2 . 2.9^. / ph X j ? z i: X X ch (T tsh H e o 6 ps t di The hieroglyphics, however, seemed hopelessly illegible. At length an incident occurred which proved a key to the lost character, by which the treasures of Egyptian antiquity have been unlocked, and are now being unfolded to the public mind. The French expedition to Egypt, in 1798, had been accompanied by learned men, whose attention was directed, amongst other scientific subjects, to the monuments. In digging the foundations of a fort near Rosetta, at one of the mouths of the Nile, they had discovered a stone, containing a triple inscrip- tion, one part being written in hieroglyphics, another in the enchorial writing, or what we may call the running-hand of ancient Egypt, and a third in Greek, purporting to be a translation of the two former. On the taking of Alexandria by the British, all the objects collected by the French fell into the hands of the conquerors, and among them the Ro- setta Stone, which was forwarded to England at the beginning of the year 1802. It is now in the Egyp- tian Saloon of the British Museum. 20 ANCIENT EGYPT. The Rosetta Stone is a block of black basalt, polished on one side, about three feet long, two feet five inches wide, and a foot thick. The inscription, which, at the beginning of the hieroglyphics and the end of the Greek, is much mutilated, is a decree of the priests of Egypt, ascribing divine honours to Ptolemy Epiphanes, and applauding various acts of public liberality and wisdom performed during the earlier years of his reign. Its date is probably about 190 B. c. The most lively interest was at once excited by the arrival of this tablet, and hopes were entertained that, by its means, the learned might discover the signification of the hieroglyphics. Many scholars of eminence, therefore, both at home and on the con- tinent, laboured in the study with much assiduity, but, for some time, with little success. It was not until the year 1819, that the true key to the long- sought interpretation was published by Dr. Young, in an article entitled “ Egypt,” in the supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica. , The following quo- tations are interesting, as they shew the manner in which ingenuity and learning can attack and over- come difficulties, which, to ordinary minds, would appear insurmountable ; as an attempt to decipher an inscription, not a single letter of which was known. “ The enchorial inscription,” observes Dr. Young, “notwithstanding its deficiencies near the beginning, is still sufficiently perfect to allow us to compare its different parts with each other and with the Greek, by the same method that we should employ if it were entire. Thus, if we examine the INTRODUCTION. 21 parts corresponding, in their relative situation, to two passages of the Greek inscription in which Alexander and Alexandria occur, we soon recognise two well-marked groups of characters resembling each other, which we may therefore consider as represent- ing these names — a remark which was first made by M. de Sacy, in his letter relating to this inscription. A small group of characters occurring very often in almost every line, might be either some termination, or some very common particle ; it must therefore be reserved till it is found in some decisive situation, after some other words have been identified, and it will then easily be shewn to mean and. The next remarkable collection of characters is repeated twenty- nine or thirty times in the enchorial inscription ; and we find nothing that occurs so often in the Greek, except the word king, with its compounds, which is found about thirty-seven times. A fourth assem- blage of characters is found fourteen times in the enchorial inscription, agreeing sufficiently well in frequency with the name of Ptolemy, which occurs eleven times in the Greek, and generally in passages corresponding to those of the enchorial text in their relative situation ; and by a similar compai'ison, the name of Egypt is identified, although it occurs much more frequently in the enchorial inscription than in the Greek, which often substitutes for it country only, or omits it entirely. Having thus obtained a sufficient number of common points of subdivision, we may next proceed to write the Greek text over the enchorial, in such a manner that the passages as- certained may all coincide as nearly as possible ; and 22 ANCIENT EGYPT. it is obvious that the intermediate parts of each in- scription will then stand very near to the correspond- ing passages of the other. In this process it will be necessary to observe that the lines of the enchorial inscription are w’ritten from right to left, as Hero- dotus tells us was the custom of the Egyptians.” It had been long suspected that certain groups of hieroglyphic symbols enclosed within oval rings, w'ere proper names ; and on examining these. Dr. Young soon discovered a group that answered to the name Ptolemy, which is represented in the fol- lowing cut at a. The symbols Dr. Young considered to represent the following letters and syllables. First, a square representing the letter P ; a semicircle T ; a cha- racter like a knot or a sprouting bulb, which he con- sidered as not essential, but wdiich probably represents the letter O, as we shall presently discover ; a lion couchant, which he supposed to be LO, or OLE ; a character not unlike a pair of sugar tongs, M ; two INTRODUCTION. 23 figures called leaves or feathers, I or E ; and a ver- tical line bent at the upper end, OSH or OS. “ Put- ting all these elements together,” he observes, “ we have precisely Ptolemaios, the Greek name ; or perhaps Ptolemeos, as it would be more naturally called in Coptic.” The Doctor then proceeds to identify the name of Berenice, the group b in our engraving, in the same manner. “ The wife of Ptolemy Soter, and mother of Philadelphus, was Berenice, whose name is found on a ceiling at Karnak, in the phrase ‘ Ptolemy and Berenice, the saviour gods.’ In this name we appear to have another specimen of syllabic and alphabetic writing combined, in a manner not extremely unlike the ludicrous mixtures of words and things with which children are sometimes amused. The first character of the hieroglyphic name is precisely of the same form with a basket represented at Biban-el- Molouk, and called in the description, ‘ panier a deux anses ; ’ and a basket in Coptic is Bir. The oval which represents an eye without the pupil, [or perhaps a moutK\ means elsewhere ‘ to,’ which in Coptic is E ; the waved line is ‘ of,’ and must be rendered N ; the feathers I ; the little footstool seems to be superfluous; the goose is KE or KEN. Kir- cher gives us kenesoii for a goose, but the esoii means gregarious, probably in contradistinction to the Egyp- tian sheldrake, and the simple etymon approaches to the name goose in many other languages. We have therefore literally Birenice, or if the n must be inserted, the accusative Birenicen, which may easily have been confounded by the Egyptians with the 24 - ancient EGYPT. nominative. The final characters, (a semicircle and an egg,) are merely the feminine termination.”* One of the most assiduous and enthusiastic of the students of Egyptian antiquities was M. Champollion, who, though not the discoverer of the hieroglyphic interpretation, did very much in the elucidating and carrying out of the mode proposed by Dr. Young. A year or two after the communication noticed above, an obelisk had been brought from Philae by Mr. W. J. Bankes, and erected at Kingston Hall, Dorsetshire, which contained an inscription in Greek, and one in hieroglyphics, and it was con- jectured that, as in the Rosetta Stone, the one might be a translation of the other. The purport of the Greek inscription was “ a supplication of the priests of Isis residing at Philae to king Ptolemy, to Cleopatra his sister, and to Cleopatra his wife : ” the obelisk being consecrated to these personages. Lithographed copies of the hieroglyphics having been sent to the Academy of Inscriptions, M. Cham- pollion discovered the name of Ptolemy, as it had already been identified on the Rosetta Stone, and that of Cleopatra also.f He proved, too, that the hieroglyphics were the signs of letters only, and not of syllables, as Dr. Young had supposed. His * This was not quite accurate. It is now known that the symbols are letters, not syllables; that the name was spelled brxeks, (probably for Berenikes, “ of Berenice,”) and that the bastet represented the letter B, the mouth R, the waved line x, the leaves e long, the footstool k, the goose s. t Mr. Bankes had himself already discovered the name of Cleopatra, while in Egypt. (See Mr. Salt's “ Essay on the Phonetic System.”) INTRODUCTION. 25 identification of the name Cleopatra, which is the group c of our engraving, is interesting. “ The first sign of the name of Cleopatra, represent- ing a sort of quadrant, which ought to be the letter K (or C), should not occur in the name of Ptolemy, and it is not found there. The second, a crouching lion, which should represent L, is identical with the fourth of Ptolemy, which is also L. The third sign is a feather or leaf, which should be the short vowel E. Two similar leaves may be observed at the end of the name of Ptolemy, which, by their position, must have the sound of E long. The fourth cha- racter, on the left, represents a kind of flower or root with its stalk bent downwards, and should answer to the letter O, and is accordingly the third letter in the name of Ptolemy. The fifth, on the right, is a sort of square, which should represent the letter P, and it is the first in the name of Ptolemy, The sixth, on the left, is a hawk, which should be fhe letter A, which does not occur in the Greek name Ptolemy, nor does it occur in the hieroglyphic tran- scription. The seventh is an open hand, represent- ing T, but this character is not found in the name Ptolemy, where the second letter T is expressed by the segment of a sphere. The author thought that these two characters might be homophonic, that is, both expressing the same sound, and he was soon able to demonstrate that his opinion was well-found- ed. The eighth sign, a mouth seen in front, ought to be the letter R, and as that letter does not occur in Ptolemy, it is also absent from his hieroglyphic name. The ninth, and last sign, which ought to be c 26 ANCIENT EGYPT. the vowel A, is a repetition of the hawk, which has that sound in the sixth. The signs of the feminine, on each side of this hawk, terminate the name of Cleopatra ; that of Ptolemy ends with a bent stalk, which we conclude to be the letter S.” We will not enter into an examination of the enchorial writing, or system of the common people ; because its antiquity appears to be far less than that of the hieroglyphic, of which it is but a degenerate form, adapted for rapid use ; and because it seems chiefly conflned to documents upon paper, the busi- ness records and transactions of common life ; those records which illustrate historical events of the ear- lier periods, about which our present work is mainly concerned, being more ordinarily transmitted in the sacred or hieroglyphic characters, inscribed upon the almost imperishable monuments. The study of the former, however, greatly assisted the unveiling of the latter ; and it was much promoted by some very remarkable coincidences, to which we can only al- lude, of correspondent documents, one in Egj'ptian and a counterpart or duplicate in Greek, coming to the hands of Dr. Young at the same time, though discovered by distinct collectors in Egjqit, and trans- mitted to Europe by persons having no connexion with each other. The object of this volume is not an examination of the written language of ancient Egypt ; we shall, therefore, merely add that the hieroglyphics appear to be used in two distinct modes, which we may call symbolic and alphabetic. To a very great extent, the characters convey to the mind the ideas they are INTRODUCTION. 27 intended to produce, directly, by a picture. Some- times the symbols are indirect, conveying the idea by a resemblance or connexion, more or less remote, and often very fanciful ; as when an ostidch’s feather represents justice, because all the feathers in the wing of that bird are equal; or when a palm-branch signifies a year, because that tree was supposed to produce twelve branches in a year. Sometimes the idea is conveyed by a sort of pun, or play upon words, the picture or symbol being an object whose name is of the same sound with that of the intended word, but of very different meaning ; as if one should express the adjective dear by the figure of a deer. The alphabetic power of the symbols appears to have been attached to them, from the commencing sound of the name of the object depicted ; as if, in English, we should represent the letter or sound A by the figure of an apple, or an adder, or an ant ; that of B by a butt, or a badger, or a butterfly. And as many objects readily depicted begin with the same sound, many hieroglyphics are found to have the same power ; as we saw in the case of the letter T in the royal cartouches, that in Cleopatra being a hand, that in Ptolemy a semicircle. This variety afforded to the writer a considerable latitude in the choice of symbols, permitting him to consult a certain degree of symmetry in the arrangement of the whole. The same consideration seems to have determined whe- ther the order of the arrangement should be ver- tical or horizontal ; if the former, the writing was to be read from the top downwards ; if the latter, it was to be read from that side towards which 28 ANCIENT EGYPT. A u I B r n i u w J M N R S T T 9 S:^ 1 S 5=> p H K Ch Sh □ 1 m HIEROGLYPHIC ALPHABET. INTRODUCTION. 29 the symbols that represented living objects were turned. The foregoing table, copied from Bunsen’s “ Aegyptens Stelle,” exhibits the alphabetic power of the phonetic hieroglyphics in use in the times of the Pharaohs. Many others were added at later periods. The true character of the vowel-sounds is as yet imperfectly understood. Champollion ob- serves, “ The sound of the vowel-characters of the Egyptian phonetic alphabet, had no more fixity than that of the vowel-signs in the Hebrew, Phoeni- cian, and Arabic languages, but was subject to the very same variations ; and, as in the Hebrew and Arabic texts, most of the vowels in the middle of words were habitually omitted.”* In the Coptic, which is descended from the Ancient Egyptian, the vowels are extremely vague ; thus the word signify- ing “ to fold up,” is variously written KeX, KoX, KtoX, without the slightest change in the sense. It has recently been supposed, however, that in early periods, the vowel-hieroglyphics had a fixed and determinate usage, while the pronunciation of them was slight and vague. It is needful to remark, also, that some conso- sants, which with us are sufficiently distinct, were represented by the same character ; thus B includes also V; F, V, and sometimes U, or W; R, L ; T, Th, and D ; K, G ; and P, Ph. Gram. Egy. 30, 31. 30 ANCIENT EGYPT. GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. It has been a favourite hypothesis with those who reject the word of God, that the population and civil- ization of Egypt originated in Ethiopia, and gradu- ally proceeded down the valley of the Nile to the Delta. Hence they have laboured bard to shew that the monuments are of greater antiquity as we travel upward, those of the Theba'is being older than those of the Delta, and those of Nubia older than those of the Thebais. The inspired narrative, however, dis- tinctly states that the plain of Shinar, in the west of Asia, was the grand centre from which the primi- tive families of men were miraculously dispersed to colonize the world. And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar ; and they dwelt there. . . . And they said, go to, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven ; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence, upon the face of all the earth. Gen. xi. 1 — 8. The family which proceeded towards the south- west, would, after skirting the wilderness of Arabia, find the first habitable land on the eastern margin of the Delta; and thence they would gradually spread themselves over that alluvial ti'act and up the fertile valley. Now, the evidence of the monu- GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 31 ments fully confirms the inspired statement. Sir J. G. Wilkinson * observes, “ Every one who considers the featui'es, the language, and other peculiarities of the ancient Egyptians, will feel convinced, that they are not of African exti’action, but that, like the Abys- sinians, and many inhabitants of the known valley of the Nile, they bear the evident stamp of an Asiatic origin ; and Juba, according to Pliny, affirms that the people of the banks of the Nile, from Syene to Meroe, were not Ethiopians, but Arabs. And if fea- ture and otlier external appearances are insufficient to establish this fact, the formation of the skull, which is decidedly of the Caucasian variety, must remove all doubt of their valley having been peopled from the East.” Again, the same author observes, “ It has been the opinion of many, that eolonisation and civilisation descended the Nile from Ethiopia, and that the parents of Egyptian scienee came from the land of Cush. But this notion appears, from modern investigation, to be totally at variance with fact : and the specimens of art that remain in Ethiopia, are not only inferior in conception to those of the Egyptian school, but are deficient in that cha- racter which evinces originality.” Mr. Osburn* also, in his very valuable work just published, speaks to the same effect ; — referring to an argument deduced from a superstitious notion of the travels of the soul after death, he says — “ This indirect but plain indi- cation of the eastern origin of the first colonisers of Egypt, is confirmed by the dates of the monuments now in existence. The pyramids of Ghizeh, [or * Man. and Cust., 1st Series, i. 2 — 4. f Ancient Egypt, p. 22. 32 ANCIENT EGYPT. Jizeh] in the burial-place of Memphis, are the most ancient of all the greater remains. Several of the tombs in their immediate vicinity also belong to the same remote period. As we proceed up the valley of the Nile to Beni Hassan and Abydos, the remains are those of the era of Osortasen [about the age of Abraham] ; while at Thebes, and the regions to the south of it, we scarcely find a trace of any- thing that is earlier than the eighteenth dynasty.* More satisfactory proof could scarcely be desired that the progress of the first inhabitants of the valley was from Heliopolis upwards, not from Thebes down- wards, as has been too hastily assumed by certain modern antiquaries. In this particular, therefore, the monuments of Egypt strongly confirm the scrip- ture account of the first dispersion of mankind from the plains of Shinar.” The city of Heliopolis, named in the scripture On, was probably one of the earliest settlements of that Hamitic family that migrated southward and westward. It was situated at the very spot where the river divides into the branches that form the Delta ; — “ where most probably the first spot of habitable ground would have been met with on the banks of the Nile by travellers from the north-east ; for at first, the arid sands of the desert were bounded by the pestilential swamps formed by the branches of the Nile, along the entire eastern boundary of the Delta.” This place, which was considered as the most ancient of Egyptian cities, had been long de- serted even in the time of Strabo ; in the first cen- * The dynasties of Eg3rpt will be treated of in the following chapter. GEOGRAPHY AJfD TOPOGRAPHY. 83 tury of the Christian era, two of its famous obe- lisks had been then carried to Rome, but several others were left. One of these is still standing, which has been considered as the finest in Egypt; its great antiquity is indicated by the peculiar form of its pyramidal top. The Coptic name of Egypt is Cham or Chem ;* which word we trace as an element of the name Chemmis, once, according to Herodotus, a large city of the Thebai's. We know from the Sacred Record, that Ham (or Cham) the youngest son of Noah, was the great progenitor of the Egyptian people. And in the Psalms, the country itself is designated by this appellation. [God] smote all the first-bom in Egypt ; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham. Ps. Ixxviii. 51. Israel also came into Egypt, and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. — wonders in the land of Ham. Ps. cv. 23, 27. God their Saviour which had done great things in Egypt ; wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red Sea. Ps. cvi. 21, 22. The name ordinarily applied to Egypt in the Scrip- tures, however, is Mizraim. This was the name of the third son of Ham, for Canaan appears to have been the first-born, though, on account of the curse pronounced upon him, mentioned last in order. Pro- fessor Hengstenberg remarks, j- that the word Miz- raim “ was originally, as the dual form signifies, the name of the land. The division of the land into the Upper and Lower regions, to which it refers, appears on the monuments even in the most ancient * Whence cliemia, the Egyptian art ; i. e. chemistry. t Egypt and Moses, 197. (Edin.) 34 ANCIENT EGA'PT. times.” In Cliampollion’s Letters,* an inscription is quoted to this effect: — “I give thee the Upper and the Lower Egypt, in order that thou mayest rule over them as king.” And Sir J. G. Wilkinson observes, f “ Mizraim, or Mizrim, a plural word ap- plied to Egypt, is the Hebrew mode of expressing the ‘ two regions of Egypt,’ (so commonly met with in the hieroglyphics,) or, the ‘ two Misr,’ a name still used by the Arabs, who call all Egypt, as well as Cairo, Musr, or Misr.” Interesting notices are found of several of tlie other nations, whose origin is traced in the tenth chapter of Genesis. To follow the line of Ham, with which we have begun ; — we find Cush named first in the order, whose descendents spread them- selves over the desert land of Arabia, and the coun- try on each side of the Persian Gulf, and of the Red Sea to the south of Egypt. The name of Cush re- peatedly occurs upon the monuments, as an African nation subdued by the monarchs of the 18 th dynasty. Sir J. G. Wilkinson remarks | that they “were long at war with the Egyptians ; and part of their coun- try, which was reduced at a very remote period by the arms of the Pharaohs, was obliged to pay an annual tribute to the conquerors.” Rosellini, ob- serving § that the Cushites appear in a painting, which represents Menephtha I. slaying his captives before tlie idol Amon-Re,|| adds that eleven distinct Cusliite tribes are there enumerated ; which accords with what we might infer from the mention of the * P. 140. t Manners,!, 2. J Ibid. 387. § Vol. iii. 420. || See note, p. 12, sup. GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 35 sons and even grandsons of Cush in Gen. x. 7, that many distinct tribes sprang from that jiatriarch. The tribute brought by long trains of ambassadors from allied or conquered nations, is useful in identi- fying their locality. The natural productions of a country do not vary with the lapse of ages, but are the same now as they were 3000 years ago ; and as wild animals and similar objects are drawn by the Egyptian artists with much truth and spirit, we can have little doubt, in general, of the species for which they were intended. In an elaborate painting, re- presenting the ambassadors of four nations bring- ing tribute to Pharaoh Thothmes III., whom we suppose to have been contemporary with the Patri- arch Jacob, the Cushites bear a part. They are described as bringing the productions of “ tlie south- ern district of western Ethiopia.” The subjoined engraving exhibits a selection from these tribute bearers, the procession being too long to be given entire. It is observable that with the Cush- ites, who are of a red comj)lexion, like the Egyp- tians, there are associated some true negroes, who do not discover any inferiority to their fellows, and whom w'e, therefore, suppose to have inhabited the same territory on terms of equality. The first man of the procession carries a basket of indigo,* the next a basket of gold rings and a leopard-skin turned in- side out; the third j- carries in a basket several * On the use of indigo by the ancient Egyptians, see Thompson, On the Mummy-cloth of Egypt,” in London and Edinburgh Phil. Mag. 1834, p. 361. t The /rst, in our engraving ; the preceding two figures being omitted for want of space. 36 ANCIENT EGYPT. sealed bags of precious stones, and a long bag or leathern bottle hanging from his arm. Others follow, bearing ingots of silver, elephants’ teeth, logs and clubs of ebony, ostrich-eggs and feathers, and skins of wild beasts ; the skin carried by the seventh* figure is the long-eared fox of Abyssinia. The animals led in strings are the derrias or dog- headed bahoon, the panther, the giraffe, long-horned oxen, some red, others white, and beautiful hounds, liver-coloured, tan, and white. The grace with which these animals are depicted will doubtless strike the reader. The bearers, both red and black, are clothed in a short tunic, either of spotted bull’s hide, or of linen to imitate it ; the hair is short and close ; that of the negroes is painted blue, not (as it seems) to represent a cap of that hue, but simply to dis- tinguish it from the colour of the skin. In front of each procession, a large number of the different articles of tribute are an’anged in order, behind which stand Egyptian scribes recording the amount received. The Cushite heap includes piles of ebony-logs, on w'hich are ^placed sealed bags of jewels, and ostrich-feathers, rings and ingots of gold in baskets, jars, probably of incense, elephants’ tusks, baskets of dye-earths, and beautiful panther- skins. A baboon, seated on a stool in the centre, keeps guard with a gravity becoming so responsible a situation. The /ourtA, in the engraving. CUSHITE TRIBUTE-BEARERS, 38 ANCIENT EGYPT. TRIBUTE FROM CUSH. As early as the reign of Amoun em’ ha II., about 1900 B. c., we find the Egyptians engaged in w’ar with a nation called TlO'ffrtT, or Punt. They appear to have been a people of determined bravery, and, though I’epeatedly invaded by the Pharaohs of succeeding dynasties, to have manifested an inde- pendent spirit, and love of liberty, which neg- lected no opportunity of throwing off the yoke of their conquerors. The captives of this nation are bound with a line which terminates in a pa- pyrus flower, which, being the symbol of Lower Egypt, is always used to denote that the nation so marked is approached from the northern di- vision of the empire, as the blossom of the lotus indicates that the approach is from Upper Egypt. It has been supposed, on this ground we presume. GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 39 that the Punt were an Asiatic nation ; but this rea- son is by no means conclusive, as the symbol would be as appropriate for a people inhabiting what are now the Barbary States, bordering on Lower Egypt, as for her oriental neighbours. That they were a people of Africa is clearly shown by the productions brought by them in tribute to Thothmes III., in the painting already alluded to. These consist of bas- kets of dates and other fruit, corn, gems in strings and sealed bags, a little gold, ostrich eggs and fea- thers, a shrub growing in a pot or basket, a living leopard, (apparently Felis juhata, which is common to Africa as well as Asia,) an ibex, and two baboons, several leopard skins, and a quantity of elephants’ teeth and ebony. Two small obelisks appear among the presents, which being cut by them in rough-hewn blocks, were brought to Egypt to be set up and finished. Three very distiiict tribes are included in this procession under the common name of Punt, all apparently equal in station and consideration. The majority are of similar complexion and fea- tures to the Egyptians, some are pure negroes, while others are intermediate in tint, being of a very dark red, with the features of the first. Their tunics, though short, are superior in appearance to those of the Cushites, and are bordered and banded with red and blue; their short hair is bounded with a scarlet ribbon, and their whole appearance exhibits a higher degree of civilization than that of the Ethiopians. There can scarcely be a doubt that these records refer to a nation called in the Scriptures Phut or 40 ANCIENT EGYPT. Put ;* descended from a son of Ham who bore the same name. Both ancient and modern writers have assigned to this race the coast of Africa, bordering the Mediterranean to the west of Egypt. In the following passages from the Prophets, the Put are mentioned as a martial nation, in close connection with both Egypt and Ethiopia. Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover the earth ; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof. Come up, ye horses ; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians [Cush, and the Libyans [Put, niujjr.], that handle the shield; and the Lydians,t that handle and bend the bow. Jer. xlvi. 8, 9. They of Persia, and of Lud, and of Phut, were in thine [Tyre’s] army, thy men of war ; they hanged the shield and helmet in thee ; they set forth thy comeliness. Ezek. xxvii. 10. The sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, . . . Ethiopia [Cush], and Libya [Phut], and Lydia, and all the mingled people, . Ezek. xxx. 4, 5. Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya [Phut] with them ; all of them with shield and helmet: . Ezek. xxxviii. 5. Art thou better than populous No, [No-Amoun, marg. probably Mem- phis], that was situate among the rivers, . . . .* Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers. Nah. iii. 8, 9. “ From the discoveries made by recent travellers in the western parts of Africa, it is no longer doubt- ful that there has existed in it, from very ancient times, a numerous people who are neither Moors nor * Put=Phunt. Nothing is more common in cognate languages than the insertion or omission of a nasal: — denta, dentem, odonta, tsan, tand, dent, and tooth, are all the same word in different branches of the same original tongue. t Or Ludim. These are descendants of Ham (Gen. x. 1 3), and must be distinguished from the Asiatic Lydians, the children of Shem (Gen. x. 22 ). GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 41 negroes. Hornemann and Lyon have made us ac- quaintecT with two nations in that quarter, who ap- pear to have possessed all the vast range of country which stretches from the shores of the Mediterranean to the banks of the Joliba. They are, indeed, di- vided into many tribes; but all speak the same lan- guage, which is entirely different from the Arabic, and is found in fact to be no other than that which is used by the Berbers in the Atlas mountains. With regard to their colour, though it certainly is not uniform, the difference seems to depend, in a great measure, on the place of abode and the manner of living ; and, properly speaking, it amounts to no- thing more than a mere variation of tint, lighter or darker according to circumstances. . . . Their moral character has been favourably estimated ; and it is thought that if their talents were duly cultivated, they would probably become one of the first nations in the world.”* While we believe these people to be none other than the ancient Put, and identical with the martial Punt of the Egyptian sculptures ; we must admit the difficulty of tracing the parentage of the true negroes, the wide-spread black races, whose flat noses, prominent lips, and woolly hair, had as perfectly distinguished them in the days of the Pharaohs, as at the present time. We have seen that they were quite distinct from both Put and Cush, though in- timately associated with both. The negroes are always mentioned on the monuments by the name Nahasi ; whether there be any relation ’ Russel’s Nubia, p. 26. 42 ANCIENT EGYPT. between this word and Anamim, one of the sons of Mizraiin, we leave for others to determine. The dark-skinned tribes that had spread them- selves to the southw'est of Upper Egypt, were known by the name of ilKTI, Peti. Though they are never confounded with the more northern Punt, in the hieroglyphic inscriptions, it may be conjectured with probability, that the parentage of the two races was the same ; but that early separation had induced a dialectic diversity in pronouncing the national appellation common to both. THE SOUTHERN PETI. The Peti are represented with a physiognomy approaching that of the modern negroes ; the com- plexion, however, is dark red. They are clad either in linen, or in the skins of wild beasts, usually those of the great spotted cats, the tails being allowed to hang down as an ornament: the chiefs are adorned GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 43 with ostrich feathers, and massy, round ear-rings, col- lars, and bracelets of gold, in barbaric pomp ; while the grandees wear garments of linen of transparent fineness, girded with leathern zones elaborately or- namented ; with a leopard skin often thrown grace- fully over one shoulder. We come now to the last named son of Ham, Canaan ; who seems indeed to have been the first- born, but to have been degraded, as to the location of his name in the divine enumeration, by the curse pronoxmced upon him for his participation in his father’s sin against his great progenitor. The Holy Records leave us in no doubt about the locality of his families ; his name having for ages been attached to the goodly and fertile land, afterwards bestowed on the favoured seed of Abraham. The order in which the sons of Ham took possession of their inheritances upon the dispersion, is thus alluded to by Mr. Os- burn.* “ Canaan, the first-born, who lost his birth- right. . . . nevertheless seems to have been allowed the claims of seniority, when the sons of Ham to- gether went forth to the westward from the plains of Shinar (Gen. xi.), and gave his name to the first district at which the emigrants would arrive. The descendants of Cush, the second son, took the next region to the westward, which consisted of the sterile sands of the deserts of Sinai. The fertile valley of the Nile was the happier lot of Mizraim, the third sou; while the descendants of Phut, the youngest, were di’iven forth to seek a comfortless home amid the trackless wastes of the Sahara.” * Ancient Egypt, p. 28. 44 ANCIENT EGYPT. The name Canaan occurs indubitably upon the monuments, as in the wars of Sethos I., the triumph of Menephtha, and the invasions of Judea by Shishak. To these we shall presently allude further. Of none of the early races of mankind, with the exception of the people of God, (whose history is given us with considerable minuteness, and with un- erring truth,) would it be so interesting to have detailed information, as of the Canaanitish tribes, of whom, from their frequent contact with the chosen seed, so much is said in the Holy Scriptures. And it so happens, that of no people, except the Egyp- tians themselves, have we so copious details pre- served, on these primeval monuments. Scarcely, if at all, inferior to Egypt in civilisation and refinement, equally conversant with the arts of war and of peace, it could not be that nations so powerful, and so near, would exist without long and frequent contentions. Invasions of the fierce and barbarous tribes to the south and west, though often, as we have seen, en- gaged in, perhaps from necessity, would offer com- paratively little temptation, either in the way of military glory or emolument ; and no other egress remained to the Egyptian arms, but one that must of necessity bring them into immediate collision with the warlike nations of Palestine. The greatest, most opulent, and most renowned of all the Syrian nations, were • the Sidonians, whose progenitor, as the sacred narrative informs us, was the first-born son of Canaan. He gave his own name to the great commercial city of Sidon, the mother of the still more illustrious Tyre. The following are GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 45 only a few of the passages which speak of these cities and their possessors. The border [of Asher] reacheth . . . unto great Zidon ; And then the coast turneth to Ramah,and to the strong city Tyre; and the coast turneth to Hosah; and the outgoings thereof are at the sea from the coast to Achzih: — Jos. xix. 25 — 29. Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabit- ants of Zidon, .... But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land : for they did not drive them out. — Judg. i. 31, 32. And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants unto Solomon ; (for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father ;) for Hiram was ever a lover of David. And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying. Thou knowest how that David my father could not build an house unto the name of the Lord his God for the wars which were about him on every side, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. But now the Lord my God hath given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent. And, behold, I purpose to build an house unto the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spake unto David my father, saying. Thy son whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto my name. Now therefore com- mand thou that they hew me cedar- trees out of Lebanon ; and my ser- vants shall be with thy servants : and unto thee will I give hire for thy servants, according to all that thou shalt appoint : for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sido- nians. — 1 Kings v. 1 — 6. For Solomon went after Ashioreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. — 1 Kings xi. 5. Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there : behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. — 1 Kings xvii. 9. The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish ; for it is lad waste, so that there is no house, no entering in : from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them. Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle ; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished. And by great waters the seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, is her revenue ; and she is a mart of nations. Be thou ashamed, 0 Zidon; for the sea hath spoken ; even the strength of the sea ; saying, I travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish up young men, nor bring up 46 ANCIENT EGYPT. virgins. As at the report concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre. Pass ye over to Tarshish ; howl, ye inha- bitants of the isle. Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days 1 her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn. AVho hath taken this counsel against T3’re, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth ? — Isa. xxiii. 1 — 8. And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea. — Jer. xxv. 22. Thus saith the Lord God to Tjtvis ; Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded crj-, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee ? Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay awaj' their robes, and put off their hroidered gar- ments ; thej^ shall clothe themselves with trembling ; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble at everj- moment, and be astonished at thee. And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say' to thee, How art thou destrojmd, that wast inhabited of seafaring men, the renowned city, which wast strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants which cause their terror to be on all that haunt it ! — Ezek. xxvi. 15 — 17. The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying. Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus ; and say unto Tyrus, 0 thou that art situate at the entrj' of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles. Thus saith the Lord God, 0 Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty. Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thj^ beauty. The)' have made all thy ship-boards of fir- trees of Senir : they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee. Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars ; the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim. Fine linen, with broidered work from Egypt, was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail ; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that ichich covered thee. The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners : thy wise men, 0 Tyrus, that were in thee were thy pilots The ancients of Gebal, and the wise men thereof, were in thee thy calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise. They of Persia, and of Lud, and of Phut, were in thine army thy men of war : they hanged the shield and helmet in thee ; they set forth thy comeliness. The men of Arvad, with thine army, were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadims were in thy towers : they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about ; they have made thy beauty perfect. Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches ; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 47 fairs. Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants : they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market. They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses, and horsemen, and' mules. The men of Dedan were thy merchants ; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand : they brought thee for a 'present horns of ivory and ebony. Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the ivares of thy making: they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, and broi- dered ivork, and fine linen, and coral, and agate. Judah, and the land of Israel, tliey were thy merchants; they traded in thy market wheat of Minnith and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm. Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches ; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool. Dan also and Javan, going to and fro, occupied in thy fairs; bright iron, cassia, and ca- lamus, were in thy market. Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for chariots. Arabia, and all the princes of Kcdar, they occupied with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats ; in these were they thy merchants. The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants : they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones and gold. Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants. These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with'cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise. The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market ; and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas. Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters ; the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas. Thy riches and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy company, which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin. — Ezek. xxvii. 1 — 27. It is extremely interesting to observe that the inhabitants of both of these renowned cities have a prominent place in the monuments which record the acts of the early Pharaohs. Their associations and circumstances agree so well with what we know of them from other sources, that we can scarcely fail to identify them, even without the names which in the hieroglyphic inscriptions are attached to them. Sidon 48 ANCIENT EGYPT. is called “ the land of Shairdan by the sea,” Tyre is the fortress of “ Shr there being no equivalent to the Hebrew letter in the Egyptian alphabet these were doubtless the nearest approaches they could make to jlTiJ (Tseedon) and to "llil (Tsor.) In an ancient papyrus a different orthography is used for Tyre. “ Tar loving the waters is thy name. Traversed is the sea with her boats ; she contends wdth the fishes for her food.” This variation, however, does not appear to us surprising, when we consider that the initial letter 2i, a sound unknow'n to the Egyptian tongue, partook of the power of the mute T, and of the sibilant S ; and if the appellation of Syria was derived from Tyre, as has been supposed, we see how both the T and the S sounds have been handed down to our own times, the one in the name of the renowned city itself, the other in that of the region in which it w'as placed.* The details of an important invasion of Palestine by the Egyptian forces, in the 5th year of the re- nowned Rameses III., called Sesostris, occur in three separate representations, repetitions of the same events. After some skirmishes in his progress through the south of Canaan, and the capture of a strong fortress, the Egyptian King appears to have • Accuracy of orthography in spelling the names of foreign places is, of course, not to be looked for. Even in our own times, we sometimes see the names of places strangely metamorphosed ; as Constantinople into Stamboul, Alexandria into Scanderia, and, to come nearer home, Livorno into Leghorn, and Napoli into Naples. The names of the Persian kings who ruled Egj-pt, Cambyses, Darius, Xerxes, arid Artaxerxes, appear on the monuments in the uncouth forms of Kanbosh, Ntareeosh, Khsheersh, and Artkhsheshes. (See Wilk. i. 198.) GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 49 marched to the relief of another fortress, garrisoned by a people in alliance with him, but besieged by the confederate Moabites and Ammonites. The name of this strong-hold is inscribed upon it, and reads Kadesh, a name signifying holy, which was applied to several Canaanitish cities, perhaps pre-eminently connected with their idolatrous worship. An em- bassy seems to have been sent to Sesostris, praying for aid, as it is stated in the hieroglyphics, “ Terror was in the city of Kadesh. Behold they came to his Majesty, even from the governor of Kadesh to his Majesty, bearing precious stones and pure gold, to offer their service to his Majesty.”* A sanguinary battle took place, which we shall have occasion to describe when we come to speak of the Moabites : suffice it to say at present, that they were totally defeated, and the siege raised. In this expedition we find the Sidonians engaged as the allies of Egypt. They are depicted of the same deep red complexion as the Egyptians, of a robust form, fine, full-faced, and muscular. Their hair and eyes are black ; the hair, whiskers, and moustaches, are worn short, and apparently curled ; the beard is shaven. They all have helmets of a singular form, consisting of a shallow skull-cap, which, being painted white, is presumed to have been of silver, fluted in radiating lines from the centre, surmounted by a broad oval disk on a shox’t pillar, and two horns of a crescent, of the same metal. “This symbol,” as Mr. Osburn observes, “strik- ingly resembles the horns of Astarte, [or Ashtoreth,] * Osbum, Anc. Egy. 86. D .50 ANCIENT EGYPT. on the coins and medals of Phoenicia.” It is probably intended to represent the new and full moon. The disk appears to be the distinction of rank, as in other scenes we find the helmets of the common soldiers marked only by a crescent. The dress of the officers in the above siege is white, and seems to be of linen, embroidered ; it is supported by broad shoulder- straps, is full and loose around the legs, and much lower behind than in front ; it seems to have been quilted upon the body. Mr. Osburn and Sir J. G. TYRIAN MERCHANT AND SIDONIAN WARRIOR. Wilkinson, suppose that the peculiar appearance of the body-garment is intended to represent plates of silver ; from the fact that the Egyptian officers in the same picture are similarly clad, we incline to think linen alone is depicted ; the reader, however, may judge from our engraving. Their arms are a broad. GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 51 straight, two-edged sword, which, being painted red, is probably of bronze ; and a large circular shield, with a rim and bosses of gold, or perhaps some inferior metal gilt. In some other of the wars of Sesostris, his Sidonian allies carry a scimitar, in form not unlike the Egyptian, a lance, and the usual round shield. In the twelfth year of Rameses IV., this renowned and warlike nation again appears as the ally and assistant of Egypt, in a war with the Philistines. From the ruinous state of the temple at Mediuet Habu, the paintings which represent the scenes of this war are so mutilated as to preclude an accurate knowledge of its events. One of the scenes is a rout of the Philistine army by the allied nations. The Sidonians, who are represented as fighting with vigour and bravery, use principally a long lance, and the round shield. One or two carry a quiver slung behind, but as the combat is a melee, no archery is introduced. In the next picture a very different scene is de- picted. The Philistines, whom we have just describ- ed as attacked by the Egyptian king, had always before been represented as his friends and allies, in common with the Sidonians. What influence had operated to alienate this ancient friendship we know not ; perhaps it was some unbearable insolence or in- justice on the Egyptian side; or some jealousy on the part of the others ; whatever it was, it seems at length to have infected the Sidonians also, whom we now' see joining their former foes, and together turn- ing their united arms against the haughty invader. But these two maritime nations on this occasion D 2 'X SKA- FIGHT.— PHILISTINKS AND SIDONIANS. GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 53 betake themselves to that arm, in which, doubtless, their peculiar strength lay, and appear with a nume- rous fleet of war-ships. It is pretty evident, as the Egyptians are on shore, and the Philistines and Sidonians in their ships, that the object attempted was an invasion of the Egyptian coast ; although the artist, with the gross vanity inseparable from these monuments, represents the naval warriors as helpless and unresisting as lambs, while the Egyptian soldiers are boarding them, sword in hand. This is the more egregiously absurd, because on other occasions, when these nations are in alliance with Egypt, their acti- vity and valour are conspicuous. The accompanying engraving is carefully copied from about one-fourth of the original picture. The ships are sailing vessels, having one mast, car- rying a single yard ; the sail is not reefed for combat, but simply clewed up by four clew-lines, running in pulleys attached along the yard, and coming to the foot of the mast. No ropes answering to our sheets are represented, but no doubt such were attached for the purpose of setting the sail. On the summit of the mast is fixed a sort of tub or box, similar to the crow's nest of a whaling ship, in which a slinger or archer was placed, and who perhaps performed also the duties of pilot or watcher. The hull has a straighter sheer than most ancient vessels, the curve being even less than that of some modern ships. The bow and stern are both suddenly elevated, and termi- nate in the head of a waterfowl. The naval warriors are slaughtered by wholesale, many are falling over- board, many are tumbling headlong from the mast- 5i ANCIENT EGYPT. head, and the water is strewn with the dead and dying. The Egyptians shoot their “ cloth-yard shafts” as thick as hail, under the eye of Pharaoh himself, who, wth his four sons ranged in line before him, and his feet on the necks of eight subdued foes, deals death from his unerring bow. The Sidonians and the Philistines use only the spear, the sword, and the shield. It is creditable to the humanity of the Egyptians, that some are rescuing their drowning enemies from the waves ; hut perhaps a greater honour attached to the taking of a prisoner than to the slaughter of an enemy, and there would certainly be the inducement of the personal booty. From the interesting passage which we have quoted from the prophet Ezekiel respecting Tyre, we learn that the Arvadites, whose name occurs in the gene- alogies as descended from Canaan, were very inti- mately allied wdth the people of that opulent city, the defence of which, both by land and sea, was princi- pally entrusted to them. In accordance with this, the name of Tyre makes no figure in the Egyptian wars, though it several times occurs as the name of the strong-hold itself. But severe encounters with the Arvadites occur repeatedly. Josephus informs us that this family of the great Phoenician stock occupied the small island situated about a league from the shore of Syria, which was called after them, (the intermediate consonant being dropped,) Aradus. At one period this island was a place of much commercial renown, but the posses- sions of the Arvadites were not confined to this little seat of trade, opulent as it was ; their dominions GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 55 extended along the shore from Tortosa, the ancient Antaradus, northward to Jubillah. The name which (following Mr. Osburn,) we sup- pose to represent this people, is spelled p2^n.-ri'ff, Rdn-nu. The letter N distinguishes the Phoenician plui'al, and the terminating syllable nu, which is in Egyptian frequently affixed to proper names ending in N, seems to be superfluous, as the same names are at other times written without it. Hence the word may be read Aradin, which well answers to the Hebrew CTHK, Arvadim.* An interesting event is represented in one of the compartments of the immense picture which adorns the walls of the palace at Karnak, The King of Egypt, Sethos I., is about to mount his chariot, but turns for a moment to listen to an intercession made by one of his chief officers on behalf of some cap- tives behind him. Of these, some are kneeling in supplication, while others are engaged in felling timber in a dense forest. Some wield the axe, while the rest pull upon ropes attached to the trees. Be- neath the chariot-horses of the conqueror is a fort- ress, the gateway of which has been demolished. A long hieroglyphic inscription accompanied the draw- ing, but it is unfortunately very imperfectly preserv- * In our application of the proper names of nations in these pages, it must be borne in mind that absolute certainty by no means attaches to them, and some are much more doubtful than others. The word above read Aradin, for example, has been supposed by some to refer to the Lydians ; while others, without attempting to appropriate it, write it Rot-n-no, and Leten-nu. In a science so immature as Egyptian an- tiquities, dogmatism would be absurd, while free inquiry will tend to elicit truth. 56 ANCIENT EGYPT. ed. As far as it can be read, it implies that the hewers of timber were of two tribes, the Arvadites p2^n, and the Hermonites pnitn;* that the former had been defeated in an engagement, and their fort- ress dismantled ; that the latter, alarmed at the re- verses sustained by their neighbours, sued for peace, which was granted, on condition of the captives and tributaries being employed in cutting down timber in the mountainous country of the latter, for the building of ships upon their great waters. The contest which issued in this subjugation of the Arvadites, seems to be represented in the following compartment of the great picture. The fort is situated on a mountain, surrounded by many tall trees shaped somewhat like a Lombardy poplar, or a fir-tree ; the information intended thus to be convey- ed was, doubtless, that the mountain region near * Or else the dwellers in Lebanon ; the letters L and R being iden- tical in hieroglyphics, and B and M being interchangeable. GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY 57 which the transaction took place, was well wooded ; and from the conical form of the trees, we may per- haps infer that the principal timber was of the pine tribe, so valuable for ship-building. In the Arvadite army, which is represented as completely routed, we observe chariots used, and from this we may perhaps conclude that the engagement took place at the foot of the mountains, whence the vanquished fled to their forests and defiles, expressed by many of the Arvadites endeavouring to hide themselves among the trees. Several of these people are drawn with a front view of the face, an unusual thing in Egyptian art ; ROUT OP THE ARVADITES. another very interesting circumstance implied is, the use of cavalry among the Arvadites, one of them being on horseback, without a saddle however. In many respects this is a very interesting picture. The following picture represents Raineses II. be- sieging a fortress of the Arvadites, and taking it by D 5 58 ANCIENT EGYPT. storm. The chief warrior in the fort, the Egyptian king has seized by the hair, or the crest of his helmet, and prepares to cleave his skull with his falchion ; notwithstanding that he and another war- rior indicate the cessation of resistance by having broken their bows, while a third holds out a symbol ARVADITE FORTRESS. of submission. The exaggeration of the despair of the garrison, shown in the warrior who throws him- self from the battlements, is characteristic of these pictures. The king’s son is cutting a way through the gate of the citadel, and his mercy is implored by a w’oman who holds forth her infant child. The representing of the principal enemy of colos- sal size, seems to have been only a conventionality of art, adopted whenever a figure was connected, hy actual contact, with the action of the Pharaoh. He, GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 59 indeed, the hero of the enterprise, the very object and soul of the picture, is always so depicted, and everything is made subordinate to him. In the conquest of the Canaanitish nations in the fifth year of Raineses III., already alluded to, the SIEGE OF PUNON. (From Ipsambul.) Tyrians and Arvadites were not unscathed. At the commencement of the campaign, he laid waste some colonies of theirs in the south ; and marching on- wards invested and captured a mountain fortress, whose name, inscribed in hieroglyphics upon it, is HUOO'irn.I (Poouni,) which Mr. Osburn supposes to have been the same as the Punon of Numb, xxxiii. 43, and the of the Greeks, a city celebrated for its {JO ANCIENT EGYPT. mines.* The painting at Ipsambul, which comme- morates this event, depicts a mountain intended ap- parently for red gx’anite, hut perhaps it may be a conventional mode of colouring for all rocks. On its summit is a fort, painted blue. At the foot of the mountain, a warrior armed with a bow and quiver drives off his cattle, one of which is a calf. He, like the soldiers of the garrison, is sumptuously clad ; wearing a long robe of yellow hue, with a broad double border of blue ; its sleeves descend to the hands, and are elaborately figured w’ith red and blue. A double sash crossing on the breast passes over each shoulder, terminating in a girdle of the same — stripes on a golden ground. Over all is a cape of blue, with an embroidered border of yellow. Some (as the chief, whose heart is with his bullocks) wear a close cap, which has been compared with “ the doctor’s cap of the sixteenth century.” Others have black hair descending in a thick mass or bag behind, tied around the crown with a ribbon. The dresses vary in their patterns, but all are of the same style and material. Not one of the garrison bears arms. Two hold out from the upper battlements lighted torches as a signal of surrender, with supplicating gesture : two others having just issued from the gate, ajxproach the mountain brow to implore mercy, but one re- ceives an arrow in his face. Most of the others are also pierced, and one in his agony is endeavouring to * “ Punon, called Phaino, and Metidlo-phaenon, because of its mines of metals. Eusebius says it was between Petra and Segor: Athanasius says these mines of Phenos were so dangerous, that murderers condemned to work there lived but a few days.” {Calmet.) GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 61 draw a javelin from his eye. One man slain by a shaft, is falling over the battlements. Two appear to be women, who have the arms bare, but wear a cape descending low, of yellow cloth, with red stripes. Their black hair hangs down to the breast on each side and behind, in large plaits. One of them is shot. The representation of this scene at the Memnonium is different in its details, shewing that while cos- tumes, arms, &c., which the artist would have an opportunity of seeing, are faithfully copied, the indi- vidualities of place, action, &c., that could be known to him only by description, are left to be supplied by his own imagination. This picture is interesting because it illustrates the mode of storming a strong fort. The fort has three tiers of battlements, the third consisting of isolated turrets, which would increase the difficulty of capture. The besiegers ap- proach under cover of huge shields, capable of covering several men ; who, thus protected, could employ, without danger, the various artifices they were acquainted with, to undermine, or to prepare for scaling the ramparts. The weapons of the besiegers are principally the sling and the arrow, but one who has just planted a scaling ladder is about to mount with the short sword. It is interesting to observe that the Sidonians are again the allies of the Egypt- ians. The scene illustrates the promise which Isaiah was commissioned to bear to Hezekiah, when Jerusalem was threatened by the dreaded Senna- cherib ; — “ He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it.” Isa. xxxvii. 33. SIEGE OF PUNON. (From the Memnonium.) GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 63 The besieged, for a wonder in Egyptian painting, offer a vigorous resistance. Some use the bow and arrow, others receive the scalers with the point of the spear, and many cast down huge stones on the heads of the assailants. It was thus that Abimelech, the son of Gideon, received his death blow when besieging Thebez. “ But there was a strong tower within the city, and thither fled all the men and women, and all they of the city, and shut it to them and gat them up to the top of the. tower. And Abimelech came unto the tower, and fought against it, and went hard unto the door of the tower to burn it with fire. And a certain woman cast a piece of a mill-stone upon Abime- lech’s head, and all to brake his skull.” Judg. ix. 51 — 53. The opulence of Tyre is strikingly mai’ked in a picture representing Sethos receiving an embassy from a fortified city near the sea-shore. The chiefs, richly dressed, prostrate themselves before him, and present to him many vessels of gold of elaborate workmanship, and bags of precious stones, to propi- tiate his favour. The name on the fortress has been erased, but a hieroglyphic inscription records, that “ He grants the petitions of the chiefs of Tyre (SHR or tsr).” In the tomb of Rameses Meiamoun, two Tyrians are painted in a dress which strikingly illustrates the Scripture account of the sumptuousness of this city, whose “merchants were princes.” The colours of this painting possess extraordinary freshness and beauty. The hair, (see engraving, p. 49,) which seems to have been worn thick behind, is enclosed in a cap of white linen, studded with blue spots ; the crown is encircled by a fiUet of scarlet cloth or lea- 64. ANCIENT EGYPT. ther, which ties in a bow behind, the ends depending. A broad cape, fitted to the shoulders, reaches down to tlie w'aist; it is apparently of woollen cloth, sur- rounded by an edging of yellow, perhaps gold-lace. The colours of this, as of the other garments, are most gorgeous, the right half being of a rich purple or blue, the left of a glowdng scarlet with large round spots of purple. Beneath this is a coat fitting some- what tightly to the body, opening down the front, but so as to wrap over considerably, with the corners rounded off ; it reaches to the knees. Like the cape, it is half of purple and half of scarlet, the latter, however, without spots ; an edging of golden hue borders it, and a golden girdle encircles the waist. An inner garment of linen, dyed bright yellow, reaches almost to the ankles, and completes this sumptuous raiment of “ purple and fine linen.” The complexion is florid without any olive tinge, the beard is copious, and, with the eyebrows, of a flaxen colour, and the eyes are blue. The tribute brought by the Arvadites to Thothmes III., in many particulars confirms the identity of this people. That they were a commercial nation is shewn by the productions of very various regions being in their hands. They present a profusion of gold and silver vases, rings of the same metals, ele- gant vases of porcelain, jars filled with choice resins and fragrant gums for making incense, many jars of wine (“ the wine of Lebanon,” Hos. xiv. 7,) bundles of writing-reeds, bows and quivers of elegant workman- ship, logs of rare woods resembling mahogany, cha- riots, horses of great beauty, a single tusk of ivory. GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 65 a bear, and an elephant. The richness, beauty, and abundance of the manufactured articles manifest that these people were a polished race ; their long, close dresses, furnished with whole sleeves, and their gloves, which, made of white leather, and fingered, are as long as the whole arm, shew that they were accustomed to either a northern or a mountain climate ; and the bear at once points out the identical region. Its yellowish- white colour, its peculiar shape, its elevated ears, its maue and its tail, identify it beyond the shadow of a doubt with the Bear of Lebanon {Ursus Syriacus), an animal remarkably restricted in its locality, being unknown except as a native of the Syrian mountains. The elephant might seem to present some difficulty to the conclusion that these are a Syrian people ; but perhaps this difficulty may be removed. The size of the ears shews that the elephant is of the Indian, not the African species ; the yellow bear and the elephant are not natives of the same, nor even of contiguous regions, but as one people present these creatures at the same time, it is certain that one of the animals must have been presented as a curiosity to themselves as well as to the Egyptians. Now it is obvious that any people would be far more likely to consider worth presenting as a curiosity, the production of a country much more distant than their own, than the production of a country much nearer ; therefore that the Tyrians would more probably send to Egypt an Indian animal, than Indians would offer one indige- nous to Syria, to say nothing of an elephant being in itself more an object of curiosity than a bear. And when we consider that the ramifications of Phoenician 1 TRIBUTE OF THE ARVADITES. GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 67 commerce had doubtless extended far over the con- tinent of Asia; there is no difficulty in finding in their possession one of the domesticated animals of India. On reviewing then the memorials which Egyptian art has preserved to us of these nearly related nations, the Sidonians, the Tyrians, and the Arvadites, we are struck with the numerous particulars in which they confirm the notices of the same tribes in the sacred scriptures. Especially we may recount their anti- quity, their greatness, their renown, their opulence, their sumptuousness, their situation, in the neigh- bourhood of mountain forests,* their maritime skill, and their wide-spread commerce. The Philistines appear, from the genealogical table in Gen. x., to have been an offshoot from the Egyptian family of Mizraim. The contour of the features of this people, Palishta, as represented in the monumental sculptures and paintings, possesses a strong resemblance to that of the native Egyptians, though their complexion is a little lighter. The * It is not improbable that the temptation which these inexhaustible forests presented to a nation so ingenious and so industrious, but so utterly deficient of timber, as the Egyptians, may have been one strong motive for the repeated and long continued struggles of the Pharaohs for the dominion of Syria and Palestine. The immediate use which Sethos makes of his conquest of the Arvadites and Ilennonites, shews how im- portant he deemed the timber of their mountains. And through all the succeeding dynasties which have governed Egypt, even to this day, its supplies of timber have been still drawn from this source. From 50,000 to 00,000 trees are annually shipped from Syria for Egypt, at present. 68 ANCIENT EGYPT. family likeness is very manifest. This consanguinity well accounts for the frequency with which the Philistines appear to have been the allies of their more powerful neighbours. In Holy Writ we find copious notices of this polished and warlike nation, from the time of Abra- ham, at which early period they were living under a settled, and, as appears, hereditary government, till after the close of the Jewish monarchy. The long and arduous struggles which they maintained with the people of Israel, in the earlier periods of their national history, until their subjugation, are familiar to us from childhood ; connected as they are with the great strength of Samson, the death of Eli and his sons, the captivity of the Ark of God, the kingdom of Saul, the simple faith and heroic valour of Jona- than and of David, and the gigantic stature of Goliath and his sons. To these we need only refer our readers, but a few of the earlier notices of the Philistines we subjoin. And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee : dwell where it pleaseth thee Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba : Then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines’ land many days. Gen. xx. 1 — 34. And there was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines, unto Gerar. Gen. xxvi. 1. (see the whole chapter.) And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near ; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent vcl^en they see war, and they return to Egypt. Exodus xiii. 17. GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 69 The people shall hear, and be afraid ; sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed j the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them ; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. Exod. xv. 14. And I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river. Exod. xxiii. 31. And the Avims which dwelt in Hazerim, even unto Azzah, the Caphtorims, which came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead. Deut. ii. 23. The locality in which the Philistines settled, on their emigration from Egypt,* was the southern por- tion of the sea-board of Canaan, which from them came afterwards to be called Palestine. This region was previously occupied by the A vim (perhaps iden- tical with the Hivites), who were dispossessed by the Egyptian colony, consisting of two tribes, the Philis- tim and the Caphtorim, which names seem from .Ter. xlvii. 4, and Amos ix. 7, to have been at length used indiscriminately for this people. That they were a nation of renown in Egypt at the period of the Exodus, is apparent from the manner in which they are mentioned in the tidumphal song of the Children of Israel, after the miraculous passage of the Red Sea, as well as from the assigned reason why the Lord in his wisdom led them by that circuitous and unprecedented route. The prominence given to this nation in the Egyptian wars, both as friends and enemies, quite confirms the character thus attributed to them. We have seen them prominent in naval as well as military warfare ; the Israelites having no • By comparing Deut. ii. 23, Josh. xiii. 3, Jer. xlvii. 4, and Amos i.x. 7, we learn the fact of the migration of the Philistines, and from Gen. x. 13, 14, it seems highly probable that Egypt was the country from which it took place. 70 ANCIENT EGYPT. collision with them by sea, the sacred writings do not, it is true, allude to their nautical relations, but we might infer that such a people would have maritime power, from their situation, as well as from the little circumstance that the iMediterranean is called after them, “ the sea of the Philistines.” The combat already alluded to, between the allied Egyptians and Sidonians under Raineses IV., on the one side, and the Philistines on the other, exhibits an interesting illustration of Scripture. The army being defeated, the women, children, and baggage, are hastily placed in rustic carts, with solid wheels, drawn by two or four oxen. It was doubtless in such a vehicle as these that the captive Ark of God was restored in the days of Samuel. PHILISTINE CARTS. Now therefore make a netc cart, and take two milch hinc, on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them. And take the ark of the Lord, and lay it upon the cart ; and put the jewels of gold, which ye return him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by the side thereof ; and send it away, that it may GEOGRAPPIY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 71 go. And see, if it gocth up by the way of his own coast to Beth- shemesh, then he hath done us this great evil : but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us ; it was a chance that happened to us. And the men did so ; and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. And they laid the ark of the Lord upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their emerods. And the kine took the straight way to the way of Beth-shemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left ; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Beth-shemesh. 1 Sam. vi. 7—12. In the Egyptian pictures it is easy to recognise the Philistines wherever they occur, by the peculiar helmet, of singular but not ungraceful form, repre- sented in the above engraving. It appears to have been of metal, and was probably fashioned in imita- tion of a circle of feathers set in a band or coronet. From the known permanency of oriental costumes and customs, it may perhaps not be too great a stretch of the imagination, to conjecture that such w'as the form of the “ helmet of brass upon the head” of the “ uncircumcised Philistine,” Goliath of Gath. Like him also, the sculptured warriors fought in “ a coat of mail,” or corslet covered with plates of metal. Their arms were similar to those of tlieir Sidonian neighbours. The second son of Canaan was Heth, the father of the renowned tribe called the Hittites, whom we find prominent in all the enumerations of the Canaanitish nations, from the promise of the land to Abraham, until its conquest under Joshua. They are the sub- ject of fi-equent mention in the Scriptures : some of the most remarkable notices we here quote. 72 ANCIENT EGYPT. And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba ; the same is Hehron in the land of Canaan : and Ahraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, I am a stranger and a sojourner with you : give me a possession of a burj’ing-place with you, that I may bury ray dead out of my sight. And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him. Hear us, my lord ; Thou art a mighty prince among us ; in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead : none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead. And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the chil- dren of Heth. And he communed with them, saying. If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, that he may give me the cave of Mach- pelah which he hath, which is in the end of his field : for as much money as it is w'orth he shall give it me, for a possession of a burying-place amongst you. And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth. And Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, even of all that went in at the gates of his citj-, saying. Nay, my lord, hear me : The field give I thee, and the cave that is therein, I give it thee ; in the presence of the sons of my people give I it thee : bury thy dead. And Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land. And he spake unto Ephron, in the audience of the people of the land, saying. But if thou wilt give it, I pray thee hear me : I will give thee money for the field ; take it of me, and I will bury my dead there. And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him, my lord, hearken unto me : the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver ; what is that betwixt me and thee ? bury therefore thy dead. And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron ; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant. And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah. which was before Alamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession, in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gates of his city. And after this Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre : the same is" Hebron in the land of Canaan. And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham, for a possession of a burying-place, by the sons of Heth. Gen. xxiii. 2 — 20. And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daugh- GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 73 ter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite : which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah. Gen. xxvi. 34, 35. And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth : if Jaeob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me ? Gen. xxvii. 46. And they told him, and said. We came unto the land whither thou sent- est us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey ; and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless tlie people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great ; and, moreover, we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south ; and the Hittites, .and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains ; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. Numb. xiii. 39. Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, say- ing, Moses my servant is dead ; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every plaee that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Eu- phrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. Jos. i. 1 — 4. And it came to pass, when Jabin king of Hazor had heard those things, that he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph, and to the kings that were on the north of the mountains, and of the plains south of Chinneroth, and in the valley, and in the borders of Dor on the west, and to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, and to the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite in the mountains, and to the Hivite under Hennon, in the land of Mizpeh. And they went out, they and .all their hosts with them, much people, even as the sand that is upon the sea-shore in mtdtitude, with horses and chariots very many. Jos. xi. 1 — 5. And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt,and linen yarn: the king’s merchants received the linen yarn at a price. And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and an horse for an hundred and fifty : and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring them out by their means. 1 Kings, x. 28, 29. For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of cha- riots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host ; and they said E 74 ANCIENT EGYPT. one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of tht Hitiites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us. 2 Kin. vii. 6. From these and other passages we learn that the Hittites were a polished, warlike, and powerful, but godless nation, occupying a mountain-region in the south of Canaan, around Hebron, as early as the days of the Patriarchs ; that they were not wholly de- stroyed or driven out at the conquest, but continued, at least till after the Babylonish captivity, to occupy the land, tributary to, and often in social intercourse with, the people of Israel. Uriah, the murdered cap- tain of David, was a man of this nation. The wars of the Pharaohs with the Canaanitish tribes would of course include the Hittites ; and we find repeated mention of a tribe whose name recorded in hieroglyphics seems intended for this. The im- mense picture on the walls of the palace-temple at Karnak, where are represented the conquests of Sethos I. gives us the details of a campaign against several tribes in succession, from all of which long lines of prisoners are led away to grace the con- queror’s triumphal return. Over the heads of one of these parties is inscribed “ the chiefs of the lands of the T^irt,”* which is once or twice repeated in the battle scenes which we shall presently describe. “ Had this name,” observes Mr. Osburn, “ occurred alone, or been differently associated in the picture, there might have been considerable difficulty in iden- tifying it, but in its present connection much of the difficulty vanishes. The nation it represents was Sometimes written Teften-nu; see page 55, supra. GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 75 conquered in one of four several expeditions under- taken by Sethos, in the course of the first year after his accession. It cannot therefore be at any great distance from Egypt. It was also subdued in an ex- pedition in which Sethos had to contend with the Amorites and Jebusites. In all probability, there- fore, it was one of the Canaanitish nations like them. Now if we refer to the map we find that the country between the Amorites and the Jebusites was occupied by the descendents of Heth, . . . □''nn, the Hittites. This hieroglyphic name reads 'T^in or hi which it will be observed that there are the same letters, only in an inverted order. Similar inversions are very common in the hieroglyphic texts, and were comparatively of little importance in a system of writing which as frequently reads from right to left as from left to right, and which addressed itself so much more to the eye than to the ear ; so that the position of the people in question being accurately determined by other circumstances, we can scarcely err in deciding that they were the Hittites.” * We do not consider that the preceding argument has fully substantiated the identity of this people with the Hittites of the sacred Narrative ; but as it has a certain degree of probability, we use the latter name in the following descriptions, for convenience’ sake. We would, however, again remind our readers, that in these identifications, probability, not cer- tainty, is all that is assumed. In one of the compartments of the vast picture of Karnak, we see the Egyptian king in hot pursuit of • Anc. Egy. p. 70. — See also Wilk. i. 47 and C4. (Notes.) E 2 76 ANCIENT EGYPT. the foe, steadying himself by planting his advanced foot on his chariot-beam, while his horses are in full gallop, the reins being fastened around his body to leave both hands at liberty; — he has overtaken a fleeing Hittite (?) chief, and arrested him by throw- ing his bow over his head, while with his heavy scymitar uplifted in his right hand, he is about to cut off the head of the unfortunate man with its descend- ing sweep. An arrow from the Egyptian warrior’s quiver has already pierced the Hittite’s breast. As is common in these representations, none of the conqueror’s army are introduced, the flattering artist insinuating that the might of his single arm had crushed or routed the hosts of his adversaries. The Hittites are depicted in utter discomfiture. They wear helmets, evidently of metal, which alone indicate an advanced state of civilization ; the ar- rested chief wears two ostrich feathers in his helm ; others, probably of subordinate rank, have but one. GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 77 while the common soldiei’s have no plume. Some have a long robe reaching to the ankle, open down the front, but girded around the waist with a scarf or shawl, terminated by a tassel. Many have a short cape tied with a ribbon, and one has a sort of scarf round the neck. A few only are armed with bows and quivers ; one wields a short dagger, and the chief car- ries in his left hand a rod of iron, knobbed at each end, which is bent in the middle, or, perhaps, from his manner of holding it, an unstrung and broken bow. SETHOS SLAYING A HITTITE. In the next compartment Sethos is in single com- bat. Having descended from his chariot, he ti'amples 78 ANCIENT EGYPT. upon the body of the chief just slain; and having seized another two-plumed warrior by his arm, he is about to pierce him with a javelin. As the Hittite has no weapon but his bow, and is already wounded by an arrow, the contest is little to the glory of the victor. Then comes the triumph. Two long trains of captives are led in procession, all of whom, except one, wear the distinctive ostrich plume, and three or four have two. These all w'ear the shawl-girdle, and are declared by the hieroglyphic inscription to be chiefs. In the fifth year of Raineses Meiamoun, whom we suppose to have began his reign a few years before the birth of Moses, we find war again carried into Palestine. The details are represented three separate times, in the stupendous grotto-temple of Ipsambul, on the walls of the Memnonium, and on the propy- leon at Luxor. The grand coloured designs of the first of these are the most interesting. The war was principally against the Moabites, to whom we shall have occasion to allude by and by, but we notice it liere because of the introduction of some warriors, who appear to be Hittites, but in a different garb from the former. In one scene, Rameses is figured standing on the dead body of a Hittite, and is spearing another. They wear a black beard at the point of the chin, and a black skull-cap, with a cheek-band apparently of copper. The plaited lock, which we shall presently describe, is wanting. The dead one has no garment but the girdle, and a sash which passes over the left shoulder and tucks into the girdle ; it is scarlet with GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 79 purple lines. The other, who carries a bow, wears a yellow girdle and a scarlet sash, with a rich yellow- border, and over this a wide square robe of fine linen, of a pale yellow hue, ornamented with figured hands and a pattern of lotus (?) flowers growing in wa- ter. This robe passes over the left shoulder and ties under the right breast, the border, which is hand- some, being lengthened ; the ends are fringed. RAMESES SLAYING A HITTITE. During the wanderings of the children of Israel in the wilderness, the Hittites were again invaded by the Egyptians under Raineses IV., whom we consider to have been the son of the Pharaoh who was drowned in the Red Sea. The picture is crowded with the fly- ing foe. Rameses himself discharges his infallible shafts, while his army are fighting both on foot and in 80 ANCIENT EGYPT. chariots. The infantry use the straight broadsword, but those in chariots wield a sort of mace. The scene derives its principal interest from the presence of a numerous body of Philistine allies, who display their prowess side by side with the Egyptians. The grant- ing of quarter is obviously depicted. A Philistine warrior, having tucked his sword under his arm to have both hands at liberty, is tying the arms of a prisoner whom he has disarmed. Another holding his sword in the same way, has seized a Hittite with one hand while with the other he is endeavouring to despoil him of his helmet. All the Hittites, with scarcely an exception, are dead or dying, and probabilities are saved by the admission of loss on the part of the victorious army : one man is slain, hut the artist has taken care to make him a Philistine, not an Egyptian * In the magnificent coloured figures of the repre- sentatives of different nations, in the tomb of Ra- mesesIII., the tints of which seem, from their vivid- ness and freshness, to have just left the pencil of the artist, — the Hittites wear a square open outer gar- ment, of yellow or green, with a triple border, pass- ing under the right arm ; it is gathered into a knot on the left shoulder, thus leaving the wdiole left side and both arms exposed : it reaches to the ankles. A close short tunic, green if the robe is yellow, or vice versa, with a similar border, reaches from the hips to tlie knees. The complexion is florid, the hair black, * In this scene an interesting illustration occurs of a custom mentioned in 1 Sam. xviii. 27, to which we can merely allude. GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 81 the features European in contour, but the nose is prominent. A singular fashion prevailed among them of shaving a square place just above the temples, allowing the hair below it to grow long, which was then plaited in a lock. The fashion of shaving some part of the head so as to present odd contrasts of hair and baldness, extended with considerable variation of pattern, to many of the surrounding nations. It is alluded to several times as a distinctive mark of some of these people, by the pro- phet Jeremiah; “Behold, . . . I will punish . . . Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that cut off their hair into corners.”* Perhaps the cus- tom had an idolatrous sig- nification, and was glanced at in the prohibition to Is- rael, “Ye shall not round the corners of your heads ; neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.”j- The Jebusites are included in all the enumerations of the Canaanitish nations, from the time of the Abrahamic covenant till after the return from the Babylonish captivity. There is little, however, told us by which we can distinguish them from the other Jer. ix. 26. (margin), see also xxv. 21 — 23. t Lev. xix. 27. 82 ANCIENT EGYPT. tribes, at least in the earlier part of their history. From the following and other passages we learn that they occupied the mountains to the north of, the Hittites, of which Jerusalem, then called Jebus, or Jebusi, was their principal fortress-city. That they were a warlike and powerful tribe is proved by their being able to maintain their position so long after the Israelites had obtained general dominion in the land.^' The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south : and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains ; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. Nnm. xiii. 29. When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou ; . , . Deut. vii. 1. As for the Jebusites the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive them out ; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem unto this day. Jos. xv. 63. * To those who object that the wars depicted in the vast pictures of the Eg}'ptian temples, cannot refer to the subjugation of such c/ans as the Canaanitish tribes have been assumed to have been, we would reply that the Word of God always speaks of them as powerful nations, possessing walled cities in great numbers, and able to bring large bodies of men, well disciplined and accoutred, with chariots and cavalry, into the field ; and in one of the passages quoted above, expressly affirms, that the principal nations of Canaan were “ greater and mightier than ” Israel. Now we know that when Israel left Egypt, they mustered 600,000 fighting men, besides women and children — an immense host, and very far from the petty horde of barbarians, which some have supposed the nations of that age. This depreciating opinion seems to have arisen from a consideration of the contracted dimensions of the land itself ; but a re- ference to any good map, or a careful reading of the book of Joshua, will shew us that the land of Canaan was crowded with population, at the time of the conquest, to a degree perhaps unparalleled, except in modem China. GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 83 And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land : which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither : think- ing, David cannot come in hither. Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion ; the same is the city of David. And David said on that day, Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind, that are hated of David’s soul, he shall be chief and captain. Wherefore they said, the blind and the lame shall not come into the house. 2 Sara. v. G — 8. (See also 1 Chr. xi.4 — 7.) Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jenisalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Oman the Jebu- site. 2 Chr. iii. 1. In a tomb at Beni Hassan there is a painting which has attracted a good deal of attention, because it was at first supposed to represent the arrival of Jacob and his family in Egypt. It is now pretty well known that this cannot be the case, as the per- sonage in whose honour the tomb was excavated is stated to have been an officer of rank under Osir- tasen I., whom we presume to have reigned in the earlier part of the life of Abraham. The interesting group of figures (which we have copied on the following page) is ushered into the pre- sence of Pharaoh by two Egyptian officers, who hold a written tablet describing the procession as thirty- seven IICCTHLI, or dealers in stibium, the black pow- der used by oriental women to tinge their eyelids.* The man who heads the procession is evidently the most important person ; he is clothed in a robe of peculiar form, which will best be understood by a reference to the engraving ; it is of an elaborate pat- * Jezebel “ put her eyes in painjing.” 2 Kings ix. 30 (marg.). A PARTY OF JEBCSITES (?) GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 85 tern, “ of divers colours,” chiefly bright red and blue, the effect of which is very rich. He makes his obei- sance as he approaches, leading as a present a beauti- ful gazelle, followed by another in the care of a ser- vant. Four young men follow, whose garments differ from that of the chief, in being gathered on one shoulder, leaving both arms and one shoul- der exposed. Two of them are in white, the others are in coloured cloth, similar but inferior in richness to that of the chief. These men carry arms, the bow and quiver, the spear, and a crooked stick, of singular shape, which we shall have occasion to mention again. Then comes an ass, with two chil- dren in panniers, and what seems a shield. A boy slightly clad, carrying a spear, and four women fol- low, the latter wearing garments of varying patterns, similar to those of the men, but rather longer ; their feet are protected by boots. Another ass, loaded with arms, is followed by two servants, one of whom plays on a lyre, the case of which is slung at his back, and the other carries a bow, quiver, and club. The complexion of this people is dark and sallow ; the beard, hair, and eyes black. The hair is copious in both sexes, and is allowed to hang in a thick mass or bag behind ; the women wear a fillet around the crown. The beard of the men is thick, and appa- rently bushy, but is shaven into corners in a peculiar fashion: the nose and chin are remarkably promi- nent, and the expression of the features, what we call “ Jewish.” Immediately before the chief person there is a hieroglyphic inscription, which Mr. Osburn considers 86 ANCIENT EGYPT. as setting at rest the identity of this people : we quote his words.* “ The upper group reads ^K(g^IK), king, governor, chief, [of] the land. The group below is letter for letter the transcription of the Hebrew word 'Dl', which is rendered in the English Bible ‘ Jebusites,’ ... It seems, therefore, scarcely possible to imagine a more satisfactory read- ing than that of ‘ the chief of the land of the Jebu- sites a country which, bordering upon the desert, the proper haunt of the gazelle, its inhabitants would naturally bring these animals or their horns as pre- sents to Egypt. Their country also lay between EgyjJt and the country where stibium was produced ; and the Jebusites, like the rest of the Canaanites, were noted for their mercantile habits : nothing, therefore is more probable than that they would be known in the marts of Egypt as dealers in stibium. So that, without entering at all into the various con- jectures which have been hazarded as to the nation to which these captives belonged, we at once adopt the plain indication of the text, and assume that it represents the tribe or clan of the Jebusites, who . . . had sent an embassy to Egypt to solicit peace.”f After the historical picture already alluded to, re- presenting the Tyrian chiefs paying homage and tri- bute to Sethos I., the scene copied in the following en- • Ancient Egypt, p. 39. + This evidence certainly appears somewhat meagre ; nor can we gather many particulars to help us from the details of the pictured records. There is a reflected light, however, thrown upon these people by their manifest affinity with other nations, whom we can identify with a higher degree of security ; and hence we may with little hazard conclude them to have been a Canaanitish people. (See page 75.) GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 87 graving occurs. A mountainous country is depicted, indicated by the craggy cliffs on the left, up which the enemy is hastily climbing to escape from the terrible shafts of the conqueror ; but many already trans- fixed are precipitated headlong. The trees show that it was a wooded region, and the three forts indi- cate how well it was fortified. One of these forts is inscribed “ the fort which, if the above interpretation be received, we may read Jebusina; and another inscription explains that “ the king return- ing to the borders of Egypt, lifts up his hand over all the ways of the Jebusites.” It is not impossible that this very fort may have been the Jerusalem of after days. From other monuments we discover that the suc- ceeding Pharaohs had wars with this powerful nation, into the particulars of which we need not now enter. Like their neighbours, they were distinguished by peculiarities of costume and arms. In war they com- 88 ANCIENT EGYPT. monly wore a cap of cloth, which either hung down in a bag or a long point behind ; it was bound by a fillet or ribbon. The coat reached to the knees, confined above the hips by a girdle ; some seem to have worn a second girdle around the breast, from which long tassels sometimes depended. In the scene which we have copied, they have no arms; but, from other battle-scenes, as well as from the proces- sion of the stibium-dealers, w'e gather that they used spears, of which two were frequently carried toge- ther, a shield of peculiar form, bow's and quivers, a singularly formed sword, and a rod or staff, either of metal or heavy wood, having a double cuiwe. “ This last w'as the weapon universally in use among the Jebusites, and probably peculiar to them. It is always carried with the spear or sword. Skilfully used, it w'ouldbe a formidable weapon.” (Osburn.) One of the most powerful of the Canaanitish na- tions were the Amorites, whom we find in possession of the southern portion of the land in the time of Abram, and who extended their dominion, till at the conquest they had established strong kingdoms on the east of Jordan, from the Dead Sea to Mount Hermon. From several of the following quotations we learn that the name of this lordly race was, by a common figure of speech, used for the whole inha- bitants of the land, which indicates their prominence and power ; and their grandeur and might are poeti- cally compared by the Prophet Amos to the cedars and oaks. A somewhat definite idea of their power GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 89 may be gained from the fact, that in the single do- main of the gigantic Og, there were threescore cities “ fenced with high walls, gates, and bars ; besides unwalled towns a great many.” It is not certainly stated what the population of these “ walled cities ” was, but we have some data for concluding that they were not less numerously inhabited than the average of modern cities. The city of Ai, which seems to have belonged to the Jebusites, was viewed after the destruction of Jericho, for the purpose of estimating the force needful to capture it. The spies “ returned to Joshua, and said unto him, let not all the people go up ; but let about 2000 or 3000 men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither ; /or t/iey are but few” * The slighting way in which this place was mentioned, clearly shows that its strength was much below the average, yet its population is expressly declared to have been 12,000.f But if we assume this to have been the average of the population of the fortified towns of Bashan, and that of the “ great many ” unwalled towns to have been half as numerous, we have the population of this district alone amounting to up- wards of a million. How abundant evidence we have, then, in Scripture, that the Egyptian warrior- kings would not need to travel farther than Pales- tine, to find enemies well worthy of their anns! And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew ; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner : and these were confederate with Abram. Gen. vii. 13. * Josh. vii. 3. f Id. viii. 25. 90 ANCIENT EGYPT, But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again : for the iniquit}' of the Amorites is not yet full. Gen. xv. 16. Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow. Gen. xlviii. 22. And the Amorites dwell in the mountains. Num. xiii. 29. Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle ; and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle ; the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spake unto Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and unto the princes of the congregation, saj’ing, Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Shebam, and Nebo, and Beon, even the country which the Lord smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle, and thy servants have cattle : Wherefore, said they, if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan And Moses gave unto them, even to the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, and unto half the tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land, with the cities thereof in the coasts, even the cities of the countrj- round about. Num. xxxii. 1 — 33. And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw bj' the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us ; and we came to Kadeslibanim. And I said unto you, Ve are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the Lord our God doth give unto us. Deut. i. 19 , 20 . Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz. And the Lord our God delivered him before us ; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people. And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain : only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, and the spoil of the cities which we took. . . . Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan ; and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei So the Lord out God delivered into our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people ; and we smote him until none was left to him remaining. And we took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, threescore cities, all the region of Argob, GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 91 the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these cities were fenced ivith high walls, gates, and bars : beside umvalled towns a great many. And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroy- ing the men, women, and children, of every city. But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves. And we took at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land that was on this side Jordan, from the river of Arnon unto mount Hermon. Deut. ii. 32— iii. 8. Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jannuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together, and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon, and made war against it. Jos. x. (See the whole chapter.) And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve ; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell : but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Jos. xxiv. 15. And say, Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem ; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan ; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite. Ezek. xvi. 3. Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks ; yet I de.stroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. Amos, ii. 9. Ill an invasion of Canaan by Sethos I., to which we have already alluded in speaking of the Hittites, we find the record of a sanguinary engagement near a fortified city, on which is inscribed, “ the land of the Ainori.” The stronghold is situated on a moun- tain, in a well-wooded district. A large army had been drawn up in the plain to withstand the Egyp- tian invader. Their prince, or military commander, in a chariot, is just slain by a javelin through his body, an arrow piercing his forehead at the same moment. He had fastened the reins around his waist to leave his hands at liberty, one of which 92 ANCIENT EGYPT. holds the bow, the quiver being carried transversely across his back. His companion in the chariot, apparently a chief of equal rank, who acts as shield- bearer, also falls dead. As usual, the greater part of the army are depicted as dead or dying. [Most of them are unarmed, but several bear a short, angled bow and quiver, and an oblong-square shield, carried transversely. The ornament on the head of Ihe chiefs seems to represent a horn, and will illustrate the numerous WAR WITH THE AMORITES. passages of Holy Writ in which a honi is used as an emblem of power. Thus, “ Zedekiah, the son of Chenaanah, made him horns of iron ; and he said. Thus saith the Lord, with these shalt thou push the Syrians, until thou have consumed them.” * And 1 Kings, xxii. 11. GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 93 in the prophetic woe pronounced by Jeremiah upon Moab, his fall is indicated by this expression : — “ The horn of Moab is cut off.” * Every reader of Scripture must be familiar with the figure in the Psalms. The inscription mentioned above, gives not only the name of the land, but also that of the assaulted fort itself. It reads wliich, literally, answers to the Hebrew Kadesh; and when we find that Kadesh-barnea is expressly called by Moses “ the mountain of the Amorites,” perhaps it may not be unreasonable to conjecture, that the scene before us is intended to represent the very spot whence the spies were sent to view the promised land. Though all the tribes that were descended from Canaan, are known in the Scripture collectively by the term Canaanites, the same word is sometimes used in a connection which shows that some one tribe or nation in particular is intended. In the following quotations, examples of both these usages occur. And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the ^ Canaanites, as he sware unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall give'k thee, . . . Exod. xiii. 11. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south ; and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains ; and the Canaan- ites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. Numb. xiii. 29. Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the * Jer. xlviii. 25. 94 ANCIENT EGYPT. vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates. Deut. i. 7. When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou : . . . Deut. vii. 1, All the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan west- ward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea. Jos. V. 1. And tiie children of Joseph spake unto Joshua, saying, ^^’hy hast thou given me but one lot and one portion to inherit, seeing I am a great peo- ple, forasmuch as the Lord hath blessed me hitherto. And Joshua answered them. If thou be a great people, then get thee up to the wood country, and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the giants, if mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee. And the chil- dren of Joseph said. The hill is not enough for us ; and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both they who are of Beth-shean and her towns, and they who are of the valley of Jezreel. And Joshua spake unto the house of Joseph, even to Ephraim and to Manasseh, saying, Thou art a great people, and hast great power ; thou shalt not have one lot only. But the mountain shall be thine ; for it is a wood, and thou shalt cut it down : and the out-goings of it shall be thine : for thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, and though they be strong. Jos. xvii. 14 — 18. From these allusions we gather that the term, when specifically used, is applied to the inhabitants of the northern portion of the land, lying to the westward of tlie Jordan. Josephus, and other writers of his age, have given us some fragments of an Egyptian history by a native priest named Manetho. Tliis author has recorded, that at an early period Egypt was invaded by fo- reigners from the north-east, who, obtaining an easy conquest of the country, established their dominion in Lower Egypt for many years. They are known GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 95 by the name of the Shepherd-kings, or Hyk-sos, ^IK in Coptic signifying king, and ^CJOC a shepherd. They accommodated themselves to the habits of the Egyptians, assuming the state and title of the native Pharaohs ; who, receding before the powerful usurp- ers, succeeded in maintaining their dominion in Upper Egypt, constituting Thebes their metropolis. At length the Egyptians, under the command of an able and vigorous native monarch, Amosis, succeed- ed, after many obstinate struggles, in driving back the intrusive race. Who these Shepherds w’ere, is a question that has been greatly agitated. We do not intend to enter much into the investigation, but would merely ob- serve, that as they invaded Egypt from the north- east, they must either have come from, or else passed through, Palestine. Now they could not have done the latter, without subjugating the tribes through whose territory they passed ; which, if we consider the power and warlike habits that we have seen they possessed, is very improbable. The alternative then, is, that they were a Canaanitish race, the only ob- jection to which, their presumed incompetency to subdue a mighty kingdom like Egypt, we have shown to be groundless. The pastoral habits of the early inhabitants of Palestine, is greatly in favour of this conclusion, as is also the declaration which Joseph advised his brethren to make before Pharaoh, in order to secure a frontier residence, in separation from the Egyptians , — “ Thy servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers ; ” because “ every shep- herd is an abomination to the Egyptians.” Not that 96 ANCIENT EGYPT. pulsion of the shepherds. “ The first picture of the war of Sethos \^-ith the ^(JOC, represents a sanguinary defeat of the latter in the immediate vicinity of a * See Gen. xlvii. C, 16 — 18 ; Exod. ix. 3 — 6, 19 — 21. the mere fact of such an occupation was so hateful, for we find, from numerous passages,* that Pharaoh, and also the Egyptians, possessed flocks and herds of cattle ; hut that they came from a country, the inhabitants of which were proverbially so designated from the prevalence of the occupation. But ]\Ir. Osh urn considers that the question is set at rest by the existing monuments. The name ^(joc occurs repeatedly, applied to people subdued in the Canaanitish wars of Sethos I. and Raineses III., between two and three hundred years after the ex- FORT OF CANAAN. GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 97 fort on a high hill covered with trees, and with a lake on one side of it. On this fort is inscribed the fort (stronghold) of the land of a tran- scription of the word so exact, as to exclude the possibility of doubt that the scene is laid in Canaan, and that this fortress was in some command- ing position, which made it, in a military sense, the key of that country. The shepherds, then, who in- vaded Egypt were certainly Canaanites, as Josephus, and all the ancient authors, say they were.” * Mr. Osburn infers that the particular race intended, were the Zuzims or Zamzummims, a powerful and gigan- tic tribe, afterwards displaced by the Ammonites ; but perhaps we may more safely understand the Egyptian appellation, with the same latitude as the Scriptural term Canaanites ; the more especially as another invasion of Egypt seems to have taken place by the ^ 03 Cj immediately after the Exodus, and, therefore, subsequent to the destruction of the Zu- zims. As the pictorial record of the engagement (which we have copied above) is in immediate con- nection with a conquest of Tyre and of the Arvadites, it is highly probable that the of this picture, are the inhabitants of the northern portion of Pales- tine. It is not unlikely that the scene represents the very spot where, a century and a half later, the grand gathering of the northern tribes was made, and a battle was fought that decided the conquest of the promised land. And it came to pass, when Jabin king of Hazor had heard those things. Ancient Egypt, 55. F 98 ANCIENT EGYPT. that he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph, and to the kings that were on the north of the mountains, and of the plains south of Chinneroth, and in the valley, and in the borders of Dor on the west, and to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, and to the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite in the mountains, and to the Hivite under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh. And they went out, they and all their hosts with them, much people, even as the sand that is upon the sea shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many. And when all these kings were met together, they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel. And the Lord said unto Joshua, be not afraid because of them : for to morrow about this time will I deliver them up all slain before Israel : thou shall hough their horses, and burn their chariots with fire. So Joshua came, and all the people of war with him, against them by the waters of Merom suddenly ; and they fell upon them. And the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, who smote them, and chased them unto great Zidon, and unto Misrephoth-maim, and unto the valley of Mizpeh eastward ; and they smote them, until they left them none remaining. And Joshua did unto them as the Lord bade him ; he houghed their horses, and burnt their chariots with fire. And Joshua at that time turned back, and took Hazor, and smote the king thereof with the sword : for Hazor leforetime was the head of all those kingdoms. But as for the cities that stood still in their strength,* Israel burned none of them, save Hazor only ; that did Joshua bum. Jos. xi. 1 — 13. We see here that “the head of all those king- doms ” was a strong city, seated on a hill, not far from a lake, called the Waters of Merom, and gene- rally considered to be the Lake Semochonitis of Josephus, and the Bahr-el-Houle of modern Pales- tine. The stronghold was probably situated either to the north or east of the lake. The Canaanites in this picture are clothed with a corslet, on which are quilted many transverse plates of metal; their arms are a long spear or lance, two * Or, “ that stood upon hills.” — LXX. and Vulg. GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 99 javelins, and a battle-axe ; it is remarkable that this last weapon is identical in form with that in use among the Egyptians, a form which would require considerable artistic skill to render it effective. As we have not observed this weapon in use among any of the other enemies, its presence here adds an item to the probability that this particular tribe had been in Egypt. Of the two figured in the following engraving, the more lengthened form is that of a specimen in Mr. Salt’s late collection ; the blade of which was of bronze, thirteen inches and a half long. by two inches and a half broad, fixed, at the points of contact, into a tube of silver, about two feet long, with pins of the same metal. A wooden handle originally passed through the whole length of the tube, secured by a pin at the bottom. The other semi-circular specimen is from the paintings, and represents the more general form. 100 ANCIENT EGYPT. We come now to speak of a people who take a very prominent part as the enemies of Egypt, from the reign of Sethos I. to that of Rameses IV., whose repeated struggles with the power of Egypt, which on one occasion they appear to have actually in- vaded, the magnitude of their armies, and particu- larly the large bodies of horse and chariots which they could muster, show them to have been a power- ful and warlike nation. Sir J. G. Wilkinson ob- serves,* that they “ had made considerable progress in military tactics, both with regard to mancemTes in the field, and the art of fortifying towns, some of which they surrounded with a double fosse. . . . Their troops appear to have been disciplined ; and the close array of their phalanxes of infantry, the style of their chariots, and the arms they used, indi- cate a great superioidty in military tactics, compared mth other eastern nations of that early period.” The name of this people is or the She- thites. Sir J. G. Wilkinson spells it “ Sheta,” and supposes the nation to have been the Scythians of profane witers, in which opinion he is joined by Rosellini. There is abundant reason, however, to believe that they were near neighbours of Egypt, inhabiting not the most remote part of Palestine ; and ]\Ir. Osburn has shown, by arguments, which to us appear quite conclusive, that they were the de- scendants of Lot, the nephew of Abraham. “ The nation of Sheta,” says Sir J. G. Wilkinson, f “ seems to have been composed of two distinct tribes, both comprehended under the same name, uniting in one * Man. and Gust, i. 381. t Ibid. i. 383. GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 101 common cause, and, probably, subject to the same government. They differed in costume and general appearance ; . . . . they both fought in cars, and used the same weapons ; and we even find they lived to- gether, or garrisoned the same towns.” The Am- monites and the Moabites appear, from the Sacred Scriptures, to have always been in amity, and very generally in alliance ; their relationship seeming to have been invariably recognised, not only by them- selves, but also by the surrounding nations. The Shethites of the Egyptian wars are fre- quently designated in the hieroglyphic inscriptions, as the jjeople inhabiting Khe-R’ba. The phonetic hieroglyphics which stand for the letters Khe, symbolically represent the word “hvice;” and hence Mr. Osburn conjectures that the name signifies “ the two Rabbahs ; ” the name of Rab- bah being given to the capital city of both Am- mon and Moab. But Mr. Birch objects to this reading, that the symbols in question never sig- nify two, but twice; and that when so used they are never prefixed to the word or sentence to be doubled, but always placed after it ; and that hence the name must be read as a whole, Kherba, and not “ Rabba twice.” We venture to suggest that it may be Kir-Rabbah. The word ”l'p, Kir, in most of the oriental languages signifies a walled city or fortress ; as Rab, signifies great. Both those terms were used, as we know on Sacred authority, as designa- tions of the Ammonite and Moabite cities. Thus we find the metropolis of the former called Rabbah- Ammon, and that of the latter Rabbath-Moab ; 102 ANCIENT EGYPT. while the terms Kir of Moab, Kir-heres, and Kir- hai'aseth, are applied indiscriminately to the same city. The words Khe-R’ba may not improbably, then, mean “ the great walled city.” The appellation of Sheth, as applied to the Moab- ites, is not unknown to the Sacred Writings ; se- veral examples occurring in the quotations we are about to make. Two or three of these are in the plural form, Shittim, the name given to extensive plains on the east of Jordan, apparently equivalent, or nearly so, "with the Plains of Moab. The other we find in the celebrated prophecy of Balaam, where, by an apposition extremely common in Hebrew poe- try, “ the corners [princes, marg.l of Moab ” evi- dently correspond to “ the children of Sheth,” as “ Jacob ” does to “ Israel,” and “ Edom ” to “ Seir,” in the same prediction. It may not be out of place to remark, that at the very time of this pro- phecy, Israel were “ abiding in their tents ” beneath the Seer’s eye, in the Plains of Shittim. It is interesting to observe the light thus cast upon the terms of a prediction, which has hitherto been considered not a little obscure.* * Should any think that the origin of these nations was too recent to permit their having become formidable by the reign of Sethos I., we would remind them of the recorded increase of the children of Israel. If we place the middle of the reign of Sethos about b. c. 1592, 305 years had elapsed since the birth of Ammon and Moab. Jacob and Esau were bom about sixty years later than they. Now after the lapse of 344 years, we know that the descendants of Jacob mustered upwards of 600,000 fighting men ; Esau (Edom) also had grown into a powerful nation. If, however, we allow only the same rate of increase to the two SJjethite nations together, as to the Israelites alone, we see that the objection is altogether groundless. GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 103 Before we begin to speak of the details which Egyptian records give us of these people, we extract a few of the passages in which they are spoken of in the Word of God : Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed ; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them : all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. Exod. xv. 15. And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon : for the border of the children o^ Ammon was strong. Num. xxi. 24. And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in the plains of Moab, on this side Jordan by Jericho And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. Num. xxii. 1 ; xxv. 1. I shall see him, but not now ; I shall behold him, but not nigh ; there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the comers of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. Num. xxiv. 17. And they pitched by Jordan from Beth-jesimoth, even unto Abel- shittim, [or, the Plains of Shittim, marg.] in the plains of Moab. Num. xxxiii. 49. For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants ; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron : is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? Deut. iii. 11. And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord ; and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm-trees. Judg. iii. 12, 13. And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel ; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. . . . And Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took »the royal city. And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, I have Yought against Rabbah, and have Xaker\ the city of waters. Now' there- fore gather the rest of the people together, and encamp against the city, and jke it : lest I take the city, and it be called after my name. And Davi* gathered all the people together, and went to Rabbah, and fought 10 ^ ANCIENT EGYPT. against it, and took it. And he took their king’s crown from off liis head, (the weight whereof was a talent of gold with the precious stones,) and it was set on David’s head : and he brought forth the spoil of the city in great abundance. 2 Sam. xi. 1 ; xii. 26 — 30. It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. . . . And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves together to askhelpof the Lord; even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. . . . And thej' rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wdldemess of Tekoa : and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said. Hear me, 0 Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem ; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established ; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness as they went out before the army, and to say. Praise the Lord ; for his mercy endureth for ever. And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambush- ments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah ; and they were smitten. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slaj' and destroy them : and when they had made an end of the in- habitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another. And when Judah came toward the watch-tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped. And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance, both riches with the dead bodies, and precious jewels, (which they stripped off for them- selves,) more than they could carry away : and they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much. 2 Chron. xx. 1 — 25. The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites ; of Moab, and the Hagarenes ; Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek ; the Philistines ; with the inhabitants of Tyre ; Assur also is joined with them : they have holpen the children of Lot. Ps. bcxxiii. 6 — 8. Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that have the comers of their hair polled, (marg.) that dwell in the wilderness. Jer. ix. 26. And it shall come to pass in that day, that . . a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley oiShittim* Joel^. 18. * Compare with Jer. xlviii. 17, and xlix. 6. GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 105 The confederated nations of Sheth appear to have first come into collision with the Egyptian arms in the latter part of the reign of Sethos I., for this is the last of his martial exploits recorded in the scenes of the immense painting at Karnak. He is stated in the inscription to have reached their land in ships, in which, doubtless, he crossed the Dead Sea, on the farther side of which the land of Ammon and Moab lay. In the battle-scene, a part of which we here represent, the Shethites use both chariots and ca- BATTLE WITH THE SHETHITES. valry. As the latter force is rarely represented in the Egyptian wars, its presence here is interesting. We know from Sacred Scripture, that the Ammonites, in the reign of David, by means of their alliance witli neighbouring Syrian princes, were able to bring into the field a large body of chariots, as also some horse. The cavaliers ride with a head-stall and bridle, much 106 ANCIENT EGYPT. resembling those in use among us, but without a saddle ; the knee is carried high, and each manages the rein with both hands. It is difficult to imagine, however, if this was ordinary, how they could have been of the slightest service in battle, if both hands were thus occupied. The riders and some of the others wear a close skuU-cap, with a long and slender feather in the crown : the hair carried either in a heavy bagging mass at the poll, or descending into a long point on each shoulder. The robe usually reaches to the ankle, but the riders have only a girdle and a sash. Their arms are the bow and quiver, a crooked rod (?), and an oblong shield, carried trans- versely. We shall mention only one other engagement wdth these nations, which took place in the fifth year of Raineses Meiamoun. From the elaborate manner in which it is depicted, and from its repetition, it seems to have been considered an affair of much importance. It appears that the Shethites had laid siege to a for- tress garrisoned by a people in alliance with Egypt, who had applied to Rameses for succour. The scene represents the Shethites in great force, investing the place, which is well fortified. A body of infantry drawn up in three close phalanxes of 8000 men each, before the walls of the besieged city, turn to receive the attack of the Egyptian king. The latter, how- ever takes the camp of the enemy, and raises the siege. The city which is depicted in this evidently im- portant action, is represented as standing on an island in the midst of a river, and is connected with the GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 107 shore by bridges. This would exactly agree with the singular position of the city Aroer, which we learn, from repeated notices in the Sacred Scriptures, was situated not far from Rabbah- Ammon, “ on the bank of the river Anion, the city that is in the midst of the river,” (Josh xiii. 9, 16, 25: 2 Sam. xxiv. 5 ; &c.) The same city is probably spoken of in 2 Sam. xii. 27, as “ the city of waters,” which was taken by Joab, while besieging Rabbah. It would indeed seem to have been closely connected with the metropolis, and to have contained the royal resi- dence ; yet in some way distinct from it, for while Joab had taken “ the royal city, — the city of waters,” it is plain from ver. 28 and 29, that Rabbah itself was not taken until the arrival of David with his people. It is not improbable that Raineses had seized this important place, and garrisoned it; and that it was with a view to recover their own, that the Shethites were now investing it. In this battle, the Shethites have very many cha- riots of various forms, but all different from those of Egypt. Their horses are of great beauty, and co- vered with embroidered housings of extraordinary richness ; their necks are adorned with several cloths of varying shapes, patterns, and hues, fastened by ornamental bandages. Perhaps “ the ornaments that were on the camels’ necks” of the neighbouring nation of Midian, at Gideon’s conquest, (Judg. viii. 21, 26,) may have been of this character. Con- trary to the Egyptian custom, the Shethites ride three in a chariot, but some are thrown out disabled. Many of the horses and men are transfixed with javelins. 108 ANCIENT EGYPT. The arms used by them are spears, and quivers, (but no bows are represented,) and shields, apparently of wicker, either square, or oblong with two opposite SHETHITE CHARIOTS. sides convex, and the other two coircave. The men mostly wear a thin garment with half-sleeves ; it is girded around the loins and reaches to the knees. GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 109 This is of flesh-colour, or of what was formerly known as nankeen. Over this is the open square robe, tied at the right shoulder, and passing under the left arm. It is of rich colours, but usually plain, PORTRAIT OF A SHETHITE CAPTIVE. with an embroidered border. The beard is slight, (in other pictures it is copious,) but the moustaches are worn long. The hair of the head is shaven in various fantastic fashions ; in some it is shaven from the crown forward, in others from the crown back- ward. The camp represents such a varied scene as one would expect to And in such circumstances. Heaps of baggage lie scattered about upon the ground ; cattle and horses are mingled with men carrying bur- dens, scales for weighing, and other implements ; tradesmen are engaged in various handicrafts, uncon- 110 ANCIENT EGYPT. scious of the presence of the Egyptian soldiery, who, at one end, ha\dng forced the defences, are rusliing in, destroying all before them. Without doing more than alluding to other names, which with greater or less probability we may recog- nize in the Egyptian paintings and sculptures, such as a maritime people, probably the same as Tarshish, Iiecyoe^, or Meshech, and the peE.^, an indomitable Asiatic nation, who were perhaps the Arabs, — we may briefly inquire wdiether there are not traces of yet another people interesting to us from Scriptural association. We refer to Sheba, the queen of which country paid so pleasing a homage to the divine wisdom of King Solomon. The fol- lowing quotations put us in possession of the chief of the information which the Sacred Word affords us of this people. And when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove Solomon wth hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great company, and camels that bare spices, and pold in abundance, and precious sto7ies: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. And Solomon told her all her questions : and there was nothing hid from Solomon which he told her not. And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, and the meat of his tobie, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel ; his cup-bearers also, and their apparel ; and his ascent by which he went up into the house of the Lord ; there was no more spirit in her. And she said to the king. It was a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom ; howbeit I believed not their words, un- til I came, and mine et'es had seen it ; and, behold, the one half of the GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. Ill greatness of fhy wisdom was not told me ; for thou exceedest the fame that I heard. Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom. Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, to be king for the Lord thy God ; because thy God loved Israel, to esta- blish them for ever, therefore made he thee king over them, to do judg- ment and justice. And she gave the king an hundred and tieenty talents of gold, and of spices great abundance, and precious stones ; neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave king Solomon. 2 Chron. ix. 1 — 9. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents : the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba. Ps. Ixxii. 10 — 15. All they from Sheba shall come ; they shall bring gold and incense ; and they shall shew forth the praises of the Lord. Isa. lx. 6. To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country ? your burnt-offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me. Jer. vi. 20. The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants ; they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold. Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants. These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchan- dise. Ezek. xxvii. 22 — 24. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment wfith this genera- tion, and shall condemn it : for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon ; and behold, a greater than Solomon is here. Matt. xii. 42. Much difference of opinion has existed, whether the Sheba of these passages was in Arabia or Abys- sinia; but the probability is, that both opinions are correct ; that its chief seat was at the southernmost extremity of Arabia, but that its territory extended, across the Straits of Babelmandeb, which are there very narrow, along the border of Abyssinia. “ Those U2 ANCIENT EGYPT. who think this people came from Arabia, rely, first, on the general consent, that there are Sabeans or Cushites in Arabia. This princess was queen of Sheba or Cush, and Ethiopia. Secondly, Arabia is south of Judea. Thirdly, Arabia Felix may well be placed at the ‘ uttermost part of the earth,’ because it borders on the Southern Ocean, and formerly they knew no land beyond it. Fourthly, Arabia abounds in gold, silver, precious stones, and spices, which cannot be conveniently said of Merde. Arabian tradition says, that Queen Balkis came from the city of Sheba, otherwise Marib in Yemen.* We may add that the LXX. render the word Sheba, in two of the passages quoted above, by “ Arabia,” and “ the Arabs.” On the following page is a portion of a procession bringing tribute to Thothmes III. The figures in the original paintmg are more numerous, but our space compels us to be content with a selection. The bearers are men of a dark red complexion ; they wear the hair long, hanging in ringlets half down the back and shoulders, with a few httle upright curls upon the forehead. They are quite distinct from the African Cush, who form another procession in the same picture.f They wear short tunics and high boots, both of linen, most elaborately and beautifully embroidered in patterns of blue and scarlet, all diverse; “rivalling in variety and elegance,” ob- serves Mr. Hoskins, “ the chintz morning dresses of our modern belles.” The first (in the original) carries * Calmet, voce Sheba. t See page 38. TRIBUTE PROM SHEBA. 114 ANCIENT EGYPT. a gold vase and an ivory tooth ; as the latter is the only specimen, and as it is broken, it was probably rare. The others bear vessels of gold and silver, of exquisite beauty, some of which hold flowers, (pro- bably artificial ; square packages, perhaps answering to the “ chests of rich apparel and vases of porce- lain. One hears a red pitcher of no beauty, probably containing incense ; others have bags, which may also carry incense or gums. One bears a large chain of blue and crimson precious stones alternating with gold beads; one a string of blue gems, and one a broadsword (?) of gold. The heap of treasure already deposited consists of pretty baskets of silver ingots and rings, and one of a blue substance in powder, which may be indigo, or pounded incense; — large and elegant vessels of silver and gold ; bottles- of coloured glass ; and the heads of several animals wrought in gold and silver ; one of these is very in- teresting, as indicating a communication with India ; the head of a cock wrought in gold, the comb and wattles being of a bright scarlet. We know that Arabia was in very early times the medium of communication between India and Egypt, so that it is not necessary to identify all these pro- ductions with one region. The porcelain, if not the ivory, was probably the I’esult of eastern traffic, and seems to point even as far as to China. The ancient writers speak in the most extravagant terms of the riches and luxury of the Arabian Sa- beans. Arrian, in the Periplus, mentions their embroidered mantles, their murrhine vases, their ves- sels of gold and silver, elegantly wrought, their GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 115 girdles, armlets, and other female ornaments. Strabo speaks of their bracelets and necklaces, made of gold and pellucid gems arranged alternately ; as well as their cups and their domestic utensils, all composed of the same precious metals, which, we are assured, were so abundant, that gold was but thrice the value of brass, and only twice that of iron, while silver was reckoned ten times more valuable than gold; their mountains producing the latter metal in vast quanti- ties nearly in a pure state, and in lumps, varying from the size of an olive to that of a nut. It is then highly probable that the procession thus depicted, corresponded, in the persons who composed it, the dresses which they wore, and the commodities which they presented, to that which, seven hundred years afterward, accompanied the Queen of the South with royal gifts to Solomon. But this is put almost beyond doubt by the hieroglyphic name which is inscribed over the head of the procession. This name reads which let- ters correspond very nearly to the Hebrew , Shva, or Sheba. In all these illustrations of ancient nations which we are able to identify, we find nothing contra- * The power of the letter cr is involved in some obscurity : Dr. Hincks (On the Letters of the Hieroglyphic Alphabet, p. 75,) considers it as having had a sound answering to our ch in the word church. (See the same treatise, p. 78, for the value of the basin, and p. 70 for that of the horned serpent.) 116 ANCIENT EGYPT. dictory, but many things, (minute it is true, but therefore indubitable,) confirmatory of the accounts given of them in the W ord of God ; thus showing that those accounts are no forgeries of a later age, but were written with actual and personal acquaint- ance with the people and things described. And, doubtless, if the remains of Egyptian antiquity were in a state of higher preservation, and the study of their inscriptions more advanced, many more illustra- tions might be found, which are at present unsus- pected. And how interesting it is to look upon actual portraits {national if not individual portraits) of the people with whose names we have been so familiar, to see them in their usages, their costumes, and their arms, thus drawn with fidelity from the life. 117 HISTORY. The detailed annals of Egypt in lier earliest ages, could not fail, on many accounts, to be full of intense interest. But her connexion with the family which God had chosen for himself, first as a kind foster- parent, and then as a tyrannical oppressor, would always form, to a Christian, the chief attraction to the study. Egypt was the school in which the young people of God was educated ; and though the train- ing was sharp and severe, the discipline was fitted for its purpose by divine, and therefore unerring, wisdom, while at the same time, it was tempered by watchful mercy. “When Israel was a child, then I loved him.” (Hos. xi. 1.) “ When the children of Israel first migrated into Egypt, that country had long enjoyed the blessing of a settled government, which was continued to it during the usurpation of the shepherd kings ; who framed, improved, and administered the excellent laws which seem to have existed in some form in Egypt from its first establishment as a monarchy, and the wisdom of which excited the admiration of the Greek authors many ages afterwards. Moreover, the Egyptians were a warlike race ; well able to defend their own frontier. * * * * Thus guarded by her laws from intestine tumults, and by 118 ANCIENT EGYPT. her situation and the military prowess of her inha- bitants from foreign invasion [to a great extent] ; the history of Egypt is marked by longer periods of internal tranquillity and prosperity than that of any other primitive kingdom; and the happy consequence of it was, that early and rapid advance in all the use- ful and ornamental arts of social life, which made her the cradle of the civilization of the ancient world. “ The Israelites dwelt in the midst of this most cultivated and industrious people for [nearly two hundred and fifty] years ; first as sojourners, after- wards as captives : it was there, apparently, that they acquired that knowledge of, and skill in the various arts of settled and civilized life, which prepared and fitted them afterwards for developing, to their full extent, the resources of the land of promise ; arts which must necessarily have been unknown to wan- dering tribes of shepherds. This, doubtless, was one purpose of the divine mercy which the captivity in Egypt was made to subserve.” * Interesting, however, as the earliest annals of this renowned land would be, they are still involved, and probably will remain veiled, in the obscurity of the most vague tradition ; tradition, which at its best, extends not beyond the preservation of a few names, and still fewer incidents, spread, with many gaps of total oblivion, over a wide period of time. The kings who reigned before the conquest of Egypt by Cambyses, which happened about five centuries be- fore the birth of our Lord, are arranged by Manetho Antiq. of Egypt, Rel. Tr. Soc. HISTORY. 119 in twenty-six dynasties ; but it is not until we arrive at the sixteenth or seventeenth of these, that any available light is thrown upon the history by the monuments which have come down to the present time, and which must be, in conjunction with what we find in the word of God, the only source of infor- mation on which we can rest with confidence. Some tablets, however, exist, which profess to be genealo- gical lists of the predecessors of the king in whose honour they were executed. The most valuable of these is that known as the Tablet of Abydos, from having formed part of the wall of a temple situated near that city. This important document is now in the Egyptian Saloon of the British Museum. It is in a mutilated condition, having probably suffered by the act of removal. It consists of three rows of royal ovals, containing the inaugural titles of the ancient Kings of Egypt, arranged in the order of their suc- cession. The lowest row is occupied only by the name and title of Raineses Meiamun, in whose ho- nour, doubtless, the tablet was engraved. His two ovals were repeated at least twelve times, but several of these are now wanting. The middle series con- tains seventeen or eighteen ovals of as many mon- archs who preceded him, and the upper line, which is very defective, comprises names of an earlier epoch. Those names which can be identified, con- firm, in a very satisfactory manner, the accuracy of Manetho. Other tablets of less extent, have added a few names to this list ; and some papyri have con- tributed important information on the same subject. A hieratic papyrus, in the Museum of Turin, con- 120 ANCIENT EGYPT. tains a more copious list of kings, whose names are arranged in historical order. From all these sources, though they do not ex- actly agree, we may yet with some degree of con- fidence gather, that from Menes, the first king of Egypt, probably a son of Mizraim, there reign- ed about forty monarchs, through a period of about 700 years, until the commencement of the sixteenth dynasty. The most important events that have been preserved of this long succession, are the erection of the three great pyramids of Memphis, which are ascribed by Manetho respectively to Suphis I. Suphis II. and Mencheres, the first three sove- reigns of the fourth dynasty. The information thus obtained is confirmed by monumental inscriptions found either within or in close j^roximity to, the respective pyramids : the hieroglyphic names read- ing ^OTCJCJO Sufo, ^qpH Shfre, (agreeing better with the name Cephren, given as the builder of the second pyramid by Herodotus) and nHItKn2 (Phrah)'is the Egj-ptian word c[)pK, pronounced Phra, signify- ing the sun, and represented in hieroglyphics by the hawk and globe, or sun, over the royal banners. It was as the glorious chief of the heavenly bodies, enlightening, warming, and fructifying the earth, that the sun became the emblem of the monarch. HISTORY. 135 The Sacred History gives us little information thence until the enslaving of the Israelites by a “ new king that knew not Joseph.” * It has been generally presumed that this event did not take place for a long period after Joseph’s death. This inference does not follow from the terms of the sacred narrative. It seems pretty clear (from Exod. i. 11, 12, 14, 20) that the bondage had gone on increas- ing in rigour for a considerable space of time before the marriage of the parents of Moses, which event, (deduced from the age of Miriam,) must have taken place at least ninety years before the Exodus. Doubtless, Joseph, for some time before his death, at the advanced age of one hundred and ten years, had resigned the cares of office, and lived in privacy and retirement ; and indeed the terms of condolence in which, before his decease, he addresses his bre- thren, — “ God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land,” — appear to intimate that the popu- larity of the Hebrew strangers was waning, and that they already had begun to be looked upon with jea- lousy and distrust. The “ new king,” in conferring with his people on the expediency of reducing the Hebrews to slavery, founds his cruel policy on the fear, that “ when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.” (Exod. i. 10.) Sevei’al facts are implied in this address : First, that the strangers were not corn- * Lord Prudhoe considers that this “ new king” was Rameses I. (See Wilk. i. 78.) 136 ANCIENT EGYPT. fortable where they were, but desired to return to Canaan. Secondly, that their sympathies were not likely to be with the Egyptians, but with their enemies, which, of itself implies existing alienation and jealousy. Thirdly, that war did not at present exist, nor had existed since this alienation had been manifested. Fourthly, that war was, however, viewed as not unlikely to happen ; perhaps we might say, impending. Fifthly, that when it did occur, it would be on the north-eastern frontier, otherwise it could in nowise assist Israel, dwelling in Goshen, to escape to their own land. The annals of Egypt confirm these deductions. “ Rameses I.,” observes Sir Gardner Wilkinson,* “ has left little to elucidate the history of the era in which he lived, nor does he appear to have been con- spicuous for any successes abroad, or the encourage- ment of the arts at home. It is probable that both he and his predecessor were pacific monarchs, and to this neglect of their foreign conquests we may ascribe the rebellion of the neighbouring provinces of Syria, which Osirei [Sethos I.] was called upon to quell in person on his accession to the throne.” The immediate result of the subjection of the Hebrews was the employment of them in the erec- tion of “ treasure-cities, Pithom and Raamses.” Whatever doubt may exist as to the application of the former of these appellations, f there can be none as to the latter being the name of the Pharaoh under whom it was erected. But he whom we have sup- * Man. and Cust. i. 61. t Mr. Osburn (Anc. Egy. p. 60) supposes Pitbom to be Damietta. TRIUMPHAL RETURN OF SETHOS. 138 ANCIENT EGYPT. posed to be the “ new king,” was the first known monarch who bore this name. The war feared by Raineses I. soon broke out. No sooner had the vigorous Sethos ascended the throne of his ancestors, than, as we have seen, he marched in person into Canaan, and, after many engagements, succeeded in subduing for the present his turbulent neighboiu’s. Defeated, but not yet broken, how- ever, those warlike nations seized the occasion of tliis powerful Pharaoh’s death to rekindle the flame of war, imposing on his successor, Rameses II. the necessity of imitating his example, by leading the Egyptian forces to battle, and awing his Canaanitish enemies into subjection. But again, we find them taking up arms on his decease ; and it was in hard- fought battles with the chivalry of Canaan that the renowned Sesostris earned his military glory. Now we may well imagine, that to reduce a numerous people from freedom to slavery, and to retain them in that condition, w’ould require, at least until their spirit was broken, and the yoke was become familiar. In one of the triumphs of Sethos I., the successor of this “ new king,” is represented his victorious return to a fortified town built on both sides of a branch of the Nile, close to its mouth. The name of the totvn is in- scribed upon it, riT” HHT. “ It is impossible,” says Mr. Osbum, “ not to recognise the name of the city at the mouth of the Phathmetic branch of the Nile, which is written in the Coptic books, and which it still retains with but little variation, — Damietta." The word n’T^U (P’thm) signifies “the Key;” its application probably denoting, that this city was the key -city of Egypt on the north-eastern frontier. Lord Prudhoe considers the name to have been one of the titles of Rameses Mei-amun ; whose “ prefix was compounded of Pi, ‘ the,’ and Thne, ‘justice.’” HISTORY. 139 the resources and energy of powerful and warlike princes ; and such, in an eminent degree, were the three Pharaohs whom we have just noticed.* At the same time, had the war been prosecuted on any other frontier, the absence and distance of the monarch and his army might have invited the attempt to revolt. But as it was, the scene of war being the very home of the Israelitish slaves, any attempt to escape would, even if so far successful, have carried them into the very presence of Pharaoh and his legions. From the book of Exodus as well as from the Psalms, we learn, that, while the toil required of the Hebrew bondmen was very various, it principally consisted of labours connected with building. “ And the Egj'ptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour : and they made their lives hitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in bride, and in all manner of service in the field ; all their service wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.” Exod. i. 13, 14. “ And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying. Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore ; let them go and gather straw for themselves.” Exod. V. 6, 7- “ the land of Egypt, where I heard a language that I under- stood not. I removed his shoulder from the burden ; his hands were delivered from the pots (or mortar-baskets)." Ps. Ixxxi. 6. “ Though ye have lien among the pots, — .” Ps. Ixviii. 1 3. * The Canaanite wars of these three Pharaohs seem to us to afford conclusive evidence that the Exodus could not have occurred just before tlie reign of Rameses I., as supposed by Mr. Cory in his interesting “Chronological Inquiry;” else the most eminent campaigns of Rameses III., and the conquests of Joshua would have been occurring in the same country at the same time. The wars of Rameses IV., also, can hardly be imagined to have taken place in the times of the Judges. CAPTIVES MAKING BRICKS. HISTORY. 141 So large a body of people employed for so long a period in labours connected with architecture, could not fail to have a very marked influence in increasing the number of public ediflces of their era ; and that, whether the Hebrews were the architects, or merely the brickmakers ; for, of course, the bricks were used. Accordingly, the architectural remains of these three Egyptian monarchs, notwithstanding their military character, far exceed in number, as well as in magni- ficence, those of any other similar period. The accompanying engraving, though familiar, probably, to some of our readers, is of too interest- ing a character to be omitted. It is a representation of foreigners making bricks, copied from the tomb of Rek-share, chief architect under Pharaoh Thothmes III. An inscription at the top of the picture inti- mates that these are “ captives brought by his ma- jesty to build the temple of the great God and an- other behind the kneeling labourer states that “ the bricks are intended for a building at Thebes.” We fear that we can hardly consider this an actual repre- sentation of the Hebrew bondmen at their toil, the era of Rek-shar6 being too early ; unless some of the embellishments of his tomb were added by his de- scendants many years after his death. In that case the allusion to Thothmes III. might merely record the period of the introduction of the “ captives,” ignorantly, or perhaps wilfully, distorting their posi- tion and character at that time. The circumstance of the scene being laid at Thebes, where also the tomb itself was situated, would not, as some have thought, be conclusive against its appli- 142 ANCIENT EGYPT. cation to the Hebrews, since they were doubtless widely distributed through the empire, in gangs or companies, though probably their homes were still in Goshen. "Whether this be intended as a picture of Hebrew slavery or not, there can be no doubt that we have in it a vivid representation of the condition to which they were reduced. The sad countenances of the toilworn bondmen, absorbed in the sordid occupation from which they dare not lift an eye, their shoulders bending under the “ burden,” their hands engaged in filling and carrying the “ pots,” their faces unsha- ven and neglected, their bodies and limbs smeared and splashed with the miry clay, and, more than all, the stout staff in the hand of the stern Egyptian who over- looks the labour, show how truly “ all their serHce, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour." ” The group of Egyptians to the right of the pic- ture* affords also a confirmation of the literal correct- ness of the inspired narrative, and of the uniformity of all things in Egypt. We read in Exod. v. that when Moses and Aaron had been before Pharaoh, he said ‘ Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens. And Pharaoh commanded the same day the task- masters of the people, and their officers, saying. Ye shall no more give the people sti’aw to make brick, as heretofore : let them go and gather straw for themselves. And the tale of bricks which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them ; ye shall not diminish ought thereof.’ In consequence of this * The lowest compartment in our engraving. HISTORY. 145 arbitrary order ‘ the taskmasters hasted them, saying, Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw. And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded. Wherefore have ye not ful- filled your task in making brick, both yesterday and to-day, as heretofore ? ’ (Exod. v. 6 — 14.) The pic- ture before us shows that this cruel mode of proce- dure had always been the practice during the bond- age in Egypt. Two of the Egyptian officers over the [slaves], sufficiently distinguished from them by their head-dresses and complexions, are compelled, by the blows of the taskmasters over them, to bear tliemselves the vessels of clay and the brick-yoke, and to complete the work which they had failed to exact from the captives entrusted to their charge. That these men had Hot come forth to labour, is sufficiently indicated by the right-hand figure with the yoke, who having not taken up his burden, has not yet girt his loins like his companions, and all the other labourers in the picture, and also according to tire invariable practice of the East, but still wears his dress loose, after the fashion of the officer who is sitting in the centre with the baton, and of the supe- rior taskmaster, who is represented as beating the officei', his companion.”* Moses, when exposed by his parents, was found by Pharoah’s daughter, and nourished for her own son. In conformity with this, we find that Raineses III. had three daughters, beside many sons ; and as at Moses’ birth this monarch’s reign had al- * Antiq. of Egypt, p. 221. 144 ANCIENT EGYPT. ready lasted thirty years, there is every probability that a considerable portion of his family were at that time grown up, and settled in life. The successor of Raineses the Great was his thir- teenth son, and as with him the dynasty became extinct,* we infer that no other member of the family survived their father but this son. Pthah-men- Septhah, the next monarch, was of another family. But Moses w'as living; and as he was the acknow- ledged heir of Pharaoh’s daughter, and as no law in Egypt precluded the female line from succession to the throne, he must have been, on the accession of Pthah-men-Septhah, the heir-apparent to the Egyptian sceptre. Hence it became necessary for him at once formally to resign his pretensions, or to assume the place and state of a prince-expectant. He hesitated not to make his election ; but it was one which, in the estimation not only of the grandees of Egypt, but of the wise of this world in all ages, was marked by extreme folly. He chose to be a despised He- brew bondman ; animated by that divine principle which “ seeth the invisible.” The apostle tells us what the principle was that guided his act, and shows us also the estimation in wdiich his choice was held by God. “ By faith Moses, w’hen he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharoah’s daughter ; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season ; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt : for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.” f * Wilkinson, Man. and Cust. i. 75. + Heb. xi. 24 — 26. HISTORY. 145 The reigns of the first two monarchs of the nine- teenth dynasty were obscure and inglorious, and the similarity of their names and that of the Pharaoh who preceded them, has caused some confusion and difficulty in placing them aright in the genealogical tables. If their correct position and relative duration are rightly assigned in the preceding table (and w'e think they cannot be far wrong), we may perhaps dis- cern the force of the assurance which the Lord gave to Moses, when about to send him on his message of deliverance to Israel ; “ And the Lord said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt ; for all the men are dead which sought thy life.” (Exod. iv. 19.) Compare with this Exod. ii. 23, “ And it came to pass, in process of time, that the king of Egypt died ; and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and their cry came up unto God, by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant.” We gather from these passages that more than one man sought the life of Moses, and infer that one of them was the king of Egypt, who had recently died when the Lord appeared to His servant. Now the immediate cause of the flight of Moses into Midian was the vindic- tive intention of the Pharaoh then reigning, conse- quent on the deliverance of an Israelite from an Egyptian oppressor. “ Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses.” (Exod. ii. 15.) But this prince had been dead twenty years when the word of the Lord came to Moses. What ground of anger or malice could his successor have against the exiled Hebrew, so that he too must be removed H 146 ANCIENT EGYPT. before Moses could return with safety? We pre- sume the cause %vas the jealousy always attendant upon a doubtful succession. The founder of the new dynasty, aware that the true heir to the Egyptian throne still lived, though he had resigned his claims, doubtless felt insecure, and trembled lest, repenting of his choice, he should return, be joined by some party of “ legitimists,” and, even if not successful, give him much trouble. Nothing has been more common in the East than for a monarch, on ascend- ing the throne, to put to death every indmdual from whom the most distant rival claim might be antici- pated. Much more probably would this cruel policy prevail in the insecurity of an unestablished dynasty. This monarch then, after a reign of nineteen years,* had not long been removed by death, when Jehovah recals his servant to lead his people out of ” the House of bondage.” Osirei-men-phthah, then, we presume to have been the Pharaoh of the Exodus ; that proud-hearted man who dared to set himself up in open opposition and defiance to the King of kings and Lord of lords, and became a terrible example of the punitive justice of Almighty God. After a series of most awful and desolating plagues, ending in the midnight destruction of every first-born in the land of Egypt, the host of Israel marched forth, and were madly pursued by the haughty monarch and his ai'my into the heart of the sea ; “ even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.” Then “ the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the M. ChampoUion-Figeac. L’Univers. — Egypie. p. 343. HISTORY. 147 host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them : there remained not so much as one of them.” (Exod. xiv. 23 , 28.) It is a remarkable fact that the tomb of this prince was never finished. The first bas-reliefs are executed with admirable skill, but the rest were merely traced in red chalk, and so remain.* If we might infer from this that he never occupied the sepulchre he had begun to prepare, it would be a strong confirmation of the presumption that this was the monarch who perished in the Red Sea. From Manetho we learn, though his account is strangely confused and mingled with error, that ano- ther invasion of the Shepherds took place on the departure of the childi’en of Israel ; that they suc- ceeded in conquering Egypt, and maintained their dominion for thirteen years. “ Nothing,” observes Mr. Osburn, “ is more probable, than that a warlike and powerful race, like the Canaanites, should take advantage of the deeply impoverished and exhausted state in which their hereditary enemies would be left by the fearful events of the Exodus. There would also seem to be some foundation of truth for Mane- tho’s statement, that they were joined by a powerful faction in Egypt. Remerri may have been the head of this faction, whom the conquerors placed upon the throne of the Pharaohs for the better security of their ascendancy. He was also of the blood-royal ; for, like Si-phtha, he claims to be descended from Sethos. His successor adopts him as his father, pro- Champollion-Figeac. Egypte. p. 343. 148 ANCIENT EGYPT. bably because he was successful. Misfortune with the Pharaohs was infamy.’’ * According to Manetho, the king Amenophath, (probably the same as Osirei-men-phthah,) was driven from his throne and country by the victorious Shep- herds, and died in exile. His infant son, Raineses, accompanying him, was sheltered in Nubia for thir- teen years, at the end of which period he appeared again in Egypt with a strong army, defeated the Shepherds after a severe struggle, and drove them to the bounds of Syria. Some of the events of the wars prosecuted by this prince in his enemies’ country, have already come before us. He appears to have emulated the achievements of his illustrious predecessors of the eighteenth dynasty, nor to have been satisfied until he had reduced the Canaanitish tribes to submission. These struggles were going on during the forty years of Israel’s wanderings in the desert, and doubtless, in the providence of God, were one means of hum- bling the pride and breaking the power of those warlike nations, before the arrival of their Hebrew invaders. We know what a vigorous and determined resistance they were still able to make, a resistance which a mightier arm than Joshua’s was necessary to subdue ; and we may thus acquire a somewhat ade- quate idea of the martial power and resources which had coped with Egypt’s most illustrious princes through centuries of warfare, and yet had come out of the contest so little scathed. We have said that the names of the Canaanitish * Ancient Eg}'pt. p. 94. HISTORY. 149 nations appear no more on the Egyptian monuments. The long hereditary enmity which had subsisted through so many dynasties, which neither the lapse of time, nor the force of arms, could quench, sud- denly, in the very height of its rage, ceases, and that for ever ! And at what period ? in the reign of a monarch who is contemporary with Joshua. At the very epoch when, divinely led, the Hebrew wanderers march into the land of Promise ; and, as the ministers of God, execute his righteous ven- geance against nations whose “ iniquity is full,” and utterly destroy their national existence. We need make no comments on these facts. They exhibit not the coincidence of accident, but the coincidence of truth. Should any of our readers feel disappointed that no sculptures or paintings have been found comme- morating the departure of the Israelites, or events connected with it, — we would ask, could they be rea- sonably expected? The uniform object of every public record yet found, is the aggrandisement of the reigning Pharaoh, the exaltation of his personal glory, the flattering of his vanity. Events which had no tendency to do this would be studiously con- cealed. We have already alluded to the absurd egotism, even to the extent of ludicrous impos- sibility, displayed in the battle scenes, the triumphs, &c. Now the incidents of the Exodus were, with- out exception, of an opposite character. They were the details of a contest between the God of the Hebrews and the gods of Egypt (Exod. xii. 12.), in which Jehovah received only glory, and the idols 150 ANCIENT EGYPT. nothing but shame. What Egyptian would wsh to perpetuate the memory of this ? Nearly the same cause will account also for the absence of all allusion to the part that Joseph had in the prosperity of the nation. Kings are proverbially ungrateful to their subjects: allusions to the wealth that poured into the colfers of Thothmes are not wanting, but they are recorded for Thothmes’ own glory, and not for that of the vizier under whose administration it was accumulated. Officers of rank and consideration did, it is true, find means to hand dowTi their own history to posterity, to write their own illustrious annals, hut it was on the walls of their tombs, and at their own expense. Joseph had no permanent tomb in Egypt; “ By faith Joseph when he died, made mention of the departing of the chil- dren of Israel ; and gave commandment concerning his bones.” (Heb. xi. 22.) He was put in a coffin in Egypt, waiting the moment when God should visit his people, and his bones should lie with his fathers’. Nor, if he had occupied a sepulchre in Egypt, can we for a moment suppose that he would have adorned it with the incidents of his own life, like the idolaters among whom he lived. For Joseph was one of the children of God; and sought not his own glory. (See Gen. xli. 16.) On the whole then, the omission of any direct and purposed records of the presence of Israel in Egypt, other than such as would glorify Egyptian nationality, is so far from a thing to be lamented, that it could not be other- wise. Of the expedition which a king of Egypt had HISTORY. 151 undertaken against Gezer, an unsubdued city in Ephraim, for the purpose of giving it as a present to his daughter, the wife of Solomon, the monuments have preserved no record that has been yet found. But in the reign of Rehoboam, the son and successor of Solomon, there was a hostile invasion of the land of Judea, which is commemorated by the Egyptian historians. It is thus announced in the Sacred Annals : — And it came to pass, when Rehohoam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him. And it came to pass, that in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the Lord, with twelve hundred chariots, and three-score thousand horsemen ; and the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt ; the Lubims, the Sukkiims, and the Ethiopians. And he took the fenced cities which pertained to Judah, and came to Jerusalem. Then came Shemaiah the prophet to Rehoboam, and to the princes of Judah, that were gathered together to Jerusalem be- cause of Shishak, and said unto them. Thus saith the Lord, Ye have for- saken me, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak. Whereupon the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves ; and they said, The Lord is righteous. And when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying. They have humbled themselves ; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance : and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. Nevertheless they shall be his servants ; that they may know my service, and the service of the king- doms of the countries. So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jeru- salem, and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house ; he took all ; he carried away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made. 2 Chron. xii. 1 — 9. The first king of the twenty-second dynasty is named by Manetho, Sesonchis ; or, as it is written in the hieroglyphics, Sheshonk; some of 152 ANCIENT EGYPT. whose achievements were recorded on the walls of the palace at Karnak. Little of these pictures is preserved that is intelligible : that little, however, includes a very interesting confirmation of the in- spired nari’ative. The monarch presents his captives, bound to a stake, to the idol of the temple, in the usual manner ; and seizing them by the hair, prepares SYMBOL OF Jl’DAH. (symbolically ?) to strike off their heads at a blow. In another scene, he leads a symbolic procession of HISTORY. 153 figures, intended to represent the places which he had subdued, or whose names could in any wa}" be intro- duced to swell the importance of his triumph. To each figure is attached an oval or cartouche, inscribed with the name in hieroglyphics of the town or district it represents. About thirty of these are legible ; and there are several more which are mutilated or de- faced. The most important is that which we here copy, though it is not marked by any prominence, or distinguished at all from the other names. The in- scription reads loudah-malek, doubt- less intended for ni'lIT' the king of Judah. It is associated with names approaching in sound to Shunem, Mahanaim, Canaan, Beth-horon, Gaddim, Megiddo, Bethlehem, and others, which are recog- nisable with some considerable probability as Israel- itish names. It is to be regretted, that, from the dilapidated state of the wall, the inscriptions accom- panying these scenes cannot be read. Though it would he going too far, probably, to consider the above figure as an actual portrait of Rehoboam, we may safely affirm that the lineaments of the national countenance are carefully pourtrayed ; and that the form of the beard, and of the head-dress, are strictly those of the time and the people. We know from the Scripture, that the beard was worn long among the people of Israel, as among the mo- dern orientals, contrary to the practice of the Egyp- tians, who always shaved. An interesting illustration of the remarkable deli- verance of Judah from the blasphemous Sennacherib, is furnished by the monumental records, and by pro- 154 ANCIENT EGYPT. fane history. The inspired narrative is doubtless familiar to our readers. Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them. And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended ; return from me : that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king’s house. At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pil- lars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria. And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rab-shakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the up- per pool, which is in the highway of the fuller’s field. And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder. And Rab-shakeh said unto them. Speak ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, AVhat confidence is this wherein thou trastest ? Thou sayest, (but they are but vain words,) I have counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebeUest against me ? Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it wiU go into his hand, and pierce it : so is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto aU that trust on him So Rab-shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah : for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee : he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assj-ria And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, 0 Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth ; thou hast made heaven and earth. Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear : open. Lord, thine eyes, and see : and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the HISTORY. 155 living God Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city', saith the Lord. For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake. And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand : and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. 2 Kings, xviii. 13, — xix. 35. The preceding narrative seems to imply, that a defensive alliance subsisted between Hezekiah and Pharaoh the king of Egypt ; but the king, who really came out against the invader, was a king of Ethiopia. The well-known fact that these two coun- tries were at times under the same monarchs, would itself remove any difficulty on this score, but, in the present case, we are not left to probabilities. “ We have the authority,” observes Mr. Hoskins, “ of the monuments of Ethiopia, that Tirhaka (W^pK) was king over that country, and his name, fortunately, still remains on a pylon of a temple at Medinet Abou, and other places at Thebes, to corroborate the testimony of Manetho, that he was also king of Egypt.” * In a legend reported by Herodotus f from Egyp- tian traditions, there is a very manifest allusion to the fact recorded in the Sacred Text. He tells us, that a prince named Sethos, who swayed the sceptre of Lower Egypt while Tirhaka reigned over the * Travels in Ethiopia, p. 298. t Herod, ii. 141, 156 ANCIENT EGYPT. Thebais and Ethiopia, had heen a priest of Pthah ; and being more attentive to religious observances than to the affairs of the state, neglected the soldiery and dispensed with their services, committing the defence of his kingdom to the gods. The approach of Sennacherib with a powerful army to invade Egypt, aroused the Egyptian king to a sense of his danger, but his indignant soldiers now refused the aid which had been formerly contemned, and in this dilemma the priest-king prostrated himself before the shrine of his god to invoke his aid. Falling into a deep sleep, the god appeared to him in a dream, and encouraged him to march against the enemy without an army, promising needful assistance. Thus encouraged, without a single soldier, and at- tended only by a feeble body of artisans, he boldly advanced to Pelusium, the frontier town of Egypt, and met the foe. ^V^lile the two ill-matched armies were encamped in sight of each other, a prodigious host of rats, says the story, infested the Assyrian camp during the night, and gnawed in pieces their quivers and bows, and the handles of their shields ; so that in the morning, finding themselves in a de- fenceless condition, they fled in panic, and lost a great number of men. To commemorate this deli- verance, the historian adds, a marble statue of Sethos was erected, bearing a rat in his hand, with the following inscription : — “ Whoever thou art, learn from my example to fear the gods.” We cannot fail to recognise the origin of this story. The national vanity of the Egyptian priests, or the misunderstanding of the Greek visitor, has, it HISTORY. 157 is true, transferred the scene from the Jewish metro- polis to the Egyptian frontier, and made the hero an Egyptian king ; hut the piety of the monarch, his con- fidence in divine protection, his despair of human aid, his appeal to God, the responsive assurance of miracu- lous interposition, and the destruction of the enemy's power in the dead of the night by an unseen agency, are marks which, combined with the preservation of the time of the event, and the name and nation of the foe, leave not a trace of doubt on our minds, that the venerable Greek has here preserved a tradi- tion of Hezekiah’s wondrous deliverance, though a little warped by the medium through which it has been transmitted. 158 ANCIENT EGYPT. STATE OF SOCIETY. At the earliest period of Egyptian history of which the monuments present to us any records, we discover a state of society the farthest possible re- moved from barbarism. It was elaborately artificial ; all its component parts, from the king to the slave, “ from Pharaoh that sat upon his throne to the maid- servant that was behind the mill,” took their places in a classified system, which were defined by per- fectly understood limits, and handed down by here- ditary and unchanging custom. Repeated conquests have long ago dislocated and abolished this state of things in Egypt ; but in India we see it still remain- ing, where society maintains with unyielding strict- ness the angular divisions into which it was mapped out thousands of years ago. There every one is aware of the existence of caste ; and of the iron sway which this institution holds over the habits of the people. The priesthood, the military, the husband- men and the labourers, are the four grand divisions of Hindoo society, which may not mingle in the smallest degree. The soldier dares not marry into the family of an artizan, nor can a brahmin eat with a husbandman, without incurring a penalty to a Hin- doo the most intolerable, the loss of caste. The divisions of Egyptian society appear to have been correspondent to these ; and as in India there STATE OF SOCIETY. 159 exists a class of miserable beings who are considered ” without caste,” the very outcasts of society, so in Egypt there seem to have been some whose here- ditary occupations were esteemed so degrading, that intercourse with them was avoided as an impurity, and even access to the temples was denied them. KfNG, IN HIS ROBES OP STATE. а. The red crown of Lower Egypt. б. The white crown of the Thebai's. c. The emblem of sovereignty over the whole of Egypt. The King was the head of the priestly class, by his office. The exercise of the regal authority seems. 160 ANCIENT EGYPT. from the earliest times, to have been handed down from father to son ; but in the case of a dynasty becoming extinct, a new king was elected from either the priestly or the military class. The re- nowned Pharaohs of the eighteenth dynasty appear to have been of the latter. On the accession of a monarch, he was immediately initiated into the mys- teries of the idolatrous worship, and made a member of the sacred college of priests. “ He was the chief of the religion and of the state ; he regulated the sacrifices in the temples, and had the peculiar right of offering them to the gods upon grand occasions ; the title and office of ‘ president of the assemblies ’ belonged exclusivel)'^ to him, and he superintended the feasts and festivals in honour of the deities. He had the right of proclaiming peace and war ; he com- manded the armies of the state, and rewarded those whose conduct in the field, or in other occasions merited his approbation ; and every privilege was granted him wdiich was not at vai’iance with good policy or the welfare of his people.” (Wilkinson.) Some of the early Greek writers who visited Egypt, as Herodotus and Diodorus, have mentioned a custom which, (if not a fable) was doubtless insti- tuted as a salutary check upon royal morality, a sort of public censorship upon the monarch’s actions, exercised by the officiating high-priest on great occa- sions. The victims being brought to the altar, the high-priest, standing beside the king, in the presence of the congregated people, implored various blessings in retuni for the virtues of the monarch. These he then proceeded to enumerate and to eulogize ; STATE OF SOCIETY. 161 noticing particularly his piety and his clemency. He praised the king’s moderation and justice, his self-command, his generosity, his love of truth, and his entire freedom from envy and covetousness. His leniency towards offenders, and his liberality towards well-doers were loudly extolled. After these praises indirect cautions were administered in the shape of a reprehension of sucli faults, as persons in high station were most liable to. The object of this cere- mony, we are told, was to exhort the sovereign to live in the fear of the gods, and to cherish virtue ; and, if uprightly performed, it would doubtless have had a salutary influence ; but it is easy to see that it would in a short time degenerate into a blind and fulsome flattery. It is not to an idolatrous priest- hood that we must look for the integrity that would dare to administer to an absolute monarch in public, the amount of praise and of blame justly due to his actions, nor would the despotic Pharaohs brook to be thus schooled. The haughty pride and insolence with which the monarch of the Exodus set himself against the Lord : “ Who is Jehovah, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go ? I know not Jehovah, neither will I let Israel go,” — as well as the cruel tyranny with which he and his predecessors had ground the Hebrews in their iron bondage, is per- fectly in character with the over-bearing assumptions common to the Pharaohs in the monumental inscrip- tions. We select the following as specimens of the modesty of an Egyptian Pharaoh. The first is a congratulation addressed to Sethos I. on his return from the Arvadite war. IG2 ANCIENT EGYPT. “ The song of the chiefs of Upper and Lower Egypt, when they came to felicitate the good god (Sethos,) when he returned from the land of Arvad with many captive chiefs. “ N ever was seen the like of thee, 0 divine Sun ! “ AVe say. Glory be to his majesty, who in the greatness of his fury went unto the land. “ Making sure the words of thy justice, thou slayest thine enemies beneath thee. “ Thou conquerest every day with thy majesty. Eke the sun in hea- ven,” &c., &c. The folloAving humiliating speech is put into the mouths of the captive Arvadites : — “ The chiefs of the lands approach, conducted by his majesty. “ The fruits of his victory over the wicked race of the Arvadites. “ They say. Great is his majesty, and adorable in his \-ictories. “ Thy name is very illustrious. “ Thou art vigEant in the ardour of thy courage. The land rejoiceth in thy deeds upon the waters. “ Thou makest firm thy borders. “ Many are thine offerings. “ But we are impure in Egypt. “ AVe may not approach our Father (Amoun.) “ Behold us, and the breath which thou givest us.”* The other specimen we select from a triumph of Sesostris. The haughty monarch, seated in his chariot, beholds the counting of the severed hands and other members of the slaughtered enemies, and thus addresses his anny. “ Give yourselves to mirth : let it rise to heaven. “ Strangers are dashed to the ground by my power. “ Terror of my name has gone forth ; their hearts are full of it. Osbum’s Anc. Egy. 62. STATE OF SOCIETY. 163 “ I appear before them as a lion. I have pursued them as a hawk. 1 have annihilated their wicked souls. “ I have passed over their rivers : I have set on fire their castles. “ I am to Egypt what the God Mandoo has been. I have vanquished the barbarians. “ Amoun Re, my father, subdued the whole world under my feet. “ 1 am King on the throne for ever.”* It may be instructive to compare these proud Pharaohs with other ancient despots, whose hearts have been lifted up. It was the blasphemous boast of the King of Babylon , — “ I will ascend into hea- ven ; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God : I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north : I will ascend above the heights of the clouds ; I will be like the Most High.”-j- Parallel to this is the haughty defiance which Sennacherib hurled at Jehovah, to his own discomfiture and destruction. “ Beware lest Heze- kiah persuade you, saying the Lord will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria ? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad ? where are the gods of Sepharvaim ? and have they delivered Sa- maria out of my hand ? who are they among all the gods of these lands that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand ? ” It appears that the Egyptian monarchs were ac- customed to surround themselves with a council of confidential and responsible advisers ; persons emi- * ChampolHon. + Isaiah xiv. 13, 14. $ Id. xxxvi. 18 — 20. 164 ANCIENT EGYPT. nent for wisdom and prudence. These were chosen from the priestly caste. “ They associated with the monarch, whom they assisted in the performance of his public duties, and to whom they explained, from _^ie sacred books, those moral lessons which were laid down for his conduct, and wdiich he was required to observe ; and by their great experience, their knowledge of the past, and their skill in augury and astronomy, they were supposed to presage future events, and to foresee an impending calamity, or the success of any undertaking.”*^ These are “ the princes of Zoan” to whom Jehovah by the prophet Isaiah alludes, and the hollowness of whose pretences He exposes in the following words : Surely the princes of Zoan are fools ; the counsel of the wise coun- sellors of Pharaoh is become brutish : how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings ? Where are they ? where are thy wise men ? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt. The princes of Zoan are become fools ; the princes of Noph are deceived : they have also seduced Eg}^t, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof. — Isa. xix. 11 — 13. We find allusions to the same persons in other passages of the Word of God ; as the “ Princes of Pharaoh” who commended Sarai before Pharaoh ; f as the “ Servants of Pharaoh” who coincided wdth himself in approbation of the advice of Joseph, and whom he consulted on the propriety of making him governor of Egypt ; J and again as “ the House of Pharaoh,” whose mediation Joseph sought on the occasion of his father’s decease, and as “ the Elders * Wilkinson, i. 257. t Gen. xii. 15. + Gen. xli. 37, 38. STATE OF SOCIETY. 165 of his (Pharaoh’s) house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,” who accompanied the funeral pro- cession into Canaan.* PRIESTS. The civil dignity enjoyed by the Egyptian priest- hood will suggest the reason of the matrimonial alliance formed by Pharaoh for his Hebrew vizier. “ The name Potiphera (he who belongs to the sun,) is very common on the Egyptian monu- ments. This name is especially appropriate for the Priest of On or Heliopolis. Since Pharaoh evidently intended by this act to establish the power bestowed on Joseph upon a firm basis, it is implied in this ac- count, — first, that the Egyptian high-priests occupied a very important position, and secondly, that among them the high-priest of On was the most distin- * Gen. 1. 4, 7. 166 ANCIENT EGYPT. guished. Both these points are confirmed by history. .... It is scarcely necessary to mention that the stations of the high-priests in the principal cities in Egypt were first and highest. They were in a man- ner hereditary princes, who stood by the side of the kings, and enjoyed almost the same prerogatives. Their statues were placed in the temples. THE MOTHER, DAUGHTER, AND SISTER OF A PRIEST. When they are introduced into history, they appear as tlie first persons of the state Among the Egyptian colleges of priests, that at On or Heliopolis took the precedence ; consequently the high-priest of On was the most distinguished. The great antiquity of religious worship at On is also attested by the monuments.”* We learn from the following passage, that in the pressure of the seven years of famine, the people of * Hengstenberg, Egypt and Moses, § ii. STATE OF SOCIETY. 167 Egypt sold to the government the right of possession in land, which before had been freehold, but which henceforward was leased to the cultivators on the consideration of one-fifth part of the annual produce. When that j'ear was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him. We will not hide it from my lord, how that our money is spent ; my lord also hath our herds of cattle ; there is not ought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands : wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land ? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh : and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate. And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh ; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them ; so the land became Pharaoh’s. And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof. Only the land of the priests bought he not ; for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them : wherefore they sold not their lands. Then Joseph said unto the people, behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh ; lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land. And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones. And they said. Thou hast saved our lives ; let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants. And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part ; except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh’s. Gen. xlvii. 18-26. To this general transfer of possession, the priest- hood formed an exception, and that, as we are ex- pressly told, because their subsistence depended not upon the produce of their land, but upon a public allowance, a “portion which Pharoah gave them,” so that the cause which induced the other classes to alienate their property, affected not the priests, but as long as the king had bread, they also would have 168 ANCIENT EGYPT. it. The testimony of profane writers to this state of things is remarkable. Herodotus, repeating Egyptian tradition, affirms that Sesostris had dhdded the whole land among the people, giving to each person a square portion of equal extent, and collecting from each an annual rent, by the aggregate of which rents he made up his revenue. If at any time the flooding of the Nile carried away a part of the land of any one, he was to make a representation thereof to the government, when it would be officially sur- veyed, and the rent assessed upon that only which remained.* Diodorus states that all the land in Egypt was the property of the kings, the priests, or the military;!' and this statement agrees with what we gather from the sculptures. That Herodotus ascribes the partition of land to Sesostris, is an objection of no w'eight, because it is well known that the renown of this prince had in- vested his name with a mythic power, and induced a habit, in the time of the Greeks, of attributing to him all the illustrious deeds of the ancient Pharaohs. The participation of the military caste in the owner- ship of landed property, might seem a more im- portant difficulty ; but Herodotus enables us to remove this apparent contradiction to the Sacred Narrative. According to him “ the real estate of the military order differed from that of the peasant, since it was free of rent ; but otherwise it belonged to the kings, and was given by them in fee to the soldiery.” So that while the priests held their lands in right, as a privilege of their order, the soldiers’ possession * Herod, ii. 189. t Diod. i. 73. STATE OF SOCIETY. 169 differed not essentially from that of the peasantry, except in that the rent was paid in military service instead of produce. Herodotus notices also the fact, that the priestly caste were not dependent for their maintenance upon their own property. “ And yet many thousand other usages, I might say, must they observe. But for this they also receive much favour ; \lit. they suffer not a little good,] for neither their means of support, nor their other expenses, are derived from their own wealth. But they have their holy bread baked, and each receives a great quantity of goose-flesh and beef every day : and wine also is given them.”* To the priestly caste we must ascribe a class of men who make no small figure in the scriptural nar- rative, the Magicians. After Pharaoh’s dreams of the kine and the ears of corn, “ it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled ; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof ; and Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.”]' Again, some of the miraculous signs wrought by Moses and Aaron in the power of Jehovah, are counterfeited by the same class of men to the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the Lord had commanded ; and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men, and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egv'pt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. Exod. vii. 10, 11. On these passages Professor Hengstenberg has the * Herod, li. 37. + Gen., xli. 8. I 170 ANCIENT EGYPT. following remarks : — “ Now we find in Egyptian an- tiquity, an order of persons, to whom this is entirely appropriate, which is here ascribed to the magicians. The priests had a double office, the practical worship of the gods, and the pursuit of that which in Egypt was accounted as wisdom. The first belonged to the so-called prophets, the second to the sacred scribes, lepoypa/j,/j,aT€i<;. These last were the learned men of the nation : as in the Pentateuch they are called SACRED SCRIBES. li'ise men, so the classical writers name them sages. These men were applied to for exjDlanation and aid in all things, which lay beyond the circle of common knowledge and action. Thus, in severe cases of sickness, for example, along with the physician a sacred scribe was called, who, from a book, and astrological signs, determined whether recovery were possible. The interpretation of dr-eams, and also divination, belonged to the order of the sacred scribes. In times of pestilence, they applied themselves to STATE OF SOCIETY. 171 magic arts to avert the disease. A passage in Lucian furnishes a peculiarly interesting parallel to the ac- counts of the Pentateuch, concerning the practice of magic arts. ‘ There was with us in the vessel a man of Memphis, one of the sacred scribes, wonderful in wisdom, and skilled in all sorts of Egyptian know- ledge. It was said of him that he had lived twenty- three years in subterranean sanctuaries, and that he had been there instructed in magic by Isis.’”* The military class seems at all times to have been held in high consideration in ancient Egypt, and to have enjoyed many privileges and immunities. Each soldier, whether on duty or not, was allowed twelve arource of land, free of charge and tribute ; the aroui'a being a square measure, containing 10,000 cubits, this allotment would be equal to about nine acres of our measure. In a country so fertile, and so well cultivated as Egypt, this alone was no mean provision ; but, in addition to this, each man, when on military duty, received five pounds of bread, two pounds of beef, and a quart of wine, as his daily rations. The standing army, according to Herodotus, amounted to 410,000 men ; but Diodorus informs us * Ilengstenberg's Egypt and IMoses, § ii. “ Pharaoh is represented as consulting two different classes of persons for the interpretation of his dream, the □"’QiD'nn C/iaretummim (magicians,) and the Chakamim (wise-men.) If the first be a Semitic name, which we see no reason to doubt, it is one of the few examples of Hebrew compounds, and must come from Cheret (a pen,) and Charam (to be sacred) ; we thus identify the charetuiumhn with the upoypafx^arug or holi/ scribes, mentioned as a distinct order of the Egyptian priesthood by Josephus, and several other authors.” (Taylor.) I 2 172 ANCIENT EGYPT. that the army of Sesostris contained 600,000 foot, besides 24,000 horse, and 27,000 chariots. A regi- ment of body-guards, consisting of 1,000 men, were annually selected by the king from the army, and received additional salary. In the paintings of the military expeditions, these guards are depicted sur- rounding the royal person, and are distinguished by peculiar dress and accoutrements. Under the domi- nion of the Ptolemies, who retained, with little inno- vation, the customs of ancient Eg}*pt, the office of the captain of the body-guards {dp-)(io-(t)/j,aTO({)v\a^) was one of considerable importance. Enjoying the confi- dence of the monarch, this officer was often emplo}"ed in transactions of dehcacy and moment.* It was this high and distinguished station that was possessed by Potiphar, the purchaser of Joseph ;f nor does it militate against such a statement that the word rDID’ which is translated “ guard,” literally signifies “ slaughtermen,” or “ executioners,” for Rosellini informs us that the superintendence of executions, amongst the Egyptians, belonged to the most distin- guished of the military caste. It is a remarkable fact, that in the numerous deli- neations of battle-scenes on the monuments, we have no representation of Egyptian cavalry. The armies are always composed of troops of infantry, armed with the bow or spear; and of ranks of chariots drawn by two horses. This fact has attracted con- siderable notice, because it seems inconsistent with the accounts, given in the sacred narrative, of the See Rosellini, ii. (3) 201 et seq. t Gen. xxxix. 1. STATE OF SOCIETY. 173 Egyptian forces, with which Pharaoh pursued the emancipated Hebrews. And it was told the King of Egypt that the people fled : and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us ? And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him : and he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel : and the children of Israel went out with an high hand. But the Egyptians pursued "after them, (all the horses [and] chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army,) and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baal-zephon. And when Pharoah drew nigh^ the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them ; and they were sore afraid : and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord. And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egj'pt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness ? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt ? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egj-pt, saying. Let us alone, that w'e may serve the Egyptians ? for it had been better for us to serve the Egv'ptians, than that we should die in the wilderness. And Moses said unto the people. Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to-da}'; for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever ; the Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me ? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward : but lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it ; and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them : and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when' I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed, and went behind them ; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: And it came between the camp of the Egypt- ians and the camp of Israel ; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these : so that the one came not near the other all 174 ANCIENT EGYPT. the night. And !Moses stretched out his hand over the sea ; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground : and the waters were a wall tmto them on their right hand and on their left. And the Egypt- ians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And it came to pass, that in the morning-watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, and took off their chariot-wheels, that they drave them heavily : so that the Egyptians said. Let us flee from the face of Israel ; for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians. And the Lord said unto liloses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared ; and the Egyp- tians fled against it ; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them : there remained not so much as one of them. Exod. xiv. 5 —28. As Diodorus and Herodotus attribute cavalry to tbe early Pharaohs, some eminent antiquarians, as Sir Gardner Wilkinson, endeavour to account for the absence of such a force in the pictorial representa- tions, consistently with its existence. But Professor Hengstenberg has maintained, and, as we judge, with a high degree of probability, that the word “ horse- men,” of the above passage, should rather be ren- dered “ chariot-riders.” We quote his words. “ It is accordingly certain, that the cavalry, in the more ancient period of the Pharaohs, was but little relied on, and it is doubtful whether it generally ex- isted. The question now is — what relation the de- clarations of the passage before us bear to this result. W ere the common view, — according to which riding STATE OF SOCIETY. 175 on horses is superadded with equal prominence to the chariot of war, in our passage, — the right one, there might arise strong suspicion against the credibility of the narrative. But a more accurate examination, shews that the author does not mention Egyptian cavalry at all ; that according to him the Egyptian army is composed only of chariots of war, and that he therefore agrees in a wonderful manner with the native Egyptian monuments. And this agreement is the more minute, since the second division of the army represented upon them, the infantry, could not, in the circumstances of our narrative, take part in the pursuit. “ The first and principal passage concerning the con- stituent parts of the Egyptian army which pursued the Israelites, is that in chap. xiv. G, 7. ‘ And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him; and he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and chariot-warriors upon all of them.’ Here, Pharaoh’s preparation for war is fully described. It consists, first, of chariots, and secondly, of chariot- warriors. Cavalry are no more mentioned than infantry. This passage, which is so jilain, explains the second one, v. 9, where the arrival of this same army, in sight of the Israelites, is plainly and graphically described, in order to place distinctly before the reader the impression which the view made upon the Israelites : ‘ And the Egyptians fol- lowed them and overtook them, where they were en- camped by the sea, all the chariot-horses of Pharaoh, and his riders, and his host.’ If riders here be understood in the common sense, (chariot-warriors 176 ANCIENT EGYPT. rather than riders upon horses might so much the sooner be mentioned, since the Egyptian war-chariot was very small and light) — ivhere then are the chariot- warriors? The [sacred] author would not leave them out, since it is to his purpose to be minute, and since he evidently intends to accumulate circum- stances as much as possible. Also, in v. 17 : ‘I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his riders,’ — the riders again correspond with the chariot-warriors in v. 7. If there were then chariot-warriors and riders, how strange that they are never spoken of together ! In V. 23, ‘ And the Egyptians pursued them, and went in after them, all the horses of Pharaoh, his chariots and his riders,’ the three constituent parts of the Egyptian warlike preparation are fully designated. If riders were here understood in the common way, it would be surprising that horses and chariots were named, and that chariot-warriors, who are most im- portant, were left out. Finally, the meaning of the passage in ch. xv. 1, ‘ Horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea,’ is clear from v. 4. of the same chapter, where only the overwhelming of the chariots and chariot-w'arriors is spoken of.”* To this latter observation we may add, that the word ti’anslated “ rider,” is used repeatedly in the Scripture with the same ambiguity as its English representative ; an in- stance of which occurs in Jer. li., 21. “With thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider, and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot his Egypt and Moses, ch. iv. STATE OF SOCIETY. 177 rider where, in the original, the same word is used in both cases. The war-chariot of Egypt, as well as those of the Canaanites represented in the battle scenes, was a very light structure, consisting of a wooden frame- work, strengthened and adorned with metal and leather binding, answering to the descriptions which Homer has given of those engaged in the Trojan war. The sides were partly, and the back wholly, open ; it was so low that a man could easily step into it CHARIOT. (Reduced to modern perspective. J from behind ; for there was no seat, the rider always standing in war or hunting, though wdien wearied he might occasionally sit on the side, or squat, in eastern 178 ANCIENT EGYPT. fashion, on his heels. The body of the cai’ was not hung on the axle in equilibrio, but considerably for- ward, so that the weight was thrown more upon the horses. Its lightness, however, would prevent this from being very fatiguing to them, and this mode of placing it had the advantage of rendering the motion more easy to the driver. To contribute further to this end, the bottom or floor consisted of a network of interlaced thongs, the elasticity of which in some measure answered the purpose of modern springs. The Egyptian chariots were invariably drawn by two horses abreast, which were richly caparisoned ; it is perhaps to the extreme elegance and magniflcence of their trappings, no less than to their own beauty, that allusion is made in the Song of Songs, (i. 9), where the royal bridegroom addresses his spouse thus : — “ I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots.” The chariot of Egypt ordinarily carried two persons, one of whom acted as the warrior, the other as the charioteer. In the battles and triumphs, the Pha- raoh, it is true, is represented alone in his car, the reins sometimes in his hand, sometimes tied round his body, while occupied in slaughter ; but it may be doubted whether the charioteer may not have been omitted by the artist (in the same spirit of flattery as that which assigns superhuman j>ropor- tions and prowess to the monarch,) that he might not interfere with the action of the grand figure of the picture. “ The cars of the whole chariot corps contained each two warriors, comrades of equal rank, both STATE OP SOCIETY. 179 joining in the labours and glory of the fight ; and if the charioteer who accompanied a chief did not hold the same high station, he was probably appointed to the post as a mark of distinction ; and from the familiar manner in which one of them is represented conversing with a son of the great Raineses, we may conclude the office was filled by persons of con- sideration, who w'ere worthy of the friendship they enjoyed.”* Occasionally we find three persons in a chariot, as when two princes of the blood, each bearing the royal sceptre or the flabellum, accompanying the king in a state procession, requiring a charioteer to manage the reins. The following passages of the Sacred Scriptures shew that the same customs and fashions prevailed in Israel as in Egypt; the Hebrews having rather con- formed to the habits of the nation in which they had been trained, than of those which they subdued, as our readers will perceive by referring to the descriptions and figures already given of the Canaanite and She- thite chariots. And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness : wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot. Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host ; for I am wounded. And the battle increased that day ; and the king was stayed tip in his chariot against tlie Syrians, and died at even : and the * Wilkinson i. 337. So also Homer : — “ Two sons of Priam next to battle move. The produce one of marriage, one of love ; In the same car the brother warriors ride. This took the charge to combat, that to guide.” Iliad xi. 180 ANCIENT EGYPT. blood ran out of the wound into the midst of the chariot. 1 Kings xxii. 34, 35. So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel ; for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram. And Joram said, Make ready. And his chariot was made ready. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite. And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said. Is it peace, Jehu ? And he answered. What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many? And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, 0 Ahaziah. And Jehu drew a bow with his full strength, and smote Jehoram between his arms, and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunhdoicn in his chariot. 2 Kings ix. 16 — 24. And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him ; and he saluted him, and said to him. Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart ? And Jehonadab an- swered, It is. If it be, give me thine hand. And he gave him his hand ; and he took him up to him into the chariot. And he said come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord. So they made him ride in his chariot. 2 Kings X. 15, 16. •\nd the archers shot at king Josiah ; and the king said to his servants. Have me away ; for I am sore wounded. His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had : and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 2 Chron. xxxv. 23, 24. The last of these passages is illustrated by the following remark of Sir J. G. Wilkinson : — “ In bat- tle, many attendants were always in readiness ; and whenever a general dismounted from his car, to lead his troops over hilly and precipitous heights inacces- sible to chariots, to the assault of a fortified town, or for any other purpose, they took charge of the horses, and keeping them in some secure place, they awaited his return, or followed at a short distance ; and a second car with fresh horses was always ready STATE OF SOCIETY. 181 in the rear, in order to provide against accident, or the still less welcome chance of a defeat.”* It is not necessary to enter into details respecting the arms of the Egyptian soldier. The principal were the bow, the spear, the javelin, the sling, the straight sword, the falchion or curved sword, the dagger, the hatchet, the battle-axe, the pole-axe, the mace, and the lissan or curved stick. Of these the bow seems to have been most relied on. The de- fensive armour comprised an ample shield, a head- piece, or skull-cap, of metal or quilted linen, and a coat of plate-mail. The mode of conducting a siege will have been pretty well understood by our readers from an ex- amination of the engravings in former pages. They constructed scaling-ladders to mount the walls, testu- dines or protecting frame-works, covered with hides, to approach within reach, and a sort of battering ram, or strong hook, with which they shook and dis- lodged the stones of the ramparts. These engines were made of sufficient strength to allow of the be- siegers mounting upon the top of them, and gaining the advantage of a nearer approach to the enemy. To these, or similar warlike structures, reference is made in the Law of Moses. When tliou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them : for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man’s life) to employ them in the siege : only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down ; and thou shalt build bulwarks ayainst the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued. Deut. xx. 19, 20. Man. and Cust. i. 336. 182 ANCIENT EGYPT. Each regiment and company had its own peculiar banner or standard, which were therefore very nume- EGYPTIAN STANDARDS. rous and various in their devices, A beast, bird, or reptile, a sacred boat, a royal name in a cartouche, or a symbolic combination of emblems were the most common forms. As they appear to have been objects of superstitious veneration that were selected for this purpose, they must have contributed greatly to the enthusiasm so highly valued in battle ; and in- stances are common in all history of desponding courage revived, and prodigies of valour performed, on behalf of those objects wdiich were so identified with national and personal honour. Allusions to standards, banners, or ensigns, are frequent in the Holy Scriptures. The four divisions STATE OF SOCIETY. 183 in which tlie tribes of Israel marched through the wdlderness, had each its governing standard,* and tradition has assigned to these ensigns the respective forms of the symbolic clierubim seen in vision by Ezekiel and John, that of Judah being a lion, that of Reuben a man, that of Ephraim an ox, and that of Dan an eagle. The brazen serpentf lifted up on a pole (or banner, D3) to the view of the dying Israelites, so beautiful an emblem of the Lord Jesus lifted up on the cross, “ that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life,”| — will occur to every one familiar with the Scriptures. Nor is this the only passage in which the Lord Jesus Christ is mentioned under this figure, for Isaiah says, “ In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people ; to it shall the Gen- tiles seek; and his rest shall be glorious.”§ The influence which venerated standards are known to have on the courage and daring of the soldiery is alluded to in the Song of Songs, where the Church is described as “ terrible as an army with banners. ”|| The post of standard-bearer was at all times of the greatest importance ; and none but officers of con- sideration, and of approved valour, were ever chosen for such a service ; hence Jehovah, describing the ruin and discomfiture which He was about to bring upon the haughty king of Assyria, says, “ And they shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth.”^ The barbarous practice of mutilating the bodies of enemies slain in battle, we have already glanced at, * Numb. ii. + Numb. xxi. 9. f John iii. 15. § Isa. xi. 10. Cant. vi. 4, 10. ^ Isa. x. 18. 184 ANCIENT EGYPT. as illustrating some curious allusions in the Holy Scriptures. The object in both cases, however, was not so much the gratification of ungenerous and in- sulting cruelty, as the securing of an unexceptionable proof of the amount of the enemy’s loss ; for the am- putated members were delivered in tale, and counted by scribes appointed for the purpose. We refer the reader to the scene copied in page 137, for an in- stance of cruelty but too common in these represen- tations, the heads of the slain chiefs being attached to various parts of the chariot of the conqueror. But more revolting still is the treatment which we find the polished Egyptian Pharaohs inflicted upon their wretched captives, the record of which by NEGRO CAPTIVES. their own flattering artists abundantly bears out the character of cruelty which the sacred narrative attri- butes to some among them. The above scene is from STATE OF SOCIETY. 185 a triumph of Sesostris, one of the very individuals (as we believe) who afflicted the Hebrew strangers, and “ made their lives bitter.” This is not an isolated case. It occurs in every triumphal procession. Long lines of prisoners are led in strings by the monarch, the same cord passing round the necks of all in each line. Their arms are tied in the most distorted positions behind their backs, and over their heads, in such modes as must have produced dislocation, the agony from which, as it is carefully depicted by the artist, must have formed a very acceptable part of the ceremony. Some have their arms put into a wooden fetter, and others have the hands amputated, and the bleeding stumps tied together. On the return of the monarch from a successful expedition, one of the first ceremonies he performed seems to have been to present himself in the temple of his idol, to offer up a wholesale human sacrifice. He is usually depicted as grasping by the hair, a dozen or more of kneeling victims, whose heads he pi’epares wfith uplifted arm to strike off at a blow with his heavy falchion or battle-axe. It is true. Sir Gardner Wilkinson, Mr. Birch, and other anti- quarians, suppose these to be allegorical and not literal representations, but the well-known existence of other pictures of human sacrifice, the horrible meaning of which cannot be doubted, incline us to understand these also as representing real, and not symbolical transactions.* * See the engravings and observations in Kitto’s “ History of Pales- tine,” i, 583. 186 ANCIENT EGYPT. The office of military scribes, whose duty it was to superintend the levying of soldiers, to record the names. See. of recruits, to count the trophies of vic- tory, to present to the monarch a return of the spoil, and such like, will probably throw some light on the Shatarim or “ officers” of the Hebrews, mentioned in Deut. XX. 5, 8, 9. These seem to have been war- scribes, who determined on the liability of individuals to military service, and who had the privilege of ap- pointing even the “ captains of the armies.” The priesthood and the soldiery may be considered the dominant castes of ancient Egypt ; we come now to consider the subordinate classes. Of these the husbandmen claim the first rank. We know from sacred, profane, and monumental testimony, that Egypt was a corn-producing country; though limited in territorial extent, it was the granary of surround- ing nations. In Pharaoh’s symbolical di’eam of the coming abundance and famine, he first saw seven fat and seven lean kine come up out of the river.* Plutarch and Clemens inform us, that the cow was the received symbol of the earth itself and its cultivation, and of food. The circumstance that both the fat and the lean came up from the river, has an obvious reference to the fact, that the periodical overfiowing of the Nile is the immediate cause of either abundance or famine, according to its extent. The river, retiring within its banks in the month of November, leaves a deposit of the richest mud upon the surface of the land, upon which the seed of • Gen. xli. 2, 3. STATE OF SOCIETY. 187 the various kinds of crops is immediately sown. No preparation of the soil is required: the soft and moist earth receives the grain, and a simple plough follows SOWING AND PLOUGHING. the sower, just scratching the surface, and turning the fresh mould lightly over it. But though little labour is required to commit the seed to the earth, a series of toils commences after it is sown, which is unknown in countries where rain habitually falls. Michaud observes, that “ the labour of tillage is not that which most occupies the agricultural population here, for the land is easy to cultivate. The great difficulty is to water the fields; even the most robust of the Fellahs [modern pea- sants] are employed to raise the water and perform the irrigation.”* From other writersf we learn, that a single acre sometimes requires a hundred days’ work of watering ; and that it is the custom to water the fields in winter, once every fourteen days ; in the * Correspondence from tlie East, viii. 54. t As Girard, and Prokescli. 188 ANCIENT EGYPT. spring, if the dew falls sufficiently, once in twelve days; but in the summer, once in eight days. For the purpose of irrigation, the land is intersected by canals, which require to be annually cleared from aquatic vegetation, and sustained by hedges planted on their banks. 'With incredible pains the water is conveyed through these, and through the innumerable little channels that ramify from them, to furnish sus- tenance to vegetable life, beneath a burning sun. Various machines are now' in use to supply the fields with water, but in Ancient Egypt, the only device SHADOOF. represented upon the monuments is the pole and bucket, (the shadoof of the modern Egyptians) a rude contrivance, still in use in some parts of Eng- STATE OF SOCIETY. 189 land and in the United States. It is a simple lever : a post some eight or ten feet high is erected beside the well or river, and receives in a notch at the top a long pole which turns on a pivot ; to one end of this pole is suspended a rod long enough to reach the water, the bucket is attached to the extremity, while to the other end of the pole a large stone is tied, to balance the weight of the full bucket, and thus faci- litate its elevation. It is not, however, pushed down, when empty, without effort. From the pictures on the monuments, it would appear that a considerable quantity of the water thus raised had to be carried in buckets suspended from men’s shoulders, and distributed as needed, perhaps to such slight variations of surface as canals could not reach. WATERING THE GROUND BY HAND. The remarkable difference between a country that required thus to be watered by human labour, and the mountainous region of Palestine, is beautifully touched by Moses in his last address to Israel. 190 ANCIENT EGYPT. “ For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and ^vateredst it vnih thy foot, as a garden of herbs : but the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven ; a land which the Lord thy God careth for ; for the ej'es of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year, even unto the end of the year.” Deut. xi. 10 — 12. A passage in Herodotus* may be quoted with advantage in reference to this subject. The Egypt- ians looked down with pity upon all other lands, seeing they had no Nile : — “ For when they heard that in all the country of the Greeks the land is watered by rain, and not by rivers, as in Egypt, they said, ‘ The Greeks, disappointed in their brightest hojies, will sometimes suffer severe famine which means, if God at some time shall not send rain, but drought, then famine will press upon them, /or they can obtain water only from God." It is this very dependence upon God, which to the Egyptians seemed so precarious a trust, that is put forward to Israel as the great and peculiar privilege of their land, “aland which the Lord thy God careth for.” It is well remarked by Hengstenberg, however, that “ the Canaan of which Moses thus speaks is but an ideal land for as the blessings promised to Israel were to be the rewards of their obedience, and this was but very imperfectly rendered, so the land of promise has never yet been what it might have been under the full blessing of Jehovah, and what it will yet be, when He will make the “ new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.” f * Herod, ii. J3. t Jer. xxxi. 31. Comp. Isa. xxx. 23, &c. STATE OF SOCIETY. 191 The expression “ wateredst it with thy foot,” may refer either to a mode, still used in the gardens and fields of Egypt, of stopping the small watercourses by applying mud with the foot, and opening a way into another channel, or to the labour of the feet in carrying the water in buckets to various parts of the field. In the narrative of the fearful plagues inflicted by Jehovah upon Egypt, for the proud contumacy of Pharaoh, we are informed that the result of the plague of hail was, that “ the flax and the barley was smitten, for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was boiled. But the wheat and the rye [or spelt] were not smitten, for they were not grown up.”* From ancient writers, as well as from the monu- * Exod. ix. 31, 32. 192 ANCIENT EGYPT. ments, we know that these were the principal crops of Egyptian husbandry. Herodotus shews* that spelt was one of the most important products of the field, as bread-corn. It is not so easily identified in the paintings as the other crops, but growing wheat and barley occur often enough ; as does also flax, in its harvesting, as well as in the processes to which it was afterwards subjected. The fact, so incident- ally mentioned, that the wheat and the spelt are later in coming to maturity than barley and flax, is abundantly confirmed from both ancient and mo- dern writers. Theophrastus and Pliny state that barley was harvested in Egypt in the sixth month after sowing, wheat in the seventh. Sonnini, after remarking that besides the cultivation of wheat, that of barley is very important, observes that it ripens about a month earlier than wheat, and its harvest is remarkably abundant. Flax and barley are usually ripe in March, wheat and spelt in April. The reaping was performed by means of a sickle, shaped somewhat like those in present use. It was customary sometimes to cut off merely the ears of the corn with no more of the straw than could be grasped in the hand ; j- whence probably a “ handful” of corn became a proverbial expression for abund- ance ; as in the description of the seven plenteous years, it is said “ the earth brought forth by hand- fuls and in the beautiful prophecy of the peace- ful reign of Messiah, “ there shall be an handful of * Herod, ii. 36, 7,7. t The wicked are “ cut oif as the to/)s of the ears of corn.” Job xxiv. 24. t Gen. xli. 47. STATE OF SOCIETY. 193 corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains ; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon.”* The existence of this custom of leaving the greater REAPING. part of the stalk of the corn standing in the field after harvest, illustrates the refinement of tyranny exercised by the despot of Egypt over the wretched Hebrew bondmen. And Pharaoh commanded tlie same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore ; let them go and gather straw for themselves. And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay npon them ; j'e shall not diminish ought thereof : for they be idle ; therefore they cry, saying. Let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein ; and let them not regard vain words. And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spake to the people, saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it : yet not ought of your work shall be diminished. So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt, to gather stubble instead of straw. And the taskmasters hasted them, saying. Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw. And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were Ps. Ixxii. 16. K 194 ANCIENT EGYPT. beaten, and demanded, AVherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and to da}', as heretofore? Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying. Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants ? There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Alake brick : and, behold, thy servants are beaten ; but the fault is in thine own people. But he said. Ye are idle, ye are idle : therefore ye say. Let us go and do sacri- fice to the Lord. Go therefore now, and work ; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks. And the officers of the children of Israel did see that they were in evil case, after it was said Y e shall not minish ought from your bricks of your daily task. Exod. v. 6 — 19 . The “ stubble” which the people were scattered abroad to gather was, doubtless, the stalks of the preceding harvest, which were yet standing in the field. And as this act of oppression was perpetrated a little before the growing corn was ripe, (see Gen. ix. 31) it is plain that these stalks had been exposed, as worthless, to all the vicissitudes of the weather, and even to the inundation, during nearly a year. Its tenacity would, therefore, be by this time so much reduced, as to be nearly useless in the com- position of bricks; the object of the edict was merely to aggravate their oppression. But the distinction between the words “ stubble” and “ straw,” in the above passage, shews that the substance thus col- lected was not the material ordinarily employed in brickmaking. It is not said that they gathered that which before had been provided for them, but being sent out to procure “ straw,” a material which, of course, as slaves, they had no probability of obtain- ing, they collected the only substitute they could find, “ stubble, instead of straw.” And while the painting copied above shews that occasionally the STATE OF SOCIETY. 195 grain was cut so as to leave tlie stalks standing, others manifest that this was not invariable ; the occurrence of sheaves of corn, as in the following example, proving that sometimes at least, the strato was carried home as well as the ears. This painting, the original of which is in the British Museum, is interesting also because it repre- sents, with considerable truth and spirit, some living animals, a gazelle and two hares, which having been captured in the standing corn, are being carried, just as we should carry them now, to the farm, to stock the preserve. As the corn was reaped, it was carried to the threshing-floor. If the ears merely were cut off, they were piled into deep baskets, apparently made of rope network, which were then borne “ between two upon a staff,” just as we find the Israelite spies carrying the immense cluster of grapes from Eshcol.* * Numb. xiii. 23. 196 ANCIENT EGYPT. When the corn was cut so as to allow of its being tied into sheaves in the field, these seem to have been carried to the floor in cars, not very dissimilar to the chariots used in war. The threshing-floor w'as formed by a coating of well-tempered clay, beaten till it became nearly as hard as stone. Probably, as Dr. Taylor suggests, they were prepared ut the joint expense of several contiguous villages, and thus would become among the best knowm spots in the rural districts. Thus we find it was in Canaan ; the grand halt made by the mourning procession at the funeral of Jacob, took place “ at the threshing-fioor of Atad, w'hich is beyond Jordan * and when David brought up the Ark of God from Kirjath- jearim, the sacred historian, in narrating the profa- nation that issued in the death of Uzzah, indicates the particular locality in the same manner: it was “ when they came unto the threshing-floor of Chidon.”f • Gen. 1. 10. t Dent. XXV. 4. STATE OF SOCIETY. 197 The corn being brought to the floor, was depo- sited in a heap near the margin, whence a layer was thinly scattered over the floor, and oxen were driven round and round over it, until, by the action of their feet, the grain was separated from the dry and brittle husk. Sometimes, though rarely, the heap was de- posited in the centre of the floor, and the cattle marched round it. That this was the custom in Palestine we have abundant evidence. It was one of the ordinances of the Mosaic law, “ Thou shalt not muzzle the ox, when he treadeth out the corn.”* References to this usage are numerous in the prophets : “ Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn :”f “ Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion; for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass.” | No monumental reference has yet been discovered to the noreg, an instrument certainly of great anti- • 1 Chron. xiii. 9. t Hos. x. 11. J Mic. iv. 13. 198 ANCIENT EGYPT. quity, which is used at this day in Egypt for thresh- ing. It is a kind of sledge, having several iron wheels or rollers, of small diameter, which bruise the chaff and crush out the grain. It is drawn by oxen. But in the Sacred Scriptures we find some such machine distinctly referred to. Thus, when after the punitive pestilence that followed the sin of David in numbering the people, the destroying angel stayed at the threshing-floor of Oman the Jebusite, who was threshing wheat, the patriotic citizen, in reply to David’s application for the purchase of the floor, answered, “ Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes ; lo, I give thee the oxen also for burnt-offerings, and the thresh- ing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat-offering : I give it all.”* And the Lord pre- dicting the future greatness and power of Israel, says, “ Behold, I will make thee a new sharp thresh- ing-instrument having teeth. In both these pas- sages, as well as in that of the book of Samuel, paral- lel to the former, the word used is morag, the resemblance of which to the Egyptian noreg, is very remarkable. Perhaps in the following passage both modes are alluded to : “ Bread-corn is bruised ; be- cause he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.”:}; We have quoted the ordinance by which the ox was forbidden to be muzzled while treading the corn. That this also was the custom in Egypt is shewn in every picture of this interesting operation ; and the * 1 Chron. xxi. 23. f Isa. xli. 15. t Isa. xxviii. 28. STATE OF SOCIETY. 199 liberty of the oxen to help themselves of that which they were preparing for their master, is plainly indi- cated in a hieroglyphic song, which is inscribed over one of these scenes. It is thus rendered by Sir J. G. Wilkinson : — “ Thresh for yourselves. Thresh for yourselves, 0 oxen ! Thresh for yourselves. Thresh for yourselves. Measures for yourselves. Measures for your masters.”* After the corn was separated sufficiently from the husk, it was thrown by means of a scoop against the wind, which blew away the lighter chaff, while the grain fell to the floor. In allusion to this. Job says of the wicked, “ They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.”j The Psalmist repeatedly uses the same image, J as do the prophets also, of whom we will quote only Hosea, who, in denouncing the sin of degenerate Israel, says, ” Therefore shall they be .... as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor.” § The business of winnowing the corn was always performed in the presence of an officer who, with his pen and tablet, took an account of the produce, for the exaction of the royal tribute. Indeed, all busi- ness seems to have been conducted in the most me- thodical manner in ancient Egypt ; every transaction was made the subject of a written record. The pro- posal of Joseph, that officers should be appointed, • Wilk. 2nd ser. i. 85. + Job xxi. 1 8. J Psa. i. 4, and xxxv. 5. § IIos. xiii. 3. 200 ANCIENT EGYPT. who should take account of the whole produce of Egypt in the plenteous years, and who should store the fifth part,* was not at all likely to cause either opposition or surprise. It w'as a thing quite in keeping with national usage. The erection of store- houses too, and the deposition of corn in them, are likewise confirmed by the direct evidence of the monuments : granaries are depicted of vast extent, to which the grain is carried in sacks on men’s shoulders. “ The labours of Joseph in building store-houses are placed vividly before us in the paintings, which shew how common the store-house was in ancient Egypt. In a tomb at Elethya, a man is represented whose business it evidently was to take account of the number of bushels, which another man acting under him measures. The inscription reads : — ‘The writer (or registrar) of bushels, Thutnofre' Then follows the transportation of the grain : from the measm’er others take it in sacks, and carry it to the store-houses. In a tomb at Beni Hassan, there is a painting of a vast granary, before the door of which is a large heap of grain already winnowed. The measurer fills a bushel, and pours it into the uniform sacks of those who carry the corn to the granary. The carriers go to the door of the store, and lay down the sacks before an officer who receives the grain. This is the overseer of the granary. Near him stands the bushel with which the corn is measured, and the registrar who records the account. At the side of each window is inscribed the quantity * Gen. xli. 34. STATE OF SOCIETY. 201 deposited in that chamber.”* How remarkably is thus illustrated the Sacred Nar- rative : “ And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left mmhering ; for it was with- out number. . . . And the famine was over all the face of the earth. And Joseph open- ed all the store- houses, and sold unto the Egyp- . tians.”-}- It appears from various pictures that these maga- zines consisted of many vaulted chambers, each of which had an orifice at the top at which the corn was thrown in, and a door at the storing corn. bottom where it was taken out. A flight of steps led * Hengstenberg § ii. ch. i. t Gen. xli.'49, 56. K 5 202 ANCIENT EGYPT. up to the top of the edifice for the former of these operations. The keeping of horned cattle was an important part of husbandry then, as now. For about four months of the year they w'ere pastured in the clover- fields, but during the remainder of the year they were kept in stalls, where they are often depicted, arranged and tied to rings as in modern cattle-stables, attended by men who frequently feed them by hand. This fact throws light upon an apparent inconsistency in the Sacred Narrative. In the account of the plague of murrain, it is stated, that “ all the cattle of Egypt died ; ”* but in the subsequent plague of hail, we find that the servants of Pharaoh were still in pos- session of cattle. “ Send therefore now, and gather thy cattle ; He that feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses. ”f But if we notice the announcement of the former of these plagues, we shall see that its influence was limited to the “ cattle which is in the field and therefore did not extend to such as were stalled. We may also call attention to another point of agree- ment, perhaps the more interesting because so slight and apparently trivial. The plague of hail is con- nected with a fact that serves as a note of time, — “ the barley ivas in the ear.”§ This fixes the season in the month of March, agreeing with the circum- stance that the Exodus, a little later, took place in the middle of the first month after the vernal equi- nox. Now it is only during the months of January, * Exod. ix. 6. +'Vv. ]9, 20. | Ver. 3. § Ver. 31. STATE OF SOCIETY. 203 February, March, and April, that cattle are fed in the field in Egypt, as during all the rest of the year they are fed within doors. So that the incidents mentioned in the Scripture took place just about the season when the pasture was beginning to fail, and when we might expect to find the very state of things described, the cattle on some farms already housed, while on others, perhaps, better irrigated, sufficient sustenance was still found in the field. A month later, and this would have been impossible. A large portion of the fodder for cattle consisted of the succulent aquatic plants so abundant in Egypt, the difierent species of hijhlus and lotus. Thei’e is an allusion to this, in Pharaoh’s dream, which is lost in our English version. “ Behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fat-fleshed and well favoured ; and they fed in a meadow."* The word (achoo) rendered “ meadow,” is, as Hengstenberg observes, an Egyptian word for an Egyptian thing ; it signifies the aquatic herbage of the Nile, the lotus-flags. The word occurs only once more in the Scriptures, viz., in the book of Job, where it is more correctly ren- dered. “ Can the flag grow without water ?”f The scenery and circumstances of the dream were then in perfect harmony with an Egyptian’s habitual ideas, but would have been out of keeping, if not unintel- ligible, in any other country. Representations of cattle feeding on the flags in the marshes oecur on the monuments, as well as those which depict the harvesting of these plants for stall-feeding. The pulp of the byblus or papyrus, is sweet and nutritive, * Gen. xli. 2, 18. -t Job viii. 11. 204 ANCIENT EGYPT. and is described as similar to that of the sugar-cane. Herodotus says that its root was cooked and eaten as a delicacy. To the third class seem also to have been assigned the hunters, fowlers, and fishers, whose occupations are so very frequently depicted on the monuments, as to shew in what importance these persons were esteemed. In primitive times the chase of the more ferocious animals was necessary for protection ; a shepherd or a herdsman would be frequently called on to defend his flocks from these prowling enemies, and hence these employments would afibrd a good school for the exercise of strength and prowess. In the Sacred Scriptures w’e find frequent allusion to hunting as the training of a warrior. The stripling of Bethlehem had proved his youthful heroism against bestial foes before he encountered the Philistine giant. And David said to Saul, Let no man’s heart fail because of him : thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him : for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock : and I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth : and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. Thy servant s’ew both the lion and the bear ; and this uncircum- cised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. David said moreover. The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the I'on, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. 1 Sam. xvii. 32 — 37. Nimrod, “ the mighty hunter before the Lord ;”* Ishmael, wlio “ dwelt in the wilderness, and became * Gen. X. 9. STATE OF SOCIETY. 205 an archer,”* and Esau, the “ cunning hunter,” the “ man of the field,”f were by these invigorating pur- suits trained to the command of men ; to war and conquest. We find various modes of taking- wild animals de- picted in the Egyp- tian paintings. The most obvious is that represented in the adjoining engraving, the simplicity of which exactly an- swers to the account of Esau’s expedition at the dying request of Isaac. “ Now therefore, take, I pray thee, thy wea- pons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.”j; The huntsman in this picture is pursuing the wild oxen of the desert, the flesh of which was highly * Gen. xxi. 20, t Gen. xxv. 27. + Gen. xxvii. 3,5. % 206 ANCIENT EGYPT. esteemed; the presence of his dog indicates, in common with many other representations, that the ser\'ices of this faithful animal were appreciated in those early times, though it does not appear that hounds were used in the chase by the Israelites. The hare which starts at the feet of the chasseur, is allowed to escape un- regarded, his ^ye being upon more important game. The arrows which he discharges are blunted or knob- bed, and are calculated rather to stun than to kill the quarry ; and this effect seems intended to be ex- pressed in the wild cow, which being struck on the head is arrested in her course. The dogs also were trained to hold the prey without worrying or man- gling it, until the hunter could come up and secure it ; when it was carried home either on the shoulders. STATE OF SOCIETY. 207 or in boxes or baskets suspended from the common yoke, to be slaughtered as needed. “ Sometimes a space of ground, of considerable extent, was enclosed with nets, into which the ani- mals were driven by beaters; and as this is frequently shewn by the sculptures to have been in a hilly country, it is evident that the scenes of those amuse- ments were in the desert, where they probably ex- tended nets across the narrow valleys, or torrent- beds, which lie between the rocky hills, difficult of ascent to animals closely pressed by dogs . . . The spots thus enclosed were usually in the vicinity of the waterbrooks, to which they [the animals] were in the habit of repairing in the moniing and evening: and having awaited the time when they went to drink, and ascertained it by their recent tracks on the accustomed path, the hunters disposed the nets, occupied proper positions for observing them unseen, HY.ENA CAUGHT IN A GIN. and gradually closed in upon them.”* At other times wild beasts were taken in traps or gins, which * Wilkinson, iii. 4. 208 ANCIENT EGYPT. caught them by the feet, as represented in the ac- companying engraving from a picture at Thebes. To these modes of entrapping animals numerous allusions are made in the Sacred Scriptures. For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare. The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him. The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way. Job xviii. 8 — 10. Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net. Job xix. 6. The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made : in the net which they hid is their own foot taken. Ps. ix. 15. Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord ; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net. Ps. xxv. 15. Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me : for thou art my strength. Ps. xxxi. 4. For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which with- out cause they have digged for my soul. Let destruction come upon him at unawares ; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself ; into that very destruction let him fall. Ps. xxxv. 7, 8. Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me, and the gins of the workers of iniquity. Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape. Ps. cxli. 9, 10. Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets as a wild bull in a net : they are full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God. Isa. li. 20. Besides adopting these stratagems, the Egyptian hunter occasionally availed himself of the assistance of a tame lion, which he had trained to the chase. A painting at Beni Hassan represents a scene of this kind: the lion has brought down an ibex, and holds it prostrate until the archer, who is at some distance, can come up. But the ceremonial uncleanness at- taching to flesh which was “ torn of beasts in the field,” and its consequent prohibition as food,* ren- * Exod. xxii. 31. STATE OF SOCIETY. 209 dered such assistance, and even the use of hounds in hunting, unavailable in the land of Israel, Birds were taken in two modes. The accompany- ing scene, from the frequency of its recurrence, with no essential difference, seems to have been very com- mon. The original painting from which our copy is taken, is in the British Museum. The fowler was usually accompanied by some female members of his family, who do not, however, appear to have aided his operations. Embarking on board a boat, with a few decoy birds, and a trained cat, they proceeded FOWLING. to such parts of the river as were fringed with dense masses of the tall papyrus-reed. Waterfowl of va- rious species swarmed in these rushy covers ; and by the number of nests with eggs and young usually 210 ANCIENT EGYPT. represented, we are doubtless to infer that tlie pos- session of this sort of stock was no less desired than that of the birds themselves. The cat, strange as it appears, was certainly taught to seize upon the birds; in the picture before us, she has just caught one in her mouth, while (with a skill somewhat in- credible) she holds another with her two fore paws, and a third between her hind paws. It is probable, also, that, the repugnance of this animal to wet her feet having been overcome by training, she was accustomed to fetch such birds as fell into the water.* But the sportsman depended for his chief success on a short staff of heavy wood, having a double curve, which he threw at the birds. From some of the paintings it appears that he discharged several of these missiles in rapid succession, as the flocks arose, and from the action of a youth, in one, who holds a stick to the principal, it may have been the office of his attendants to keep him supplied with weapons as he discharged them, without loss of time. Various kinds of traps and nets were commonly used for the capture of birds. “ The trap was generally made of net-work strained over a frame. It consisted of two semicircular sides or flaps, of equal sizes, one or both moving on the common bar. * It is interesting to find the Cat domesticated at so early a period. In the ochreous tints of the brindled fur, the two dark spots near the ex- tremity of the tail, and a trace of the curved line upon the cheek, we think we recognise the Felis maniculata, (Tem.m.) to which modem natu- ralists have referred our domestic cat ; though the Egv'ptian figime dis- agrees with Riippel’s, in its more robust form and shorter legs. STATE OF SOCIETY. 211 or axis, upon which they rested. When the ti’ap was set, the two flaps were kept open hy means of strings, probably of catgut, which, the moment the bait that stood in the centre of the bar was touched. BIRD-TRAPS. slipped aside, and allowed the two flaps to collapse, and thus secured the bird. Another kind, which was square, appears to have closed in the same manner ; but its construction was difierent, the frame-work running across the centre, and not, as in the others, round the edges of the trap.”’*^ A clap-net is frequently represented, not very dis- similar to those in use among bird-catchers at pre- sent, but larger. “ It consisted of two sides, or frames, over which the net-work was strained ; at one end was a short rope, which they fastened to a bush, or a cluster of reeds ; and at the other was one of considerable length, which, as soon as the birds were seen feeding in the area within the net, was * Wilkinson, iii. .36. 213 ANCIENT EGYPT. pulled by the fowlers, causing the instantaneous collapsion of the two sides.”* This larger net is often depicted as spread on the surface of a reedy pool, probably in a space cleared for the purpose ; the men who worked it, being con- cealed from view among the tall water-plants, while a man was stationed at another place, whence he could watch the net, and when the wild fowl were assembled, gave the signal to pull the collapsing rope, and secure the booty. The watchman is occa- sionally represented, making a sign of silence, while the birds are approaching. The following are a few of the numerous passages of Scripture illustrated by the above mentioned cus- toms, the unexpected suddenness and the fatality of the catastrophe being the prominent ideas in most of the allusions. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler. Ps. xci. 3. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers ; the snare is broken, and we are escaped. Ps. cxxiv. 7. The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords ; they have spread a net by the way-side ; they have set gins for me. Selah. Ps. cxh 5. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. Prov. i. 1 7. As a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. Prov. vii. 23. For man also knoweth not his time ; as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare ; so are the sons of men snared in an efil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them. Eccl. ix. 12. For among my people are found wicked men : they lay wait, as he that setteth snares ; they set a trap, they catch men. Jer. v. 26. Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him ? * Wilk. iii. 45. STATE OF SOCIETY. 213 shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all ? Amos iii. 5. Ancient writers combine with the existing monu- ments to shew the extent to which the fisheries of Egypt were prosecuted, and the importance which was attached to them. Herodotus and others speak of the immense number of fishes supplied by the Nile and its canals ; he and Diodorus affirm that the royal profits derived from the fishery of the lake Mceris alone, which were assigned to the queen, as “pin-money,” for the purchase of jewellery, orna- ments and perfumery, amounted to a talent of silver per day, or 70,000/. per year. Michaud informs us, that even now the small lake Menzaleh yields a yearly income of 800 purses,* or upwards of 8000/. “ Salted, as well as fresh fish, were much eaten in Egypt, both in the Thebais, and the lower country, as the sculptures and ancient authors inform us ; and at a particular period of the year, every person was obliged, by a religious ordinance, to eat a fried fish before the door of his house, with the exception of the priests, who were contented to burn it on that occasion.” f The Holy Scriptures are not wanting in references to this abundance and estimation of fish in Egypt. In the threat of the first plague brought upon Pha- raoh, and in the record of its fulfilment, it is men- tioned, as an aggravation of the punishment, that “ the fish that was in the river died and in the * Corr. de I’Or. vi. 1. 156. -f- Wilkinson iii. 57. + Exod. vii. 18, 21. 214 ANCIENT EGYPT. triumphal recapitulation by the Psalmist, of the won- ders wrought by Jehovah in the land of Ham, it is not forgotten that He “ slew their fish.”* There is a very remarkable denunciation in the prophet Eze- kiel, in which allusion is made not only to the fish of the Nile, but also to the esteem in which the river itself was held in Egypt, and to its diffusion through the land by means of its canals. The haughty monarch himself is addressed under the significant emblem of the leviathan of the Nile, the mailed cro- codile. Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt : speak, and say. Thus saith the Lord God ; Behold, I am against thee. Pharaoh king of Egj'pt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales. And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee, and all the fish of thy rivers : thou shalt fall upon the open fields ; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered ; I have given thee, for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven. And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. Ezek. xxix. 2 — 6. One of the first complaints which the children of Israel uttered when they found themselves in the dreary desert, shews the nature and the abundance of the food to which they had been habituated during their sojourn in_ Egypt. “We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely. * Ps. cv. 29. t Numb. xi. 5. STATE OF SOCIETY. 215 Representations of the various modes of catching fish, the carrying of them to market, and the curing of them for preservation, are so numerous, that we are at a loss which to select for illustration of our sub- ject. Sometimes a grave Egyptian gentleman, with much attention to comfort, having had a mat spread by the side of a fish-pond in his garden, and a chair ANGLING. placed upon it, sits with his rod and line, as philosophically patient as the patriarchal Walton himself. Sometimes in the same picture which depicts a fowling-scene among the byblus reeds of the Nile, another boat is introduced, the owner of which, likewise attended by his family, is engaged in FOWLING AND SPEARING FISH. STATE OF SOCIETY. 217 spearing large fishes with the bident or two-pointed spear. But more commonly the net was employed ; it was ordinarily of a long form, and what is known as a drag-net, with wooden floats and leaden weights. Though sometimes used in a boat, it was more cus- tomary for those who were engaged to stand on the shore, and drag it up the shelving bank. The ac- companying scene unites both modes. The boat is a larger craft than usual, and carries a mast, the fish caught being hung to dry on lines stretched between the shrouds. A kite is sitting on the mast-head, waiting for the entrails of the fish. The zig-zag lines by which water is always represented in Egyptian art, are in the original continued over the whole net, but are omitted in our engraving to avoid confusion. These and several other peculiarities are graphi- 218 ANCIENT EGYPT. cally alluded to in “ the burden of Egypt,” denounced in the name of the Lord by the prophet Isaiah, The burden of Egj-pt. Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt ; and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians : and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour ; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof ; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have fami- liar spirits, and to the wizards. And the Egyptians wiU I give over into the hand of a cruel lord ; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts. And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall he wasted and dried up. And they shall turn the rivers far away, and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up : the reeds and flags shall wither. The paper-reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and everj'thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more. The fishers also shall mourn, and all thej’ that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish. Moreover, they that work in fine flax, and they that weave net-works, sb.all be confounded. And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, aU that make sluices and ponds for fish. Isa. xix. 1 — 10. The fourth caste seems to have consisted, princi- pally, of the various artisans and labourers ; but as we shall liave a more fit occasion to enter into details concerning these, when we come to speak of the state of the arts in Egypt, we dismiss them here with this notice ; as we may also that class of unfortunates who, for their crimes or other causes, were degraded below caste, and reduced to the servile condition and unmitigated toil of the foreign captives taken in war. Of the latter, however, we may just observe, that MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 219 the monuments give decisive records of the exist- ence of these outcasts ; and thus afford an additional illustration of two or three passages of Sacred Scrip- ture. The “ mixed multitude,” (or great rabble, ny) that went up with the escaping Israel- ites,* were doubtless their companions in bondage, native Egyptians who had no possessions, no rights, nothing to forsake but their toils and stripes, and who gladly availed themselves of the opportunity of throwing olf the yoke. When fairly out of the land, it was this same “ mixed multitude” that “ fell a lusting” after the food of Egypt, f and began the discontent in the Hebrew camp that was so disho- nouring to God, and so fatal to themselves. That these Egyptians who accompanied the tribes were indeed the poorest and meanest, we have additional evidence from the manner in which they are spoken of in the solemn covenant which was renewed at the close of the desert-wandering; — “ thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood to the drawer of thy water . These expressions are well known to have been proverbial of the most menial and laborious offices, those of the very lowest grade in society ; and are used in describing the slavery to which the Gibeonites afterwards were re- duced, when their lives were spared on account of the fraudulent compact into which the princes of Israel had been betrayed with them. How very forcible, because so utterly beyond suspicion of con- trivance, are such confirmations of historical verity as these ! * Exod. xii, 38. t Numb. xi. 4. f Ueut. xxix. 11. 220 ANCIENT EGYPT. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. The real condition of a people, as regards their progress in civilisation, refinement, and comfort, is to be judged from their private fife. There may be much pomp and display, much magnificence,* and even a high degree of skill in many of the arts, existing among a nation scarcely removed from a semi-barbarous state. If ingenuity, and taste, and artistic skill are devoted to the pleasing of a few, to the embellishment of royal courts or princely mansions, they will necessarily remain stunted in their omi growth, and inefiective in their results. The aristocracy of a nation may be familiar with splendour and luxury, while the great mass of the people are sunk in unmitigated squalor and brutish ignorance. Palaces, temples, votive columns, and triumphal arches may abound in a city, where the private dwellings of the citizens are for the most part sordid hovels, ill-lighted, worse ventilated, and almost destitute of all attention to convenience, health, or comfort. Such was not the condition of the Egj’ptian people under the early Pharaohs. The abundant details of domestic manners which the sepulchral paintings have preserved to us, make it manifest that the various arts which were cultivated with so much MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 221 success, depended for their support on the patronage of the many, not of the few. Proof of this we shall discover as we proceed with this investigation : it is sufficient here to allude to but one example : the constant recurrence of cheap imitations of costly manufactures. Imitations of gems in coloured pastes and glasses ; furniture of common wood, grained and painted to resemble that which was foreign and costly ; vessels of common ware counterfeiting por- celain, enabled a purchaser of limited means to gratify the desire, so common in all ages, of main- taining a reputation for gentility and fashion. “ Such inventions and successful endeavours to imitate costly ornaments by humbler materials, not only show the progress of art among the Egyptians, but strongly argue the great advancement they had made in the customs of civilised life ; since it is certain that, until society has arrived at a high degree of luxury and refinement, artificial wants of this nature are not created, and the lower classes do not yet feel the desire of imitating their wealthier superiors, in the adoption of objects dependent on taste or accidental caprice.”* The houses of the Egyptians, except those of the poorest classes, seem to have been roomy and com- modious ; extending over a considerable space, and consisting of from one to four, or even fivef stories above the ground fioor. In the cities and towns they were built with attention to regularity and unity of appearance ; nor was there that frequent contrast of * Wilkinson, iii. 101. t Diod. i. 45. 222 ANCIENT EGYPT. mansions and hovels that so offends the eye in most oriental cities. They were, for the most part, built of sun-dried bricks, which in a climate where rain so rarely falls, possessed all the permanence and stability requisite ; while in ancient Babylon, the frequent recurrence of rain required that the bricks used should be “ burnt throughly,”* as we accordingly find them. The following representation of a gentleman’s mansion will greatly aid us in understanding the mode in which an Egyptian house was ordinarily laid out; premising, however, that the artist has mingled the elevation with the ground-plan, and that it is only the basement of the building, or the ground floor that is depicted : of the stories that surmounted this w’e are left in ignorance, as to their number, subdivision, and arrangement. At A on the side which fronted the street is the principal entrance, beneath a portico, the columns of which are adorned wdth little streamers or banners. In some instances (not in this), a flight of four or five broad steps led up to the door. On each side of the portico, a smaller door (a, a,) leading into the same hall, was probably used by servants, or visitors of humble pretensions. No window, at least on this floor, is represented as looking into the street ; beside the three doors, the front presented nothing but a dead wall, relieved by a row of trees growing in ornamental pots, or else surrounded by a low wall to preserve them from injury. The principal door under the portico, as well as the two side doors, led * Gen. xi. 3. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 223 into a spacious liall or open court (b,) in the midst of which stood a room (c,) for the reception of visitors. This room was supported by bannered columns, and being closed only at the lower part by panels between the columns, allowed the refreshing breeze to circu- late through it. From the court (b,) three doors (d, d, d,) lead into a still more spacious court (e,) ornamented on each side with a row of trees. A 224 ANCIENT EGYPT. central and lateral door (f, f,) gave a back entrance into the court from another street. On each side of the great court a triple door (g, g,) opened into a cor- ridor (h, h,) supported by a colonnade, and adorned with trees. The two corridors were alike in their ar- rangement ; into each opened twelve narrow rooms, six on each side, the doors of one series facing those of the other. These were appropriated as cellars, for the preservation of copious stores of provisions, both solid and liquid, with other valuables. At the farther end of the left corridor, was a small isolated sitting room(i,) intended doubtless for privacy and retirement ; immediately behind which two doors (j, J,) gave egress from this corridor into the street, without any communication with the rest of the building. It was probably such a room as this that constituted the “summer parlour” of Eglon the king of Moab, “ which he had for himself alone and in which he received the fatal message of Ehud the left-handed Benjamite ; and we see how it was that the aveng- ing champion could “go forth through the porch, having shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them,” * and was able to effect his escape beyond the reach of pursuit, before the attendants of the king were aware that the audience was ended. The upper parts of the house were probably over the store-rooms only : the courts and conddors being en- tirely open to the sky, or screened from the sun merely by a temporary awning. It was in the court, called by * Judg. iii. 15 — 26. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 225 the Evangelist, “ the midst,” as being the centre of the house, that the Lord Jesus was sitting, teaching, when the friends of the palsied man, in that faith which triumphs over difficulties, succeeded in intro- ducing him into the Saviour’s presence. “ When they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the house-top, and let him down through the tiling, with his couch, into the midst, before Jesus.”* The “ tiling” of this passage was, doubtless, the light awning of linen, or of matting, which could be lifted at one side without any damage, and with but little dif- ficulty. In the time of the restoration of the Jewish polity under Nehemiah, we find the people keeping the feast of tabernacles, by making booths of branches of trees “ in their courts,”! which implies that these courts were unroofed. In the court of a modern Egyptian house it is not uncommon to have a well, as was the case with that in which the messengers of David were concealed from their pursuers in the unnatural rebellion of Absalom. “ They went both of them away quickly, and came to a man’s house in Bahurim, which had a well in his court, whither they went down.”! As a contrast to the spacious mansion above de- scribed, we present the reader with a copy of a model of a small house, brought from Egypt by Mr. Salt, and now in the British Museum. “ It solely con- sisted of a court-yard, and three small store-rooms X 2 Sam. xvii. 18. L 5 * Luke iv. 19. t Neh. viii. 16. 226 ANCIENT EGYPT. on the ground-floor, with a staircase leading to a room belonging to the store-keeper, which was fur- nished with a narrow window or aperture opposite MODEL OF A SMALL HOUSE. the door, rather intended for the purposes of venti- lation than to admit the light. In the court a woman was represented making bread, as is sometimes done at the present day in Egypt, in the ojien air ; and the store-rooms were not only full of grain when the model was found, but would still have preserved their contents uninjured, had they escaped the notice of a rat in the lazaretto of Leghorn, which in one night destroyed what ages had respected. How readily would an Arab exclaim, on learning the fate which awaited them, “ Every thing is witten ! ” MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 227 “ The chamber on the top of the house appears, from its dimensions, to be little calculated for com- fort either in the heat of summer, or the cold of winter ; but it may only have been intended as a shelter from the sun during the day, while the inmate attended to the business of the servants, or the peasants. It cannot, however, fail to call to mind the memorable proverb, ‘ It is better to dwell in a corner of the house top, than with a brawling woman in a wide house ; ’* though that character does not apply to the quiet and industrious female in the court below. ”f In the same collection there is another model of MODEL OP A TWO-STORIED HOUSE Egyptian house, in stone. It is much smaller * Prov. xxi. 9. + Wilkinson, ii. 107. 228 ANCIENT EGYPT. than the former, but consists of two stories, besides the ground floor, and from its narrowness compared with its height, seems to have represented one in a street. The accompanying engra^dng will give a better idea of its appearance than a description. The doors are very narrow, but high. The windows of the first floor have a more modern form and cha- racter than those depicted in the paintings ; but those of the attics seem to consist of a lattice of crossed laths. The terrace is surrounded with an edging, scarcely high enough to be called a wall. Below one of the doors a projecting step runs along the whole front. It was not uncommon for the occupant of a house to have his name painted upon the “ lintel and two side- posts” of the door ; an allusion to which may per- haps be found in the three-fold sprinkling of the blood of the paschal lamb on the houses of Israel in the dreadful night of Egypt’s judgment. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 229 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side-posts with the blood that is in the bason ; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the Loan will pass through to smite the Egyp- tians ; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side- posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. Exod. xii. 22, 23. At other times sentences were written in hierogly- phics over the door -way, as “ the good hoTise,” in the same manner as the modern Mahometans inscribe their dwellings with sentences from the Koran. It was in conformity with this custom that Israel were commanded* to write, not their own words, hut the words of God, upon the posts of their houses and upon their gates. The windows were few, and of small size, as is still the case very generally in hot climates, where darkness gives the associated idea of coolness. From the representations, they seem to have been often merely shutters, hut at other times to have consisted of slender perpendicular or transverse bars, with narrow interstices. f The ark of Noah, vast as it was, had but one window,^ which was, doubtless, a shutter ; and the house of Rahab of Jericho, which was upon the town-wall, seems from the expression, “ the window,”§ to have had no more. The construction of the windows mentioned in * Deut. vi. 9, and xi. 20. t These bear a strong resemblance in the paintings, to the small mats which were often spread upon the floors, and possibly were made of similar materials. t Gen. vi. 16, viii. 6. § Jos. ii. 15. 230 ANCIENT EGYPT. the following passages was probably similar to that found in the Egyptian paintings. “ The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried FRONT OF AN EGYPTIAN HOUSE. through the lattice.”* “ And for the house he made windows of narrow lights.'''\ “ And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber.”^ “ He looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself tlu'ough the lattice.”^ The house depicted above has the ordinary ter- race at the summit roofed over, either perma- nently, or temporarily by an awning ; the sup- porting pillars admitting the refreshment of the passing breeze : but much more commonly the * Judg. V. 28. t 1 Kings, vi. 4. J 2 Kings i. 2. § Cant. ii. 9. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 231 “house-top” was open to the sky, and surrounded merely by a low parapet, often cut in the form of battlements, which added to the elegance of the edifice, while it served the more important purpose of a protection to the evening loungers of that favourite resort. The fatherly care of God over his people was manifested in His making this provision an ordinance in His laws for Israel. “ When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battle- ment for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence.”* The ceilings and walls, if we may judge from those of the tombs, which alone have been preserved, were elaborately painted in elegant patterns of exceeding variety, and of the most rich and glowing colours ; often reminding us of the beautiful forms and hues of the kaleidoscope. That the opulent among the Hebrews adopted this luxurious style seems inti- mated from the words of the Prophets. “Woe unto him . . . that saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows : and it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with ver- milion.”f “ Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste V'% The villas or country-seats of the wealthier class were remarkable for their extent, and the elaborate attention to convenience and luxury with which they were laid out. The pleasure-grounds were planted in some parts with avenues of ornamental trees, in others, with the date and the Theban palm ; or- * Deut. xxii, 8. t Jer. xxii. 13, 14. J Hag. i. 4. 232 ANCIENT EGYPT. chards and vineyards occupied a large space, and gar- dens of slu'ubs and flowers, witli arbours of trellis- work, invited the owners to sit in the shade or re- cline upon the turf by the side of the canals, that, communicating with the Nile, supplied numerous ponds well stocked with Ashes and water-fowl, and stream with the beautiful water-lilies. The dwell- ing-house, with the necessary offices of the farm, the stables, granaries, &c. were commodiously ar- ranged, and tlie whole was surrounded by a wall, stuccoed on the outside, often ornamented with grooved pannels, and surmounted by a balustrade of spear-heads. Sometimes the whole ground was laid out as an immense garden, of the arrangement of which the accompanpng engraving will give some idea. That here represented, stood beside a canal of the Nile, with an avenue of trees between it and the bank, on which side was the entrance. It was surrounded by an embattled wall, through which a noble gate-way gave access to the garden. The central space was occupied by the vine- yard, surrounded by its own wall, in which the vines were trained on trellises, supported by slender pillars. At the farther end of the vineyard was a building of three stories, the windows from which opened over the luxuriant foliage and purple clus- ters, regaling the senses of both sight and smell. Four large tanks of water kept the vegetation well supplied with nutritive moisture ; and, with the smooth and verdant turf which borders them, the water-fowl that sported over their surface, and the MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 233 lotus-flowers that sprang from their clear depths, added a new beauty to the scene. Near the tanks stood summer-houses overlooking beds of various flowers, and sheltered from the sun by surrounding trees. Two enclosed spaces between the tanks, being filled with trees, were probably devoted to some species of particular rarity, or remarkable for the excellence of their fruit. Rows of date-trees and Theban palms alternating with other trees, bor- dered the whole garden, and environed the vineyard- wall. 234 ANCIENT EGYPT. The very numerous allusions to gardens in the Sacred Scriptures, (of which we cite a few) shew that the Hebrews inherited the same taste as the Egyp- tians. In these allusions we find the same character- istics that are so observable in those depicted on the monuments ; such as the absolute necessity of water, the custom of having pools in them, the advantage of a situation by the side of a river, the practice of inclosing them from intrusion, and the appropriation of inclosures to particular productions. How goodly are thy tents, 0 Jacob, and thy tabernacles, 0 Israel ! As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river’s side, as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters. Numb. xxiv. 5, 6. And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying. Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house. 1 Kings xxi. 2. He fled by the way of the garden-house. 2 Kings ix. 27. I made me great works ; I builded me houses ; I planted me vine- yards : I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits : I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees. Eccl. ii. 4 — 6. A garden inclosed is my sister, mj’ spouse ; a spring shut up, a foun- tain sealed. Cant. iv. 12. My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. Cant. vi. 2. I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded. Cant. vi. 11. For j'e shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. Isa. i. 29. And thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. Isa. Iviii. II. (and Jer. xxxi. 12.) With the early Egyptians the love of fiowers seems to have been almost a passion ; they appear to have MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 235 been in perpetual request ; in offerings to the gods, as ornaments of the person, as decorations of furni- ture, as the regales of social entertainments, they occur at every turn. “ So fond were they of trees and flowers, and of gracing their gardens with all the profusion and vai’iety which cultivation could obtain, that they even exacted a contribution of rare pro- ductions from the nations which were tributary to them, and foreigners from distant countries are represented bringing plants among the presents to the Egyptian king. They carried this love to them still farther, and not only painted the lotus and other favourite flowers among the devices of their walls, and on the furniture of their houses, on their dresses, chairs, and boxes, on their boats, and in short, what- ever they wished to orna- ment, but they appear, from Pliny, to have com- posed artificial flowers, which received the name ” /Egyptice if indeed we may be allowed to consider these similar to the JnjherncB" he after- wards describes. [And this is confirmed by ac- tual discoveries ; for imi- tations of leaves and flowers in painted linen have been found in the tombs of Thebes.] Wreaths and chaplets were likewise in common use among the Egyptians, at a very early 236 ANCIENT EGYPT. period ; and though the lotus was principally pre- ferred for these purposes, many other flowers and leaves were employed ; as of the chrysanthemum, acinon, acacia, strychnus, persoluta, anemone, con- volvolus, olive, amaricus, xeranthemum, bay-tree, and others ; and Plutarch tells us, that when Agesi- laus visited Egypt, he was so delighted with the chaplets of papyrus sent him by the king, that he took some home when he returned to Sparta.”* The Greek writers, Herodotus and Plutarch, have affirmed, that wine was not used by the ancient Egyptians, and that no vines grew in their land. The Scripture, however, contradicts these statements most dii'ectly. The dream of the butler of Pharaoh, which led to the exaltation of Joseph, was thus nar- rated : In my dream behold, a vine was before me ; and in the vine were three branches, and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth ; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes. And Pha- raoh’s cup was in my hand ; and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand. Gen. xl. !)— 12 . And that this dream was a representation of ac- tually existing and not merely imaginary circum- stances, is shown by Joseph’s remark in the inter- pretation ; “ Thou shalt deliver Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler.” (Ver. 13.) The cultivation of the vine in Egypt is also twice implied in the Psalms ; for in the recapitulations of the wondrous plagues which God had inflicted on Wilk. ii. 182. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 237 that haughty nation, it is said, “ He de- stroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore-trees with frost;”* and again, “ He smote their vines also and their fig-trees ; and brake the trees of their coasts.” f It is pleasing to find that the monumental paintings most fully support the accuracy of the Sacred Writings. “ Numerous are the representations in the tombs which relate to the cultivation of the vine ; and these are found not merely in such as belong to the era of the eighteenth and subsequent dy- nasties, but also in those of the most an- cient times, The accompanying engrav- ing represents the vines trained over trellised arbours, and loaded VINEYARD AND WINEPRESS. Ps. Ixxviii. 47. t Ps. cv. 33. t Rosellini, ii. § i. 373. 238 ANCIENT EGYPT. with the ripe fruit ; one man is watering with a pot the roots, which are earthed up so as to form a trench for retaining the moisture ; two gather the clusters, and pack them in baskets, some of which are carried away for eating or preserving, while others are borne to the wine-press, which is seen on the right of the picture. The steward or overseer sits watching the process of gathering ; probably in order to secure the king’s fifth of the produce. The whole scene reminds us of the description of Homer : — “ Here ordered vines in equal ranks appear, With all th’ united labours of the year : Some to unload the fertile branches nm ; Some dry the blackening clusters in the sun ; Others to tread the liquid harvest join ; The groaning presses foam with floods of wine.” The press in this example is of humbler preten- sions than some that are represented. It consists of a wide but not deep vessel, placed between two date trees in the garden, to which is affixed a trans- verse pole or stout rope. The men who tread the grapes give greater force and elasticity to their leaps by swinging on cords suspended from the transverse rope. In other examples, the place of the two trees is supplied by turned and sculptured pillars, and the transverse beam is likewise ornamented with carved work. Openings at different heights allowed the juice to be drawn off into receiving vessels, as in the followmg representation. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 239 The operation of treading the grapes, though a laborious employment, seems, from the attitudes and countenances of those engaged in it, to have been WINE-PRESS AND WINE-CELLARS. one of high exhilaration and merriment. Many were occupied together in close contact, much muscular exertion was called into action, and under these cir- cumstances, labour is generally accompanied with boisterous mirth ; and the nature of the employment itself, connected with present and future enjoyment, and perhaps even its obvious resemblance to the shedding of the blood of prostrate foes, would add to the excitement of the occasion. The Sacred Scriptures have drawn copious similes, some of them of a sublimely awful character from the imagery of the wine-press, which will be well illustrated by these ancient paintings. 240 ANCIENT EGYPT. He washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes. Gen. xlix. 11. Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, 0 Heshbon, and Elealeh ; for the shout- ing for thy summer fruits, and for thy harvest, is fallen. And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field ; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting : the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses ; I have made their vintage- shouting to cease. Isa. xvi. 9, 10. Wlio is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah ? this that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength ? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Where- fore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat ? I have trodden the wine-press alone ; and of the people there was none with me ; for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fur)' ; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. And I looked, and there was none to help ; and I wondered that there was none to uphold ; therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me ; and my fury it upheld me. And I wiU tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring dor\-n their strength to the earth. Isa. l.xiii. 1 — 6. The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his hoi)' habitation ; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation ; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. Jer. xxv. 30. The Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a wine- press. Lam. i. 1,5. The reader will liave noticed in the passages from the Psalms above-quoted,* the intimate connexion of the sycamore or fig-tree tvith the vine, in Egypt. And other references in the Holy Scriptures shew that these trees were as familiarly associated in Palestine. Ps. Ixxviii. 47, and cv. 33. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 241 And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon 1 Kings iv. 25. Come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and ever}- one of his fig-tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern. 2 Kings xviii. 31. The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Cant. ii. 13. They shall eat up thy vines and thy fig-trees. Jer. v. 1 7. I will surely consume them, saith the Lord : there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig-tree. Jer. viii. 13. And I will destroy her vines and her fig-trees. Hos. ii. 1 2. He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig-tree. Joel i. 7. The vine is dried up, and the fig-tree languisheth. Joel i. 12. But they shall sit every man under his vine, and under his fig-tree Mic. iv. 4. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig-tree. Zech. iii. 10. A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard. Luke xiii. 6. The monuments of Egypt fully confirm these facts : the fruit-bearing sycamore was as great a favourite in that country as in Judea ; it is very fre- quently depicted. In the accompanying scene it is in close association with the vines, being not separ- ated from them by any kind of fence. But even when not absolutely contained within the same in- closure, the vineyard was almost invariably situated close by the orchard. The delicious figs were the favourite luxuries of the Egyptian ladies ; as they were plucked from the trees by hand, they were carefully packed in shallow baskets of papyrus, or palm-leaves, and covered with their own broad leaves. With the singular facility which the Egyptians possessed in taming wild animals, the pictures intimate that they had M 224 ANCIENT EGYPT. succeeded in training the malignant and unsociable baboon to perform the work of picking the fruit of the sycamore. The agility and climbing in- stinct of these animals would of course make them adepts at the work ; which, the artist seems to hint, they took care to make fully as profitable to themselves as to their employers. Sir Stamford Raffles informs us that, in Su- matra, baboons are still employed in a similar duty. The natives are fond of domesticating the hrith, or pig-tailed baboon, which they teach to climb the cocoa-nut palms for the purpose of procuring the fruit ; it selects the ripe from the unripe nuts with admirable discrimination, and plucks no more than its master desires. Hence, Sir Stamford proposes for it the VINEYARD AND FIG-TREES. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 243 specific appellation of carpoleg2is, or the fruit gatherer.* BABOONS PLUCKING FIGS. It may be a pleasing illustration of ancient man- ners, to endeavour to trace in some detail the pro- gress of one of those parties of social entertain- ment, of which the Egyptians were so fond, and which so often occur on the pictorial monuments. Nor will it be less instructive than curious, for we shall thus obtain many interesting illustrations of customs incidentally alluded to in the Sacred Scrip- tures. M 2 • Trans. Linn. Soc. vol. xiii. 2U ANCIENT EGYPT. The accompanying scene represents an Egyptian gentleman driving up in his chariot to the door of his host. His consequence is inti- mated by the late- ness of his arrival, for the guests are assembled within. Running footmen precede and follow the chariot ; a prac- tice repeatedly men- tioned in the Scrip- tures. Thus Samuel forewarned Israel when they desired a king, “ He will take your sous, . . . and some shall run before his cha- riots.”* And when Absalom began to affect the state pre- paratory to his re- bellion, he “ pre- pared him chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before ARRIVAL OF A GUEST. * 1 Sam. viii. 11. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. ^45 him.”* These runners seem to have been not only for ostentation ; the one immediately be- hind the carriage is ready to take the reins at the moment of stopping, while the one who follows him carries a foot-stool to facilitate his master’s alighting, and some other implements which we may suppose to be necessary for the elegance of his appearance in the drawing-room. The footman in front is about to knock at the door, and the one represented above his head, is probably the foremost of all, the har- binger to announce the approach of the important personage.f This individual has taken off his san- dals, which he carries in his hand ; and it is a curious circumstance that none of the guests nor attendants in the social parties are represented with shoes, though out of doors they very frequently occur. Probably the loosing of the shoe was considered among the Egyptians an act of respect, as it was, we know, among the Hebrews for, in religious ceremonies, the Egyptian priests frequently divested themselves of their sandals. § Another picture represents a person of much dig- nity, sitting in a litter or palanquin elaborately orna- mented, which is carried upon the shoulders of four young men ; while a fifth walks behind, carrying a battle-axe in one hand, and with the other elevating * 2 Sam. XV. 1. t It may be needful to remark, that the Egyptian artists being igno- rant of the principles of perspective drawing, were accustomed to repre- sent a more distant object on the same plane, by placing it ahove the nearer object ; often, as in this instance, with another foot-line. A recol- lection of this will obviate much obscurity in these pictures. ^ E.xod. iii. 5 ; Jos. v. 15. Wilk. iii. 3G6. 246 ANCIENT EGYPT. above the head of his master a large hollow shield of leather stretched over a light frame, doubtless as a protection from the rays of the sun. The custom of washing the feet of a guest imme- diately on his arrival from a distance, so indis- pensable a mark of hospitality in the east, was probably performed in private, which may he the reason wdiy it is not represented in the pictures ; as it appears Joseph’s brethren washed their feet, the steward having given tliem water, before their introduction into the festive room.* The ewers and basins, however, for this purpose, are represented, and are of much elegance. The anointing of the head wath perfumed oint- ment, which seems among the Hebrews-j- to have been subsequent to the washing, and to have been performed in the dining-room, when the guests were seated, is so depicted in the Egyptian feasts. “It was customary for a servant to attend every guest, as he seated himself, and to anoint his head and this was one of the principal tokens of welcome.” Passages, far too numerous to he even referred to here, shew the estimation in which ointments were held among the Israelites, the taste for which they perhaps acquired among their Egyptian lords, as we find no reference to it in the early patriarchal times. David, in a beautiful psalm of thankful praise, says, “ Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over,”§ And in the narrative of * Gen. xliii. 24, 25. t See Luke vii. 44 — 46. i See engraving, p. 132. § Ps. .xxiii. 5. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 247 the lovely act of kindness shewn by Israel in the days of Pekah to their captives of Judah, so much the more refreshing because of its contrast with the prevailing records of the times, it is mentioned among the more substantial tokens of hospitality, that they “ anointed them.”* In the sacred narrative of the varied fortunes of the patriarch Joseph, there is a casual mention of a custom quite foreign to the Hebrews, but as dis- tinctly Egyptian. “ Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon, and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.”f Herodotus narrates that the Egyptians suffered their hair and beards to grow only on occasions of mourning, but that at all other times they were shaved. J The testimony of the monuments abundantly confirms this; the abundance of hair often represented on Egyptian men being wigs, specimens of which exist to this day in our museums ; and even the little square beard on the point of the chin of persons of distinction, being made of false hair, tied to the face. In some instances, however, the Egyptians seem to have worn their natural beards, platted wdth ribbon, the ends of which passed up on each side of the face. The presence of an untrimmed beard marks a servile condition, as in the case of the slaves making bricks ; it is also frequently represented on captives marching in a triumphal procession, and on the Canaanite na- • 2 Chron. xxviii. 15. t Gen. xli. 14. ^ Herod, ii. 35. 248 ANCIENT EGYPT. tions generally ; but is never seen on free Egyptians, except as an indication of extraordinary privation of domestic comfort, or absorption of mind in the ardour of war ; as in the case of Rameses I. in his arduous campaigns. Even foreign slaves who were employed in domestic service, were obliged to con- form to the cleanly customs of their conquerors; they could not appear until their heads and beards were shaved, after which they wore a close cap.* Another mark of courteous hospitality, never omitted to an honoured guest, had reference to the general love of flowers which we have ah’eady men- tioned as characteristic of the Egyptians. Necklaces made of the fragrant and beautiful blossoms of the lotus or water-lily, were brought by servants and thrown around the neck of each lady and gentleman of the party : a wreath of the same flowers was also put round the head, and a single flower was held in the hand during the entertainment, which was changed as soon as it began to fade ; and the fre- Wilk. iii. 358. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 249 quency with which the guests are represented in- haling the odour of these beautiful flowers, proves how grateful this mark of attention was. Besides those, however, which were thus disposed about the persons of the guests, the room was adorned with chaplets and wreaths suspended on the furniture, and numerous bouquets were placed on stands pre- pared for the purpose, doubtless, in contact with water. The custom of reclining at meals, which was intro- duced into the Roman empire from Carthage after the Punic wars, was unknown in Ancient Egypt. The brethren of Joseph, when made to “ eat bread” at his table, “ sat before him, the first born, accord- ing to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth and the same fashion prevailed j in Israel, and in Persia.^ The master and mistress of the house are frequently represented as occupying a broad or double chair, while single chairs accommo- dated the guests ; in some instances, however, the reverse of this obtained. The elegant forms and elaborate construction of the furniture we shall have occasion to allude to on another occasion. The freedom of intercourse which existed between persons of different sex is a thing particularly ob- servable, in as much as it is perfectly in accordance with the accounts of Sacred Scripture, while it is the very opposite of the customs which have pre- vailed in the East, and even in Greece, from a period * Gen. xliii. 33. t Gen. xxvii. 19 ; Judg. xix. 6 ; 1 Sam. xx. 5, 24, 25, &c. + Esth. iii. 15. M 5 250 ANCIENT EGYPT. as far back as profane history extends. The infa- mous wife of Potiphar had abundant opportunities for her shameless assaults upon the virtue of Joseph, “ as she spoke to him day by day which shews that the seclusion of the modern harem was then unknown. And long before that, when Abram and Sarai went down to Egypt, “ The Egyptians beheld the woman, that she was very fair : the princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh which could not have happened if it had not been customary for ladies to appear abroad un- veiled. That such was the fashion the monuments DOUBLE CHAIR. abundantly prove ; ladies and gentlemen are seen mingling in friendly intercourse with as much famili- arity as in modern Europe. A married pair usually are seated side by side, with the wife’s arm around the husband’s shoulders ; while with the consideration with which children were ever regarded by them, a * Gen. xxxix. 10. + Gen. xii. 14, 15. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 251 little boy or girl is frequently favoured with a seat by his mother’s side, or on his father’s knee. Nor were the Egyptian ladies restricted in the use of the pleasures of the table : wine was handed round to them, equally with their male companions, at the commencement of the entertainment ; servants carrying it round in small vases or cups of gold, sil- ver, glass, or porcelain. Indeed the artists have not scrupled to delineate the most disgusting features of excess, in ladies under the effects of intoxication at social entertainments, and in gentlemen in helpless insensibility, carried home, by the head and heels, on the shoulders of their servants. The interval that transpired between the assem- bling of the jiarty, and the serving up of the dinner was filled up partly by conversation. “ The chit- chat of the day, public affairs, and questions of busi- ness or amusement, occupied the attention of the men. Sometimes an accident occurring at the house afforded an additional subject for remark; and as at the feast of the rich Nasidienus, the fall of a dusty curtain, or some ill-secured piece of furniture, in- duced many to offer condolences to the host, while others indulged in the criticisms of a sarcastic Balatro."^ “ A circumstance of this kind is represented in a tomb at Thebes. A party, assembled at the house of a friend, are regaled with the sound of music, and the customary introduction of refreshments ; and no attention which the host could shew his visitors ap- Hor. Sat. ii. 8. 54 — 72. 352 ANCIENT EGYPT. pears to be neglected on the occasion. The wine has circulated freely ; and as they are indulging in amusing converse, a young man, perhaps from inad- vertence, perhaps from the effect of intemperance, reclining with his whole weight against a column in the centre of the apartment, tlirow’s it down upon the assembled guests ; who are seen, with uplifted hands endeavouring to protect themselves, and escape from its fall.”* The ladies, on the other hand, found materials of energetic discussion, in the various articles of their dress, the jewelled ornaments with which they were LADIES TALKING OF THEIR EAR-RINGS. SO profusely decked, the elegance of their sandals, or the arrangement and beauty of their plaited hair. The passion of the Egyptians for decorative jew- ellery was indeed excessive. Men as well as women delighted thus to adorn themselves ; and the desire was not confined to the higher ranks, for though the subordinate classes could not afford the sparkling * WUk. ii. 365. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 253 entirely devoid of clothing, but richly ornamented with necklaces and other jewels.”* gems and precious metals which glowed upon the persons of their superiors, their vanity was grati- fied by humble imitations, of bronze, glass, and por- celain. “ Costly and elegant ornaments,” observes Profes- sor Rosellini, “abounded, in proportion as clothing in general was simple and scarce among the Egyptians. Girdles, necklaces, armlets, rings, ear-rings, and amulets of various kinds suspended from the neck, are found represented in the paintings, and in fact still ex- ist on the mummies. Figures of noble youth are found ladies’ ear-bings. Ros. ii. 2, 419. 254 ANCIENT EGYPT. An immense number of these “jewels of silver and jewels of gold” have been found in the tomhs, and on the persons of mummies, and are deposited in profusion in every museum. The accompanying engravings wll give an idea of the style and form of some of them. The ear-rings generally ‘worn by ladies, “ were large round single hoops of gold, (as a,) from one inch and a half to two inches and one third in diameter ; and frequently of a still greater size ; or made of six rings soldered together (as b ) ; sometimes an asp, whose body was of gold set with precious stones, was worn by persons of rank, as a fashionable caprice.” Figs, c d oi gold bear the heads of fanciful animals ; e, also of gold, is remark- able for its singularity of form, and for the deli- cacy of its workmanship ; and /, for its carrying two pearls, and being double in its construction. Bracelets, armlets, and anklets were worn by men as well as women ; they were usually of gold, fre- BRACELETS AND SIGNET. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 255 quently set with precious stones, or inlaid with ena- mel. The one marked a in the above cut is now in the Leyden museum ; it is of gold, three inches in diameter, and one and a half inch in height, and is interesting because it belonged to the Pharaoh whom we conclude to have been the patron and friend of Joseph, Thothmes III., whose name it bears. The armlet b is of gold, and represents a snake ; the other, c, is of bronze. Finger-rings were worn in profusion, particularly by ladies : the left-hand of a wooden figure of a woman, on a mummy case in the British Museum, bears no fewer than nine of these decorations. Gold was the material chiefly selected for rings, as for all jewellery, but precious stones were frequently set on the upper surface, as with us. Wlien simple, various forms were given to them ; a snake, a knot, or a snail appear in some. Some resemble watch- seals of the present day ; the stone of which generally takes the very favourite form of the scarabazus or sacred beetle, the under side being flat, and engraved. Sometimes the stone, having four flat sides all en- graved, turned on a pivot, like some seals seen at present. One of this character, which Sir J. G. Wilkinson estimates to contain twenty pounds’ worth of gold, is represented at d in the above engraving. It consists of a massive ring of gold, bearing an oblong plinth of the same metal, an inch in length, and more than half an inch in its greatest width. On one side is engraven the hieroglyphic name of Horus the successor of Amunoph III. ; the three others contain respectively a scorpion, a crocodile, and a 256 ANCIENT EGYPT. lion. This, wliicli is a signet ring, by its value, its style of engraving, and its use as a seal, may illus- trate several allusions in Scripture. The promise of Jehovah to Zeruhhabel is, “ In that day will I take thee, . . . and will make thee as a signet ; for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of Hosts.”* Still more forcible is the expression of that solemn oath pronounced on the last degenerate king that ever sat on the throne of David : “As I live, saith the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence !”•]- The onyxes on the shoulders of the high priest’s ephod, the precious stones of his breastplate, and the plate of pure gold on the front of his mitre, were all commanded to be engraven “like the engravings of a signet and this within a few months after the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt, so that we are quite sure their models were Egyptian. That authority was communi- cated to royal edicts by the signet-ring is well known. Thus the wicked Jezebel when devising the death of Naboth, “ wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal.”§ The edicts of Ahasuerus, first to destroy the Jews in the Persian empire, and then empowering them to stand on their defence, were both “ sealed with the king’s ring ; ” and it is remark- able that in neither instance was the signet actually applied by the king, it having been committed in the one case to Hainan, in the other to Mordecai. || And so when “ Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, • Hag. ii. 23. + Jer. xxii. 24. $ Exod. xxviii. 11, 21, 36. j 1 Kings xxi. 8. || Esth. iii. 10, andviii. 10. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 257 and put it upon Joseph’s hand,”* it was tlie actual delegation to him of the royal authority ; “ Accord- ing to thy word shall all my people be ruled.” Necklaces and chains in great variety of form and material, were worn by men and women. Some were simple chains of gold, to which was suspended some ornament, as a beetle of stone or gem set in gold ; some consisted of beads of varying forms, either of metal or stones; leaves, flowers, and shells of enamel, small cups of metal, drops of cornelian, emeralds, amethysts and pearls, various fanciful devices, were strung in a thousand different modes and combinations ; some were formed of gold wire platted as in watch-guards of om* own day; some consisted of emeralds and rubies, alternating with leaves of gold inlaid with lapis lazuli, or figures of fishes, birds, &c., beauti- fully modelled in gold ; and others are too complex for description. From this extreme abundance of jewellery we see how it was that so large a treasure was accumulated in one night from this single source, when the Hebrews by Divine command “borrowed” (or rather demanded, for it was a debt justly due for long unrequited service,) “ et’cry man of his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, jewels of silver and jewels of gold.”f And it is not unworthy of notice, that a circumstance which otherwise would have seemed so unlikely, as that those in the station of life with which the bondmen would be conversant, should “ every man ” and “ every woman,” have Gen. xli. 42. t Exod. xi. 2 ; xii. 35. 258 ANCIENT EGYPT. articles so costly, is fully borne out by the facts we have learned from the monuments and from the tombs. That it was a large treasure which was thus obtained will be clear when w'e reflect that the whole, or nearly the whole of the gold and silver and precious stones, the flne linen, and the spices, which were used in the costly service of the tabernacle, must have been derived from this source ; for we cannot suppose the Hebrew slaves to have possessed such property in their bondage, and they had not yet taken the spoils of successful war. It is, moreover, expressly recorded that the contributions of the con- gregation for the construction of the Tabernacle, were of the very ornaments w'hich we have been describing. “ And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted, and brought bracelets, and ear-rings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels of gold. . . And the rulers brought onyx-stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod and for the breastplate.* The gold and silver that were used in this work amounted, as we are informed, to above 3300 pounds Troy of the former, and above 11,000 pounds of the latter.f Let us return, however, to our assembled party, whom the beauty and profusion of their jewellery have caused us for a moment to forget. Music and dancing were indispensable accompani- ments of a social entertainment. Not that, as with us, the guests themselves danced ; this, to the ori- ental mind, has always appeared the height of folly * Exod. XXXV. 22, 27. t Exod. xxxviii. 24, 25. • MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 259 in those who possessed the means of employing others : professional dancing-girls, such as are still numerous in the East, displayed their grace or their agility, as we see in the opposite scene, to the sounds produced by a female orchestra. In the picture, on the following page, the original of which is in the British Museum, but one of the choir is really playing, and she performs on the double flute ; the others keep time to the notes by the clapping of their hands. The curious object in the right corner, which has been plausibly guessed to be a complex instrument of music, played with keys like our piano, is in reality, according to Sir G. Wilkinson, a number of bottles of water on stands, each stopped with an ear of corn, (perhaps an odorous flower with many stamens,) with garlands tin own around the whole. In tills and other pictures, the dancers as well as the handmaidens that wait on the guests, appear to be, with the exception of a narrow girdle, and the necklace and bracelets, entirely naked. We cannot, however, for a moment suppose, that so polished a people would be guilty of a custom so hideously immoral and ojrposed to natural decency as to be waited on by females in a state of nudity. It was the custom with Egyptian artists to draw the human figure first, and to add the drapery afterwards; and as to express the extreme fineness of the texture of female dress, they often drew it in simple outline only, to intimate that it scarcely concealed the figure ; we may reasonably suppose, that in these and similar cases, the slight and evanescent line GUESTS ENTERTAINED WITH MUSIC, MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE- 261 which was added to mark the drapery, has become obliterated by the lapse of time. At dinner, small and low circular tables W'ere used, standing on a single pillar, with a dilated base ; sometimes one of these was apportioned to every guest, the viands being brought round by the ser- vants successively, from a larger pillar-table, which had been brought in, ready set out, by two men. The accompany- ing engraving shews a table thus laid out, requiring, however, a little allowance for the lack of perspective. Round and oblong cakes of bread, flat- tened and pricked in patterns, a goose, a leg of a kid or ante- lope, baskets of figs and other fruit are crown- ed by a huge bunch of the indispensable lo- tus-lily. Under the table are bottles of wine placed on stands in a series, and crown- ed with a lotus-gar- land, upon which is table set for dinner. thrown a long withe of what seems from the tendrils a vine, loaded 262 ANCIENT EGYPT. with clusters of grapes, as well as thickly set with foliage. The following scene displays the manner of eating; and though, as the party are seated on the ground, we MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 263 may perhaps, conclude, that they do not move in the very highest circles, their air and manner have more of dignity than of vulgarity. The absence of knives and forks rendered the employment of the fingers unavoidable ; thus we see one tearing a wing from a goose, while another grasps a joint of meat by the projecting bone, and gnaws the flesh with his teeth ; two in the lower series who are eating fish, separate the muscle with the thumb and fore-finger of the right hand ; the first in the upper, and the last in the lower row are taking figs from dishes ; and one is about to drink from a jar. The little baskets be- neath two of the tables, are understood to contain grapes. The animal food which was eaten in Egypt was principally beef and goose, but to the former was added the flesh of the ibex or wild-goat, and several species of antelope, which were kept in preserves for domestic use, and with the latter were frequently served up herons, ducks, quails, and other birds. Fish also, of many kinds, as we have already men- tioned, formed a large part of the food of the people. The heat of the climate then, as now in the East, required that an animal should be slaughtered on the day on which it was to be eaten. Thus we And that Abraham, when “ entertaining angels unawares,” “ ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf, tender and good; . . . and hasted to dress it.”* And Joseph on the arrival of his brethren, “ said to the ruler of his house. Bring these men home, and slay, and * Gen. xviii. 7. 264 ANCIENT EGYPT. make ready ; for these men shall dine with me at noon.” * It is remarkable that the expression ren- dered “ slay,” or literally as in the margin, “ kill a killing,” is exactly the same as is still used by the Arabs on the same occasion. Such oxen seem to have been chiefly selected for ' the table as were pied or patched with black or red upon a white ground ; the beast was secured by BUTCHERS. tying the four legs together, and having been thrown upon its side, its throat was cut from ear to ear. * Gen. xliii. 1 6. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 265 Smaller animals were thrown without the precaution of tying the legs together. In the accompanying scene, the upper compart- ment represents the cutting up of an ox ; two men carry off two of the severed legs, and others are engaged in detaching a third. The remaining figure is particularly interesting, because it unequivocally represents the use of a steel for sharpening cutlery, the implement being suspended to the apron, and stuck in the girdle when not in use. The blood was caught in a bowl, and used in cookery ; thus early had men learned to disregard the solemn and express prohibition* of the Noachic covenant, in which flesh was first granted as the food of man. And hence it was needful to reiterate with so awful a sanction the prohibition in the law of Moses. And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood ; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood : and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls : for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojoumeth among you eat blood. And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among }'ou, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that maybe eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust. For it is the life of all flesh ; the blood of it is for the life thereof : therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh ; for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof : whosoever eateth it shall be cut off. Lev. xvii. 10 — 14. Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water. Deut. xii. 16. * Gen. ix. 4. N 266 ANCIENT EGYPT. Only be sure that thou eat not the blood ; for the blood is the life ; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh. Deut. xii. 23. Only thou shalt.not eat the blood thereof ; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water. Deut. xv. 23. The lower compartment of the preceding engrav- ing is a butcher’s or cook’s shop: various joints and portions are hung up, among which we readily iden- tify legs, ribs, a wdndpipe, and a heart. One is boiling a piece of the ribs in a caldron, and another brings to the cook a similar portion. “ The very peculiar mode of cutting up the meat,” observes Sir J. G. Wilkinson, “ frequently prevents our ascertaining the exact part they intend to represent in the sculptures ; the chief joints, however, ap- pear to be the head, shoulder, and leg, with the ribs, tail, or rump, the heart, and kidneys ; and they occur in the same manner on the altars of the temple, and the tables of a private house. One is remarkable not only from being totally unlike any of our European joints, but from its exact resemblance to that seen at table in modern Egypt ; it is part of the leg, consisting of the flesh covering the tibia, whose two extremities project slightly beyond it ; and the accompanying drawing from the sculptures, and a sketch of the same joint taken by me at a modern table in Upper Egypt, shew how the mode of cutting it has been preserved by traditional custom to the present day.”* * Wilk. ii. 377. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 267 Various processes of cookery are depicted with much minuteness of detail ; the meat was either X’oasted or boiled. In the former case it was spitted, and turned by hand over a fire of charcoal in a grate or pan, the cook maintaining the ardour of the fire by a fan which he used with his left hand. The boiling was performed in caldrons, or pots of smaller size, placed on tripods over a fire of faggots, the joints being turned or taken out by means of huge flesh-hooks of two or more prongs. Thus in the time of Eli, “ the priest’s custom with the people was, that wdien any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant came, w’hile the flesh was in seething, with a flesh-hook of three teeth in his hand ; and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot ; all that the flesh-hook brought up the priest took for him- self.” * And these doubtless are “ the flesh-pots, ” by which the children of Israel sat in the land of Egypt, when they “ did eat bread to the full.” f But vegetables formed also an important and ex- tensive part of diet, especially among the subordi- nate classes of society. The regrets of “ the mixed multitude” who “ fell a lusting,” were largely for * 1 Sam. ii. 13, 14. t Exod. xvi. 3. N 2 2G8 ANCIENT EGYPT. the succulent vegetables to which they had been so habituated. “ We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely ; the cucumbers, and the melons, and tlie leeks, and the onions, and the garlic ; but now our soul is di'ied away.”* These are proved upon abundant evidence to have been among the most conspicuous articles of vegetable consumption. Diodorus tells us that the chief food of the Egyp- tians consisted of milk and cheese, roots, pulse, cucumbers, and other plants and fruits. The work- men who built the Pyramids are said by Herodotus to have been fed on radishes, onions, and garlic. Pliny asserts that the valley of the Nile surpassed every other country in the spontaneous abundance of such herbs as are commonly eaten ; and a proof of the extent to which they were consumed may be found in the fact, that, at the capture of Alexandria by the Caliph Omar, four thousand inhabitants obtained a subsistence by selling esculent vegetables in that city. Sonnini, in his remarks on the melons of Egypt, illustrates both the recollections of the “ mixed multitude,” and their complaint that for want of them their soul was dried away. “ The species of fruit,” he observes, “which by its pulp and its re- freshing water, best serves to moderate the internal heat which the climate generates, is the jpastek or water-melon. The markets are filled with them, and they sell at so very small a price, that the poor as well as the rich can refresh themselves with their watery and sweet juice. They form a healthful nourish- * Numb. xj. 5. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 269 ment, and are useful in a climate where the heat makes the blood boil, and gives sharpness to the humours.” The same author speaks of the abundance and excellence of the onions also. “ This species of vegetable is yet extraordinarily common in this coun- try ; it is the aliment of the more ordinary of the people, and almost the only food of the lowest class. Onions, cooked or raw, are sold in the streets and markets for almost nothing. These onions have not the tartness of those of Europe ; they are sweet ; they do not sting the mouth, nor produce tears in those who cut them.” Hasselquist and Arvieux confirm this testimony. In the sculptures and paintings onions are fre- quently introduced : a large bunch of them, tied in a peculiar manner was frequently offered to the idols, together with gourds, fruits, cakes, flesh and wine ; and sometimes the bunch made hollow was placed as a sort of cap upon the top of the altar, covering whatever else was upon it. “ Nor is it less ^70 ANCIENT EGYPT. certain,” observes Sir G. Wilkinson, “ that they were introduced at private as well as public festivals ; and brought to table with gourds, cucumbers, and other vegetables.” But there is one vegetable recounted by the de- sert multitude which we have not yet noticed, and which demands a more close attention. It is that which is rendered “leeks.” The word is in other places translated “ grass, hay and its unprecedented rendering in the passage before us was doubtless an effort to escape from the sup- posed absurdity of the people regretting ffrass among their pleasant food. But, in fact, the mention of this word, so far from involving an absurdity, forms, when understood, one of those overwhelming proofs of reality, which are perpetually found in narratives of truth, but are, from their very littleness and unsuspectedness, inimitable in fiction. “ The word observes Professor Hengstenberg, “ has etymologically the meaning of food Jor cattle: it is originally not grass, but pasturage, fodder, and so also according to common use. (See 1 Kings xviii. 5, Job xl. 15, and other passages. Comp. Gesenius.) This article of food must be appropriately food for beasts, so that man goes, as it w'ere, to the same table with them. . . . Now among the wonders of the natural history of Egypt, it is mentioned by travellers that the common people there eat, Y-ith special relish, a kind of grass similar to clover. The impression which the sight of this makes on those who have travelled much, is very graphically de- scribed by Mayr : ‘ A great heap of clover was MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 271 thrown before the beasts, and a smaller pile of clover, like fodder, was placed before the master of the house and his companions. The quadrupeds and the bipeds ate with equal greediness, and the pile of the latter was all gone before the former had finished theirs. This plant is very similar to clover, except that it has more pointed leaves, and whitish blossoms. Enormous quantities are eaten by the inhabitants, and it is not unpalatable. I was after- wards, when hungry, in a situation to lay myself down upon the fields where it grows, and graze with pleasure.’ “ RafFeneau Delile gives a more scientific descrip- tion: ‘The fenu-grec {Trigonella foenum Grcecum, Linn.) is an annual plant, knowm in Egyjit under the name of helbeh; it very much resembles clo- ver. The people of the country find the young fresh shoots, before blossoming, a very delicious food.’ “ But the most particular and best account is found in Sonnini. ‘ Although this helbeh of the Egyptians is a nourishing food for the numerous beasts that cover the plains of the Delta ; although horses, oxen, and buffaloes eat it with equal relish, it appears not to be destined especially for the sus- tenance of animals, since the harsim furnishes an aliment better and even more abundant. But what will appear very extraordinary is, that in this sin- gularly fertile country the Egyptians themselves eat the fenu-grec so much that it can properly be called the food of men. In the month of November they cry “ Green helbeh for sale,” in the streets of the ANCIENT EGYPT. oro towns. It is tied up in large bunches, which the inhabitants eagerly purchase at a low price, and which they eat with an incredible greediness, with- out any species of seasoning. They pretend that this singular diet is an excellent stomachic, a specific against worms and dysentery ; in short, a preserva- tive against a great number of maladies. Finally, the Egyptians regard this plant as endowed with so many good qualities, that it is, in their estimation, a true panacea. After so many excellent qualities, real or supposed, it is not astonishing that the Egyptians hold the fenu-grec in so great estimation that, according to one of their proverbs. Fortunate are the feet that tread the earth on which grows the helbeh.’ From the expression used by Joseph to command the serving of dinner, “ Set on bread;”')' from the form of the invitation to his brethren, “ They heard that they should eat bread there and from the terms em- ployed by the people under the pressure of the years of famine, “ Give us bread! . . . buy us and our land for bread ”§ — expressions which from numerous pas- sages we learn had the same force among the Hebrews, it might be inferred that bread formed the staple of the popular food. And the evidence of the paintings confirms this inference, a large part of the operations of the kitchen consisting of the making of bread, and various kinds of pastry. The opposite engraving will give some idea of the mysteries which were under the superintendence of “ the chief baker of * Egj'pt and Moses, § ii. ch. 7. t Gen. xliii. 31. J Gen. xliii. 25. § Gen xlvii. 15 — 19. N 5 MAKING BREAD. 274 ANCIENT EGYPT. Pharaoh.” The figures at a are engaged in kneading the dough with their naked feet, which seems to be contained in a large but shallow bowl ; being of thin consistence, it is carried in jars, h, 6, to the pastry- cooks ; one of wdiom, c, at his table moulds the dough into fanciful forms, as that of a couching animal, and perhaps different kinds of fruit. Others, d, d, are making, or perhaps baking in a shallow baking-pan over a fire, rolls of a kind of piping resembling the macaroni of the Italians. Behind the last of these is a tall and narrow oven, which a man appears to be wiping out; or perhaps he is lay- ing the fire. Over him (that is, in the distance,) one is occupied in stirring some confection in a pot over a fire, to which an assistant is bringing fuel. In the second line, the men e, e, are making flat cakes, which are sprinkled with aromatic seeds, (as is still the custom in Egypt,) and these are carried by the man /, in the last line, to the oven g, Avhich is now being heated. Figs, h and i are knead- ing dough with their hands; the baskets y and k are probably kneading-troughs in which the dough was deposited to become leavened. The other figures are too imperfect to be intelligible. There are in this picture, beside its curiosity, one or two interesting illustrations. We rarely find an instance of an Egyptian carrying things on his head ; in this scene, however, the baker carries a board or tray, covered with cakes, in that unusual manner ; a valuable comment on the dream of the imprisoned officer of Pharaoh. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 275 When the chief haher saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and behold, I had three white baskets o?t my head ; and in the upermost basket there was of all manner of bakc-mcats for Pharaoh. Gen. xl. 16, 17. The kneading-troughs appear to be baskets made of the papyrus rush, as was the ark or cradle in which the infant Moses was exposed. And this will, perhaps, explain a circumstance which has seemed somewhat obscure. When the Israelites marched out of Egypt, it is said that “ their kneading-troughs were bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders,”* a mode of conveyance which would have been particularly unsuitable, if they had been made of materials so inflexible as ours. A rush-basket, however, of con- siderable capacity could be rolled up with as much ease as a cloth, and from its lightness would be of little burden. It is worthy of remark, that in the only cases where the word is differently translated, it is associated with the word “ basket “ Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store [kneading-troughs, marg.] and again, “ Cursed shall be, &c.”f In these and other representations of household occupations, one is struck with the prodigality with which human labour was employed ; a fact quite in accordance with a state in which domestic slavery existed, which we know was the case. Among the presents made to Abram on his visit to Egypt, were “ men-sei’vants and maid-servants and “the bond- woman,” Hagar, who was an Egyptian, was probably one of these. Joseph, when sold by his brethren, • Exod. xii. 34. t Deut. xxviii. 5, 17. + Gen. xii. 16. 276 ANCIENT EGYPT. seems to have been bought by the Midlanite mer- chants as a regular article of merchandise, and to have been sold by them as such ; and he became a household slave.* And the proposition of the bre- thren of Joseph, when accused of theft, “With whomsoever of thy servants it [the cup] is found, both let him die, and we also will be my lord’s bond- men ;”f argues that the institution of domestic slavery was neither uncommon nor revolting. The monuments shew that discipline was strictly maintained, that punishment was prompt, and to our ideas severe. Where the injured party was judge and executioner in his own cause, individual tyranny would of course arise. “We see these unfortunate beings [the slaves] trembling and cringing before their superiors, beaten with rods by the overseers, and sometimes threatened with a formidable whip wielded by the lady of the mansion herself.”J Sarai dealt so hardly with Hagar, that her patience was exhausted, and “ she fled from her face.”§ And by the law of Moses, the possibility of domestic chas- tisement producing death is supposed. “ And if a man smite his servant or his maid, wdth a rod, and he die under his hand, he shall be surely punished. Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he sliall not be punished ; for he is his money.”|| The punish- ment of domestic offences is here recognised as the same appointed elsewhere for public misdemeanours, stripes with a rod. “ It shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause * Gen. xxxvii. 27, xxxix, 2. t Gen. xliv. 9. J Taylor, 7. § Gen. xvi. 6, || Exod. xxi, 20. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 277 him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number.”* The paintings depict scenes exactly correspondent to these descriptions. Men and boys are stripped. and being laid flat on the ground on their faces, receive the appointed stripes from the rod of the officer, while their feet and hands are held by his subordinates. Women are not prostrated, but are flogged across the shoulders, as they sit on their heels. It is curious that through all the changes of Egyptian society, and through all the successions of their foreign tyrannies, the stick has preserved its place as the great minister of public and private justice. So persuasive are its powers, so beneficial its results, that the Moslem inhabitants of modern Egypt have embodied their veneration for it in a proverb. “ The stick came down from heaven, a blessing from God.”f Egypt appears at all times to have been an un- healthy country. In the Mosaic law, “ the diseases of Egypt ” are spoken of as proverbial. * Deut. XXV. 2. t Wilk. ii. 40. 278 ANCIENT EGYPT. If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, . . . I will put none of these diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the Egj'ptians. Exod. xv. 26. And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee. Deut. vii. 15. The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt. Deut. xxviii. 27. IMoreover, he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of. Deut. xxviii. 60. Though in some of these passages there may be an allusion to the miraculous plagues which the rebel- lious obduracy of the Egyptian king and people brought upon them, yet they also intimate that the liability of that people to disease was peculiar, and that their maladies were severe. Pliny observes that Egypt W’as a country productive of many diseases. Wagner, in his Natural History of Man,* calls it “a great focus of disease in universal history ; ” while De Chabrol asserts that the diseases of Egypt “ are for the most part terrible. ’’-f- Among a people so intelligent, so fruitful in inven- tion, and so learned, the prevalence of disease would induce a proportionate attention to medical science ; and perhaps the extent to which professors of the healing art abounded in Egypt, might afford an ad- ditional proof of the unusual demand that existed there for their knowledge and skill. The fact that several physicians were included in the domestic establishment of Joseph, who “ commanded his ser- vants, the physicians, to embalm his father, has been long the subject of observation. Bishop War- burton, in noticing a remark of Herodotus, that” The * AVagn. ii. 270. f Descr. vii. 43. + Gen. 1. 2. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 279 medical practice is divided among them as follows : — each physician is for one kind of sickness, and no more ; and all places are crowded with physicians ; for there are physicians for the eyes, physicians for the head, physicians for the teeth, physicians for the stomach and for internal disease,”* — remarks that “ it ought not to appear strange that Joseph had a considerable number of family physicians. Every great familyj as well as every city, must needs, as Herodotus expresses it, swarm with the faculty. A. multitude of these domestics would now appear an extravagant piece of state, even in a first minister. But then we see it could not be otherwfise, where each distemper had its proper physician. ”f The medical skill of the Egyptians was recognised even in other countries : Cyrus sent to Egypt for medical assistance, and Darius was always accompanied by Egyptian physicians. Pliny, indeed, ascribes to this nation the origin of therapeutic science. Both Jacob and Joseph were embalmed in the Egyptian manner, after their death. The particulars that the Sacred Historian has delivered to us of the funeral ceremonies of the “ mighty dead” in that country, agree in a remarkable manner with what we learn from other sources. And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him. And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel. And forty days were ful- filled for him ; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed : and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days. And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the- house of Pha- * Herod, ii. 84. t Div. Leg. iv. 3, 83. 280 ANCIENT EGYPT. raoli, saying, If now I hare found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, my father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die ; in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan) there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again. And Pharaoh, said. Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear. And Joseph went up to bur}' his father : and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father’s house : only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen : and it was a very great company. And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation : and he made a mourning for his father seven days. And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said. This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians : wherefore the name of it was called Abel-mizraim, which is beyond Jordan. And his sons did unto him according as he command- ed them : for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a burying place of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre. And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die : and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God wiU surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones fi:om hence. So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old : and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. Gen. 1. The process of embalming a person of rank is thus described by Herodotus. “ With a crooked piece of iron they draw out the brain through the nostrils, and then pour in some mixture of drugs. In the next place they make an incision in the side with an Ethiopian stone, and remove all the intes- tines, which they cleanse within and without with MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 281 palm wine, and afterwards with aromatic drugs pounded. Lastly, having filled up the cavities of the body with powdered myrrh, cassia, and other aroma- tic drugs (but not frankincense), they sew up the opening. When this is done they embalm it in natron, having concealed it [in all] seventy days ; but it is not permitted to embalm it longer. Afterwards they wash the body, and enwrap it entirely in ban- dages of linen, smeared over with a gum, which the Egyptians use instead of glue. The body is then restored to the relatives, who prepare a wooden case resembling the human form, in which they place the corpse, and deposit it in a tomb, setting it upright against the wall.”* Diodorus Siculus, omitting the part of the process which consisted of the saturation of the body with natron, observes, “ They prepare the body first with cedar oil and various other substances, more than SWATHING A IVIUMMY. ^ Herod, ii. 86. 282 ANCIENT EGYPT. thirty [according to another reading, forty] days ; tlien after they have added myrrh, and cinnamon and other drugs, which have not only the power of pre- serving the body for a long time, but also of impart- ing to it a pleasant odour, they commit it to the relatives of the deceased.”^' The same author ob- serves in a previous passage, that, on the death of a king, all the Egyptian people made a great lamenta- tion, tore their garments, closed the temples, abs- tained from sacrifices, and suspended all festivals for seven ty-two days.-j- These accounts together, enable us to understand the sacred narrative. The venerated patriarch was mourned with the mourning of a king, “ three score and ten days the period that intervened from his departure to the termination of the embalming operations ; the earlier and more important of which, exclusive of the soaking in natron, occupied forty days. The “ cofiin,” or wooden case (for such is the force of the original, in which the embalmed body of Joseph was preserved, till at the Exodus it w'as carried from Egypt, was doubtless of such a form and appearance as those with which we are familiar in our museums. The following account of some specimens of these, and of the internal shells wdiich were considered requisite for persons of rank, will be read with interest. “ Before the better kind of mummies were put into their wooden cases, they were placed in a shell, made (in the instance of the mummy examined at Diod. i. 72. * Diod. i. 91. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 283 board, something like a piece of papier mache. This was formed into the sliape of the swathed mummy, which was inserted in it, hy means of a longitudinal aperture on the under side, reaching from the feet to the head. The two sides of this long aperture were then drawn together hy a coarse kind of stitch- ing, apparently done with a large needle. Thin hempen cord, which was in tolerable preservation, was the thread used in this instance. The inside of this hempen case was covered with a thin coating of plaster, to which patches of Nile mud or a soft loam were found adhering. The outside was also covered Bruton-street) in the following manner. Nine thick layers of hempen or linen cloth were well gummed together, so as to make a strong but flexible kind of MUMMY CASES. 284 ANCIENT EGYPT. with such a plaster, on which rude figures of beetles, ibides, &c., were painted, apparently with ochrous earths tempered with water. They were easily rubbed off with the finger, except were they were fixed by an outer coating of gum. On the upper part of this case a human face was represented, as usual ; and for the purpose of giving additional strength and finnness to that part of the hempen covering, a considerable quantity of earth and plaster had been stuck on the inside, so that it would be more easy to mould the material on the outside, while still fiexible, into a resemblance to the human form. The face was covered with a strong varnish, to keep the colour fixed. . . . The outer case in which this mummy was sent to the society’s rooms was a plain box of the Eg}q)tian fig-sycamore, the parts of which were fastened together with wooden pegs. This wood was used by the Egyptians for a variety of purposes, as we find even common domestic utensils made of it. The pegs of these sycamore cases are not alw'ays of the sycamore wood, which, when cut thin, would hardly be so suitable as some more closely grained wood. In the mummy opened at the London University, the pegs of the inner wooden coffin w’ere of a different wood, which was apparently cedar. This is also the case with bodies embalmed in the highest style of fashion, which have in addition to the inner coffin which we have described, an outer wooden box, such as Herodotus mentions, with a human face, male or female, painted on it. Some of these cases are plain, and others highly ornamented with figures MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 285 of sacred animals, or with paintings representing mythological subjects. “ The wooden case which contains the body is sometimes cut out of one piece of wood ; and the inside is made smooth, and fit for the reception of the painted figures, by laying on it a thin coat of fine plaster. This plaster is also found used as a lining for the wooden cases which are not made of a single piece. There is often a second wooden case, still more highly ornamented, and covered with paintings secured by a strong varnish, . . . intended to embody the ideas of the Egyptians as to the state of death, the judgment or trial which preceded the admission into the regions below, and other matters connected with the ritual of the dead and the process of embalming. “ The upper part of both the wooden cases is made to represent a human figure, and the sex is clearly denoted by the character of the head-dress, and the presence or absence of the beard. Both the head-dress and the ornaments about the neck, as far as the bosom, are exactly of the same character as those which we see on the sculptures and the paint- ings. The brief remark of Herodotus, that the friends put the swathed mummy ‘ into a wooden figure made to resemble the human form,’ is amply borne out.”* The ideas of decorum that have always prevailed in oriental countries, requiring a certain amount of noise and ostentatious lamentation after the death of a friend, existed also in Egypt. Women rushed * Long’s Ancient Egyptians, ii. 128. 286 ANCIENT EGYPT. forth from the house, tear- ing their garments, casting dust upon their heads, and uttering the most doleful cries, as they proceeded in proces- sion through the streets. ^\lien a king or a per- son of high rank was deceased, the funeral la- mentations were propor- tionally imposing, the procession sometimes con- sisting of two or three hundred persons of both sexes, who perambulated the streets twice a day, during the whole length- ened period of appointed mourning, singing the funeral dirges, frequently to the sound of plaintive music. These customs are fre- quently alluded to in the Sacred Scriptures ; the man who brought to Israel the sad news of the destruction of King Saul and his army, came “ with his clothes rent, and earth upon his MOURNERS. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 287 head.”* At the funeral of Abner, “ David said to Joab, and to all the people that were with him, Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And King David himself followed the bier.”f Jeremiah in denouncing the coming desolation of Zion, says, “ Consider ye, and call for the mourning-women, that they may come ; . . . and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us.”J Solomon refers to the same formalities in his poetical description of natural decay and death ; '• Man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets. ”§ And the accompaniment of music in these wailings is mentioned by the Evange- list on occasion of the restoration to life of the ruler’s daughter, when our Lord “ saw the minstr'els and the people making a noise.” || Representations of funeral processions numerously attended, and accompanied with much pomp, occur repeatedly upon the sculptured and painted monu- ments. Rosellini observes, “ The custom of funeral trains was common to all periods, and to all the pro- vinces of Egypt. We discover the representations of such processions in the very ancient tombs at Eileithyias, and similar ones are depicted in those of Saqqarah and Gizeh ; we also find them in the tombs of Thebes, belonging to the eighteenth and subse- quent dynasties.”^ In most of these, as in the one copied on the fol- lowing page, the coffin placed in a large bier, gorge- ously decorated with sculpture and painting, is carried * 2 Sam. i. 2. t 2 Sam. iii. 31. J Jer. ix. 17, 18. § Eccles. xii. 5. || Matt. ix. 23. H Roe. ii. 3, 395. FUNKIIAL PROCKSSION. MANNERS OF PRIVATE LIFE. 289 in a boat, which though furnished with a rudder, is dragged by oxen along the ground, preceded and fol- lowed by the official mourners, priests, &c. on foot. It is probable that these processions attended the corpse to the death-lake across wffiich it had to be ferried, as a part of the funeral rites, before interment. Diodorus has recorded some curious customs connected with this mysterious voyage. “ When a body is about to be interred, the relatives announce the day of burial to the judges,, and to the friends of the deceased, saying that the dead man is going to cross the lake. The boat is then put into the lake, having been before prepared for the purpose. The captain of the boat is called in the Egyptian tongue, Charon. But be- fore the wooden chest which contains the corpse is put into the boat, it is permitted by law to any one to bring his accusation against the deceased. Should he be convicted of having led a wicked life, the body is excluded by the sentence of the judges from the privilege of interment ; but if the accuser fail to substantiate his charges, he is punished with a heavy fine. If no charge be presented, the body is de- posited in the tomb already prepared for it.”* * Diod. i. 92. O 290 THE MECHANICAL ARTS. The notion that the various sciences and arts, with vvliich man is now familiar, were unknown in what is called the infancy of society, and that they have gradually been acquired by accidental discovery, or worked out by the energy of man’s unassisted rea- son, however flattering it may be to the pride of these latter ages, is quite inconsistent with Holy Scripture. Brief as are the records of man’s his- tory before the flood, they are amply sufficient to shew that he existed very far indeed from an igno- rant, savage, artless condition. The construction of the ark of Noah’s preservation would require an acquaintance with naval architecture, and a high degree of mechanical skill ; while the manner in which the command to build it was given, implied that such knowledge and skill already existed. The first-born of men, when driven from the presence of the Lord, proceeded to ” build a city.” Of his descendents, one was distinguished for his skill in music ; “he w'as the father of all such as handle the harp and organ while another was a proficient in the very important arts of metallurgy, “ an in- structor of every artificer in brass and iron.”* Even if it were admitted that the expression used of the former, “ the father of all such,” must signify the * Gen. iv. 17,21,22. THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 291 original inventor of musical instruments, which we should hardly concede, the latter term “ instructor” certainly expresses no such thing ; and the fact that the working of metals was known from the very commencement of man’s existence, is deducible from the Sacred Record ; for the building of a city, in however limited a sense we may understand the phrase, and the tilling of the ground, which was the occupation of Adam after his expulsion from Eden, and of his eldest son, would certainly require the use of metallic implements. Nor would it impugn this conclusion to object the inability of an indivi- dual man to procure, and elaborate, and manufacture metals ; for surely the Divine care and provision which we know were exercised for him, would be amply sufficient for all his need ; nor is it derogatory to the majesty of God, to conclude that He who graciously made clothing for his creatures,* when their bodies needed covering, would himself provide for them the first implements for that labour which He now assigned to them. It has been already observed that the information derived from the monuments of Egypt is entirely opposed to the imagined progress of art and science. On the contrary, the more remote the antiquity of the records which have been preserved to us, the greater is the skill, the power, the knowledge and the taste which they reveal ; as we shall presently see in many particulars. “ A remarkable collateral proof,” observes Mr. Osburn, “ of this [mechanical] knowledge is fur- Gen. iii. 21. 0 2 292 ANCIENT EGYPT. nished by the remains of ancient Egypt. Some of the primary elements of the hieroglyphic system of writing are pictures of tools employed in mechanical processes, and of objects manufactured by them. This is the case, especially, with the characters representing the grammatical forms and inflections, which are so essential to the sense that it is impos- sible to conceive of the existence of a written system without them. Thus, the pronoun of the first per- son, I, is written with an earthenware vase, and a bronze bason or ewer with a ring to it : the feminine pronoun of the second per- son, {Thou, addressed to a woman) is a pair of tongs. The sign of the genitive case is the hook, or creeper, which was ^ used in drawing objects out of the water. Many other instances might also be given. These characters must have been among the first introduced into the system ; and therefore the me- chanical arts which required the objects of which they are the pictures must have existed among mankind at the time of its invention.”* The beauty and delicacy of the engraving found * Ancient Egypt, 168. The author is informed by Mr. Birch that the third liieroglyphic character alluded to in the above quotation, appears from some more perfect representations of it in the paintings, to be a cord with a loop at each end, rather than a pair of tongs. The fourth, also, seems to be a style, or some other essential part of a writing appara- tus ; and is used to express the preposition of, out of, rather than the sign of the genitive. These corrections, however, confirm, instead of in- validating the argument, as they shew that not only the arts of metal- lurgy' and pottery, but also those of rope-making and writing were co-eval with the formation of the Egyptian language. THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 293 within the pyramids, and tombs contemporaneous with them, as the inscribed names of their builders, Soupho, Shefre, and Menkare, shew the state of the arts at the period of these stupendous structures ; whose commencement, in all probability, was but little subsequent to the dispersion of the families of mankind from the plains of Shinar. The scientific knowdedge and artistic skill of the Egyptian people did not, then, originate with them, but were merely carried with them from the central station where these powers had been in vigorous, and even stupendous exercise, in the plan and jirogress of that gigantic city and tower, whose top was to reach unto heaven. And since this was so, the same know- ledge would of course be found among the other families of the dispersion ; a fact with which the monumental records of Egypt have made us ac- quainted, by proving that the arts of the surrounding nations, and particularly those of Canaan, were, in many respects, fully equal to those of that renowned valley, which has been styled the cradle of science. It is therefore with no small degree of interest that we examine the mechanical arts of so early an era ; nor will it be without instruction, if we render the praise of these things to Him, who expressly declares of such knowledge, “ This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working,”* to whom, also, are attributed those peculiar talents required for the service of the Tabernacle, to which we shall find so remarkable a counterpart in Egyptian art. * Isa. xxviii. 29. 294 ANCIEMT EGYPT. And !Moses said unto the children of Israel, See, the Lord hath called by name Bezaleel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah ; and he hsX\\ filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in imderstand- ing, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship ; and to devise curious works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in the cutting of stones to set them, and in carving of wood, to make any man- ner of cunning work. And he hath put in his heart that he may teach, both he and Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that devise c unnin g work. Exod. XXXV. 30 — 35. In examining the evidence which the Egyptian remains afford us of the state of the arts in these primeval times, we will adopt the order in which they are enumerated in the above passage, commencing with that which is perhaps most important of all, the working in metals. The account given us by Agatharcides, of the working of the gold mines of ancient Egypt, is the more interesting, because the monuments which con- tain so many illustrations of subsequent operations give us little information on tliis point. The mines alluded to, are believed to have been situated in the Bisharee desert. “ The kings of Egypt were accustomed to compel a multitude of poor persons, with their wives and children, to labour in the gold mines, with incon- ceivable suffering. The labourers having split the rock by heating it with fire, apply their iron in- struments. The strongest break the rock to frag- ments with their hammers, forming a number of narrow passages, following the direction of the vein THE MECHANICAL ARTS, 295 of gold, which is as irregular in its course as the roots of a tree. They carry lights affixed to their foreheads, as they cut their way through the rock, followdng the white veins. Overseers keep the la- bourers at their toil by inflicting stripes on the indo- lent. The stone fragments are carried out of the passages by boys and inflnn men, and are received by the examiners, young men, under thirty years of age, strong and robust, who pound the fragments in iron mortars with stone pestles till they are reduced to the size of a vetch. These are then placed on grind- ing-stones, where women, three on each side, desti- tute of clothing, labour to reduce them to a fine powder. This operation is intolerably laborious. The powdered stone is then passed to a set of work- men called Sellangeis, who lay it on a polished board, slightly inclined. The sellangeus having poured some water upon the mass, rubs it with his hand, gently at first, then moi’e forcibly, which causes the lighter earthy particles to slide down the sloping board, the heavier being retained. With a soft sponge he then lightly presses upon the board, when the lighter particles that remain adhere to the sponge, while the heavy shining grains of metal are left behind. These atoms of gold are transferred to the roasters, who measure and weigh all that they receive, before putting it into an earthen jar. To the gold they add a certain amount of lead, some lumps of salt, a little tin, and barley-bran, and having fitted on a tight cover, they burn it in a furnace for five successive days and nights. On the sixth day, they open the jar and take out the gold, much dimin- 296 ANCIENT EGYPT. ishecl in quantity, while the other substances have disappeared.” Copper mines were worked as early as the fourth dynasty. Gold mines were known at the same period ; and there is evidence that both these, and mines of emeralds were worked during the twelfth dynasty. The author of the Book of Job alludes to mining operations, as being at that early period the ordinary mode of obtaining metals. “ Surely there is a vein [mine, 7narg.~\ for the silver ; and a place for gold where they fine it. Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the stone.”* * Job xxviii. 1, 2. THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 297 VVe find in the pictures at Beni Hassan and Thebes, some of these processes. Workmen are represented as shaking the washed ore in a cloth, which had been stretched over a frame, that the water and dissolved earth might drain off, while over them are depicted the wooden mallet, the mat, and an oblong trough, which had been used in the beat- ing and washing of the ore. In another scene, the melter is occupied in in- creasing the heat of a furnace by means of a blow- pipe, defended at the extremity by a piece of clay. On the top of the furnace is a large bowl containing the metal, and the hieroglyphic inscription explains the process to be the purifying of gold. Before him stands the weigher at the balance, while a scribe re- cords the amount on his tablet. In another part two artificers are engaged in the manufacture of some ornaments, resembling collars, of gold. Respecting the use of the precious metals for articles of personal decoration, we have already spoken. They were not less copiously employed in the manufacture of vases of exquisite workmanship, and often of elegant forms. The representations already given in this work, of tribute from conquered nations, have shewn that the skill and taste displayed in such productions was not peculiar to Egyptian artists ; and we cannot, therefore, in every case be certain whether the vessels delineated in the monu- ments, be of domestic or foreign manufacture. The presence of hieroglyphics engraved on some, how- ever, precludes doubt in such instances. The ornamental accompaniments of these vases VASKS OF MKTALS, THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 299 were exceedingly varied ; the heads of animals fre- quently formed handles or ears of remarkable beauty ; the ibex and the gazelle were very often chosen as favourite forms, while upon the Canaanitish vases, the preference was rather given to the head of a heifer, or sometimes the head of an idol, which has been identified as that of Baal. Whole-length figures of captives sometimes supported a vessel ; and frequently hideous or grotesque forms elabor- ated from the most brilliant materials, proved that bad taste is not confined to any age or country. In not a few of the cups we see unequivocal imitations of the corolla of some elegant flower, and very many were adorned around the edge with flgures of the ever-welcome blossom of the lotus. In these elegant forms and beautiful workmanship we are reminded of many of the costly vessels and utensils of the Divine Sanctuary. The “ dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof to pour out [rnarg.'\ withal, of pure gold,”* may well be supposed to have had their countei'parts in forms with which the Egyptian anti- quarian is now familiar ; while the description of the candlestick, though unique in its individuality, reminds us of the flower-adorned vessels of which we have just spoken. And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold ; of beaten work shall the candlestick be made : his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same. And six branches shall come out of the sides of it ; three branches of the candlestick, out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side ; ** Exod. XXV. ' 29 . 300 ANCIENT EGYPT. three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch, and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knop and a flower ; so in the six branches that come out of the candle- stick. And in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto al- monds, with their knops and their flowers. Exod. xxv. 31 — 34. The delicate art of gilding must have been well- known to the Israelites. We find the ark of the covenant and its staves, the table of shew bread and its staves, the boards and bars and pillars of the taber- nacle, all overlaid with gold.* But the magnificent temple of Solomon must have been one blaze of gild- ing ; for he Overlaid the house within with pure gold, and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle ; and he overlaid it with gold. And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house; also the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold. . And he overlaid the cherubims with gold And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without. . . The two doors also he overlaid with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubims and upon the palm trees. 1 Kings vi. 20 — 32. It is interesting to find not only from the testi- mony of the classic writers, but from abundant evi- dence now before our owm eyes, of which any reader may see specimens in the British Museum, that gild- ing was profusely used by the Egyptian artists, long before the time of the Exodus, and that it was ap- plied to objects among others singularly correspond- ent to those just mentioned. “ Many gilt bronze vases, implements of various kinds, trinkets, statues, toys, and other objects in metal and wood, have been discovered in the tombs of Thebes : the faces of Exod. xxv, xxvi. THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 301 mummies are frequently found overlaid with thick gold-leaf ; the painted cloth, the wooden coffin, were also profusely ornamented in this manner ; and the whole body itself of the deceased was sometimes gilded, previous to its being enveloped in the band- ages. Not only were small objects appertaining to the service of the gods, and connected with religion, or articles of luxuiy and show, in the temples, tombs, or private houses, so decorated ; the sculptures on the lofty tvalls of an adytum, the ornaments of a colossus, the doorways of the temples, and parts of numerous large monuments, were likewise covered with gild- ing ; of which the wooden heifer which served as a sepulchre to the body of king Mycerinus’s daughter, the sculptures at the temple of Kalabshi in Nubia, the statue of Minerva sent to Cyrene by Amasis, and the Sphinx at the pyramids may be cited as instances.”* The process of gilding inferior metals by an amal- gam of mercury, was unknown to the Egyptians. They invariably applied the gold upon a factitious surface of stucco or plaster ; but as this would not adhere to a metallic body, a cloth was tightly strained round the object, on which the plaster was then applied. A curious kind of overlaying with plates of metal occurs in the representation of some vases and jars, as early as the time of Joseph. The vessel, or a portion of it, was covered with narrow oval plates, overlapping one another in the manner of the scales of a fish, whence the idea was probably taken. Other * Wilk.iii. 236. 302 ANCIENT EGYPT. ornamental objects were constructed of bronze, the surface of which was deeply engraven, and the in- taglio filled with gold or silver hammered into it ; the VESSELS PLATED WITH GOLD. effect of which when polished must have been parti- cularly beautiful. In the description of the “ holy garments ” made for Aaron, “ for glory and for beauty,” mention is made of gold thread which was interwoven into the structure of the ephod, and the “ curious girdle.” And he made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. And they did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, with cunning work. E.xod. xxxix. 2, 3. Gold wire of considerable fineness occurs bound round signet-rings of a period as early as the time of Abraham, and specimens of silver wire are found of the era of Joseph. Herodotus mentions a corslet of Egyptian manufacture, presented by Amasis to the THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 303 Lacedaemonians, which besides being interwoven with gold thread, like the ephod of Aaron, may assist us in understanding what is meant by “ fine twined linen.” It is described as having been of linen, ornamented with many figures of animals, worked in gold and cotton. Each thread of this corslet was an object worthy of admiration. For though exceedingly fine, each thread was composed of three hundred and sixty other threads, all distinct, the quality being like that of one dedicated to Minerva by the same king ; * which was long after mentioned by Pliny as existing in his time. Wliile some of the articles formed of solid metal for the service of the Sanctuary were “beaten” or forged with the hammer, others are expressly said to have been cast, as the rings of the ark, and of the table, which were of gold, the sockets of the sanctu- ary and of the vail, which were of silver, and the sockets of the door of the tabernacle, which were of brass. The brazen sea, also, in the temple, with its supporting oxen, and the enormous pillars with their chapiters, are said to have been cast, or molten. References to this mode of making idols, “ molten images,” we need not multiply ; it will be enough to advert to that notable one which the Hebrew multi- tude made in Horeb, almost immediately after their departure from Egypt. And all the people brake off the golden ear-rings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf. Exod. xxxii., 3, 4. * Herod, iii. 47. 304 ANCIENT EGYPT. Statues of bronze,* which is probably what is meant by brass in these Scriptures, were frequently cast in Egypt; many have come down to us, evidently of a very early period, from their style, but inca- pable of being exactly dated. Sir G. Wilkinson supposes that many exist of the eras of Osirtasen, and Thothmes III. Some curious pictures of the age of this latter monarch, represent very distinctly the processes of fusing and casting metals. The first scene on the opposite page represents a fire, which one man is stirring, while two others, one on each side, work two pairs of double bellows. These articles form the most interesting part of the picture. They appear to consist of two broad boards connected by leathern sides, as ours, a pipe appar- ently of reed, with a metal nozzle, proceeding from each. Two of these were w'orked by each man ; standing upon them, he pressed one down with his foot, forcing out the stream of air, while he raised the board of the other with a cord fastened to it, thus working them alternately, and keeping up a continuous blast. In the next group, we find the two bellowsmen have ceased blowdng, and are, together, lifting from the fire, by means of tw’o wires, the lipped cruci- ble containing the melted metal. It is interesting to observe that the fiellows, when left to themselves, remain inflated, w'hich Sir G. Wilkinson considers to imply that the Egyptians were acquainted with * We learn from the papyri, that statues were sometimes made of gold and silyer, ivory and ebony, combined. CASTING IN METAL. 306 ANCIENT EGYPT. the use of the valve. In both these scenes a heap of charcoal and a deep pot, perhaps containing metal, are represented above ; that is, in the distance. The same operators are again depicted in the third scene, engaged in pouring the fluid metal through a number of small funnel-shaped apertures, into the mould of earth. The man who empties a basket of charcoal, may be, as Mr. Osburn suggests, “ about to kindle a fire round the mould, in order to keep it at a high temperature for some time after it has re- ceived the metal. This process greatly improves both the delicacy and beauty of the cast, and the temper of the metal. It is used for bronze castings at the present day in China, and is said to be one of the causes of their great superiority over those of European artists.” The metal in most common use in Egj’pt, and doubtless in the surrounding nations also, was bronze, a compound of copper and tin, as brass is composed of copper and zinc. Their culinary ves- sels, then’ weapons, their tools, were made of this alloy, many specimens of which are preserved in the British and other museums. Statues also were cast in the same metal. The word rendered brass, in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, though sometimes used for copper unalloyed, must often, no doubt, signify bronze, as appears from its application to bows, in Job xx. 24, 2 Sam. xxii. 35, and Ps. xviii. 34. The want of elasticity in copper precludes the supposition that bows could be made of it alone, but the addition of tin imparts this property to the alloy, as well as that of hardness. The word ntinn^j na- THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 307 chooshah, which in each of these three passages is infelicitously rendered “ steel,” in our version, is everywhere else translated “ brass,” as is the kindred term n'chosheth (one of much more fre- quent occurrence), with the single exception of Jer. XV. 12, where it also is rendered “ steel.” But though the form of carbonized iron which we call steel, certainly is not expressed by either of these words, it is not improbable that it may be intended by another term in the last named passage, “ the northern iron,” which, as well as “ the steel,” (bronze) is mentioned as eminent for its superior hardness to common iron : “ Shall iron break the northern iron, and the steel ? ” If Damascus, which is a city of extreme antiquity, possessed in early days, the manufacture for which it has since been so celebrated, there would be an obvious reason why steel should be distinguished in Judea, as “ the northern iron.” Iron is found in abundance in the mountains of Lebanon ; and there exist traces that iron-works were anciently carried on in this region ; large quantities of iron-scoria being still to be seen, usually at some distance from the mines, but in the neighbourhood of the oak-forests ; this wood, then as now, being used for the operation of smelting. It is now well known, that iron smelted with wood- coal, becomes, in the process of preparation, partially carbonated ; and we can hardly suppose that in the continued use of this substance, the artificers could remain ignorant of its power of imparting to iron the qualities of elasticity and hardness. We have already noticed the representations of 308 ANCIENT EGYPT. a steel used for sharpening cutlery : we may also observe that the knives of these very pictures are painted blue, distinguishing them from implements of bronze, which is indicated by a brown or reddish hue. The weapons depicted in the scenes of the tomb of Raineses III., display the same variety, some being blue, to represent steel, others red, to indicate bronze. It is true that scarcely any specimens of iron of ancient manufacture have been found in Egypt. This, however, by no means disproves its common use; as the extreme rapidity with which this metal is decomposed, would, except under extraordinary circumstances, pre- clude its preservation. An iron sickle, however, was found by Belzoni, under the feet of a sphinx at Thebes, and is now in the British Museum ; it is broken into three pieces. And a piece of iron was discovered by Colonel Howard Vyse imbedded in the masonry of the great Pyramid, which he considers must have been placed there at the time of its erection. The sculptures, which in such profusion were executed in the hardest granite, and which are under our own eyes, are a sufficient proof of the excellence of the metallic implements used for that purpose. “ The hieroglyphics,” obsei'ves Sir Gardnor Wilk- inson, “ on obelisks and other granite monuments are sculptured with a minuteness and finish, which, even if they used steel as highly tempered as our own, cannot fail to surprise the beholder, and to elicit from him the confession that our modern sculptors are unable to vie \\dth them in this branch of art. THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 309 “ Some are cut to the depth of more than two inches, the edges and all the most minute parts of the intaglio presenting the same sharpness and accui’acy; and I have seen the figure of a king in high relief, reposing on the lid of a granite coffin, which was raised to the height of nine inches above the level of the surface. What can be said, if we deny to men who executed such works as these the aid of steel, and confine them to bronze implements ? Then, indeed, we exalt their skill in metallurgy far beyond our own, and indirectly confess that they had devised a method of sculpturing stone of wdiich we are ignorant. In vain should we attempt to render copper, by the aid of certain alloys, sufficiently hard to sculpture granite, basalt, and stones of similar quality. No one who has tried to perforate or cut a block of Egyptian granite will scruple to acknow- ledge that our best steel tools are turned in a short time, and require to be retempered ; and the labour experienced by the French engineers, who removed the obelisk of Luxor from Thebes, in cutting a space less than two feet deep, along the face of its partially decomposed pedestal, suffices to shew that, even with our excellent modern implements, we find con- siderable difficulty in doing what to the Egyptians would have been one of the least arduous tasks.”* Sir G. Wilkinson found a chisel at Thebes, which had been used for stone-cutting. It is made of bronze, is about nine inches long, and nearly three quarters wide at the tip, and in form resembles those in use among our masons. That this instrument has * Wilk. iii. 250. 310 ANCIENT EGYPT. been used is evident, for “ the summit is turned over by the blows it has received from the mallet,” and yet the point is uninjured, “ as if it had recently left the hands of the smith who made it.” As the point, however, is not now able to resist the hardness of stone, the conclusion seems unavoidable, that the Egyptian artificers were wont to encase the tips of their bronze chisels in a sheath of harder metal, which must have been steel. One of the uses to which bronze was applied was the formation of ladies’ toilet-mirrors. Many of these have been found, and are deposited in museums. ladies’ mirrors. They are nearly circular, placed at the end of a handle of form and materials very varied. They were susceptible of a high polish, and were, perhaps, scarcely inferior to our own silvered glass. Such, we may presume, was the form, and such the mate- THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 311 rial, of the mirrors which, having been just brought from Egypt by the Hebrew women, were devoted by them to the service of Jehovah. And [Moses] made the laver of brass, [bronze] and the foot of it of brass, of the looking-glasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. Exod. xxxviii. 8. The cutting, graving, and setting of precious stones we have already spoken of in speaking of Egyptian jew'ellery. Our museums are rich in specimens of the lapidary’s art, cut and set in various forms in necklaces, and graven in signet-rings. The diamond was doubtless employed in cutting gems, as well as glass ; Pliny, indeed, while stating that the diamond was so used in his time, affirms that “ in ancient times it was thought wrong to violate gems with engraving or device,” but the specimens before our eyes prove that he was mistaken. In the elegant vases of gold and silver, already referred to, precious stones, as emeralds and amethysts, were set, and frequently when the head of an animal formed part of the design, the eyes were represented by radiant gems. We have seen that precious stones in small sealed bags or in strings, formed an important part of the tribute brought from Punt, Cush, and Sheba. Ex- tensive mines of emeralds were wrought in Egypt, and are still kept open, though with little success, Belzoni visited the emerald mountain in 1816, and has drawn a sad picture of the misery of the unfor- tunate beings doomed to the search for these objects of luxury. He remarked that a great numher of 312 ANCIENT EGYPT. mines had existed in this mountain, and that the amount of earth that had been brought out was enormous, giving some idea of the great extent to which they had been worked in ancient ages.* The art of the cabinet-maker, the “ carving in ion of our folding-stool ; the seat was of leather stretched across. In a painting in the same col- lection a figure is seated on a chair of remarkable ightness and elegance, the crossed legs of which are secured by a pin, and a leopard skin is thrown over the seat. The forms, indeed, which were given to these articles, w'ere very various ; from those of the massive structures sometimes seen in the halls of our old mansions, to the kangaroo-chairs and fauteuils of FOLDING CHAIR. wood ” of the Sacred History, is very fre- quently represented upon the monuments, and is indicated by many specimens that have resisted the gnaw- ing tooth of time. In the British Museum are some stools, formed of ebony, inlaid with ivory ; the seat is con- cave, and was covered with a leathern cushion. Others are preserved of which the legs were crossed, after the fash- * Belzoni, 314. THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 313 modern drawing-rooms. The coloured figures of the latter in the tombs of the kings are of extraordinary magnificence. The accompanying engravings will convey some idea of the forms of these sumptuous thrones, but without colour it is impossible to do CHAIRS OP STATE. them justice. Some are supported by figures of bound captives : others bear a lion of gold or a lion’s head on each arm. The back, which curves over with a graceful scroll, is covered with a well-padded cushion of dyed leather, often deep red or blue, with a stamped pattern of stars. A profusion of gilding is usually applied to the lower parts. The appearance of these regal seats will give us some notion of the gorgeous throne of Solomon. Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold. The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round behind : and there were stays on either side on the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the stays. And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps ; there was not the like made in any kingdom. 1 Kings x. 18 — 20. P 314 ANCIENT EGYPT. There are, it is true, features in tliis description, which exceed even the Egyptian type in magnifi- cence ; but the abundance of gilding, the top round- ed behind, the “stays” or arms, and the lions on each side, have their counterparts in these repre- sentations, the originals of which may perhaps have been the models on which the throne of the Hebrew monarch was formed. The wood which was principally used in cabinet work, was the hard, dark, and durable timber of several species of acacia, and in particular the species named gummifera, nilotica, and seyal. The first of these, which is the chief species from which the gum Arabic of commerce is produced, is believed to be the “ shittim-wood,” which was so largely used in the service of the Tabernacle. The fact that the various species of acacia are almost the only trees that grow in the Desert, sufficiently accounts for their use, without supposing, as 'some have done, THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 315 that “ shittim wood ” was some foreign timber pro- cured at great cost. Ill the above engraving, the hewing down of a tree of this species is represented : it is identified by its foliage and by its ramification. Burckliardt in- forms us that the pods of this tree, which are long and curved, as well as its tender shoots, serve as fodder to the camels ; and in this picture we see that a goat-herd has brought his flock to feed on the foliage of the fallen tree. The next process is to saw the wood thus obtained into planks and slabs. The log was set upright between two posts set firmly in the ground, to which it was lashed by cords or fastened with pins, when it was divided longitudi- nally by a hand-saw of bronze. In the original picture several other workmen are hewing with the curved adze the staves of spears. The above scene it is impossible to misunderstand. One of the workmen is polishing the leg of a chair, with something which he holds in his fingers, perhaps a stone, or a composition of sand and gum. Before him is the hewing-block of rough timber, against 316 ANCIENT EGYPT. which another leg is leaning; the mortises of this and of the two that stand against the wall are care- fully shewn. On the block and on the floor lie two of the adzes, the blades of which are fastened to the helves with thongs ; a square is also shewn. The other, having before him the frame of a chair, is engaged in drilling the holes around the seat, for the insertion of leathern thongs, which were crossed and interlaced in the same manner and for the same purpose as the strips of cane in our light parlour chairs. The drill and bow are exactly the same in principle with that in present use. The socket which he holds in his left hand is the hard nut of the Theban palm. We have already alluded to the extensive use of imitations of costly articles to bring them within the reach of the less opulent. In manufactures of wood, this is done among us in two modes, staining or graining the surface in imitation of the costlier material, or veneering, that is affixing a thin layer of the latter by glue to a body of common wood. Both of these plans were in operation in Ancient Egypt ; the paintings represent furniture, which it is very evident was artificially “ grained ; "* and the scene which we here copy, displays the process of veneer- ing by means of glued slabs. The upper workman is applying a plank of dark red wood, like ma- hogany, to a block of common yellow timber of the * “ The colours were usually applied on a thin coating of stucco, laid smoothly upon the previously prepared wood, and the various knots and grains painted upon this ground indicated the quality of the wood they intended to counterfeit.” Wilk. iii. 169. THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 317 same character and quality as the hewing-block into which he has struck his adze. Below a man ap- plies glue with a brush to a thin plank for a simi- lar purpose ; the glue-pot is boiling on the fire, and between it and the workman lies a fragment of a cake of glue. The work of the kneeling figure is less intelligible ; perhaps he is glueing some orna- mental bosses on a polished surface of board, or per- haps grinding colour, with a stone muller. The box depicted in the distance, is probably introduced as a 318 ANCIENT EGYPT. specimen of the art intended, as it is made of veneered and inlaid wood of different colours. The presence of glue has been observed in the joints of boxes which have been discovered in the tombs. The small toilet-boxes which have been found in considerable numbers, are not the least interesting of the Egyptian curiosities in our Museums. They were made of wood, or of ivory, often inlaid, and always elaborately carved. Sometimes, as in some of the following specimens, they partook of the nature of TOILET BOXES. spoons, the containing part being shallow, at the end of a long solid handle ; the handle was carved into the most fanciful forms, a grotesque human figure, a woman, a fox or a fish, and the spoon-part was gene- rally covered with a lid, which turned on a pivot. THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 319 In one of those above, the spoon takes the form of a fish, the cover being carved to resemble its scales, while another, also in the form of a fish,^has two cavities, the one covered, the other permanently open. Sometimes the body of a goose formed the box, either trussed for the table, or in the posture of life, or other forms were devised from the fancy of the artist. Some of these shallow boxes are sup- posed to have been used for holding small quantities of ointments and cosmetics upon the toilet table. Allusions in the Sacred Scriptures to the linen of Egypt are very copious, indicating both the promi- nence of the manufacture and its excellence ; and, as might be expected among a people who had just left that country after a residence there of more than two centuries, the same prevalence of the use of linen is seen among the Hebrews in the wilderness and after their settlement in the promised land. As, in every case where a manufactured article is in very common use, there will be varieties in quality, indi- cated by distinct appellations, so we find the texture, which in every instance seems to have been truly linen, mentioned in Hebrew by no fewer than seven distinct names, had, hutz, etoon, pishteh, sadin, shesh, and mikveh, the distinctions of which it would be now impossible to determine, though the word pish- teh seems properly to indicate the fiax as a plant, and mikveh, the yarn before it is woven into cloth. We request the reader’s attention to the following- selection of the Scriptural notices of this material before we proceed to the Egyptian illustrations of them. 320 ANCIENT EGYPT. And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen (shesh), and put a gold chain about his neck. Gen. xli. 42. And the flax (pishtah) and the barley was smitten ; for the barley was in the ear, and the flax {pishtah) was boiled. Exod. ix. 31. And this is the offering which ye shall take of them ; gold, and silver, and brass, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen (s!tesh), and goats’ hair. Exod. xxv. 3, 4. Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle xvith ten curtains of fine twined linen (sJiesh), and blue, and purple, and scarlet : with cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them. Exod. xxvi. 1 . And they made coats of fine linen (sliesh) of woven work for Aaron, and for his sons, and a mitre of fine linen {shesk), and goodly bonnets of fine linen (s7tes7t), and linen (bad) breeches of fine twined linen (s7ies7i mosTizar), and a girdle of fine twined linen (sTiesTi rnosTizar), and blue, and purple, and scarlet, of needle work ; as the Lord commanded Moses. Exod. xxxix. 27-29. He shall put on the holy linen (bad) coat, and he shall have the linen (bad) breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen (7>ad) girdle, and with the linen (bad) mitre shall he be attired : these are holy garments. Lev. xvi. 4. But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax (pis7ite7i), which she had laid in order upon the roof. Jos. ii. 6. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen (bad) ephod. 1 Sam. xxii. 18. And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yam ( miTcvebi ) : and the king's merchants received the linen yam (miTcveTt) at a price. And the families of the house of them that wrought fine linen (butz), of the house of Ashbea. 1 Chr. iv.- 21. And David was clothed with a robe of fine linen (butz), and all the Le- vites that bare the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song with the singers : David also had upon him an ephod of linen (bad). 1 Chr. XV. 27. And he made the vail of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen (butz), and ivTOught chembims thereon. 2 Chr. iii. 14. I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen (etoon) of Egv-pt. Prov. vii. 16. She maketh fine linen (sadin), and selleth it ; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. Prov. xxxi. 24. THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 321 Moreover, they that work in fine flax (pishieh), and they that weave net-works (white- works, marg.), shall be confounded. Isa. xix. 9. Fine linen (shesh), with broidered work from Egypt, was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail. Ezek. xxvii. 7. They shall have linen {phhteh) bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen (pishteh) breeches upon their loins : they shall not gird them- selves with anything that causeth sweat. Ezek. xliv. 18. The words which the Greek translators, in the Septuagint version, have used for the above are, for shesh and blitz ^vaao<; (bi/ssus), for sadin crivBcbv (sindon), and for pishtah and had'klvov {linon). Pro- fessor Rosellini atttempts to shew, that the byssus of the ancients w'as not linen, but cotton, founding his reasoning principally upon a statement of Herodotus compared with the enveloping bandages around ex- amined mummies. Having used the word linon for flax or linen, when speaking of the Colchi, and of the Poeonian women, the Greek traveller uses ano- ther expression for the wrappers of embalmed bodies, byssine sindon. Professor Rosellini, on this, takes oc- casion to assert, that these wrappers are invariably found to be cotton. “ Of all the mummies which I have seen unwrapped, either in the cities of Europe, or at Thebes, (and certainly I have seen at least two hundred, and have assisted at the opening of a majority of this number) I never saw a single one that was not wrapped in cotton cloth. This fact can be easily verifled in any museum that contains a mummy.” Unfortunately for this argument, however, the supposition that mummy-cloth is invariably found to be a fabric of cotton, is entirely erroneous ; for, as far as investigations have been made, they have, without an exception, shewn the contrary, that it is 322 ANCIENT EGYPT. linen. Under a powerful microscope, the fibres of cotton appear to be “ transparent glassy tubes, flat- tened and twisted round their own axis. A section of the filament resembles in some degree a figure of 8 ; the tube originally cylindrical haUng collapsed most in the middle, forming semi-tubes, on each side, which give to the fibre, when viewed in certain lights, the appearance of a flat riband, with a hem or border at each edge. The uniform transparency of the filament is impaired by small irregular figures, in all probability, wrinkles or creases, arising from FIBRES OF COTTON (a) AND LINEN (i). the desiccation of the tube. The twisted and cork- screw form of the filament of cotton distinguishes it from all other vegetable fibres, and is characteristic of the fully ripe and mature pod ; Mr. Bauer having ascertained that the fibres of the unripe seed are simple, untwisted, cylindrical tubes, which never THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 323 twist afterwards if separated from the plant; but when the seeds ripen, even before the capsule hursts, the cylindrical tubes collapse in the middle, and assume the form already described. This form and character the fibres retain ever after, and in that respect undergo no change through the operations of spinning, weaving, bleaching, printing, and dyeing, nor in all the subsequent domestic operations of washing, &c. till the stuff is worn to rags. The elementary fibres of flax are also transparent tubes> cylindrical, and articulated, or jointed like a cane. This latter structure is only observable by the aid of an excellent instrument.”* Brought to the test of microscopical examination, the samples of Egyptian cloth collected from very various quarters, and taken not only from human mummies, hut also from those of embalmed birds and beasts, prove, without an exception, to he linen ; not a single fibre of cotton having been detected in any of them. Though the linen thus obtained, is for the most part very coarse, yet specimens are not wanting which justify the reputation of Ancient Egypt for “ fine linen.” The beauty of the texture of a mummy-doth given to Mr. Thompson by Mr. Bel- zoni was very striking. “ It was free from gum, or resin, or impregnation of any kind, and had evidently been originally white. It w'as close and firm, yet very elastic. The yarn of both warp and woof was lemarkably even, and -well spun. The thread of the warp was double, consisting of two fine threads twisted together. The woof was single. The warp * Thompson, “ On the Mummy-cloth of Egypt.” 324 ANCIENT EGYPT. contained ninety threads in an inch ; the woof or weft only forty-four. The fineness of these materials, estimated after the manner of cotton-yarn, was about thirty hanks in the pound.” Of some other specimens, which this gentleman saw at the British Museum, he observes, “ My first impression on seeing these cloths, was that the finest kinds were muslhi, and of Indian manufacture .... but this suspicion of their being cotton was soon removed by the microscope of Mr. Bauer, which shewed that they were all, without exception, linen. Some were thin and transparent, and of very deli- cate texture. The finest appeared to be made of yarns of near 100 hanks in the pound, with 140 threads in the inch in the warp, and about 64 in the w'oof. A specimen of muslin in the museum of the East India House, the finest production of the Dacca loom, has only 100 threads in an inch in the warp, and 84 in the woof; but the surprising fineness of the yarns, which, though spun by hand is not less than 250 hanks in the pound, gives to this fabric its unrivalled tenuity and lightness.” But even these yield in fineness to specimens mentioned by Sir J. G. Wilkinson, one of w'hich had 152 threads in the warji, and 71 in the woof to each inch, while another disjilayed the astonishing num- ber of 540 (or 270 double threads) iu the warp, and 1 10 in the woof per inch ; the texture of which may be imagined by a comparison of it with our cambi’ic, which has about 160 threads per inch in the warp, and 140 in the woof. “ Another very remarkable circumstance in this THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 325 specimen is, that it is covered with small figures and hieroglyphics, so finely drawn that here and there the lines are with diffi- culty followed by the eye ; and as there is no appear- ance of the ink having run in any part of the cloth, it is evident they had previously prepared it for this purpose.”* The remarkable dis- proportion in the tex- ture of the warp and woof, sometimes amount- ing to four threads to one, is found in all Egyp- tian cloth, and was a pe- culiarity of their manu- facture : in European and Indian textiles, on the contrary, the proportions are nearly equal. The growing and pluck- ing of the flax-crop, and the various processes of its preparation, are fre- quently represented on the monuments. In a bas-relief in the grot- toes of Eilethyias, the flax is recognised by its * Wilk. height (which does not iii. 126 . 326 ANCIENT EGYPT. rise above the hips of the workmen), by the green colour of the stalk, and by the form and colour of the grain, which is round and yellow. Four men and a woman are employed in plucking it up, another man binds it in sheaves, using his foot to press the sheaf tight, and a third carries it to one whose business it is to get out the grain. This man is standing under the shade of a tree, and has a kind of comb, with spaces between the teeth wide enough to let the stalk pass, but not the seed-head. The stock of the comb rests on the ground, the teeth being raised by a support beneath, and the man keeps the whole steady with his foot. He takes a handful of flax, and turning the heads downwards, fixes the stalks between the teeth, and draws it towards him. As the grain cannot pass through the teeth, it is separated, while the stalk is not at all injured.*’ The above engraving represents the steeping of the stalks in hot water, and some after processes which are thus described by Pliny. “ The stalks of flax being plunged into water exposed to the heat of the sun, are kept there, immersed by means of heavy weights, until the loosening of the rind indi- cates that the maceration is sufficient. They are then taken out, dried in the sun, and afterwards beaten with wooden mallets on a block of stone. . . . . After being made into yarn, it is polished by striking it repeatedly on a stone, moistening it with water; and even when it is woven, the cloth is subjected to another beating with mallets, as * Costaz, Memoire, Vol. v. and pi. 68. THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 327 it is found that flax improves the more it is beaten.”* As we read that, for the service of the Tabernacle, All the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen. And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats’ hair. Exod. xxxv. 25 — 26. SO we And that in Egypt this work was assigned to females. From the accompanying engraving we see SPINNING AND WEAVING. that a twirling motion was given to the spindle by rolling it along the thigh, in the manner of the modern Arab women. The yarn which was to be spun was contained in a vessel, perhaps fllled with a kind of size. Two spindles are managed at the same time by each spinner. The yarn which the Hebrew women spun was * Plin. xix. 1 . 328 ANCIENT EGYPT. coloured “ blue, and purple, and scarlet” before it was woven; and this agrees exactly with Egyptian custom. Specimens that have been examined, shew that the colour was applied to the thread. Minutoli remarks, that, from many experiments on ancient Egyptian cloth, it appears that the byssus was co- loured in the wool [yarn] before the weaving.* In the preceding picture there is the representa- tion of two women weaving at a simple sort of loom. The woof is passed through, not by throwing the shut- tle, but by means of a rod, with a hook at the end. The threads of the warp are separated, not by trea- dles, but by two sticks worked by hand. The cloth already woven is at the lower part of the warp, and has a fringe upon one selvage. It would seem that the ephod of Aaron, as well as the “curious girdle” of the following passage, was not strictly embroidered, but woven in colours. And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work. It shall have the two shoulderpieces thereof joined at the two edges thereof ; and so it shall be joined together. And the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same, according to the work thereof ; even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. Exod. xxviii. 5 — 8. “ Many of the Egyptian stuffs presented various patterns worked in colours by the loom, . . . and so richly composed, that they vied with cloths em- broidered with the needle.” f In this scene, the loom is a frame stretched hori- zontally on the ground, held fast by four stout pegs * Minutoli, 402. + Wilk. iii. 128. THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 329 at the corners driven into the earth. The weaver is seated on that part of his work which is finished, which displays a neat pattern of green and yellow in WEAVING IN COLOURS. small chequers. The action of the workman does not give us any light as to the mode in w'hich his work was effected. But another mode of producing rich patterns of colours on linen, repeatedly alluded to in the Scrip- tures, was hy embroidery or needle-work. And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of tlie tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework. Exod. xxvi. 36. . . . . an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and fine linen. Exod. xxxviii. 23. The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice. Why is his chariot so long in coming ? why tarry the wheels of his chariots ? Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself, Have they not sped ? have they not divided the prey ; to every man a damsel or two ; to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of 330 ANCIENT EGYPT. divers colours of needlework, of divers colours of needlework on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil ? Judg. v. 28 — 30. Fine linen, with broidered work from Egypt, was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail, Ezek. xxvii. 7. Sir J. G. Wilkinson remarks that the art of em- broidery was commonly practised in Egypt ; and mentions some specimens of worked worsted upon linen observed by Lord Prudhoe in the Turin ^Museum, “ in which the linen threads of the woof had been picked out, and the coloured worsted sewed on the warp.”* And it forms an interesting com- ment upon the passage just cited from the Prophet Ezekiel, that in the tomb of Remeses III. at Thebes, there are paintings of ships, the wide-spread sails of which are embroidered with the most gorgeous colours, some in stripes, some in chequers, and others in elaborate patterns of birds, flowers, and other devices of rich and varied hues. The descriptions given in preceding pages of the dresses of the Canaanitish nations f will illustrate the character of the raiment of “ divers colours of needlework,” which pleased the imagination of the mother of the ill-fated Sisera. The allusions to the preparation and use of leather- in the Holy Scriptm-es, are not very nunrerous, but they are sufficient to shew that the Hebrews, on leaviirg Egypt, were well acquainted with these arts. And he made a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering of badgers’ skins above that. Exod. xxxvi. 19. And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, * Wilk. iii. 128, 142. t See pp. 57, 75, 82, supra. THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 331 and they shall take down the covering vail, and cover the ark of the testimony with it : and shall put thereon the covering of badgers’ skins, and shall spread over it a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in the staves thereof. And upon the table of shewbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put thereon the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover withal ; and the continual bread shall be thereon. And they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put in the staves thereof. And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and his lamps, and his tongs, and his snuffdishes, and all the oil vessels thereof, wherewith they minister unto it. And they shall put it and all the vessels thereof within a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put it upon a bar. And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put to the staves thereof. And they shall take all the instruments of ministr}"-, wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put them on a bar. And they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth thereon : and they shall put upon it all the vessels thereof, where- with they minister about it, even the censers, the fleshhooks, and the shovels, and the basons, all the vessels of the altar ; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badgers’ skins, and put to the staves of it. Numb. iv. 5 — 14. I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers’ skin. Ezek. xvi. 10. The word tiinn {tahasli), rendered “ badger ” in our English Bible, has much puzzled critics ; it is tolerably certain that this is not the meaning. The ancient versions consider it a colour ; the Seventy, for example, have Bep/xara vaKivdiva, “ violet skins;” while the Rabbis maintain that it is the name of an animal ; and modern zoologists have believed they have found it in an amphibious creature of the Red Sea, the Dugong {Halicore tabernaculus), called Dahash by the Arabs, by whom its skin is dressed and manufactured into good leather. We may well 332 ANCIENT EGYPT. suppose both hypotlieses to be correct ; for when we consider the costliness and beauty of every thing else connected with the tabernacle, it seems highly probable that the outer covering would be dyed of some ornamental colour, as was that immediately be- neath it. In the above picture we see a person plunging what appears to be a spotted bull’s hide into a vessel filled with a red liquid. A skin already prepared is stretched out behind him, while in the foreground another workman is engaged at a sloping bench cutting, with a knife of the same form as is still used by modern curriers, another skin before him. Be- neath the bench is a sandal, and above it two thongs for latchets ; and in front of the dyeing jar, we see several shields, which we know were made of bull’s hide, stretched over a frame of wood, and ornamented with rims of metal. THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 333 “ The tanning and preparation of leather,” ob- serves Sir Gardner Wilkinson, “ was a branch of art in which the Egyptians evinced considerable skill. . . . Many of the occupations of their [the leather- cutters’] trade are portrayed on the painted walls of the tombs at Thebes. They made shoes, sandals, the coverings and seats of chairs or sofas, bow-cases, and most of the ornamental furniture of the chariot; harps were also adorned with coloured leather, and shields and numerous other things were covered with skin prepared in various ways.” * Professor Rosellini remarks that “ the wood of the Egyptian harps was sometimes covered with coloured leather. In the Museum of the Louvre, at Paris, an Egyptian harp is preserved, the wood of which is covered with a kind of green morocco, stamped with a pattern of lotus blossoms.” f Shoes and other articles of coloured leather have been found, the surface of which is embossed with various devices, and gilded ; the former process was probably performed by means of heated irons, when the leather was recent. A group of shoemakers are here seen at their vocation. The one at the right hand, in sewing a sandal-sole, has recourse to the primitive mode of tightening his thread with his teeth. Behind him sits a second, who is boring the holes in the ears, into which the latchet was to be inserted. This was ordinarily a thong of leather, and seems to have been proverbial as an article of the least possible value ; and thus Abram when returning from the rescue of * Wilk. iii. 155. t Rosel. ii. 3. 16. 334 ANCIENT EGYPT. the king of Sodom, solemnly refuses to accept any of the spoil, “from a thread even to a shoe-latchet.”* The third individual in the above scene is working a strap of leather across what is now called a tree, to render it pliable ; while the fourth at the left, seems to be occupied in attaching the latchets, and giving the finishing stroke to the work, as indicated by the completed pair of sandals above him. The remaining articles consist of soles hung up, square pieces of leather, awls and other tools, one of which at the right side appears to be a metal comb for “ graining ” the leather in the manner of morocco. The strength and elasticity of ropes made of twisted thongs of leather were not unknown to the an- cient Egyptians ; and the following scene shews that the only mode by which they could obtain thongs of sufficient length was also famihar to them. This was by what is now called “ the circular cut a piece of leather being fixed on a table or block by an awl driven through its centre, a narrow strip is cut along * Gen. xiv. 23. THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 335 the circumference, sufficient to pull by ; the edge of the knife then being steadily held in the incision, ROPE-MAKING. the pulling of the strip causes the leather rapidly to revolve, and the whole is cutup spirally into a slender thong of great length. The other figures are twist- ing this into rope. “ The ends of four thongs were inserted and fastened into a hollow tube, from the side of which a bar projected, surmounted by a heavy metal ball ; and the man who twisted them, held the tube in his right hand, whirling it round as he walked backwards, by means of the impetus given by the ball. A band, attached to a ring at the other end of the tube, went round his body, in order to support it, and give it a free action ; and the ring turned upon a nut, to prevent the band itself from twisting When finished, the twisted thongs were wound round a hollow centre, through which the end was passed and repeatedly bound over the concentric coils, in the same manner as ropes.”* • WUk. Hi. 143. 336 ANCIENT EGYPT. We should, of course, expect that a people capa- ble of working in metals, of carving in granite, and of blowing glass, could not be ignorant of the potter’s art ; and we notice it briefly here, because it afibrds some interesting illustrations of the Word of God. But now, 0 Lord, thou art our Father : we are the clay, and thou our Potter ; and we all are the work of thy hand. Isa. Ixiv. 8. The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there will I cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he ■WTOught a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter ; so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 0 house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter.’ saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, 0 house of Israel. Jer. xviii. 1 — 6. Tbe opposite engraving shews tbe simplicity of tbe instrumentality by wbicb vessels of plastic clay, often of elegant form and great delicacy, were fash- ioned. A w'heel placed horizontally, and made to revolve with the band, was the whole of the mechani- cal aid required ; manual dexterity, skill, and delicacy of touch did the rest. From the summit of a lump of clay placed on the wheel, the outward form of the cup or vase was fashioned with the hands, as it rapidly revolved, the pressure of the fingers giving the various indentations of the outline. In the same manner, by the insertion of the thumb, the interior was hollowed ; and when we consider that the slight- est inequality of pressure would destroy the regu- larity of the form, we may well imagine that vessels w’ould frequently be “ marred in the hands of the potter.” When fashioned, the vase was removed THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 337 from the lump, either by the finger at the base, or by a flat blade or tool, (though no such is figured,) as we see in the engraving has just been done. The furnace was high and slender, and of a conical form ; from one, where a man is stirring the fire at the grated mouth, the flames break out at the top. From the representation of the other, we may infer that the top was covered with a metal plate, on which the cups were ranged when they were to be baked. They were afterwards removed, carefully packed in trays, and suspended from the ordinary neck-yoke. The verb, which in its participial form, is rendered “ potter,” literally signifies “ to form,” and is very frequently used, especially (but not exclusively) by Q 338 ANCIENT EGYPT. the prophets, for the work of creation.* Thus in the passages following, — And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground. Gen. ii. 7. His hands formed the dry land. Ps. xcv. 5. I form the light, and create darkness ; . . . the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: . . . God himself that formed the earth. Isa. xlv. 7, 11, 18. — and many others, this is the word used. And in the passages above quoted from the Old Testament, as well as in the Epistle to the Romans in the New, the operation of the potter, and his power to form the plastic material according to his own will, are directly used as illustrations of the creative power and sovereign will of God. flHNUMIS. It is interesting tofind this idea existent in the minds of the ancient Egyptians. In the accompanying en- The Egyptian word has the same meaning. THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 339 graving we see one of those forms by wliich men en- deavoured to symbolize, personify, and represent the various attributes of the one living and true God ; in which attempt, probably, very much of pagan idolatry took its rise. This figure represents the creative form of Amoun, forming the mortal part of Osiris from a lump of clay upon a potter’s wheel, which he turns with his foot, while he moulds the material with his hands. ” The inscription which accompanies it reads, ‘ Chnum, the Creator, on his wheel, creates the divine members of Osiris, in the shining house* of life ; that is, in the disc of the sun. The chamber in which this sculpture occurs represents the em- balming and creating anew of the mummy of Osiris, according to a mythological fable, which has been preserved by Plutarch. Osiris was slain by Typhon, the evil principle, cut to pieces, and his members scattered over all Egypt. Isis, his wife, and Horus his son, collected them together, embalmed him at Philae, and buried him at Abydos.”-|- We can scarcely dismiss the subject of Egyptian art without a brief notice of one or two arts that were in a flourishing condition among them, though very slightly, if at all, alluded to in the Sacred * Rather, “gold house,” or “gilded apartment.’’ f Antiq. of Egypt, p. 110. Perhaps we may trace in this a glimpse of that grand truth revealed to us in the Word of God, which is the foundation of all our faith ; the “ new creation ” of man, after his ruin through the malignity of Satan. Q 2 340 ANCIENT EGYPT. Scriptures. The first is the manufacture of glass,* which the accompanying scene from the grottoes at Beni Hassan shews to have been carried on in Egypt as early as the time of Abraham, at least. That the substance at the end of the pipes which the upper figures are blowing, is melted glass, is shown by its being coloured green ; and it has evidently just been taken from the fire ; and the bottle in the lower com- partment agrees in form with bottles of glass else- where represented in the sculptures. Specimens of Egyptian glass bottles have frequently been dis- covered in the tombs, and some are in the British hluseum. Glass beads also are numerous, as are also * Though glass is not mentioned by name in our English version, many critics have supposed that it is intended by the word rendered crystal, in Job xxviii. 1", where it is classed with the most precious pro- ductions. The LXX in this passage use the word taXof (hyalos), which signifies glass. THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 341 imitations of various precious stones in glass, stained with the most brilliant hues, counterfeiting the emerald, amethyst, and other gems with a verisimili- tude certainly not excelled by the productions of modem art. The following description, by the learned Winkel- mann, of two fragments of antique glass discovered at Rome, is exceedingly interesting, and fully bears out his assertion, that “the ancients had attained a higher degree of perfection in the manufacture of glass than the moderns.” “ One of these fragments,” he observes, “ though less than an inch long, and one third of an inch broad, exhibits on a dark and variegated ground, a bird of the duck kind, in brilliant and varied colours, resembling, however, a Chinese painting rather than nature itself. The outline is bold and decided, the colours beautiful and pure, and the whole effect very pleasing, the artist having alter- nately used a transparent and an opake glass. The most delicate pencil of a miniature painter could not have traced with greater sharpness the circle of the eye-ball or the plumage of the neck and wings, at which part the specimen is broken off. But the most surprising thing is, that the reverse exhibits the same bird, in which we cannot detect the slightest differ- ence in the smallest details ; whence it may be con- cluded that the figure of the bird continues through its entire thickness. The picture has a granular appear- ance on both sides, and seems to have been formed of single pieces, like mosaic-work, united so skilfully, that the most powerful lens is unable to discover the junction. 342 ANCIENT EGYPT. “ It was at first difficult to form any idea of the pro- cess employed in the formation of this picture ; and we might have remained for ever ignorant of it, had not the fracture shewn that filaments of the same colours as on the surface of the glass through its whole diameter passed from one side to another. Hence it has been concluded that the picture was composed of many cylinders of coloured glass, which being subjected to heat, became fused into one mass. “ The other specimen is also a fragment of about the same size, and evidently formed in the same man- ner. It presents ornamental devices of green, yel- low, and white, on a blue ground, consisting of vo- lutes, strings of beads, and fiowers, ending in conical points. The details are perfectly distinct and free from confusion, and at the same time so minute, that the sharpest sight is unable to trace the fine lines in which the volutes terminate. These devices are con- tinued without interruption through the thickness of the fragment.”* We cannot be certain that the specimens here de- scribed were of Egyptian manufacture ; but it is at least highly probable, from the known reputation which Egyptian glass enjoyed at ancient Rome, as well as from specimens of similar character actually found in Egypt. Two of these are mentioned by Sir G. Wilkinson as having been brought to England, in the possession respectively of Captain Henvey and Dr. Hogg. “ The quality and the distribution of the colours in Captain Henvey’s specimen are strik- ingly beautiful : the total size is about one inch and * Winkelmann, i. 2, 19. THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 343 two tenths square, and the ground is of an amethyst hue. In the centre is a device, consisting of a yel- low circle, surrounded by light blue with a bright red border ; and on the four sides shoot forth light blue rays edged with white. Around this, which is isolated, runs a square ornament of bright yellow, divided into distinct parts, formed by openings in each of the sides, and at the four corners a beautiful device projects, like a leaf, formed of a succession of minute lines, green, red, and white, the two last en- circling the green nucleus, which meet at a common point towards the base, and terminate in almost im- perceptible tenuity. The delicacy of some of the lines is truly surprising ; and not less, the accuracy with which the patterns are executed ; and the brilli- ancy of the colours is as remarkable as the harmony maintained in their disposition : an art, then, much more studiously attended to, and far better under- stood than at the present day. “ The secret of making these glass ornaments is more readily explained from this specimen than any I have met with. It consists of several squares, whose original division is readily discovered in a bright light, as well as the manner of adjusting the different parts, and of uniting them in one mass ; and here and there we find that the heat applied to cement the squares has caused the colours to run between them, in consequence of partial fusion from too strong a fire. ..... “ Not only were these various parts, made at dif- ferent times, and afterwards united by heat, rendered effective on their surfaces, by means of a flux applied 344 ANCIENT EGYPT. to them, but each coloured line was at first separate, and, when adjusted in its proper place, was connected with those around it by the same process ; and these, as Winkelmann very properly suggests, were cylin- ders, or laminae, according to the pattern proposed, which passed in direct lines through the substance, or ground, in which they were embedded.”* A kind of porcelain, partaking of the nature of glass, was produced by Egyptian artists ; and many PORCELAIN VESSELS. specimens of great beauty of form, colour, and pattern are represented in the paintings ; and some have been found, and are deposited in collections. Some dark hue, blue or green, is chosen for the ground, which is traversed by lines of various breadth. * Wilk. iii. 96. THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 345 and of all diversities of tint, often in an oblique direction, but sometimes running in the most tor- tuous patterns. The numerous specimens of Egyptian painting and sculpture, which have been copied in this volume, will have conveyed to the reader an idea of the excellen- cies and the defects of their style in design. It has been well observed that the object of these and kindred arts w’as not, as in Greece, to captivate the imagination, but to record and transmit information. Perspicuity was mainly attended to, and hence arose a conventional mode of representing certain objects which was never allowed to be relinquished. The human figure, for example, is very incorrectly drawn ; a front view is rarely attempted, and when it is, is strangely uncouth: yet the ordinary profile is invariably mingled with characteristics of a front view. The whole eye is always drawn, just as viewed in front ; and though the head and body are in profile, the shoulders are placed transversely, as in front. To the principal figure and action of a picture every thing else was subordinate, and some- times this is carried out so rigidly, that rather than break the outline of the figure, an object, that is intended to be in front of it, is made to appear be- hind, an instance of which may be seen in the figure of Chnumis, in page 338, whose left hand and foot, though actually behind the wheel and clay, are drawn as if in front of it, to the manifest injury of the action. Q 5 846 ANCIENT EGYPT. Perspective, as we have already observed, was unknown ; an Egyptian artist had no mode of repre- senting objects that receded from the point of sight, but that of placing one above another in the ratio of its distance ; and until we are accustomed to this usage, many of the most elaborate drawings seem confused and unintelligible. The attempts to depict houses and gardens in detail need much study, partly from this cause, and partly from the admixture of ground plan with elevation. At the same time we find in these specimens of early art much to admire. The free and bold out- lines in which their designs are traced are very striking ; the figures of the w'arriors in the battle scenes often exhibit, in spite of conventional faults, great spirit and vivacity of action, though the coun- tenance is inanimate ; and the figures of the monarchs in repose are not deficient in regal grace and dignity. The beauty of the chariot-horses, and their high- mettled action, their finely formed heads, arching necks, taper limbs, and flowing tails, are strikingly given, though perhaps not free from exaggeration. Indeed, animals, generally, are much more correctly drawn than human figures ; conventional stiffness was not enforced upon them wdth the rigidity of usage ; and lienee we find gazelles, birds, and other animals, depicted with a truth and taste that would not discredit a modern draughtsman. The following scene, which is as early as the time of Abraham, represents two artists engaged at the same easel, and as it would seem at the same picture, though drawing separate subjects. The one is paint- THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 347 ing a calf, the other an antelope being killed by some animal of prey. The colour with which they worked, seems to have been kept in a fluid state in pots, and held in the left hand as required, and we perceive that though the picture was perpendicular or nearly so, the artist was not accustomed to use a rest for the hand. Nothing is more remarkable in the paintings that cover the walls of the grottoes and tombs of Egypt than the vividness which the colours display, after the lapse of thousands of years. Their purity and brilliancy almost force upon the beholder the conclu- sion, in spite of his reason, that they are hardly dry from the pencil of the painter. Preserved as they have been from atmospheric changes, in a country where the soil is almost as dry as the sand of the desert, these records of ancient ages have success- fully resisted decay, while such as have been re- moved to our Museums, though protected by glass. 348 ANCIENT EGYPT. are already beginning to fade, and probably in a few years wall be with difficulty discernible. Interesting investigations have been raade by”" mo- dern chemists on the nature of the colours used by the Egyptians. Professor John of Berlin has devoted much time and labour to this inquiry. He considers the blues to be oxides of copper, a metal w'hich is abundant in Egypt ; the analysis never shewing any cobalt, but only oxide of copper with a slight mix- ture of iron. The reds may be diHded into brown- reds and brick-reds. Minium, cinnabar, or native vermilion w'as employed, according to Phny, to paint statues in Ethiopia. The brown colour is often found on the faces painted on mummy-coffins ; the colour forms a thin lamina, wdiich easily peels off, and is of the same tint all through. It is a brown- red oxide of iron mixed wdth lime, and made tena- cious by the addition of glue-water. The greens are a mixture of a yellow vegetable pigment with a copper-blue, fastened with glue-water; the yellow possibly produced from the henne plant, still used for staining in the East. The bluish-green colour which we sometimes observe on Egyptian antiquities, is only the fading of the surface of what was origi- nally a pure copper-blue, through exposure. The yellows are generally very pure, often of a bright sulphur colour : on analysis, these appear to be of vegetable origin. They often appear as a very thin coating on the plaster or stucco. Preparations of lime or gypsum seem to have constituted the whites. The blacks were various, probably being made from lees of wine, bui’nt pitch, soot, and charcoal. In THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 349 addition to those here noticed, there were doubtless various ochreous earths, both reds and yellows, in use. Madder also seems to have been employed for a red- dish-yellow. The results obtained by Dr. Ure from an analysis of some specimens of pigment brought home by Sir Gardner Wilkinson, do not differ materially from those above mentioned. He ascertained the blue to be a glass finely powdered, “ made by vitrifying the oxides of copper and iron with sand and soda ; ” and which by the addition of a little ochre became green. The black pigment analysed by him proved to be bone-black ; and the yellow to be an iron ochre.* Analogous to the pictorial art is that of writing, and that peculiarly with a people whose written characters were a series of pictures. We cannot, however, here enter into an examination of a subject so wide as the writing of Ancient Egypt, having briefly touched on it in another part of this volume ; but would merely allude to the indubitable antiquity of the art itself, not only in the form of inscriptions on public monuments, but in that of books. Fair white paper was made from the papyrus rush, “the paper-reeds by the brooks,” (Isa. xix. 7 ) in great abundance, at the earliest periods of Egyptian history of which the records have come down to us ; specimens exist of paper manuscripts, written long before the sixteenth dynasty ; “ and the same mode of writing on them is shewn from the sculptiu'es to have been common in the age of Suphis,” the builder of * Wilk. iii. 301—303. 350 ANCIENT EGYPT. the Great Pyramid, which in all probability was not very long after the dispersion of mankind. Several passages in the Sacred Scriptures shew that the opinion of the fathers was erroneous, that the art of writing was a revelation to Moses on Mount Sinai. The memorial of the sin and discom- fiture of Amalek was commanded to be written “ in a book,”* before the Hebrews had yet approached Sinai ; and Job, whose era, there seems no reason to doubt, was prior to that of Moses, speaks of books as familiar to all. “ O that mine adversary had written a book ! ’’■f' But still more important pass- ages are those which shew that books were known to the Canaanitish nations, — the illustrious rivals of Egypt in arts and arms, — long before the time of the Conquest. And [Caleb] went up thence to the inhabitants of Debit: and the name of Debit before w'as Kirjath-Sepher. Jos. xv. 17, and Judg. i. 11. It seems evident that Debir was the name by which this city was known at the time of the narrative, and that the title Kirjath-Sepher, which had become ob- solete, was much more ancient. But Kirjath-Sepher means “the City of Books.” “It is possible,” ob- serves Calmet, “ that the Canaanites might lodge their records in this city, and those few monu- ments of antiquity which they had preserved; or it might be something like the cities of the priests in Israel ; the residence of the learned, a kind of college. This idea receives confirmation from its other name Debir, which signifies an oracle ; and seems to hint * Gen. xvii. 14. t Job xxxi. 35. THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 351 at a seat of learning, a college or university ; an establishment, probably, of priests, for the purpose of educating the younger membei’s of their body.”* The numerous references made in the Sacred Scriptures to music, and the variety of terms in use for musical instruments shew, that among the He- brews this science was much cultivated. And as we trace this prevalence of music up to their exodus from Egypt, we might naturally expect to find in the contemporaneous monuments of that country, traces of its cultivation there. Accordingly, there is per- haps, no subject so frequently repeated in the sculp- tures and paintings as musical performances; and the variety and perfection of the instruments in use, are truly astonishing. The evidence of these records, on this subject also, entirely discountenances the theory of the gradual discovery of the various arts of life, and their pro- gress to perfection. In the accompanying scene, which is from a tomb believed to be not less ancient than the pyramids, we have performers upon the harp and pipes. “ Exactly similar harps having been observed in others of the earliest of the tombs, it has been assumed that this is the original and most ancient harp. The supposition is by no means im- probable ; for, instead of the imperfect and unfi- nished attempt in which it has been often supposed that music originated, this is the completed instru- ment, the model from which all other instruments * Calmet, voce Kirjath-sepher. 352 ANCIENT EGYPT. must necessarily be formed. It is an octachord, or instrument of eight strings ; that is, of the seven tones into which all musical sounds, by an unalter- ANCIEXT HARP AND PIPES. able law of nature, must resolve themselves, — ^and of the octave, or repetition of the first of these tones. To these, as to elements, all music must ultimately be referred, so that every thing that is to be found in the entire compass of this subhme science, whether in ancient or modern times, has really its representa- tive in the eight strings of which tliis simple but per- fect harp is composed.” * * Osburn, Anc. Eg}-. 218. THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 353 The two figures above are flute or pipe-playei’s ; the one performing on the straight, the other on the oblique pipe. The person seated opposite the harper is singing in accompaniment to the music. In the original, a singer is seated before each of the flute- players also, but these are omitted in our engraving for lack of space. Some time before the flood, the knowledge of stringed and wind-instruments is recorded. Jubal “ was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.”* The word translated “organ,” has been shewn to be not the instrument called Pandean pipes, as has been assumed, but a kind of simple pipe, the dulcimer of Nebuchadnezzar’s orchestra. Thus the remotest Egyptian antiquity shews us, that concerted music was practised ; the human voice being accompanied by instruments exactly corre- spondent to those mentioned in the Sacred Records of the antediluvian age. So erroneous is the asser- tion of Dr. Burney, that, in the infancy of music, no other instruments were known than those of per- cussion, and that it was, therefore, little more than metrical. In one of the Tombs of the Kings near Thebes, which, from the first describer, has been called Bruce’s Tomb, are two hai'pers playing on instru- ments of great size and elaborate ornament. One of them is stated in the French “ Description,” to have twenty-one strings, but in the published figui’es, we do not find so great a number represented. One of the harpers is dressed in a black, the other in a white * Gen. iv. 21. 354 ANCIENT EGYPT. robe ; their attitude is remarkably free and uncon- strained. The accompanying engraving will give an idea of the elegant form of these harps, but not of the bruce’s harper. brilliancy and variety of the colours with which they are painted. The following scene well illustrates the numerous passages in the Word of God in which the harp is spoken of in connexion with the psaltery, as accom- paniments to singing, and of which it may be suf- ficient to quote one. THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 355 0 God, my heart is fixed ; I will sing and give praise, even with ray glory. Awake psaltery and harp ; I myself will awake early. Ps. cviii. 1, 2. This harp is remarkable for the richness of its decorations, and for the number of its strings, which PSALTERY AND HARP. amount to twenty, yet this is not tlie greatest num- ber found on Egyptian harps. The instrument at the right resembling the modern guitar, is, without doubt, the ^^3 {nebeT) of the Hebrews, rendered in our version, “ psaltery,” but, more correctly, in the version of the Psalms in the Book of Common Prayer, “ lute.” The word nehel signifies also a bottle or pitcher of pottery, and it was probably from the similarity in form of the body of this pleasing musi- cal instrument to the earthen vessel, that the name was appropriated. The introduction of this instru- 356 ANCIENT EGYPT. ment is very frequent on the monuments, and it is, perhaps, more generally in the hands of women than of men. The man seated between the lute-player and the The picture copied on the following page is one of high interest. It represents a chorus of women in procession, dancing and beating timbrels, and could scarcely be more correctly described than in the very words of the following passage : — And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her, with timbrels and with dances. Exod. xv. 20. It adds to the interest of this picture, that it was executed about the very period when the Israelites went forth from Egypt: we may therefore reason- ably presume that we see here the very dresses, atti- tudes, and instruments of Miriam’s chorus. harper in the above scene, is accompa- nying the music and his voice with the clapping of hands ; a practice which appears from the paintings to have been common in Egypt, as it was in Israel. PITCHERS AND LUTES. 0 clap your hands, all ye people ; shout unto God with the voice of triumph. Ps. xlvii. 1. THE MECHANICAL ARTS. 357 The female who leads the dance, beats an instru- ment still used in Egypt ; it is a kind of tambourine made by stretching a cover of parchment over a fun- WOMEN PLAYING ON TIMBRELS. nel-shaped vessel made of earthenware ; others strike the circular and oblong-square timbrels ; the incurv- ing of the sides of the latter is probably the result of the stretching of the parchment. The carrying of branches of trees, indicates that the rejoicing was solemn and public. We now close our pleasing task. The unveiling of the public history and private manners of a nation so polished, so renowned, and so remote, cannot fail to be a source of high gratification. But this intel- lectual feast is not the chief advantage that accrues to us from the study of these venerable remains. They witness to us by a multitude of testimonies. 358 ANCIENT EGYPT. — on points the most various, in character so minute and circumstantial as to be utterly above suspicion, \ in a language that cannot be misread, of antiquity beyond a shadow of doubt, — that the Pentateuch is no forgery of a later date, as has been pretended, hut written by one who had evidently passed many years of his life in Egypt, at the very era of which it professes to treat. There are, of course, things mentioned by Moses, in connexion with Egypt, to which no allusions on the monuments have, as yet, been discovered, and there are tilings recorded on them on which the sacred historian is silent. This, we repeat, is a matter of course ; it could not be other- w'ise, except the one document were a direct copy of the other. But it is important to observe, that in all tlie multitudinous details of the history, the charac- ter, the manners, and the circumstances of the Egyp- tian nation, which we learn from both these sources, there has not been found a single contradiction. We need not enlarge on the consequences that flow from the establishment of the antiquity and genuineness of the Pentateuch. The reasons by which the divinity of its origin, and therefore of all the other Scriptures, may be legitimately deduced from those premises, have been abundantly set forth in the many excellent works that exist, expressly on the subject, to which we refer our readers. THE END. London : S. & J. Bentley, Wilson, and Fley, Bangor House, Shoe Lane. DATE DUE 1 1 GAYLORD PRINTED IN U S. A