +however, the master-mason has not been hampered by being forced to work +hastily or cheaply, he displays his conscientiousness, and the choice of +materials, the regularity of the courses, and the homogeneousness of the +building leave nothing to be desired; the blocks are adjusted with such +precision that the joints are almost invisible, and the mortar between +them has been spread with such a skilful hand that there is scarcely an +appreciable difference in its uniform thickness.** + + * The similarity of the materials and technicalities of + construction and decoration seem to me to prove that the + majority of the tombs were built by a small number of + contractors or corporations, lay or ecclesiastical, both at + Memphis, under the Ancient, as well as at Thebes, under the + New Empire. + + ** Speaking of the Great Pyramid and of its casing, + Professor Petrie says: "Though the stones were brought as + close as [--] inch, or, in fact, into contact, and the mean + opening of the joint was but [--] inch, yet the builders + managed to fill the joint with cement, despite the great + area of it, and the weight of the stone to be moved--some 16 + tons. To merely place such stones in exact contact at the + sides would be careful work; but to do so with cement in the + joint seems almost impossible." + +The long low flat mass which the finished tomb presented to the eye +is wanting in grace, but it has the characteristics of strength and +indestructibility well suited to an "eternal house." The façade, +however, was not wanting in a certain graceful severity: the play of +light and shade distributed over its surface by the stelæ, niches, and +deep-set doorways, varied its aspect in the course of the day, without +lessening the impression of its majesty and serenity which nothing +could disturb. The pyramids themselves are not, as we might imagine, +the coarse and ill-considered reproduction of a mathematical figure +disproportionately enlarged. The architect who made an estimate for that +of Kheops, must have carefully thought out the relative value of the +elements contained in the problem which had to be solved--the vertical +height of the summit, the length of the sides on the ground line, +the angle of pitch, the inclination of the lateral faces to one +another--before he discovered the exact proportions and the arrangement +of lines which render his monument a true work of art, and not merely a +costly and mechanical arrangement of stones.* + + * Cf. Borchardt's article, _Wie wurden die Boschungen der + Pyramiden bestimmt?_ in which the author--an architect by + profession as well as an Egyptologist--interprets the + theories and problems of the _Rhind mathematical Papyrus_ in + a new manner, comparing the result with his own + calculations, made from measurements of pyramids still + standing, and in which he shows, by an examination of the + diagrams discovered on the wall of a mastaba at Mêdûm, that + the Egyptian contractors of the Memphite period were, at + that early date, applying the rules and methods of procedure + which we find set forth in the Papyri of Theban times. + +The impressions which he desired to excite, have been felt by all who +came after him when brought face to face with the pyramids. From a great +distance they appear like mountain-peaks, breaking the monotony of the +Libyan horizon; as we approach them they apparently decrease in size, +and seem to be merely unimportant inequalities of ground on the surface +of the plain. It is not till we reach their bases that we guess their +enormous size. The lower courses then stretch seemingly into infinity to +right and left, while the summit soars up out of our sight into the sky. +"The effect is gained by majesty and simplicity of form, in the contrast +and disproportion between the stature of man and the immensity of his +handiwork: the eye fails to take it in; it is even difficult for the +mind to grasp it. We see, we may touch hundreds of courses formed of +blocks, two hundred cubic feet in size,... and thousands of others +scarcely less in bulk, and wo are at a loss to know what force has +moved, transported, and raised so great a number of colossal stones, how +many men were needed for the work, what amount of time was required +for it, what machinery they used; and in proportion to our inability to +answer these questions, we increasingly admire the power which regarded +such obstacles as trifles." + +We are not acquainted with the names of any of the men who conceived +these prodigious works. The inscriptions mention in detail the princes, +nobles, and scribes who presided over all the works undertaken by the +sovereign, but they have never deigned to record the name of a single +architect.* + + * The title "mir kaûtû nîbû nîti sûton," frequently met + with under the Ancient Empire, does not designate the + architects, as many Egyptologists have thought: it signifies + "director of all the king's works," and is applicable to + irrigation, dykes and canals, mines and quarries, and all + branches of an engineer's profession, as well as to those of + the architect's. The "directors of all the king's works " + were dignitaries deputed by Pharaoh to take the necessary + measurements for the building of temples, for dredging + canals, for quarrying stone and minerals; they were + administrators, and not professionals possessing the + technical knowledge of an architect or engineer. + +[Illustrations: 234a.jpg Avenue of Sphinxes--Karnak] + +[Illustrations: 234a-text.jpg] + +They were people of humble extraction, living hard lives under fear of +the stick, and their ordinary assistants, the draughtsmen, painters, and +sculptors, were no better off than themselves; they were looked upon +as mechanics of the same social status as the neighbouring shoemaker or +carpenter. The majority of them were, in fact, clever mechanical workers +of varying capability, accustomed to chisel out a bas-relief or set a +statue firmly on its legs, in accordance with invariable rules which +they transmitted unaltered from one generation to another: some were +found among them, however, who displayed unmistakable genius in +their art, and who, rising above the general mediocrity, produced +masterpieces. Their equipment of tools was very simple--iron picks with +wooden handles, mallets of wood, small hammers, and a bow for boring +holes. The sycamore and acacia furnished them with a material of a +delicate grain and soft texture, which they used to good advantage: +Egyptian art has left us nothing which, in purity of Hue and delicacy of +modelling, surpasses the panels of the tomb of Hosi, with their seated +or standing male figures and their vigorously cut hieroglyphs in the +same relief as the picture. Egypt possesses, however, but few trees of +suitable fibre for sculptural purposes, and even those which were +fitted for this use were too small and stunted to furnish blocks of any +considerable size. The sculptor, therefore, turned by preference to the +soft white limestone of Turah. + +[Illustration: 236.jpg ONE OF THE WOODEN PANELS OF HOSI, IN THE GÎZEH +MUSEUM] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Emil Brugsch-Bey. The + original is now in the Gîzeh Museum. + +He quickly detached the general form of his statue from the mass of +stone, fixed the limits of its contour by means of dimension guides +applied horizontally from top to bottom, and then cut away the angles +projecting beyond the guides, and softened off the outline till he made +his modelling correct. This simple and regular method of procedure was +not suited to hard stone: the latter had to be first chiselled, but when +by dint of patience the rough hewing had reached the desired stage, the +work of completion was not entrusted to metal tools. Stone hatchets +were used for smoothing off the superficial roughnesses, and it was +assiduously polished to efface the various tool-marks left upon +its surface. The statues did not present that variety of gesture, +expression, and attitude which we aim at to-day. They were, above +all things, the accessories of a temple or tomb, and their appearance +reflects the particular ideas entertained with regard to their nature. +The artists did not seek to embody in them the ideal type of male +or female beauty: they were representatives made to perpetuate the +existence of the model. + +[Illustration: 237.jpg A SCULPTOR's STUDIO, AND EGYPTIAN PAINTERS AT +WORK] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a chromolithograph by Prisse + d'Avennes, _Histoire de l'Art Égyptien_. The original is in + the tomb of Rakhmirî, who lived at Thebes under the XVIIIth + dynasty. The methods which were used did not differ from + those employed by the sculptors and painters of the Memphite + period more than two thousand years previously. + +The Egyptians wished the double to be able to adapt itself easily to +its image, and in order to compass that end, it was imperative that the +stone presentment should be at least an approximate likeness, and should +reproduce the proportions and peculiarities of the living prototype +for whom it was meant. The head had to be the faithful portrait of the +individual: it was enough for the body to be, so to speak, an average +one, showing him at his fullest development and in the complete +enjoyment of his physical powers. The men were always represented in +their maturity, the women never lost the rounded breast and slight hips +of their girlhood, but a dwarf always preserved his congenital ugliness, +for his salvation in the other world demanded that it should be so. Had +he been given normal stature, the double, accustomed to the deformity of +his members in this world, would have been unable to accommodate himself +to an upright carriage, and would not have been in a fit condition to +resume his course of life. + +[Illustration: 238.jpg CELLARER COATING A JAR WITH PITCH] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Emil Brugsch-Bey. The + original is now in the Gîzeh Museum. + +The particular pose of the statue was dependent on the social position +of the person. The king, the nobleman, and the master are always +standing or sitting: it was in these postures they received the homage +of their vassals or relatives. The wife shares her husband's seat, +stands upright beside him, or crouches at his feet as in daily life. The +son, if his statue was ordered while he was a child, wears the dress of +childhood; if he had arrived to manhood, he is represented in the dress +and with the attitude suited to his calling. Slaves grind the grain, +cellarers coat their amphoræ with pitch, bakers knead their dough, +mourners make lamentation and tear their hair. The exigencies of rank +clung to the Egyptians in temple and tomb, wherever their statues were +placed, and left the sculptor who represented them scarcely any liberty. +He might be allowed to vary the details and arrange the accessories +to his taste; he might alter nothing in the attitude or the general +likeness without compromising the end and aim of his work. The statues +of the Memphite period may be counted at the present day by hundreds. + +[Illustration: 239.jpg BAKER KNEADING HIS DOUGH] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Béchard. The original + is now in the Gîzeh Museum. + +Some are in the heavy and barbaric style which has caused them to be +mistaken for primaeval monuments: as, for instance, the statues of Sapi +and his wife, now in the Louvre, which are attributed to the beginning +of the IIIrd dynasty or even earlier. Groups exactly resembling these in +appearance are often found in the tombs of the Vth and VIth dynasties, +which according to this reckoning would be still older than that of +Sapi: they were productions of an inferior studio, and their supposed +archaism is merely the want of skill of an ignorant sculptor. The +majority of the remaining statues are not characterized either by +glaring faults or by striking merits: they constitute an array of +honest good-natured folk, without much individuality of character and +no originality. They may be easily divided into five or six groups, each +having a style in common, and all apparently having been executed on the +lines of a few chosen models; the sculptors who worked for the mastaba +contractors were distributed among a very few studios, in which a +traditional routine was observed for centuries. They did not always +wait for orders, but, like our modern tombstone-makers, kept by them a +tolerable assortment of half-finished statues, from which the purchaser +could choose according to his taste. The hands, feet, and bust lacked +only the colouring and final polish, but the head was merely rough-hewn, +and there were no indications of dress; when the future occupant of +the tomb or his family had made their choice, a few hours of work were +sufficient to transform the rough sketch into a portrait, such as it +was, of the deceased they desired to commemorate, and to arrange his +garment according to the latest fashion. If, however, the relatives or +the sovereign* declined to be satisfied with these commonplace images, +and demanded a less conventional treatment of body for the double of him +whom they had lost, there were always some among the assistants to be +found capable of entering into their wishes, and of seizing the lifelike +expression of limbs and features. + + * It must not be forgotten that the statues were often, like + the tomb itself, given by the king to the man whose services + he desired to reward. His burying-place then bore the + formulary, "By the favour of the king," as I have mentioned + previously. + +[Illustration: 241.jpg THE SHEIKH-EL BELED IN THE GIZEH MUSEUM] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Émil Brugsch-Bey. + +We possess at the present day, scattered about in museums, some score of +statues of this period, examples of consummate art,--the Khephrens, the +Kheops, the Anû, the Nofrît, the Râhotpû I have already mentioned, the +"Sheîkh-el-Beled" and his wife, the sitting scribe of the Louvre and +that of Gîzeh, and the kneeling scribe. Kaâpirû, the "Sheîkh-el-Beled," +was probably one of the directors of the corvée employed to build the +Great Pyramid.* He seems to be coming forward to meet the beholder, with +an acacia staff in his hand. He has the head and shoulders of a bull, +and a common cast of countenance, whose vulgarity is not wanting in +energy. The large, widely open eye has, by a trick of the sculptor, an +almost uncanny reality about it. + + * It was discovered by Mariette at Saqqâra. "The head, + torso, arms, and even the staff, were intact; but the + pedestal and legs were hopelessly decayed, and the statue + was only kept upright by the sand which surrounded it." The + staff has since been broken, and is replaced by a more + recent one exactly like it. In order to set up the figure, + Mariette was obliged to supply new feet, which retain the + colour of the fresh wood. By a curious coincidence, Kaâpirû + was an exact portrait of one of the "Sheikhs el-Beled," or + mayors of the village of Saqqâra: the Arab workmen, always + quick to see a likeness, immediately called it the "Sheikh + el-Beled," and the name has been retained ever since. + +[Illustration: 242.jpg THE KNEELING SCRIBE IN THE GIZEH MUSEUM] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Émil Brugsch- + Bey. + + [Illustration: 242b.jpg THE SITTING SCRIBE IN THE GÎZEH MUSEUM] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Émil Brugsch-Bey. + This scribe was discovered at Saqqâra, by M. de Morgan, in + the beginning of 1893. + +The socket which holds it has been hollowed out and filled with an +arrangement of black and white enamel; a rim of bronze marks the outline +of the lids, while a little silver peg, inserted at the back of the +pupil, reflects the light and gives the effect of the sparkle of a +living glance. The statue, which is short in height, is of wood, and one +would be inclined to think that the relative plasticity of the material +counts for something in the boldness of the execution, were it not that +though the sitting scribe of the Louvre is of limestone, the sculptor +has not shown less freedom in its composition. We recognize in this +figure one of those somewhat flabby and heavy subordinate officials of +whom so many examples are to be seen in Oriental courts. He is squatting +cross-legged on the pedestal, pen in hand, with the outstretched leaf of +papyrus conveniently placed on the right: he waits, after an interval +of six thousand years, until Pharaoh or his vizier deigns to resume the +interrupted dictation. His colleague at the Gîzeh Museum awakens in us +no less wonder at his vigour and self-possession; but, being younger, +he exhibits a fuller and firmer figure with a smooth skin, contrasting +strongly with the deeply wrinkled appearance of the other, aggravated as +it is by his flabbiness. The "kneeling scribe" preserves in his pose +and on his countenance that stamp of resigned indecision and monotonous +gentleness which is impressed upon subordinate officials by the +influence of a life spent entirely under the fear of the stick. Banofir, +on the contrary, is a noble lord looking upon his vassals passing in +file before him: his mien is proud, his head disdainful, and he has +that air of haughty indifférence which is befitting a favourite of the +Pharaoh, possessor of generously bestowed sinecures, and lord of a score +of domains. The same haughtiness of attitude distinguishes the +director of the granaries, Nofir. We rarely encounter a small statue +so expressive of vigour and energy. Sometimes there may be found among +these short-garmented people an individual wrapped and almost smothered +in an immense _abayah_; or a naked man, representing a peasant on his +way to market, his bag on his left shoulder, slightly bent under the +weight, carrying his sandals in his other hand, lest they should be +worn out too quickly in walking. Everywhere we observe the traits of +character distinctive of the individual and his position, rendered +with a scrupulous fidelity: nothing is omitted, no detail of the +characteristics of the model is suppressed. Idealisation we must not +expect, but we have here an intelligent and sometimes too realistic +fidelity. Portraits have been conceived among other peoples and in other +periods in a different way: they have never been better executed. + +[Illustration: 246.jpg PEASANT GOING TO MARKET] + + * Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Béchard. The + original is at Gizeh.--Vth dynasty. + +The decoration of the sepulchres provided employment for scores of +draughtsmen, sculptors, and painters, whose business it was to multiply +in these tombs scenes of everyday life which were indispensable to the +happiness or comfort of the double. The walls are sometimes decorated +with isolated pictures only, each one of which represents a distinct +operation; more frequently we find traced upon them a single subject +whose episodes are superimposed one upon the other from the ground to +the ceiling, and represent an Egyptian panorama from the Nile to the +desert. In the lower portion, boats pass to and fro, and collide with +each other, while the boatmen come to blows with their boat-hooks within +sight of hippopotami and crocodiles. In the upper portions we see a band +of slaves engaged in fowling among the thickets of the river-bank, or +in the making of small boats, the manufacture of ropes, the scraping and +salting of fish. Under the cornice, hunters and dogs drive the gazelle +across the undulating plains of the desert. Every row represents one of +the features of the country; but the artist, instead of arranging the +pictures in perspective, separated them and depicted them one above the +other. + +[Illustration: 247.jpg KOFIR, THE DIRECTOR OF GRANARIES] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Émil Brugsch-Bey. + original is in the Gîzeh Museum.--Vth dynasty. + +The groups are repeated in one tomb after another; they are always +the same, but sometimes they are reduced to two or three individuals, +sometimes increased in number, spread out and crowded with figures and +inscriptions. Each chief draughtsman had his book of subjects and texts, +which he combined in various ways, at one time bringing them close +together, at another duplicating or extending them according to the +means put at his disposal or the space he had to cover. The same +men, the same animals, the same features of the landscape, the same +accessories, appear everywhere: it is industrial and mechanical art at +its highest. The whole is, however, harmonious, agreeable to the eye, +and instructive. The conventionalisms of the drawing as well as those +of the composition are very different from ours. Whether it is man or +beast, the subject is invariably presented in outline by the brush, or +by the graving tool in sharp relief upon the background; but the animals +are represented in action, with their usual gait, movement, and play of +limbs distinguishing each species. The slow and measured walk of the ox, +the short step, meditative ears, and ironical mouth of the ass, the calm +strength of the lion at rest, the grimaces of the monkeys, the slender +gracefulness of the gazelle and antelope, are invariably presented with +a consummate skill in drawing and expression. The human figure is the +least perfect: every one is acquainted with those strange figures, whose +heads in profile, with the eye drawn in full face, are attached to a +torso seen from the front and supported by limbs in profile. These are +truly anatomical monsters, and yet the appearance they present to us +is neither laughable nor grotesque. The defective limbs are so deftly +connected with those which are normal, that the whole becomes natural: +the correct and fictitious lines are so ingeniously blent together +that they seem to rise necessarily from each other. The actors in these +dramas are constructed in such a paradoxical fashion that they could not +exist in this world of ours; they live notwithstanding, in spite of the +ordinary laws of physiology, and to any one who will take the trouble to +regard them without prejudice, their strangeness will add a charm which +is lacking in works more conformable to nature. A layer of colour spread +over the whole heightens and completes them. This colouring is never +quite true to nature nor yet entirely false. It approaches reality as +far as possible, but without pretending to copy it in a servile way. The +water is always a uniform blue, or broken up by black zigzag lines; the +skin of the men is invariably brown, that of the women pale yellow. + +[Illustration: 249.jpg BAS-RELIEF IN IVORY] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Bouriant. The + original is in private possession. + +The shade befitting each being or object was taught in the workshops, +and once the receipt for it was drawn up, it was never varied in +application. The effect produced by these conventional colours, however, +was neither discordant nor jarring. The most brilliant colours were +placed alongside each other with extreme audacity, but with a perfect +knowledge of their mutual relations and combined effect. They do not +jar with, or exaggerate, or kill each other: they enhance each other's +value, and by their contact give rise to half-shades which harmonize +with them. The sepulchral chapels, in cases where their decoration had +been completed, and where they have reached us intact, appear to us as +chambers hung with beautifully luminous and interesting tapestry, in +which rest ought to be pleasant during the heat of the day to the soul +which dwells within them, and to the friends who come there to hold +intercourse with the dead. + +The decoration of palaces and houses was not less sumptuous than that of +the sepulchres, but it has been so completely destroyed that we should +find it difficult to form an idea of the furniture of the living if we +did not see it frequently depicted in the abode of the double. The great +armchairs, folding seats, footstools, and beds of carved wood, painted +and inlaid, the vases of hard stone, metal, or enamelled ware, the +necklaces, bracelets, and ornaments on the walls, even the common +pottery of which we find the remains in the neighbourhood of the +pyramids, are generally distinguished by an elegance and grace +reflecting credit on the workmanship and taste of the makers.* The +squares of ivory which they applied to their linen-chests and their +jewel-cases often contained actual bas-reliefs in miniature of as bold +workmanship and as skilful execution as the most beautiful pictures in +the tombs: on these, moreover, were scenes of private life--dancing or +processions bringing offerings and animals.** + + * The study of the alabaster and diorite vases found near + the pyramids has furnished Petrie with very ingenious views + on the methods among the Egyptians of working hard stone. + Examples of stone toilet or sacrificial bottles are not + unfrequent in our museums: I may mention those in the Louvre + which bear the cartouches of Dadkerî Assi (No. 343), of Papi + I., and of Papi II., the son of Papi I.; not that they are + to be reckoned among the finest, but because the cartouches + fix the date of their manufacture. They came from the + pyramids of these sovereigns, opened by the Arabs at the + beginning of this century: the vase of the VIth dynasty, + which is in the Museum at Florence, was brought from Abydos. + + ** M. Grébaut bought at the Great Pyramids, in 1887, a + series of these ivory sculptures of the Ancient Empire. They + are now at the Gîzeh Museum. Others belonging to the same + find are dispersed among private collections: one of them is + reproduced on p. 249 of this History. + +[Illustration: 252.jpg STELE OF THE DAUGHTER OF KHEOPS] + +Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Bochard. + +One would like to possess some of those copper and golden statues which +the Pharaoh Kheops consecrated to Isis in honour of his daughter: only +the representation of them upon a stele has come down to us; and the +fragments of sceptres or other objects which too rarely have reached us, +have unfortunately no artistic value. + +A taste for pretty things was common, at least among the upper classes, +including not only those about the court, but also those in the most +distant nomes of Egypt. The provincial lords, like the courtiers of +the palace, took a pride in collecting around them in the other world +everything of the finest that the art of the architect, sculptor, and +painter could conceive and execute. Their mansions as well as their +temples have disappeared, but we find, here and there on the sides of +the hills, the sepulchres which they had prepared for themselves in +rivalry with those of the courtiers or the members of the reigning +family. They turned the valley into a vast series of catacombs, so that +wherever we look the horizon is bounded by a row of historic tombs. +Thanks to their rock-cut sepulchres, we are beginning to know the +Nomarchs of the Gazelle and the Hare, those of the Serpent-Mountain, of +Akhmîm, Thinis, Qasr-es-Sayad, and Aswan,--all the scions, in fact, of +that feudal government which preceded the royal sovereignty on the +banks of the Nile, and of which royalty was never able to entirely +disembarrass itself. The Pharaohs of the IVth dynasty had kept them in +such check that we can hardly find any indications during their reigns +of the existence of these great barons; the heads of the Pharaonic +administration were not recruited from among the latter, but from the +family and domestic circle of the sovereign. It was in the time of the +kings of the Vth dynasty, it would appear, that the barons again +entered into favour and gradually gained the upper hand; we find them +in increasing numbers about Anû, Menkaûhorû, and Assi. Did Unas, who was +the last ruler of the dynasty of Elephantine, die without issue, or were +his children prevented from succeeding him by force? The Egyptian annals +of the time of the Ramessides bring the direct line of Menés to an end +with this king. A new line of Memphite origin begins after him. + +[Illustration: 253.jpg THE PHARAOH MENKAUHORÛ] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Faucher-Gudin. The + original, which came from Mariette's excavations at the + Serapeum, is in the Louvre. + +It is almost certain that the transmission of power was not accomplished +without contention, and that there were many claimants to the crown. One +of the latter, Imhotpû, whose legitimacy was always disputed, has +left hardly any traces of his accession to power,* but Ati established +himself firmly on the throne for a year at least:** he pushed on +actively the construction of his pyramid, and sent to the valley of +Hammamât for the stone of his sarcophagus. + + * The monuments furnish proof that their contemporaries + considered these ephemeral rulers as so many illegitimate + pretenders. Phtahshopsîsû and his son Sabû-Abibi, who + exercised important functions at the court, mention only + Unas and Teti III.; Uni, who took office under Teti III., + mentions after this king only Papi I. and Mihtimsaûf I. The + official succession was, therefore, regulated at this epoch + in the same way as we afterwards find it in the table of + Saqqâra, Unas, Teti III., Papi I., Mihtimsaûf I., and in the + Royal Canon of Turin, without the intercalation of any other + king. + + ** Brugsch, in his Histoire d'Egypte, pp. 44, 45, had + identified this king with the first Metesouphis of Manetho: + E. de Rougé prefers to transfer him to one of the two + Memphite series after the VIth dynasty, and his opinion has + been adopted by Wiedemann. The position occupied by his + inscription among those of Hamraamât has decided me in + placing him at the end of the Vth or beginning of the VIth + dynasty: this E. Meyer has also done. + +We know not whether revolution or sudden death put an end to his +activity: the "Mastabat-el-Faraun" of Saqqâra, in which he hoped to +rest, never exceeded the height which it has at present.* His name was, +however, inscribed in certain official lists,** and a tradition of the +Greek period maintained that he had been assassinated by his guards.*** +Teti III. was the actual founder of the VIth dynasty,**** historians +representing him as having been the immediate successor of Unas. + + * Ati is known only from the Hammamât, inscription dated in + the first year of his reign. He was identified by Brugsch + with the Othoes of Manetho, and this identification has been + generally adopted. M. de Rougé is inclined to attribute to + him as _prænomen_ the cartouche Usirkeri, which is given in + the Table of Abydos between those of Teti III. and Papi I. + Mariette prefers to recognize in Urikeri an independent + Pharaoh of short reign. Several blocks of the Mastabat-el- + Faraun at Saqqâra contain the cartouche of Unas, a fact + which induced Mariette to regard this as the tomb of the + Pharaoh. The excavations of 1881 showed that Unas was + entombed elsewhere, and the indications are in favour of + attributing the mastaba to Ati. We know, indeed, the + pyramids of Teti III., of the two Papis, and of Metesouphis + I.; Ati is the only prince of this period with whose tomb we + are unacquainted. It is thus by elimination, and not by + direct evidence, that the identification has been arrived + at: Ati may have drawn upon the workshops of his predecessor + Unas, which fact would explain the presence on these blocks + of the cartouche of the latter. + + ** Upon that of Abydos, if we agree with E. de Rougé that + the cartouche Usirkeri contains his prænomen; upon that + from which Manetho borrowed, if we admit his identification + with Othoes. + + *** Manetho (Unger's edition, p. 101), where the form of the + name is Othoes. + + **** He is called Teti Menephtah, with the cartouche + prænomen of Seti I., on a monument of the early part of the + XIXth dynasty, in the Museum at Marseilles: we see him in + his pyramid represented as standing. This pyramid was opened + in 1881, and its chambers are covered with long funerary + inscriptions. It is a work of the time of Seti I., and not a + contemporary production of the time of Menkaûhorû. + +He lived long enough to build at Saqqâra a pyramid whose internal +chambers are covered with inscriptions,* and his son succeeded him +without opposition. Papi I. reigned at least twenty years.** + + * The true pronunciation of this name would be Pipi, and of + the one before it Titi. The two other Tetis are Teti I. of + the Ist dynasty, and Zosir-Teti, or Teti II., of the IIIrd. + + ** From fragment 59 of the Royal Canon of Turin, An + inscription in the quarries of Hât-nûbû bears the date of + the year 24: if it has been correctly copied, the reign must + have been four years at least longer than the chronologists + of the time of the Ramessides thought. + +[Illustration: 255.jpg THE MASTABAT-EL-FARAUN, LOOKING TOWARDS THE WEST +FAÇADE] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Béchard. + +He manifested his activity in all corners of his empire, in the nomes +of the Said as well as in those of the Delta, and his authority extended +beyond the frontiers by which the power of his immediate predecessors +had been limited. He owned sufficient territory south of Elephantine to +regard Nubia as a new kingdom added to those which constituted ancient +Egypt: we therefore see him entitled in his preamble "the triple +Golden Horus," "the triple Conqueror-Horus," "the Delta-Horus," "the +Said-Horus," "the Nubia-Horus." The tribes of the desert furnished him, +as was customary, with recruits for his army, for which he had need +enough, for the Bedouin of the Sinaitic Peninsula were on the move, and +were even becoming dangerous. Papi, aided by Uni, his prime minister, +undertook against them a series of campaigns, in which he reduced them +to a state of helplessness, and extended the sovereignty of Egypt for +the time over regions hitherto unconquered. + +Uni began his career under Teti.* At first a simple page in the +palace,** he succeeded in obtaining a post in the administration of the +treasury, and afterwards that of inspector of the woods of the royal +domain.*** + + * The beginning of the first line is wanting, and I have + restored it from other inscriptions of the same kind: "I + was born under Unas." Uni could not have been born before + Unas; the first office that he filled under Teti III. was + while he was a child or youth, while the reign of Unas + lasted thirty years. + + ** Literally, "crown-bearer." This was a title applied + probably to children who served the king in his private + apartments, and who wore crowns of natural flowers on their + heads: the crown was doubtless of the same form as those + which we see upon the brows of women on several tombs of the + Memphite epoch. + + *** The word "Khoniti" probably indicates lands with + plantations of palms or acacias, the thinly wooded forests + of Egypt, and also of the vines which belonged to the + personal domain of the Pharaoh. + +Papi took him into his friendship at the beginning of his reign, and +conferred upon him the title of "friend," and the office of head of +the cabinet, in which position he acquitted himself with credit. Alone, +without other help than that of a subordinate scribe, he transacted all +the business and drew up all the documents connected with the harem and +the privy council. He obtained an ample reward for his services. Pharaoh +granted to him, as a proof of his complete satisfaction, the furniture +of a tomb in choice white limestone; one of the officials of the +necropolis was sent to obtain from the quarries at Troiû the blocks +required, and brought back with him a sarcophagus and its lid, a +door-shaped stele with its setting and a table of offerings. He affirms +with much self-satisfaction that never before had such a thing happened +to any one; moreover, he adds, "my wisdom charmed his Majesty, my zeal +pleased him, and his Majesty's heart was delighted with me." All this +is pure hyperbole, but no one was surprised at it in Egypt; etiquette +required that a faithful subject should declare the favours of his +sovereign to be something new and unprecedented, even when they +presented nothing extraordinary or out of the common. Gifts of +sepulchral furniture were of frequent occurrence, and we know of more +than one instance of them previous to the VIth dynasty--for example, +the case of the physician Sokhît-niônkhû, whose tomb still exists at +Saqqâra, and whom Pharaoh Sahurî rewarded by presenting him with a +monumental stele in stone from Turah. Henceforth Uni could face without +apprehension the future which awaited him in the other world; at the +same time, he continued to make his way no less quickly in this, and was +soon afterwards promoted to the rank of "sole friend" and superintendent +of the irrigated lands of the king. The "sole friends" were closely +attached to the person of their master. In all ceremonies, their +appointed place was immediately behind him, a place of the highest +honour and trust, for those who occupied it literally held his life +in their hands. They made all the arrangements for his processions and +journeys, and saw that the proper ceremonial was everywhere observed, +and that no accident was allowed to interrupt the progress of his train. +Lastly, they had to take care that none of the nobles ever departed from +the precise position to which his birth or office entitled him. This was +a task which required a great deal of tact, for questions of precedence +gave rise to nearly as many heart-burnings in Egypt as in modern courts. +Uni acquitted himself so dexterously, that he was called upon to act +in a still more delicate capacity. Queen Amîtsi was the king's chief +consort. Whether she had dabbled in some intrigue of the palace, or had +been guilty of unfaithfulness in act or in intention, or had been mixed +up in one of those feminine dramas which so frequently disturb the peace +of harems, we do not know. At any rate, Papi considered it necessary to +proceed against her, and appointed Uni to judge the case. Aided only +by his secretary, he drew up the indictment and decided the action so +discreetly, that to this day we do not know of what crime Amîtsi was +accused or how the matter ended. Uni felt great pride at having been +preferred before all others for this affair, and not without reason, +"for," says he, "my duties were to superintend the royal forests, and +never before me had a man in my position been initiated into the secrets +of the Royal Harem; but his Majesty initiated me into them because my +wisdom pleased his Majesty more than that of any other of his lieges, +more than that of any other of his mamelukes, more than that of any +other of his servants." These antecedents did not seem calculated to +mark out Uni as a future minister of war; but in the East, when a man +has given proofs of his ability in one branch of administration, there +is a tendency to consider him equally well fitted for service in any +of the others, and the fiat of a prince transforms the clever scribe of +to-day into the general of to-morrow. No one is surprised, not even +the person promoted; he accepts his new duties without flinching, and +frequently distinguishes himself as much in their performance as though +he had been bred to them from his youth up. When Papi had resolved to +give a lesson to the Bedouin of Sinai, he at once thought of Uni, his +"sole friend," who had so skilfully conducted the case of Queen +Amîtsi. The expedition was not one of those which could be brought to +a successful issue by the troops of the frontier nomes; it required a +considerable force, and the whole military organization of the country +had to be brought into play. "His Majesty raised troops to the number of +several myriads, in the whole of the south from Elephantine to the nome +of the Haunch, in the Delta, in the two halves of the valley, in each +fort of the forts of the desert, in the land of Iritît, among the blacks +of the land of Maza, among the blacks of the land of Amamît, among the +blacks of the land of Ûaûait, among the blacks of the land of Kaaû, +among the blacks of To-Tamû, and his Majesty sent me at the head of this +army. It is true, there were chiefs there, there were mamelukes of the +king there, there were sole friends of the Great House there, there +were princes and governors of castles from the south and from the north, +'gilded friends,' directors of the prophets from the south and the +north, directors of districts at the head of troops from the south and +the north, of castles and towns that each one ruled, and also blacks +from the regions which I have mentioned, but it was I who gave them +their orders--although my post was only that of superintendent of the +irrigated lands of Pharaoh,--so much so that every one of them obeyed +me like the others." It was not without much difficulty that he brought +this motley crowd into order, equipped them, and supplied them with +rations. At length he succeeded in arranging everything satisfactorily; +by dint of patience and perseverance, "each one took his biscuit and +sandals for the march, and each one of them took bread from the towns, +and each one of them took goats from the peasants." He collected his +forces on the frontier of the Delta, in the "Isle of the North," between +the "Gate of Imhotpû" and the "Tell of Horû nib-mâît," and set out into +the desert. He advanced, probably by Gebel Magharah and Gebel Helal, +as far as Wady-el-Arîsh, into the rich and populous country which lay +between the southern slopes of Gebel Tîh and the south of the Dead Sea: +once there he acted with all the rigour permitted by the articles of +war, and paid back with interest the ill usage which the Bedouin had +inflicted on Egypt. "This army came in peace, it completely destroyed +the country of the Lords of the Sands. This army came in peace, it +pulverized the country of the Lords of the Sands. This army came in +peace, it demolished their 'douars.' This army came in peace, it cut +down their fig trees and their vines. This army came in peace, it burnt +the houses of all their people. This army came in peace, it slaughtered +their troops to the numbers of many myriads. This army came in peace, it +brought back great numbers of their people as living captives, for which +thing his Majesty praised me more than for aught else."* As a matter of +fact, these poor wretches were sent off as soon as taken to the quarries +or to the dockyards, thus relieving the king from the necessity of +imposing compulsory labour too frequently on his Egyptian subjects. + + * The locality of the tribes against which Uni waged war + can, I think, be fixed by certain details of the campaign, + especially the mention of the oval or circular enclosures + "ûanît" within which they entrenched themselves. These + enclosures, or ndars, correspond to the nadami which are + mentioned by travellers in these regions, and which are + singularly characteristic. The "Lords of the Sands" + mentioned by Uni occupied the naûami country, i.e. the Negeb + regions situated on the edge of the desert of Tih, round + about Aîn-Qadis, and beyond it as far as Akabah and the Dead + Sea. Assuming this hypothesis to be correct, the route + followed by Uni must have been the same as that which was + discovered and described nearly twenty years ago, by + Holland. + +"His Majesty sent me five times to lead this army in order to penetrate +into the country of the Lords of the Sands, on each occasion of their +revolt against this army, and I bore myself so well that his Majesty +praised me beyond everything." The Bedouin at length submitted, but +the neighbouring tribes to the north of them, who had no doubt assisted +them, threatened to dispute with Egypt the possession of the territory +which it had just conquered. As these tribes had a seaboard on the +Mediterranean, Uni decided to attack them by sea, and got together a +fleet in which he embarked his army. The troops landed on the coast of +the district of Tiba, to the north of the country of the Lords of the +Sands, thereupon "they set out. I went, I smote all the barbarians, and +I killed all those of them who resisted." On his return, Uni obtained +the most distinguished marks of favour that a subject could receive, +the right to carry a staff and to wear his sandals in the palace in the +presence of Pharaoh. + +These wars had occupied the latter part of the reign; the last of them +took place very shortly before the death of the sovereign. The domestic +administration of Papi I. seems to have been as successful in its +results, as was his activity abroad. He successfully worked the mines +of Sinai, caused them to be regularly inspected, and obtained an unusual +quantity of minerals from them; the expedition he sent thither, in the +eighteenth year of his reign, left behind it a bas-relief in which are +recorded the victories of Uni over the barbarians and the grants +of territory made to the goddess Hâthor. Work was carried on +uninterruptedly at the quarries of Hatnûbû and Kohanû; building +operations were carried on at Memphis, where the pyramid was in course +of erection, at Abydos, whither the oracle of Osiris was already +attracting large numbers of pilgrims, at Tanis, at Bubastis, and +at Heliopolis. The temple of Dendera was falling into ruins; it was +restored on the lines I of the original plans which were accidentally +discovered, and this piety displayed towards one of the most honoured +deities was rewarded, as it deserved to be, by the insertion of the +title of "son of Hâthor" in the royal cartouche. The vassals rivalled +their sovereign in activity, and built new towns on all sides to serve +them as residences, more than one of which was named after the Pharaoh. +The death of Papi I. did nothing to interrupt this movement; the elder +of his two sons by his second wife, Mirirî-ônkhnas, succeeded him +without opposition. Mirnirî Mihtimsaûf I. (Metesouphis) was almost a +child when he ascended the throne. The recently conquered Bedouin gave +him no trouble; the memory of their reverses was still too recent to +encourage them to take advantage of his minority and renew hostilities. +Uni, moreover, was at hand, ready to recommence his campaigns at the +slightest provocation. Metesouphis had retained him in all his offices, +and had even entrusted him with new duties. "Pharaoh appointed me +governor-general of Upper Egypt, from Elephantine in the south to +Letopolis in the north, because my wisdom was pleasing to his Majesty, +because my zeal was pleasing to his Majesty, because the heart of his +Majesty was satisfied with me.... When I was in my place I was above all +his vassals, all his mamelukes, and all his servants, for never had +so great a dignity been previously conferred upon a mere subject. I +fulfilled to the satisfaction of the king my office as superintendent of +the South, so satisfactorily, that it was granted to me to be second in +rank to him, accomplishing all the duties of a superintendent of works, +judging all the cases which the royal administration had to judge in +the south of Egypt as second judge, to render judgment at all hours +determined by the royal administration in this south of Egypt as second +judge, transacting as a governor all the business there was to do in +this south of Egypt." The honour of fetching the hard stone blocks +intended for the king's pyramid fell to him by right: he proceeded to +the quarries of Abhaît, opposite Sehel, to select the granite for +the royal sarcophagus and its cover, and to those of Hatnûbû for the +alabaster for the table of offerings. The transport of the table was a +matter of considerable difficulty, for the Nile was low, and the stone +of colossal size: Uni constructed on the spot a raft to carry it, and +brought it promptly to Saqqâra in spite of the sandbanks which obstruct +navigation when the river is low.* + + * Prof. Petrie has tried to prove from the passage which + relates to the transport, that the date of the reign of Papi + I. must have been within sixty years of 3240 B.C.; this date + I believe to be at least four centuries too late. It is, + perhaps, to this voyage of Uni that the inscription of the + Vth year of Metesouphis I. refers, given by Blackden-Frazer + in A Collection of Hieratic Graffiti from the Alabaster + Quarry of Rat-nub, pl. xv. 2. + +This was not the limit of his enterprise: the Pharaohs had not as yet a +fleet in Nubia, and even if they had had, the condition of the channel +was such as to prevent it from making the passage of the cataract. +He demanded acacia-wood from the tribes of the desert, the peoples +of Iritit and Uaûaît, and from the Mâzaiû, laid down his ships on the +stocks, built three galleys and two large lighters in a single year; +during this time the river-side labourers had cleared five channels +through which the flotilla passed and made its way to Memphis with +its ballast of granite. This was Uni's last exploit; he died shortly +afterwards, and was buried in the cemetery at Abydos, in the sarcophagus +which had been given him by Papi I. + +[Illustration: 265.jpg THE ISLAND OF ELEPHANTINE] + + Plan drawn up by Thuillier, from the Map of the _Commission + d'Egypte._ + +Was it solely to obtain materials for building the pyramid that he +had re-established communication by water between Egypt and Nubia? The +Egyptians were gaining ground in the south every day, and under their +rule the town of Elephantine was fast becoming a depot for trade with +the Soudan.* + + * The growing importance of Elephantine is shown by the + dimensions of the tombs which its princes had built for + themselves, as well as by the number of graffiti + commemorating the visits of princes and functionaries, and + still remaining at the present day. + +The town occupied only the smaller half of a long narrow island, which +was composed of detached masses of granite, formed gradually into a +compact whole by accumulations of sand, and over which the Nile, from +time immemorial, had deposited a thick coating of its mud. It is now +shaded by acacias, mulberry trees, date trees, and dôm palms, growing in +some places in lines along the pathways, in others distributed in groups +among the fields. Half a dozen saqiyehs, ranged in a line along the +river-bank, raise water day and night, with scarcely any cessation of +their monotonous creaking. The inhabitants do not allow a foot of their +narrow domain to lie idle; they have cultivated wherever it is possible +small plots of durra and barley, bersim and beds of vegetables. + +[Illustration: 266.jpg THE ISLAND OF ELAPHANTINE SEEN FROM THE RUINS OF +SYENNE] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Beato. In the + foreground are the ruins of the Roman mole built of brick, + which protected the entrance to the harbour of Syene; in the + distance is the Libyan range, surmounted by the ruins of + several mosques and of a Coptic monastery. Cf. the woodcut + on p. 275 of the present work. + +A few scattered buffaloes and cows graze in corners, while fowls and +pigeons without number roam about in flocks on the look-out for what +they can pick up. It is a world in miniature, tranquil and pleasant, +where life is passed without effort, in a perpetually clear atmosphere +and in the shade of trees which never lose their leaf. The ancient city +was crowded into the southern extremity, on a high plateau of granite +beyond the reach of inundations. Its ruins, occupying a space half a +mile in circumference, are heaped around a shattered temple of Khnûrnû, +of which the most ancient parts do not date back beyond the sixteenth +century before our era. + +[Illustration: 267.jpg THE FIRST CATARACT] + + Map by Thuillier, from _La Description de l'Egypte, Ant_., + vol. i. pl. 30, 1. I have added the ancient names in those + cases where it has been possible to identify them with the + modern localities. + +It was surrounded with walls, and a fortress of sun-dried brick perched +upon a neighbouring island to the south-west, gave it complete com-mand +over the passages of the cataract. An arm of the river ninety yards wide +separated it from Sûanît, whose closely built habitations were +ranged along the steep bank, and formed, as it were, a suburb. Marshy +pasturages occupied the modern site of Syene; beyond these were gardens, +vines, furnishing wine celebrated throughout the whole of Egypt, and a +forest of date palms running towards the north along the banks of the +stream. The princes of the nome of Nubia encamped here, so to speak, +as frontier-posts of civilization, and maintained frequent but variable +relations with the people of the desert. It gave the former no trouble +to throw, as occasion demanded it, bodies of troops on the right or left +sides of the valley, in the direction of the Red Sea or in that of the +Oasis; however little they might carry away in their raids--of oxen, +slaves, wood, charcoal, gold dust, amethysts, cornelian or green felspar +for the manufacture of ornaments--it was always so much to the good, and +the treasury of the prince profited by it. They never went very far in +their expeditions: if they desired to strike a blow at a distance, +to reach, for example, those regions of Pûanît of whose riches the +barbarians were wont to boast, the aridity of the district around the +second cataract would arrest the advance of their foot-soldiers, while +the rapids of Wady Haifa would offer an almost impassable barrier to +their ships. In such distant operations they did not have recourse to +arms, but disguised themselves as peaceful merchants. An easy road led +almost direct from their capital to Ras Banât, which they called the +"Head of Nekhabît," on the Red Sea; arrived at the spot where in later +times stood one of the numerous Berenices, and having quickly put +together a boat from the wood of the neighbouring forest, they made +voyages along the coast, as far as the Sinaitic peninsula and the +Hirû-Shâîtû on the north, as well as to the land of Pûânît itself on +the south. The small size of these improvised vessels rendered such +expeditions dangerous, while it limited their gain; they preferred, +therefore, for the most part the land journey. + +[Illustration: 269.jpg SMALL WADY, FIVE HOURS BEYOND ED-DOUEÎG, ON THE +ROAD TO THE RED SEA] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Golénischeff. + +It was fatiguing and interminable: donkeys--the only beast of burden +they were acquainted with, or, at least, employed--could make but short +stages, and they spent months upon months in passing through countries +which a caravan of camels would now traverse in a few weeks.* + + * The _History of the Peasant_, in the Berlin Papyri Nos. + ii. and iv., affords us a good example of the use made of + pack-asses; the hero was on his way across the desert, from + the "Wady Natrûn" to Henasieh, with a quantity of merchandise + which he intended to sell, when an unscrupulous artisan, + under cover of a plausible pretext, stole his train of pack- + asses and their loads. Hirkhûf brought back with him a + caravan of three hundred asses from one of his journeys; cf. + p. 278 of the present work. + +The roads upon which they ventured were those which, owing to the +necessity for the frequent watering of the donkeys and the impossibility +of carrying with them adequate supplies of water, were marked out at +frequent intervals by wells and springs, and were therefore necessarily +of a tortuous and devious character. Their choice of objects for barter +was determined by the smallness of their bulk and weight in comparison +with their value. The Egyptians on the one side were provided with +stocks of beads, ornaments, coarse cutlery, strong perfumes, and rolls +of white or coloured cloth, which, after the lapse of thirty-five +centuries, are objects still coveted by the peoples of Africa. The +aborigines paid for these articles of small value, in gold, either +in dust or in bars, in ostrich feathers, lions' and leopards' skins, +elephants' tusks, cowrie shells, billets of ebony, incense, and gum +arabic. Considerable value was attached to cynocephali and green +monkeys, with which the kings or the nobles amused themselves, and which +they were accustomed to fasten to the legs of their chairs on days of +solemn reception; but the dwarf, the Danga, was the rare commodity which +was always in demand, but hardly ever attainable.* + + * Domichen, _Geographische Inschriften_, vol. i. xxxi. 1. 1, + where the dwarfs and pigmies who came to the court of the + king, in the period of the Ptolemies, to serve in his + household, are mentioned. Various races of diminutive + stature, which have since been driven down to the upper + basin of the Congo, formerly extended further northward, and + dwelt between Darfûr and the marshes of Bahr-el-Ghazâl. As + to the Danga, cf. what has been said on p. 226 of the + present work. + +[Illustration: 270.jpg THE ROCKS OF THE ISLAND OF SEHÊL, WITH SOME OF +THE VOTIVE INSCRIPTIONS] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph taken by Dévèria in 1864. + +Partly by commerce, and partly by pillage, the lords of Elephantine +became rapidly wealthy, and began to play an important part among the +nobles of the Said: they were soon obliged to take serious precautions +against the cupidity which their wealth excited among the tribes of +Konusît. They entrenched themselves behind a wall of sun-dried brick, +some seven and a half miles long, of which the ruins are still an object +of wonder to the traveller. It was flanked towards the north by the +ramparts of Syene, and followed pretty regularly the lower course of the +valley to its abutment at the port of Mahatta opposite Philas: guards +distributed along it, kept an eye upon the mountain, and uttered a +call to arms, when the enemy came within sight. Behind this bulwark +the population felt quite at ease, and could work without fear at the +granite quarries on behalf of the Pharaoh, or pursue in security their +callings of fishermen and sailors. The inhabitants of the village of +Satît and of the neighbouring islands claimed from earliest times the +privilege of piloting the ships which went up and down the rapids, +and of keeping clear the passages which were used for navigation. +They worked under the protection of their goddesses Anûkît and Satît: +travellers of position were accustomed to sacrifice in the temple of the +goddesses at Sehêl, and to cut on the rock votive inscriptions in their +honour, in gratitude for the prosperous voyage accorded to them. We meet +their scrawls on every side, at the entrance and exit of the cataract, +and on the small islands where they moored their boats at nightfall +during the four or five days required for the passage; the bank of +the stream between Elephantine and Philæ is, as it were, an immense +visitors' book, in which every generation of Ancient Egypt has in turn +inscribed itself. The markets and streets of the twin cities must have +presented at that time the same motley blending of types and costumes +which we might have found some years back in the bazaars of modern +Syene. Nubians, negroes of the Soudan, perhaps people from Southern +Arabia, jostled there with Libyans and Egyptians of the Delta. What the +princes did to make the sojourn of strangers agreeable, what temples +they consecrated to their god Khnûmû and his companions, in gratitude +for the good things he had bestowed upon them, we have no means of +knowing up to the present. Elephantine and Syene have preserved for us +nothing of their ancient edifices; but the tombs which they have left +tell us their history. They honeycomb in long lines the sides of the +steep hill which looks down upon the whole extent of the left bank of +the Nile opposite the narrow channel of the port of Aswan. A rude flight +of stone steps led from the bank to the level of the sepulchres. The +mummy having been carried slowly on the shoulders of the bearers to the +platform, was deposited for a moment at the entrance cf the chapel. +The decoration of the latter was rather meagre, and was distinguished +neither by the delicacy of its execution nor by the variety of the +subjects. More care was bestowed upon the exterior, and upon the walls +on each side of the door, which could be seen from the river or from the +streets of Elephantine. An inscription borders the recess, and boasts +to every visitor of the character of the occupant: the portrait of the +deceased, and sometimes that of his son, stand to the right and left: +the scenes devoted to the offerings come next, when an artist of +sufficient skill could be found to engrave them. + +[Illustration: 275.jpg THE MOUNTAIN OF ASWAN AND THE TOMBS OF THE +PRINCES OF ELEPHANTINE] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Insinger. The + entrance to the tombs are halfway up; the long trench, + cutting the side of the mountain obliquely, shelters the + still existing steps which led to the tombs of Pharaonic + times. On the sky-line may be noted the ruins of several + mosques and Coptic monasteries. + +The expeditions of the lords of Elephantine, crowned as they frequently +were with success, soon attracted the attention of the Pharaohs: +Metesouphis deigned to receive in person at the cataract the homage of +the chiefs of Ûaûaît and Iritît and of the Màzaiû during the early days +of the fifth year of his reign.* + + * The words used in the inscription, "The king himself went + and returned, ascending the mountain to see what there was + on the mountain," prove that Metesouphis inspected the + quarries in person. Another inscription, discovered in 1893, + gives the year V. as the date of his journey to Elephantine, + and adds that he had negotiations with the heads of the four + great Nubian races. + +The most celebrated caravan guide at this time was Hirkhûf, own cousin +to Mikhû, Prince of Elephantine. He had entered upon office under the +auspices of his father Iri, "the sole friend." A king whose name he does +not mention, but who was perhaps Unas, more probably Papi I., despatched +them both to the country of the Amamît. The voyage occupied seven +months, and was extraordinarily successful: the sovereign, encouraged by +this unexpected good fortune, resolved to send out a fresh expedition. +Hirkhûf had the sole command of it; he made his way through Iritît, +explored the districts of Satir and Darros, and retraced his steps +after an absence of eight months. He brought back with him a quantity +of valuable commodities, "the like of which no one had ever previously +brought back." He was not inclined to regain his country by the ordinary +route: he pushed boldly into the narrow wadys which furrow the territory +of the people of Iritît, and emerged upon the region of Situ, in the +neighbourhood of the cataract, by paths in which no official traveller +who had visited the Amamît had up to this time dared to travel. A third +expedition which started out a few years later brought him into regions +still less frequented. It set out by the Oasis route, proceeded towards +the Amamît, and found the country in an uproar. The sheikhs had convoked +their tribes, and were making preparations to attack the Timihû "towards +the west corner of the heaven," in that region where stand the pillars +which support the iron firmament at the setting sun. The Timihû were +probably Berbers by race and language. Their tribes, coming from beyond +the Sahara, wandered across the frightful solitudes which bound the Nile +Valley on the west. The Egyptians had constantly to keep a sharp look +out for them, and to take precautions against their incursions; having +for a long time acted only on the defensive, they at length took the +offensive, and decided, not without religious misgivings, to pursue +them to their retreats. As the inhabitants of Mendes and of Busiris +had relegated the abode of their departed to the recesses of the +impenetrable marshes of the Delta, so those of Siût and Thinis had at +first believed that the souls of the deceased sought a home beyond the +sands: the good jackal Anubis acted as their guide, through the gorge +of the Cleft or through the gate of the Oven, to the green islands +scattered over the desert, where the blessed dwelt in peace at a +convenient distance from their native cities and their tombs. They +constituted, as we know, a singular folk, those _uiti_ whose members +dwelt in coffins, and who had put on the swaddling clothes of the dead; +the Egyptians called the Oasis which they had colonised, the land of the +shrouded, or of mummies, _ûît_, and the name continued to designate +it long after the advance of geographical knowledge had removed this +paradise further towards the west. The Oases fell one after the other +into the hands of frontier princes--that of Bahnesa coming under the +dominion of the lord of Oxyrrhynchus, that of Dakhel under the lords of +Thinis. The Nubians of Amamît had relations, probably, with the Timihû, +who owned the Oasis of Dush--a prolongation of that of Dakhel, on the +parallel of Elephantine. Hirkhûf accompanied the expedition to the +Amamît, succeeded in establishing peace among the rival tribes, and +persuaded them "to worship all the gods of Pharaoh:" he afterwards +reconciled the Iritît, Amamît, and Ûaûaît, who lived in a state of +perpetual hostility to each other, explored their valleys, and collected +from them such quantities of incense, ebony, ivory, and skins that three +hundred asses were required for their transport. + +[Illustration: 278.jpg HIRKHÛF RECEIVING POSTHUMOUS HOMAGE AT THE DOOR +OF HIS TOMB FROM HIS SON] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph, taken in 1892, by + Alexander Gayet. + +He was even fortunate enough to acquire a Danga from the land of ghosts, +resembling the one brought from Pûanît by Biûrdidi in the reign of Assi +eighty years before. Metesouphis, in the mean time, had died, and his +young brother and successor, Papi II., had already been a year upon the +throne. The new king, delighted to possess a dwarf who could perform +"the dance of the god," addressed a rescript to Hirkhuf to express his +satisfaction; at the same time he sent him a special messenger, Uni, a +distant relative to Papi I.'s minister, who was to invite him to come +and give an account of his expedition. The boat in which the explorer +embarked to go down to Memphis, also brought the Danga, and from that +moment the latter became the most important personage of the party. For +him all the royal officials, lords, and sacerdotal colleges hastened to +prepare provisions and means of conveyance; his health was of greater +importance than that of his protector, and he was anxiously watched +lest he should escape. "When he is with thee in the boat, let there be +cautious persons about him, lest he should fall into the water; when he +rests during the night, let careful people sleep beside him, in case of +his escaping quickly in the night-time. For my Majesty desires to see +this dwarf more than all the treasures which are being imported from +the land of Pûanît." Hirkhûf, on his return to Elephantine, engraved the +royal letter and the detailed account of his journeys to the lands of +the south, on the façade of his tomb. + +These repeated expeditions produced in course of time more important +and permanent results than the capture of an accomplished dwarf, or the +acquisition of a fortune by an adventurous nobleman. The nations which +these merchants visited were accustomed to hear so much of Egypt, its +industries, and its military force, that they came at last to entertain +an admiration and respect for her, not unmingled with fear: they learned +to look upon her as a power superior to all others, and upon her king as +a god whom none might resist. They adopted Egyptian worship, yielded to +Egypt their homage, and sent the Egyptians presents: they were won over +by civilization before being subdued by arms. We are not acquainted +with the manner in which Nofirkiri-Papi II. turned these friendly +dispositions to good account in extending his empire to the south. The +expeditions did not all prove so successful as that of Hirkhûf, and one +at least of the princes of Elephantine, Papinakhîti, met with his death +in the course of one of them. Papi II. had sent him on a mission, after +several others, "to make profit out of the Ûaûaiû and the Iritît." He +killed considerable numbers in this raid, and brought back great spoil, +which he shared with Pharaoh; "for he was at the head of many warriors, +chosen from among the bravest," which was the cause of his success in +the enterprise with which his Holiness had deigned to entrust him. Once, +however, the king employed him in regions which were not so familiar to +him as those of Nubia, and fate was against him. He had received orders +to visit the Amu, the Asiatic tribes inhabiting the Sinaitic Peninsula, +and to repeat on a smaller scale in the south the expedition which Uni +had led against them in the north; he proceeded thither, and his sojourn +having come to an end, he chose to return by sea. To sail towards +Pûanît, to coast up as far as the "Head of Nekhabît," to land there +and make straight for Elephantine by the shortest route, presented no +unusual difficulties, and doubtless more than one traveller or general +of those times had safely accomplished it; Papinakhîti failed miserably. +As he was engaged in constructing his vessel, the Hirû-Shâîtû fell +upon him and massacred him, as well as the detachment of troops who +accompanied him: the remaining soldiers brought home his body, which was +buried by the side of the other princes in the mountain opposite Syene. +Papi II. had ample leisure to avenge the death of his vassal and to +send fresh expeditions to Iritît, among the Amamît and even beyond, if, +indeed, as the author of the chronological Canon of Turin asserts,* he +really reigned for more than ninety years; but the monuments are almost +silent with regard to him, and give us no information about his possible +exploits in Nubia. An inscription of his second year proves that he +continued to work the Sinaitic mines, and that he protected them from +the Bedouin. + + * The fragments of Manetho and the Canon of Eratosthenes + agree in assigning to him a reign of a hundred years--a fact + which seems to indicate that the missing unit in the Turin + list was nine: Papi II. would have thus died in the hundreth + year of his reign. A reign of a hundred years is impossible: + Mihtimsaûf I. having reigned fourteen years, it would be + necessary to assume that Papi II., son of Papi I., should + have lived a hundred and fourteen years at the least, even + on the supposition that he was a posthumous child. The + simplest solution is to suppose (1) that Papi II. lived a + hundred years, as Ramses II. did in later times, and that + the years of his life were confounded with the years of his + reign; or (2) that, being the brother of Mihtimsaûf I., he + was considered as associated with him on the throne, and + that the hundred years of his reign, including the fourteen + of the latter prince, were identified with the years of his + life. We may, moreover, believe that the chronologists, for. + lack of information on the VIth dynasty, have filled the + blanks in their annals by lengthening the reign of Papi II., + which in any case must have been very long. + +On the other hand, the number and beauty of the tombs in which mention +is made of him, bear witness to the fact that Egypt enjoyed continued +prosperity. Recent discoveries have done much to surround this king and +his immediate predecessors with an air of reality which is lacking in +many of the later Pharaohs. + +[Illustration: 282.jpg HEAD OF THE MUMMY OF METESOUPHIS I] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Emil Brugsch-Bey. The + mummy is now in the Gîzeh Museum (cf. Maspero, _Guide au + Musée de Boulaq_, pp. 347, 348, No. 5250). + +Their pyramids, whose familiar designations we have deciphered in the +texts, have been uncovered at Saqqâra, and the inscriptions which they +contain, reveal to us the names of the sovereigns who reposed within. +Unas, Teti III., Papi I., Mete-souphis I., and Papi II. now have as +clearly defined a personality for us as Ramses II. or Seti I.; even the +mummy of Metesouphis has been discovered near his sarcophagus, and can +be seen under glass in the Gîzeh Museum. The body is thin and slender; +the head refined, and ornamented with the thick side-lock of boyhood; +the features can be easily distinguished, although the lower jaw has +disappeared and the pressure of the bandages has flattened the nose. +All the pyramids of the dynasty are of a uniform-type, the model being +furnished by that of Unas. The entrance is in the centre of the northern +façade, underneath the lowest course, and on the ground-level. +An inclined passage, obstructed by enormous stones, leads to an +antechamber, whose walls are partly bare, and partly covered with long +columns of hieroglyphs: a level passage, blocked towards the middle by +three granite barrier, ends in a nearly square chamber; on the left are +three low cells devoid of ornament, and on the right an oblong chamber +containing the sarcophagus. + +[Illustration: 283.jpg PLAN OF THE PYRAMID OF UNAS] + + From drawings by Maspero, _La Pyramide d'Ounas_, in the + _Recueil de Travaux_, vol. iv. p. 177. + +These two principal rooms had high-pitched roofs. They were composed of +large slabs of limestone, the upper edges of which leaned one against +the other, while the lower edges rested on a continuous ledge which ran +round the chamber: the first row of slabs was surmounted by a second, +and that again by a third, and the three together effectively protected +the apartments of the dead against the thrust of the superincumbent +mass, or from the attacks of robbers. The wall-surfaces close to the +sarcophagus in the pyramid of Unas are decorated with many-coloured +ornaments and sculptured and painted doors representing the front of +a house: this was, in fact, the dwelling of the double, in which he +resided with the dead body. + +[Illustration: 284.jpg THE SEPULCHRAL CHAMBER IN THE PYRAMID OF UNAS, +AND HIS SARCOPHAOUS] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph, taken in 1881, by Émil + Brugsch-Bey. + +The inscriptions, like the pictures in the tombs, were meant to furnish +the sovereign with provisions, to dispel serpents and malevolent +divinities, to keep his soul from death, and to lead him into the bark +of the sun or into the Paradise of Osiris. They constitute a portion of +a vast book, whose chapters are found scattered over the monuments of +subsequent periods. They are the means of restoring to us, not only the +religion but the most ancient language of Egypt: the majority of the +formulas contained in them were drawn up in the time of the earliest +human kings, perhaps even before Menés. + +The history of the VIth dynasty loses itself in legend and fable. +Two more kings are supposed to have succeeded Papi Nofirkeri, Mirnirî +Mihtimsaût (Metesouphis II.) and Nîtaûqrît (Nitokris). Metesouphis II. +was killed, so runs the tale, in a riot, a year after his accession.* + + * Manetho does not mention this fact, but the legend given + by Herodotus says that Nitokris wished to avenge the king, + her brother and predecessor, who was killed in a revolution; + and it follows from the narrative of the facts that this + anonymous brother was the Metesouphis of Manetho. The Turin + Papyrus assigns a reign of a year and a month to Mihtimsaul- + Metesouphis II. + +His sister, Nitokris, the "rosy-cheeked," to whom, as was the custom, he +was married, succeeded him and avenged his death. She built an immense +subterranean hall; under pretext of inaugurating its completion, but in +reality with a totally different aim, she then invited to a great feast, +and received in this hall, a considerable number of Egyptians from among +those whom she knew to have been instigators of the crime. During the +entertainment, she diverted the waters of the Nile into the hall by means +of a canal which she had kept concealed. This is what is related of her. +They add, that "after this, the queen, of her own will, threw herself +into a great chamber filled with ashes, in order to escape punishment." +She completed the pyramid of Mykerinos, by adding to it that costly +casing of Syenite which excited the admiration of travellers; she +reposed in a sarcophagus of blue basalt, in the very centre of the +monument, above the secret chamber where the pious Pharaoh had hidden +his mummy.* + + * The legend which ascribes the building of the third + pyramid to a woman has been preserved by Herodotus: E. de + Bunsen, comparing it with the observations of Vyse, was + inclined to attribute to Nitokris the enlarging of the + monument, which appears to me to have been the work of + Mykerinos himself. + +The Greeks, who had heard from their dragomans the story of the +"Rosy-cheeked Beauty," metamorphosed the princess into a courtesan, +and for the name of Nitokris, substituted the more harmonious one of +Rhodopis, which was the exact translation of the characteristic epithet +of the Egyptian queen. One day while she was bathing in the river, an +eagle stole one of her gilded sandals, carried it off in the +direction of Memphis, and let it drop in the lap of the king, who was +administering justice in the open air. The king, astonished at the +singular occurrence, and at the beauty of the tiny shoe, caused a search +to be made throughout the country for the woman to whom it belonged: +Rhodopis thus became Queen of Egypt, and could build herself a pyramid. +Even Christianity and the Arab conquest did not entirely efface the +remembrance of the courtesan-princess. + +[Illustration: 286.jpg THE ENTRANCE TO THE PYRAMID OF UNAS AT SAQQÀRA] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Emil Brugsch-Bey. + +It is said that the spirit of the Southern Pyramid never appears abroad, +except in the form of a naked woman, who is very beautiful, but whose +manner of acting is such, that when she desires to make people fall +in love with her, and lose their wits, she smiles upon them, and +immediately they draw near to her, and she attracts them towards her, +and makes them infatuated with love; so that they at once lose their +wits, and wander aimlessly about the country. Many have seen her moving +round the pyramid about midday and towards sunset. It is Nitokris still +haunting the monument of her shame and her magnificence.* + + * The lists of the VIth dynasty, with the approximate dates + of the kings, are as follows:-- + +[Illustration: 289.jpg TABLE OF THE DATES OF THE KINGS VITH DYNASTY] + +After her, even tradition is silent, and the history of Egypt remains +a mere blank for several centuries. Manetho admits the existence of +two other Memphite dynasties, of which the first contains seventy kings +during as many days. Akhthoës, the most cruel of tyrants, followed next, +and oppressed his subjects for a long period: he was at last the victim +of raving madness, and met with his death from the jaws of a crocodile. +It is related that he was of Heracleopolite extraction, and the +two dynasties which succeeded him, the IXth and the Xth, were also +Heracleopolitan. The table of Abydos is incomplete, and the Turin +Papyrus, in the absence of other documents, too mutilated to furnish +us with any exact information; the contemporaries of the Ptolemies were +almost entirely ignorant of what took place between the end of the VIth +and the beginning of the XIIth dynasty; and Egyptologists, not finding +any monuments which they could attribute to this period, thereupon +concluded that Egypt had passed through some formidable crisis out of +which she with difficulty extricated herself.* + + * Marsham (_Canon Chronicus_, edition, of Leipzig, 1676, p. + 29) had already declared in the seventeenth century that he + felt no hesitation in considering the Heracleopolites as + identical with the successors of Menes-Misraîm, who reigned + over the Mestraea, that is, over the Delta only. The idea of + an Asiatic invasion, analogous to that of the Hyksos, which + was put forward by Mariette, and accepted by Fr. Lenormant, + has found its chief supporters in Germany. Bunsen made of + the Heracleopolitan two subordinate dynasties reigning + simultaneously in Lower Egypt, and originating at + Heracleopolis in the Delta: they were supposed to have been + contemporaries of the last Memphite and first Theban + dynasties. Lepsius accepted and recognized in the + Heracleopolitans of the Delta the predecessors of the + Hyksos, an idea defended by Ebers, and developed by Krall in + his identification of the unknown invaders with the Hirû- + Shâîtû: it has been adopted by Ed. Meyer, and by Petrie. + +The so-called Heracleopolites of Manetho were assumed to have been the +chiefs of a barbaric people of Asiatic origin, those same "Lords of the +Sands" so roughly handled by Uni, but who are considered to have invaded +the Delta soon after, settled themselves in Heracleopolis Parva as their +capital, and from thence held sway over the whole valley. They appeared +to have destroyed much and built nothing; the state of barbarism into +which they sank, and to which they reduced the vanquished, explaining +the absence of any monuments to mark their occupation. This hypothesis, +however, is unsupported by any direct proof: even the dearth of +monuments which has been cited as an argument in favour of the +theory, is no longer a fact. The sequence of reigns and details of the +revolutions are wanting; but many of the kings and certain facts in +their history are known, and we are able to catch a glimpse of the +general course of events. The VIIth and VIIIth dynasties are Memphite, +and the names of the kings themselves would be evidence in favour of +their genuineness, even if we had not the direct testimony of Manetho: +the one recurring most frequently is that of Nofirkerî, the prenomen of +Papi II., and a third Papi figures in them, who calls himself Papi-Sonbû +to distinguish himself from his namesakes. The little recorded of them +in Ptolemaic times, even the legend of the seventy Pharaohs reigning +seventy days, betrays a troublous period and a rapid change of rulers.* + + * The explanation of Prof. Lauth, according to which Manetho + is supposed to have made an independent dynasty of the five + Memphite priests who filled the interregnum of seventy days + during the embalming of Nitokris, is certainly very + ingenious, but that is all that can be said for it. The + legendary source from which Manetho took his information + distinctly recorded seventy successive kings, who reigned in + all seventy days, a king a day. + +We know as a fact that the successors of Nitokris, in the Royal Turin +Papyrus, scarcely did more than appear upon the throne. Nofirkerî +reigned a year, a month, and a day; Nofîrûs, four years, two months, +and a day; Abu, two years, one month, and a day. Each of them hoped, +no doubt, to enjoy the royal power for a longer period than his +predecessors, and, like the Ati of the VIth dynasty, ordered a pyramid +to be designed for him without delay: not one of them had time to +complete the building, nor even to carry it sufficiently far to leave +any trace behind. As none of them had any tomb to hand his name down to +posterity, the remembrance of them perished with their contemporaries. +By dint of such frequent changes in the succession, the royal authority +became enfeebled, and its weakness favoured the growing influence of the +feudal families and encouraged their ambition. The descendants of those +great lords, who under Papi I. and II. made such magnificent tombs for +themselves, were only nominally subject to the supremacy of the reigning +sovereign; many of them were, indeed, grandchildren of princesses of the +blood, and possessed, or imagined that they possessed, as good a right +to the crown as the family on the throne. Memphis declined, became +impoverished, and dwindled in population. Its inhabitants ceased to +build those immense stone mastabas in which they had proudly displayed +their wealth, and erected them merely of brick, in which the decoration +was almost entirely confined to one narrow niche near the sarcophagus. +Soon the mastaba itself was given up, and the necropolis of the city was +reduced to the meagre proportions of a small provincial cemetery. The +centre of that government, which had weighed so long and so heavily upon +Egypt, was removed to the south, and fixed itself at Heracleopolis the +Great. + + + + +Volume II., Part . + + +_THE FIRST THEBAN EMPIRE_ + + +_THE TWO HERACLEOPOLITAN DYNASTIES AND THE TWELFTH DYNASTY--THE CONQUEST +OF ETHIOPIA, AND THE MAKING OF GREATER EGYPT BY THE THEBAN KINGS._ + +_The principality of Heracleopolis: Achthoës-Khîti and the +Heracleopolitan dynasties--Supremacy of the great barons: the feudal +fortresses, El-Kab and Abydos; ceaseless warfare, the army--Origin of +the Theban principality: the principality of Sidt, and the struggles of +its lords against the princes of Thebes--The kings of the XIth dynasty +and their buildings: the brick pyramids of Abydos and Thebes, and the +rude character of early Theban art._ + +_The XIIth dynasty: Amenemdidît I., his accession, his wars; he shares +his throne with his son Usirtasen I., and the practice of a coregnancy +prevails among his immediate successors--The relations of Egypt +with Asia: the Amû in Egypt and the Egyptians among the Bedouin; the +Adventures of Sinûhît--The mining settlements in the Sinaitic peninsula: +Sarbût-el-Khddim and its chapel to Hâthor._ + +_Egyptian policy in the Nile Valley--Nubia becomes part of Egypt: works +of the Pharaohs, the gold-mines and citadel of Kubân--Defensive +measures at the second cataract: the two fortresses and the Nilometer +of Semnêh--The vile Kush and its inhabitants: the wars against Kûsh +and their consequences; the gold-mines--Expeditions to Pûanît, and +navigation along the coasts of the Bed Sea: the Story of the Shipwrecked +Sailor._ + +_Public works and new buildings--The restoration of the temples of the +Delta: Tanis and the sphinxes of Amenemhâît III., Bubastis, Heliopolis, +and the temple of Usirtasen I.--The increasing importance of Thebes +and Abydos--Heracleopolis and the Fayûm: the monuments of Begig and of +Biahmil, the fields and water-system of the Fayûm; preference shown by +the Pharaohs for this province--The royal pyramids of Dashdr, Lisht, +Ulahûn, and Haiodra._ + +_The part played by the feudal lords under the XIIth dynasty--History of +the princes of Mondît-Khûfûi: Khnûmhotpil, Khîti, Amoni-Amenemhâît--The +lords of Thébes, and the accession of the XIIIth dynasty: the Sovkhotpûs +and the Nfirhotpûs--Completion of the conquest of Nubia; the XIVth +dynasty_. + +[Illustration: 295.jpg PAGE IMAGE] + + + + +CHAPTER III--THE FIRST THEBAN EMPIRE + + +_The two Heracleopolitan dynasties and the XIIth dynasty--The conquest +of Ethiopia, and the making of Greater Egypt by the Theban kings._ + + +The principality of the Oleander--Nârû--was bounded on the north by the +Memphite nome; the frontier ran from the left bank of the Nile to the +Libyan range, from the neighbourhood of Riqqah to that of Mêdûm. The +principality comprised the territory lying between the Nile and the Bahr +Yûsûf, from the above-mentioned two villages to the Harabshent Canal--a +district known to Greek geographers as the island of Heracleopolis;--it +moreover included the whole basin of the Fâyûm, on the west of the +valley. In very early times it had been divided into three parts: the +Upper Oleander--Nârû Khonîti--the Lower Oleander--Nârû Pahûi--and +the lake land--To-shît; and these divisions, united usually under +the supremacy of one chief, formed a kind of small state, of which +Heracleopolis was always the capital. The soil was fertile, well +watered, and well tilled, but the revenues from this district, confined +between the two arms of the river, were small in comparison with the +wealth which their ruler derived from his hands on the other side of the +mountain range. The Fayûm is approached by a narrow and winding gorge, +more than six miles in length--a depression of natural formation, +deepened by the hand of man to allow a free passage to the waters of the +Nile. The canal which conveys them leaves the Bahr Yûsûf at a point a +little to the north of Heracleopolis, carries them in a swift stream +through the gorge in the Libyan chain, and emerges into an immense +amphitheatre, whose highest side is parallel to the Nile valley, and +whose terraced slopes descend abruptly to about a hundred feet below the +level of the Mediterranean. Two great arms separate themselves from this +canal to the right and left--the Wady Tamieh and the Wady Nazleh; they +wind at first along the foot of the hills, and then again approaching +each other, empty themselves into a great crescent or horn-shaped lake, +lying east and west--the Moeris of Strabo, the Birket-Kerun of the +Arabs. A third branch penetrates the space enclosed by the other two, +passes the town of Shodû, and is then subdivided into numerous canals +and ditches, whose ramifications appear on the map as a network +resembling the reticulations of a skeleton leaf. The lake formerly +extended beyond its present limits, and submerged districts from which +it has since withdrawn.* + + * Most of the specialists who have latterly investigated the + Fayûm have greatly exaggerated the extent of the Birket- + Kerûn in historic times. Prof. Petrie states that it covered + the whole of the present province throughout the time of the + Memphite kings, and that it was not until the reign of + Amenemhâît I. that even a very small portion was drained. + Major Brown adopts this theory, and considers that it was + under Amenemhâît III. that the great lake of the Fayûm was + transformed into a kind of artificial reservoir, which was + the Mceris of Herodotus. The city of Shodû, Shadû, Shadît-- + the capital of the Fayûm--and its god Sovkû are mentioned + even in the Pyramid texts: and the eastern district of the + Fayûm is named in the inscription of Amten, under the IIIrd + dynasty. + +[Illustration: 297.jpg MAP, THE FAYUM] + +In years when the inundation was excessive, the surplus waters were +discharged into the lake; when, however, there was a low Nile, the +storage which had not been absorbed by the soil was poured back into +the valley by the same channels, and carried down by the Bahr-Yûsûf to +augment the inundation of the Western Delta. + +[Illustration: 298.jpg FLAT-BOTTOMED VESSEL OF BRONZE OPEN-WORK BEARING +THE CARTOUCHES OF PHARAOH KHÎTI I] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the original in the Louvre + Museum. + +The Nile was the source of everything in this principality, and hence +they were gods of the waters who received the homage of the three nomes. +The inhabitants of Heracleopolis worshipped the ram Harshafîtû, with +whom they associated Osiris of Narûdûf as god of the dead; the people +of the Upper Oleander adored a second ram, Khnûmû of Hâsmonîtû, and the +whole Fayûm was devoted to the cult of Sovkû the crocodile. Attracted by +the fertility of the soil, the Pharaohs of the older dynasties had +from time to time taken up their residence in Heracleopolis or its +neighbourhood, and one of them--Snofrûi--had built his pyramid at Mêdûm, +close to the frontier of the nome. In proportion as the power of the +Memphites declined, the princes of the Oleander grew more vigorous and +enterprising; and when the Memphite kings passed away, these princes +succeeded their former masters and sat "upon the throne of Horus." + +The founder of the IXth dynasty was perhaps Khîti I., Miribrî, the +Akhthoës of the Greeks. He ruled over all Egypt, and his name has been +found on rocks at the first cataract. A story dating from the time of +the Ramessides mentions his wars against the Bedouin of the regions east +of the Delta; and what Manetho relates of his death is merely a romance, +in which the author, having painted him as a sacrilegious tyrant like +Kheops and Khephren, states that he was dragged down under the water and +there devoured by a crocodile or hippopotamus, the appointed avengers of +the offended gods. His successors seem to have reigned ingloriously +for more than a century. Their deeds are unknown to history, but it +was under the reign of one of them--Nibkaûrî--that a travelling fellah, +having been robbed of his earnings by an artisan, is said to have +journeyed to Heracleopolis to demand justice from the governor, or +to charm him by the eloquence of his pleadings and the variety of his +metaphors. It would, of course, be idle to look for the record of any +historic event in this story; the common people, moreover, do not long +remember the names of unimportant princes, and the tenacity with +which the Egyptians treasured the memories of several kings of the +Heracleopolitan line amply proves that, whether by their good or evil +qualities, they had at least made a lasting impression upon the popular +imagination. + +[Illustration: 300.jpg PART OF THE WALLS OF EL-KAB ON THE NORTHERN SIDE] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Grébaut. The + illustration shows a breach where the gate stood, and the + curves of the brickwork courses can clearly be traced both + to the right and the left of the opening. + +The history of this period, as far as we can discern it through the +mists of the past, appears to be one confused struggle: from north to +south war raged without intermission; the Pharaohs fought against their +rebel vassals, the nobles fought among themselves, and--what scarcely +amounted to warfare--there were the raids on all sides of pillaging +bands, who, although too feeble to constitute any serious danger to +large cities, were strong enough either in numbers or discipline to +render the country districts uninhabitable, and to destroy national +prosperity. The banks of the Nile already bristled with citadels, +where the monarchs lived and kept watch over the lands subject to their +authority: other fortresses were established wherever any commanding +site--such as a narrow part of the river, or the mouth of a defile +leading into the desert--presented itself. All were constructed on +the same plan, varied only by the sizes of the areas enclosed, and the +different thickness of the outer walls. The outline of their ground-plan +formed a parallelogram, whose enclosure wall was often divided into +vertical panels easily distinguished by the different arrangements of +the building material. At El-Kab and other places the courses of crude +brick are slightly concave, somewhat resembling a wide inverted arch +whose outer curve rests on the ground. In other places there was a +regular alternation of lengths of curved courses, with those in which +the courses were strictly horizontal. The object of this method of +structure is still unknown, but it is thought that such building offers +better resistance to shocks of earthquake. The most ancient fortress +at Abydos, whose ruins now lie beneath the mound of Kom-es-Sultân, was +built in this way. Tombs having encroached upon it by the time of the +VIth dynasty, it was shortly afterwards replaced by another and similar +fort, situate rather more than a hundred yards to the south-east; +the latter is still one of the best-preserved specimens of military +architecture dating from the times immediately preceding the first +Theban empire.* + + * My first opinion was that the second fortress had been + built towards the time of the XVIIIth dynasty at the + earliest, perhaps even under the XXth. Further consideration + of the details of its construction and decoration now leads + me to attribute it to the period between the VIth and XIIth + dynasties. + +[Illustration: 302.jpg THE SECOND FORTRESS OF ABYDOS--THE +SHÛNET-EZ-ZEBÎB--AS SEEN FROM THE EAST] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Emil Brugsch-Bey. + Modern Arabs call it Shûnet-ez-Zébïb, the storehouse of + raisins. + +The exterior is unbroken by towers or projections of any kind, and +consists of four sides, the two longer of which are parallel to each +other and measure 143 yards from east to west: the two shorter sides, +which are also parallel, measure 85 yards from north to south. The outer +wall is solid, built in horizontal courses, with a slight batter, and +decorated by vertical grooves, which at all hours of the day diversify +the surface with an incessant play of light and shade. When perfect it +can hardly have been less than 40 feet in height. The walk round the +ramparts was crowned by a slight, low parapet, with rounded battlements, +and was reached by narrow staircases carefully constructed in the +thickness of the walls. A battlemented covering wall, about five and a +half yards high, encircled the building at a distance of some four feet. +The fortress itself was entered by two gates, and posterns placed at +various points between them provided for sorties of the garrison. The +principal entrance was concealed in a thick block of building at the +southern extremity of the east front. The corresponding entrance in +the covering wall was a narrow opening closed by massive wooden doors; +behind it was a small _place d'armes_, at the further end of which was +a second gate, as narrow as the first, and leading into an oblong court +hemmed in between the outer rampart and two bastions projecting at right +angles from it; and lastly, there was a gate purposely placed at the +furthest and least obvious corner of the court. Such a fortress was +strong enough to resist any modes of attack then at the disposal of the +best-equipped armies, which knew but three ways of taking a place by +force, viz. scaling, sapping, and breaking open the gates. The height +of the walls effectually prevented scaling. The pioneers were kept at +a distance by the brave, but if a breach were made in that, the small +flanking galleries fixed outside the battlements enabled the besieged to +overwhelm the enemy with stones and javelins as they approached, and to +make the work of sapping almost impossible. Should the first gate of +the fortress yield to the assault, the attacking party would be crowded +together in the courtyard as in a pit, few being able to enter together; +they would at once be constrained to attack the second gate under a +shower of missiles, and did they succeed in carrying that also, it was +at the cost of enormous sacrifice. The peoples of the Nile Valley +knew nothing of the swing battering-ram, and no representation of +the hand-worked battering-ram has ever been found in any of their +wall-paintings or sculptures; they forced their way into a stronghold +by breaking down its gates with their axes, or by setting fire to its +doors. + +[Illustration: 304.jpg ATTACK UPON AN EGYPTIAN FORTRESS BY TROOPS OF +VARIOUS ARMS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a scene in the tomb of Amoni- + Amenemhâît at Beni-Hasan. + +While the sappers were hard at work, the archers endeavoured, by the +accuracy of their aim, to clear the enemy from the curtain, while +soldiers sheltered behind movable mantelets tried to break down the +defences and dismantle the flanking galleries with huge metal-tipped +lances. In dealing with a resolute garrison none of these methods proved +successful; nothing but close siege, starvation, or treachery could +overcome its resistance. + +The equipment of Egyptian troops was lacking in uniformity, and men +armed with slings, or bows and arrows, lances, wooden swords, clubs, +stone or metal axes, all fought side by side. The head was protected +by a padded cap, and the body by shields, which were small for light +infantry, but of great width for soldiers of the line. The issue of a +battle depended upon a succession of single combats between foes armed +with the same weapons; the lancers alone seem to have charged in line +behind their huge bucklers. As a rule, the wounds were trifling, and the +great skill with which the shields were used made the risk of injury to +any vital part very slight. Sometimes, however, a lance might be driven +home into a man's chest, or a vigorously wielded sword or club might +fracture a combatant's skull and stretch him unconscious on the ground. +With the exception of those thus wounded and incapacitated for flight, +very few prisoners were taken, and the name given to them, "Those struck +down alive"--_sokirûonkhû_--sufficiently indicates the method of their +capture. The troops were recruited partly from the domains of military +fiefs, partly from tribes of the desert or Nubia, and by their aid +the feudal princes maintained the virtual independence which they had +acquired for themselves under the last kings of the Memphite line. +Here and there, at Hermopolis, Shit, and Thebes, they founded actual +dynasties, closely connected with the Pharaonic dynasty, and even +occasionally on an equality with it, though they assumed neither +the crown nor the double cartouche. Thebes was admirably adapted for +becoming the capital of an important state. It rose on the right bank +of the Nile, at the northern end of the curve made by the river towards +Hermonthis, and in the midst of one of the most fertile plains of Egypt. +Exactly opposite to it, the Libyan range throws out a precipitous spur +broken up by ravines and arid amphitheatres, and separated from the +river-bank by a mere strip of cultivated ground which could be easily +defended. A troop of armed men stationed on this neck of land could +command the navigable arm of the Nile, intercept trade with Nubia at +their pleasure, and completely bar the valley to any army attempting to +pass without having first obtained authority to do so. The advantages +of this site do not seem to have been appreciated during the Memphite +period, when the political life of Upper Egypt was but feeble. +Elephantine, El-Kab, and Koptos were at that period the principal cities +of the country. Elephantine particularly, owing to its trade with the +Soudan, and its constant communication with the peoples bordering the +Red Sea, was daily increasing in importance. Hermonthis, the Aûnû of the +South, occupied much the same position, from a religious point of view, +as was held in the Delta by Heliopolis, the Aûnû of the North, and its +god Montû, a form of the Solar Horus, disputed the supremacy with Mînû, +of Koptos. Thebes long continued to be merely an insignificant village +of the Uisit nome and a dependency of Hermonthis. It was only towards +the end of the VIIIth dynasty that Thebes began to realize its power, +after the triumph of feudalism over the crown had culminated in the +downfall of the Memphite kings. + +[Illustration: 306.jpg Denderah--Temple of Tentyra] + +[Illustration: 306-text.jpg--Temple of Tentyra] + +A family which, to judge from the fact that its members affected the +name of Monthotpû, originally came from Hermonthis, settled in Thebes +and made that town the capital of a small principality, which rapidly +enlarged its borders at the expense of the neighbouring nomes. All the +towns and cities of the plain, Mâdûfc, Hfûîfc, Zorît, Hermonthis, +and towards the south, Aphroditopolis Parva, at the gorge of the Two +Mountains (Gebelên) which formed the frontier of the fief of El-Kab, +Kûsît towards the north, Denderah, and Hû, all fell into the hands of +the Theban princes and enormously increased their territory. After the +lapse of a very few years, their supremacy was accepted more or less +willingly by the adjacent principalities of El-Kab, Elephantine, Koptos, +Qasr-es-Sayad, Thinis, and Ekhmîm. Antûf, the founder of the family, +claimed no other title than that of Lord of Thebes, and still submitted +to the suzerainty of the Heracleopolitan kings. His successors +considered themselves strong enough to cast off this allegiance, if +not to usurp all the insignia of royalty, including the uraeus and the +cartouche. Monthotpû I., Antûf II., and Antûf III. must have occupied a +somewhat remarkable position among the great lords of the south, since +their successors credited them with the possession of a unique preamble. +It is true that the historians of a later date did not venture to +place them on a par with the kings who were actually independent; they +enclosed their names in the cartouche without giving them a prenomen; +but, at the same time, they invested them with a title not met with +elsewhere, that of the first Horus--_Horû tapi_. They exercised +considerable power from the outset. It extended over Southern Egypt, +over Nubia, and over the valleys lying between the Nile and the Red +Sea.* The origin of the family was somewhat obscure, but in support +of their ambitious projects, they did not fail to invoke the memory of +pretended alliances between their ancestors and daughters of the solar +race; they boasted of their descent from the Papis, from Usirnirî Anû, +Sahûri, and Snofrûi, and claimed that the antiquity of their titles did +away with the more recent rights of their rivals. + +The revolt of the Theban princes put an end to the IXth dynasty, and, +although supported by the feudal powers of Central and Northern Egypt, +and more especially by the lords of the Terebinth nome, who viewed the +sudden prosperity of the Thebans with a very evil eye, the Xth dynasty +did not succeed in bringing them back to their allegiance.** + + * In the "Hall of Ancestors" the title of "Horus" is + attributed to several Antûfs and Monthotpûs bearing the + cartouche. This was probably the compiler's ingenious device + for marking the subordinate position of these personages as + compared with that of the Heracleopolitan Pharaohs, who + alone among their contemporaries had a right to be placed on + such official lists, even when those lists were compiled + under the great Theban dynasties. The place in the XIth + dynasty of princes bearing the title of "Horus" was first + determined by E. de Rougé. + + ** The history of the house of Thebes was restored at the + same time as that of the Heracleopolitan dynasties, by + Maspero, in the _Revue Critique_, 1889, vol. ii. p. 220. The + difficulty arising from the number of the Theban kings + according to Manetho, considered in connection with the + forty-three years which made the total duration of the + dynasty, has been solved by Barucchi, _Discord critici + sojpra la Cronologia Egizia_, pp. 131-134. These forty-three + years represent the length of time that the Theban dynasty + reigned alone, and which are ascribed to it in the Royal + Canon; but the number of its kings includes, besides the + recognized Pharaohs of the line, those princes who were + contemporary with the Heracleopolitan rulers and are + officially reckoned as forming the Xth dynasty. + +The family which held the fief of Siût when the war broke out, had +ruled there for three generations. Its first appearance on the scene of +history coincided with the accession of Akhthoës, and its elevation was +probably the reward of services rendered by its chief to the head of the +Heracleopolitan family.* + + * By ascribing to the princes of Siut an average reign equal + to that of the Pharaohs, and admitting with Lepsius that the + IXth dynasty consisted of four or five kings, the accession + of the first of these princes would practically coincide + with the reign of Akhthoës. The name of Khîti, borne by two + members of this little local dynasty, may have been given in + memory of the Pharaoh Khiti Miribrî; there was also a second + Khîti among the Heracleopolitan sovereigns, and one of the + Khîtis of Siut may have been his contemporary. The family + claimed a long descent, and said of itself that it was "an + ancient litter"; but the higher rank and power of "prince" + --hiqû--it owed to Khîti I. [Miribri?--Ed.] or some other + king of the Heracleo-politian line. + +[Illustration: 309.jpg MAP, PLAIN OF THEBES] + +From this time downwards, the title of "ruler"--_hiqû_--which the +Pharaohs themselves sometimes condescended to take, was hereditary in +the family, who grew in favour from year to year. Khiti I., the fourth +of this line of princes, was brought up in the palace of Heracleopolis, +and had learned to swim with the royal children. On his return home +he remained the personal friend of the king, and governed his domains +wisely, clearing the canals, fostering agriculture, and lightening the +taxes without neglecting the army. His heavy infantry, recruited from +among the flower of the people of the north, and his light infantry, +drawn from the pick of the people of the south, were counted by +thousands. He resisted the Theban pretensions with all his might, and +his son Tefabi followed in his footsteps. "The first time," said he, +"that my foot-soldiers fought against the nomes of the south which were +gathered together from Elephantine in the south to Gau on the north, +I conquered those nomes, I drove them towards the southern frontier, I +overran the left bank of the Nile in all directions. When I came to a +town I threw down its walls, I seized its chief, I imprisoned him at the +port (landing-place) until he paid me ransom. As soon as I had finished +with the left bank, and there were no longer found any who dared resist, +I passed to the right bank; like a swift hare I set full sail for +another chief.... I sailed by the north wind as by the east, by the +south as by the west, and him whose ship I boarded I vanquished utterly; +he was cast into the water, his boats fled to shore, his soldiers were +as bulls on whom falleth the lion; I compassed his city from end to end, +I seized his goods, I cast them into the fire." Thanks to his energy and +courage, he "extinguished the rebellion by the counsel and according to +the tactics of the jackal Uapûaîtû, god of Siût." + +[Illustration: 310.jpg MAP, THE PRINCIPALITY OF SIÛT] + +[Illustration: 311.jpg THE HEAVY INFANTRY OF THE PRINCES OF SIÛT, ARMED +WITH LANCE AND BUCKLER] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Insinger, taken in + 1882. The scene forms part of the decoration of one of the + walls of the tomb of Khîti III. + +From that time "no district of the desert was safe from his terrors," +and he "carried flame at his pleasure among the nomes of the south." +Even while bringing desolation to his foes, he sought to repair the ills +which the invasion had brought upon his own subjects. He administered +such strict justice that evil-doers disappeared as though by magic. +"When night came, he who slept on the roads blessed me, because he was +as safe as in his own house; for the fear which was shed abroad by my +soldiers protected him; and the cattle in the fields were as safe there +as in the stable; the thief had become an abomination to the god, and he +no longer oppressed the serf, so that the latter ceased to complain, and +paid the exact dues of his land for love of me." In the time of Khîti +II., the son of Tefabi, the Heracleopolitans were still masters of +Northern Egypt, but their authority was even then menaced by the +turbulence of their own vassals, and Heracleopolis itself drove out the +Pharaoh Mirikarî, who was obliged to take refuge in Siût with that Kkîti +whom he called his father. Khîti gathered together such an extensive +fleet that it encumbered the Nile from Shashhotpû to Gebel-Abufodah, +from one end of the principality of the Terebinth to the other. Vainly +did the rebels unite with the Thebans; Khîti "sowed terror over the +world, and himself alone chastised the nomes of the south." While he was +descending the river to restore the king to his capital, "the sky grew +serene, and the whole country rallied to him; the commanders of the +south and the archons of Heracleopolis, their legs tremble beneath them +when the royal urous, ruler of the world, comes to suppress crime; the +earth trembles, the South takes ship and flies, all men flee in dismay, +the towns surrender, for fear takes hold on their members." Mirikarî's +return was a triumphal progress: "when he came to Heracleopolis the +people ran forth to meet him, rejoicing in their lord; women and men +together, old men as well as children." But fortune soon changed. Beaten +again and again, the Thebans still returned to the attack; at length +they triumphed, after a struggle of nearly two hundred years, and +brought the two rival divisions of Egypt under their rule. + +[Illustration: 313.jpg PALETTE INSCRIBED WITH THE NAME OF MIRIKARÎ] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the original, now in the Museum + of the Louvre. The palette is of wood, and bears the name of + a contemporary personage; the outlines of the hieroglyphs + are inlaid with silver wire. It was probably found in the + necropolis of Meîr, a little to the north of Siût. The + sepulchral pyramid of the Pharaoh Mirikarî is mentioned on a + coffin in the Berlin Museum. + +The few glimpses to be obtained of the early history of the first +Theban dynasty give the impression of an energetic and intelligent race. +Confined to the most thinly populated, that is, the least fertile part +of the valley, and engaged on the north in a ceaseless warfare which +exhausted their resources, they still found time for building both at +Thebes and in the most distant parts of their dominions. If their power +made but little progress southwards, at least it did not recede, and +that part of Nubia lying between Aswan and the neighbourhood of Korosko +remained in their possession. The tribes of the desert, the Amamiû, the +Mâzaiû, and the Uaûaiû often disturbed the husbandmen by their sudden +raids; yet, having pillaged a district, they did not take possession of +it as conquerors, but hastily returned to their mountains. The Theban +princes kept them in check by repeated counter-raids, and renewed the +old treaties with them. The inhabitants of the Great Oasis in the west, +and the migratory peoples of the Land of the Gods, recognized the Theban +suzerainty on the traditional terms. + +[Illustration: 314.jpg THE BRICK PYRAMID OF ANTÛFÂA, AT THEBES] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch by Prisse d'Avennes. + This pyramid is now completely destroyed. + +As in the times of Uni, the barbarians made up the complement of the +army with soldiers who were more inured to hardships and more accustomed +to the use of arms than the ordinary fellahîn; and several obscure +Pharaohs--such as Monthotpû I. and Antûf III.--owed their boasted +victories over Libyans and Asiatics* to the energy of their mercenaries. + + * The cartouches of Antûfâa, inscribed on the rocks of + Elephantine, are the record of a visit which this prince + paid to Syenê, probably on his return from some raid; many + similar inscriptions of Pharaohs of the XIIth dynasty were + inscribed in analogous circumstances. Nûbkhopirrî Antûf + boasted of having worsted the Amû and the negroes. On one of + the rocks of the island of Konosso, Monthotpû Nibhotpûrî + sculptured a scene of offerings in which the gods are + represented as granting him victory over all peoples. Among + the ruins of the temple which he built at Gebelên, is a + scene in which he is presenting files of prisoners from + different countries to the Theban gods. + +But the kings of the XIth dynasty were careful not to wander too far +from the valley of the Nile. Egypt presented a sufficiently wide field +for their activity, and they exerted themselves to the utmost to remedy +the evils from which the country had suffered for hundreds of years. +They repaired the forts, restored or enlarged the temples, and evidences +of their building are found at Koptos, Gebelên, El-Kab, and Abydos. +Thebes itself has been too often overthrown since that time for any +traces of the work of the XIth dynasty kings in the temple of Amon to +be distinguishable; but her necropolis is still full of their "eternal +homes," stretching in lines across the plain, opposite Karnak, at +Drah abû'l-Neggah, and on the northern slopes of the valley of +Deir-el-Baharî. Some were excavated in the mountain-side, and presented +a square façade of dressed stone, surmounted by a pointed roof in the +shape of a pyramid. Others were true pyramids, sometimes having a pair +of obelisks in front of them, as well as a temple. None of them +attained to the dimensions of the Memphite tombs; for, with only its own +resources at command, the kingdom of the south could not build monuments +to compete with those whose construction had taxed the united efforts of +all Egypt, but it used a crude black brick, made without grit or straw, +where the Egyptians of the north had preferred more costly stone. These +inexpensive pyramids were built on a rectangular base not more than six +and a half feet high; and the whole erection, which was simply faced +with whitewashed stucco, never exceeded thirty-three feet in height. The +sepulchral chamber was generally in the centre; in shape it resembled an +oven, its roof being "vaulted" by the overlapping of the courses. +Often also it was constructed partly in the base, and partly in the +foundations below the base, the empty space above it being intended +merely to lighten the weight of the masonry. There was not always an +external chapel attached to these tombs, but a stele placed on the +substructure, or fixed in one of the outer faces, marked the spot to +which offerings were to be brought for the dead; sometimes, however, +there was the addition of a square vestibule in front of the tomb, +and here, on prescribed days, the memorial ceremonies took place. +The statues of the double were rude and clumsy, the coffins heavy and +massive, and the figures with which they were decorated inelegant and +out of proportion, while the stelæ are very rudely cut. From the time +of the VIth dynasty the lords of the Saïd had been reduced to employing +workmen from Memphis to adorn their monuments; but the rivalry between +the Thebans and the Heracleopolitans, which set the two divisions of +Egypt against each other in constant hostility, obliged the Antufs to +entrust the execution of their orders to the local schools of sculptors +and painters. It is difficult to realize the degree of rudeness to +which the unskilled workmen who made certain of the Akhmîtn and Gebelên +sarcophagi must have sunk; and even at Thebes itself, or at Abydos, the +execution of both bas-reliefs and hieroglyphs shows minute carefulness +rather than any real skill or artistic feeling. Failing to attain to +the beautiful, the Egyptians endeavoured to produce the sumptuous. +Expeditions to the Wady Ham marnât to fetch blocks of granite for +sarcophagi become more and more frequent, and wells were sunk from point +to point along the road leading from Koptos to the mountains. Sometimes +these expeditions were made the occasion for pushing on as far as the +port of Saû and embarking on the Eed Sea. A hastily constructed boat +cruised along by the shore, and gum, incense, gold, and the precious +stones of the country were brought from the land of the Troglodytes. On +the return of the convoy with its block of stone, and various packages +of merchandise, there was no lack of scribes to recount the dangers of +the campaign in exaggerated language, or to congratulate the reigning +Pharaoh on having sown abroad the fame and terror of his name in the +countries of the gods, and as far as the land of Pûanît. + +The final overthrow of the Heracleopolitan dynasty, and the union of the +two kingdoms under the rule of the Theban house, are supposed to have +been the work of that Monthotpû whose throne-name was Nibkhrôûrî; +his, at any rate, was the name which the Egyptians of Kamesside times +inscribed in the royal lists as that of the founder and most illustrious +representative of the XIth dynasty. The monuments commemorate his +victories over the Uaûaiû and the barbarous inhabitants of Nubia. Even +after he had conquered the Delta he still continued to reside in Thebes; +there he built his pyramid, and there divine honours were paid him from +the day after his decease. A scene carved on the rocks north of Silsileh +represents him as standing before his son Antûf; he is of gigantic +stature, and one of his wives stands behind him.* + + * Brugsch makes him out to be a descendant of Amenemhâît, + the prince of Thebes who lived under Monthotpu Nibtûirî, and + who went to bring the stone for that Pharaoh's sarcophagus + from the Wady Hammamât. He had previously supposed him to be + this prince himself. Either of these hypotheses becomes + probable, according as Nibtûirî is supposed to have lived + before or after Nibkhrôûrî. + +[Illustration: 318.jpg THE PHARAOH MONTHOTPU RECEIVING THE HOMAGE OF HIS +SUCCESSOR--ANTUE--IN THE SHAT ER-RIGELEH.] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a sketch by Petrie, _Ten Years' + Digging in Egypt_, p. 74, No. 2. + +Three or four kings followed him in rapid succession; the least +insignificant among them appearing to have been a Monthotpii Nibtouiri. +Nothing but the prenomen--Sonkherî--is known of the last of these latter +princes, who was also the only one of them ever entered on the official +lists. In their hands the sovereignty remained unchanged from what it +had been almost uninterruptedly since the end of the VIth dynasty. They +solemnly proclaimed their supremacy, and their names were inscribed at +the head of public documents; but their power scarcely extended beyond +the limits of their family domain, and the feudal chiefs never concerned +themselves about the sovereign except when he evinced the power or will +to oppose them, allowing him the mere semblance of supremacy over the +greater part of Europe. Such a state of affairs could only be reformed +by revolution. Amenemhâît I., the leader of the new dynasty, was of the +Theban race; whether he had any claim to the throne, or by what means he +had secured the stability of his rule, we do not know. Whether he had +usurped the crown or whether he had inherited it legitimately, he showed +himself worthy of the rank to which fortune had raised him, and the +nobility saw in him a new incarnation of that type of kingship long +known to them by tradition only, namely, that of a Pharaoh convinced of +his own divinity and determined to assert it. He inspected the valley +from one end to another, principality by principality, nome by nome, +"crushing crime, and arising like Tûmû himself; restoring that which he +found in ruins, settling the bounds of the towns, and establishing for +each its frontiers." The civil wars had disorganized everything; no one +knew what ground belonged to the different nomes, what taxes were due +from them, nor how questions of irrigation could be equitably +decided. Amenemhâît set up again the boundary stelae, and restored its +dependencies to each nome: "He divided the waters among them according +to that which was in the cadastral surveys of former times." Hostile +nobles, or those whose allegiance was doubtful, lost the whole or part +of their fiefs; those who had welcomed the new order of things received +accessions of territory as the reward of their zeal and devotion. +Depositions and substitutions of princes had begun already in the time +of the XIth dynasty. Antûf V., for instance, finding the lord of Koptos +too lukewarm, had had him removed and promptly replaced. The fief of +Siût accrued to a branch of the family which was less warlike, and above +all less devoted to the old dynasty than that of Khîti had been. Part of +the nome of the Gazelle was added to the dominions of Nûhri, prince of +the Hare nome; the eastern part of the same nome, with Monaît-Khûfûi +as capital, was granted to his father-in-law, Khnûmhotpû I. Expeditions +against the Ûaûaiû, the Mâzaiû, and the nomads of Libya and Arabia +delivered the fellahîn from their ruinous raids and ensured to the +Egyptians safety from foreign attack. Amenemhâît had, moreover, the wit +to recognize that Thebes was not the most suitable place of residence +for the lord of all Egypt; it lay too far to the south, was thinly +populated, ill-built, without monuments, without prestige, and almost +without history. He gave it into the hands of one of his relations to +govern in his name, and proceeded to establish himself in the heart of +the country, in imitation of the glorious Pharaohs from whom he claimed +to be descended. But the ancient royal cities of Kheops and his children +had ceased to exist; Memphis, like Thebes, was now a provincial town, +and its associations were with the VIth and VIIIth dynasties only. +Amenemhâît took up his abode a little to the south of Dahshur, in the +palace of Titoûi, which he enlarged and made the seat of his government. +Conscious of being in the hands of a strong ruler, Egypt breathed freely +after centuries of distress, and her sovereign might in all sincerity +congratulate himself on having restored peace to his country. "I caused +the mourner to mourn no longer, and his lamentation was no longer +heard,--perpetual fighting was no longer witnessed,--while before my +coming they fought together as bulls unmindful of yesterday,--and no +man's welfare was assured, whether he was ignorant or learned."--"I +tilled the land as far as Elephantine,--I spread joy throughout the +country, unto the marshes of the Delta.--At my prayer the Nile granted +the inundation to the fields:--no man was an hungered under me, no +man was athirst under me,--for everywhere men acted according to my +commands, and all that I said was a fresh cause of love." + +In the court of Amenemhâît, as about all Oriental sovereigns, there were +doubtless men whose vanity or interests suffered by this revival of +the royal authority; men who had found it to their profit to intervene +between Pharaoh and his subjects, and who were thwarted in their +intrigues or exactions by the presence of a prince determined on keeping +the government in his own hands. + +These men devised plots against the new king, and he escaped with +difficulty from their conspiracies. "It was after the evening meal, as +night came on,--I gave myself up to pleasure for a time,--then I +lay down upon the soft coverlets in my palace, I abandoned myself to +repose,--and my heart began to be overtaken by slumber; when, lo! they +gathered together in arms to revolt against me,--and I became weak as +a serpent of the field.--Then I aroused myself to fight with my own +hands,--and I found that I had but to strike the unresisting.--When +I took a foe, weapon in hand, I make the wretch to turn and +flee;--strength forsook him, even in the night; there were none +who contended, and nothing vexatious was effected against me." The +conspirators were disconcerted by the promptness with which Amenemhâît +had attacked them, and apparently the rebellion was suppressed on the +same night in which it broke out. But the king was growing old, his son +Usirtasen was very young, and the nobles were bestirring themselves in +prospect of a succession which they supposed to be at hand. The best +means of putting a stop to their evil devices and of ensuring the future +of the dynasty was for the king to appoint the heir-presumptive, and at +once associate him with himself in the exercise of his sovereignty. In +the XXth year of his reign, Amenemhâît solemnly conferred the titles and +prerogatives of royalty upon his son Usirtasen: "I raised thee from the +rank of a subject,--I granted thee the free use of thy arm that thou +mightest be feared.--As for me, I apparelled myself in the fine +stuffs of my palace until I appeared to the eye as the flowers of my +garden,--and I perfumed myself with essences as freely as I pour forth +the water from my cisterns." Usirtasen naturally assumed the active +duties of royalty as his share. "He is a hero who wrought with the +sword, a mighty man of valour without peer: he beholds the barbarians, +he rushes forward and falls upon their predatory hordes. He is the +hurler of javelins who makes feeble the hands of the foe; those whom +he strikes never more lift the lance. Terrible is he, shattering skulls +with the blows of his war-mace, and none resisted him in his time. He is +a swift runner who smites the fugitive with the sword, but none who run +after him can overtake him. He is a heart alert for battle in his time. +He is a lion who strikes with his claws, nor ever lets go his weapon. +He is a heart girded in armour at the sight of the hosts, and who leaves +nothing standing behind him. He is a valiant man rushing forward when +he beholds the fight. He is a soldier rejoicing to fall upon the +barbarians: he seizes his buckler, he leaps forward and kills without +a second blow. None may escape his arrow; before he bends his bow the +barbarians flee from his arms like dogs, for the great goddess has +charged him to fight against all who know not her name, and whom +he strikes he spares not; he leaves nothing alive." The old Pharaoh +"remained in the palace," waiting until his son returned to announce +the success of his enterprises, and contributing by his counsel to the +prosperity of their common empire. Such was the reputation for wisdom +which he thus acquired, that a writer who was almost his contemporary +composed a treatise in his name, and in it the king was supposed to +address posthumous instructions to his son on the art of governing. He +appeared to his son in a dream, and thus admonished him: "Hearken unto +my words!--Thou art king over the two worlds, prince over the three +regions. Act still better than did thy predecessors.--Let there be +harmony between thy subjects and thee,--lest they give themselves up to +fear; keep not thyself apart in the midst of them; make not thy brother +solely from the rich and noble, fill not thy heart with them alone; +yet neither do thou admit to thy intimacy chance-comers whose place is +unknown." The king confirmed his counsels by examples taken from his +own life, and from these we have learned some facts in his history. The +little work was widely disseminated and soon became a classic; in the +time of the XIXth dynasty it was still copied in schools and studied +by young scribes as an exercise in style. Usirfcasen's share in the +sovereignty had so accustomed the Egyptians to consider this prince +as the king _de facto_, that they had gradually come to write his name +alone upon the monuments. When Amenemhâît died, after a reign of thirty +years, Ûsirtasen was engaged in a war against the Libyans. Dreading an +outbreak of popular feeling, or perhaps an attempted usurpation by +one of the princes of the blood, the high officers of the crown kept +Amenemhâît's death secret, and despatched a messenger to the camp to +recall the young king. He left his tent by night, unknown to the troops, +returned to the capital before anything had transpired among the +people, and thus the transition from the founder to his immediate +successor--always a delicate crisis for a new dynasty--seemed to +come about quite naturally. The precedent of co-regnancy having been +established, it was scrupulously followed by most of the succeeding +sovereigns. In the XIIIth year of his sovereignty, and after having +reigned alone for thirty-two years, Ûsirtasen I. shared his throne with +Amenemhâît II.; and thirty-two years later Amenemhâît II. acted in a +similar way with regard to Ûsirtasen II. Amenemhâît III. and Amenemhâît +IV. were long co-regnant. The only princes of this house in whose cases +any evidence of co-regnancy is lacking are Ûsirtasen III., and the queen +Sovknofriûrî, with whom the dynasty died out. + +[Illustration: 325.jpg AN ASIATIC CHIEF IS PRESENTED TO KHNÛMHOTPÛ BY +NOFIRHOPTU, AND BY KHITI, THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE HUNTSMEN] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a chromolithograph in Lepsius, + _Denhm._, ii. 133. + +It lasted two hundred and thirteen years, one month, and twenty-seven +days,* and its history can be ascertained with greater certainty and +completeness than that of any-other dynasty which ruled over Egypt. + + *This is its total duration, as given in the Turin papyrus. + Several Egyptologists have thought that Manetho had, in his + estimate, counted the years of each sovereign as + consecutive, and have hence proposed to conclude that the + dynasty only lasted 168 years (Brugscii), or 160 (Lieblein), + or 194 (Ed. Meyer). It is simpler to admit that the compiler + of the papyrus was not in error; we do not know the length + of the reigns of Ûsirtasen II., Ûsirtasen III., and + Amenemhâît III., and their unknown years may be considered + as completing the tale of the two hundred and thirteen + years. + +We are doubtless far from having any adequate idea of its great +achievements, for the biographies of its eight sovereigns, and the +details of their interminable wars are very imperfectly known to us. The +development of its foreign and domestic policy we can, however, follow +without a break. + +[Illustration: 326.jpg SOME OF THE BAND OF ASIATICS, WITH THEIR BEASTS, +BROUGHT FROM KHNÛMHOTPÛ] + +Asia had as little attraction for these kings as for their Memphite +predecessors; they seem to have always had a certain dread of its +warlike races, and to have merely contented themselves with repelling +their attacks. Amenemhâît I. had completed the line of fortresses across +the isthmus, and these were carefully maintained by his successors. The +Pharaohs were not ambitious of holding direct sway over the tribes of +the desert, and scrupulously avoided interfering with their affairs +as long as the "Lords of the Sands" agreed to respect the Egyptian +frontier. Commercial relations were none the less frequent and certain +on this account. + +[Illustration: 327.jpg THE WOMEN PASSING BY IN PROCESSION, IN CHARGE OF +A WARRIOR AND OF A MAN PLAYING UPON THE LYRE] + +Dwellers by the streams of the Delta were accustomed to see the +continuous arrival in their towns of isolated individuals or of whole +bands driven from their homes by want or revolution, and begging for +refuge under the shadow of Pharaoh's throne, and of caravans offering +the rarest products of the north and of the east for sale. A celebrated +scene in one of the tombs of Beni-Hasan illustrates what usually took +place. We do not know what drove the thirty-seven Asiatics, men, women, +and children, to cross the Red Sea and the Arabian desert and hills in +the VIth year of Usirtasen II.;* they had, however, suddenly appeared in +the Gazelle nome, and were there received by Khîti, the superintendent +of the huntsmen, who, as his duty was, brought them before the prince +Khnûmhotpû. + + * This bas-relief was first noticed and described by + Champollion, who took the immigrants for Greeks of the + archaic period. Others have wished to consider it as + representing Abraham, the sons of Jacob, or at least a band + of Jews entering into Egypt, and on the strength of this + hypothesis it has often been reproduced. + +The foreigners presented the prince with green eye-paint, antimony +powder, and two live ibexes, to conciliate his favour; while he, to +preserve the memory of their visit, had them represented in painting +upon the walls of his tomb. The Asiatics carry bows and arrows, +javelins, axes, and clubs, like the Egyptians, and wear long garments or +close-fitting loin-cloths girded on the thigh. One of them plays, as he +goes, on an instrument whose appearance recalls that of the old Greek +lyre. The shape of their arms, the magnificence and good taste of the +fringed and patterned stuffs with which they are clothed, the elegance +of most of the objects which they have brought with them, testify to a +high standard of civilisation, equal at least to that of Egypt. Asia had +for some time provided the Pharaohs with slaves, certain perfumes, cedar +wood and cedar essences, enamelled vases, precious stones, lapis-lazuli, +and the dyed and embroidered woollen fabrics of which Chaldæa kept the +monopoly until the time of the Komans. Merchants of the Delta braved +the perils of wild beasts and of robbers lurking in every valley, while +transporting beyond the isthmus products of Egyptian manufacture, such +as fine linens, chased or _cloisonné_ jewellery, glazed pottery, and +glass paste or metal amulets. Adventurous spirits who found life dull +on the banks of the Nile, men who had committed crimes, or who believed +themselves suspected by their lords on political grounds, conspirators, +deserters, and exiles were well received by the Asiatic tribes, and +sometimes gained the favour of the sheikhs. In the time of the XIIth +dynasty, Southern Syria, the country of the "Lords of the Sands," and +the kingdom of Kadûma were full of Egyptians whose eventful careers +supplied the scribes and storytellers with the themes of many romances. + +Sinûhît, the hero of one of these stories, was a son of Amenemhâît I., +and had the misfortune involuntarily to overhear a state secret. He +happened to be near the royal tent when news of his father's sudden +death was brought to Usirtasen. Fearing summary execution, he fled +across the Delta north of Memphis, avoided the frontier-posts, and +struck into the desert. "I pursued my way by night; at dawn I had +reached Pûteni, and set out for the lake of Kîmoîrî. Then thirst fell +upon me, and the death-rattle was in my throat, my throat cleaved +together, and I said, 'It is the taste of death!' when suddenly I lifted +up my heart and gathered my strength together: I heard the lowing of the +herds. I perceived some Asiatics; their chief, who had been in Egypt, +knew me; he gave me water, and caused milk to be boiled for me, and +I went with him and joined his tribe." But still Sinûhît did not feel +himself in safety, and fled into Kadûma, to a prince who had provided an +asylum for other Egyptian exiles, and where he "could hear men speak the +language of Egypt." Here he soon gained honours and fortune. "The chief +preferred me before his children, giving me his eldest daughter in +marriage, and he granted me that I should choose for myself the best of +his land near the frontier of a neighbouring country. It is an excellent +land, Aîa is its name. Figs are there and grapes; wine is more plentiful +than water; honey abounds in it; numerous are its olives and all the +produce of its trees; there are corn and flour without end, and cattle +of all kinds. Great, indeed, was that which was bestowed upon me when +the prince came to invest me, installing me as prince of a tribe in the +best of his land. I had daily rations of bread and wine, day by day; +cooked meat and roasted fowl, besides the mountain game which I took, or +which was placed before me in addition to that which was brought me by +my hunting dogs. Much butter was made for me, and milk prepared in every +kind of way. There I passed many years, and the children which were born +to me became strong men, each ruling his own tribe. When a messenger was +going to the interior or returning from it, he turned aside from his way +to come to me, for I did kindness to all: I gave water to the thirsty, +I set again upon his way the traveller who had been stopped on it, I +chastised the brigand. The Pitaîtiû, who went on distant campaigns to +fight and repel the princes of foreign lands, I commanded them and +they marched forth; for the prince of Tonû made me the general of his +soldiers for long years. When I went forth to war, all countries towards +which I set out trembled in their pastures by their wells. I seized +their cattle, I took away their vassals and carried off their slaves, I +slew the inhabitants, the land was at the mercy of my sword, of my bow, +of my marches, of my well-conceived plans glorious to the heart of my +prince. Thus, when he knew my valour, he loved me, making me chief among +his children when he saw the strength of my arms. + +"A valiant man of Tonu came to defy me in my tent; he was a hero beside +whom there was none other, for he had overthrown all his adversaries. He +said: 'Let Sinûhît fight with me, for he has not yet conquered me!' and +he thought to seize my cattle and therewith to enrich his tribe. The +prince talked of the matter with me. I said: 'I know him not. Verily, +I am not his brother. I keep myself far from his dwelling; have I ever +opened his door, or crossed his enclosures? Doubtless he is some jealous +fellow envious at seeing me, and who believes himself fated to rob me +of my cats, my goats, my kine, and to fall on my bulls, my rams, and my +oxen, to take them.... If he has indeed the courage to fight, let him +declare the intention of his heart! Shall the god forget him whom he has +heretofore favoured? This man who has challenged me to fight is as one +of those who lie upon the funeral couch. I bent my bow, I took out my +arrows, I loosened my poignard, I furbished my arms. At dawn all the +land of Tonu ran forth; its tribes were gathered together, and all the +foreign lands which were its dependencies, for they were impatient to +see this duel. Each heart was on live coals because of me; men and women +cried 'Ah!' for every heart was disquieted for my sake, and they said: +'Is there, indeed, any valiant man who will stand up against him? Lo! +the enemy has buckler, battle-axe, and an armful of javelins.' When he +had come forth and I appeared, I turned aside his shafts from me. When +not one of them touched me, he fell upon me, and then I drew my bow +against him. When my arrow pierced his neck, he cried out and fell to +the earth upon his nose; I snatched his lance from him, I shouted my cry +of victory upon his back. While the country people rejoiced, I made +his vassals whom he had oppressed to give thanks to Montu. This prince, +Ammiânshi, bestowed upon me all the possessions of the vanquished, and +I took away his goods, I carried off his cattle. All that he had desired +to do unto me that did I unto him; I took possession of all that was in +his tent, I despoiled his dwelling; therewith was the abundance of my +treasure and the number of my cattle increased." In later times, in +Arab romances such as that of Antar or that of Abû-Zeît, we find the +incidents and customs described in this Egyptian tale; there we have +the exile arriving at the court of a great sheikh whose daughter he +ultimately marries, the challenge, the fight, and the raids of one +people against another. Even in our own day things go on in much the +same way. Seen from afar, these adventures have an air of poetry and of +grandeur which fascinates the reader, and in imagination transports him +into a world more heroic and more noble than our own. He who cares to +preserve this impression would do well not to look too closely at the +men and manners of the desert. Certainly the hero is brave, but he +is still more brutal and treacherous; fighting is one object of his +existence, but pillage is a far more important one. How, indeed, should +it be otherwise? the soil is poor, life hard and precarious, and from +remotest antiquity the conditions of that life have remained unchanged; +apart from firearms and Islam, the Bedouin of to-day are the same as the +Bedouin of the days of Sinûhît. + +There are no known documents from which we can derive any certain +information as to what became of the mining colonies in Sinai after the +reign of Papi II. Unless entirely abandoned, they must have lingered +on in comparative idleness; for the last of the Memphites, the +Heracleopohtans, and the early Thebans were compelled to neglect them, +nor was their active life resumed until the accession of the XIIth +dynasty. The veins in the Wady Maghara were much exhausted, but a series +of fortunate explorations revealed the existence of untouched deposits +in the Sarbût-el-Khâdîm, north of the original workings. From the time +of Amenemhâît II. these new veins were worked, and absorbed attention +during several generations. Expeditions to the mines were sent out every +three or four years, sometimes annually, under the command of such +high functionaries as "Acquaintances of the King," "Chief Lectors," +and Captains of the Archers. As each mine was rapidly worked out, the +delegates of the Pharaohs were obliged to find new veins in order +to meet industrial demands. The task was often arduous, and the +commissioners generally took care to inform posterity very fully as to +the anxieties which they had felt, the pains which they had taken, and +the quantities of turquoise or of oxide of copper which they had brought +into Egypt. Thus the Captain Haroëris tells us that, on arriving at +Sarbût in the month Pha-menoth of an unknown year of Amenemhâît III., +he made a bad beginning in his work of exploration. Wearied of fruitless +efforts, the workmen were quite ready to desert him if he had not put a +good face on the business and stoutly promised them the support of the +local Hâthor. + +[Illustration: 334.jpg PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF SARBUT EL KHADIM] + +And, as a matter of fact, fortune did change. When he began to despair, +"the desert burned like summer, the mountain was on fire, and the vein +exhausted; one morning the overseer who was there questioned the miners, +the skilled workers who were used to the mine, and they said: 'There is +turquoise for eternity in the mountain.' At that very moment the vein +appeared." And, indeed, the wealth of the deposit which he found so +completely indemnified Haroëris for his first disappointments, that in +the month Pachons, three months after the opening of these workings, he +had finished his task and prepared to leave the country, carrying his +spoils with him. From time to time Pharaoh sent convoys of cattle and +provisions--corn, sixteen oxen, thirty geese, fresh vegetables, live +poultry--to his vassals at the mines. + +[Illustration: 335.jpg THE RUINS OF THE TEMPLE OF HATHOR] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph in the _Ordnance Survey, + Photo-graphs_, vol. iii. pl. 8. + +The mining population increased so fast that two chapels were built, +dedicated to Hâthor, and served by volunteer priests. One of these +chapels, presumably the oldest, consists of a single rock-cut chamber, +upheld by one large square pillar, walls and pillar having been covered +with finely sculptured scenes and inscriptions which are now almost +effaced. The second chapel included a beautifully proportioned +rectangular court, once entered by a portico supported on pillars with +Hâthor-head capitals, and beyond the court a narrow building divided +into many small irregular chambers. The edifice was altered and rebuilt, +and half destroyed; it is now nothing by a confused heap of ruins, of +which the original plan cannot be traced. Votive stehe of all shapes and +sizes, in granite, sandstone, or limestone, were erected here and there +at random in the two chambers and in the courts between the columns, and +flush with the walls. Some are still _in situ_, others lie scattered in +the midst of the ruins. Towards the middle of the reign of Amenemhâît +III., the industrial demand for turquoise and for copper ore became so +great that the mines of Sarbût-el-Khâdîm could no longer meet it, and +those in the Wady Maghara were re-opened. The workings of both sets of +mines were carried on with unabated vigour under Amenemhâîfc IV., and +were still in full activity when the XIIIth dynasty succeeded the XIIth +on the Egyptian throne. Tranquillity prevailed in the recesses of the +mountains of Sinai as well as in the valley of the Nile, and a small +garrison sufficed to keep watch over the Bedouin of the neighbourhood. +Sometimes the latter ventured to attack the miners, and then fled in +haste, carrying off their meagre booty; but they were vigorously pursued +under the command of one of the officers on the spot, and generally +caught and compelled to disgorge their plunder before they had reached +the shelter of their "douars." The old Memphite kings prided themselves +on these armed pursuits as though they were real victories, and had them +recorded in triumphal bas-reliefs; but under the XIIth dynasty they were +treated as unimportant frontier incidents, almost beneath the notice +of the Pharaoh, and the glory of them--such as it was--he left to his +captains then in command of those districts. + +Egypt had always kept up extensive commercial relations with certain +northern countries lying beyond the Mediterranean. The reputation for +wealth enjoyed by the Delta sometimes attracted bands of the Haiû-nîbû +to come prowling in piratical excursions along its shores; but their +expeditions seldom turned out successfully, and even if the adventurers +escaped summary execution, they generally ended their days as slaves in +the Fayûm, or in some village of the Said. At first their descendants +preserved the customs, religion, manners, and industries of their +distant home, and went on making rough pottery for daily use, which was +decorated in a style recalling that of vases found in the most ancient +tombs of the Ægean archipelago; but they were gradually assimilated +to their surroundings, and their grandchildren became fellahîn like the +rest, brought up from infancy in the customs and language of Egypt. + +The relations with the tribes of the Libyan desert, the Tihûnû and the +Timihû, were almost invariably peaceful; although occasional raids of +one of their bands into Egyptian territory would provoke counter raids +into the valleys in which they took refuge with their flocks and herds. +Thus, in addition to the captive Haiû-nîbû, another heterogeneous +element, soon to be lost in the mass of the Egyptian population, was +supplied by detachments of Berber women and children. + +[Illustration: 338.jpg MAP] + +The relations Egypt with her northern neighbours during the hundred +years of the XIIth dynasty were chiefly commercial, but occasionally +this peaceful intercourse was broken by sudden incursions or piratical +expeditions which called for active measures of repression, and were +the occasion of certain romantic episodes. The foreign policy of the +Pharaohs in this connexion was to remain strictly on the defensive. +Ethiopia attracted all their attention, and demanded all their strength. +The same instinct which had impelled their predecessors to pass +successively beyond Gebel-Silsileh and Elephantine now drove the XIIth +dynasty beyond the second cataract, and even further. The nature of the +valley compelled them to this course. From the Tacazze, or rather from +the confluence of the two Niles down to the sea, the whole valley forms +as it were a Greater Egypt; for although separated by the cataracts +into different divisions, it is everywhere subject to the same physical +conditions. In the course of centuries it has more than once been +forcibly dismembered by the chances of war, but its various parts have +always tended to reunite, and have coalesced at the first opportunity. +The Amami, the Irittt, and the Sitiu, all those nations which wandered +west of the river, and whom the Pharaohs of the VIth and subsequently of +the XIth dynasty either enlisted into their service or else conquered, +do not seem to have given much trouble to the successors of Amenemhâît +I. The Ûaûaiû and the Mâzaiû were more turbulent, and it was necessary +to subdue them in order to assure the tranquillity of the colonists +scattered along the banks of the river from Philo to Korosko. They were +worsted by Amenemhâît I. in several encounters. + +Ûsirtasen I. made repeated campaigns against them, the earlier ones +being undertaken in his father's lifetime. Afterwards he pressed on, and +straightway "raised his frontiers" at the rapids of Wady Haifa; and the +country was henceforth the undisputed property of his successors. It was +divided into nomes like Egypt itself; the Egyptian language succeeded in +driving out the native dialects, and the local deities, including Didûn, +the principal god, were associated or assimilated with the gods of +Egypt. Khnûmû was the favourite deity of the northern nomes, doubtless +because the first colonists were natives of Elephantine, and subjects +of its princes. In the southern nomes, which had been annexed under the +Theban kings and were peopled with Theban immigrants, the worship of +Khnûmû was carried on side by side with the worship of Amon, or Amon-Ra, +god of Thebes. In accordance with local affinities, now no longer +intelligible, the other gods also were assigned smaller areas in the new +territory--Thot at Pselcis and Pnûbsît, where a gigantic nabk tree was +worshipped, Râ near Derr, and Horus at Miama and Baûka. The Pharaohs +who had civilized the country here received divine honours while still +alive. Ûsirtasen III. was placed in triads along with Didûn, Amon, and +Khnûmû; temples were raised to him at Semneh, Shotaûi, and Doshkeh; +and the anniversary of a decisive victory which he had gained over the +barbarians was still celebrated on the 21st of Pachons, a thousand years +afterwards, under Thutmosis III. The feudal system spread over the land +lying between the two cataracts, where hereditary barons held their +courts, trained their armies, built their castles, and excavated their +superbly decorated tombs in the mountain-sides. The only difference +between Nubian Egypt and Egypt proper lay in the greater heat and +smaller wealth of the former, where the narrower, less fertile, and +less well-watered land supported a smaller population and yielded less +abundant revenues. + +The Pharaoh kept the charge of the more important strategical points +in his own hands. Strongholds placed at bends of the river and at +the mouths of ravines leading into the desert, secured freedom of +navigation, and kept off the pillaging nomads. The fortress of Derr +[Kubbân?--Ed.], which was often rebuilt, dates in part at least from +the early days of the conquest of Nubia. Its rectangular boundary--a +dry brick wall--is only broken by easily filled up gaps, and with some +repairs it would still resist an Ababdeh attack.* + + * The most ancient bricks in the fortifications of Derr, + easily distinguishable from those belonging to the later + restorations, are identical in shape and size with those of + the walls at Syene and El-Kab; and the wall at El-Kab was + certainly built not later than the XIIth dynasty. + +The most considerable Nubian works of the XIIth dynasty were in the +three places from which the country can even now be most effectively +commanded, namely, at the two cataracts, and in the districts extending +from Derr to Dakkeh. Elephantine already possessed an entrenched camp +which commanded the rapids and the land route from Syene to Philo. +Usirtasen III. restored its great wall; he also cleared and widened +the passage to Sériel, as did Papi I. to such good effect that easy and +rapid communication between Thebes and the new towns was at all times +practicable. Some little distance from Phihe he established a station +for boats, and an emporium which he called Hirû Khâkerî--"the Ways of +Khâkerî"--after his own throne name--Khâkerî.* + + * The widening of the passage was effected in the VIIIth + year of his reign, the same year in which he established the + Egyptian frontier at Semneh. The other constructions are + mentioned, but not very clearly, in a stele of the same year + which came from Elephantine, and is now in the British + Museum. The votive tablet, engraved in honour of Anûkît at + Sehêl, in which the king boasts of having made for the + goddess "the excellent channel [called] 'the Ways of + Khâkeûrî,'" probably refers to this widening and deepening + of the passage in the VIIIth year. + +Its exact site is unknown, but it appears to have completed on the +south side the system of walls and redoubts which protected the cataract +provinces against either surprise or regular attacks of the barbarians. +Although of no appreciable use for the purposes of general security, the +fortifications of Middle Nubia were of great importance in the eyes of +the Pharaohs. They commanded the desert roads leading to the Eed Sea, +and to Berber and Gebel Barkel on the Upper Nile. The most important +fort occupied the site of the present village of Kuban, opposite Dakkeh, +and commanded the entrance to the Wady Olaki, which leads to the richest +gold deposits known to Ancient Egypt. The valleys which furrow the +mountains of Etbai, the Wady Shauanîb, the Waddy Umm Teyur, Gebel Iswud, +Gebel Umm Kabriteh, all have gold deposits of their own. The gold is +found in nuggets and in pockets in white quartz, mixed with iron oxides +and titanium, for which the ancients had no use. The method of mining +practised from immemorial antiquity by the Uaûaiû of the neighbourhood +was of the simplest, and traces of the workings may be seen all over the +sides of the ravines. Tunnels followed the direction of the lodes to a +depth of fifty-five to sixty-five yards; the masses of quartz procured +from them were broken up in granite mortars, pounded small and +afterwards reduced to a powder in querns, similar to those used for +crushing grain; the residue was sifted on stone tables, and the finely +ground parts afterwards washed in bowls of sycamore wood, until the gold +dust had settled to the bottom.* + + * The gold-mines and the method of working them under the + Ptolemies have been described by Agatharchides; the + processes employed were very ancient, and had hardly changed + since the time of the first Pharaohs, as is shown by a + comparison of the mining tools found in these districts with + those which have been collected at Sinai, in the turquoise- + mines of the Ancient Empire. + +This was the Nubian gold which was brought into Egypt by nomad tribes, +and for which the Egyptians themselves, from the time of the XIIth +dynasty onwards, went to seek in the land which produced it. They made +no attempt to establish permanent colonies for working the mines, as at +Sinai; but a detachment of troops was despatched nearly every year to +the spot to receive the amount of precious metal collected since their +previous visit. The king Usirtasen would send at one time the prince of +the nome of the Gazelle on such an expedition, with a contingent of +four hundred men belonging to his fief; at another time, it would be +the faithful Sihâthor who would triumphantly scour the country, obliging +young and old to work with redoubled efforts for his master Amenemhâît +II. On his return the envoy would boast of having brought back more gold +than any of his predecessors, and of having crossed the desert without +losing either a soldier or a baggage animal, not even a donkey. + +[Illustration: 314.jpg ONE OF TUE FAÇADES OF THE FORTRESS OF KUBBAN] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Insinger, taken in + 1881. + +Sometimes a son of the reigning Pharaoh, even the heir-presumptive, +would condescend to accompany the caravan. Amenemhâît III. repaired or +rebuilt the fortress of Kubbân, the starting-place of the little army, +and the spot to which it returned. It is a square enclosure measuring +328 feet on each side; the ramparts of crude brick are sloped slightly +inwards, and are strengthened at intervals by bastions projecting from +the external face of the wall. The river protected one side; the other +three were defended by ditches communicating with the Nile. There were +four entrances, one in the centre of each façade: that on the east, +which faced the desert, and was exposed to the severest attacks, was +flanked by a tower. + +The cataract of Wady Haifa offered a natural barrier to invasion from +the south. Even without fortification, the chain of granite rocks which +crosses the valley at this spot would have been a sufficient obstacle to +prevent any fleet which might attempt the passage from gaining access to +northern Nubia. + +[Illustration: 345.jpg THE SECOND CATARACT BETWEEN HAMKEH AND WADY +HALFA] + +The Nile here has not the wild and imposing aspect which it assumes +lower down, between Aswan and Philae. It is bordered by low and receding +hills, devoid of any definite outline. Masses of bare black rock, here +and there covered by scanty herbage, block the course of the river in +some places in such profusion, that its entire bed seems to be taken +up by them. For a distance of seventeen miles the main body of water +is broken up into an infinitude of small channels in its width of +two miles; several of the streams thus formed present, apparently, a +tempting course to the navigator, so calm and safe do they appear, but +they conceal ledges of hidden reefs, and are unexpectedly forced into +narrow passages obstructed by granite boulders. The strongest built and +best piloted boat must be dashed to pieces in such circumstances, and +no effort or skilfulness on the part of the crew would save the vessel +should the owner venture to attempt the descent. The only channel at +all available for transit runs from the village of Aesha on the Arabian +side, winds capriciously from one bank to another, and emerges into calm +water a little above Nakhiet Wady Haifa. During certain days in August +and September the natives trust themselves to this stream, but only with +boats lightly laden; even then their escape is problematical, for they +are in hourly danger of foundering. As soon as the inundation begins to +fall, the passage becomes more difficult: by the middle of October it +is given up, and communication by water between Egypt and the countries +above Wady Haifa is suspended until the return of the inundation. By +degrees, as the level of the water becomes lower, remains of wrecks +jammed between the rocks, or embedded in sandbanks, emerge into view, +as if to warn sailors and discourage them from an undertaking so fraught +with perils. Usirtasen I. realized the importance of the position, and +fortified its approaches. + +[Illustration: 346.jpg THE SECOND CATARACT AT LOW NILE] + +He selected the little Nubian town of Bohani, which lay exactly opposite +to the present village of Wady Haifa, and transformed it into a strong +frontier fortress. Besides the usual citadel, he built there a temple +dedicated to the Theban god Amon and to the local Horus; he then set +up a stele commemorating his victories over the peoples beyond the +cataract. + +[Illustration: 349.jpg THE TRIUMPHAL STELE OF USIRTASEN I.] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph of the original in + the museum at Florence. + +Ten of their principal chiefs had passed before Amon as prisoners, their +arms tied behind their backs, and had been sacrificed at the foot of +the altar by the sovereign himself: he represented them on the stele by +enclosing their names in battlemented cartouches, each surmounted by +the bust of a man bound by a long cord which is held by the conqueror. + +Nearly a century later Ûsirtasen III. enlarged the fortress, and finding +doubtless that it was not sufficiently strong to protect the passage of +the cataract, he stationed outposts at various points, at Matûga, Fakus, +and Kassa. They served as mooring-places where the vessels which went +up and down stream with merchandise might be made fast to the bank at +sunset. The bands of Bedouin, lurking in the neighbourhood, would +have rejoiced to surprise them, and by their depredations to stop the +commerce between the Said and the Upper Nile, during the few weeks in +which it could be carried on with a minimum of danger. A narrow gorge +crossed by a bed of granite, through which the Nile passes at Semneh, +afforded another most favourable site for the completion of this +system of defence. On cliffs rising sheer above the current, the +king constructed two fortresses, one on each bank of the river, which +completely commanded the approaches by land and water. On the right bank +at Kummeh, where the position was naturally a strong one, the engineers +described an irregular square, measuring about two hundred feet each +side; two projecting bastions flanked the entrance, the one to the +north covering the approaching pathways, the southern one commanding +the river-bank. A road with a ditch runs at about thirteen feet from the +walls round the building, closely following its contour, except at the +north-west and south-east angles, where there are two projections which +formed bastions. The town on the other bank, Samninû-Kharp-Khâkerî, +occupied a less favourable position: its eastern flank was protected by +a zone of rocks and by the river, but the three other sides were of easy +approach. They were provided with ramparts which rose to the height +of eighty-two feet above the plain, and were strengthened at unequal +distances by enormous buttresses. These resembled towers without +parapets, overlooking every part of the encircling road, and from them +the defenders could take the attacking sappers in flank. + +[Illustration: 351.jpg THE RAPIDS OF THE NILE AT SEMNEH, AND THE TWO +FORTRESSES BUILT BY USIRTASEN III] + + Map drawn up by Thuillier from the somewhat obsolete survey + of Cailliaud + +The intervals between them had been so calculated as to enable the +archers to sweep the intervening space with their arrows. The main +building is of crude brick, with beams laid horizontally between; the +base of the external rampart is nearly vertical, while the upper part +forms an angle of some seventy degrees with the horizon, making the +scaling of it, if not impossible, at least very difficult. Each of the +enclosing walls of the two fortresses surrounded a town complete in +itself, with temples dedicated to their founders and to the Nubian +deities, as well as numerous habitations, now in ruins. The sudden +widening of the river immediately to the south of the rapids made a +kind of natural roadstead, where the Egyptian squadron could lie without +danger on the eve of a campaign against Ethiopia; the galiots of the +negroes there awaited permission to sail below the rapids, and to +enter Egypt with their cargoes. At once a military station and a river +custom-house, Semneh was the necessary bulwark of the new Egypt, and +Usirtasen III. emphatically proclaimed the fact, in two decrees, which +he set up there for the edification of posterity. "Here is," so runs the +first, "the southern boundary fixed in the year VIII. under his Holiness +of Khâkerî, Usirtasen, who gives life always and for ever, in order that +none of the black peoples may cross it from above, except only for the +transport of animals, oxen, goats, and sheep belonging to them." The +edict of the year XVI. reiterates the prohibition of the year VIII., +and adds that "His Majesty caused his own statue to be erected at the +landmarks which he himself had set up." The beds of the first and second +cataracts were then less worn away than they are now; they are therefore +more efficacious in keeping back the water and forcing it to rise to a +higher level above. The cataracts acted as indicators of the inundation, +and if their daily rise and fall were studied, it was possible to +announce to the dwellers on the banks lower down the river the progress +and probable results of the flood. + +[Illustration: 353.jpg THE CHANNEL OF THE NILE BETWEEN THE TWO +FORTRESSES OF SEMNEH AND KUMMEH] + + Reproduction by Faucher-Gudin of a sketch published by + Cailliaud, _Voyage à Méroe, Atlas_, vol. ii. pl. xxx. + +As long as the dominion of the Pharaohs reached no further than Philæ, +observations of the Nile were always taken at the first cataract; and +it was from Elephantine that Egypt received the news of the first +appearance and progress of the inundation. Amenemhâît III. set up a +new nilometer at the new frontier, and gave orders to his officers to +observe the course of the flood. They obeyed him scrupulously, and every +time that the inundation appeared to them to differ from the average +of ordinary years, they marked its height on the rocks of Semneh and +Kummeh, engraving side by side with the figure the name of the king and +the date of the year. The custom was continued there under the XIIIth +dynasty; afterwards, when the frontier was pushed further south, the +nilometer accompanied it. + +The country beyond Semneh was virgin territory, almost untouched and +quite uninjured by previous wars. Its name now appears for the first +time upon the monuments, in the form of Kaûshû--the humbled Kûsh. It +comprised the districts situated to the south within the immense loop +described by the river between Dongola and Khartoum, those vast plains +intersected by the windings of the White and Blue Niles, known as the +regions of Kordofan and Darfur; it was bounded by the mountains of +Abyssinia, the marshes of Lake Nû, and all those semi-fabulous countries +to which were relegated the "Isles of the Manes" and the "Lands of +Spirits." It was separated from the Red Sea by the land of Pûanît; and +to the west, between it and the confines of the world, lay the Timihû. +Scores of tribes, white, copper-coloured, and black, bearing strange +names, wrangled over the possession of this vaguely defined territory; +some of them were still savage or emerging from barbarism, while others +had attained to a pitch of material civilization almost comparable with +that of Egypt. The same diversity of types, the same instability and the +same want of intelligence which characterized the tribes of those days, +still distinguish the medley of peoples who now frequent the upper +valley of the Nile. They led the same sort of animal life, guided by +impulse, and disturbed, owing to the caprices of their petty chiefs, by +bloody wars which often issued in slavery or in emigration to distant +regions. + +[Illustration: 355.jpg KÛSHITE PRISONERS BROUGHT TO EGYPT] + + Drawn by Faucher-Guclin, from the water-colour drawing by + Mr. Blackden. + +With such shifting and unstable conditions, it would be difficult to +build up a permanent State. From time to time some kinglet, more daring, +cunning, tenacious, or better fitted to govern than the rest, extended +his dominion over his neighbours, and advanced step by step, till he +united immense tracts under his single rule. As by degrees his kingdom +enlarged, he made no efforts to organize it on any regular system, to +introduce any uniformity in the administration of its affairs, or to +gain the adherence of its incongruous elements by just laws which would +be equally for the good of all: when the massacres which accompanied his +first victories were over, when he had incorporated into his own army +what was left of the vanquished troops, when their children were led +into servitude and he had filled his treasury with their spoil and his +harem with their women, it never occurred to him that there was anything +more to be done. If he had acted otherwise, it would not probably have +been to his advantage. Both his former and present subjects were too +divergent in language and origin, too widely separated by manners and +customs, and too long in a state of hostility to each other, to draw +together and to become easily welded into a single nation. As soon as +the hand which held them together relaxed its hold for a moment, discord +crept in everywhere, among individuals as well as among the tribes, and +the empire of yesterday resolved itself into its original elements +even more rapidly than it had been formed. The clash of arms which had +inaugurated its brief existence died quickly away, the remembrance of +its short-lived glory was lost after two or three generations in the +horrors of a fresh invasion: its name vanished without leaving a trace +behind. The occupation of Nubia brought Egypt into contact with this +horde of incongruous peoples, and the contact soon entailed a struggle. +It is futile for a civilized state to think of dwelling peacefully with +any barbarous nation with which it is in close proximity. Should it +decide to check its own advances, and impose limits upon itself which +it shall not pass over, its moderation is mistaken for feebleness and +impotence; the vanquished again take up the offensive, and either +force the civilized power to retire, or compel it to cross its former +boundary. The Pharaohs did not escape this inevitable consequence of +conquest: their southern frontier advanced continually higher and higher +up the Nile, without ever becoming fixed in a position sufficiently +strong to defy the attacks of the Barbarians. Usirtasen I. had subdued +the countries of Hahû, of Khonthanunofir, and Shaad, and had beaten in +battle the Shemîk, the Khasa, the Sus, the Aqîn, the Anu, the Sabiri, +and the people of Akîti and Makisa. Amenemhâît II., Usirtasen II., and +Usirtasen III. never hesitated to "strike the humbled Kush" whenever +the opportunity presented itself. The last-mentioned king in particular +chastised them severely in his VIIIth, XIIth, XVIth, and XIXth years, +and his victories made him so popular, that the Egyptians of the Greek +period, identifying him with the Sesostris of Herodotus, attributed to +him the possession of the universe. On the base of a colossal statue of +rose granite which he erected in the temple of Tanis, we find preserved +a list of the tribes which he conquered: the names of them appear to +us most outlandish--Alaka, Matakaraû, Tûrasû, Pamaîka, Uarakî, +Paramakâ--and we have no clue as to their position on the map. We know +merely that they lived in the desert, on both sides of the Nile, in the +latitude of Berber or thereabouts. Similar expeditions were sent after +Ûsirtasen's time, and Amenem-hâît III. regarded both banks of the Nile, +between Semneh and Dongola, as forming part of the territory of Egypt +proper. Little by little, and by the force of circumstances, the making +of Greater Egypt was realized; she approached nearer and nearer towards +the limit which had been prescribed for her by nature, to that point +where the Nile receives its last tributaries, and where its peerless +valley takes its origin in the convergence of many others. + +The conquest of Nubia was on the whole an easy one, and so much personal +advantage accrued from these wars, that the troops and generals entered +on them without the least repugnance. A single fragment has come down to +us which contains a detailed account of one of these campaigns, probably +that conducted by Usirtasen III. in the XVIth year of his reign. The +Pharaoh had received information that the tribes of the district of +Hûâ, on the Tacazze, were harassing his vassals, and possibly also +those Egyptians who were attracted by commerce to that neighbourhood. +He resolved to set out and chastise them severely, and embarked with +his fleet. It was an expedition almost entirely devoid of danger: +the invaders landed only at favourable spots, carried off any of the +inhabitants who came in their way, and seized on their cattle--on one +occasion as many as a hundred and twenty-three oxen and eleven asses, on +others less. Two small parties marched along the banks, and foraging to +the right and left, drove the booty down to the river. The tactics of +invasion have scarcely undergone any change in these countries; +the account given by Cailliaud of the first conquest of Fazogl by +Ismail-Pasha, in 1822, might well serve to complete the fragments of +the inscription of Usirtasen III., and restore for us, almost in every +detail, a faithful picture of the campaigns carried on in these regions +by the kings of the XIIth dynasty. The people are hunted down in +the same fashion; the country is similarly ravaged by a handful of +well-armed, fairly disciplined men attacking naked and disconnected +hordes, the young men are massacred after a short resistance or forced +to escape into the woods, the women are carried off as slaves, the huts +pillaged, villages burnt, whole tribes exterminated in a few hours. +Sometimes a detachment, having imprudently ventured into some thorny +thicket to attack a village perched on a rocky summit, would experience +a reverse, and would with great difficulty regain the main body of +troops, after having lost three-fourths of its men. In most cases there +was no prolonged resistance, and the attacking party carried the place +with the loss of merely two or three men killed or wounded. The spoil +was never very considerable in any one locality, but its total amount +increased as the raid was carried afield, and it soon became so bulky +that the party had to stop and retrace their steps, in order to place +it for safety in the nearest fortress. The booty consisted for the most +part of herds of oxen and of cumbrous heaps of grain, as well as wood +for building purposes. But it also comprised objects of small size but +of great value, such as ivory, precious stones, and particularly gold. +The natives collected the latter in the alluvial tracts watered by the +Tacazze, the Blue Nile and its tributaries. The women were employed +in searching for nuggets, which were often of considerable size; they +enclosed them in little leather cases, and offered them to the merchants +in exchange for products of Egyptian industry, or they handed them over +to the goldsmiths to be made into bracelets, ear, nose, or finger rings, +of fairly fine workmanship. Gold was found in combination with several +other metals, from which they did not know how to separate it: the +purest gold had a pale yellow tint, which was valued above all others, +but electrum, that is to say, gold alloyed with silver in the proportion +of eighty per cent., was also much in demand, while greyish-coloured +gold, mixed with platinum, served for making common jewellery.* + + * Cailliaud has briefly described the auriferous sand of the + Qamâmyl, and the way in which it is worked: it is from him + that I have borrowed the details given in the text. From + analyses which I caused to be made at the Bûlaq Museum of + Egyptian jewellery of the time of the XVIIIth dynasty, which + had been broken and were without value, from an archeo- + logical or artistic point of view, I have demonstrated the + presence of the platinum and silver mentioned by Cailliaud + as being found in the nuggets from the Blue Nile. + +None of these expeditions produced any lasting results, and the Pharaohs +established no colonies in any of these countries. Their Egyptian +subjects could not have lived there for any length of time without +deteriorating by intermarriage with the natives or from the effects of +the climate; they would have degenerated into a half-bred race, having +all the vices and none of the good qualities of the aborigines. The +Pharaohs, therefore, continued their hostilities without further +scruples, and only sought to gain as much as possible from their +victories. They cared little if nothing remained after they had passed +through some district, or if the passage of their armies was marked +only by ruins. They seized upon everything which came across their +path--men, chattels, or animals--and carried them back to Egypt; they +recklessly destroyed everything for which they had no use, and made a +desert of fertile districts which but yesterday had been covered with +crops and studded with populous villages. The neighbouring inhabitants, +realizing their incapacity to resist regular troops, endeavoured to buy +off the invaders by yielding up all they possessed in the way of slaves, +flocks, wood, or precious metals. The generals in command, however, had +to reckon with the approaching low Nile, which forced them to beat a +retreat; they were obliged to halt at the first appearance of it, and +they turned homewards "in peace," their only anxiety being to lose the +smallest possible number of men or captured animals on their return +journey. + +As in earlier times, adventurous merchants penetrated into districts not +reached by the troops, and prepared the way for conquest. The princes +of Elephantine still sent caravans to distant parts, and one of them, +Siranpîtû, who lived under Ûsirtasen I. and Amenemhâit II., recorded his +explorations on his tomb, after the fashion of his ancestors: the king +at several different times had sent him on expeditions to the Soudan, +but the inscription in which he gives an account of them is so +mutilated, that we cannot be sure which tribes he visited. We +learn merely that he collected from them skins, ivory, ostrich +feathers--everything, in fact, which Central Africa has furnished as +articles of commerce from time immemorial. It was not, however, by +land only that Egyptian merchants travelled to seek fortune in foreign +countries: the Red Sea attracted them, and served as a quick route for +reaching the land of Pûanît, whose treasures in perfumes and rarities +of all kinds had formed the theme of ancient traditions and navigators' +tales. Relations with it had been infrequent, or had ceased altogether, +during the wars of the Heracleo-politan period: on their renewal it +was necessary to open up afresh routes which had been forgotten for +centuries. + +[Illustration: 362.jpg THE ROUTES LEADING FROM THE NILE TO THE RED SEA, +BETWEEN KOPTOS AND KOSSEIR.] + +Traffic was confined almost entirely to two or three out of the +many,--one which ran from Elephantine or from Nekhabît to the "Head of +Nekhabît," the Berenice of the Greeks; others which started from Thebes +or Koptos, and struck the coast at the same place or at Saû, the present +Kosseir. The latter, which was the shortest as well as the favourite +route, passed through Wady Hammamât, from whence the Pharaohs drew the +blocks of granite for their sarcophagi. The officers who were sent to +quarry the stone often took advantage of the opportunity to visit the +coast, and to penetrate as far as the Spice Regions. As early as the +year VIII. of Sônkherî, the predecessor of Amenemhâît I., the "sole +friend" Hûnû had been sent by this road, "in order to take the command +of a squadron to Pûanît, and to collect a tribute of fresh incense +from the princes of the desert." He got together three thousand men, +distributed to each one a goatskin bottle, a crook for carrying it, and +ten loaves, and set out from Koptos with this little army. No water was +met with on the way: Hûnû bored several wells and cisterns in the rock, +one at a halting-place called Bait, two in the district of Adahaît, and +finally one in the valleys of Adabehaît. Having reached the seaboard, +he quickly constructed a great barge, freighted it with merchandise for +barter, as well as with provisions, oxen, cows, and goats, and set sail +for a cruise along the coast: it is not known how far he went, but he +came back with a large cargo of all the products of the "Divine Land," +especially of incense. On his return, he struck off into the Uagai +valley, and thence reached that of Rohanû, where he chose out splendid +blocks of stone for a temple which the king was building: "Never had +'Royal Cousin' sent on an expedition done as much since the time of +the god Râ!" Numbers of royal officers and adventurers followed in his +footsteps, but no record of them has been preserved for us. Two or three +names only have escaped oblivion--that of Khnûmhotpû, who in the first +year of Ûsirtasen I. erected a stele in the Wady Gasûs in the very heart +of the "Divine Land;" and that of Khentkhîtioîrû, who in the XXVIIIth +year of Amenemhâît II. entered the haven of Saû after a fortunate cruise +to Pûanît, without having lost a vessel or even a single man. Navigation +is difficult in the Red Sea. The coast as a rule is precipitous, +bristling with reefs and islets, and almost entirely without strand or +haven. No river or stream runs into it; it is bordered by no fertile or +wooded tract, but by high cliffs, half disintegrated by the burning sun, +or by steep mountains, which appear sometimes a dull red, sometimes +a dingy grey colour, according to the material--granite or +sandstone--which predominates in their composition. The few tribes who +inhabit this desolate region maintain a miserable existence by fishing +and hunting: they were considered, during the Greek period, to be +the most unfortunate of mortals, and if they appeared to be so to the +mariners of the Ptolemies, doubtless they enjoyed the same reputation in +the more remote time of the Pharaohs. A few fishing villages, however, +are mentioned as scattered along the littoral; watering-places, at some +distance apart, frequented on account of their wells of brackish water +by the desert tribes: such were Nahasît, Tap-Nekhabît, Saû, and Tâû: +these the Egyptian merchant-vessels used as victualling stations, +and took away as cargo the products of the country--mother-of-pearl, +amethysts, emeralds, a little lapis-lazuli, a little gold, gums, and +sweet-smelling resins. If the weather was favourable, and the intake +of merchandise had been scanty, the vessel, braving numerous risks of +shipwreck, continued its course as far as the latitude of Sûakîn and +Massowah, which was the beginning of Pûanît properly so called. Here +riches poured down to the coast from the interior, and selection became +a difficulty: it was hard to decide which would make the best cargo, +ivory or ebony, panthers' skins or rings of gold, myrrh, incense, or a +score of other sweet-smelling gums. So many of these odoriferous resins +were used for religious purposes, that it was always to the advantage of +the merchant to procure as much of them as possible: incense, fresh or +dried, was the staple and characteristic merchandise of the Red Sea, and +the good people of Egypt pictured Pûanît as a land of perfumes, which +attracted the sailor from afar by the delicious odours which were wafted +from it. + +These voyages were dangerous and trying: popular imagination seized upon +them and made material out of them for marvellous tales. The hero chosen +was always a daring adventurer sent by his master to collect gold from +the mines of Nubia; by sailing further and further up the river, he +reached the mysterious sea which forms the southern boundary of the +world. "I set sail in a vessel one hundred and fifty cubits long, forty +wide, with one hundred and fifty of the best sailors in the land +of Egypt, who had seen heaven and earth, and whose hearts were more +resolute than those of lions. They had foretold that the wind would not +be contrary, or that there would be even none at all; but a squall came +upon us unexpectedly while we were in the open, and as we approached +the land, the wind freshened and raised the waves to the height of eight +cubits. As for me, I clung to a beam, but those who were on the vessel +perished without one escaping. A wave of the sea cast me on to an +island, after having spent three days alone with no other companion than +my own heart. I slept there in the shade of a thicket; then I set my +legs in motion in quest of something for my mouth." The island produced +a quantity of delicious fruit: he satisfied his hunger with it, lighted +a fire to offer a sacrifice to the gods, and immediately, by the magical +power of the sacred rites, the inhabitants, who up to this time had +been invisible, were revealed to his eyes. "I heard a sound like that of +thunder, which I at first took to be the noise of the flood-tide in the +open sea; but the trees quivered, the earth trembled. I uncovered my +face, and I perceived that it was a serpent which was approaching. He +was thirty cubits in length, and his wattles exceeded two cubits; his +body was incrusted with gold, and his colour appeared like that of +real lapis. He raised himself before me and opened his mouth; while I +prostrated myself before him, he said to me: 'Who hath brought thee, who +hath brought thee, little one, who hath brought thee? If thou dost not +tell me immediately who brought thee to this island, I will cause thee +to know thy littleness: either thou shalt faint like a woman, or thou +shalt tell me something which I have not yet heard, and which I knew +not before thee.' Then he took me into his mouth and carried me to +his dwelling-place, and put me down without hurting me; I was safe and +sound, and nothing had been taken from me." Our hero tells the serpent +the story of his shipwreck, which moves him to pity and induces him to +reciprocate his confidence. "Fear nothing, fear nothing, little one, let +not thy countenance be sad! If thou hast come to me, it is the god who +has spared thy life; it is he who has brought thee into this 'Isle of +the Double,' where nothing is lacking, and which is filled with all +good things. Here thou shalt pass one month after another till thou hast +remained four months in this island, then shall come a vessel from thy +country with mariners; thou canst depart with them to thy country, +and thou shalt die in thy city. To converse rejoices the heart, he who +enjoys conversation bears misfortune better; I will therefore relate +to thee the history of this island." The population consisted of +seventy-five serpents, all of one family: it formerly comprised also a +young girl, whom a succession of misfortunes had cast on the island, and +who was killed by lightning. The hero, charmed with such good nature, +overwhelmed the hospitable dragon with thanks, and promised to send him +numerous presents on his return home. "I will slay asses for thee in +sacrifice, I will pluck birds for thee, I will send to thee vessels +filled with all the riches of Egypt, meet for a god, the friend of man +in a distant country unknown to men." The monster smiled, and replied +that it was needless to think of sending presents to one who was the +ruler of Pûanît; besides, "as soon as thou hast quitted this place, +thou wilt never again see this island, for it will be changed into +waves."--"And then, when the vessel appeared, according as he had +predicted to me, I went and perched upon a high tree and sought to +distinguish those who manned it. I next ran to tell him the news, but I +found that he was already informed of its arrival, and he said to me: 'A +pleasant journey home, little one; mayst thou behold thy children again, +and may thy name be well spoken of in thy town; such are my wishes for +thee!' He added gifts to these obliging words. I placed all these on +board the vessel which had come, and prostrating myself, I adored him. +He said to me: 'After two months thou shalt reach thy country, thou wilt +press thy children to thy bosom, and thou shalt rest in thy sepulchre.' +After that I descended the shore to the vessel, and I hailed the sailors +who were in it. I gave thanks on the shore to the master of the island, +as well as to those who dwelt in it." This might almost be an episode +in the voyages of Sindbad the Sailor; except that the monsters which +Sindbad met with in the course of his travels were not of such a kindly +disposition as the Egyptian serpent: it did not occur to them to console +the shipwrecked with the charm of a lengthy gossip, but they swallowed +them with a healthy appetite. Putting aside entirely the marvellous +element in the story, what strikes us is the frequency of the relations +which it points to between Egypt and Pûanît. The appearance of an +Egyptian vessel excites no astonishment on its coasts: the inhabitants +have already seen many such, and at such regular intervals, that they +are able to predict the exact date of their arrival. The distance +between the two countries, it is true, was not considerable, and a +voyage of two months was sufficient to accomplish it. While the new +Egypt was expanding outwards in all directions, the old country did not +cease to add to its riches. The two centuries during which the XIIth +dynasty continued to rule were a period of profound peace; the monuments +show us the country in full possession of all its resources and its +arts, and its inhabitants both cheerful and contented. More than ever do +the great lords and royal officers expatiate in their epitaphs upon +the strict justice which they have rendered to their vassals and +subordinates, upon the kindness which they have shown to the fellahîn, +on the paternal solicitude with which, in the years of insufficient +inundations or of bad harvests, they have striven to come forward and +assist them, and upon the unheard-of disinterestedness which kept them +from raising the taxes during the times of average Niles, or of unusual +plenty. Gifts to the gods poured in from one end of the country to the +other, and the great building works, which had been at a standstill +since the end of the VIth dynasty, were recommenced simultaneously on +all sides. There was much to be done in the way of repairing the ruins, +of which the number had accumulated during the two preceding centuries. +Not that the most audacious kings had ventured to lay their hands on +the sanctuaries: they emptied the sacred treasuries, and partially +confiscated their revenues, but when once their cupidity was satisfied, +they respected the fabrics, and even went so far as to restore a +few inscriptions, or, when needed, to replace a few stones. These +magnificent buildings required careful supervision: in spite of their +being constructed of the most durable materials--sand-stone, granite, +limestone,--in spite of their enormous size, or of the strengthening +of their foundations by a bed of sand and by three or four courses of +carefully adjusted blocks to form a substructure, the Nile was ever +threatening them, and secretly working at their destruction. Its waters, +filtering through the soil, were perpetually in contact with the lower +courses of these buildings, and kept the foundations of the walls and +the bases of the columns constantly damp: the saltpetre which the waters +had dissolved in their passage, crystallising on the limestone, would +corrode and undermine everything, if precautions were not taken. When +the inundation was over, the subsidence of the water which impregnated +the subsoil caused in course of time settlements in the most solid +foundations: the walls, disturbed by the unequal sinking of the ground, +got out of the perpendicular and cracked; this shifting displaced the +architraves which held the columns together, and the stone slabs which +formed the roof. These disturbances, aggravated from year to year, were +sufficient, if not at once remedied, to entail the fall of the portions +attacked; in addition to this, the Nile, having threatened the part +below with destruction, often hastened by direct attacks the work of +ruin, which otherwise proceeded slowly. A breach in the embankments +protecting the town or the temple allowed its waters to rush violently +through, and thus to effect large gaps in the decaying walls, completing +the overthrow of the columns and wrecking the entrance halls and secret +chambers by the fall of the roofs. At the time when Egypt came under +the rule of the XIIth dynasty there were but few cities which did not +contain some ruined or dilapidated sanctuary. Amenemhâît I., although +fully occupied in reducing the power of the feudal lords, restored; the +temples as far as he was able, and his successors pushed forward the +work vigorously for nearly two centuries. + +The Delta profited greatly by this activity in building. The monuments +there had suffered more than anywhere else: fated to bear the first +shock of foreign invasion, and transformed into fortresses while the +towns in which they were situated were besieged, they have been captured +again and again by assault, broken down by attacking engines, and +dismantled by all the conquerors of Egypt, from the Assyrians to the +Arabs and the Turks. The fellahîn in their neighbourhood have for +centuries come to them to obtain limestone to burn in their kilns, or to +use them as a quarry for sandstone or granite for the doorways of their +houses, or for the thresholds of their mosques. Not only have they been +ruined, but the remains of their ruins have, as it were, melted away +and almost entirely disappeared in the course of ages. And yet, wherever +excavations have been made among these remains which have suffered such +deplorable ill-treatment, colossi and inscriptions commemorating the +Pharaohs of the XIIth dynasty have been brought to light. Amenemhâît I. +founded a great temple at Tanis in honour of the gods of Memphis: the +vestiges of the columns still scattered on all sides show that the +main body of the building was of rose granite, and a statue of the same +material has preserved for us a portrait of the king. He is seated, and +wears the tall head-dress of Osiris. He has a large smiling face, thick +lips, a short nose, and big staring eyes: the expression is one of +benevolence and gentleness, rather than of the energy and firmness which +one would expect in the founder of a dynasty. The kings who were his +successors all considered it a privilege to embellish the temple and to +place in it some memorial of their veneration for the god. Ûsirtasen I., +following the example of his father, set up a statue of himself in the +form of Osiris: he is sitting on his throne of grey granite, and his +placid face unmistakably recalls that of Amenemhâît I. Amenemhâît II., +Usirtasen II., and his wife Nofrît have also dedicated their images +within the sanctuary. + +Nofrît's is of black granite: her head is almost eclipsed by the heavy +Hâthor wig, consisting of two enormous tresses of hair which surround +the cheeks, and lie with an outward curve upon the breast; her eyes, +which were formerly inlaid, have fallen out, the bronze eyelids are +lost, her arms have almost disappeared. What remains of her, however, +gives us none the less the impression of a young and graceful woman, +with a lithe and well-proportioned body, whose outlines are delicately +modelled under the tight-fitting smock worn by Egyptian women; the small +and rounded breasts curve outward between the extremities of her curls +and the embroidered hem of her garment; and a pectoral bearing the name +of her husband lies flat upon her chest, just below the column of her +throat. + +[Illustration: 372.jpg THE STATUE OF NOFRIT] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Insinger. In + addition to the complete statue, the Museum at Gîzeh + possesses a torso from the same source. I believe I can + recognize another portrait of the same queen in a beautiful + statue in black granite, which has been in the Museum at + Marseilles since the beginning of the present century. + +These various statues have all an evident artistic relationship to +the beautiful granite figures of the Ancient Empire. The sculptors who +executed them belonged to the same school as those who carved Khephren +out of the solid diorite: there is the same facile use of the chisel, +the same indifference to the difficulties presented by the material +chosen, the same finish in the detail, the same knowledge of the human +form. One is almost tempted to believe that Egyptian art remained +unchanged all through those long centuries, and yet as soon as a +statue of the early period is placed side by side with one of the XIIth +dynasty, we immediately perceive something in the one which is lacking +in the other. It is a difference in feeling, even if the technique +remains unmodified. It was the man himself that the sculptors desired +to represent in the older Pharaohs, and however haughty may be the +countenance which we admire in the Khephren, it is the human element +which predominates in him. The statues of Amenemhâît I. and his +successors appear, on the contrary, to represent a superior race: at the +time when these were produced, the Pharaoh had long been regarded as +a god, and the divine nature in him had almost eliminated the human. +Whether intentionally or otherwise, the sculptors idealized their model, +and made him more and more resemble the type of the divinities. The head +always appears to be a good likeness, but smoothed down and sometimes +lacking in expression. + +Not only are the marks of age rendered less apparent, and the features +made to bear the stamp of perpetual youth, but the characteristics +of the individual, such as the accentuation of the eyebrows, the +protuberance of the cheek-bones, the projection of the under lip, are +all softened down as if intentionally, and made to give way to a uniform +expression of majestic tranquillity. One king only, Amenemhâît III., +refused to go down to posterity thus effaced, and caused his portrait +to be taken as he really was. He has certainly the round full face +of Amenemhâît or of Usirtasen I., and there is an undeniable family +likeness between him and his ancestors; but at the first glance we +feel sure that the artist has not in any way flattered his model. The +forehead is low and slightly retreating, narrow across the temples; his +nose is aquiline, pronounced in form, and large at the tip; the thick +lips are slightly closed; his mouth has a disdainful curve, and its +corners are turned down as if to repress the inevitable smile common to +most Egyptian statues; the chin is full and heavy, and turns up in front +in spite of the weight of the false beard dependent from it; he has +small narrow eyes, with full lids; his cheekbones are accentuated and +projecting, the cheeks hollow, and the muscles about the nose and mouth +strongly defined. The whole presents so strange an aspect, that for a +long time statues of this type have been persistently looked upon as +productions of an art which was only partially Egyptian. It is, indeed, +possible that the Tanis sphinxes were turned out of workshops where the +principles and practice of the sculptor's art had previously undergone +some Asiatic influence; the bushy mane which surrounds the face, and +the lion's ears emerging from it, are exclusively characteristic of the +latter. The purely human statues in which we meet with the same type of +countenance have no peculiarity of workmanship which could be attributed +to the imitation of a foreign art. If the nameless masters to whom +we owe their existence desired to bring about a reaction against the +conventional technique of their contemporaries, they at least introduced +no foreign innovations; the monuments of the Memphite period furnished +them with all the models they could possibly wish for. + +Bubastis had no less occasion than Tanis to boast of the generosity of +the Theban Pharaohs. The temple of Bastît, which had been decorated by +Kheops and Khephren, was still in existence: Amenemhâît I., Usirtasen +I., and their immediate successors confined themselves to the +restoration of several chambers, and to the erection of their own +statues, but Usirtasen III. added to it a new structure which must have +made it rival the finest monuments in Egypt. He believed, no doubt, that +he was under particular obligations to the lioness goddess of the city, +and attributed to her aid, for unknown reasons, some of his successes in +Nubia; it would appear that it was with the spoil of a campaign against +the country of the Hûâ that he endowed a part of the new sanctuary.* + + * The fragment found by Naville formed part of an + inscription engraved on a wall: the wars which it was + customary to commemorate in a temple were always selected + from those in which the whole or a part of the booty had + been consecrated to the use of the local divinity. + +Nothing now remains of it except fragments of the architraves and +granite columns, which have been used over again by Pharaohs of a later +period when restoring or altering the fabric. + +[Illustration: 376.jpg ONE OF THE TANIS SPHINXES IN THE GÎZEH MUSEUM] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Émil Brugsch- + Bey, taken in 1881. The sphinx bears on its breast the + cartouche of Psiûkhânû, a Tanite Pharaoh of the XXIst + dynasty. + +A few of the columns belong to the lotiform type. The shaft is composed +of eight triangular stalks rising from a bunch of leaves, symmetrically +arranged, and bound together at the top by a riband, twisted thrice +round the bundle; the capital is formed by the union of the eight lotus +buds, surmounted by a square member on which rests the architrave. Other +columns have Hâthor-headed capitals, the heads being set back to back, +and bearing the flat head-dress ornamented with the urous. The face +of the goddess, which is somewhat flattened when seen closely on the +eye-level, stands out and becomes more lifelike in proportion as the +spectator recedes from it; the projection of the features has been +calculated so as to produce the desired effect at the right height +when seen from below. The district lying between Tanis and Bubastis is +thickly studded with monuments built or embellished by the Amenemhâîts +and Usirtasens: wherever the pickaxe is applied, whether at Fakus or +Tell-Nebêsheh, remains of them are brought to light--statues, stelæ, +tables of offerings, and fragments of dedicatory or historical +inscriptions. While carrying on works in the temple of Phtah at Memphis, +the attention of these Pharaohs was attracted to Heliopolis. The temple +of Râ there was either insufficient for the exigencies of worship, or +had been allowed to fall into decay. Usirtasen III. resolved, in the +third year of his reign, to undertake its restoration. The occasion +appears to have been celebrated as a festival by all Egypt, and the +remembrance of it lasted long after the event: the somewhat detailed +account of the ceremonies which then took place was copied out again at +Thebes, towards the end of the XVIIIth dynasty. It describes the king +mounting his throne at the meeting of his council, and receiving, as was +customary, the eulogies of his "sole friends" and of the courtiers +who surrounded him: "Here," says he, addressing them, "has my Majesty +ordained the works which shall recall my worthy and noble acts to +posterity. I raise a monument, I establish lasting decrees in favour +of Harmakhis, for he has brought me into the world to do as he did, to +accomplish that which he decreed should be done; he has appointed me to +guide this earth, he has known it, he has called it together and he has +granted me his help; I have caused the Eye which is in him to become +serene, in all things acting as he would have me to do, and I have +sought out that which he had resolved should be known. I am a king by +birth, a suzerain not of my own making; I have governed from childhood, +petitions have been presented to me when I was in the egg, I have ruled +over the ways of Anubis, and he raised me up to be master of the two +halves of the world, from the time when I was a nursling; I had not yet +escaped from the swaddling-bands when he enthroned me as master of men; +creating me himself in the sight of mortals, he made me to find favour +with the Dweller in the Palace, when I was a youth.... I came forth as +Horus the eloquent, and I have instituted divine oblations; I accomplish +the works in the palace of my father Atûmû, I supply his altar on earth +with offerings, I lay the foundations of my palace in his neighbourhood, +in order that the memorial of my goodness may remain in his dwelling; +for this palace is my name, this lake is my monument, all that is famous +or useful that I have made for the gods is eternity." The great lords +testified their approbation of the king's piety; the latter summoned his +chancellor and commanded him to draw up the deeds of gift and all the +documents necessary for the carrying out of his wishes. "He arose, +adorned with the royal circlet and with the double feather, followed by +all his nobles; the chief lector of the divine book stretched the cord +and fixed the stake in the ground."* + + * Stehn, _Urkunde uber den Bau des Sonnentempels zu On_, pl. + i. 11. 13--15. The priest here performed with the king the + more important of the ceremonies necessary in measuring the + area of the temple, by "inserting the measuring stakes," + and marking out the four sides of the building with the + cord. + +This temple has ceased to exist; but one of the granite obelisks raised +by Usirtasen I. on each side of the principal gateway is still standing. +The whole of Heliopolis has disappeared: the site where it formerly +stood is now marked only by a few almost imperceptible inequalities +in the soil, some crumbling lengths of walls, and here and there some +scattered blocks of limestone, containing a few lines of mutilated +inscriptions which can with difficulty be deciphered; the obelisk has +survived even the destruction of the ruins, and to all who understand +its language it still speaks of the Pharaoh who erected it. + +The undertaking and successful completion of so many great structures +had necessitated a renewal of the working of the ancient quarries, and +the opening of fresh ones. Amenemhâît I. sent Antuf, a great dignitary, +chief of the prophets of Mînû and prince of Koptos, to the valley +of Rohanû, to seek out fine granite for making the royal sarcophagi. +Amenemhâît III. had, in the XLIIIrd year of his reign, been present at +the opening of several fine veins of white limestone in the quarries of +Turah, which probably furnished material for the buildings proceeding at +Heliopolis and Memphis. Thebes had also its share of both limestone and +granite, and Amon, whose sanctuary up to this time had only attained +the modest proportions suited to a provincial god, at last possessed a +temple which raised him to the rank of the highest feudal divinities. +Amon's career had begun under difficulties: he had been merely a +vassal-god of Montû, lord of Hermonthis (the Aûnû of the south), who +had granted to him the ownership of the village of Karnak only. The +unforeseen good fortune of the Antufs was the occasion of his emerging +from his obscurity: he did not dethrone Montû, but shared with him the +homage of all the neighbouring villages--Luxor, Medamut, Bayadîyeh; and, +on the other side of the Nile, Gurneh and Medînet-Habu. The accession of +the XIIth dynasty completed his triumph, and made him the most powerful +authority in Southern Egypt. He was an earth-god, a form of Mînû who +reigned at Koptos, at Akhmîm and in the desert, but he soon became +allied to the sun, and from thenceforth he assumed the name of Amon-Râ. +The title of "sûton nûtîrû" which he added to it would alone have +sufficed to prove the comparatively recent origin of his notoriety; as +the latest arrival among the great gods, he employed, to express his +sovereignty, this word "sûton," king, which had designated the rulers +of the valley ever since the union of the two Egypts under the shadowy +Menés. Reigning at first alone, he became associated by marriage with a +vague indefinite goddess, called Maût, or Mût, the "mother," who never +adopted any more distinctive name: the divine son who completed +this triad was, in early times, Montû; but in later times a being of +secondary rank, chosen from among the genii appointed to watch over the +days of the month or the stars, was added, under the name of Khonsû. +Amenemhâît laid the foundations of the temple, in which the cultus of +Amon was carried on down to the latest times of paganism. The building +was supported by polygonal columns of sixteen sides, some fragments of +which are still existing. + +[Illustration: 381.jpg THE OBELISK OF ÛSIRTASEN I., STILL STANDING IN +THE PLAIN OF HELIOPOLIS] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Insinger. + +The temple was at first of only moderate dimensions, but it was built +of the choicest sandstone and limestone, and decorated with exquisite +bas-reliefs. Ûsirtasen I. enlarged it, and built a beautiful house for +the high priest on the west side of the sacred lake. Luxor, Zorit, Edfu, +Hierakonpolis, El-Kab, Elephantine, and Dendera,* shared between them +the favour of the Pharaohs; the venerable town of Abydos became the +object of their special predilection. + + * Dümichen pointed out, in the masonry of the great eastern + staircase of the present temple of Hâthor, a stone obtained + from the earlier temple, which bears the name of Amenemhâît; + another fragment, discovered and published by Mariette, + shows that Amenemhâît I. is here again referred to. The + buildings erected by this monarch at Dondera must have been + on a somewhat large scale, if we may judge from the size of + this last fragment, which is the lintel of a door. + +Its reputation for sanctity had been steadily growing from the time of +the Papis: its god, Khontamentît, who was identified with Osiris, had +obtained in the south a rank as high as that of the Mendesian Osiris in +the north of Egypt. He was worshipped as the sovereign of the sovereigns +of the dead--he who gathered around him and welcomed in his domains +the majority of the faithful of other cults. His sepulchre, or, more +correctly speaking, the chapel representing his sepulchre, in which +one of his relics was preserved, was here, as elsewhere, built upon the +roof. Access to it was gained by a staircase leading up on the left side +of the sanctuary: on the days of the passion and resurrection of Osiris +solemn processions of priests and devotees slowly mounted its steps, to +the chanting of funeral hymns, and above, on the terrace, away from +the world of the living, and with no other witnesses than the stars of +heaven, the faithful celebrated mysteriously the rites of the divine +death and embalming. The "vassals of Osiris" flocked in crowds to these +festivals, and took a delight in visiting, at least once during their +lifetime, the city whither their souls would proceed after death, in +order to present themselves at the "Mouth of the Cleft," there to embark +in the "bari" of their divine master or in that of the Sun. They +left behind them, "under the staircase of the great god," a sort of +fictitious tomb, near the representation of the tomb of Osiris, in the +shape of a stele, which immortalized the memory of their piety, and +which served as a kind of hostelry for their soul, when the latter +should, in course of time, repair to this rallying-place of all +Osirian souls. The concourse of pilgrims was a source of wealth to +the population, the priestly coffers were filled, and every year the +original temple was felt to be more and more inadequate to meet the +requirements of worship. Usirtasen I. desired to come to the rescue: +he despatched Monthotpû, one of his great vassals, to superintend the +works. The ground-plan of the portico of white limestone which preceded +the entrance court may still be distinguished; this portico was +supported by square pillars, and, standing against the remains of these, +we see the colossi of rose granite, crowned with the Osirian head-dress, +and with their feet planted on the "Nine Bows," the symbol of vanquished +enemies. The best preserved of these figures represents the founder, but +several others are likenesses of those of his successors who interested +themselves in the temple. Monthotpû dug a well which was kept fully +supplied by the infiltrations from the Nile. He enlarged and cleaned +out the sacred lake upon which the priests launched the Holy Ark, on the +nights of the great mysteries. The alluvial deposits of fifty centuries +have not as yet wholly filled it up: it is still an irregularly shaped +pond, which dries up in winter, but is again filled as soon as the +inundation reaches the village of El-Kharbeh. + +[Illustration: 384.jpg USIRTASEN I. OF ABYDOS] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by M. de Banville. + +A few stones, corroded with saltpetre, mark here and there the lines +of the landing stages, a thick grove of palms fringes its northern and +southern banks, but to the west the prospect is open, and extends as +far as the entrance to the gorge, through which the souls set forth in +search of Paradise and the solar bark. Buffaloes now come to drink and +wallow at midday where once floated the gilded "bari" of Osiris, and the +murmur of bees from the neighbouring orchards alone breaks the silence +of the spot which of old resounded with the rhythmical lamentations of +the pilgrims. + +Heracleopolis the Great, the town preferred by the earlier Theban +Pharaohs as their residence in times of peace, must have been one of +those which they proceeded to decorate _con amore_ with magnificent +monuments. + +[Illustration: 385.jpg A PART OF THE ANCIENT SACRED LAKE OF OSIRIS NEAR +THE TEMPLE OF ABYDOS] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Émil Brugsch-Bey, + taken in 1884. + +Unfortunately it has suffered more than any of the rest, and nothing +of it is now to be seen but a few wretched remains of buildings of the +Roman period, and the ruins of a barbaric colonnade on the site of a +Byzantine basilica almost contemporary with the Arab conquest. Perhaps +the enormous mounds which cover its site may still conceal the remains +of its ancient temples. We can merely estimate their magnificence by +casual allusions to them in the inscriptions. + +[Illustration: 368.jpg THE SITE OF THE ANCIENT HERACLEOPOLIS] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Golénischeff + +We know, for instance, that Usirtasen III. rebuilt the sanctuary of +Harshâfîtû, and that he sent expeditions to the Wady Hammamât to quarry +blocks of granite worthy of his god: but the work of this king and his +successors has perished in the total ruin of the ancient town. Something +at least has remained of what they did in that traditional dependency +of Heracleopolis, the Fayum: the temple which they rebuilt to the god +Sobkû in Shodît retained its celebrity down to the time of the Cæsars, +not so much, perhaps, on account of the beauty of its architecture as +for the unique character of the religious rites which took place there +daily. The sacred lake contained a family of tame crocodiles, the +image and incarnation of the god, whom the faithful fed with their +offerings--cakes, fried fish, and drinks sweetened with honey. Advantage +was taken of the moment when one of these creatures, wallowing on the +bank, basked contentedly in the sun: two priests opened his jaws, and a +third threw in the cakes, the fried morsels, and finally the liquid. +The crocodile bore all this without even winking; he swallowed down his +provender, plunged into the lake, and lazily reached the opposite bank, +hoping to escape for a few moments from the oppressive liberality of his +devotees. + +[Illustration: 387.jpg SOBKÛ, THE GOD OF THE FAYÛM, UNDER THE FORM OF A +SACRED CROCODILE] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Émil Brugsch- + Bey, taken in 1885. The original in black granite is now in + the Berlin Museum. It represents one of the sacred + crocodiles mentioned by Strabo; we read on the base a Greek + inscription in honour of Ptolemy Neos Dionysos, in which the + name of the divine reptile "Petesûkhos, the great god," is + mentioned. + +As soon, however, as another of these approached, he was again beset +at his new post and stuffed in a similar manner. These animals were in +their own way great dandies: rings of gold or enamelled terra-cotta +were hung from their ears, and bracelets were soldered on to their front +paws. The monuments of Shodît, if any still exist, are buried under the +mounds of Medinet el-Fayûm, but in the neighbourhood we meet with more +than one authentic relic of the XIIth dynasty. It was Usirtasen I. who +erected that curious thin granite obelisk, with a circular top, whose +fragments lie forgotten on the ground near the village of Begig: a +sort of basin has been hollowed out around it, which fills during the +inundation, so that the monument lies in a pool of muddy water during +the greater part of the year. Owing to this treatment, most of the +inscriptions on it have almost disappeared, though we can still make +out a series of five scenes in which the king hands offerings to several +divinities. Near to Biahmû there was an old temple which had become +ruinous: Amenemhâît III. repaired it, and erected in front of it two +of those colossal statues which the Egyptians were wont to place like +sentinels at their gates, to ward off baleful influences and evil +spirits. + +[Illustration: 388.jpg THE REMAINS OF THE OBELISK OF BEGIG] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Golûnischeff. + +The colossi at Biahmû were of red sandstone, and were seated on high +limestone pedestals, placed at the end of a rectangular court; the +temple walls hid the lower part of the pedestals, so that the colossi +appeared to tower above a great platform which sloped gently away from +them on all sides. Herodotus, who saw them from a distance at the +time of the inundation, believed that they crowned the summits of +two pyramids rising out of the middle of a lake. Near Illahun, Queen +Sovkûnofriûri herself has left a few traces of her short reign. + +The Fayum, by its fertility and pleasant climate, justified the +preference which the Pharaohs of the XIIth dynasty bestowed upon it. +On emerging from the gorges of Illahun, it opens out like a vast +amphitheatre of cultivation, whose slopes descend towards the north till +they reach the desolate waters of the Birket-Kerun. + +[Illustration: 389.jpg THE RUINED PEDESTAL OF ONE OF THE COLOSSI OF +BIAHMÛ] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, after Major Brown. + +On the right and left, the amphitheatre is isolated from the surrounding +mountains by two deep ravines, filled with willows, tamarisks, mimosas, +and thorny acacias. Upon the high ground, lands devoted to the +culture of corn, durra, and flax, alternate with groves of palms and +pomegranates, vineyards and gardens of olives, the latter being almost +unknown elsewhere in Egypt. + +[Illustration: 390.jpg A VIEW IN THE FAYÛM IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF THE +VILLAGE OF FIDEMÎN] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Golenischeff. + +The slopes are covered with cultivated fields, irregularly terraced +woods, and meadows enclosed by hedges, while lofty trees, clustered in +some places and thinly scattered in others, rise in billowy masses +of verdure one behind the other. Shodît [Shâdû] stood on a peninsula +stretching out into a kind of natural reservoir, and was connected with +the mainland by merely a narrow dyke; the water of the inundation flowed +into this reservoir and was stored here during the autumn. Countless +little rivulets escaped from it, not merely such canals and ditches as +we meet with in the Nile Valley, but actual running brooks, coursing and +babbling between the trees, spreading out here and there into pools +of water, and in places forming little cascades like those of our own +streams, but dwindling in volume as they proceeded, owing to constant +drains made on them, until they were for the most part absorbed by the +soil before finally reaching the lake. + +[Illustration: 391.jpg THE COURT OF THE SMALL TEMPLE] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Major Brown. + +They brought down in their course part of the fertilizing earth +accumulated by the inundation, and were thus instrumental in raising the +level of the soil. The water of the Birkeh rose or fell according to the +season of the year. It formerly occupied a much larger area than it does +at present, and half of the surrounding districts was covered by it. +Its northern shores, now deserted and uncultivated, then shared in the +benefits of the inundation, and supplied the means of existence for +a civilized population. In many places we still find the remains of +villages, and walls of uncemented stone; a small temple even has +escaped the general ruin, and remains almost intact in the midst of the +desolation, as if to point out the furthest limit of Egyptian territory. + +[Illustration: 392.jpg THE SHORES OF THE BIRKET-KERUN NEAR THE +EMBOUCHURE OF THE WADY NAZLEH] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Golénischeff. + +It bears no inscriptions, but the beauty of the materials of which it +is composed, and the perfection of the work, lead us to attribute its +construction to some prince of the XIIth dynasty. An ancient causeway +runs from its entrance to what was probably at one time the original +margin of the lake. The continual sinking of the level of the Birkeh +has left this temple isolated on the edge of the Libyan plateau, and +all life has retired from the surrounding district, and has concentrated +itself on the southern shores of the lake. + +[Illustration: 393.jpg THE TWO PYRAMIDS OF THE XIITH DYNASTY AT LISHT] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Emil Brugsch-Bey. + +Here the banks are low and the bottom deepens almost imperceptibly. In +winter the retreating waters leave exposed long patches of the shore, +upon which a thin crust of snow-white salt is deposited, concealing the +depths of mud and quicksands beneath. Immediately after the inundation, +the lake regains in a few days the ground it had lost: it encroaches +on the tamarisk bushes which fringe its banks, and the district is soon +surrounded by a belt of marshy vegetation, affording cover for ducks, +pelicans, wild geese, and a score of different kinds of birds which +disport themselves there by the thousand. The Pharaohs, when tired of +residing in cities, here found varied and refreshing scenery, an equable +climate, gardens always gay with flowers, and in the thickets of the +Kerun they could pursue their favourite pastimes of interminable fishing +and of hunting with the boomerang. + +They desired to repose after death among the scenes in which they had +lived. Their tombs stretch from Heracleo-polis till they nearly meet the +last pyramids of the Memphites: at Dahshur there are still two of them +standing. The northern one is an immense erection of brick, placed in +close proximity to the truncated pyramid, but nearer than it to the edge +of the plateau, so as to overlook the valley. We might be tempted to +believe that the Theban kings, in choosing a site immediately to the +south of the spot where Papi II. slept in his glory, were prompted by +the desire to renew the traditions of the older dynasties prior to +those of the Heracleopolitans, and thus proclaim to all beholders the +antiquity of their lineage. One of their residences was situated at no +great distance, near Miniet Dahshur, the city of Titoui, the favourite +residence of Amenemhâîfc I. It was here that those royal princesses, +Nofirhonît, Sonît-Sonbît, Sîthâthor, and Monît, his sisters, wives, and +daughters, whose tombs lie opposite the northern face of the pyramid, +flourished side by side with Amenemhâît III. + +[Illustration: 394.jpg PAINTING AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE FIFTH TOMB] + +There, as of old in their harem, they slept side by side, and, in spite +of robbers, their mummies have preserved the ornaments with which they +were adorned, on the eve of burial, by the pious act of their lords. +The art of the ancient jewellers, which we have hitherto known only +from pictures on the walls of tombs or on the boards of coffins, is here +exhibited in all its cunning. The ornaments comprise a wealth of +gold gorgets, necklaces of agate beads or of enamelled lotus-flowers, +cornelian, amethyst, and onyx scarabs. Pectorals of pierced gold-work, +inlaid with flakes of vitreous paste or precious stones, bear the +cartouches of Usirtasen III. and of Amenemhâît II., and every one of +these gems of art reveals a perfection of taste and a skilfulness of +handling which are perfectly wonderful. + +[Illustration: 395.jpg PECTORAL ORNAMENT OF USIRTASEN III] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Émil Brugsch- + Bey. + +Their delicacy, and their freshness in spite of their antiquity, make it +hard for us to realize that fifty centuries have elapsed since they +were made. We are tempted to imagine that the royal ladies to whom they +belonged must still be waiting within earshot, ready to reply to our +summons as soon as we deign to call them; we may even anticipate the joy +they will evince when these sumptuous ornaments are restored to them, +and we need to glance at the worm-eaten coffins which contain their +stiff and disfigured mummies to recall our imagination to the stern +reality of fact. Two other pyramids, but in this case of stone, still +exist further south, to the left of the village of Lisht: their casing, +torn off by the fellahîn, has entirely disappeared, and from a distance +they appear to be merely two mounds which break the desert horizon line, +rather than two buildings raised by the hand of man. + +[Illustration: 396.jpg THE PYRAMID OF ILLAHUN, AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE +FAïÛM] + + Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Golénischeff. + +The sepulchral chambers, excavated at a great depth in the sand, are now +filled with water which has infiltrated through the soil, and they have +not as yet been sufficiently emptied to permit of an entrance being +effected: one of them contained the body of Usirtasen I.; does +Amenemhâît I. or Amenemhâît II. repose in the other? We know, at all +events, that Usirtasen II. built for himself the pyramid of Illahun, +and Amenemhâît III. that of Hawâra. "Hotpû," the tomb of Usirtasen II., +stood upon a rocky hill at a distance of some two thousand feet from +the cultivated lands. To the east of it lay a temple, and close to +the temple a town, Haît-Usirtasen-Hotpû--"the Castle of the Repose of +Usirtasen"--which was inhabited by the workmen employed in building +the pyramid, who resided there with their families. The remains of the +temple consist of scarcely anything more than the enclosing wall, whose +sides were originally faced with fine white limestone covered with +hieroglyphs and sculptured scenes. It adjoined the wall of the town, and +the neighbouring quarters are almost intact: the streets were straight, +and crossed each other at right angles, while the houses on each side +were so regularly built that a single policeman could keep his eye on +each thoroughfare from one end to the other. The structures were of +rough material hastily put together, and among the _débris_ are to be +found portions of older buildings, stehe, and fragments of statues. +The town began to dwindle after the Pharaoh had taken possession of his +sepulchre; it was abandoned during the XIIIth dynasty, and its ruins +were entombed in the sand which the wind heaped over them. The city +which Amenemhâît III. had connected with his tomb maintained, on the +contrary, a long existence in the course of the centuries. The king's +last resting-place consisted of a large sarcophagus of quartzose +sandstone, while his favourite consort, Nofriuphtah, reposed beside +him in a smaller coffin. The sepulchral chapel was very large, and its +arrangements were of a somewhat complicated character. It consisted of +a considerable number of chambers, some tolerably large, and others +of moderate dimensions, while all of them were difficult of access and +plunged in perpetual darkness: this was the Egyptian Labyrinth, to +which the Greeks, by a misconception, have given a world-wide renown. +Amenemhâît III. or his architects had no intention of building such a +childish structure as that in which classical tradition so fervently +believed. He had richly endowed the attendant priests, and bestowed upon +the cult of his double considerable revenues, and the chambers above +mentioned were so many storehouses for the safekeeping of the treasure +and provisions for the dead, and the arrangement of them was not more +singular than that of ordinary storage depots. As his cult persisted +for a long period, the temple was maintained in good condition during a +considerable time: it had not, perhaps, been abandoned when the Greeks +first visited it.* + + * The identity of the ruins at Hawâra with the remains of + the Labyrinth, admitted by Jomard-Caristie and by Lepsius, + disputed by Vassali, has been definitely proved by Pétrie, + who found remains of the buildings erected by Amenemhâît + III. under the ruins of a village and some Græco-Roman + tombs. + +The other sovereigns of the XIIth dynasty must have been interred not +far from the tombs of Amenemhâît III. and Usirtasen II.: they also had +their pyramids, of which we may one day discover the site. The outline +of these was almost the same as that of the Memphite pyramids, but the +interior arrangements were different. As at Illahun and Dahshur, the +mass of the work consisted of crude bricks of large size, between which +fine sand was introduced to bind them solidly together, and the whole +was covered with a facing of polished limestone. The passages and +chambers are not arranged on the simple plan which we meet with in +the pyramids of earlier date. Experience had taught the Pharaohs that +neither granite walls nor the multiplication of barriers could preserve +their mummies from profanation: no sooner was vigilance relaxed, either +in the time of civil war or under a feeble administration, than robbers +appeared on the scene, and boring passages through the masonry with +the ingenuity of moles, they at length, after indefatigable patience, +succeeded in reaching the sepulchral vault and despoiling the mummy of +its valuables. + +[Illustration: 399.jpg THE MOUNTAIN OF SILT WITH THE TOMBS OF THE +PRINCES] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Émil Brugsch-Bey, + taken in 1884. + +With a view to further protection, the builders multiplied blind +passages and chambers without apparent exit, but in which a portion of +the ceiling was movable, and gave access to other equally mysterious +rooms and corridors. Shafts sunk in the corners of the chambers and +again carefully closed put the sacrilegious intruder on a false scent, +for, after causing him a great loss of time and labour, they only led +down to the solid rock. At the present day the water of the Nile fills +the central chamber of the Hawâra pyramid and covers the sarcophagus; it +is possible that this was foreseen, and that the builders counted on the +infiltration as an additional obstacle to depredations from without.* + + * Indeed, it should be noted that in the Græco-Roman period + the presence of water in a certain number of the pyramids + was a matter of common knowledge, and so frequently was it + met with, that it was even supposed to exist in a pyramid + into which water had never penetrated, viz. that of Kheops. + Herodotus relates that, according to the testimony of the + interpreters who acted as his guides, the waters of the Nile + were carried to the sepulchral cavern of the Pharaoh by a + subterranean channel, and shut it in on all sides, like an + island. + +The hardness of the cement, which fastens the lid of the stone coffin +to the lower part, protects the body from damp, and the Pharaoh, lying +beneath several feet of water, still defies the greed of the robber or +the zeal of the archaeologist. + +The absolute power of the kings kept their feudal vassals in check: far +from being suppressed, however, the seignorial families continued +not only to exist, but to enjoy continued prosperity. Everywhere, at +Elephantine, Koptos, Thinis, in Aphroditopolis, and in most of the +cities of the Said and of the Delta, there were ruling princes who +were descended from the old feudal lords or even from Pharaohs of the +Memphite period, and who were of equal, if not superior rank, to the +members of the reigning family. The princes of Siut no longer en-joyed +an authority equal to that exercised by their ancestors under the +Heracleopolitan dynasties, but they still possessed considerable +influence. One of them, Hapizaûfi I., excavated for himself, in the +reign of Ûsirtasen I., nor far from the burying-place of Khîti and +Tefabi, that beautiful tomb, which, though partially destroyed by Coptic +monks or Arabs, still attracts visitors and excites their astonishment. + +[Illustration: 401.jpg MAP OF PRINCIPALITY OF THE GAZELLE] + +The lords of Shashotpu in the south, and those of Hermopolis in the +north, had acquired to some extent the ascendency which their neighbours +of Siût had lost. The Hermopolitan princes dated at least from the time +of the VIth dynasty, and they had passed safely through the troublous +times which followed the death of Papi II. A branch of their family +possessed the nome of the Hare, while another governed that of the +Gazelle. The lords of the nome of the Hare espoused the Theban cause, +and were reckoned among the most faithful vassals of the sovereigns of +the south: one of them, Thothotpû, caused a statue of himself, worthy +of a Pharaoh, to be erected in his loyal town of Hermopolis, and their +burying-places at el-Bersheh bear witness to their power no less than +to their taste in art. During the troubles which put an end to the XIth +dynasty, a certain Khnûmhotpû, who was connected in some unknown manner +with the lords of the nome of the Gazelle, entered the Theban service +and accompanied Amenemhâît I. on his campaigns into Nubia. He obtained, +as a reward of faithfulness, Monâît-Khûfûi and the district of +Khûît-Horû,--"the Horizon of Horus,"--on the east bank of the Nile. On +becoming possessed of the western bank also, he entrusted the government +of the district which he was giving up to his eldest son, Nakhîti I.; +but, the latter having died without heirs, Usirtasen I. granted to +Biqît, the sister of Nakhîti, the rank and prerogative of a reigning +princess. Biqît married Nûhri, one of the princes of Hermopolis, and +brought with her as her dowry the fiefdom of the Gazelle, thus doubling +the possessions of her husband's house. Khnûmhotpû II., the eldest +of the children born of this union, was, while still young, appointed +Governor of Monâît-Khûfuî, and this title appears to have become an +appanage of his heir-apparent, just as the title of "Prince of Kaûshû" +was, from the XIXth dynasty onwards, the special designation of the heir +to the throne. The marriage of Khnûmhotpû II. with the youthful Khîti, +the heiress of the nome of the Jackal, rendered him master of one of +the most fertile provinces of Middle Egypt. The power of this family was +further augmented under Nakhîti II., son of Khnûmhotpû II. and Khîti: +Nakhîti, prince of the nome of the Jackal in right of his mother, and +lord of that of the Gazelle after the death of his father, received +from Usirtasen II. the administration of fifteen southern nomes, from +Aphroditopolis to Thebes. This is all we know of his history, but it is +probable that his descendants retained the same power and position for +several generations. The career of these dignitaries depended greatly +on the Pharaohs with whom they were contemporary: they accompanied the +royal troops on their campaigns, and with the spoil which they collected +on such occasions they built temples or erected tombs for themselves. +The tombs of the princes of the nome of the Gazelle are disposed along +the right bank of the Nile, and the most ancient are exactly opposite +Minieh. It is at Zawyet el-Meiyetîn and at Kom-el-Ahmar, nearly facing +Hibonu, their capital, that we find the burying-places of those who +lived under the VIth dynasty. The custom of taking the dead across the +Nile had existed for centuries, from the time when the Egyptians first +cut their tombs in the eastern range; it still continues to the present +day, and part of the population of Minieh are now buried, year after +year, in the places which their remote ancestors had chosen as the site +of their "eternal houses." The cemetery lies peacefully in the centre +of the sandy plain at the foot of the hills; a grove of palms, like +a curtain drawn along the river-side, partially conceals it; a Coptic +convent and a few Mahommedan hermits attract around them the tombs of +their respective followers, Christian or Mussulman. The rock-hewn tombs +of the XIIth dynasty succeed each other in one long irregular line +along the cliffs of Beni-Hasan, and the traveller on the Nile sees their +entrances continuously coming into sight and disappearing as he goes +up or descends the river. These tombs are entered by a square aperture, +varying in height and width according to the size of the chapel. Two +only, those of Amoni-Amenemhâît and of Khnûm-hotpû II., have a columned +façade, of which all the members--pillars, bases, entablatures--have +been cut in the solid rock: the polygonal shafts of the façade look like +a bad imitation of ancient Doric. Inclined planes or nights of steps, +like those at Elephantine, formerly led from the plain up to the +terrace. Only a few traces of these exist at the present day, and the +visitor has to climb the sandy slope as best he can: wherever he enters, +the walls present to his view inscriptions of immense extent, as well +as civil, sepulchral, military, and historical scenes. These are not +incised like those of the Memphite mastabas, but are painted in fresco +on the stone itself. The technical skill here exhibited is not a whit +behind that of the older periods, and the general conception of the +subjects has not altered since the time of the pyramid-building kings. +The object is always the same, namely, to ensure wealth to the double in +the other world, and to enable him to preserve the same rank among +the departed as he enjoyed among the living: hence sowing, reaping, +cattle-rearing, the exercise of different trades, the preparation and +bringing of offerings, are all represented with the same minuteness as +formerly. But a new element has been added to the ancient themes. + +[Illustration: 405.jpg THE MODERN CEMETERY OF ZAWYET EL-MEIYETÎN] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Insinger. + +We know, and the experience of the past is continually reiterating the +lesson, that the most careful precautions and the most conscientious +observation of customs were not sufficient to perpetuate the worship of +ancestors. The day was bound to come when not only the descendants of +Khnûmhotpû, but a crowd of curious or indifferent strangers, would visit +his tomb: he desired that they should know his genealogy, his private +and public virtues, his famous deeds, his court titles and dignities, +the extent of his wealth; and in order that no detail should be omitted, +he relates all that he did, or he gives the representation of it upon +the wall. In a long account of two hundred and twenty-two lines, he +gives a _résumé_ of his family history, introducing extracts from his +archives, to show the favours received by his ancestors from the hands +of their sovereigns. Amoni and Khîti, who were, it appears, the warriors +of their race, have everywhere recounted the episodes of their military +career, the movements of their troops, their hand-to-hand fights, and +the fortresses to which they laid siege. These scions of the house +of the Gazelle and of the Hare, who shared with Pharaoh himself the +possession of the soil of Egypt, were no mere princely ciphers: they +had a tenacious spirit, a warlike disposition, an insatiable desire for +enlarging their borders, together with sufficient ability to realize +their aims by court intrigues or advantageous marriage alliances. We can +easily picture from their history what Egyptian feudalism really was, +what were its component elements, what were the resources it had at its +disposal, and we may well be astonished when we consider the power and +tact which the Pharaohs must have displayed in keeping such vassals in +check during two centuries. + +Amenemhâît I. had abandoned Thebes as a residence in favour of +Heracleopolis and Memphis, and had made it over to some personage who +probably belonged to the royal household. The nome of Ûisît had relapsed +into the condition of a simple fief, and if we are as yet unable to +establish the series of the princes who there succeeded each other +contemporaneously with the Pharaohs, we at least know that all those +whose names have come down to us played an important part in the history +of their times. Montûnsîsû, whose stele was engraved in the XXIVth year +of Amenemhâît I., and who died in the joint reign of this Pharaoh and +his son Usirtasen I., had taken his share in most of the wars conducted +against neighbouring peoples,--the Anîtiû of Nubia, the Monîtû of Sinai, +and the "Lords of the Sands:" he had dismantled their cities and razed +their fortresses. The principality retained no doubt the same boundaries +which it had acquired under the first Antûfs, but Thebes itself grew +daily larger, and gained in importance in proportion as its frontiers +extended southward. It had become, after the conquests of Usirtasen +III., the very centre of the Egyptian world--a centre from which the +power of the Pharaoh could equally well extend in a northerly direction +towards the Sinaitic Peninsula and Libya, or towards the Red Sea and +the "humiliated Kûsh" in the south. The influence of its lords increased +accordingly: under Amenemhâît III. and Amenemhâît IV. they were perhaps +the most powerful of the great vassals, and when the crown slipped from +the grasp of the XIIth dynasty, it fell into the hands of one of these +feudatories. It is not known how the transition was brought about which +transferred the sovereignty from the elder to the younger branch of the +family of Amenemhâît I. When Amenemhâît IV. died, his nearest heir was a +woman, his sister Sovkûnofriûrî: she retained the supreme authority +for not quite four years,* and then resigned her position to a certain +Sovkhotpû.** + + * She reigned exactly three years, ten months, and eighteen + days, according to the fragments of the "Royal Canon of + Turin" (Lepsius, Auswahl der wichtigten Urkunden, pl. v. + col. vii. 1. 2). + + ** Sovkhotpû Khûtoûirî, according to the present published + versions of the Turin Papyrus, an identification which led + Lieblein (Recherches sur la Chronologie Égyptienne, pp. 102, + 103) and Wiedemann to reject the generally accepted + assumption that this first king of the XIIIth dynasty was + Sovkhotpû Sakhemkhûtoûirî. Still, the way in which the + monuments of Sovkhotpû Sakhemkhûtoûirî and his papyri are + intermingled with the monuments of Amenemhâît III. at Semneh + and in the Fayûm, show that it is difficult to separate him + from this monarch. Moreover, an examination of the original + Turin Papyrus shows that there is a tear before the word + Khûtoûirî on the first cartouche, no indication of which + appears in the facsimile, but which has, none the less, + slightly damaged the initial solar disk and removed almost + the whole of one sign. We are, therefore, inclined to + believe that _Sakhemkhûtoûirî_ was written instead of + _Khûtoûirî_, and that, therefore, all the authorities are in + the right, from their different points of view, and that the + founder of the XIIIth dynasty was a Sakhemkhûtoûirî I., + while the Savkhotpû Sakhemkhûtoûirî, who occupies the + fifteenth place in the dynasty, was a Sakhemkhûtoûirî II. + +[Illustration: 408.jpg THE TOMBS OF PRINCES OF THE GAZELLE-NOME AT +BENI-HASAN] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a chromolithograph in Lepsius, + Denkm., i. pl. 61. The first tomb on the left, of which the + portico is shown, is that of Khnûmhotpû II. + +Was there a revolution in the palace, or a popular rising, or a civil +war? Did the queen become the wife of the new sovereign, and thus bring +about the change without a struggle? Sovkhotpû was probably lord +of Ûisît, and the dynasty which he founded is given by the native +historians as of Theban origin. His accession entailed no change in the +Egyptian constitution; it merely consolidated the Theban supremacy, and +gave it a recognized position. Thebes became henceforth the head of +the entire country: doubtless the kings did not at once forsake +Heracleopolis and the Fayûm, but they made merely passing visits to +these royal residences at considerable intervals, and after a few +generations even these were given up. Most of these sovereigns resided +and built their Pyramids at Thebes, and the administration of the +kingdom became centralized there. The actual capital of a king was +determined not so much by the locality from whence he ruled, as by the +place where he reposed after death. Thebes was the virtual capital +of Egypt from the moment that its masters fixed on it as their +burying-place. + +Uncertainty again shrouds the history of the country after Sovkhotpû I.: +not that monuments are lacking or names of kings, but the records of the +many Sovkhotpûs and Nonrhotpûs found in a dozen places in the valley, +furnish as yet no authentic means of ascertaining in what order to +classify them. The XIIIth dynasty contained, so it is said, sixty kings, +who reigned for a period of over 453 years.* + + * This is the number given in one of the lists of Manetho, + in Muller-Didot, _Fragmenta Historicorum Græcorum_, vol. ii. + p. 565. Lepsius's theory, according to which the shepherds + overran Egypt from the end of the XIIth dynasty and + tolerated the existence of two vassal dynasties, the XIIIth + and XIVth, was disputed and refuted by E. de Rougé as soon + as it appeared; we find the theory again in the works of + some contemporary Egyptologists, but the majority of those + who continued to support it have since abandoned their + position. + +The succession did not always take place in the direct line from father +to son: several times, when interrupted by default of male heirs, it +was renewed without any disturbance, thanks to the transmission of royal +rights to their children by princesses, even when their husbands did not +belong to the reigning family. Monthotpû, the father of Sovkhotpu III., +was an ordinary priest, and his name is constantly quoted by his son; +but solar blood flowed in the veins of his mother, and procured for him +the crown. The father of his successor, Nofirhotpû IL, did not belong +to the reigning branch, or was only distantly connected with it, but his +mother Kamâît was the daughter of Pharaoh, and that was sufficient +to make her son of royal rank. With careful investigation, we should +probably find traces of several revolutions which changed the legitimate +order of succession without, however, entailing a change of dynasty. The +Nofirhotpûs and Sovkhotpûs continued both at home and abroad the work so +ably begun by the Amenemhâîts and the Usirtasens. + +[Illustration: 410.jpg THE COLOSSAL STATUE OF KING SOVKHOTPU IN THE +LOUVRE] + +They devoted all their efforts to beautifying the principal towns of +Egypt, and caused important works to be carried on in most of them--at +Karnak, in the great temple of Amon, at Luxor, at Bubastis, at Tanis, +at Tell-Mokhdam, and in the sanctuary of Abydos. At the latter +place, Khâsoshûshrî Nofirhotpû restored to Khontamentit considerable +possessions which the god had lost; Nozirri sent thither one of his +officers to restore the edifice built by Usirtasen I.; Sovkûmsaûf +II. dedicated his own statue in this temple, and private individuals, +following the example set them by their sovereigns, vied with each other +in their gifts of votive stehe. The pyramids of this period were of +moderate size, and those princes who abandoned the custom of building +them were content like Aûtûabrî I. Horû with a modest tomb, close to the +gigantic pyramids of their ancestors. In style the statues of this epoch +show a certain inferiority when compared with the beautiful work of the +XIIth dynasty: the proportions of the human figure are not so good, the +modelling of the limbs is not so vigorous, the rendering of the features +lacks individuality; the sculptors exhibit a tendency, which had been +growing since the time of the Usirtasens, to represent all their sitters +with the same smiling, commonplace type of countenance. There are, +however, among the statues of kings and private individuals which have +come down to us, a few examples of really fine treatment. The colossal +statue of Sovkhotpû IV., which is now in the Louvre side by side with an +ordinary-sized figure of the same Pharaoh, must have had a good effect +when placed at the entrance to the temple at Tanis: his chest is thrown +well forward, his head is erect, and we feel impressed by that noble +dignity which the Memphite sculptors knew how to give to the bearing +and features of the diorite Khephren enthroned at Gîzeh. The sitting +Mirmâshaû of Tanis lacks neither energy nor majesty, and the Sovkûmsaûf +of Abydos, in spite of the roughness of its execution, decidedly holds +its own among the other Pharaohs. + +[Illustration: 414.jpg STATUE OF HARSÛF IN THE VIENNA MUSEUM] + + Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Ernest de Bergmann. + From Dahshur, now at Gîzeh; it has been published in + Morgan's Dahshur. + +The statuettes found in the tombs, and the smaller objects discovered in +the ruins, are neither less carefully nor less successfully treated. The +little scribe at Gîzeh, in the attitude of walking, is a _chef d'oeuvre_ +of delicacy and grace, and might be attributed to one of the best +schools of the XIIth dynasty, did not the inscriptions oblige us to +relegate it to the Theban art of the XIIIth. The heavy and commonplace +figure of the magnate now in the Vienna Museum is treated with a rather +coarse realism, but exhibits nevertheless most skilful tooling. It is +not exclusively at Thebes, or at Tanis, or in any of the other great +cities of Egypt, that we meet with excellent examples of work, or that +we can prove that flourishing schools of sculpture existed at this +period; probably there is scarcely any small town which would not +furnish us at the present day, if careful excavation were carried out, +with some monument or object worthy of being placed in a museum. During +the XIIIth dynasty both art and everything else in Egypt were fairly +prosperous. Nothing attained a very high standard, but, on the other +hand, nothing fell below a certain level of respectable mediocrity. +Wealth exercised, however, an injurious influence upon artistic taste. +The funerary statue, for instance, which Aûtûabrî I. Horû ordered for +himself was of ebony, and seems to have been inlaid originally with +gold, whereas Kheops and Khephren were content to have theirs of +alabaster and diorite. + +[Illustration: 415.jpg STATUE OF SOVKHOTPÛ III.] + + Drawn by Boudier, from the sketch by Lepsius; the head was + "quite mutilated and separated from the bust." + +During this dynasty we hear nothing of the inhabitants of the Sinaitic +Peninsula to the east, or of the Libyans to the west: it was in the +south, in Ethiopia, that the Pharaohs expended all their surplus energy. +The most important of them, Sovkhotpu I., had continued to register the +height of the Nile on the rocks of Semneh, but after his time we +are unable to say where the Nilometer was moved to, nor, indeed, who +displaced it. The middle basin of the river as far as Gebel-Barkal +was soon incorporated with Egypt, and the population became quickly +assimilated. The colonization of the larger islands of Say and Argo +took place first, as their isolation protected them from sudden attacks: +certain princes of the XIIIth dynasty built temples there, and erected +their statues within them, just as they would have done in any of the +most peaceful districts of the Said or the Delta. Argo is still at the +present day one of the largest of these Nubian islands:* it is said to +be 12 miles in length, and about 2 1/2 in width towards the middle. + + * The description of Argo and its ruins is borrowed from + Caillaud, Voyage à Méroé, vol. ii. pp. 1-7. + +It is partly wooded, and vegetation grows there with tropical +luxuriance; creeping plants climb from tree to tree, and form an +almost impenetrable undergrowth, which swarms with game secure from the +sportsman. A score of villages are dotted about in the clearings, +and are surrounded by carefully cultivated fields, in which durra +predominates. An unknown Pharaoh of the XIIIth dynasty built, near to +the principal village, a temple of considerable size; it covered an +area, whose limits may still easily be traced, of 174 feet wide by 292 +long from east to west. The main body of the building was of sandstone, +probably brought from the quarries of Tombos: it has been pitilessly +destroyed piecemeal by the inhabitants, and only a few insignificant +fragments, on which some lines of hieroglyphs may still be deciphered, +remain _in situ_. A small statue of black granite of good workmanship is +still standing in the midst of the ruins. It represents Sovkhotpû III. +sitting, with his hands resting on his knees; the head, which has been +mutilated, lies beside the body. + +[Illustration: 417.jpg ONE OF THE OVERTURNED AND BROKEN STATUES OF +MIRMASIIAÛ AT TANIS] + + Drawn by Boudier, from the photograph in Rougé-Banville's + _Album photographique de la Mission de M. de Bougé_, No. + 114. + +The same king erected colossal statues of himself at Tanis, Bubastis, +and at Thebes: he was undisputed master of the whole Nile Valley, from +near the spot where the river receives its last tributary to where +it empties itself into the sea. The making of Egypt was finally +accomplished in his time, and if all its component parts were not as yet +equally prosperous, the bond which connected them was strong enough +to resist any attempt to break it, whether by civil discord within or +invasions from without. The country was not free from revolutions, and +if we have no authority for stating that they were the cause of the +downfall of the XIIIth dynasty, the lists of Manetho at least show that +after that event the centre of Egyptian power was again shifted. Thebes +lost its supremacy, and the preponderating influence passed into the +hands of sovereigns who were natives of the Delta. Xoïs, situated in the +midst of the marshes, between the Phatnitic and Sebennytic branches of +the Nile, was one of those very ancient cities which had played but +an insignificant part in shaping the destinies of the country. By what +combination of circumstances its princes succeeded in raising themselves +to the throne of the Pharaohs, we know not: they numbered, so it was +said, seventy-five kings, who reigned four hundred and eighty-four +years, and whose mutilated names darken the pages of the Turin Papyrus. +The majority of them did little more than appear upon the throne, some +reigning three years, others two, others a year or scarcely more than a +few months: far from being a regularly constituted line of sovereigns, +they appear rather to have been a series of Pretenders, mutually jealous +of and deposing one another. + +The feudal lords who had been so powerful under the Usirtasens had +lost none of their prestige under the Sovkhotpûs: and the rivalries of +usurpers of this kind, who seized the crown without being strong enough +to keep it, may perhaps explain the long sequence of shadowy Pharaohs +with curtailed reigns who constitute the XIVth dynasty. They did not +withdraw from Nubia, of that fact we are certain: but what did they +achieve in the north and north-east of the empire? The nomad tribes were +showing signs of restlessness on the frontier, the peoples of the Tigris +and Euphrates were already pushing the vanguards of their armies into +Central Syria. While Egypt had been bringing the valley of the Nile and +the eastern corner of Africa into subjection, Chaldæa had imposed both +her language and her laws upon the whole of that part of Western Asia +which separated her from Egypt: the time was approaching when these two +great civilized powers of the ancient world would meet each other face +to face and come into fierce collision. + +END OF VOL. II. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History Of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, +Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 2 (of 12), by G. 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