THE ■ DAWN • OF CIVILIZATION EGYPT AND CHALDEA PROFESSOR MASPF.RO Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library https://archive.org/details/dawnofcivilizati00masp_2 . I THE DAWN of CIVILIZATION EGYPT AND CHALDEA BY G. MASPERO HON. D.G'.L. AND FELLOW OF QUEEN’S COLLEGE, OXFORD MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE, AND PROFESSOR AT THE COLLEGE OF FRANCE EDITED 15 Y A. H. SAYCE PROFESSOR OF ASSYRIOLOGY, OXFORD TRANSLATED BY M. L. McCLUEE MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE EGYPT EXPLORATION FUND WITH MAP AND OVER 470 ILLUSTRATIONS AND PLANS NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1894 EDITOR’S PREFACE. Professor Maspero does not need to be introduced to English readers. His name is well known in this country as that of one of the chief masters of Egyptian science as well as of ancient Oriental history and archaeology. Alike as a philologist, a historian, and an archaeologist, he occupies a foremost place in the annals of modern knowledge and research. He possesses that quick apprehension and fertility of resource without which the decipherment of ancient texts is impossible, and he also possesses a sympathy with the past and a power of realizing it which are indispensable if we would picture it aright. His intimate acquaintance with Egypt and its literature, and the opportunities of discovery afforded him by his position for several years as director of the Bulaq Museum, give him an unique claim to speak with authority on the history of the valley of the Nile. In the present work he has been prodigal of his abundant stores of learning and knowledge, and it may therefore be regarded as the most complete account of ancient Egypt that has ever yet been published. In the case of Babylonia and Assyria he no longer, it is true, speaks at first hand. But he has thoroughly studied the latest and best authorities on the subject, and has weighed their statements with the judgment which comes from an exhaustive acquaintance with a similar department of knowledge. Here, too, as elsewhere, references have been given with an unsparing hand, so that the reader, if he pleases, can examine the evidence for himself. Naturally, in progressive studies like those of Egyptology and Assyriology, a good many theories and conclusions must be tentative and provisional only. Discovery crowds so quickly on discovery, that the truth of to-day is often apt to be modified or amplified by the truth of to-morrow. A single fresh fact may throw a wholly new and unexpected light upon the results we have already gained, and cause them to assume a somewhat changed aspect. But this is IV EDITOR'S PREFACE. what must happen in all sciences in which there is a healthy growth, and archaeological science is no exception to the rule. The spelling of ancient Egyptian proper names adopted by Professor Maspero will perhaps seem strange to many English readers. But it must be remembered that all our attempts to represent the pronunciation of ancient Egyptian words can be approximate only; we can never ascertain with certainty how they were actually sounded. All that can be done is to determine what pronunciation was assigned to them in the Greek period, and to work backwards from this, so far as it is possible, to more remote ages. This is what Professor Maspero has done, and it must be no slight satisfaction to him to find that on the whole his system of transliteration is confirmed by the cuneiform tablets of Tel el-Amarna. The system, however, is unfamiliar to English eyes, and consequently, for the sake of “ the weaker brethren,” the equivalents of the geographical and proper names he has used are given in the more usual spelling at the end of the work. The difficulties attaching to the spelling of Assyrian names are different from those which beset our attempts to reproduce, even approximately, the names of ancient Egypt. The cuneiform system of writing was syllabic, each character denoting a syllable, so that we know what were the vowels in a proper name as well as the consonants. Moreover, the pronunciation of the consonants resembled that of the Hebrew consonants, the transliteration of which has long since become conventional. When, therefore, an Assyrian or Babylonian name is written phonetically, its correct transliteration is not often a matter of question. But, unfortunately, the names are not always written phonetically. The cuneiform script was an inheritance from the non-Semitic predecessors of the Semites in Babylonia, and in this script the characters represented words as well as sounds. Not unfrequently the Semitic Assyrians continued to write a name in the old Sumerian way instead of spelling it phonetically, the result being that we do not know how it was pronounced in their own language. The name of the Chaldsean Noah, for instance, is written with two characters which ideographically signify “ the sun ” or “ day of life,” and of the first of which the Sumerian values were ut, babar, kins, tarn, and par, while the second had the value of zi. Were it not that the Chaldsean historian Berossos writes the name Xisuthros, we should have no clue to its Semitic pronunciation. Professor Maspero’s learning and indefatigable industry are well known to me, but I confess I was not prepared for the exhaustive acquaintance he shows with Assyriological literature. Nothing seems to have escaped his notice. Papers and books published during the present year, and half-forgotten articles EDITOR'S PREFACE. V in obscure periodicals which appeared years ago, have all alike been used and quoted by him. Naturally, however, there are some points on which I should be inclined to differ from the conclusions he draws, or to which he has been led by other Assyriologists. Without being an Assyriologist himself, it was impossible for him to be acquainted with that portion of the evidence on certain disputed questions which is only to be found in still unpublished or untranslated inscriptions. There are two points which seem to me of sufficient importance to justify my expression of dissent from his views. These are the geographical situation of the land of Magan, and the historical character of the annals of Sargon of Accad. The evidence about Magan is very clear. Magan is usually associated with the country of Melukhkha, “ the salt ” desert, and in every text iu which its geographical position is indicated it is placed in the immediate vicinity of Egypt. Thus Assur-bani-pal, after stating that he had “ gone to the lands of Magan and Melukhkha,” goes on to say that he “ directed his road to Egypt and Kush,” and then desciibes the first of his Egyptian campaigns. Similar testimony is borne by Esar-haddon. The latter king tells us that after quitting Egypt he directed his road to the land of Melukhkha, a desert region in which there were no rivers, and which extended “ to the city of Rapikh ” (the modern Raphia) “at the edge of the wadi of Egypt” (the present Wadi El-Arish). After this he received camels from the king of the Arabs, and made his way to the land and city of Magan. The Tel el-Amarna tablets enable us to carry the record back to the fifteenth century b.c. In certain of the tablets now at Berlin (Winckler and Abel, 42 and 45) the Phoenician governor of the Pharaoh asks that help should be sent him from Melukhkha and Egypt: “The king should hear the words of his servant, and send ten men of the country of Melukhkha and twenty men of the country of Egypt to defend the city [of Gebal] for the king.” And again, “ I have sent [to] Pharaoh ” (literally, “ the great house ”) “ for a garrison of men from the country of Melukhkha, and . . . the king has just despatched a garrison [from] the country of Melukhkha.” At a still earlier date we have indications that Melukhkha and Magan denoted the same region of the world. In an old Babylonian geographical list which belongs to the early days of Chaldaean history Magan is described as “the country of bronze,” and Melukhkha as “the country of the samdu ,” or “ malachite.” It was this list which originally led Oppert, Lenormant, and myself independently to the conviction that Magan was to be looked for in the Sinaitic Peninsula. Magan included, however, the Midian of Scripture, and the city of Magan, called Makkan in Semitic Assyrian, is probably the Makna of classical geography, now represented by the ruins of Mukna. VI EDITOR'S PREFA CE. As I have always maintained the historical character of the annals of Sargon of Accad, long before recent discoveries led Professor Hilprecht and others to adopt the same view, it is as well to state why I consider them worthy of credit. In themselves the annals contain nothing improbable ; indeed, what might seem the most unlikely portion of them — that which describes the extension of Sargon’s empire to the shores of the Mediterranean — has been confirmed by the progress of research. Ammi-satana, a king of the first dynasty of Babylon (about 2200 B.C.), calls himself “king of the country of the Ainorites,” and the Tel el-Amarna tablets have revealed to us how deep and long-lasting Babylonian influence must have been throughout Western Asia. Moreover, the vase described by Professor Maspero on p. GOO of the present work proves that the expedition of Naram-Sin against Magan was an historical reality, and such an expedition was only possible if “ the land of the Ainorites,” the Syria and Palestine of later days, had been secured in the rear. But what chiefly led me to the belief that the annals are a document contemporaneous with the events narrated in them, are two facts which do not seem to have been sufficiently considered. On the one side, while the annals of Sargon are given in full, those of his son Naram-Sin break off abruptly in the early part of his reign. I see no explanation of this, except that they were composed while Naram-Sin was still on the throne. On the other side, the campaigns of the two monarchs are coupled with the astrological phenomena on which the success of the campaigns was supposed to depend. We know that the Babylonians were given to the practice and study of astrology from the earliest days of their history ; we know also that even in the time of the later Assyrian monarchy it was still customary for the general in the field to be accompanied by the asipu, or “ prophet,” the ashshdjoh of Dan. ii. 10, on whose interpretation of the signs of heaven the movements of the army depended ; and in the infancy of Chaldtean history we should accordingly expect to find the astrolo- gical sign recorded along with the event with which it was bound up. At a subsequent period the sign and the event were separated from one another in literature, and had the annals of Sargon been a later compilation, in their case also the separation would assuredly have been made. That, on the contrary, the annals have the form which they could have assumed and ought to have assumed only at the beginning of contemporaneous Babylonian history, is to me a strong testimony in favour of their genuineness. It may be added that Babylonian seal-cylinders have been found in Cyprus, one of which is of the age of Sargon of Accad, its style and workmanship being the same as that of the cylinder figured on p. 601 of this volume, while the other, though of later date, belonged to a person who describes himself as “ the EDITOR'S PREFACE. Vl l servant of tlie deified Naram-Sin.” Such cylinders may, of course, have been brought to the island in later times ; but when we remember that a characteristic object of prehistoric Cypriote art is an imitation of the seal-cylinder of Chaldrea, their discovery cannot be wholly an accident. Professor Maspero has brought his facts up to so recent a date that there is very little to add to what he has written. Since his manuscript was in type, however, a few additions have been made to our Assyriological knowledge. A fresh examination of the Babylonian dynastic tablet has led Professor Delitzsch to make some alterations in the published account of what Professor Maspero calls the ninth dynasty. According to Professor Delitzsch, the number of kings composing the dynasty is stated on the tablet to be twenty- one, and not thirty-one as was formerly read, and the number of lost lines exactly corresponds with this figure. The first of the kings reigned thirty- six years, and he had a predecessor belonging to the previous dynasty whose name has been lost. There would consequently have been two Elamite usurpers instead of one. I would further draw attention to an interesting text, published by Mr. Strong in the Babylonian and Oriental Record for July, 1892, which I believe to contain the name of a ■ king who belonged to the legendary dynasties of Chaldsea. This is Samas-natsir, who is coupled with Sargon of Accad and other early monarchs in one of the lists. The legend, if I interpret it rightly, states that “Elam shall be altogether given to Samas-natsir;” and the same prince is further described as building Nippur and Dur-ilu, as King of Babylon and as conqueror both of a certain Baldakha and of Khumba-sitir, “ tho king of the cedar-forest.” It will be remembered that in the Epic of Gilgames, Khumbaba also is stated to have been the lord of the “ cedar-forest.” But of new discoveries and facts there is a constant supply, and it is impossible for the historian to keep pace with them. Even while the sheets of his work are passing through the press, the excavator, the explorer, and the decipherer are adding to our previous stores of knowledge. The past year has not fallen behind its predecessors in this respect. In Egypt, Mr. de Morgan’s unwearied energy has raised as it were out of the ground, at Kom Ombo, a vast and splendidly preserved temple, of whose existence we had hardly dreamed ; has discovered twelfth-dynasty jewellery at Dahshur of the most exquisite workmanship, and at Meir and Assiut has found in tombs of the sixth dynasty painted models of the trades and professions of the day, as well as fighting battalions of soldiers, which, for freshness and lifelike reality, contrast favourably with the models which come from India to-day. In VU1 EDITOR'S PREFACE. Babylonia, the American Expedition, under Mr. Haines, has at Niffer unearthed monuments of older date than those of Saigon of Accad. Nor must I, in conclusion, forget to mention the lotiform column found by Mr. de Morgan in a tomb of the Old Empire at Abusir, or the interesting discovery made by Mr. Arthur Evans of seals and other objects from the prehistoric sites of Krete and other parts of the AEgean, inscribed with hieroglyphic characters which reveal a new system of writing that must at one time have existed by the side of the Hittite hieroglyphs, and may have had its origin in the influence exercised by Egypt on the peoples of the Mediterranean in the age of the twelfth dynasty. A. H. SAYCE. TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE. In completing the translation of so great a work as “ Les Origines,” I have to thank Professor Maspero for kindly permitting me to appeal to him on various questions which arose while preparing the volume for English readers. His patience and courtesy have alike been unfailing in every matter submitted for his decision. I am indebted to Miss Bradbury for kindly supplying, in the midst of much other literary work for the Egypt Exploration Fund, the translation of the chapter on the gods, and also of the earlier parts of Chapters I., III., and VI. She has, moreover, helped me in my own share of the work with many suggestions and hints, which her intimate connection with the late Miss Amelia B. Edwards fully qualified her to give. As in the original there is a lack of uniformity in the transcription and accentuation of Arabic names, I have ventured to alter them in several cases to the form most familiar to English readers. The spelling of the ancient Egyptian words has, at Professor Maspero’s request, been retained throughout, with the exception that the French on has been invariably represented by u, e.g. Khnoumou by Khnumu. In the copious index, however, which has been added to the English edition, the forms of Egyptian names familiar to readers in this country will he found, together with Professor Maspero’s equivalents. The translation is further distinguished from the French original by the addition of a general map, which combines the important geographical information given in the various separate maps scattered throughout the work. By an act of international courtesy, the director of the Imprimerie Nationale has allowed the beautifully cut hieroglyphic and cuneiform type used in the original to be employed in the English edition, and I take advantage of this opportunity to express to him our thanks and appreciation of his graceful act. M. L. McClure. London, October 11, 1894. EGYPTIAN VULTURE HOLDING TWO FLABELLA. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. THE NILE AND EGYPT. PAGE The River and its Influence upon the Formation of the Country — The Oldest Inhabitants of the Valley and its First Political Organization 8 CHAPTER II. THE GODS OF EGYPT. Their Number and their Nature — The Feudal Gods, Living and Dead — The Triads — Temples and Priests — The Cosmogonies of the Delta — The Enneads of Heliopolis and of Hermopolis ... ... ... 81 CHAPTER III. THE LEGENDARY HISTORY OF EGYPT. The Divine Dynasties : Ra, Sbiu, Osiris, Sit, Horus — Tiiot, and the Inven- tion of Sciences and Writing— Menes, and the Three First Human Dynasties ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 155 CHAPTER IV. THE POLITICAL CONSTITUTION OF EGYPT. The King, the Queen, and the Royal Princes — Administration under the Pharaohs — Feudalism and the Egyptian Priesthood, the Military — The Citizens and Country Peotle ... . ... ... 247 CONTENTS. xii CHAPTER Y. THE MEMPHITE EMPIRE. TAG K The Royal Pyramid Builders: Kheops, Khephren, Mykerinos — Memphite Literature and Art —Extension of Egypt towards the South, and the Conquest of Nubia by the Pharaohs ... ... ... 347 CHAPTER VI. THE FIRST THEBAN EMPIRE. The Two Heracleopolitan Dynasties and the Twelfth Dynasty— The Conquest of ^Ethiopia, and the making of Greater Egypt by the Theban Kings ... ... ... ... ... ... 445 CHAPTER VII. ANCIENT CHALDEE A. The Creation, the Deluge, the History of the Gods — The Country, its Cities, its Inhabitants, its Early Dynasties ... ... ... 537 CHAPTER VIII. THE TEMPLES AND THE GODS OF CHALD/EA, The Construction and Revenues of the Temples — Popular Gods and Theo- logical Triads — The Dead and Hades ... ... ... ... 623 CHAPTER IX. CHALDEAN CIVILIZATION. Royalty — The Constitution of the Family and its Property- - Chaulean Commerce and Industry ... ... ... ... ... ... 703 APPENDIX. The Pharaohs of the Ancient and Middle Empires ... ... ... 785 Index 791 THE NILE AND EGYPT THE RIVER AND ITS INFLUENCE UPON THE FORMATION AND CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY THE OLDEST INHABITANTS OF THE LAND THE FIRST POLITICAL ORGANIZATION OF THE VALLEY. The Delta: its gradual formation , its structure , its canals — The valley of Egypt — The two arms of the river — The Eastern Nile — The appearance of its hanks — The hills — The gorge of Gebel Silsileh — The cataracts: the falls of Aswan- — Nubia — The rapids of Wacly Halfah — The Takcizze — The Blue Nile and the White Nile. The sources of the Nile — The Egyptian cosmography — The four pillars and the four upholding mountains — The celestial Nile the source of the terrestrial Nile — The Southern Sea and the islands of Spirits — The tears of Isis — The rise of the Nile — The Green Nile and the Red Nile — The opening of the dykes — The fall of the Nile — The river at its lo west ebh. The alluvial deposits and the effects of the inundation upon the soil of Egypt — Paucity of the flora : agnatic plants, the papyrus and the lotus ; the sycamore and the date-palm, the acacias, the clom-palms — The fauna: the domestic and wild animals; serpents, the warns; the hippopotamus and the crocodile; birds; fish, the fahaka. The Nile god: his form and its varieties — The goddess Mirit — The supposed sources of the Nile, at Elephantine— The festivals of Gebel Silsileh — Hymn to the Nile from papyri in the British Museum. B ( 2 ) The names of the Nile and Egypt: Romitit and Qbnit — Antiquity of the Egyptian people — Their first horizon — The hypothesis of their Asiatic origin — The probability of their African origin — The language and its Semitic affinities — The race and its principal types. The primitive civilization of Egypt — Its survival into historic times — The women of Anion — Marriage — Bights of women and children — Houses — Furniture — Dress — Jewels — Wooden and metal arms — Primitive life — Fishing and hunting — The lasso and “bolas” — The domestication of animals — Plants used for food — The lotus — Cereals — The hoe and the plough. The conquest of the valley — -Dylces — Basins — Irrigation — The princes — The nomes — The first local principalities — Late organization of the Delta — Character of its inhabitants — Gradual division of the principalities and changes of their areas — The god of the city. MAP TO ILLUSTRATE 'THE DAWN OE CIVILIZATION” BY PROP MASPERO. THE BANKS OF THE NILE NEAR BENI-SUEF.' CHAPTER I. THE NILE AND EGYPT. The river and its influence upon the formation of the country — The oldest inhabitants of the valley and its first political organization. LONG, low, level shore, scarcely rising above the sea, a chain of vaguely defined and ever-shifting lakes and marshes, then the triangular plain beyond, whose apex is thrust thirty leagues into the land — this, the Delta of Egypt, has gradually been acquired from the sea, and is as it were the gift of the Nile.2 The Mediterranean once reached to the foot of the sandy plateau on which stand the Pyramids, and formed a wide gulf where now stretches plain beyond plain of the Delta. The last undulations of the Arabian hills, from Gebel Mokattam to Gebel Genefifeh, were its boundaries on the east, while a sinuous and shallow channel running between Africa and Asia united the 1 From a drawing by Boudier, after a photograph by the Dutch traveller Insinger, taken in 1884. 2 Herodotus, ii. 5 : e'er! Alyvirrloiai enlicTTiTifs T€ yrj /cal Supov tov tot apiov. The same expression has been attributed to Hecatseus of Miletus (Muller-Didot, Fragmenta Historicorum Grxcorum, vol. i. p. 19, fragm. 279 ; cf. Diels, Hermes, vol. xxii. p. 423). It has often been observed that this phrase seems Egyptian on the face of it, and it certainly recalls such forms of expression as the following, taken from a formula frequently found on funerary stelae: “All things created by heaven, given by earth, brought by the Nile from its mysterious sources.” Nevertheless, up to the present time, the 4 THE NILE AND EGYPT. Mediterranean to the Red Sea.1 Westward, the littoral followed closely the contour of the Libyan plateau ; but a long limestone spur broke away from it at about 31° N., and terminated in Cape Abukir.2 The alluvial deposits first filled up the depths of the bay, and then, under the influence of the currents which swept along its eastern coasts, accumulated behind that rampart of sand- hills whose remains are still to be seen near Benha. Thus was formed a minia- ture Delta, whose structure pretty accurately corresponded with that of the great Delta of to-day. Here the Nile divided into three divergent streams, roughly coinciding with the southern courses of the Rosetta and Damietta branches, and with the modern canal of Abu Meneggeh. The ceaseless accu- mulation of mud brought down by the river soon overpassed the first limits, and steadily encroached upon the sea until it was carried beyond the shelter furnished by Cape Abukir. Thence it was gathered into the great littoral current flowing from Africa to Asia, and formed an incurvated coast-line ending in the headland of Casios, on the Syrian frontier. From that time Egypt made no further increase towards the north, and her coast remains practically such as it was thousands of years ago:3 the interior alone has suffered change, having been dried up, hardened, and gradually raised. Its inhabitants thought they could measure the exact length of time in which this work of creation had been accomplished. According to the Egyptians, Menes, the first of their mortal kings, had found, so they said, the valley under water. The sea came in almost as far as the Fayum, and, excepting the province of Thebes, the whole country was a pestilential swamp.4 Hence, the necessary period for the physical for- mation of Egypt would cover some centuries after Menes. This is no longer considered a sufficient length of time, and some modern geologists declare that the Nile must have worked at the formation of its own estuary for at least seventy-four thousand years.5 This figure is certainly exaggerated, for the hieroglyphic texts have yielded nothing altogether corresponding to the exact terms of the Greek historians — gift (fiupov) of the Nile, or its natural product (fpyov) (Aristotle, Meteorologica, i. 14, 11). 1 The formation of the Delta was studied and explained at length, more than forty years ago, by Elie de Beaumont, in his Lemons de Gdologie, vol. i. pp. 405-492. It is from this hook that the theories set forth in the latest works on Egypt are still taken, and generally without any important modification. 2 See Elie de Beaumont, Lemons de Gdnlogie, vol. i. p. 4S3, et seq., as to the part played in the formation of the coast-line by the limestone ridge of Abukir ; its composition was last described by Oscar Fraas, Aus dem Orient, vol. i. pp. 175, 176. 3 Elie de Beaumont, Lefons de Gdologie, vol. i. p. 460 : “ The great distinction of the Nile Delta lies in the almost uniform persistence of its coast-line. . . . The present sea-coast of Egypt is little altered from that of three thousand years ago.” The latest observations prove it to be sinking and shrinking near Alexandria to rise in the neighbourhood of Port Said. 4 Herodotus, ii. 4 ; cf. xcix. 5 Others, as for example Schweinfurth ( Bulletin de VInstitut Egijptien, lrc se'rie, vol. xii. p. 206), are more moderate in their views, and think “ that it must have taken about twenty thousand years fur that alluvial deposit which now forms the arable soil of Egypt to have attained to its present depth and fertility.” THE FORMATION OF THE DELTA , 0 alluvium would gain on the shallows of the ancient gulf far more rapidly than it gains upon the depths of the Mediterranean. But even though we reduce the period, we must still admit that the Egyptians little suspected the true age of their country. Not only did the Delta long precede the coming of Menes, but its plan was entirely completed before the first arrival of the Egyptians. The Greeks, full of the mysterious virtues which they attributed to numbers, discovered that there were seven principal branches, and seven mouths of the Nile, and, compared with these, that the rest veie but false mouths.1 As a matter of fact, there were only three chief outlets. The Canopic branch flowed westward, and fell into the Mediterranean near Cape Abukir, at the western extremity of the arc described by the coast-line.- The Pelusiac branch followed the length of the Arabian chain, and flowed forth at the other extremity; and the Sebennytic stream almost bisected the triangle contained between the Canopic and Pelusiac channels. Two thousand years ago, these branches separated from the main river at 'VeuSocTTonaTa was tlie word used by the Alexandrian geographers and retained by Strabo (xvi. pp. 788, 801); cf. Pliny, H. Nat.,v. 10: “ Duodecim enim repperiuntur, superque quattuor, qua? ipsi falsa ora appellant.” Lancret retraced the course of this branch, but death prevented him from publishing his discovery and an account of all which it involved (Lancket, Notice sur la Branche Canopique, with an Addition by Joiiard, in the Description de VEgypte, vol. viii. pp. 19-26). <; THE NILE AND EGYPT. the city of Cerkasoros,1 nearly four miles north of the site where Cairo now stands. But after the Pelusiac branch had ceased to exist, the fork of the river gradually wore away the land from age to age, and is now some nine miles lower down.2 These three great waterways are united by a network of artificial rivers and canals, and by ditches — some natural, others dug by the hand of man. They silt up, close, open again, are constantly replacing each other, and ramify in innumerable branches over the surface of the soil, spreading life and fertility on all sides. As the land rises towards the south, this web contracts and is less confused, while black mould and cultivation alike dwindle, and the fawn-coloured line of the desert comes into sight. The Libyan and Arabian hills appear above the plain, draw nearer to each other, and gradually shut in the horizon until it seems as though they would unite. And there the Delta ends, and Egypt proper has begun. It is only a strip of vegetable mould stretching north and south between regions of drought and desolation, a prolonged oasis on the banks of the river, made by the Nile, and sustained by the Nile. The whole length of the land is shut in between two ranges of hills, roughly parallel at a mean distance of about twelve miles.3 During the earlier ages, the river filled all this intermediate space, and the sides of the hills, polished, worn, blackened to their very summits, still bear unmistakable traces of its action. Wasted, and shrunken within the deeps of its ancient bed, the stream now makes a way through its own thick deposits of mud. The bulk of its waters keeps to the east, and constitutes the true Nile, the “Great River” of the hieroglyphic inscriptions.4 1 According to Brugsch ( Geogr . Ins., vol. i. pp. 244, 296), tlie name of Kerkasoros (Herodotus, ii. 15, 17, 97), or Kerkesoura (Strabo, xvii. p. 806), has its Egyptian origin in Kerlc-osiri. But the Greek trauscription of Kerlc-osiri would have been Kerlcosiris, of which Herr Wilcken lias found the variant Kerlceusiris among names from the Fayurn (Wilcken, JEgyptische Eigennamen in Grie- chisclien Texten, in the Zeitscliri/t fur ZEgyptisclie Spraclie, 1S83, p. 162). Herr Wilcken proposes to correct the text of Herodotus and Strabo, and to introduce the reading Kerlieusiris in place of Kerkasoros or Kerkesoura. Professor Erman cousiders that Kerkeusiris means The Habitation of Osiris, and contains the radical Korku, Kerku, which is found in Kerkesukhos, Kerke'ramsisu- Miamun, and in the modern name of Girgeli. The site of El-Akhsas, which D’Anville identified with that of Kerkasoros (MPmoires gdograplnques sur V Egypte, p. 73), is too far north. The ancient city must have been situate in the neighbourhood of the present town of Embabeh. 2 By the end of the Byzantine period, the fork of the river lay at some distance south of Shetnufi, the present Shatanuf, which is the spot where it now is (Champollion, L’Egypte sous les 1‘haraons, vol. ii. pp. 28, 147-151). The Arab geographers call the head of the Delta Batn-el - Bagarah, the Cow's Belly. Ampere, in his Voyage en Egypte et en Nuhie, p. 120, says, “May it not be that this name, denoting the place where the most fertile part of Egypt begins, is a reminiscence of the Cow Goddess, of Isis, the symbol of fecundity, and the personification of Egypt?’’ 3 De Roziere estimated the mean breadth as being only a little over nine miles (De la constitution physique de V Egypte et de ses rapports avec les anciennes institutions de cette contrde, in the Description de V Egypte, vol. xx. p. 270). 4 latur-du, Iaur-au, which becomes Iar-o, lal-o in the Coptic (Brugsch, Geogr. Ins., vol. i. pp. 78, 79; and Dictionnaire Gdograpliique, pp. 84-88). The word Bhiala, by which Timseus the mathe- matician designated the sources of the Nile (Pliny, Hist. Nat.,\. 9 ; cf. Solinus, Folyliist., ch. xxxv.), THE APPEABANCE OF THE BANKS. i A LINE OF LADEN CAMELS EMERGES FROM A HOLLOW OF THE UNDULATING ROAD.1 A second arm flows close to the Libyan desert, here and there formed into canals, in other places left to follow its own course. From the head of the Delta to the village of Derht it is called the Bahr-Yusuf; beyond Derut — up to Gebel Silsileh — it is the Ibrabimiyeh, the Sohagiyeh, the Kaian. But the ancient names are unknown to us. This Western Nile dries up in winter throughout all its upper courses : where it continues to flow, it is by scanty accessions from the main Nile. It also divides north of Henassieh, and by the gorge of Illahun sends out a branch which passes beyond the hills into the basin of the Fajitm. The true Nile, the Eastern Nile, is less a river than a sinuous lake encumbered with islets and sandbanks, and its navigable channel winds capriciously between them, flowing with a strong and steady current below the steep, black banks cut sheer through the alluvial earth. There are light groves of the date-palm, groups of acacia trees and sycamores, square patches of barley or of wheat, fields of beans or of bersim ,2 and here and there a long bank of sand which the least breeze raises into whirling clouds. And over all there broods a great silence, scarcely broken by the cry of birds, or the song of rowers in a passing boat. Some1 thing of human life may stir on the banks, but it is softened into poetry by distance. A half-veiled woman, bearing a bundle of herbs upon her head, is driving her goats before her. An irregular line of asses or of laden camels emerges from one hollow of the undulating read only to disappear within another. A group of peasants, crouched upon the shore, in the ancient posture is only this name Ialo preceded by the masculine article phi, pli. Ptolemy the geographer translated the native name by an exact equivalent, 6 peyas irorapos, the great river (Brugsch, op. eit., pp. 78, 79). 1 From a drawing by Boudier, after a photograph by Insinger, taken in 1884. Bersim is a kind of trefoil, the Trifolium Alexandrinum of LinnJsus.^ It is very common ill an(t tlie only plant of the kind generally cultivated for fodder (Baffeneau-Delile, Histoire des plantes cultiv&es en Egyple, in the Description de V Egypte, vol. xix. p. 59, sqq.). GEBEL ABUFEDA, DREADED BY THE SAILORS.2 a few old men, each seated peacefully at his own door ; a confusion of fowls, children, goats, and sheep; half a dozen boats made fast ashore. But, as we 1-2 From drawings by Boudier, after photographs by Insinger, taken in 1886. filth and ugliness : a cluster of low grey huts built of mud and laths ; two or three taller houses, whitewashed ; an enclosed square shaded by sycamores ; 8 THE NILE AND EGYPT. of knees to chin, patiently awaits the return of the ferry-boat. A dainty village looks forth smiling from beneath its palm trees. Near at hand it is all naked A DAINTY VILLAGE LOOKS FORTH SMILING FROM BENEATH ITS PALM TREES.1 THE HILLS. 9 pass on, the wretchedness all fades away ; meanness of detail is lost in light, and long before it disappears at a bend of the river, the village is again clothed with gaiety and serene beauty. Day by day, the landscape repeats PART OF GEBEL SHEKH HERXDI.1 itself. The same groups of trees alternate with the same fields, growing green or dusty in the sunlight according to the season of the year. With the same measured flow, the Nile winds beneath its steep banks and about its THE HILL OF KASR ES-SAYYID.2 scattered islands. One village succeeds another, each alike smiling and sordid under its crown of foliage. The terraces of the Libyan hills, away beyond the Western Nile, scarcely rise above the horizon, and lie like a white edging between the green of the plain and the blue of the sky. The 1 2 From drawings by Boudier, after photographs by Insiuger, taken in 1882. 10 THE NILE AND EGYPT. Arabian hills do not continue in one unbroken line, but form a series of mountain masses with their spurs, now approaching the river, and now with- drawing to the desert at almost regular intervals. At the entrance to the valley, rise Gebel Mokattam and Gebel el-Ahmar. Gebel Hemur-Skemul and Gebel Shekh Embarak next stretch in echelon from north to south, and are succeeded by Gebel et-Ter, where, according to an old legend, all the birds of the world are annually assembled.1 Then follows Gebel Abufeda, dreaded by the sailors for its sudden gusts.2 Limestone predominates throughout, white or yellowish, broken by veins of alabaster, or of red and grey sandstones. Its horizontal strata are so symmetrically laid one above another as to seem more like the walls of a town than the side of a mountain. But time has often dismantled their summits and loosened their foundations. Man has broken into their fagades to cut his quarries and his tombs ; while the current is secretly undermining the base, wherein it has made many a breach. As soon as any margin of mud has collected between cliffs and river, kalfah and wild plants take hold upon it, and date-palms grow there — whence their seed, no one knows. Presently a hamlet rises at the mouth of the ravine, among clusters of trees and fields in miniature. Beyond Siut, the light becomes more glowing, the air drier and more vibrating, and the green of cultivation loses its brightness. The angular outline of the dom-palm mingles more and more with that of the common palm and of the heavy sycamore, and the castor-oil plant increasingly abounds. But all these changes come about so gradually that they are effected before we notice them. The plain continues to contract. At Thebes it is still ten miles wide. At the gorge of Gebelen it has almost disappeared, and at Gebel Silsileh it has completely vanished. There, it was crossed by a natural dyke of sandstone, through which the waters have with difficulty scooped for themselves a passage. From this point, Egypt is nothing but the bed of the Nile between two escarpments of naked rock.3 1 In Makrizi’s Description of Egypt, Boulak Edition, vol. i. p. 31, we read: “Every year, upon a certain day, all the herons (Boukir, Ardea lubulcus of Cuvier) assemble at this mountain. One after another, each puts his beak into a cleft of the hill until the cleft closes upon one of them. And then forthwith all the others fly away. But the bird which has been caught struggles until he dies, and there his body remains until it has fallen into dust.” The same tale is told by other Arab writers, of which a list may be seen in Etienne Quatiiemere, Me'moires historiques et geographiques sur V Egypt e et quelques contrives voisines, vol. i. pp. 31-33). It faintly recalls that ancient tradition of the Cleft at Abydos, whereby souls must pass, as human-headed birds, in order to reach the other world (Lefebure, Etude sur Abydos, in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Arclixology , vol. xv. pp. 149, 150). 2 Ebers, Cicerone durch das alte- und neu-AEgypten, vol. ii. pp. 157, 158. 3 The gorge of Gebel Silsileh is about 3910 feet in length (P. S. Girard, Observations sur la valle'e de l’ Egypte et sur l’ exhaussement seculaire du sol qui la recouvre, in the Description de VEgypte, vol. xx. p. 35); its width at the narrowest point is 1640 feet (Isambert, Egypte, p. 590). See De ItoziERE, De la Constitution physique de VEgypte, in the Description de VEgypte, vol. xxi. p. 26, et seq., TEE FALLS OF ASWAN. 11 Further on the country reappears, but diminished, and almost unre- cognizable. Hills, hewn out of solid sandstone, succeed each other at dis- tances of about two miles,1 low, crushed, sombre, and formless. Presently a forest of palm trees, the last on that side, announces Aswan and Nubia. Five banks of granite, ranged in lines between latitude 24° and 18° N., cross Nubia from east to west, and from north-east to south-west, like so many ramparts thrown up between the Mediterranean and the heart of Africa. The Nile has attacked them from behind, and made its way over them one after ENTRANCE TO THE FIRST CATARACT.2 another in rapids which have been glorified by the name of cataracts. Classic writers were pleased to describe the river as hurled into the gulfs of Syene with so great a roar that the people of the neighbourhood were deafened by it.3 Even a colony of Persians, sent thither by Cambyses, could not bear the noise of the falls, and went forth to seek a quieter situation.4 The first cataract is a kind of sloping and sinuous passage six and a quarter miles in length, descending from the island of Pi like to the port of Aswan. Its approach is pleasantly brightened by the ever green groves of Elephantine. Beyond and .the recent work of Cheui, Le Nil, le Soudan, VEgypte, pp. 77,78, with regard to the primeval barrier at Gebel Silsileh. Chela considers that it was broken through before the advent of man in Egypt, whereas Wilkinson (in Eawlinson's Herodotus, vol. ii. p. 29S), followed by A. Wiedemann {Ahgyptischc Geschiclite, vol. ii. p. 255), maintains that it lasted until near the Hyksos or Shepherd times. P. S. Girard, Observations sur la valle'e de VEgypte, in the Description de V Egypte, vol. xx. pp. 34, 35. With regard to the nature and aspect of the country between Gebel Silsileh and Aswan, see also De BoziIire, De la Constitution physique de VEgypte, in the Description, vol. xxi. pp. 4-58. 2 View taken from the hills opposite Elephantine, by Insinger, in 1884. 3 Jomard made a collection of such passages from ancient writers as refer to the cataracts ( Description , vol. i. pp. 154-174). We can judge of the confidence with which their statements were still received at the close of the seventeenth century by looking through that curious little work De hominibus ad catadupas Nili obscurdescentibus, Consentiente Amplissimo Philosopliorum Crdine, Publice disputabunt Presses M. J. Leonhardus Lenzius, et respondens Jo. Bartholomieos Lenzids, Marco- breitha-Franci, d. 24 Decembr., hdcxcix. In auditorio Minori. Wittebergse, Typis Christiani Schrsedteri, Acad. Typis. 4 Seneca, Quxst. Natural, ii. § 2. 12 THE NILE AND EGYPT. Elephantine, there are only cliffs and sandy beaches, chains of blackened “ roches moutonnees ” marking out the beds of the currents, and fantastic reefs, sometimes bare, and sometimes veiled by long grasses and climbing plants, in which thousands of birds have made their nests. There are islets, too, occasion- ally large enough to have once supported something of a population, such as Amerade, Salug, Sehel. The granite threshold of Nubia is broken beyond Sehel, but its debris, massed in disorder against the right bank, still seem to dispute the passage of the waters, dashing turbulently and roaring as they flow along through tortuous channels, where every streamlet is broken up into small cascades. The channel running by the left bank is always navigable. ENTRANCE TO NUBIA.1 During the inundation, the rocks and sandbanks of the right side are com- pletely under water, and their presence is only betrayed by eddies. But on the river’s reaching its lowest point a fall of some six feet is established, and there big boats, hugging the shore, are hauled up by means of ropes, or easily drift down with the current.1 2 All kinds of granite are found together in this corner of Africa. There are the pink and red Syenites, porphyritic granite, yellow granite, grey granite, both black granite and white, and granites veined with black and veined with white.3 As soon as these disappear behind us, various sandstones begin to crop up, allied to the coarsest calcaire grassier. The hills bristle with small split blocks, with peaks half overturned, with rough and denuded mounds. League beyond 1 View taken from the southern point of the island of Philai. From a photograph by Emil Brugsch-Bev. 2 For a detailed description of the first cataract, see Jomard, Description de Syene et des cataracles, in the Description de VEgypte, vol. i. pp. 144-154. 3 De Roziere has scheduled and analyzed the Syene granites {De la Constitution physique de VEgypte, in the Description de VEgypte, vol. xxi. pp. 59-93). Til E FiliST cataract: entrance of the great rapids. 14 TEE NILE AND EGYPT. league, they stretch in low ignoble outline. Here and there a valley opens sharply into the desert, revealing an infinite perspective of summits and escarpments in echelon one behind another to the furthest plane of the horizon, like motionless caravans. The now confined river rushes on with a low, deep murmur, accompanied night and day by the croaking of frogs and the rhythmic creak of the sakieh.1 2 3 * * * * Jetties of rough stone-work, made in unknown times by an unknown people, run out like breakwaters into mid- LEAGUE BEYOND LEAGUE, THE HILLS STRETCH ON IN LOW IGNOBLE OUTLINE.2 stream.8 From time to time waves of sand are borne over, and drown the narrow fields of durra and of barley. Scraps of close, aromatic pasturage, acacias, date-palms, and dom-palms, together with a few shrivelled sycamores, are scattered along both banks. The ruins of a crumbling pylon mark the site of some ancient city, and, overhanging the water, is a vertical wall of rock honeycombed with tombs. Amid these relics of another age, miserable huts, scattered hamlets, a town or two surrounded wdth little gardens, are the only evidence that there is yet life in Nubia. South of Wady Halfah, 1 The sakieli is made of a notch-wheel fixed vertically on a horizontal axle, and is actuated by various cog-wheels set in continuous motion by oxen or asses. A long chain of earthenware vessels brings up the water either from the river itself, or from some little branch canal, and empties it into a system of troughs and reservoirs. Thence, it flows forth to be distributed over all the neighbouring land. Various elevators of the same type are drawn and described in the Description de I’Egypte vol. xii. pp. 408-415, Atlas, Etat moderne, vol. ii., Arts et Metiers, pis. iii.-v. 2 From a drawing by Boudier, after a photograph by Insinger, taken in 1881. 3 “ Our progress was often stopped by jetties of rough stone stretching out into the middle of the river. Were they intended for raising the level of the Nile at the inundations? . . . They produce very rapid currents. Sometimes, when the boat has been heavily dragged as far as the projecting point, it cannot cross it. The men then turn aside, drawing the ropes after them, and take the boat back again a few hundred yards down the river” (H. Cammas and A. LefIivre, La Valhfe du Nil, p. 104). The positions of a few of these jetties are indicated on Prokesch’s map ( Land zwischen den Jdeinen und grossen Kataralden des Nil. Astronomiscli bestimmt und aufgenommen im Jahre 1827 diirch. ... A. von Prokesch, Vienna, C. Gerold). NUBIA. 15 the second granite bank is broken through, and the second cataract spreads its rapids over a length of four leagues : the archipelago numbers more than 350 islets, of which some sixty have houses upon them and yield harvests to their inhabitants.1 The main characteristics of the first two cataracts are repeated with slight vari- ations in the cases of the three which follow, — at Hannek, at Guerendid, aud El-Hu-mar.a It is still Egypt, but an Egypt that is without brightness and without joy ; im- poverished, disfigured, and almost desolate. There is the same double wall of hills, now closely con- fining the valley, and again withdrawing from each other as though to flee into the desert. Everywhere there are the moving sheets of sand, the steep black banks with their narrow strips of cultivation, the vil- lages which are scarcely visible on account of the entrance to the second cataract.3 lowness of their huts. The sycamore ceases at Gebel-Barkal, date-palms become fewer and finally disappear. The Nile alone has not changed. As it was at Philae, so it is at Berber. Here, however, on the right bank, 600 leagues from the sea, is its first affluent, the Takazze, which intermittently brings to it the waters of Northern Ethiopia. At Khartum, the single channel in which the river flowed divides; and two other streams are opened up in a southerly direction, 1 A list of the Nubian names of these rocks and islets has been somewhat incorrectly drawn up by J. J. Rifaud, Tableau de VEgypte, de la Nubie et des lieux circonvoisins, pp. 55-60 (towards the end of the volume, after the Vocabulaires). R:faud only counted forty-four cultivated islands at the beginning of this century. - The cataract system has been studied, and its plan published by E. de Gottberg (Des cataractes du Nil et speeialement de celles de Hannek et de Kaybar , 1S67, Paris, Ito), and later again by Chelu (Le Nil, le Soudan, VEgypte, pp. 29-73). 3 View taken from the top of the rocks of Abusir, after a photograph by Insinger, in 1881. IG THE NILE AND EGYPT. each of’ them apparently equal in volume to the main stream. Which is the true Nile ? Is it the Blue Nile, which seems to come down from the distant mountains? Or is it the White Nile, which has traversed the immense plains of equatorial Africa ? The old Egyptians never knew. The river kept the secret of its source from them as obstinately as it withheld it from us until a few years ago. Vainly did their victorious armies follow the Nile for months together as they pursued the tribes who dwelt upon its banks. It always appeared as wide, as full, as irresistible in its progress as ever. It was a fresh-water sea, and sea — iauma, ioma — was the name by which they called it.1 They therefore never sought its source. They imagined the whole universe to be a large box, nearly rectangular in form, whose greatest diameter was from south to north, and its least from east to west.2 The earth, with its alternate continents and seas, formed the bottom of the box ; it was a narrow, oblong, and slightly concave floor, with Egypt in its centre.3 The sky stretched over it like an iron ceiling, flat according to some,4 vaulted according to others.5 Its earthward face was capriciously sprinkled with lamps hung from strong cables,6 and which, extinguished or unperceived by day, were lighted, or became visible to our eyes, at night.7 Since this ceiling could not remain in mid-air without support, they invented four columns, or rather four forked 1 Maspero, Les Contes populaires de VEgypte ancienne, 2nd edition, pp. 20, 177. With regard to the ancient comparison of the Nile to a sea, see Letronne, Eecherclies gdographiques et critiques sur le livre “ De Mensura Orbis Terrae,” compose en Islande au commencement du ix1' siecle par Dicuil; text, p. 25, § 8. For Arab authorities on the same subject, see S. de Sacy, Chrestomatliie arabe, 2nd edition, vol. i. pp. 13-15. 2 Maspero, Etudes de 3Iythologie et d'A rcheologie egyptiennes , vol. i. pp. 159-162, 330, et seq., and vol. ii. pp. 205-208 (cf. Bulletin de I’Institut dgyptien, 2nd series, vol. vi. pp. 19, 20, and Bevue de VHistoire des Beligions, vol. xviii. pp. 266-270). For analogous ideas, even in Byzantine times, see Letronne’s memoir on the Opinions cosmographiques des Peres de VEglise ( GEuvres choisies, 2nd series, vol. i. p. 382, et seq.). 3 HORAPOLLO, Hieroglypllica (LEEMAN’S edition), i. xxi. p. 31 : y Aiyvnriuv yy, eVei picry iris olKovpivrts vndpx*t. Compare a fragment by Homer Trismegistes, in Stob.eus, Eclog., i. 52: Ewei 5e iv rtf piaai rys yys y tuv irpoyovuv ypuu Upordry xuP°- ■ • • A late hieroglyphic group is so arranged as to express the same idea, and can be read the middle land. * To my knowledge, Deveria was the first to prove that “ the Egyptians believed that the sky was of iron or steel” (Th. Deveria, Le Fer et VAimant, leur nom et leur usage dans V Ancienne Egypte, in the Melanges d’archeologie, vol. i. pp. 9, 10). So well established was the belief in a sky-ceiling of iron, that it was preserved in common speech by means of the name given to the metal itself, viz. Bai-ni-pit (in the Coptic Benipi, benipe ) — metal of heaven (Chabas, V Antiquite historique, 1st edition, pp. 61-67). 5 This is sufficiently proved by the mere form of the character ■— *, used iu the hieroglyphs for heaven, or the heavenly deities. 6 Certain arched stelse are surmounted by the hieroglyph given in the preceding note, only in these cases it is curved to represent the vaulted sky. Brugsch has given several good examples of this conception of the firmament in his Beligion und Mythologie der alten JEgijpter , p. 203, et seq. 7 The variants of the sign for night — — al'e most significant. The end of the rope to which the star is attached passes over the sky, and falls free, as though arranged for drawing a lamp up and down when lighting or extinguishing it. And furthermore, the name of the stars — Ichabisu — is the same word as that used to designate an ordinary lamp. THE FOUR PILLARS AND THE FOUR MOUNTAINS. 17 trunks of trees to uphold it, similar to those which maintained the primitive house.1 But it was doubtless feared lest some tempest2 3 should overturn them, for they were superseded by four lofty peaks, rising at the four cardinal AN ATTEMPT TO REPRESENT THE EGYPTIAN UNIVERSE.3 points, and connected by a continuous chain of mountains. The Egyptians knew little of the northern peak: the Mediterranean, the “Very Green,”4 inter- posed between it and Egypt, and prevented their coming near enough to see 1 Isolated, these pillars are represented under the form J, but they are often found together as supporting the sky yyyy . Brugsch, who was the first to study their function, thought that all four were placed to the north, and that they denoted to the Egyptians the mountains of Armenia ( Geographische Inschriften, vol. i. pp. 35-39). He afterwards recognized that they were set up at each of the four cardinal points, hut thought that this conception of their use was not older than Ptolemaic times ( sal tHiv iirixwplwv ttoAAois iariv hpijuiva. is to. av^ov to. rbv w oTdfibv Kal apSe iv ris apovpas noiovura SaKpvd iirn tt}s ‘Ta’iSos. The date of the phenomenon is fixed for us by the modern tradition which places the Night of the Drop in June (Brugsch, Mate'riaux pour servir a la construction du calendrier des anciens Egyptians, p. 11, et seq.). 22 THE NILE AND EGYPT. and her very name is unknown to the descendants of her worshippers ; but the tradition of her fertilizing tears lias survived her memory. Even to this day, every one in Egypt, Mussulman or Christian, knows that a divine drop falls from heaven during the night between the 17th and 18th of June, and forth- with brings about the rise of the Nile.1 Swollen by the rains which fall in February over the region of the Great Lakes, the White Nile rushes northward, sweeping before it the stagnant sheets of water left by the inundation of the previous year. On the left, the Bahr el-Ghazal brings it the overflow of the ill-defined basin stretching between Darfur and the Congo ; and the Sobat pours in on the right a tribute from the rivers which furrow the southern slopes of the Abyssinian mountains. The first swell passes Khartum by the end of April, and raises the water-level there by about a foot, then it slowly makes its way through Nubia, and dies away in Egypt at the beginning of June. Its waters, infected by half-putrid organic matter from the equatorial swamps, are not completely purified even in the course of this long journey, but keep a greenish tint as far as the Delta. They are said to be poisonous, and to give intolerable pains in the bladder to any who may drink them. Happily, this Green Nile does not last long, but generally flows away in three or four days, and is only the forerunner of the real flood.2 The melting of the snows and the excessive spring rains having suddenly swollen the torrents which rise in the central plateau of Abyssinia, the Blue Nile, into which they flow, rolls so impetuously towards the plain that, when its waters reach Khartum in the middle of May, they refuse to mingle with those of the White Nile, and do not lose their peculiar colour before reaching the neighbourhood of Abu Hamed, three hundred miles below. From that time the height of the Nile increases rapidly day by day. The river, constantly reinforced by floods following one upon another from the Great Lakes and from Abyssinia, rises in furious bounds, and would become a devastating torrent were its rage not checked by the Nubian cataracts. Here six basins, one above another, in which the water collects, check its course, and permit it only to flow thence as a partially filtered and moderated stream.3 It is signalled at Syene towards the 8th of June, at Cairo 1 Lane, Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians , 4th edit., vol. ii. p. 224. The date varies, and the Fall of the Drop may take place either during the night of the 17th to 18th, of the 18th to 19th, or of the 19th to 20th of June, according to the year. 2 Sylvestre de Sacy has collected the principal Arabic and European texts bearing upon the Green Nile, in his Relation de VEgypte par Abd-Allatif, pp. 332-338, 344-34G. I am bound to say that every June, for five years, I drank this green water from the Nile itself, without taking any other precaution than the usual one of filtering it through a porous jar. Neither I, nor the many people living with me, ever felt the slightest inconvenience from it. 3 The moderating effect of the cataracts has been judicially defined by E. de Cotberg in Pes Cataractes du Nil, pp, 10, 11 . THE GREEN NILE AND THE RED NILE. 23 by the 17th to the 20th, and there its birth is officially celebrated during the “Night of the Drop.”1 Two days later it reaches the Delta, just in time to save the country from drought and sterility. Egypt, burnt up by the Khamsin, that west wind which blows continuously for fifty days, seems nothin" more than an extension of the desert. The trees are covered and O choked by a layer of grey dust. About the villages, meagre and laboriously watered patches of vegetables struggle for life, while some show of green still lingers along the canals and in hollows whence all moisture has not yet evaporated. The plain lies panting in the sun — naked, dusty, and ashen — scored with intersecting cracks as far as eye can see. The Nile is only half its usual width, and holds not more than a twentieth of the volume of water which is borne down in October. It has at first hard work to recover its former bed, and attains it by such subtle gradations that the rise is scarcely noted. It is, however, continually gaining ground; here a sandbank is covered, there an empty channel is filled, islets are outlined where there was a continuous beach, a new stream detaches itself and gains the old shore. The first contact is disastrous to the banks; their steep sides, disintegrated and cracked by the heat, no longer offer any resistance to the current, and fall with a crash, in lengths of a hundred yards and more. As the successive floods grow stronger and are more heavily charged with mud, the whole mass of water becomes turbid and changes colour. In eight or ten days it has turned from greyish blue to dark red, occasionally of so intense a colour as to look like newly shed blood. The “Red Nile” is not unwholesome like the “Green Nile,” and the suspended mud to which it owes its doubtful appearance deprives the water of none of its freshness and lightness. It reaches its full height towards the 15th of July; but the dykes which confine it, and the barriers constructed across the mouths of canals, still prevent it from overflowing. The Nile must be considered high enough to submerge the land adequately before it is set free.2 The ancient Egyptians 1 See the description of festivals and superstitious rites pertaining to The Drop, in Lane, Manner* and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, 4th edit., vol. ii. p. 224. ! There are few documents to show what the Egyptians considered the proper height of a good inundation. However, we are told in a Ptolemaic inscription that at the moment when “in its own season the Nile comes forth from its sources, if it readies to the height of twenty-four cubits (42 ft. G in.) at Elephantine, then there is no scarcity ; the measure is not defective, and it comes to inundate the fields” (Bkugsch, Angabe einer NilhSlie nach Ellen in einem Hieroglyphischen Texte, in the Zeitsclirift, 1865, pp. 43, 44). Another text (Brugsch, Die Biblischen sieben Jahre der Hungersnoth, p. 153) fixes the height to be registered by the nilometer at Elephantine at twenty-eight cubits, and at seven, by the nilometer of Diospolis, in the Delta. The height of twenty-four cubits, taken from the nilometer at Elephantine, is confirmed by various passages from ancient and modern writers. The indications given in my text are drawn from the nilometer of Roda, as being that from which quotations are usually made. In computing the ancient levels of the rising Nile at Memphis, I have adopted the results of the calculations undertaken by A, he RozrfcRF, De la 24 THE NILE AND EGYPT. measured its height by cubits of twenty-one and a quarter inches. At fourteen cubits, they pronounced it an excellent Nile ; below thirteen, or above fifteen, it was accounted insufficient or excessive, and in either case meant famine, and perhaps pestilence at hand. To this day the natives watch its advance with the same anxious eagerness ; and from the 3rd of July, public criers, walking the streets of Cairo, announce each morning what progress it has made since evening.1 More or less authentic traditions assert that the prelude to the opening of the canals, in the time of the Pharaohs, was the solemn casting to the waters of a young girl decked as for her bridal — the “Bride of the Nile.”2 Even after the Arab conquest, the irruption of the river into the bosom of the land was still considered as an actual marriage ; the contract was drawn up by a cadi, and witnesses con- firmed its consummation with the most fantastic formalities of Oriental ceremonial.3 It is generally between the 1st and lGth of July that it is decided to break through the dykes. When that proceeding has been solemnly accomplished iu state, the flood still takes several days to fill the canals, and afterwards spreads over the low lands, advancing little by little to the very edge of the desert. Egypt is then one sheet of turbid water spreading between two lines of rock and sand, flecked with green and black spots where there are towns or where the ground rises, and divided into irregular compartments by raised roads connecting the villages. In Nubia the river attains its greatest height towards the end of August ; at Cairo and in the Delta not until three weeks or a month later. For about eight days it remains stationary, and then begins to fall imperceptibly. Sometimes there is a new freshet in October, and the river again increases in height. But the rise is unsustained; once more it falls as rapidly as it rose, and by December the river has completely retired to the limits of its bed. One after another, the streams which fed it fail or dwindle. The Tacazze is lost among the sands before it can rejoin it, and the Blue Nile, well-nigh deprived of constitution 'physique de VEgypte, iu the Description , vol. xs. pp. 351-381. He shows from Le Perk ( Mdmoire sur la vallee du Nil et sur le nilometre de Vile de Roudali, in the Description, vol. xviii. p. 555, et seq.) that the increase iu the number of cubits is only apparent, and that the actual rise is almost invariable, although the registers of the nilometers advance from age to age. A table of most of the known rises, both ancient and modern, is to be found iu the recent work of Chelu, Le Nil, le Soudan, VEgypte, pp. 81-93. 1 In his Manners and Customs, 4th edit., vol. ii. pp. 225-236, Lane described the criers of the Nile. Their proclamations have scarcely changed since his time, excepting that the introduction of steam-power has supplied them with new images for indicating the rapidity of the rise. 2 G. Lembroso has collected the principal passages in ancient and modern writers relating to The Bride of the Nile, in L’Egitto al tempo dei Greci e dei Romani, pp. 6-10. This tradition furnished G. Ebers with material for a romance called Die Nilbraut, wherein he depicts Coptic life during the first years of Arab rule with much truth and vivacity. 3 Sylvestre de Sac y, Le Livre des Etoiles errantes, par le Scheilch Schemseddin Mohammed bin Abilsorur al-Balieri al-Sadiki, in the Notices et Extraits des Manuscrits, vol. i. p. 275. From a photograph by Beato. 26 TEE NILE AND EGYPT. tributaries, is but scantily maintained by Abyssinian snows. The White Nile is indebted to the Great Lakes for the greater persistence of its waters, which feed the river as far as the Mediterranean, and save the valley from utter drought in winter. But, even with this resource, the level of the water falls daily, and its volume is diminished. Long-hidden sandbanks reappear, and are again linked into continuous line. Islands expand by the rise of shingly beaches, which gradually reconnect them with each other and with the shore. Smaller branches of the river cease to flow, and form a mere network of stag- nant pools and muddy ponds, which fast dry up. The main channel itself is only intermittently navigable; after March boats run aground in it, and are forced to await the return of the inundation for their release. From the middle of April to the middle of June, Egypt is only half alive, awaiting the new Nile.1 Those ruddy and heavily charged waters, rising and retiring with almost mathematical regularity, bring and leave behind the spoils of the countries they have traversed: sand from Nubia, whitish clay from the regions of the Lakes, ferruginous mud, and the various rock-formations of Abyssinia.2 These materials are not uniformly disseminated in the deposits ; their precipitation being regulated both by their specific gravity and the velocity of the current. Flattened stones and rounded pebbles are left behind at the cataract between Syene and Iveneh, while coarser particles of sand are suspended in the undercurrents and serve to raise the bed of the river, or are carried out to sea and form the sandbanks which are slowly rising at the Damietta and Bosetta mouths of the Nile. The mud and finer particles rise towards the surface, and are deposited upon the land after the opening of the dykes.3 Soil which is entirely dependent on the deposit of a river, and periodically invaded by it, necessarily maintains but a scanty flora; and though it is well known that, as a general rule, a flora is rich in proportion to its distance from the poles and its approach to the equator, it is also admitted that Egypt offers an exception to this rule. At the most, she has not more than a thousand 1 The main phases of the rise are chiefly described from the very full account of Le Pere, Memoire sur la valine du Nil et le nilometre de Visle de Poudah, in the Description de VEgypte, vol. xviii. pp. 555-645. 2 All manner of marvels were related by the ancients as to the nature and fertilizing properties of the waters of the Nile. A scientific analysis of these waters was first made by Regnaut, Analyse de Veau du Nil et de quelques eaux salees, in tho Decade dgyptienne , vol. i. pp. 261-271. The result of the most recent examination is to be found, in great detail, iu Chelu’s work, Le Nil, le Soudan, VEgypte, pp. 177-179. 3 On the nature and movements of the alluvial deposits, see P. S. Girard, Observations sur la valine d'Egypte et sur Vexhaussement tCculaire du sol qui la recouvre, in the Description de VEgypte, vol xix. p. 140, sqq. ; and E. de Roziere, De la constitution physique de VEgypte et de ses rap- ports avec les anciennes institutions de cette contrite, in the Description de VEgypte, vol. xx. p. 328, et seq. SCANTINESS OF TEE EGYPTIAN FLORA. 27 species, while, with equal area, England, for instance, possesses more tlian fifteen hundred ; 1 and of this thousand, the greater number are not indigenous. Many of them have been brought from Central Africa by the river; birds and winds have continued the work, and man himself has contributed his part in making it more complete.2 From Asia he has at different times brought wheat, barley, the olive, the apple, the white or rose almond, and some twenty other species now acclimatized on the banks of the Nile. Marsh plants pre- dominate in the Delta ; but the papyrus, and the three varieties of blue, white, and rose lotus which once flourished there, being no longer cultivated, have now almost entirely disappeared, and reverted to their original habitats.3 The sycamore and the date-palm, both importations from Central Africa, have better adapted themselves to their exile, and are now fully natural- ized on Egyptian soil. The sycamore4 grows in sand on the edge of the desert as vigorously as in the midst of a well- watered country. Its roots go deep in search of the water, which infiltrates as far as the gorges of the hills, and they absorb it freely, even where drought seems to reign supreme. The heavy, squat, gnarled trunk occasionally attains to colossal dimensions, without ever growing very high. Its rounded masses of com- pact foliage are so wide-spreading that a single tree in the distance may give the impression of several grouped together; and its shade is dense, and impenetrable to the sun. A striking contrast to the sycamore is presented 1 Gay-Lussac, Du sol dgyptien, in the Bulletin de VInstitut e'gyptien, 2nd series, vol. ii. p. 221. Raffeneau-Delile ( Flora: Mgyptiacst lllustratio, in tlia Description de V Egypt e, vol. xix. pp. 69- 1 14) enumerates 1030 spr cies. Wilkinson ( Manners and Customs, 2nd edit., vol. ii. p. 103) counts about 1300, of which 250 are only to be found in the desert, thus bringing down the number belonging to Egypt proper to the figures given by Delile and Gay-Lussac. Ascherson and Schweinfurth ( Illustration de la Flore d’Egypte, in the Mdmoires de VInstitut e'gyptien, vol. ii. pp. 25-260) have lately raised the list to 1260, and since then fresh researches have brought it up to 1313 (Schweinfurth, Sur la Flore des anciens jardins arabes, in the Bulletin de VInstitut Egyptien, 2nd series, vol. viii. p. 331). Coque- bert had already been struck by the poverty of the Egyptian flora as compared with that of France (Reflexions sur quelques points de comparaison a e'tablir entre les plantes d’Egypte et cellts de France, in the Description de V Egypte, vol. xix. pp. 8, 9). 2 A. Raffenau-Delile, MPmoire sur les plantes qui croissent spontandment en Egypte, in the Description de V Egypte, vol. xix. p. 23, et seq. Schweinfurth, Vegetaux cult ire's en Egypte et qui se retrouvent a Vdtat spontane dans le Soudan et dans Vinterieur de VAfrique, in the Bulletin de VInstitut Egyptien, 1st series, vol. xii. p. 200, et seq. 2 For the lotus in general, see Raffenau-Delile, Flore d’ Egypte (in the Description, vol. xix. pp. 415-135), and F. Wcenig, Die Pflanzen im Allen JEgypten, pp. 17-71. The white lotus, Nymplixu lotus, was called soshini in Egyptian (Loret, Sur les noms dgyptiens du lotus, in the Recueil de Tra- vaux, vol. i. pp. 191, 192, and La Flore pharaonique d’apres les documents hieroglyphiques et les speci- mens dtcouverts dans les tombes, No. 129, pp. 53-55). The blue lotus, Nymplixa cxrulea, the most frequent in tomb scenes (Schw'einfurth, De la Flore pharaonique, in the Bulletin de VInstitut Egyptien, 2nd series, vol. iii. p. 60, et seq.), was called sarpedu (Loret, Sur les noms dgypliens, in the Recueil de Travaux, vol. i. p. 191). The rose lotus was called nakhabu, nahbu ( ibid , pp. 192, 193). Pleyte (De Egyptische Lotus, p. 9) thinks that this last kind was introduced into Egypt somewhat late, towards the time of Darius and Xerxes. 4 F. Wcenig, in Die Pflanzen im Alten JEgypten, pp. 280-292, has made a fairly exhaustive collection of ancient and modern material referring to the Egyptian sycamore (nuhit, nuke). 28 THE NILE AND EGYPT. by the date-palm.1 2 Its round and slender stem rises uninterruptedly to a height of thirteen to sixteen yards; its head is crowned with a cluster of flexible leaves arranged in two or three tiers, but so scanty, so pitilessly slit, that they fail to keep off the light, and cast but a slight and unrefreshing shadow. Few trees have so elegant an appearance, yet SYCAMORES AT THE ENTRANCE OP THE MUDIR1YEH OF ASYET.2 few are so monotonously elegant. There are palm trees to be seen on every hand ; isolated, clustered by twos and threes at the mouths of ravines and about the villages, planted in regular file along the banks of the river like rows of columns, symmetrically arranged in plantations, — these are the invariable background against which other trees are grouped, diversifying the landscape. The feathery tamarisk3 and the 1 A. Raffenau-Delile, Flore d’Egypte, in the Description de VEgypte, vol. xx. pp. 435-4-18. The Egyptians called the date-palm baunirit, baunit (Loret, Etude sur quelques arbres e'gyptiens, in the Becueil de Travaux, vol. ii. pp. 21-26). 2 From a drawing by Boudier, after a photograph by Insinger, taken in 1881. 3 The Egyptian name for the tamarisk, asari, asri, is identical with that given to it in Semitic languages, both ancient and modern (Loret, La Flore pharaonique, No. 88, p. 88). This would suggest the question whether the tamarisk did not originally come from Asia. In that case it must have been brought to Egypt from remote antiquity, for it figures in the Pyramid texts. Bricks of Nile mud, and Memphite and Theban tombs, have yielded us leaves, twigs, and even whole branches of the tamarisk (Schweinferth, Les dernieres D&couvertes botaniques dans les anciens tombeaux de VEgypte, in the Bulletin de VInstitut egyptien, 2nd series, vol. vi. p. 283). THE FOREST OF DATE-PALMS AT BEDRESHEN. 30 THE NILE ANT) EGYPT. nabk,1 the moringa,2 the carob,3 or locust tree, several varieties of acacia and mimosa — the sont,4 the mimosa habbas,5 the white acacia,3 the Acacia Farnesiana7 — and the pomegranate Iree,8 increase in number with the distance from the Mediterranean. The dry air of the valley is marvellously suited to them, but makes the tissue of their foliage bard and fibrous, imparting an aerial aspect, and such faded tints as are unknown to their growth in other climates.9 The greater number of these trees do not reproduce themselves spontaneously, and tend to disappear when neglected. The Acacia Seyal,lu formerly abundant by the banks of the river, is now almost entirely con- fined to certain valleys of the Theban desert, along with a variety of the kernelled dom-palm,11 of which a poetical description has come down to 1 The nabe'ea, or nabk, Zizyphus Spina Christi, Desf., is the nubsu of the ancient Egyptian lists (Loret, La Flore pharaonique, No. 112, pp. 44, 45; Dumichen, in Moldenke, Ueber die in alt- Mgyptischen Texten erwdlmten Baume, pp. 108, 109, note; Maspero, Notes au jour le jour, § 12, in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archxology, 1890-91, vol. xiii. pp. 496-501). The fruit and wood of the tree has been found in tombs, more especially in those of the twentieth dynasty (Schwein- furth, Les dernieres Decouvertes, in the Bulletin de VInstitut dgyptien, 2nd series, vol. vi. p. 260. 2 The Moringa aptera, from which Ben oil is obtained, the myrobalanum of the ancients, was called balchu, and its oil is mentioned in very early texts (Loret, Recherches sur plusieurs plantes connues des anciens Egyptiens, in the Becueil de Travaux, vol. vii. pp. 103-106; and La Flore pharaonique, No. 95, pp. 39, 40). For its presence in Theban tombs, see Schweinfurth, Les dernieres Decouvertes, in the Bulletin de VInstitut fgyptien, 2nd series, vol. vi. p. 270. 3 The carob tree, Ceratonia siliqua, was called dunraga, tenralca (Loret, La Flore pharaonique, No. 96, p. 40 ; and Becueil de Travaux, vol. xv. pp. 120-130). Unger thought that he had found some remains of it in Egyptiau tombs ( Die Fjlanzen des Alten Mgyptens, p. 132), but Schweinfurth ( Sur la Flore des anciens jardins arabes d’Egypte, in the Bulletin de VInstitut egyptien, 2nd series, vol. viii. pp. 306, 334, 335) does not admit his testimony. 4 The sont tree, in ancient Egyptian, shondu, slionti, has long been identified with the Acacia Nilotica, Dee. Its history may be found in Schweinfurth’s memoir, Aufzdhlung und Beschreibung der Acacia-Arten des Nil-Gebiets, in Linnxa, xxxv. (new series, i.) pp. 333, 334. 5 Mimosa habbas, A. Raffenau-Delile, Florae /Egyptiacx Illustratio, iu the Description de VEgypte, vol. xix. p. 111. 6 The Acacia albida is still not uncommon on the ancient site of Thebes, near Medinet HabO (Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, 2nd edit., vol. ii. p. 405, note 2). 7 This is the acacia bearing bunches of feathery and fragrant yellow flowers, and known in the South of France as the cassia tree. It is common throughout the Nile valley. Loret thinks that its hairy seeds were called pirslionu and sennaru ( Le Kyphi, parfum saertf des anciens Egyptiens, pp. 52-54; and La Flore pharaonique, No. 94, p. 39). But did the tree exist in Egypt in Pharaonic times? 8 The pomegranate tree does not appear on Egyptian monuments before the time of the eighteenth dynasty; perhaps it was first introduced into Egypt about that time. It is occasionally represented ((Jhamfollion, Monuments, pi. clxxiv. ; Lefsius, Denlcm., iii. 48), and the flowers have been found in several Theban tombs (Schweinfurth, Les Dernieres Decouvertes botaniques, in the Bulletin de VInstitut Egyptien, 2nd series, vol. vi. p. 268). Both Loret ( Becherches sur plusieurs plantes connues des anciens Egyptiens, in the Becueil, v oh vii. pp. 108-111) and Moldenke {Anrhemen, Pomegranate Tree, in Etudes arcMologiques dediees a M. Leemans, pp. 17, 18, and Ueber die in den allagyptischen Texten erudhnten Baume, pp. 114, 115) have recovered its ancient Egyptian name of anhrama, anhramon. 3 A. Raffenau-Delile, Memoire sur les plantes qui croissent spontan&ment en Egypte, in the Description, vol. xix. pp. 35, 36. 10 The Acacia Seyal is probably the dsliu of ancient texts (Loret, Les arbres ash, sib, et slient, iu the Becueil, vol. ii. p. 60, et seq., and La Flore pharaonique, No. 93, p. 39; Moldenke, Ueber die in allagyptischen Texten erwdlmten Bailme, pp. 87-92). 11 This is the Hyphxne Argun , Mart., or the Medemia Argun, Hooker, called by the ancients Mama ni hhanini, or kernelled dom-palm (Loret, Etude sur quelques arbres Egyptiens, in the Becueil, vol. ii. pp. 21-26, and La Flore pharaonique, No. 29, p. 16; Moldenke, Ueber die in altagyptischen Texten erwahnten Baume, pp. 71-73). Its fruit is occasionally found in Theban tombs (Unger, Die 31 AC AO I AS, THE DOM- PALM. us from the Ancient Egyptians.1 The common dom-palm 2 bifurcates at eight or ten yards from the ground ; these branches are subdivided, and terminate in bunches of twenty to thirty palmate and fibrous leaves, six to ACACIAS AT THE ENTRANCE TO A GARDEN OUTSIDE EKHMIM.3 eight feet long. At the beginning of this century the tree was common in Upper Egypt, but it is now becoming scarce, and we are within measurable distance of the time when its presence will be an exception north of the first cataract. Willows4 are decreasing in number, and the persea,5 one of the sacred trees of Ancient Egypt, is now only to be found in gardens. None of the remaining tree species are common enough to grow in large clusters ; and Egypt, reduced to her lofty groves of date-palms, presents the singular PJlanzen ties Alien JEgyptens, p. 107; Schweinfurth, Ueber Pjianzenreste aus altagyptischen Giabern. iu the Berichte des Deulschen Botanischen Geselhchaft, 1884, p. 369). 1 First Sallier Papyrus, pi. viii. lines 4, 5. 2 Mama is the Egyptian name for the dom-palm {Hyplixne Thebaica of Mart.), and its fruit was called qilqft (Loret, Etude sur quelques arbres egyptiens, in the Becueil, vol. ii. pp. 21-26) The tree itself has been fully described by Raffenau-Delile, Description du palmier-douin de la Haute Egypte ou Cucifera Thebaica, in the Description de I’Egypte, vol. xx. p. 11, et seq. 3 From a drawing by Boudier, alter a photograph by Insinger, taken in 1884. 4 Known to-day as the Salix safsaf, Forsk. In Aucient Egyptian, it was called tarit, tore (Loret, La Flore pharaonique, No. 42, p. 20). Its leaves were used for making the funerary garlauds so common in Theban tombs of the eighteenth to twentieth dynasties (Schweinfurth, Ueber Pjianzen- reste aus altagyptischen Grdbern, in the Berichte der D. Bot. Ges., 1884, p. 369). 5 Raffenau-Delile, Flore d’Egyple, in the Description de I’Egypte, vol. xix. pp. 263-280, identified the persea, or Ancient Egyptian shauaba, with the Balanites TEgyptiaca, Del., the lebahh of mediaeval Arab writings. Schweinfurth has shown that it was the Mimusops Schimeperi, Hochst. ( Ueber Pjianzenreste, p. 364). 32 THE NILE AND EGYPT. spectacle of a country where there is no lack of trees, but an almost entire absence of shade.1 ^ Egypt ls a land of imported flora, it is also a land of imported fauna, and all its animal species have been brought from neighbouring countries. Some of these — as, for example, the horse 2 and the camel3 — were only introduced at a com- paratively recent period, two thou- sand to eighteen hundred years before our era; the camel still later. The animals — such as the long and short-horned oxen, together with varieties of goats and dogs — are, like the plants, generally of African origin,5 and the ass of Egypt pre- serves an original purity of form and a vigour to which the European donkey has long been a stranger.6 The pig and the wild boar,7 the long-eared hare, the hedgehog, the ichneumon,8 the moufflon, or maned sheep, innumerable 1 E. de Koziere, De la constitution physique de V Egypte, in the Description de V Egypte, vol. xx. pp. 280, 281. 2 To the best of my knowledge, Prisse d’Avennes was the first to publish facts relating to the history of the horse in Egypt, Des Chevaux chez les anciens Egyptiens, in Perron’s Abou-Bekr ibn-Bedr le Nageri, la Perfection des deux arts, ou Trait? d'hippiatrique, 1852, vol. i. p. 128, et seq. They were republished by Fr. Lenorhant, Notes sur un voyage en Egypte, 1870, pp. 2-4, and unsuccessfully contested by Chabas, Etudes sur V Antiquit? historique, 2nd edit., p. 421, et seq. M. Lefebure (Sur V Anciennet? du cheval en Egypte, in L’Annuaire de la Facult? des lettres de Lyon, 2nd year, pp. 1-11, and again Le Nom du cheval, in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archxology, 1889-90, vol. xii. pp. 449-456) has since endeavoured to show, but without success, that the horse was known in Egypt under the twelfth dynasty, and even earlier. The most complete information with regard to the history of the horse in Egypt is to be found in the ivork of C.-A. Pietrement, Les Chevaux dans les temps prehistoriques et historiques, 1883, p. 459, et seq. 3 The camel is never found on Egyptian monuments before the Saite period, aud was certainly unknowm in Egypt throughout preceding ages. The texts in which M. Chabas thought that he had found its name are incorrectly translated, or else they refer to other animals, perhaps to mules (Chabas, Etudes sur Vantiquit? historique, 2nd edit., p. 397, et seq.; compare also W. Hodghton, Was the Camel known to the Ancient Egyptians ? in the Proceedings Soc. Bib. Arch., 1889-90, vol. xii. pp. 81-84). 4 Scene from the tomb of Ti, drawn by Faucher-Gudin, after a photograph by Dumichen, Resultate der Photographisch-Archseologischen Expedition, vol. ii. pi. x. 5 Fr. Lenormant, Sur les animaux employ?s par les anciens Egyptiens a la chasse et a la guerre, 1870, first and second notes, as republished in the first volume of his Premieres civilisations. 6 Fr. Lenormant, Sur Vantiquit? de Vane et du cheval, in the Notes sur un voyage en Egypte, pp. 2-4. The African origin of the donkey was first brought to light by H. Milne-Edwards, in the Comptes rendus de V Acad?mie des sciences, 1869, vol. lxix. p. 1259. 7 The pig is rarely represented on Egyptian monuments. Fr. Lenormant ( Sur Vintroduction et la domesticit? du pore chez les anciens Egyptiens, p. 2) thought it unknown under the first dynasties. Nevertheless there are instances of its occurrence under the fourth dynasty (Lepsius, Denkm., ii. 5 ; aud Petrie, Medurn, p. 39, and pi. xxi.). 8 The ichneumon was called khaturu, khalul, shatul, in Egyptian (Lefebure, Le Nom Egyptien SERPENTS, THE UR NWS. 33 gazelles, including the Egyptian gazelles, and antelopes with lyre-shaped horns, are as much West Asian as African, like the carnivorae of all sizes, whose prey they are — the wild cat, the wolf, the jackal, the striped and spotted hyenas, the leopard, the panther, the hunting-leopard, and the lion.1 On the other hand, most of the serpents, large and small, are indigenous. Some are harmless, like the colubers; others are venomous, such as the scytale, the cerastes, the haje viper, and the asp. The asp was worshipped by the Egyptians under the name of uraus.2 It occa- sionally attains to a length of six and a half feet, and when approached will erect its head and inflate its throat in readiness for darting for- ward. The bite is fatal, like that of the cerastes ; birds are literally struck down by the strength of the poison, while the great mammals, and man himself, almost in- variably succumb to it after a longer or shorter death-struggle.4 The uraus is rarely found except in the desert or in the fields ; the scorpion crawls every- where, in desert and city alike, and if its sting is not always followed by death ; it invariably causes intolerable pain. Probably there were once several kinds of gigantic serpent in Egypt, analogous to the pythons of equatorial Africa. They are still to be seen in representations of funerary scenes, but not elsewhere ;,r’ de I’ichneumon, in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Arcluxology, 1881-85, vol. vii. pp. 193-194). 1 Only two complete memoirs in which the ancient and modern Egyptian fauna are compared together are known to me. One is by Rosellini ( Monumenti civili, vol. i. pp. 202-220), and the other is by It. Hartmann (Versuch einer systematischen Aufzahlung der von der alten JEgyptern bildlich dargestellten Tliiere, mit Ruchsicht auf die heutige Fauna des Nilgebietes, in the Zeitschrift, 1864, pp. 7-12, 19-28). There is also a too brief note by Maiuetie, in the Bulletin de V Institut egyptien, 1st series, vol. xiv. pp. 57-66). z Await, urdit, transcribed in Greek as Ovpdios (Horapollo, Hieroglyphica, book i. § 1, Lceman’s edition, p. 2). 3 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin from pi. iii. of the Reptiles-Supplement to the Description de I'Egypte. 4 The venomous serpents of Egypt have been described by Isidore Geoffroy Saist-Hilaire in the Description, vol. xxiv. pp. 77-96. The effects of their poisons have been studied by Du. Pancieri (Esperienze intorno agli effetti del veleno della Naja Egiziana e delle Ceraste, Naples, 1873 ; and Bulletin de I’Institut Egyptien, 1st series, vol. xii. pp. 187-193 ; vol. xiii. pp. S9-92). 5 As, for example, in the Book of the Dead (Naville, Todtenbucli, vol. i. pi. liv., and p. 188 of the Introduction), and in composite mythological scents from royal Theban tombs (Lefebure, Tombeau de Se'ti Ier, in the Memoires de la Mission du Caire, vol. ii., 2nd part, pis. x., xl., xli., xliii., etc.). D THE IJRiEUS OF EGYPT.3 34 THE NILE AND EGYPT. for, like the elephant, the giraffe,1 and other animals which now only thrive far south, they had disappeared at the beginning of historic times. The hippopotamus long maintained its ground before returning to those equatorial regions whence it had been brought by the Nile. Common under the first dynasties, but afterwards withdrawing to the marshes of the Delta, it there continued to flourish up to the thirteenth century of our era.2 The crocodile, which came with it, has, like it also, been compelled to beat a retreat. Lord of the river throughout all ancient times, worshipped and protected in some provinces, execrated and proscribed in others, it might still be seen in the neighbourhood of Cairo towards the beginning of our century.3 In 1840, it no longer passed beyond the neighbourhood of Gebel et-Ter,4 nor beyond that of Manfalut in 1849.5 Thirty years later, Mariette asserted that it was steadily retreating before the guns of tourists, and the disturbance which the regular passing of steamboats produced in the deep waters.6 To-day, no one knows of a single specimen as existing below Aswan, but it continues to infest Nubia, and the rocks of the first cataract : 7 occasionally one of them is carried down by the current into Egypt, where it is speedily despatched by the fellahin, or by some traveller in quest of adventure. The fertility of the soil,8 The exactitude with which the characteristic details of certain kinds are drawn, shows that the Egyptians had themselves seen the originals of the monstrous serpents which they depicted (Maspero, Etudes de Mythologie egyptienne, vol. i. p. 32, No. 3; cf. the Eevue de VHistoire des Religions, vol. xv. p. 296). 1 In texts of the fifth and sixth dynasties, the sign of the elephant is used in writing Abu, the name of the town and island of Elephantine ( Inscription d’Uni, 1. 38, in Mariette’s Abydos, vol. ii. pi. 48; cf. Schiaparelli, Una Tomba Egiziana inedita della VI" Dinastia, p. 23, 1.5); from that time onward, it is so clumsily drawn as to justify the idea that the people of Aswan henceforth saw the beast itself but rarely. The sign of the giraffe appears as a syllabic, or as a determinative, in several words containing the sound saru, soru. 2 Sii.vestre de Sacv, Relation de VEgypte par Abd-Allatif, pp. 143-145, 165, 166. The French consul, Du Maillet, noticed one of these animals near Damietta, at the beginning of the eighteenth century (Le Mascrier, Description de VEgypte, p. 31). Burckhardt ( Travels in Nubia, p. 62) relates that in 1812 a troop of hippopotami passed the second cataract, and descended to Wady Halfah and Derr. One of them was carried along by the current, came down the rapids at, Aswan, and was seen at Derau, a day’s march north of the first cataract. 3 Shortly afterwards, Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hii.aire stated that “they are now no longer to be found in all the hundred leagues of the Lower Nile, and can only be seen as high up the river as Thebes” ( Description des crocodiles d’Egypte in the Description de VEgypte, vol. xxiv. p. 408). He was mistaken, as is proved by the evidence of half a dozen later travellers. 4 Marjiont mentioned them as being still there, near to the Convent of the Pulley ( Voyages du due de Raguse, vol. iv. p. 44). 5 Bayle St.-John, Village Life in Egypt, with Sketches of the Said, vol. i. p. 268. In Le Nil, by Maxime Ddcamp, p. 108, there is an Arab legend (about 1849) professing to explain why crocodiles cannot pass below Sliekh Abadeh. The legend cited by Bayle St.-John was intended to show why they remained between Manfalut and Asyut. 0 jMarieite, ItinCraire des invite’s aux fetes de V inauguration du canal de Suez, 1869, p. 175. 7 In 1883, I saw several stretched out on a sandbank, a few hundred yards from the southern point of the island of Elephantine. The same year, two had been taken alive by the Arabs of the cataract, who offered them for sale to travellers. 8 The birds of modern Egypt have been described by J.-C. Savigny, Systeme des oiseauxde VEgypte el de la Syrie, in the Description de VEgypte, vol. xxiii. p. 221, et seq. In pis. vii.-xiv. of his Monumenti civili , Rosellini has collected a fair number of drawings of birds, copied from the tombs BIRDS. 35 and the vastness of the lakes and marshes, attract many migratory birds ; passerinae and palmipedes flock thither from all points of the Mediterranean. Our European swallows, our quails, our geese and wild ducks, our herons — to mention only the most familiar — come here to winter, sheltered from cold and inclement weather. Even the non-migratory birds are really, for the most part, strangers acclima- tized by long sojourn. Some of them — the turtledove, the magpie, the kingfisher, the partridge, and the sparrow — may be classed with our European species, while others be- tray their equatorial origin in the brightness of their colours. White and black ibises,1 rose flamingoes, pelicans, and cormorants enliven the waters of the river, and animate the reedy swamps of the Delta in infinite variety. They are to be seen ranged in long files upon the sand-banks, fishing and basking in the sun ; suddenly the flock is seized with panic, rises heavily, and settles away further off. In hollows of the hills, eagle and falcon, the merlin, the bald-headed vulture, the kestrel, the golden sparrow-hawk, find inaccessible retreats, whence they descend upon the plains like so many pillaging and well-armed barons. A thousand little chattering birds come at eventide to perch in flocks upon the frail boughs of tamarisk and acacia. Many sea-fish make their way upstream to swim in fresh waters — shad, mullet, perch, and the labrus — and carry their excur- sions far into the Said.3 Those species which are not Mediterranean came originally, and still come annually, from the heart of Ethiopia with the rise of the Nile, such as two kinds of Alestes, the soft-shelled turtle, the Bagrus of Thebes and Beni Hasan (cf. the text in vol. i. of the Monumenti civili, pp. 146-190). Loret has offered some most ingenious identifications of names inscribed upon the ancient monuments with various modern species ( Notes sur la Faune pharaonique, in the Zeitschrift, vol. xxx. pp. 24-30). 1 Facts relating to the ibis have been collected by Cuvier, Mfmoire sur Vibis des anciens Egyptiens, in the Annales du Museum d’liistoire naturelle, 1804, vol. iv. p. 116, et seq. ; and by J. C. Savigny, Histoire naturelle et mythologique de Vibis. An extract from the latter is reprinted in the Description de I’Dgypte, vol. xxiii. p. 435, et scq. One ancient species of ibis is believed to have disappeared from Egypt, and is now only to be met with towards the regions of the Upper Nile. But it may still be represented by a few families in the great reedy growths encumbering the western part of Lake Menzaleh. 2 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Oiseaux, pi. vii. 1, iu the Commission d’Egypte. 3 Herodotus, ii. 93. His mistakes on this head are corrected by Isidore Geoffroy Saixt- Hjlaire in the Description de VEgypte, vol. xxiv. p. 255. 36 THE NILE AND EGYPT. docmac, and the mormyrus.1 Some attain to a gigantic si/e, the Bagrus bayad and the turtle 2 to about one yard, the latus to three and a half yards in length,2 THE SIORMYRTJS OXYRIIYNCHUS. while others, such as the silurus4 (cat-fish), are noted for their electric pro- perties. Nature seems to have made the fahaka (the globe-fish) in a fit of playfulness. It is a long fish from beyond the cata- racts, and it is carried by the Nile the more easily on account of the faculty it has of filling itself with air, and inflating its body at will. „ When swelled out immode- THE FAHAKA. rately, the fahaka over- balances, and drifts along upside down, its belly to the wind, covered with spikes so that it looks like a hedgehog. During the inundation, it floats from one canal to another, at the mercy of the current, and the retreating waters cast it upon the muddy fields, where it becomes the prey of birds or of jackals, or serves as a plaything for children.5 Everything depends upon the river: — the soil, the produce of the soil, the species of animals it bears, the birds which it feeds. The Egyptians, therefore, placed the river among their gods.0 They gave it the face of a man with regular 1 Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Histoire naturelle des poissons du Nil, in the Description de l’ Egypte, vol. xxiv. pp. 181, 335, et seq. 2 Trionyx JEyyptiacus ; cf. Loret, Notes sur la Faune pharaonique, in the Zeitschrift, vol. xxx. p. 25. 3 Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Histoire naturelle des poissons du Nil, in the Description de V Egypte, vol. xxiv. pp. 279, 326, 327. In Egyptian, the Latus niloticus was called ahu, the warrior (Petrie, Medum, pi. xii., and p 38). The illustration on p. 37 represents a particularly fine specimen. 4 The naru of the Ancient Egyptians (Maspero, Etudes Egyptiennes, vol. ii. p. 75, note 4), described by Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire ( Histoire naturelle des poissons du Nil, in the Description de V Egypte, vol. xxiv. pp. 299-307). 5 Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Histoire naturelle des poissons du Nil, in the Description de V Egypte, vol. xxiv. pp. 176-217. The most complete list of the fishes of the Nile known to me is that of A. B. Clot-Bey, Aperfu g&ie'rale sur l’ Egypte, vol. i. pp. 231-234; but the Arab names as given in that list are very incorrect. 6 In his Pantheon ZEgyptiorum, vol. ii. pp. 139-176, 214-230, 231-258, Jablonski has collected all THE NILE- GOD. 37 features, and a vigorous and portly body, such as befits a rich man of high lineage. His breasts, fully developed like those of a woman, though less firm, hang heavily upon a wide bosom where the fat lies in folds. A narrow girdle, whose ends fall free about the thighs, supports his spacious abdomen, and his attire is com- pleted by sandals, and a close- fitting head-dress, generally sur- mounted with a crown of water- plants. Sometimes water springs from his breast; sometimes he presents a frog, or libation vases;1 or holds a bundle of the cruces ansatse ,2 as symbols of life ; or bears a flat tray, full of offerings — bunches of flowers, ears of corn, heaps of fish, and geese tied together by the feet. The inscriptions call him, “ Hapi, father of the gods, lord of sustenance, who maketh food to be, and covereth the two lands of Egypt with his products ; who giveth life, banisheth want, and filleth the granaries to overflowing.” 4 He is evolved into two personages, one being sometimes coloured red, and the other blue. The former, who wears a cluster of lotus-flowers upon his head, presides over the Egypt of the south ; the latter has a bunch of papyrus for his head-dress, and watches over the Delta.5 Two goddesses corresponding to the two Htipis — Mirit Qimait for Upper, and Mirit Mihit for Lower Egypt — personified the banks of the river. the data to be obtained from classic writers concerning the Nile-god. The principal hieroglyphic texts referring to this deity are to be found in Arundale-Bonomi-Birch, Gallery of Antiquities selected from the British Museum, pp. 25-26, pi. xiii. ; Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, 2nd edit., vol. iii. pi. xliv. pp. 206-210; Brcgsch, Geogr. lnscliriften, vol. i. pp. 77-79, and Religion und Mythologie der alten JEgypter, pp. 638-641 ; Lanzone, Dizionario di Mitologia Egizia, pp. 514-525. pis. cxeviii., exeix. 1 Ciiami'ollion, Monuments de VEgypte, pL exxxiii. 1; Rosellini, Monumenti del Culto, pis. xxv., xxvii. 2 Wilkinson, Materia, ser. 11, pi. xlii., No. 3 ; and Manners and Customs, 2nd edit., vol. iii. pi. xliv., No. 3. 3 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a Medfim painting. Petrie, Medum, pi. xii. * Arundale-Bonomi-Birch, Gallery of Antiquities, pi. xiii. ; Lepsios, Austcahl der wichtigsten Urlcunden des AEgyptischen Altherthums, pi. xv. c. 5 Cuamtollion, Monuments, pi. ccc. ; Rosellini, Monumenti Storici, pi. xxxix. ; Lepsius, Denkm., iii. 7. Wilkinson ( Manners and Customs, 2nd edit., vol. iii. p. 209) was the first who suggested that this god, when painted red, was the Red (that is the High) Nile, and, when painted blue, was to be identified with the Low Nile. This opinion has since been generally adopted (Rosellini, Mon Stor., part i. p. 229, note 2; Arundale-Bonomi-Birch, Gallery, p. 25); but to me it does not appear so incontrovertible as it has been considered. Here, as in other cases, the difference in colour is ouly a means of making the distinction between two personages obvious to sight. two fishermen carrying a latus which they have JUST CAUGHT.3 38 THE NILE AND EGYPT. They are often represented as standing with outstretched arms, as though begging for the water which should make them fertile.1 In every pro- vince, the Nile-god had his chapel and his priests, whose right it was to bury all bodies of men or beasts cast up by the river ; for the god had claimed them, and to his servants they belonged.2 Several towns were dedicated to him : Hathapi, Nuit-Hapi, Nilopolis.3 It was told in the Thebaid how the god dwelt within a grotto, or shrine ( topliit ), in the island of Biggeh, whence he issued at the inundation. This tra- dition dates from a time when the cataract was believed to be at the end of the world, and to bring downthe heavenly river upon earth.4 5 Two yawn- ing gnlfs ( qoriti ), at the foot of the two granite cliffs (moniti) between which it ran, gave access to this mysterious retreat.6 A bas- IILAD' relief from Philao represents blocks of stone piled one above another, the vulture of the south and the hawk of the north, each perched on a summit, and the circular chamber wherein Hapi hides himself, crouched, and clasping a libation vase in either hand. A single coil of a serpent outlines the contour of this chamber, and leaves a narrow passage between its over- THE GODDESS MIRJT, BEARING A BUNCH OE PAPYRUS ON HER THE NILE-GOD.5 1 These goddesses are represented in Wilkinson, Materia Ilieroglypliica, ser. 12, pi. xlvii., part i , and Manners and Customs, 2nd edit., vol. iii. pp. 230-232, pi. liii. 2; and in Lanzone , Dizionario di Mitologia, pp. 317, 318, pis. xv., cxxx. The functions ascribed to them in the text were recognized by Maspero, Fragment d’un commentaire sur le Livre II. d’ ILfrodote, ii. 28, p. 5 (cf. Annates de la Faculty des lettres de Bordeaux, vol. ii., 1880). 2 Herodotus, ii. 90 ; cf. Wiedemann’s Ilerodots Zweites Buck, pp. 361, 365. 3 Brugsch, Dictionnaire geograpliique, pp. 483-488, 1338. Nilopolis is mentioned by Stephanus oe Byzantium (s. v. NeiAos), quoting from Hecat.eus of Miletus (fragment 277 in Muller-Didot’s Fragm. Hist. Grxc., vol. i. p. 19). 4 See above, p. 19, for an account of this tradition. 5 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, after a statue in the British Museum. The dedication of this statue took place about 880 b.c. The giver was Sheshonqft, high-priest of Amon in Thebes, afterwards King of Egypt under the name of Sheshhonqd II., and he is represented as standing behind the leg of the god, wearing a panther skin, with both arms upheld in adoration. The statue is mutilated: the end of the nose, the beard, and part of the tray have disappeared, but are restored in the illustration. The two little birds hanging alongside the geese, together with a bunch of ears of corn, are fat quails. 6 The most important passage in this connection is to be found in Maspero, Me'moire sur quelques papyrus du Louvre, pp. 99, 100 ; reproduced by Brugsch in the Dictionnaire geograpliique, pp. 860, 861, THE FESTIVALS OF OEBEL SILS1LEH. 39 lapping head and tail through which the rising waters overflow at the time appointed, bringing to Egypt “all things good, and sweet, and pure,” whereby gods and men are fed. Towards the summer solstice, at the very moment when the sacred water from the gulfs of Syene reached Silsileh, the priests of the place, sometimes the reigning sovereign, or one of his sons, sacrificed a bull and geese, and then cast into the waters a sealed roll of papyrus. This was a written order to do all that might insure to Egypt the bene- fits of a normal inundation.1 When Pharaoh himself deigned to officiate, the memory of the event was pre- served by a stela engraved upon the rocks.2 Even in his absence, the festivals of the Nile were among the most solemn and joyous of the land.3 According to a tradition transmitted from age to age, the prosperity or adversity of the year was dependent upon the splendour and fervour with which they were celebrated. Had the faithful shown the slightest lukewarmness, the Nile might have refused 1 Questions relating to the flowing of the first waters of the rising Nile past Silsileh have been treated of by Brugsch, Materiaux pour servir a la reconstruction du calendrier des anciens Egyptians, p. 37, et seq., and especially by E. de Rouge, Sur le nouveau systeme propose par M. Brugsch pour V interpretation du calendrier Cgyptien, in the Zeitschrift, 1866, pp. 3-7. It was probably sonic tradition of this custom which gave birth to the legend telling how the Khalif Omar commanded the river in writing that it should bring about a propitious inundation for the land of Egypt (Mourtadi. Les Mervilles de VEgypte, translation by Pierre Vattier, pp. 165-167). Of these official stelae, the three hitherto kuown belong to the three Pharaohs: Ramses II. (Champollion, Notices, vol. i. p. 641, et seq. ; Lepsius, Denlcm., iii. 175 a), Minephtah (Champollion, Monuments, pi. cxiv. ; Rosellini, Monum. Storici., pp. 302-304, and pi. cxx. 1 ; Lepsius, Denlcm. , iii. 200 d ; Brugsch, Recueil de monuments, vol. ii. pi. lxxiv. 5, 6, and pp. 83, 84), and Ramses III. (Champollion, Monuments, pi. civ. ; Lepsius, Denlcm., iii. 217 d). They have been translated by L. Stern, Die Nilstele von Gebel Silsileh, in the Zeitschrift, 1873, pp. 125-135. 3 The Nile festivals of the Graeco-Roman period have been described by Heliodorus, the romance writer, Mthiopica, book ix. § 9. His description is probably based upon the lost works of some Ptolemaic author. * Tim shrine of the Nile is reproduced from a bas-relief in the small temple of Pliilae, built by Trajan and his successors (Wilkinson, Materia Hieroglyphica, ser. 11, pi. xlii. fig. 4 ; Champollion, Monuments, pi. xciii. 1 ; Rosellini, Monumenti del Culto, pi. xxvii. 3 ; Dumichen, Geogr. Ins., vol. ii. pi. lxxix.). The window or door of this temple opened upon Biggeli, and by comparing the drawing of the Egyptian artist with the view from the end of the chamber, it is easy to recognize the original of his cliflf silhouette in the piled-up rocks of the island. By a mistake of the modern copyist’s, his drawing faces the wrong way THE SHRINE OF THE NILE AT BIGGEH.4 40 THE NILE AND EGYPT. to obey the command and failed to spread freely over the surface of the country. Peasants from a distance, each bringing his own provisions, ate their meals together for days, and lived in a state of brutal intoxication as long as this kind of fair lasted. When the great day had arrived, the priests came forth in procession from the sanctuary, bearing the statue of the god along the banks, to the sound of instruments and the chanting of hymns.1 “ I. — Hail to thee, Hapi ! — who appearest in the land and comest — to give life to Egypt ; — thou who dost hide thy coming in darkness — in this very day whereon thy coming is sung,2 — wave, which spreadest over the orchards created by Ea — to give life to all them that are athirst — who refusest to give drink unto the desert — of the overflow of the waters of heaven ; 3 as soon as thou descendest, — Sibu, the earth-god, is enamoured of bread, — Napri, the god of grain, presents his offering,— Phtah maketh every workshop to prosper.4 “ II. — Lord of the fish ! as soon as he passeth the cataract — the birds no longer descend upon the fields; — creator of corn, maker of barley, — he pro- longed the existence of temples. — Do his fingers cease from their labours, or doth he suffer? — then are all the millions of beings in misery; — doth he wane in heaven ? then the gods — themselves, and all men perish ; “ III. — The cattle are driven mad, and all the world — both great and small, are in torment ! — But if, on the contrary, the prayers of men are heard at his rising — and (for them) he maketh himself Khnumu,5 — when he ariseth, then the earth shouts for joy, — then are all bellies joyful, — each back is shaken with laughter, — and every tooth grindetb. “ IV. — Bringing food, rich in sustenance, — creator of all good things, — lord 1 The text of this hymn has been preserved in two papyri in the British Museum ; the second Sallier papyrus (Select Papyri, vol. i. pi. xxi. 1. 6, pi. xxiii.) and the seventh Anastasi papyrus (ibid., pi. cxxxiv. 1, 7, pi. cxxxix.). It has been translated in full by Maspero (llymne au Nil, 1868; cf . Histoire ancienne des peuples de V Orient, 4tli edit., pp. 11-13); by Fr. Cook (Records of the Past, 1st series, vol. iv. p. 105, et seq.); by Amelineau (Bibliotheque de VEcole des hautes dtudes, Section des sciences religieuscs, vol. i. pp. 341-371) ; and by Guieysse (Recueil de Travaux, vol. xiii. pp. 1-26). Some few strophes have been turned into German by Brugsch (Religion und Mytliologie, pp. 639-641). 2 Literally, “Concealing the passage through darkness — on the day of the songs of passing.” The text alludes to the passage of the celestial river giving issue to the Nile through the dim regions of the West. The origin of the god is never revealed, nor yet the day on which he will reach Egypt to inundate the soil, and when his wave is greeted with the song of hymns. 3 Literally, “ To let the desert drink of the overflow of heaven, is his abhorrence ! ” The orchards created by Ba are naturally favoured of the Nilc-god; but hill and desert, which are Set’s, are abhorrent to the water which comes down from heaven, and is neither more nor less than the flowing of Osiris. Cf. p. 21, note 3. 4 Freed from mythological allusions, the end of this phrase signifies that at the coming of the waters the earth returns to life and brings forth bread ; the corn sprouts, and all crafts flourish under the auspices of Pbtah, the artificer and mason-god. 5 Literally, “Answered are men when he sends forth (his waters), being in the form of Khnumu.” Khnumft, lord of Elephantine and of the cataract, is a Nile-god, and inasmuch as he is a supreme deity, he has formed the world of alluvial earth mingled with his waters. In order to comprise within one image all that the Nile can do when rising in answer to the prayers of men, the Egyptian poet states that the god takes upon himself the form of Khnhrah; that is to say, he becomes a creator-god for the faithful, and works to make for them all good things out of his alluvial earth. HYMN TO THE NILE. 41 of all seeds of life, pleasant unto his elect if his friendship is secured— he produceth fodder for the cattle,— and he provideth for the sacrifices of all the NILE-GODS FliOM THE TEMPLE OF SET! I. AT ABYDOS BRINGING FOOL> TO EVERY NOME OF EGYPT.1 gods, — finer than any other is the incense which cometh from him ; — he taketh possession of the two lands — and the granaries are filled, the storehouses are prosperous, — and the goods of the poor are multiplied. “ V. — He is at the service of all prayers to answer them, — withholding nothing. To make boats to be that is his strength.2 — Stones are not sculptured for him — nor statues whereon the double crown is placed; — he is unseen ; — no tribute is paid unto him and no offerings are brought unto him, — he is not charmed by words of mystery ; — the place of his dwelling is unknown, — nor can his shrine be found by virtue of magic writings ; “ VI. — There is no house large enough for thee, — nor any who may penetrate within thy heart ! — Nevertheless, the generations of thy children rejoice in thee — for thou dost rule as a king — whose decrees are established for the whole earth, — who is manifest in presence of the people of the South and of the North, — by whom the tears are washed from every eye, — and who is lavish of his bounties. “VII.— Where sorrow was, there doth break forth joy — and every heart lvjoiceth. Sovkti, the crocodile, the child of Nit, leaps for gladness;2 — for the Nine gods who accompany thee have ordered all things, — the overflow 1 From a drawing by Faucher-Gudin, after a photograph by Be'ato. 2 Literally, “He makes prosperity ( suriid ) at the baton ( er MU) of all wishes, withholding nothing: to cause boats ( ammu ) to be, that is his strength.” It was said of a man or a tiling which depended on some high personage — as, for example, on the Pharaoh or high priest of Arneu, that he or it was at the baton (er Ichtt) of the Pharaoh or high priest. Our author represents the Nile as putting itself at the baton of all wishes to make Egypt prosperous. And since the traffic of the country is almost entirely carried on by water, he immediately adds that the forte of the Nile, that in which it best succeeds, lies in supplying such abundance of riches as to oblige the dwellers by the river to build boats enough for the freight to be transported. 3 The goddess Nit, the heifer born from the midst of the primordial waters, had two crocodiles as her children, which are sometimes represented on the monuments as hanging from her bosom. Both the part played by these animals, and the reason for connecting them with the goddess, are still imperfectly understood. 42 THE NILE ANT) EGYPT. givetli drink unto the fields — and maketh all men valiant; — one man taketh to drink of the labour of another, — without charge being brought against him.1 “ IX. — If thou dost enter in the midst of songs to go forth in the midst of gladness,2 — if they dance with joy when thou comest forth out of the unknown, — it is that thy heaviness 3 is death and corruption. — And when thou art implored to give the water of the year, — the people of the Thebaid and of the North are seen side by side, — each man with the tools of his trade, — none tarrieth behind his neighbour ; — of all those who clothed themselves, no man clotheth himself (with festive garments) — the children of Thot, the god of riches, no longer adorn themselves with jewels,4 — nor the Nine gods, but they are in the night ! — As soon as thou hast answered by the rising, — each one useth sweet perfumes. “ X. — Establisher of true riches, desire of men, — here are seductive words 5 in order that thou mayest reply ; — if thou dost answer humanity by waves of the heavenly Ocean, — Napri, the grain-god, presents his offering, — all the gods adore (thee), — the birds no longer descend upon the hills ; — though that which thy hand formeth were of gold — or in the shape of a brick of silver, — it is not lapis-lazuli that we eat, — but wheat is of more worth than precious stones. “ XI. — They have begun to sing unto thee upon the harp, — they sing unto thee keeping time with their hands, — and the generations of thy children rejoice in thee, and they have filled thee with salutations of praise ; — for it is the god of Riches who adorneth the earth, — who maketh barks to prosper in the sight of man — who rejoiceth the heart of women with child — who loveth the increase of the flocks. “XII. — When thou art risen in the city of the Prince, — then is the rich man filled — the small man (the poor) disdaineth the lotus, — all is solid and of good quality, — all herbage is for his children. — Doth he forget to give food? — prosperity forsaketh the dwellings, — and earth falleth into a wasting sickness.” 1 This is an allusion to the quarrels and lawsuits resulting from the distribution of the water in years when the Nile was poor or had. If the inundation is abundant, disputes are at au end. 2 Here again the text is corrupt. I have corrected it by taking as a model phrases in which it is said of some high personage that he comes before the king amid words of praise, and goes forth in the midst of songs, — aqu khir muditu pirlt khir hositu (c. 26 of the Louvre, in Pierret, Recueil des inscriptions in&lites, vol. ii. p. 25, 1. 5). The court of Egypt, like that of Byzantium, had its formulae of songs and graduated recitatives to marie the entrance and departure of great person- ages; and the Nile, which brings the inundation, and comes forth from unknown sources, is compared with one of these great personages, and hailed as such according to the rules of etiquette. 3 The heaviness of the god here means the heaviness of his waters, the slowness and difficulty with which they rise and spread over the soil. 4 See Brugsch, Religion und Mythologie, p. 441, on the identity of Shopsfi, the god of riches, with Thot, the ibis or cynocephalus, lord of letters and of song. 5 Literally, “ delusive words.” The gods were cajoled with promises which obviously could never be kept; aud in this case the god allowed himself to be taken in all the same, and answered them by the inundation. THEIR NAMES. 43 The word Nile is of uncertain origin.1 We have it from the Greeks, and they took it from a people foreign to Egypt, either from the Phoenicians or the Khiti, from people of Libya, or of Asia Minor. When the Egyptians themselves did not care to treat their river as the god Hapi, they called it the sea, or the great river.2 They had twenty terms or more by which to designate the different phases which it assumed according to the seasons,3 but they would not have understood what was meant had one talked to them of the Nile. The name Egypt also is part of the Hellenic tradition ; 4 perhaps it was taken from the temple-name of Memphis, Haikuphtah,5 which barbarian coast tribes of the Mediterranean must long have had ringing in their ears as that of the most important and wealthiest town to be found upon the shores of their sea. The Egyptians called themselves Romitu, Rotu,6 and their country Qimit, the black land.7 Whence came they? How far off in time are we to carry 1 The least uulikely etymology is still that which derives Neilos from the Hebrew nahr, a river, or nakhal, a torrent (Lefsius, Einleilung, zur Chronologie der PEgypter, p. 275). It is also derived from Ne-ialu, the branches of the Nile in the Delta ( Bulletin de V Inetitut Egyptien, 3rd scries, vol. iii. pp. 165-175). 2 See above, p. 15, for what is said on this subject; cf. also p. 6, note 4. 3 They may be found partially enumerated in the Hood Papyrus of the British Museum (Bhugsch, Dictionnaire gfographique, pp. 1282, 1283 ; Maspero, Etudes fgyptiennes, vol. ii. pp. 5, 6). 4 It is first met with in the Homeric poems, where it is applied to the river (Odyssey, ix. 355, xiv. 258) as well as to the country (Odyssey, iv. 351, xiv. 257). 5 Haikuphtah, Hakuphtah, means the mansion of the doubles of the god Phtah. This is the etymology proposed by Brcgsch (Geogr. Ins., vol. i. p. 83). Even in the last century a similar derivation had occurred to Forster, viz. Ai-go-phtasli, which he translated the earthly house of Phtah (Jablonski, Opuscula, Te Water edition, vol. i. pp. 426, 427). Confirmation of this conjecture might be found in the name Hephsestia, which was sometimes applied to the country. As a matter of fact, Hepbaestos was the god with whom the Greeks identified Phtah. Another hypothesis, first proposed by Reinisch (Ueber die Namen JEgyptens bei den Semiten und Griechen, in the Sitzungsberichte of the Academy of Sciences in Vienna, 1889), and adopted with slight modifications by Ebers (PEgypten und die Pitcher Moses, p. 132, et seq.), derives iEgyptos from Ai-Kaplitor, the island of Kaphtor. In that case, the Caphtor of the Bible would be the Delta, not Crete. Gutschmid (Kleine Schriften, vol. i. pp. 382, 383), followed by Wiedemann (Herodots Zweites Buch, p. 47, note 1), considers it an archaic, but purely Greek form, taken from yhty, a vulture, like alyvmis. “The impetuous river, with its many arms, suggested to the Hellenes the idea of a bird of prey of powerful bearing. The namo eagle, herds, which is occasionally, though rarely, applied to the river, is incontestably in favour of this etymology.” 6 Bomitu is the more ancient form, and is currently used in the Pyramid texts. By elision of the final t, it has become the Coptic romi, rome', the Pi-romi-s of Hecat^ds of Miletus and of Herodotus (ii. 143). Bomi is one of the words which have inspired Prof. Lieblein with the idea of seeking traces of the Ancient Egyptian in the Gypsy tongue (Oin Ziguenerne, in his PEgyptologiske Studier, pp. 26, 27 ; cf. Vidensle. Selsk. Forhandlinger, Christiania, 1870). Botu, lotu, is the same word as romitu, without the intermediate nasal. Its ethnic significance was recognized by Cham- pollion (Leitres Rentes d’Egypte, 2nd edit., p. 259). E. de Rouge connected it with the name Ludim, which is given in Genesis (x. 13) to the eldest son of Mizrnim (Becherches sur les monuments qu’on peut attribuer aux six premieres dynasties de Mantthon, p. 6). Rochemonteix (Sur les noms des fils de Mizraim, in the Journal asiatique, 1888, Sth series, vol. xii, pp. 199-201 ; cf. CEuvres diverses , pp. 86-89) takes it for the name of the fellahin, and the poorer classes, in distinction to the term Anamim, which would stau.l for the wealthy classes, the zaual of Mohammedan times. ’ A digest of ancient discussions on this name is to be found in Champollion (L'Egypte sous les Pharaons, vol. i. pp. 73, 74), and the like service has been done for modern research on the subject by Brugsch I Geogr. Ins., vol. i. pp. 73, 74). The name was known to the Greeks under the form Kliemia, Khimia (De lside et Osiride, § 33. Parthey edition, p. 58. 7) ; but it was rarely used, at least for literary purposes. 44 THE NILE AND EGYPT. back the date of their arrival? The oldest monuments hitherto known scarcely transport us further than six thousand years, yet they are of an art so fine, so well determined in its main outlines, and reveal so ingeniously combined a system of administration, government, and religion, that we infer a long past of accumulated centuries behind them. It must always be difficult to estimate exactly the length of time needful for a race as gifted as were the Ancient Egyptians to rise from barbarism into a high degree of culture. Nevertheless, I do not think that we shall be misled in granting them forty or fifty centuries wherein to bring so complicated ail achievement to a successful issue, and in placing their first appearance at eight or ten thousand years before our era.1 Their earliest horizon was a very limited one. Their gaze might wander westward over the ravine-furrowed plains of the Libyan desert without reaching that fabled land of Manu where the sun set every evening ; * but looking eastward from the valley, they could see the peak of Bakhu, which marked the limit of regions accessible to man.3 Beyond these regions lay the beginnings of To-nutri, the land of tbe gods, and the breezes passing over it were laden with its perfumes, and sometimes wafted them to mortals lest in the desert.4 Northward, the world came to an end towards the lagoons of the Delta, whose inaccessible islands were believed to be the sojourning-place of souls after death.5 As regards the south, precise knowledge of it scarcely went beyond the defiles of Gebel Silsileh, where the last remains of the granite threshold bad perhaps not altogether disappeared. The district beyond Gebel Silsileh, the province of Ivonusit, was still a foreign and almost mythic country, directly connected with heaven by means of the cataract.6 Long after the Egyptians had broken through this restricted circle, 1 This is the date admitted by Ciiabas, of all savants the least disposed to attribute exaggerated autiquily to laces of men ( Etudes sur V antiquity historique, 2nd edit., pp. 6-10). 2 Sec what is said above on the mountain of Manu, p. 18. 3 Brfgscii (Die altagyptisclie Vollcertafel, iu the Verltandlungen cies 5ten Orientalisten-Congresses, vol. ii. pp. 62-61) identifies the mountain of Bakhu with the Emerald Mountain of classic geography, known to-day as Gebel Zabarah. The name of Bakhri does not seem to have been restricted to an insignificant chain of hills. The texts prove that it was applied to several mountains situate north of Gebel Zabarah, especially to Gebel ed-Dukhan. Gebel Ghrtrib, one of the peaks of this region, attains a height of 6180 feet, and is visible from afar (Schweinferth, La terra incognita dell’ Egiito propiamente detto, in V Esploratore, 1878). 4 Brugsch, Dictionnaire g&ograpliique, pp. 382-385, 396-398, 1231, 1231-1236. The perfumes and the odoriferous woods of the Divine Land were celebrated in Egypt. A traveller or hunter, crossing the desert, “could not but be vividly impressed by suddenly becoming aware, in the very midst of the desert, of the penetrating scent of the robul (Pulicliaria undulata, Scitweinf.), which once followed us throughout a day and two nights, in some places without our being able to distinguish whence it came ; as, for instance, when we were crossing tracts of country without any traces of vegetation whatever” (Golenischeff, TJnc excursion a Berenice, in the Becueil, vol. xiii. pp. 93, 94). 5 Maspero, Etudes de Mytliologie et d’ Archdologie dgyptiennes, vol. ii. pp. 12-14 (cf. the Bevue de VHistoire des Eeligions, vol. xvii. pp. 259-261). Prof. Lauth (Aus AEgyptens Vorzeit, p. 53, et seq.) was the first to show that the sojourning-place of the Egyptian dead, Sohliit laru, was localized in one of the nomes of the Delta. 6 MAsrERO, Etudes de Mytliologie et d’ Archeologie dgyptiennes, vol. ii. pp. 17, 18 (cf. the Bevue de VHistoire des Eeligions, vol. xviii. pp. 260, 270). PROBABLE AFRICAN ORIGIN OF TIIE EGYPTIANS. 45 the names of those places which had as it were marked out their frontiers, continued to be associated in their minds with the idea of the four cardinal points. Bakhu and Manu were still the most frequent expressions for the extreme East and West.1 Nekhabit and Buto, the most populous towns in the neighbourhoods of Gebel Silsileh and the ponds of the Delta, were set over against each other to designate South and North.'2 It was within these narrow limits that Egyptian civilization struck root and ripened, as in a closed vessel. What were the people by whom it was developed, the country whence they came, the races to which they belonged, is to-day unknown. The majority would place their cradle-land in Asia,3 but cannot agree in determining the route which was followed in the emigration to Africa. Some think that the people took the shortest road across the Isthmus of Suez,4 others give them longer peregrinations and a more complicated itinerary. They would have them cross the Straits of Bab el-Mandeb, and then the Abyssiniau mountains, and, spreading northward and keeping along the Nile, finally settle in the Egypt of to-day.5 A more minute examination compels us to recognize that the hypothesis of an Asiatic origin, however attractive it may seem, is somewhat difficult to maintain. The bulk of the Egyptian population presents the characteristics of those white races which have been found established from all antiquity on the Mediterranean slope of the Libyan continent ; this population is of African origin, and came to Egypt from the W^est or South-West.6 In the valley, perhaps, it may have 1 Brugsch, Ueber den O&t-und Westpunkt des Sonnenlcuifes nnch den altiigyptischen Vorstellungen, in the Zeitsclirift, 1864, pp. 73-76. - Brugsch, Dictionnaire gdbgrapliique, pp. 213-215, 351-353. 3 The greater number of contemporary Egyptologists, Brugscii, Ebers, Lautii, LiEBi.Erx. have rallied to this opinion, in the train of E. de Rouge (Reclierclies sur lea monuments, pp. 1-11); but the most extreme position has beeu taken up by IIommel, the Assyriologist, who is inclined to derive Egyptian civilization entirely from the Babylonian. After having summaiily announced this thesis in his Gescliiclite Babyloniens und Assyriens, p. 12, et seq., he has set it forth at length in a special treatise, Der Babylonische Ursprung der dgyptischen Kultur, 1892, wherein lie endeavours to prove that the Heliopolitan myths, and hence the whole Egyptian religion, are derived from the cults of Eridft, and would make the name of the Egyptian city Onft, or And, identical with that of Nun-Id , Nun, which is borne by the Chaldean. 4 E. de Rouge, Recherclies sur les monuments qu'on peut attribuer aux six premieres dynasties. p. 4; Brugsch, Gescliiclite AEgyptens, p. 8; Wiedemann, AEgyptisclie Gescliiclite, p. 21, et seq. 5 Ebers, JEgypten und die Biiclier Moses, p. 41, L'Egypte (French translation), vol. ii. p. 230; Dumichen, Gescliiclite des Alten AEgyptens, pp. 118, 119. Brugsch has adopted this opinion in his AEgyptisclie Beitrdge zur Voll.erkunde der altesten Welt ( Deutsche Revue, 1881, p. 48). 0 This is the theory preferred by naturalists and ethnologists (R. Hartmann, Die Nigritier, vol. i p. 180, et seq. ; Morton, who was at first hostile to this view, accepted it in the Transactions of the American Ethnological Society, vol. iii. p. 215; cf. Nott-Gliddon, Types of Mankind, p. 318; Hamy, Aperfu sur les races liumaines de la basse valine du Nil, in the Bulletin de la Saddle' d’antliro- pologie, 1886, pp. 718-743). A Viennese Egyptologist, Herr Reinisch, even holds that not only arc the Egyptians of African origin, but that “ the human races of the ancient world, of Europe, Asia, and Africa, are descended from a single family, whose original seat was on the shores of the great lakes of equatorial Africa” (Der einheitliclie Ursprung der Spraclien der Alten Welt, nachgeiciesen 46 THE NILE AND EGYPT. met with a black race which it drove back or destroyed ; 1 and there, perhaps, too, it afterwards received an accretion of Asiatic elements, introduced by way of the isthmus and the marshes of the Delta. But whatever may be our theory with regard to the origin of the ancestors of the Egyptians, they were scarcely settled upon the banks of the Nile before the country conquered, and assimilated them to itself, as it has never ceased to do in the case of strangers who have occupied it. At the time when their history begins for us, all the inhabitants had long formed but one people, and had but one language. This language seems to be connected with the Semitic tongues by many of its roots.2 It forms its personal pronouns, whether isolated or suffixed, in a similar way.3 One of the tenses of the conjugation, and that the simplest and most archaic, is formed with identical affixes. Without insisting upon resemblances which are open to doubt, it may be almost affirmed that most of the grammatical processes used in Semitic languages are to be found in a rudimentary condition in Egyptian. One would say that the language of the people of Egypt and the languages of the Semitic races, having once belonged to the same group, had separated very early, at a time when the vocabulary and the grammatical system of the group had not as yet taken definite shape. Subject to different influences, the two families would treat in diverse fashion the elements common to both. The Semitic dialects continued to develop for centuries, while the Egyptian language, although earlier cultivated, stopped short in its growth. “ If there is an obvious connec- tion of origin between the language of Egypt and that of Asia, this connection (lurch Vergleichung der Afrikanisclien, Eryirxischen und Indogermanischen Spraclien, mit Zugrundleg- ung des Teda, Vienna, 1873, p. x.). 1 Lepsius, Ueber die Annahme eines sogenannten prdhistorischen Steinalters in JEgypten, in the Zeitschrift, 1870, p. 92, et seq. ; Lefebure, Le Cham et VAdam tfjyptiens, in the Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archeology, vol. x. pp. 172, 173. 2 This is the opinion which has generally obtained among Egyptologists since Benfey’s researches, Ueber das Verhaltniss der JEgyptisclien Sprache zum Semitisclien Sprachstamm, 1814; cf. Schwartze, Das Alte JEgypten, vol. i. part ii. p. 2003, et seq. ; E. de Rouge, Recherches sur les monuments, pp. 2-4 ; Lepsius, Ueber die Annahme, in the Zeitschrift, 1870, pp. 91,92; Brugsch, Geschichte AEgyptens, pp. 8, 9 ; En. Meyer, Geschiclite des alien JEgyptens, p. 23. Erman {JEgypten, pp. 54, 55) is tempted to explain the relationships found between Egyptian and the idioms of Northern Africa as the effects of a series of emigrations taking place at different times, probably far enough apart, the first wave having passed over Egypt at a very remote period, another over Syria and Arabia, and, finally, a third over Eastern Africa. Prof. Erman has also published a very substantial memoir, in which he sets forth with considerable caution those paints of contact to be observed between the Semitic and Egyptian languages (A. Erman, Das Verhaltniss des JEgyptischenzu den Semitisclien Sprachen, in the Zeitschrift der Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, vol. xlvi. pp. 85-129). The many Semitic words introduced into classic Egyptian from the time of the XVIIIth dynasty must be carefully excluded from the terms of the comparison. An almost complete list of these will be found in Bondi, Dem Hebraisch-Phonizischen Sprachzwdge angehorige Lehmciirter in hieroglyphischen und hieratischen Texten, Leipzig, 1886. 3 Maspero, Des Pronoms personnels en dgyplien et dans les langues sefmit.iques, in the Mdmoires de la SociJte de linguistique, vol. ii. p. 1, et seq. A very forcible exposition of different conclusions may be found in a memoir by Lepage-Renouf ( Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archxology, 1888-89, pp. 247-264). EGYPTIAN TYPES. 47 is nevertheless sufficiently distant to leave a distinct physiognomy to the Egyptian race.” 1 We know it from both sculptured and painted portraits, as well as from thousands of mummied bodies out of subterranean tombs.2 The highest type of Egyptian was tall and slender, with some- carriage of and full shoulders, well-marked and vigorous pectoral muscles, muscular arms, a long, fine hand, slightly developed hips, and sinewy legs. The detail of the knee-joint and the muscles of the calf are strongly marked beneath the skin ; the long, thin, and low- arched feet are flattened out at the extremities owing to the custom of going barefoot. The head is rather short, the face oval, the forehead somewhat retreating. The eyes are wide and fully opened, the cheek-bones not too marked, the nose fairly prominent, and either straight or aquiline. The mouth is long, the lips full, and lightly ridged along their outline ; the teeth small, even, well-set, and remarkably sound ; the ears are set high on the head. At birth the skin is white, but darkens in pro- portion to its exposure to the sun.3 Men are gene- rally painted red in the pictures, though, as a matter of fact, there must already have been all the shades which we see among the present population, from a most delicate rose-coloured complexion to that of a smoke-coloured bronze. Women, who were less exposed to the sun, are generally painted yellow, the tint paler in proportion as they rise in the social scale. The hair was inclined to be wavy, and even to curl into little ringlets, but without ever turning into the wool of the negro. The beard was scanty, thick only upon the chin. Such was the highest type ; the commoner was squat, dumpy, and heavy. Chest and shoulders seem to be enlarged at the expense of the pelvis and 1 E. de Rocge, llecherches sur les monuments qu’on peut attribuer aux six premieres dynasties, p. 3. 2 All tlie features of the two portraits given below are taken either from the statues, the bas- reliefs, or the many mummies wliicli it fell to my lot both to see and to study during the time I was in Egypt. They correspond pretty closely with those drawn by Hamy, Aptrru sar les races humaines de la basse valke du Nil, p. 4, et seq. (cf. Bulletin de la Socidte' d’ Anthropologic, 1S86, p. 721, et seq.). 3 \\ ith regard to this question, see, more recently, R. Virchow, Anthropologie JEgyptens, in the Correspondenz-Blalt der d. Anthr. Ges., 1888, No. 10, p. 107, et seq. * Statue of Ranofir in the Gtzch Museum (Vth dynasty), after a photograph by Emil Brugseli-Bey. thing that was both proud and imperious in the his head and in his whole bearing. He had wide THE NOBLE TYPE OF EGYPTIAN.4 48 THE NILE AND EGYPT. HEAD OF A THEBAN MUMMY. the hips, to such an extent as to make the want of proportion between the upper and lower parts of the body startling and ungraceful. The skull is long, somewhat retreating, and slightly flattened on the top; the features are coarse, and as though carved in flesh by great strokes of the roughing - out chisel. Small fraenated eyes, a short nose, flanked by widely distended nostrils, round cheeks, a square chin, thick, but not curling lips — this unattractive and ludicrous physiognomy, sometimes animated by an expres- sion of cunning which recalls the shrewd face of an old French peasant, is often lighted up by gleams of gentleness and of melancholy good-nature. The external character- istics of these two princi- pal types, whose endless modifications are to be found on ancient monuments, may still be seen among the living.2 The profile copied from a Theban mummy taken at hazard from a necropolis of the XVIIIth dynasty, and compared with the likeness of a modern Luxor peasant, would almost pass for a family portrait.3 Wandering Bisharis have inherited the type of AN EGYPTIAN OF THE ORDINARY TYPE.1 HEAD OF A FELLAH OF UPPER EGYPT. face of a great noble, the contemporary of Ivheops ; and any peasant woman 1 Statue of tTsiri (VIth dynasty) in the Gizeli Museum. From a photograph by Emil Brugsch- Bey. 2 According to Virchow (Anthropologic YEgyptens, i. 1), this impression is not borne out by facts. Sundry Orientalists, especially Birch (Egypt from the Earliest Times to b.c. 309-310) and Sayce (The Ancient Empires of the East, pp. 309, 310), have noted considerable differences of type among the personages represented upon monuments of different periods. Virchow (Die Mumien der Eonige im Museum run Bulaq , p. 17, cf. Sitzungsberichte of the Academy of Berlin, 1888, pp. 782, 783, and Anthropolugie JEgyptens, i. 1) has endeavoured to show that the difference was even greater than had been stated, because the ancient Egyptian was brachycephalie, while the modern is dolichocephalic. 3 Description de I’Egypte, Ant., vol. ii. pi. xlix. fig. 1, and Jomard’s text (vol. ii. pp. 78, 79): “I once tried to sketch a Turkish coiffure, on a head copied from a mummy, and asking some one to EARLY CIVILIZATION. 49 of the Delta may bear upon her shoulders the head of a twelfth-dynasty king. A citizen of Cairo, gazing with wonder at the statues of Khafra or of Seti I. in the G-hizeh Museum, is himself, at a distance of fifty centuries, the reproduction, feature for feature, of those ancient Pharaohs. Nothing, or all but nothing, has come down to us from the primitive races A FEI.LAH WOMAN WITH THE FEATURES OF AN ANCIENT KINO.' of Egypt ; we cannot with any certainty attribute to them the majority of the flint weapons and implements which have been discovered in various places.-2 The Egyptians continued to use stone after other nations had begun to use metal. They made stone arrowheads, hammers, knives, and scrapers, not only whom all the great folks of Cairo were well known which of the sheikhs my drawing was like, he unhesitatingly named a sheikh of the Divan, whom, indeed, it did fairly resemble.” Hamy pointed out a similar and most striking resemblance between the head to which Jomard refers and the portrait of a fellah from Upper Egypt, painted by Lefeburc for the collections of the Museum of Natural History (Apcrgu cles races humaines de la Lasse valine du Nil, pp. 10-12; cf. Bulletin de la Socidte d’anthropologie, 1 8SG, pp. 727-720) : these are the two types reproduced by Faucher-Gudin, one above the other, on p. 4S. 1 The face of the woman here given was taken separately, and was subsequently attached to the figure of an Egyptian woman whom Naville had photographed sitting beside a colossal head. The nose of the statue has been restored. 2 This question, brought forward for the first time by Hamy and Fran5ois Lcnormant (D&ouvertes de restes de Vdge de pierre en Egypte, in the Comptes rendus de V Acaddmie des Sciences, 22 nov. 1869), gave rise to a long controversy, in which many European savants took part. The whole account of it is given nearly in full by Salomon Reinach, Description raisonndc du musde de Saint-Germain, Vol. i. pp. 87, 88. The examination of the sites loads me to believe, with Marietta, that none of the manufactories hitherto pointed out are anterior to historic times. E 50 TIIE NILE AND EGYPT. in the time of the Pharaohs, but under the Homans, and during the whole period of the Middle Ages, and the manufacture of them has not yet entirely died out.1 These objects, and the workshops where they were made, may, there- fore, be less ancient than the greater part of the inscribed monuments. But if we have no examples of any work belonging to the first ages, we meet in historic times with certain customs which are out of harmony with the general civilization of the period. A comparison of these customs with analogous practices of barbarous nations throws light upon the former, completes their meaning, and shows us at the same time the successive stages through which the Egyptian people had to pass before reaching their highest civilization. We know, for example, that even as late as the Caesars, girls belonging to noble families at Thebes were consecrated to the service of Amon, and were thus licensed to a 1 ife of immorality, which, however, did not prevent them from making rich marriages when age obliged them to retire from office.2 Theban women were not the only people in the world to whom such licence was granted or imposed upon them by law; wherever in a civilized country we see a similar practice, we may recognize in it an ancient custom which iu the course of cen- turies has degenerated into a religious observance.3 The institution of the women of Amon is a legacy from a time when the practice of polyandry obtained, and marriage did not yet exist.4 Age and maternity relieved them from this obli- gation, and preserved them from those incestuous connections of which we find examples in other races.5 6 A union of father and daughter, however, was perhaps not wholly forbidden,0 and that of brother and sister seems to have been re- 1 An entire collection of Hint tools — axes, adzes, knives, and sickles — mostly with wooden handles, were found by Prof. Petriein the ruins of Kahun, at the entrance to the Fayhm ( lllaliun , Kahun and Gurob, pp. 12,51-55): these go back to the time of the twelfth dynasty, more than three thousand years before our era. Mariette had previously pointed out to the learned world ( Bulletin de VInstilut dgyptien , 1809-1871, 1st series, vol. xi. p. 58; cf. De I'age de la pierre en Egypte, in the Recueil de Travaux, vol. vii. p. 129) the fact that a Coptic Reis, Salib of Abydos, in charge of the excavations, shaved his head with a flint knife, according to the custom of his youth (1820-35). I knew the man, who died at over eighty years of age, in 1887; he was still faithful to his flint implement, while his sons and the whole population of El Kharbeh were using nothing but steel razors. As his scalp was scraped nearly raw by the operation, he used to cover his head with fresh leaves to cool the inflamed skin. 2 Strabo, book xvii. § 46, p. 817 ; Diodorus (i. 17) speaks only of the tombs of these Pallacides of Amon ; his authority, Hecatreus of Abdera, does not appear to have known their manner of life. 3 LiprERT, Kulturgeschichte der Menschlieit in ihrern organischen Aufbau, vol. ii. p. 15. 4 For the complete development and proofs of the theory on which this view of the fact rests, see Lippert, Kulturgeschiclite der Menschlieit, vol. ii. p. 0, et seq. 5 As, for instance, among the Modes, the class of the Magi, according to the testimony of Xanthos of Lydia (fragm. 28 in Muller-Didot, Frag. hist, grxc., vol. i. p. 43) and of Ctesias (fragrn. 30, edit. Muller-Didot, p. GO). 6 E. de Kouge held that llameses II. married at least two of his daughters, Bint Anati and Honitoui ; Wiedemann ( /Egyptisclie Geschichte, p. 622) admits that Psammetichus I. had in the same way taken to wife Nitocris, who had been born to him by the Theban princess Shapenuapit. The Aclnemenidan kings did the same : Artaxerxes married two of his own daughters (Plutarch, Artaxerxe s, § 27). MARRIAGE. 51 garded as perfectly right and natural ; 1 the words brother and sister possessing in Egyptian love-songs the same significance as lover and mistress with us.'2 Paternity was necessarily doubtful in a community of this kiud, and hence the tie between fathers and children was slight ; there being no family, in the sense in which we understand the word, except as it centred around the mother. Maternal descent was, therefore, the only one openly acknowledged, and the affiliation of the child was indicated by the name of the mother alone.3 When the woman ceased to belong to all, and confined herself to one husband, the man reserved to himself the privilege of taking as many wives as he wished, or as he was able to keep, beginning with his own sisters. All wives did not enjoy identical rights : those born of the same parents as the man, or those of equal rank with himself, preserved their independence. If the law pronounced him the master, nibu, to whom they owed obedience and fidelity,4 they were mistresses of the house, nebit piru, as well as wives, liimitu, and the two words of the title express their condition.5 * * 8 Each of them occupied, in fact, her own house, piru, which she had from her parents or her husband, and of which she was absolute mistress, mbit. She lived in it and performed in it without constraint all a woman’s duties; feeding the fire, grinding the com, occupying herself in cooking and weaving, making clothing and perfumes, nursing and teaching her children.3 When her hus- band visited her, he was a guest whom she received on an equal footing. It appears that at the outset these various wives were placed under the authority of an older woman, whom they looked on as their mother, and who defended their rights and interests against the master; but this custom 1 This custom had been noticed in early times, among others by Diodorus, i. 27, who justifies it by citing the marriage ot' Osiris with his sister Isis : the testimony of historians of the classical period is daily confirmed by the ancient monuments. ! Maspero, Etudes tgyptiennes, vol. i. pp. 221, 228, 232, 233, 237, 239, 240, etc. 3 The same custom existed among the Lycians (Herodotus, i. 172 ; Nicolaus of Damascus, fragm. 129, in Muller-Didot, Frag. hist, gr., vol. iii. p. 461, etc.) and among many semi-civilized peoples of ancient and modern times (J. Lubbock, The Origins of Civilization, p. 139, etc.). The first writer to notice its existence in Egypt, to my knowledge, was Schow, Charta Papyracea grxce scripta Musei Borgiani Velitris, pp. xxxiv., xxxv. * On the most ancient monuments which we possess, the wife says of herself that she is "■the one devoted to her master — who does every day what her master loves, and whom, for that reason, her master loves ” (Lepsius, Denhn., ii. 10 6) ; in the same way a subject who is the favourite of a king says that “ he loves his master, and that his master loves him ” (Lepsius, Denhm., ii. 20). 3 The title nibit piru is ordinarily interpreted as if the woman who bore it were mistress of the house of her husband. Prof. Petrie (A Season in Egypt, pp. 8, 9) considers that this is not an exact translation, and has suggested that the women called nibit piru are widows. This explanation cannot be applied to passages where the woman, whether married or otherwise, says to her lover, “My good friend, my desire is to share thy goods as thy house-mistress" (Maspero, Etudes egyptiennes, vol. i. p. 247) ; evidently she does not ask to become the widow of her beloved. The interpretation proposed here was suggested to me by a species of marriage still in vogue among several tribes of Africa and America (Lippert, Kulturgeschichte der Menschheit, vol. ii. p. 27, et seq.). 8 Compare the touching picture which the author of the Papyrus moral de Boulaq gives of the good mother, at the end of the Theban period (Chabas, V Egyptologie. vol. ii. pp. 42-54). 52 THE NILE AND EGYPT. gradually disappeared, and in historic times we read of it as existing only in the families of the gods. The female singers consecrated to Amon and other deities, owed obedience to several superiors, of whom the principal (generally the widow of a king or high priest) was called chief-superior of the ladies of the harem of Amon.1 Besides these wives, there were concu- bines, slaves purchased or born in the house, prisoners of war, Egyptians of inferior class, who were the chattels of the man and of whom he could dispose as he wished.'2 All the children of one father were legitimate, whether their mother were a wife or merely a concubine, but they did not all enjoy the same advantages ; those among them who were born of a brother or sister united in legitimate marriage, took precedence of those whose mother was a wife of inferior rank or a slave.3 In the family thus constituted, the woman, to all appearances, played the principal part. Children recognized the parental relationship in the mother alone. The husband appears to have entered the house of his wives, rather than the wives to have entered his, and this appearance of inferiority was so marked that the Greeks were deceived by it. They affirmed that the woman was supreme in Egypt ; the man at the time of marriage promised obedience to her, and entered into a contract not to raise any objection to her commands.4 We must, therefore, pronounce the first Egyptians to have been semi- savages, like those still living in Africa and America, having an analogous organization, and similar weapons and tools.5 A few lived in the desert, in the oasis of Libya to the east, or in the deep valleys of the Eed Land — Doshirit, To Doshiru — between the Nile and the sea ; the poverty of the 1 Most of the princesses of the family of the high priest of the Theban Amon had this title (Maspero, Les Mamies royales de De'ir-el-Bahari , in the Memoir es de la Mission frangaise du Caire, vol. i. pp. 575- 580). In that species of modern African marriage with which I have compared the earliest Egyptian marriage, the wives of one mau are together subject to the authority of an old woman, to whom thejr give the title of mother; if the comparison is exact, the harem of the god would form a community of this kind, in which the elder would be the superiors of the younger women. Here again the divine family would preserve an institution which had long ceased to exist among mortals. 2 One of the concubines of Khnumhotpu at Beni-Hasan, after having presented her master with a son, was given by him in marriage to an inferior officer, by whom she had several other children (Champollion, Monuments de VEgypte, vol. ii. pp. 390, 392, 415; Lepsius, Denlcm., vol. ii. 128, 130, 132). 3 This explains the history of the children of Thothmes I., and of the other princes of the family of Aahmes, as we shall have occasion to see further on. 4 Diodorus Siculus, i. 80. Here, as in all he says of Egypt, Diodorus has drawn largely from the historical and philosophic romance of Hecatseus of Abdera. 5 Up till now but few efforts have been made to throw light on these early times in Egypt ; • Erman (JEgypten, pp. 59, GO) and Ed. Meyer ( Geschichte lEgyptens, pp. 24-30) have scarcely devoted more than a few pages to the subject. The examination of the hieroglyphic signs has yielded me much valuable information; they have often preserved for us a representation of objects, and conse- quently a record of customs flourishing at the time when they were originally drawn (Maspero, Notes au jour le jour, § 5, in the Proceedings of the Biblical Archxological Society, 1890-91, vol. xiii. pp. 310, 311 ; Petrie, Epigraphy in Egyptian Research, in the Asiatic and Quarterly Review, 1891, pp. 315-320 ; Medum, pp. 29-34). HOUSES, FURNITURE. 53 country fostering their native savagery.1 Others, settled on the Black Land, gradually became civilized. Their houses were like those of the fellahs of to-day, low huts of wattle daubed with puddled clay, or of bricks dried in the sun. They contained one room, either oblong or square, the door being the only aperture.3 Only those of the richer class were large enough to make it needful to support the roof by means of one or more trunks of trees, which did duty for columns.4 Earthen pots, turned by hand,5 mats of reeds or plaited straw, two flat stones for grinding corn,6 a few pieces of wooden furniture, stools, and head-rests for use at night,7 comprised all the contents. The men went about nearly naked, except the nobles, who wore a panther’s skin, sometimes thrown over the shoulders,8 sometimes drawn round the waist, and covering the lower part of 1 The Egyptians, even in late times, had not forgotten the ties of common origin which linked them to these still barbarous tribes. 2 XIXth dynasty; drawn by Faucher-Gudin, after Roseluxi, Monumenti Storici, pi. Ixxxv. These are negroes of the Upper Nile, prisoners of Eamesis II., at Abu-simbel. 3 This is shown by the signs CH [~] and their variants, which from the earliest times have served to represent the idea of house or habitation in general in the current writing. 4 The signs fP and their variants represent a kiosk propped up by a forked tree- trunk. 5 More or less authentic fragments of these have been found in various parts of Egypt (Arcei.ix, Industrie primitive en Egypte et en Syrie, p. 22). 6 Identical with those in the Ghizeh Museum, before which kneel the women grinding corn (Mariette, Album photographique, pi. xx. ; Maspero, Guide du visiteur , p. 220, Nos. 1012, 1013). 7 Hajiy, Note sur les chevets des anciens Egyptiens et sur les affinity's ethniques que manifeste lew emploi, in the Etudes dydides a Leemans, pp. 32-34. The part played by the head-rest v^/ as a determinative to verbs expressing the idea of “bearing” or “carrying” in the texts of the ancient empire, shows conclusively the great antiquity of its use (Maspero, Notes au jour le jour, § 28, iu the Proceedings of the Biblical Arclueological Society, 1891-92, vol. xiv. pp. 321, 322). 8 It is the panther’s skin which is seen, among others, on the shoulders of the negro prisoners under the XVIIIth dynasty (Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, 2nd edit., vol. i. p. 259, No. 13 c, d); it was obligatory for certain orders of priests, or for dignitaries performing priestly functions of a prescribed nature (Statues A GO, 66, 72, 76, in the Louvre, E. de Rouge, Notice sommaire des Monuments de la Galgrie Egyptienne, 1872, pp. 44, 36, 38, 39; Lursius, Denkm., ii. 18, 19, 21, 22, 30, 31 b, 32, etc. ; cf. Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, 2nd edit., vol. i. pp. 181, 182 ; Erman, AEgypten, p. 286). The sacerdotal costume is here, as in many other cases, a survival of the ancient attire of the head of the family, or of a noble in full dress. Those who inherited or who had obtained the right of wearing the panther’s skin on certain occasions, bore, under the ancient empire, the title of Oiru-busit, “ chiefs of the fur” (Mariette, Les Mastabas, pp. 252, 253, 254, 275, etc.). 54 TI1E NILE AND EGYPT. the body, the animal’s tail touching the heels behind,1 as we see later in several representations of the negroes of the Upper Nile. I am inclined to think that at first they smeared their limbs with grease or oil,2 and that they tattooed their faces and bodies, at least in part, but this practice was only retained by the lower classes.3 On the other hand, the custom of painting the face was never given up. To complete their toilet, it was necessary to accentuate the arch of the eyebrow with a line of kohl (antimony powder). A similar black line surrounded and prolonged the oval of the eye to the middle of the temple, a layer of green coloured the under lid,4 and ochre and carmine enlivened the tints of the cheeks and lips.5 The hair, plaited, curled, oiled, and plastered with grease, formed an erection which was as complicated in the ease of the man as in that of the woman. Should the hair be too short, a black or blue wig, dressed with much skill,6 was substituted for it ; ostrich feathers waved on the heads of warriors,7 and a large lock, flattened behind the right ear, distinguished the military or religious chiefs from their subordinates.8 When the art of weaving became common, a belt and loin-cloth of white 1 Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, 2nd edit., vol. i. p. 259, No. 84, 9-13, and p. 272, No. 88. 2 The fellaliin of Upper Egypt and the Nubians still rub their bodies with the oil which they extract from the common castor-oil plant; it protects them from mosquitoes, and prevents their skin from being cracked by the sun. Castor-oil is the oil of kiki, mentioned by Herodotus (ii. 94). it was called saqnunu, in Greek transcription psagdas, with the Egyptiau article p; the simple form, without the article, 2ay5as, is found in Hesychius. 3 Champollion, Monuments, vol. i. pi. ccclxxxi. 6 is, 4 ; Rosellini, Monuments chili, pi. xli., text, vol. ii. pp. 21, 22, where the women are seen tattooed on the bosom. In most of the bas-reliefs also of the temples of Philae and Kom Ombo, the goddesses and queens have their breasts scored with long incisions, which, starting from the circumference, unite in the centre round the nipple. The “ cartonnages” of Aklimim show that, in the age of Severus, tattooing was as common as it is now among the provincial middle classes and the fellaliin (Maspero, Etudes de Mythologie et d' Archeologie Egyptiennes, vol. i. p. 218 ; cf. Bulletin de VInstitut egyptien, 2nd series, vol. vi. p. 89). * The green powder ( uar.it ) and the black pulverized vegetable charcoal, or antimony ( maszimit ), formed part of the offerings considered indispensable to the deceased ; but from the age of the Pyramids green paint appears to have been an affectation of archaism for the living, and we only meet with it on a few monuments, such as the statues of Sapi in the Louvre (E. de Rouge, Notice sommaire, p. 50 A, 36, 37, 28) and the stela of Hathor-nofer-hotpu at Ghizeh (Maspero, Guide du visiteur, pp. 212, 213, Nos. 991 et 1000). The use of black kohl was in those times, as it is still, supposed to cure or even prevent ophthalmia, and the painted eye was called uzait, “the healthy.” a term ordinarily applied to the two eyes of heaven — the sun and moon (Maspero, Notes au jour le jour, § 25, in the Proceedings of the Biblical Archaeological Society, 1891-92, vol. xiv. pp. 313-316). 5 The two mummies of Honittfii and Nsit-anibashru (Maspero, Les Momies royales de Deir el-Bahari, in the Mfmoires de la Mission frangaise, vol. i. pp. 577, 579) had their hair dressed and their faces painted before burial ; the thick coats of colours which they still bear are composed of ochre, pounded brick or carmine mixed with animal fat. 6 Wigs figure, from earliest antiquity, in the list of offerings. The use of them is common among many savage tribes in Africa at the present day. The blue wig has been found among some of the tribes, dependents of Abyssinia, and examples were taken by Jules Borelli to Paris, where they are exhibited in the Ethnographical Museum of the Trocadero. 7 These may be observed on the head of the little sign representing foot soldiers in the current script; in later limes they were confined to the mercenaries of Libyan origin. 8 In historic times only children ordinarily wore the sidelock ; with grown men it was the mark of princes of the royal family, or it indicated the exercise of high priestly functions (Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, 2nd edit., vol. i. pp. 162, 163, 182). COSTUME. 55 linen as to replaced the leathern garment.1 Fastened round the waist, but so low leave the navel uncovered, the loin-cloth frequently reached to the knee ; the hinder part was frequently drawn between the and attached in front to the belt, thus ming a kind of drawers.2 Tails of animals ind wild beast’s skin were henceforth only the insignia of authority with which priests and princes adorned them- selves on great days and at reli- gious ceremonies.3 The skin was sometimes carelessly thrown over the left shoulder and swayed with the movement of the body ; some- times it was carefully adjusted over one shoulder and under the other, so as to bring the curve of the chest into prominence. The head of the animal, skilfully prepared and enlivened by large eyes of enamel, rested on the shoulder or fell just below the waist of the wearer ; the paws, with the claws NOTABLE WEARING THE LARGE fttt&ched, hung down OV61' CLOAK OVER THE LEFT SHOULDER.4 5 ^ th{gh§ . the gpots Qf PRIEST WEARING THE PANTHER : ACROSS THE BREAST.5 the skin were manipulated so as to form five-pointed stars. On going- out-of-doors, a large wrap was thrown over all ; this covering was either 1 The monuments of the ancient empire show us the fellah of that period and the artisan at his work still wearing the belt (Lepsius, Denlan., ii. 4, 9, 12, 23, 24, 25, 28, 35, 40, etc.). 2 The first fashion often figures in Lepsius, Benhm., ii. pp. 4, 8, 22, 25, 32, 43, etc.; the latter in Wilkinson. Manners and Customs, 2nd edit., vol. ii. p. 322. See the two statues, pp. 47, 48. 3 The custom of wearing a tail made of straw, hemp fibre, or horsehair, still exists among several tribes of the Upper Nile (Elisee Reclus, Geographic universelle, vol. ix. pp. 140, 15S, 165, 175. 178, etc.). The tails worn on state occasions by the Egyptians were imitations of jackals’ tails, and not, as has been stated, of those of lions. The movable part was of leather or plaited horsehair, attached to a rigid part of wood. The museum at Marseilles possesses one of these wooden appendages (Maspero, Catalogue du Musee Egyptien , p. 92, No. 279). They formed part of the costume of the deceased, and we find two species of them in his wardrobe (Visconti, Monumenti Egiziani della racrolta del Signor Bemetrio Papandriopido, pi. vi. ; Lepsius, yElteste Texte, pi. 7. 37 ; MASrERO, Trois Annees de fouilles, in the Memoircs de la Mission du Caire, vol. i. pp. 217, 225, 235). * Wooden statue in the Ghizeh Museum (IVth dynasty), drawn by Faucher-Gudiu, from a photograph by Bechard. See Mariette, Album du Musee de Boulag, pi. 20. and Notice des principally monuments, 4th edit., p. 235, No. 770; Maspero, Guide du Visit eur, p. 219, No. 1009. 5 Statue of the second prophet of Amon, Aa-nen, in the Turin Museum (XVIIIth dynasty). 56 THE NILE AND EGYPT. smooth or hairy, similar to that in which the Nubians and Abyssinians of' the present day envelop themselves. It could be draped in various ways; transversely over the left shoulder like the fringed shawl of the Chaldeans, or hanging straight from both shoulders like a mantle.1 In fact, it did duty as a cloak, sheltering the wearer from the sun or from the rain, from the heat or from the cold. They never sought to transform it into a luxurious garment of state, as was the case in later times with the Koman toga, whose amplitude secured a certain dignity of carriage, and whose folds, carefully adjusted beforehand, fell around the body with studied grace. The Egyptian mantle, when not required, was thrown aside and folded up. The material being fine and soft, it occupied but a small space, and was re- duced to a long thin roll; the ends being then fastened together, it was slung over a dignitary wrapped in his large cloak.2 the shoulder and round the body like a cavalry cloak.3 Travellers, shepherds, all those whose occupations called them to the fields, carried it as a bundle 1 This costume, to which Egyptologists have not given sufficient attention, is frequently repre- sented on the monuments. Besides the two statues reproduced above, I may cite those of Uahibri and of Thoth-nofir in the Louvre (E. de Rouge, Notice cles Monuments de la GalCrie Egyptienne, 1872, Nos. 55 and 91, pp. 32, 44), and the Lady Nofrit in the Gliizeh Museum (Maspero, Guide du visiteur, No. 1059, p. 221). Thothotph in his tomb wears this mantle (Lepsius, Denlcm., ii. 134 e). Khnum- hotpu and several of his workmen are represented in it at Beni-Hasan (Lepsius, Denlcm., ii. 126, 127), as also one of the princes of Elephantine iu the recently discovered tombs, besides many Egyptians of all classes in the tombs of Thebes (a good example is in the tomb of Harmhabi, Champollion, Monuments de VEgypte, pi. clvi. 2 ; Rosellini, Monument i Civili, pi. cxvi. 1 ; Bouriant, Le Tombeau d' Harmliabi, in the Me'moires de la Mission du Caire, vol. v. pi. iii.). The reason why it does not figure more often is, in the first place, that the Egyptian artists experienced actual difficulty iu representing the folds of its drapery, although these were simple compared with the complicated arrangement of the Roman toga ; finally, the wall-paintings mostly portray either interior scenes, or agricultural labour, or the work of various trades, or episodes of war, or religious ceremonies, in all of which the mantle plays no part. Every Egyptian peasant, however, possessed his own, and it was in constant use in his daily life. 2 Statue of Khiti in the Gliizeh Museum (XIIth and XIIIth dynasties), da-awn by Faucher- Gudin; see Mariette, Notice des principaux monuments, 4th edit., p. 188, No. 464, Catalogue Gt'nCrul des Monuments d’Abydos, p. 36, No. 361, and Album pliotograpliigue du mue&e de Boulaq, pi. xxv. The statue was found at Abydos. 3 Many draughtsmen, ignorant of what they had to represent, have made incorrect copies of the manner in which this cloak was worn ; but examples of it are numerous, although until now attention has not been called to them. The following are a few instances taken at random of the way in which it was used : Pepi I., fighting against the nomads of Sinai, has the cloak, but with the two ends passed through the belt of his loin-cloth (Lepsius, Denlcm., ii. 116 a); at Zowyet el-Maiyitio, Khunas, killing birds with the boomerang from his boat, wears it, but simply thrown over the left shoulder, with the two extremities hanging free (id., ii. 10G ct). Khnumhotpu at Beni-Hasan (id., ii. 130), the COSTUME. 57 at the ends of their sticks; once arrived at the scene of their work, they deposited it in a corner with their provisions until they required it.1 The women were at first contented with a loin-cloth like that of the men;2 it was enlarged and lengthened till it reached the ankle below and the bosom above, and became a tightly fitting garment, with two bands over the shoulders, like braces, to keep it in place.3 The feet were not always covered ; on certain occasions, how- ever, sandals of coarse leather, plaited straw, split leed, or even painted wood, adorned those shapely Egyptian feet, which perhaps we should prefer to be a little shorter.4 Both men and women loved ornaments, and covered their necks, breasts, arms, wrists, and ankles with many rows of necklaces and bracelets. These were made of strings of pierced shells,5 interspersed with seeds and little pebbles, either sparkling or of unusual shapes.7 Subsequently imitations in terra- cotta replaced the natural shells, and precious stones were substituted for pebbles, as were also beads of enamel, either round, pear-shaped, or cylindrical : the necklaces were terminated and a uni- form distance maintained be. the rows of beads, by several slips of od, bone, ivory, porcelain, or terra-cotta, pierced costume of Egyptian woman, spinning. with holes, through which passed the Khrihabi (id., 101 b), the overseers (id., 105 b, 110 a, etc.), or the peasants (id., 96), all have it rolled and slung round them ; the Prince of el-Bersheh wears it like a mantle in folds over the two shoulders (id., 134 b, d). If it is objected that the material could not be reduced to such small dimensions as those represented in these drawings of what I believe to be the Egyptian cloak, I may cite our cavalry capes, when rolled and slung, ns an instance of what good packing will do in reducing volume. 1 Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, 2nd edit., vol. ii. p. 100, No. 3G0, and p. 394, No. 466, where we see two cloaks rolled up and deposited in a field while the labourers are working near them. A swine- herd, who carries his cloak in a roll on the end of his stick, is shown on p. 64 of the present work. • In the harvest-scenes of the ancient empire, we see the women wearing the loin-cloth tucked up like drawers, to enable them to work with greater freedom (Lepsius, Denkm., ii.). 3 Lepsius, Denkm., ii. 5, S c, 11, 15, 19, 20, 21, 46, 47, 57, 58, etc. * Sandals also figure in all periods among the objects contained in the wardrobe of the deceased (Visconti, Monumenti Egiziani, pi. vii. ; Lepsius, JElleste Texte, pi. xi. p. xliii. ; Maspero, Trois Annies defouilles, in the Me'moires de la Mission frangaise, vol. i. pp. 218, 228, 237). 3 The burying-places of Abydos, especially the most ancient, have furnished us with millions of shells, pierced and threaded as necklaces ; they all belong to the species of cowries used as money in Africa at the present day (Mariette, La Galerie de VEgypte ancienne a V exposition retrospective du Trocade'ro, p. 112 ; Maspero, Guide du visiteur, p. 271, No. 4130). 0 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from one of the spinning-women at the Universal Exhibition of 1889. It was restored from the paintings in the tomb of Khnumhotpit at Beni-Hasan. 7 Necklaces of seeds have been found in the tombs of Abydos, Thebes, and Gebelen. Of these THE NILE AND EGYPT. 58 threads.1 Weapons, at least among the nobility, were an indispensable part of costume. Most of them were for hand-to-hand fighting : sticks, clubs, lances furnished with a sharpened bone or stone point,2 axes of flint,2 sabres and clubs of bone or of wood in various shapes, pointed or rounded at the end, with blunt or sharp blades, — inoffensive enough to look at, but, wielded by a vigorous hand, sufficient to break an arm, crush in the ribs, or smash a skull with all desirable precision/’ The plain or triple curved bow was the favourite weapon for attack at a distance/ but in addition to this they had the sling, the javelin, and a missile MAN WEARING WIG AND NECKLACES.4 Schweinfurth lias identified, among others, the Cassia absus, L., l,a weed of the Soudan whose seeds are sold in the drug bazaar at Cairo and Alexandria under the name of shishm, as a remedy, which is in great request among the natives, for ophthalmia” (Les Dernieres Dfcouvertes botaniques dans les anciens tombeaux de VEgypte, in the Bulletin de V Institut cgyptien, 2nd series, vol. vi. p. 257). For the necklaces of pebbles, cf. Maspero, Guide du visiteur, pp. 270, 271, No. 4129. A considerable number of these pebbles, particularly those of strange shape, or presenting a curious combination of colours, must have been regarded as amulets or fetishes by their Egyptian owners. (Analogous cases, among other peoples, have been pointed out by E. B. Tvi.or, Primitive Culture, vol. ii. p. 189, et. seq , 205 et seq.) For the imitations of cowries and shells in blue enamelled terra-cotta, cf. Maspero, Guide du visiteur, p. 271, No. 4130, p. 27(1, No. 4100; they are numerous at Abydos, side by side with the real cowries. 1 The nature of these little perforated slips has not been understood by the majority of savants; they have been put aside as doubtful objects, or have been badly described in our museum catalogues. 2 The term mabit for the lance or javelin is found in the most ancient formulas of the pyramids ( Pepi I., I. 424, in the Iircueil de Travaux, vol. vi. p. 165). The mabit, lance or javelin, was pointed with flint, bone, or metal, after the fashion of arrowheads (Chapas, Etudes sur V antiquity historique, 2nd edit., p. 382, et seq., 395). 3 In several museums, notably at Leyden, we find Egyptian axes of stone, particularly of serpentine, both rough and polished (Chabas, Etudes sur V anti quit € historique, 2nd edit., pp. 381, 382)). 4 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a portrait of Pharaoh Seti I. of the XIX"1 dynasty (Roselmni, Monument i Storied, pi. v. 18): the lower part of the necklace has been completed. 5 In primitive times the hone of an animal served as a club. This is proved by the shape of the object held in the hand in the sign V — i (Maspero, Notes au jour le jour, § 5, in the Proceedings of the Biblical Archaeological Society, 1890-91, vol. xiii. pp. 310, 311): the hieroglyph ^ ■ V. — i, which is the determinative in writing for all ideas of violence or brute force, comes down to us from a time when the principal weapon was the club, or a bone serving as a club. 0 For the two principal shapes of the bow, see Lepsius, Der Bogen in der Hierogl yphil: ( Zeitschrift , 1872, pp. 79-88). From the earliest times the sign portrays the soldier equipped with the bow and bundle of arrows; the quiver was of Asiatic origin, and was not adopted until much later (Maspero, Notes au jour le jour, § 18, in the Proceedings of the Biblical Archaeological Society, 1891-92, vol. xiv. pp. 184-187). In the contemporary texts of the first dynasties, the idea of weapons is conveyed by the bow, arrow, and club or axe (E. de Rouge, Tieclierches sur les monuments, p. 101). AEMS OF WOOD AND METAL . 50 almost forgotten nowadays, the boomerang;1 we have no proof, however, that the Egyptians handled the boomerang with the skill of the Austra- lians, nor that they knew how to throw it so as to bring it back to its point of departure.2 Such was approximately the most ancient equipment as far as we can ascertain ; but at a very early date copper and iron were known in Egypt.3 Long before historic times, the majority of the weapons in wood were replaced by those of metal, — daggers, sabres, hatchets, which pre- served, however, the shape of the old wooden instruments. Those wooden weapons which were retained, were used for hunting, or were only brought out on solemn occasions when tradition had to be respected. The war-baton became the commander’s wand of authority, and at last degenerated into the walk- ing-stick of the rich or noble. The club at length represented merely the 1 The boomerang is still used by certain tribes of tbo Nile valley (Eliske Reclus, Geographic universelle, vol. ix. p. 352). It is portrayed in the most ancient tombs (Lepsius, Denlcm., ii. 12, 60, 106, etc.), and every museum possesses examples, varying in shape (E. de Rouge, Notice sommaire, Salle Civile, Armoire H., p. 73; Maspero, Guide da visiteur, p. 303, No. 4723). Besides the ordinary boomerang, the Egyptians used one which ended in a knob (Maspero, Guide du visiteur, p. 303, No. 4724), and another of semicircular shape (Chabas, Etudes sur Vantiquite historique, 2nd edit., p. 8S ; Maspero, Notes au jour lejour, § 27, iu the Proceedings of the Biblical Archaeological Society , vol. xiv., 1891-92, pp. 320, 321) : this latter, reproduced in miniature in cornelian or in red jasper, served as an amulet, and was placed on the mummy to furnish the deceased in the other world with a fighting or hunting weapon. • The Australian boomerang is much larger than the Egyptian one; it is about a yard in length, two inches in width, and three-sixteenths of an inch in thickness. For the manner of handling it, and what cau be done with it, see Lubbock, Prehistoric Man, pp. 402, 403. 3 Metals were introduced into Egypt in very ancient times, since the class of blacksmiths is asso- ciated with the worship of Horns of Edfou, and appears in the account of the mythical wars of that God (Maspero, Les Forgerons d'llorus, in Les Etudes de Mythologie, vol. ii. p. 313, et seq.). The earliest tools we possess, in copper or bronze, date from the IVth dynasty (Gladstone, On Metallic Copper, Tin, and Antimony from Ancient Egypt, in the Proceedings of the Biblical Arehxological Society, 1891-92, pp. 223-226): pieces of iron have been found from time to time in the masonry of the Great Pyramid (Vyse, Pyramids of Gizeli, vol. i. pp. 275, 276; St. John Vincent Day, Examination of the Fragment of Iron from the Great Pyramid of Ghizeli, in the Transactions of the International Congress of Orientalists, 1874, pp. 396-399; Maspero, Guide du visiteur, p. 296, and Bulletin de la Socie'te’ d’anthropologie, 1883, p. 813, et seq.). Mons. Montelius has again aud again contested the authenticity of these discoveries, and he thinks that irou was not known in Egypt till a much later period (L’Age du bronze en Egypte, in the Anthropologie, vol. i. p. 30, et seq ). * Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a painting in the tomb of Khnumhotpft at Beni-Hnsan (Ch ampoi.i.ion. Monuments de V Egypte, pi. ccc. ; Rosellini, Monument i Civili, pi. exvii. 3). 60 TEE NILE AND EGYPT. rank ol a chieftain.1 Finally, the crook and the wooden-kandled mace, with its head of white stone, the favourite weapons of princes, continued to the last the most revered insignia of royalty.''1 Life was passed in com- parative ease and pleasure. Of the ponds left in the open country by the river at its fall, some dried up more or less quickly during the winter, leaving on the soil an immense quantity of fish, the possession of which birds and wild beasts disputed with man.4 Other pools, how- ever, remained till the returning inundation, as so many vivaria in which the fish were preserved for dwellers on the banks. Fishing with the har- poon, with the line, with a net, with traps — all methods of fishing were known and used by the Egyptians from early times. Where the ponds failed, the neighbouring Nile furnished them with inexhaustible supplies. Standing in light canoes, or rather supported by a plank on bundles of reeds bound together,0 they ventured into mid- stream, in spite of the danger arising from the ever-present hippopotamus ; or they penetrated up the canals amid a thicket of aquatic plants, to bring down with the boomerang the birds which found covert there. The fowl and fish KING HOLDING THE BATON, THE WHITE MACE, AND THE CLUB.5 which could not be eaten fresh, were dried, salted, or smoked, and kept 1 The wooden club most commonly represented i, is the usual insignia of a nobleman. Several hinds of clubs, somewhat difficult for us moderns to distinguish, yet bearing different names, formed a part of funereal furniture (Lepsius, JElieste Texte, pi. x. 26-28, 38; Maspero, Trots Annfes de fouilles, in the Nf moires de la Mission f ran false, vol. i. pp. 24, 221, 232, etc.). 2 The blade is of bronze, and is attached to the wooden handle by interlacing thongs of leather (Ghizeli Museum). Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Emile Brugsch-Bey. 3 The crook J is the sceptre of a prince, a Pharaoh, or a god ; the white mace | has still the value apparently of a weapon in the hands of the king who brandishes it over a group of prisoners, or over an ox which he is sacrificing to a divinity (Lepsius, Denhm., ii. 2 a, c, 39/, 116, etc.). Most museums possess specimens of the stoue heads of one of these maces, but the mode of using it was not known, f had several placed in the Boulak Museum ( Extrait de Vinventaire, p. 10, Nos. 26,586, 26,587, in the Bulletin de VInstitut Egyptien, 2nd series, vol. vi.). It already possessed a model of one entirely of wood (Map.iette, La Gale'rie de VEgypte ancienne, p. 104; Maspeiio, Guide , p. 303, No. 4722). 4 Cf. the description of these pools given by Geolfroy-Saint-Hilaire in speakiug of the fahalca (Ilistoire naturelle des poissons du Nil , in the Description de VEgypte, vol. xxii. pp. 182, 183). Even at the present day the jackals come down from the mountains in the night, and regale themselves with the fish left on the ground by the gradual drying up of these ponds. 5 Bas-relief in the temple of Luxor, from a photograph taken by Insiuger in 1886. c The building of this kind of canoe is represented in the tomb of Ptahhotpu (Dcmichen, Besultate der archdologisch-photographisclien Expedition, vol. i. pi. viii.). HUNTING AND FISHING. 61 for a rainy (lay.1 2 3 Like the river, the desert had its perils and its resources. Only too frequently, the lion, the leopard, the panther, and other large felidce were met with there. The nobles, like the Pharaohs of later FISHING IN THE MARSHES: TWO FISH SrEARED AT ONE STROKE OF THE HARPOON.2 times, regarded as their privilege or duty the stalking and destroying of these animals, pursuing them even to their dens. The common people preferred attacking the gazelle, the oryx, the mouflon sheep, the ibex, the FISHING IN THE RIVER: LIFTING A TRAP.3 wild ox, and the ostrich, and did not disdain more humble game, such as the porcupine and long-eared hare: nondescript packs, in which the jackal and the hyena ran side by side with the wolf-dog and the lithe Abyssinian grey- 1 For the yearly value of the ancient fisheries, see Herodotus, ii. 140 (cf. iii. 01); Diodorus. i. 52. On the system of farm rents in use at the beginning of the century, cf. Michaud, Corrc- spondance d’ Orient, vol. vi. letter 156; and Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, 2nd edit, vol ii pp. 124-126. 2 Isolated figure from a great fishing scene in the tomb of Khnumhotph at Beni-Hasan; drawn by Faucher-Gudin after Rosellini, Monuments Civili, pi. xsv. 1. 3 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from squeezes from the tomb of Ti. G2 THE NILE AND EH Y1‘T. hound, scented and retrieved for their master the prey which he had pierced with his arrows.1 At times a hunter, returning with the dead body of the HUNTING IN Till: MARSHES: ENCOUNTERING AND SPEARING A HIPPOPOTAMUS.2 mother, would be followed by one of her young; or a gazelle, but slightly wounded, would be taken to the village and healed of its hurt. Such animals, by daily contact with man, were gradually tamed, and formed about his dwelling a motley flock, kept partly for his pleasure and mostly for his profit, and becoming in case of necessity a ready stock of provisions.4 Efforts ' On Egyptian dogs, see Rosellini, Monumenli Civili , vol. i. pp. 197-202 ; Fr. Lenormant, Les Animaux employ * par les anciens Egyptiens a la chasse et a la guerre, in Premieres Civilisations, vol i. p. 313, et seq. ; Birch, The Tablet of Antefaa II., in the Transactions of the Society of Biblical Arclieeology, vol. iv. pp. 172-195. 2 Tomb of Ti. Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Dumichen, Besultate, vol. ii. pi. x. 3 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a painting at Beni-Hasan, Lepsius, Denhm., ii. 130. i In the same way, before the advent of Europeans, the half-civilized tribes of North America used to keep about their huts whole flocks of different animals, which were tame, but not domesticated (Etppekt, Kulturgeschichte Her Menschheit, vol. i. pp. 481. 48;>). THE LASSO AND THE BOLA. 63 PACK FROM THE TOMB OF PTAHHOTPOC." were therefore made to enlarge this flock, and the wish to procure animals without seriously injuring them, caused the Egyptians to use the net lor birds and the lasso and the bola for quadrupeds,1 * 3 — weapons less brutal than the arrow and the javelin. The bola was made by them of a single rounded stone, attached to a strap about five yards in length. The stone once thrown, the cord twisted round the legs, muzzle, or neck of the animal pursued, and by the attachment thus made the pursuer, using all his strength, was enabled to bring the beast down half strangled. The lasso has no stone attached to it, but a noose prepared beforehand, and the skill ol the hunter consists in throwing it round the neck of his victim while running. They caught indifferently, without distinction of size or kind, all that chance brought within their reach. The daily chase kept up these half- tamed flocks of gazelles, wild goats, water-bucks, storks, and os- triches, and their numbers are reckoned by hundreds on the monuments of the ancient empire.4 Experience alone taught the hunter to distinguish between CATCHING ANIMALS WITH THE BOLA.' 1 Hunting with the bola is constantly represented in the paintings both of the Memphite and Theban periods. Wilkinson ( Manners and Customs, 2nd edit., vol. ii. p. 87, f. 352, 353) has con- founded it with lasso-hunting, and his mistake has been reproduced by other Egyptologists (Erman, JEgypten, p. 332). Lasso-hunting is seen in Lepsius, Dcnlcm., ii. 90, in Dumichen, Besultate, vol. i. pi. viii., and particularly in the numerous sacrificial scenes where the king is supposed to be capturing the bull of the north or south, previous to offering it to the god (Makiette, Abydos, vol. i. pi. 53). For the terms bola and lasso hunting, ef. Maspero, Notes au jour le jour, §§ 4 and 9, in the Pro- ceedings of the Biblical Archaeological Society, 1890-91, vol. xii. pp. 310, and 427-429. - Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a bas-relief of Ptalihotpou (Dumichen, Ilesullate, vol. i. pi. ix.). The dogs on the upper level are of liyenoid type, those ou the lower are Abyssiniau grey- hounds. 3 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a bas-relief of Ptalihotpou (Dumichen, Besultate, vol. i. pi. viii.). Above are seen two porcupines, the foremost of which, emerging from his hole, has seized a grass- hopper. * As the tombs of the ancient empire show us numerous flocks of gazelles, antelopes, and storks, feeding under the care of shepherds, Fr. Leuormant concluded that the Egyptians of early times had succeeded in domesticating some species, nowadays rebels to restraint {Les Premieres Civilisations, vol. i. pp. 323-328). It is my belief that the animals represented were tamed, hut not domesticated, THE NILE AND EGYPT. 64 those species from which he could draw profit, and others whose wildness made them impossible to domesticate. The subjection of the most useful kinds had not been finished when the historic period opened. The ass, the sheep, and the goat were already domesticated, but the pig was still out in the marshes in a semi-wild state, under the care of special herdsmen,1 and the religious rites preserved the remembrance of the times in which the ox was so little tamed, that in order to capture while grazing the animals needed for sacrifice or for slaughter, it was necessary to use the lasso.2 Europeans are astonished to meet nowadays whole peoples who make use of herbs and plants whose flayour and properties are nauseating to us : these are mostly so many legacies from a remote past with which the Berbers rub their limbs, and with which the fellakin of Port Said season their bread and vegetables, was preferred before all others by the Egyptians of the Pha- raonic age for anointing the body and for culinary use.4 They had begun by eating indiscriminately every kind of fruit which the country produced. Many of these, when their therapeutic virtues had been learned by experience, were gradually banished as articles of food, and their use restricted to medicine ; others fell into aud were the result of great hunting expeditious in the desert. The facts which Lenormant brought forward to support his theory may be used against him. For instance, the fawn of the gazelle nourished by its mother (Lepsius, Denltm., ii. 12) does not prove that it was bred in captivity; the gazelle may have been caught before calving, or just after the birth of its young. The fashion of keeping flocks of animals taken from the desert died out between the XIIth and XVIIIth dynasties. At the time of the new empire, they had only one or two solitary animals as pets for women or children, the mummies of which were sometimes buried by the side of their mistresses (Maspero, Guide du Visiteur au muege de Boulaq, p. 327, No. 5220). 1 The hatred of the Egyptians for the pig (Herodotus, ii. 47) is attributed to mythological motives (Naville, Le Chapitre CXII du Livre des Morts, in the Etudes arcligologiques dgdides a M. le Dr. G. Leemans, pp. 75-77). Lippert ( Kulturgeschichte , vol. i. p. 545, et seq.) thinks this antipathy did not exist in Egypt in primitive times. At the outset the pig would have been the principal food of the people ; then, like the dog in other regions, it must have been replaced at the table by animals of a higher order — gazelles, sheep, goats, oxen — and would have thus fallen into contempt. To the excellent reasons given by Lippert could be added others drawn from the study of the Egyptian myths, to prove that the pig has often been highly esteemed. Thus, Isis is represented, down to late times, under the form of a sow, and a sow, whether followed or not by her young, is one of the amulets placed in the tomb with the deceased, to secure for him the protection of the goddess (Maspero, Guide du Visiteur, p. 273, No. 4155). 2 Mariette, Abydos (vol. i. pi. 48 6, 53). To prevent the animal from evading the lasso and escaping during the sacrifice, its right hind foot was fastened to its left horn. 3 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a painting in a Theban tomb of the XVIIIth dynasty. 4 I have often been obliged, from politeness, when dining with the native agents appointed by the European powers at Port Sa'id, to eat salads and mayonnaise sauces flavoured with castor-oil; the taste was not so disagreeable as might be at first imagined. ; for example, castor-oil, A SWINEHERD AND HIS TIGS.3 PLANTS USED FOR FOOD. 65 disuse, and only reappeared at sacrifices, or at funeral feasts ; several varieties continue to be eaten to the present time — the acid fruits of the nabeca and of the carob tree, the astringent figs of the sycamore, the insipid pulp of the dom-palm, besides those which are pleasant to our Western palates, such as the THE EGYPTIAN LOTUS.1 common fig and the date. The vine flourished, at least in Middle and Lower Egypt ; from time immemorial the art of making wine from it was known, and even the most ancient monuments enumerate half a dozen famous brands, red or white.1 2 Vetches, lupins, beans, chick-peas, lentils, onions, fenugreek,3 the bamia,4 the meloukhia,5 the arum colocasia,6 all grew wild in the fields, and the river itself supplied its quota of nourishing plants. Two of the species of lotus 1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin from the Description de VEgypte, Histoire Naturf.lle, pi. 61. - On the wines of Egypt under the Pharaohs, cf. Brugsch, Reise nach der Grossen Oase el-Kliargeh, pp. 90-93. The four kinds of canonical wine, brought respectively from the north, south, east, and west of the country, formed part of the official repast and of the wine-cellar of the deceased from remote antiquity. 3 All these species have been found in the tombs and identified by savants in archaeological botany — Kunth, Unger, Schweinfurth (Loret, La Flore Pharaonique, pp. 17, 40, 42, 43, Nos. 33, 97, 102, 104, 105, 106). 4 The bamia, Hibiscus esculentus, L., is a plant of the family of the Malvaccfe, having a fruit of five divisions, covered with prickly hairs, and containing round, white, soft seeds, slightly sweet, but astringent in taste, and very mucilaginous (S. de Sacy, Relation de VEgypte par Abd-Alhitif, pp. 16, 37-40). It figures on the monuments of Pharaonic times (Rosellini, Monumenti civili, pi. xxxix. 3, and text, vol. i. pp. 380, 381 ; cf. Wcenig, Die Pflanzen im Alten JEgypten, pp. 219, 220). 5 The meloukhia, Corchorus Olitorius, L., is a plant belonging to the Tilliaceie, which is chopped up and cooked much the same as endive is with us, but which few Europeans can eat, owing to the mucilage it contains (S. de Lacy, Relation de VEgypte par Abd-Allatif, pp. 16, 17, 40-42). Theo- phrastus says it was celebrated for its bitterness ( Historia Plant., vii. 7); it was used as food, however, in the Greek town of Alexandria (Pliny, H. N., xxi. 15, 32). 6 The colocasia, Arum colocasia, L., is mentioned in Pliny (IT. N., xix. 5; xxiv. 16) among the vegetables of Egypt : the root, cooked in water, is still eaten at the present day. F 6fi THE NILE AND EGYPT. which grew in the Nile, the white and the blue, have seed-vessels similar to those of the poppy : the capsules contain small grains of the size of millet- seed. The fruit of the pink lotus “ grows on a different stalk from that of the flower, and springs directly from the root; it resembles a honeycomb in form,’ or, to take a more prosaic simile, the rose of a watering-pot. The upper part has twenty or thirty cavities, “ each containing a seed as big as an olive stone, and pleasant to eat either fresh or dried.” 1 This is what the ancients called the bean of Egypt.2 “ The yearly shoots of the papyrus are also gathered. After pulling them up in the marshes, the points are cut off and rejected, the part remaining being about a cubit in length. It is eaten as a delicacy and is sold in the markets, but those who are fastidious partake of it only after baking.”3 Twenty different kinds of grain and fruits, prepared by crushing between two stones, are kneaded and baked to furnish cakes or bread ; these are often mentioned in the texts as cakes of nabeca, date cakes, and cakes of figs. Lily loaves, made from the roots and seeds of the lotus, were the delight of the gourmand, and appear on the tables of the kings of the XIXth dynasty ; 4 bread and cakes made of cereals formed the habitual food of the people.5 Durrah is of African origin; it is the “ grain of the South” of the inscriptions.6 On the other hand, it is supposed that wheat and six-rowed barley came from the region of the Euphrates ; they are still found there growing wild, and thence they have spread over the.w'orld.7 Egypt was among the first to procure and cultivate them.8 The soil there is so kind to 1 Herodotus, ii. 92. The root of two species of lotus is still held in much esteem by the half- savage inhabitants of Lake Menzaleh, but they prefer that of the Nymphxa Cxrulea (Savary, Lettres sur VEgypte, vol. i. p. 8, note 8; Eaffeneau-Delile, Flore dEgypte, in the Description, vol. xix. p. 425). - Diodorus Siculus, i. 10, 34; Theophrastus, Hist. PI, iv. 10; Strabo, xvii. 799. 3 Herodotus, ii. 92. On the papyrus of Egypt in general, and on its uses, whether as an edible or otherwise, see Fr. Wcenig, Die Pflanzen in Alten ASgypten, pp. 74-129. 4 Tin, which is the most ancient word for bread, appears in early times to have been used for every kind of paste, whether made with fruits or grain ; the more modern word aqu applies specially to bread made from cereals. The lily loaves are mentioneJ in the Papyrus Anastasi., No. 4, p. 14, 1. 1. 5 From the Ancient Empire downwards, the rations of the workmen were distributed in corn or in loaves. The long flat loaf res? i is, moreover, the principal offering brought for the dead ; another oval loaf 6 with a jar of water is the determinative for the idea of funeral repast 4 which shows that its use dates from early prehistoric times in Egypt. 6 The African origin of the common durrah, Holcus Sorghum, L., is admitted by E. de Candolle, Urigine des plantes cultivates, pp. 305-307. Its seeds have been found in the tombs (Loret, La Flore Pharaonique, p. 12, No. 20), and a representation of it in the Theban paintings (Rosellini, Monu- mcnti civili, pi. xxxvi. 2, and text, vol. i. p. 3G1, et seq.). I have found it mentioned under the name of dirati in the Papyrus Anastasi, No. iv., p. 13, 1. 12; p. 17, 1. 4. 7 Wheat, suo, is the corn of the north of the inscriptions. Barley is iati, ioti. On the Asiatic origin of wheat, see E. de Candolle, Origine des plantes cultic&es, pp. 285-288; his conclusions appear to me insufficiently supported by fact. The Semitic name of wheat is found under the form kamhu in the Pyramids (Maspero, La Pyramidc du roi TCti, in the Eecueil, vol. v. p. 10). 8 The position which wheat and barley occupy in the lists of offerings, proves the antiquity of their existence in Egypt. Mariette found specimens of barley in the tombs of the Ancient Empire TEE HOE AND TEE PLOUGE. 67 THE EGYPTIAN IIOE.- man, that in many places no agricultural toil is required. As soon as the water of the Nile retires, the ground is sown without previous preparation, and the grain, falling straight into the mud, grows as vigorously as in the best-ploughed fur- rows.1 Where the earth is hard it is neces- sary to break it up, but the extreme simplicity of the instruments with which this was done shows what a feeble resistance it offered. For a long time the hoe sufficed ; a hoe composed of two pieces of wood of unequal length, united at one of their extremities, and held together towards the middle by a slack cord : the plough, when first invented, was but a slightly enlarged hoe, drawn by oxen.3 The cultivation of cereals, once established on the banks of the Nile, developed, from earliest times, to such a degree as to sup- plant all else: hunting, fish- ing, the rearing of cattle, occupied but a secondary place compared with agri- culture, and Egypt became, that which she still remains, a vast granary of wheat. The part of the valley first cultivated was from Gebel Silsileh to the apex of the Delta.5 Between the Libyan and Arabian ranges it presents a slightly PLOUGHING.'' at Saqqarah (Sciiweinfurth, Notice stir les restes de vdgdtaux de VAncienne Egypte contenus dans tine armoire du musde de Boulaq, in the Bulletin de VInstitut Egyptien, 2nd series, vol. v. p. 4). 1 P.-S. Girard, MCmoire stir V Agriculture, l’ Industrie et le Commerce de V Egypte, in the Description de VEgypte, vol. xviii. p. 49. 2 Bas-relief from the tomb of Ti ; drawn by Faucher-Gudiu, from a photograph by Emil Brugsch-Bey. 3 Costaz, Grottes d'Ele'tliyia, in the Description de VEgypte, vol. vi. p. 105 ; Maspero, Etudes Egyptiennes, vol. ii. pp. 68-71. 4 Bas-relief from the tomb of Ti ; drawn by Faucher-Gudiu, from a photograph by Emil Brugsch-Bey. 5 This was the tradition of all the ancients. Herodotus related that, according to the Egyptians, the whole of Egypt, with the exception of the Theban nome, was a vast swamp previous to the time of Menes (Herodotus, ii. 4). Aristotle ( Meteorolog ., i. xiv.) adds that the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, and the area now occupied by the Delta, formed one sea. Gf. pp. 3-5 of this volume, on the formation of the Delta. 68 THE NILE AND EGYPT. convex surface, furrowed lengthways by a depression, in the bottom of which the Nile is gathered and enclosed when the inundation is over. In the summer, as soon as the river had risen higher than the top of its banks, the water rushed by the force of gravity towards the lower lands, hollowing in its course long channels, some of which never completely dried up, even when the Nile reached its lowest level.1 Cultivation was easy in the neighbourhood of these natural reservoirs, but everywhere else the movements of the river were rather injurious than advantageous to man. The inundation scarcely ever covered the higher ground in the valley, which therefore remained unpro- ductive ; it flowed rapidly over the lands of medium elevation, and moved so sluggishly in the hollows that they became weedy and stagnant pools.2 In any year the portion not watered by the river was invaded by the sand : from the lush vegetation of a hot country, there was but one step to absolute aridity. At the present day an ingeniously established system of irrigation allows the agriculturist to direct and distribute the overflow according to his needs. From Gebel Ain to the sea, the Nile and its principal brauckes are bordered by long dykes, which closely follow the windings of the river and furnish sufficiently stable embankments. Numerous canals lead off to right and left, directed more or less obliquely towards the confines of the valley ; they are divided at intervals by fresh dykes, starting at the one side from the river, and ending on the other either at the Bahr Yusuf or at the rising of the desert. Some of these dykes protect one district only, and consist merely of a bank of earth ; others command a large extent of territory, and a breach in them would entail the ruin of an entire province. These latter are some- times like real ramparts, made of crude brick carefully cemented ; a few, as at Qoskeisk, have a core of hewn stones, which later generations have covered with masses of brickwork, and strengthened with constantly renewed buttresses of earth. They wind across the plain with many unexpected and apparently aimless turns; on closer examination, however, it may be seen that this irregularity is not to be attributed to ignorance or caprice. Experience had taught the Egyptians the art of picking out, upon the almost imperceptible relief of the soil, the easiest lines to use against the inundation : of these they have followed carefully the sinuosities, and if the course of the dykes appears singular, it is to be ascribed to the natural configuration of the ground. Subsidiary embankments thrown up between the principal ones, and parallel 1 The whole description of the damage which can be done by the Nile in places where the inundation is not regulated, is borrowed from Linant de Bellefonds, Memo! re sur les principaux travaux d’utilite publique, p. 3. 2 This physical configuration of the country explains the existence at a veiy early date of those gigantic serpents which I have already mentioned ; cf. p. 33, note 5, of this History. DYKES, BASINS, IRRIGATION. 69 to the Nile, separate the higher ground bordering the river from the low lands on the confines of the valley ; they divide the larger basins into smaller divisions of varying area, in which the irrigation is regulated by means of special trenches.1 As long as the Nile is falling, the dwellers on its banks leave their canals in free communication with it ; but they dam them up towards the end of the winter, just before the return of the inundation, and do not reopen them till early in August, when the new flood is at its height. The waters then flowing in by the trenches are arrested by the nearest trans- verse dyke and spread over the fields. When they have stood there long enough to saturate the ground, the dyke is pierced, and they pour into the next basin until they are stopped by a second dyke, which in its turn forces them again to spread out on either side. This operation is renewed from dyke to dyke, till the valley soon becomes a series of artificial ponds, ranged one above another, and flowing one into another from Gebel Silsileh to the apex of the Delta. In autumn, the mouth of each ditch is dammed up anew, in order to prevent the mass of water from flowing back into the stream. The transverse dykes, which have been cut in various places, are also repaired, and the basins become completely landlocked, separated by narrow causeways. In some places, the water thus imprisoned is so shallow that it is soon absorbed by the soil ; in others, it is so deep, that after it has been kept in for several weeks, it is necessary to let it run off into a neighbouring depression, or straight into the river itself.2 History has left us no account of the vicissitudes of the struggle in which the Egyptians were engaged with the Nile, nor of the time expended in bring- ing it to a successful issue. Legend attributes the idea of the system and its partial working out to the god Osiris : 3 then Menes, the first mortal king, is said to have made the dyke of Qosheish, on which depends the prosperity of the Delta 4 and Middle Egypt, and the fabulous Moeris is supposed to have extended the blessings of the irrigation to the Fayum.5 In reality, the 1 The first precise information about the arrangement of a basin, or a series of basins, was collected at the beginning of our century by Martin, Description gdographigue des provinces de Beni- Soueyf et du Fayoum, in the Description de VEgypte, vol. xvi. p. 6, et seq. The regulations to which the basins of Upper Egypt and of the Delta are subject has been well described by Chelu, Le Nil, le Soudan, VEgypte , p. 323, et seq. s P.-S. Girard, Mdmoire sur V Agriculture, V Industrie et le Commerce de VEgypte, in the Description de VEgypte, vol. xvii. pp. 10-13. For the technical details of the progressive filling and emptying of the basins, see again Chelu, Le Nil, le Soudan, VEgypte, pp. 325-333. 3 Diod. Siculus, i. 19, who borrowed this information from the hymns of the Alexandrine period. 4 Bunsen, Egypt’s Place in the World’s Story, vol. ii. p. 41, interpreting a passage of Herodotus (ii. 91), thinks that it was the dyke of Qosheish, the construction of which the Egyptians attributed to Menes. 5 Herodotus, ii. 150, 149, where it is useless to seek to identify an actual Pharaoh with Moeris, 70 THE NILE AND EGYPT. regulation of the inundation and the making of cultivable land are the work of unrecorded generations who peopled the valley. The kings of the historic period had only to maintain and develop certain points of what had already been done, and Upper Egypt is to this day chequered by the network of waterways with which its earliest inhabitants covered it. The work must have begun simultaneously at several points, without previous agreement, and, as it were, instinctively. A dyke protecting a village, a canal draining or watering some small province, demanded the efforts of but few indi- viduals ; then the dykes would join one another, the canals would be pro- longed till they met others, and the work undertaken by chance would be improved, and would spread with the concurrence of an ever-increasing BOATMEN FIGHTING ON A CANAL COMMUNICATING WITH THE NILE.1 population. What happened at the end of last century, shows us that the system grew and was developed at the expense of considerable quarrels and bloodshed. The inhabitants of each district carried out the part of the work most conducive to their own interest, seizing the supply of water, keeping it and discharging it at pleasure, without considering whether they were injuring their neighbours by depriving them of their supply or by flooding them ; hence arose perpetual strife and fighting. It became imperative that the rights of the weaker should be respected, and that the system of distribution should be co-ordinated, for the country to accept a beginning at least of social organization analogous to that which it acquired later: the Nile thus determined the political as well as the physical constitution of Egypt.2 The country was divided among communities, whose members were supposed to be descended from the same seed (fait) and to belong to the same 1 Bas-relief from the tomb of Ti ; drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by E. Brugsch-Bey. 2 For the state of the irrigation service at the beginning of our century, and for the differences which arose between the villages over the distribution of the water, and on the manner in which the supply was cut off, see P.-S. Girard, Memoire sur V Agriculture, V Industrie et le Commerce de V Kgypte, in the Description de V JCgypte, vol. xvii. p. 13, et seq. ; for the present legislation, see Ghelu, Le Nil, le Soudan, VEgypte , pp. 308-321, 482, et seq. TEE FRINGES OF TEE NOMES. family (pditu1): the chiefs of them were called ropditu , the guardians, or pastors of the family, and in later times their name became a title applicable to the nobility in general. Families combined and formed groups of various importance under the authority of a head chief — ropaitu-lid .2 They were, in fact, hereditary lords, dis- pensing justice, levying taxes in kind on their subordinates, reserving to themselves the redistribution of land, lead- ing their men to battle, and sacrificing to the gods.3 The territories over which they exercised authority formed small states, whose boundaries even now, in some places, can be pointed out with certainty. The principality of the Tere- binth 4 occupied the very heart of Egypt, where the valley is widest, and the course of the Nile most advantage- ously disposed by nature — a country well suited to be the cradle of an infant civilization. A GREAT EGYPTIAN LORD, TI, AND HIS WIFE." Slant (Siut), the capital, is built almost at the foot of the Libyan range, on a strip of land barely a mile in width, which 1 The word pditu 1ms been interpreted by M. Lepage-Benouf ( Proceedings of the Biblical Archaeo- logical Society, 1887-88, x. p. 77) to signify “tbe dead, past generations.” The sense indicated in the test was proposed by Maspero ( Etudes Egyptiennes, vol. ii. p. 15, et seq.) and afterwards adopted by Brugsch ( Die JEgyptologie, p. 291). 2 These titles have been explained by Maspero ( Etudes Egyptiennes, vol. ii. pp. 15-19, and Notes au jour le jour, § 25, in the Proceedings of the Biblical Archaeological Society. 1891-92, vol xiv. p. 314; of. Piehl, in the Becueil de Travaux, vol. i. p. 133, n. 1, and Zeitschi if t, 1883, p. 128). 3 These prerogatives were still exercised by the princes of the nomes under tho Middle and Xew Empires (Maspero, La Grande Inscription de Beni-Hassan, in the Becueil, vol. i. pp. 179-181); they only enjoyed them then by the good will of the reigning sovereign. 4 The Egyptian word for the tree which gives its name to this principality is atf, iatf, iotf : it is only by a process of elimination that I have come to identify it with the Pistacia Terebinthus, L.. which furnished the Egyptians with the scented resiu sniitir (Loret, La Flore pharaoniqne, p. 44. Xo. 110). 3. Drawn by Faueher-Gudin, from a photograph by Dimichen, Besultate, vol. ii. pi. vii. 72 THE NILE AND EGYPT. separates the river from the hills. A canal surrounds it on three sides, and makes, as it were, a natural ditch about its walls; during the inundation it is connected with the mainland only by narrow causeways — shaded with mimosas — and looking like a raft of verdure aground in the current.* 1 The site is as happy as it is pictur- esque ; not only does the town command the two arms of the river, opening or closing the waterway at will, but from time imme- morial the most frequented of the routes into Central Africa has terminated at its gates, bringing to it the commerce of the Soudan. It held sway, at the out- set, over both banks, from range to range, northward as far as Deyrut, where the true Bahr Yusuf leaves the Nile, and southward to the neighbourhood of Gebel Sheikh Haridi. The extent and original number of the other principalities is not so easily determined. The most important, to the north of Sint, were those of the Hare and the Oleander. The principality of the Hare never reached the dimen- sions of that of its neighbour the Terebinth, but its chief town was Khmunu, whose antiquity was so remote, that a universally accepted tradition made it the scene of the most important acts of creation.2 That of the Oleander, 1 Boudier’s drawing, reproduced on p. 25, and taken from a pliotograph by Beato, gives most faithfully the aspect presented by the plain and the modern town of Siout during the inundation. 2 Khmunu, the present Ash mfinetn, is the Hermopolis of the Greeks, the town of the god Thot. pN, - \ I j!|Nome of the Knife \ .? /(li'iuiu.o ui uu, jviujc jC&ifeUe (A&°P°US) diftriiiZr, v l r** V rurtcuaz^ iJayrrhyncJios ' SaAnaJh^ A ( Cyncpohp,Ek K ’ Theodosia,,-. %. ' Y> ojrujit ^■S'crrujnP'jTX 'Fcsu-AC f-Peshib) )°ILq1>otiu/ (Bipponos, EL -IfibeAv, / yi '£‘/az2jc£ (SharronaJv?) p 0Hd, - sutorv ( Sheikh Faiil ?) (Jl esu> Masuir) J ^w\( QJ ■■■ v fi-l gtAJcnom, / J zirarieh) \%a,-Te/isu. (AJcoris, TeAsicA) ff.il> onus (Hfiniehf (Kom cl-Ahrruu') no^Sazelle p fBenbUassan) ( (Speas ArtcrrUdos) ''U ^Abshndrhj '\o'Bisp (Aniinor, Shaikh- A badeh. > w..-; —-i; f Eermopolis AfciprxxL ^AisruzJzczL^J ^ -lellazu,/ EaioruZ f PsisuLulcsjEL -Amarnaf Lower fZycopoliA.S 'SiiWSeiTent b dj[i k \r* X >«S=Qujarries cf aZnlnZsZie. ’ > K?TI!.« v 17 . Ifuit nil BazihiL f 11 icracnn polls} ~%$g{ tKe dpii J/ft/pscle, dhoti} (ountaiiiL DCu-Qca! NOMES of MIDDLE EGYPT vf Notti e Scale L Thuillier.del'V pphTo&PoUp of u rt “Solfil. jtp&(Pcuu,po&p%~i /Vashi (PtoUmais . MeV-j- 3lE.of Greenwich THE EARLIEST PRINCIPALITIES. 73 on the contrary, was even larger than that of the Terebinth, and from Hininsu, its chief governor ruled alike over the marshes of the Fayum and the plains of Beni-Suef.1 To the south, Apu on the right bank governed a district so closely shut in between a bend of the Nile and two spurs of the range, that its limits have never varied much since ancient times. Its inhabitants were divided in their employment be- tween weaving and the culture of cereals. From early times they possessed the privilege of furnish- ing clothing to a large part of Egypt, and their looms, at the present day, still make those checked or striped “ melayahs ” which the fellah women wear over their long blue tunics.2 Beyond Apu, Thinis, the Girgeh of the Arabs, situate on both banks of the river, rivalled Khmunu in antiquity and Siut in wealth : its plains still produce the richest harvests and feed the most numerous herds of sheep and oxen in the Said. As we approach the cataract, information becomes scarcer. Qubti For tlie geography of the nome of the Hare, of which it is the capital, see Maspebo, Notes au jour le jour, § 19, in the Proceedings of the Biblical Archseological Society, 1891-92, vol. xiv. pp. 187-204. 1 HininsO is the Heracleopolis Magna of the Greeks, the present Henassich, called also Ahnas-cl- Mcdiueb. The Egyptian word for the tre9 which gives its name to this principality, is Naiut (DijincHEN, Geschichte AEgyptens, pp. 209, 210). Loret has shown that this tree, Narit, is the oleander (Sur Varbre Narou des anciens Egyptiens, in the Recueil de Travaux, vol. xv. p. 102). - Apft was the Panopolis or Chemmis of the Greeks, the town of the god Min or ithyphallic KliimO (Brugsch, Dictionnaire geographique, pp. 575, 1380). Its manufactures of linen are mentioned by Strabo (xvii. p. 813) ; the majority of the beautiful Coptic woven fabrics and embroideries which have been brought to Europe lately, come from the necropolis of the Arab period at Apft. L.Thuiilitr, del1 THE NILE AND EGYPT. 74 and Aunu of the South, the Coptos and Hermonthis of the Greeks, shared peaceably the plain occupied later on by Thebes and its temples, and Ne- khabit and Zobu watched over the safety of Egypt.1 Nekhabit soon lost its position as a frontier town, and that portion of Nubia lying between Gebel Silsileli and the rapids of Syene formed a kind of border province, of which Nubit-Ombos was the principal sanctuary aud Abu-Elephantine the fortress : 2 beyond this were the barbarians, and those inaccessible regions whence the Nile descended upon our earth. The organization of the Delta, it would appear, was more slowly brought about. It must have greatly resembled that of the lowlands of Equatorial Africa, towards the confluence of the Bahr el Abiad and the Bahr el Ghazal. Great tracts of mud, difficult to describe as either solid or liquid, marshes dotted here and there with sandy islets, bristling with papyrus reeds, water-lilies, and enormous plants through which the arms of the Nile sluggishly pushed their ever-shifting course, low-lying wastes intersected with streams and pools, unfit for cultivation and scarcely available for pasturing cattle.3 The popula- tion of such districts, engaged in a ceaseless struggle with nature, always preserved relatively ruder manners, and a more rugged and savage character, impatient of all authority. The conquest of this region began from the outer edge only. A few principalities were established at the apex of the Delta in localities where the soil had earliest been won from the river. It appears that one of these divisions embraced the country south of and between the bifurca- tion of the Nile: Aunu of the North, the Heliopolis of the Greeks, was its capital. In very early times the principality was divided, and formed three new states, independent of each other. Those of Aunu and the Haunch were opposite to each other, the first on the Arabian, the latter on the Libyan bank of the Nile. The district of the White Wall marched with that of the Haunch on the north, and on the south touched the territory of the Oleander. Further down the river, between the more important branches, the governors of Sais and of Bubastis, of Athribis and of Busiris, shared among themselves the primitive Delta.4 Two frontier provinces of unequal size, the Arabian on 1 Nukhabit, Nekhabit. the hieroglyphic name of which was first correctly read by M. de Kouge (Cours profest&au College de France, 1869), is el-Kab, the Eilithyia of the Greeks (Bkugsch, Didion- naire Ge'ugrapMque, pp. 351-353), and Zobu, Edlu, Apollinopolis Magna (Bkugsch, Diclionnaire Ge'ograpltique, pp. 921, 922). 2 The nome of Elephantine was called Khontit, the advanced, the point of Egypt (Lepsius, Der Bogen in der IJieroglyphilc, in the Zeitsclirift, 1872, pp. 86-88 ; cf. Bkugsch, Die Biblisclien sieben Jahre der Hungermotli, p. 26, et seq.). 3 All the features of this description are taken from notes of my travels; it is the aspect presented in those districts of the Delta where the artificial regulation of the water has completely disappeared owing to the inveterate negligence of the central government. 4 See p. 4 of this volume for the description of this primitive Delta. COM PA RATI VEL Y LATE DIVISION OF THE DELTA. 75 the east in the Wady Tumilat, and the Libyan on the west to the south of Lake Mareotis, defended the approaches of the country from the attacks of Asiatic Bedawins and of African nomads. The marshes of the interior and the dunes of the littoral, were not conducive to the development of any great industry or civilization. They only comprised tracts of thinly populated country, like the principalities of the Harpoon and of the Cow, and others whose limits varied from century to century with the changing course of the river. The work of L Thuilliei* del* rendering the marshes salubrious and of digging canals, whicli had been so successful in the Nile Valley, was less efficacious in the Delta, and proceeded more slowly. Here the embankments were not supported by a mountain chain: they were continued at random across the marshes, cut at every turn to admit the waters of a canal or of an arm of the river. The waters left their usual bed at the least disturbing influence, and made a fresh course for themselves across country. If the inundation were delayed, the soft and badly drained soil again became a slough : should it last but a few weeks longer than usual, the 76 THE NILE AND EGYPT. work of several generations was for a long time undone. The Delta of one epoch rarely presented the same aspect as that of previous periods, and Northern Egypt never became as fully mistress of her soil as the Egypt of the south.1 These first principalities, however small they appear to us, were yet too large to remain undivided. In those times of slow communication, the strong attraction which a capital exercised over the provinces under its authority did not extend over a wude radius. That part of the population of the Terebinth, living sufficiently near to Siut to come into the town for a few hours in the morning, returning in the evening to the villages when business was done, would not feel any desire to withdraw from the rule of the prince who governed there. On the other hand, those who lived outside that restricted circle were forced to seek elsewhere some places of assembly to attend the administration of justice, to sacrifice in common to the national gods, and to exchange the produce of the fields and of local manufactures. Those towns which had the good fortune to become such rallying-points naturally played the part of rivals to the capital, and their chiefs, with the district whose population, so to speak, gravitated around them, tended to become independent of the prince. When they succeeded in doing this, they often preserved for the new state thus created, the old name, slightly modified by the addition of an epithet. The primitive territory of Siut was in this way divided into three distinct communities ; two, which remained faithful to the old emblem of the tree — the Upper Terebinth, with Siut itself in the centre, and the Lower Terebinth, with Kusit, to the north ; the third, in the south and east, took as their totem the immortal serpent which dwelt in their mountains, and called themselves the Serpent Mountain, whose chief town was that of the Sparrow Hawk. The territory of the Oleander produced by its dismemberment the principality of the Upper Oleander, that of the Lower Oleander, and that of the Knife. The territory of the Harpoon in the Delta divided itself into the Western and Eastern Harpoon.2 The fission in most cases could not have been accomplished without struggles ; but it did take place, and all the prin- cipalities having a domain of any considerable extent had to submit to it, however they may have striven to avoid it. This parcelling out was continued as circumstances afforded opportunity, until the whole of Egypt, except the 1 For the geography of the Delta, consult the work of J. de Rouge, Geographic ancienne de la Basse-Bgypte, 1891, in which are brought together, discussed, and carefully co-ordinated, the in- formation scattered about in alphabetical order in the admirable Didionnaire Geographigue of Brugsch. 2 J. de Rouge, Geographic ancienne de la Basse-Egypte, pp. 30-56. THE OOD OF TnE NOME. 77 half desert districts about the cataract, became but an agglomeration of petty states nearly equal in power and population.1 The Greeks called them nomes, and we have borrowed the word from them ;2 the natives named them in several ways, the most ancient term being “ nuit,” which may be translated domain ,3 and the most common appellation in recent times being “ hospu,” which signifies district .4 The number of the nomes varied considerably in the course of centuries : the hieroglyphic monu- ments and classical authors fixed them sometimes at thirty -six, sometimes at forty, sometimes at forty-four, or even fifty. The little that we know of their history, up to the present time, explains the reason of this variation. Ceaselessly quarrelled over by the princely families who possessed them, the nomes were alternately humbled and exalted by civil wars, marriages, and conquest, which caused them continually to pass into fresh hands, either entire or divided. The Egyptians, whom we are accustomed to consider as a people respecting the established order of things, and conservative of ancient tra- dition, showed themselves as restless and as prone to modify or destroy the work of the past, as the most inconstant of our modern nations. The distance of time which separates them from us, and the almost complete absence of documents, gives them an appearance of immobility, by which we are liable to be unconsciously deceived ; when the monuments still existing shall have been unearthed, their history will present the same complexity of incidents, the same agitations, the same instability, which we suspect or know to have been characteristic of most other Oriental nations. One thing alone remained stable among them in the midst of so many revolutions, and which prevented them from losing their individuality and from coalescing in a common unity. This was the belief in and the worship of one particular deity. If the little capitals of the petty states whose origin is lost in a remote past — Edfu and Denderah, Nekhabit and Buto, Siut, Thinis, Khmunu, Sa'is, Bubastis, Athribis — had only possessed that importance which resulted from the presence 1 Examples of the subdivision of ancient nomes and the creation of fresh nomes are met with long after primitive times. We find, for example, the noine of the Western Harpoon divided under the Greeks and Romans into two districts — that of the Harpoon proper, of which the chief town was Souti-nofir; and that of Ranftfir, with the Ouhphis of classical geographers fur its capital (Brugscb, Dictionnaire Ge'orjraphique, pp. 1012-1020). The definition ot the word nome, and those passages in ancient authors where it is used, will be found in Jablonski, Opuscula, ed. T. Water, vol. i. pp. 169-176. for the various meanings of this word, see Maspero, Sur le sens des mots Nuit et Ilait, in the Proceedings of the Biblical Arclixological Society, 1889-90, vol. xii. p. 236, et seq. * Brugsch, Geogr. Ins., vol. i. pp. 18-21; cf. Maspero, Etudes Egyptiennes, vol. ii. pp. 183-186. Ihe word tosh, which in the Coptic texts has replaced hospu and nuit, signified originally limit, frontier ; it is, properly speaking, the territory marhed out and limited by the stelx which belongs to a town or a village. 78 THE NILE AND EGYPT. of au ambitious petty prince, or from the wealth of their inhabitants, they would never have passed safe and sound through the long centuries of existence which they enjoyed from the opening to the close of Egyptian history. Fortune raised their chiefs, some even to the rank of rulers of the world, and in turn abased them : side by side with the earthly ruler, whose glory was but too often eclipsed, there was enthroned in each nome a divine ruler, a deity, a god of the domain, “ nutir nuiti,” whose greatness never perished. The princely families might be exiled or become extinct, the extent of the territory might diminish or increase, the town might be doubled in size and population or fall in ruins : the god lived on through all these vicissitudes, and his presence alone preserved intact the rights of the state over which he reigned as sovereign. If any disaster befell his worshippers, his temple was the spot where the survivors of the catastrophe rallied around him, their religion preventing them from mixing with the inhabitants of neighbouring towns and from becoming lost among them. The survivors multiplied with that extraordinary rapidity which is the cha- racteristic of the Egyptian fellah, and a few years of peace sufficed to repair losses which apparently were irreparable. Local religion was the tie which bound together those divers elements of which each principality was composed, and as long as it remained, the nomes remained ; when it vanished, they dis- appeared with it. THE GODS OF EGYPT. THEIR NUMBER AND NATURE — THE FEUDAL GODS, LIVING AND DEAD — TRIADS— THE TEMPLES AND PRIESTHOOD — THE COSMOGONIES OF THE DELTA — THE ENNEADS OF HELIOPOLIS AND IIERMOPOLIS. Multiplicity of the Egyptian gods : the commonalty of the gods, its varieties, human, animal, and intermediate between man and beast ; gods of foreign origin, indigenous gods, and the contradictory forms with which they were invested in accordance with various conceptions of their nature. The Star-gods — The Sun-god as the Eye of the Sky ; as a bird, as a calf, and as a man ; its barks, voyages round the woild, and encounters with the serpent Apopi — The Moon-god and its enemies — The Star -gods : the Haunch of the Ox, the Hippopotamus, the Lion, the five Horns- planets ; Sothis Sirius, ami Sah/1 Orion. The feudal gods and their classes: the Nile-gods, the earth-gods, the sky-gods and the sun-god , the Horus-gods — The equality of feudal gods and goddesses; their persons, alliances, and mar- riages : their children — The triads and their various developments. The nature of the gods: the double, the soul, the body, death of men and gods, and their fate after death— The necessity for preserving the bodg, mummification — Dead gods the gods of the dead — The living gods, their temples and images — The gods of the people, trees , serpents, family fetiches — The theory of prayer and sacrifice: the servants of the temples, the property of the gods, the sacerdotal colleges. ( 80 ) The cosmogonies of the Delta: Sibil and NAit, Osiris and Isis, Sit and Nephthys — Heliopolis and its theological schools: lid, his identification with Horns, his dual nature, and the concep- tion of AtilmA — The Heliopolitan Enneads ; formation of the Great Ennead — That and the Hermopolitan Ennead: creation by articulate words and by voice alone — Diffusion of the Enneads: their connection with the local triads, the god One and the god Eight — The one and only gods. SOLEMN SACRIFICIAL PROCESSION OF THE FATTED BULL.1 CHAPTER II. THE GODS OF EGYPT. Their number and their nature— Tho feudal gods, living and dead — The Triads— Temples and priests— The cosmogonies of tho Della—1 Tho Enneads of Heliopolis and of T[( rmopolis. mHE incredible number of religious scenes to be found among the representations on the ancient monuments of Egypt is at first glance very striking. Nearly every illustration in the works of Egyptologists brings before us the figure of some deify receiving with an impassive countenance the prayers and offerings of a worshipper. One would think that the country bad been inhabited for (be most part by gods, and contained just, sufficient men and animals to satisfy the requirements of their worship. On penetrating into this mysterious world, we are confronted by an actual rabble of gods, each one of whom has always possessed but a limited and almost unconscious existence. a function, a moment in the life of man or of the universe: thus Napiit was identified with the ripe ear, or the grain of wheat;2 1 Bas-relief from the temple of Luxor. Drawn by Eoudier, from a photograph by Bealo, taken in 1890. The two personages marching in front, carrying great bouquets, and each with an uplifted hand, are the last in a lmg procession of ti e sons of Ramoses II. The vignette, which represents King Seti I. kneeling, is also diaien by Bind if r, ar.d is from a bas-relief of the temple of Abydos. ■ The word napiit means grain, the grain of wheat (Brugsch, Did. Hieroglyph iqne, pp. 752, 753). The grain-god is represented in the temb of Seti I. (Lefebuee, Le Timhcau de Feli I ", in the They severally represented G 82 THE GODS OF EGYPT. Maskhonit appeared by THE GODDESS NAPRIT, NAPIT.3 the child’s cradle at the very moment of its birth j1 and Raninit presided over the naming and the nurture of the newly born.2 Neither Raninit, the fairy god- mother, nor Maskhonit exercised over nature as a whole that sovereign authority which we are accus- tomed to consider the primary attribute of deity. Every day of every year was passed by the one in easing the pangs of women in travail ; by the other, in choosing for each baby a name to sound auspiciously, and to serve afterwards to exorcise the influences of evil fortune. No sooner were their tasks accomplished in one place than they hastened to another, where approaching birth demanded their presence and their care. From child-bed to child-bed they passed, and if they fulfilled the single offices in which they were ac- counted adepts, the pious asked nothing more of them. Bands of mysterious cynocephali haunting the Eastern and the Western mountains concen- trated the whole of their activity on one passing moment of the day. They danced and chattered in the East for half an hour, to salute the sun at Mdmoires de la Mission Frangaise , vol. ii. part iv. pi. xxix., 2nd row; pi. xxxi., 3rd row) as a man wearing two full ears of wheat or barley upon his head. He is mentioned in the Hymn to the Nile (cf. p. 40) about the same date, and in two or three other texts of different periods. The goddess Naprit, or Napit, to whom reference is here made, was his duplicate (Burton, Excerpta ILieroglyphica, pi. xix. ; Lepsius, Denkm., iv. 52; Dcmichen, Resultate, vol. ii. pi. lxi.); her head-dress is a sheaf of corn (Lanzone, Dizionario di Mitologia, pp. 380, 381), as in the illustration. 1 This goddess, whose name expresses and whose form personifies the brick or stone couch, the child-bed or -chair, upon which women in labour bowed themselves, is sometimes subdivided into two or four secondary divinities (Mariette, Denddrah, vol. iv. pi. lxxiv. a, and p. 288 of the text). She is mentioned along with Shait, destiny, and Raninit, suckling (Maspero, Etudes Egyptiennes, vol. i. p. 27). Her part of fairy godmother at the cradle of the new-born child is shown from the passage of the Westcar Papyrus giving a detailed account of the births of three kings of the fifth dynasty (Erman, Die Mdrchen des Papyrus Westcar, pi. ix. part 21, et seq. ; cf. Maspero, Lcs Contes populaires de V Egypte Ancienne, 2nd edit., pp. 70-81). She is represented in human form, and often wears upon her head two long palm-shoots, curling over at their ends (Lanzone, Dizionario di Mitologia, pp. 329, 330, and pi. cxxxiv. 1, 2). 2 Raninit presides over the child’s suckling, but she also gives him his name (Maspero, Lcs Contes populaires, 2nd edit., p. 70, note 1), and hence, his fortune (Maspero, Etudes Egyptiennes, vol. i. p. 27). She is on the whole the nursing goddess (Lanzone, Dizionario di Mitologia, pp. 472-477, and pis. clxxxviii.-clxxxi.w). Sometimes she is represented as a human-headed woman (LErsirs, Denkm., iii. 188 a ; Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, 2nd edit., vol. iii. pi. xlv. 5, 0, and pp. 213, 214), or as lioness- headed (Lepsius, Denkm., iv. 57), most frequently with the head of a serpent (Lepsius, Denkm., iii. pi. clxx. ; Prisse d’Avennes, Monuments, pi. i.; Mariette, Denderah, vol. iii. pi. lxxv. b-c) ; she is also the uraeus clothed, and wearing two long plumes on her head (Prisse d’Avennes, Monuments, frontispiece), and a simple urmus, as represented in the illustration on p. 120. 3 The goddess Naprit, Napit; bas-relief from the first chamber of Osiris, on the east side of the great temple of Denderah, Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, THE LOWER ORDER OF GODS. 83 his rising, even as others in the West hailed him on his entrance into night.1 It was the duty of certain genii to open gates in Hades, or to keep the paths daily traversed by the sun.2 3 These genii were always at their posts, never free to leave them, and possessed no other faculty than that of punctually fulfilling their appointed offices. Their existence, generally unperceived, was suddenly revealed at the very moment when the specific acts of their lives were on the point of accomplishment. These being completed, the divinities fell back into their state of inertia, and were, so to speak, reabsorbed by their functions until the next SOME FABELOVS BEASTS OF THE EGYPTIAN' DESERT.’ occasion.4 Scarcely visible even by glimpses, they were not easily depicted; their real forms being often unknown, these were approximately conjectured from their occupations. The character and costume of an archer, or of a spear-man, were ascribed to such as roamed through Hades, to pierce the dead with arrows or with javelins. Those who prowled around souls to cut their throats and hack them to pieces were represented as women armed with knives, carvers — donit — or else as lacerators — nokit.5 Some appeared in human form ; others as animals — bulls or lions, rams or monkeys, serpents, fish, ibises, hawks ; others dwelt in inanimate things, 1 This is the subject of a vignette in the Bool : of the Dead, eh. xvi. (Naville’s edition, pi. xxi. A2 and La, pi. xxii. Da), where the cynoceplmli are placed in echelon upon the slopes of the hill on the horizon, right and left of the radiant solar disk, to which they offer worship by gesticulations. 2 Maspero, Etudes de Mytlwlogie et d’Archdologie Egyptiennes, vol. ii. pp. 31, 35. 3 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin from Cham poll ion’s copies, made from the tombs of Beui-Hassan. To the right is the sha, one of the animals of Sit, and an exact image of the god with his stiff and arrow-like tail. Next comes the safir, the griftiu ; and, lastly, we have the serpent-headed saza. 4 The Egyptians employed a still more forcible expression than our word “absorption” to express this idea. It was said of objects wherein these genii concealed themselves, and whence they issued in order to re-enter them immediately, that these forms ate them, or that they ate their own forms (Maspero, Etudes de Mytlwlogie et d’Archdologie Egyptiennes, vol. ii. pp. 104, 105, 106, 124, etc.). 5 Maspero, Etudes de Mythologie et d' Archdologie Egyptiennes, vol. ii. pp. 34, 35. Examples of donit and noldt are incidentally given on the walls of the tomb of Seti I. (Lefkbure, Le TomLean de Stfi ler, in the Mdmoires de la Mission Franyaise, vol. ii., 4th part, pi. xliv., 2nd row. 84 77/ A' GODS OF EGYPT. such as trees,1 sistrums,2 3 stakes stuck in the ground ; a and lastly, many betrayed in their combinations of human and animal forms a mixed origin. These latter would be regarded by us as monsters; to the Egyptians, they were beings, rarer perhaps than the rest, but none the less real, and their like might be encountered in the neighbourhoo 1 of Egypt.4 How could those who were surrounded by sphinxes and griffins of flesh and blood doubt that there were bull-headed and hawk-headed divinities with human busts? The existence of such paradoxical creatures was proved by much authentic testimony; more than one hunter had distinctly seen them as they ran along the furthest planes of the horizon, beyond the herds of gazelles of which he was in chase; and shepherds dreaded them for their flecks as truly as they dreaded the lions, or the great felidae of the desert.5 This nation of gods, like nations of men, contained foreign elements, the origin of which was known to the Egyptians themselves. They knew that Hathor, the milch cow, had taken up her abode in their land from very ancient times, and they called her the Lady of Pumit, after the name of her native country.0 Bisu had followed her in course of time, and claimed his share of honours and worship along with her. He first appealed as a leopard; then he became a man clothed in a leopard’s 1 Tims, the sycamores planted on the edge of the desert were supposed to be inhabited by Hathor, Nuit, Selkit, Nit, or some other goddess (Maspero, Eludes de Mythologie et d' Arche'ologie Egyptienues, vol. ii. pp. 28, 29). In vignettes representing the deceased as stopping before one of these trees and receiving water and loaves of bread, the bust of the goddess generally appears from amid her shelter- ing foliage (Lanzone, Dizionario di Mitologia , pi. cli. 2). But occasionally, as on the sarcophagus of Petosiris (Maspero, Catalogue du Muse'e Egyplien de Marseilles, p. 52), the transformation is complete, and the trunk from which the branches spread is the actual body of the god or goddess (cf. Roohicmonteix, Edfuu, pi. xxix. a, Isis and Neplithys in the sycamore). Finally, the whole body is often hidden, anil only the arm of the goddess to be seen emerging from the midst of the tree, with an overflowing libation vase in her hand (Nayili.e, Todtenbuch, pis. lxxiii., ciii.). 2 Thus, in Mariette, Vende'rah, vol. ii. pi. 55 c, we have the image of the great sistrum con- secrated by Thoutmosis III., which was the fetish of the goddess Hathor. 3 The trunk of a tree, disbranched, and then set up in the ground, seems to me the origin of the Osirian emblem called tat or didu (Maspero, Catalogue du Muse’e Egypt ien de Marseilles, p. 1GI, No. 878). The symbol was afterwards so conventionalized as to represent four columns seen in perspective, one capital overtopping another; it thus became the image of the four pillars which uphold the world (Petrie, Medum, p. 31 ; Maspero, Eludes de Mylhologie et d’ Arche'ologie Egyptienues, vol. ii. p. 359, note 3). 4 The belief in the real existence of fautastic animals was first noted by Maspero, Etudes de Mythologie et d’ Arche’ologie Egyptienues, vol. i. pp. 117, 118, 132, and vol. ii. p. 213. Until then, scholars only recognized the sphinx, and other Egyptian monsters, as allegorical combinations by which the priesthood claimed to give visible expression in one and the same being to physical or moral qualities belonging to several different beings. The later theory has now been ailopted by Wiedemann (Le Culle des animaux en Egypte, pp. 14, 15), and by most contemporary Egyptologists. 5 At Beiii-IIassau and in Thebes many of the fantastic animals mentioned in the text, griffins, hierosphiuxes, serpent-headed lions, are placed along with animals which might be encountered by local princes bunting in the desert (Chasipoi.lion, Monuments de V Egypte et de la Nnbie, pis. ccclxxxii. 3, 4, ccccxviii. bis, and vol. ii. pp. 339, 360; RosELi.ixr, Monumenli civil!, pi. xxxiii. ; Wilkinson, Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, 2nel edit., vol. ii. p. 93). “ On Hathor, Lady of Pilantt, her importation into Egypt, and the bonds of kinship connecting her with Bisu, see Pi.eyte, Chapitres supplE.neutaires du Licre des Marts, p. 131, et seq. GOBS OF FOREIGN ORIGIN. 85 skin, but one of strange countenance and alarming character, a big-headed dwarf with high cheek-bones, and a wide and open mouth, whence hung an enormous tongue ; lie was at once jovial and martial, the friend of the dance and of battle.1 In historic times all nations subjugated by the Pharaohs transferred some of their principal divinities to their conquerors, and the Libyan Shehadidi was enthroned in the valley of the Nile, in the same way as the Semitic Baalu and his retinue of Astartes, Anitis, Keshephs, and lvadshus.2 These divine colonists fared like all foreigners who have sought to settle on the banks of the Nile: they were promptly assimilated, wrought, moulded, and made into Egyptian deities scarcely distinguishable from those of SOME FABULOUS BEASTS OF THE EGYPTIAN DESERT.3 the old race. This mixed pantheon had its grades of nobles, princes, kings, and each of its members was representative of one of the elements con- stituting the world, or of one of the forces which regulated its government. The sky, the earth, the stars, the sun, the Nile, were so many breathing and thinking beings whose lives were daily manifest in the life of the universe. They were worshipped from one end of the valley to the other, and the whole nation agreed in proclaiming their sovereign power. But when they began to name them, to define their powers and attributes, to par- ticularize their forms, or the relationships that subsisted among them, this unanimity was at an end. Each principality, each nome, each city, almost every village, conceived and represented them differently. Some 1 Bisu lias been closely studied by Pleyte ( Chapitres supply mentaires du Livre dts il Torts, Tra- duction ct Commentaire, pp. 111-184), and by Krall ( Ueber den lEgyptischen Gotl Bee, in Benndorf- Niem Ann’s Bas Heroon von Gjolbaschi-Tnjsa, pp. 72-96). The tail-piece to the summary of this chapter is a figure of Bisil, drawn by Faucher-Gudin from an amulet in blue enamelled pottery. 2 The name of Shehadidi is found in that of a certain Feteshehadidi, whose statue has passed from the Posno collection (Antiquity's Egyptiennes, 1883, p. 15, No. 57, pi. 2) into the Berlin Museum ; cf. the god Saharuau in Maspero’s Sur deux steles recemment dVcouvertes, in the Recueil, vol. xv. p. 85. The Semitic gods introduced into Egypt have been studied at length by M. de Vogui. (Melanges d'Archeblogie Orientate, p. 41, et seq., 76, et seq.) and by Ed. Meyer (Ueber einige Semi- tisclie Gutter, § ii., Semitische Gutter in JEgypten, in the Zeitschrift d. Deut. Morg. Gesellscliaft, vol. xxxi. pp. 724-729). 3 The hawk-headed monster with flower-tipped tail, represented in the illustration, was called the saga. 8 fi THE GODS OF EGYPT. said that the sky was the Great Horus, Haroeris, the sparrow-hawk of mottled plumage which hovers in highest air, and whose gaze embraces the whole field of creation.1 Owing to a punning assonance between his name and the word lioru, which designates the human countenance, the two senses were combined, and to the idea of the sparrow-hawk there was added that of a divine face, whose two eyes opened in turn, the right eye being the sun, to give light by day, and the left eye the moon, to illumine the night.2 The face shone also with a light of its owm, the zodiacal light, which appeared unexpectedly, morning or evening, a little before sunrise, and a little after sunset. These luminous beams, radiating from a common centre, hidden in the heights of the firmament, spread into a wide pyramidal sheet of liquid blue, whose base rested upon the earth, but whose apex was slightly inclined towards the zenith.3 The divine face was symmetiically framed, and attached to earth by four thick locks of hair; these were the pillars which upbore the firmament and prevented its falling into ruin.4 A no less ancient tradition disregarded as fabulous all tales told of the sparrow-hawk, or of the face, and taught that heaven and earth are w'edded gods, Sibu and Nuif, from whose marriage come forth all that has been, all that is, and all that shall be. Most people invested them writh human form, and represented the earth-god Sibu as extended beneath Nuit the Starry One ; the goddess stretched out her arms, stretched out her slender legs, stretched out her NviT the sTAitRY body above the clouds, and her dishevelled head drooped westward. But there were also many who believed that Sibu 1 It is generally admitted that Haroeris is Ra, the sun (Brugsch, Religion und Mythologie dvr alien sEgypter, p. 529, et seq.). Haroeris was worshipped in Upper Egypt, where he and his fellow, Sit of Ombos, represented the heavens and the earth (Maspero, Etudes de Mythologie et d' Arch€ologie, vol. ii. p. 329, et seq.). They were often depicted as a two-headed personage (LErsius, Denlcm ., iii. 234 h). 5 E. Lefebure, Les Yenx d’ Horus, pp. 96-93. The part played by the two eyes of the celestial Horus, irili, uzaili, was first recoguized by Brugsch ( Geographische Inschriften, vol. i. p. 75). 3 Brugsch, a ou la lumiere zodiacale, in the Proceedings of the Society of Bib'ical Archxology , 1892-93, vol. xv. p. 233, et seq.; Hermann Gruson, Im Reiche des Lichtes, Sonnen, Zodiahallichter, Kometen, Ddmmerungslicht-Pyramiden nach den altegien segyptischen Quellen, 1893. * These locks, and the gods presiding over them, are mentioned in the Fyramid texts ( Papi 7., lines 436-440, Mirinri, lines 649-656 ; cf. Maspero, Etudes de Mythologie et d’Archdo’ogie, vol. ii. pp 366, 367). ‘ Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a painted coffin of the XXIst dynasty in Leyden. TI1E1R CONFLICTING FORMS. 87 was concealed under the form of a colossal gander, whose mate once laid the Sun Egg, and perhaps still laid it daily. From the piercing cries where- with he congratulated her, and announced the good news to all who cared to hear it— after the manner of his kind — he had received the epithet of oiru, the flattering Ngcigu THE GOOSE-GOD t£te-A-t£te WITH THE CAT GODDESS, THE LADY OF HEAVEN.1 Great Cackler.2 Other versions repudiated the goose in favour of a vigorous bull, the father of gods and men,3 whose companion was a cow, a large-eyed Hathor, of beautiful countenance. The head of the good beast rises into the heavens, the mysterious waters which cover the world flow along her spine; the star-covered underside of her body, which we call the firmament, is visible to the inhabitants of earth, and her four legs are the four pillars standing at the four cardinal points of the world.4 The planets, and especially the sun, varied in form and nature according to the prevailing conception of the heavens. The fiery disk Atonu, by which the sun revealed himself to men, was a living god, called Ra, as was also the 1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a stela in the museum of Gizeh (Grebait, Le Musde Egyptian, pi. iii.). This is not the goose of Sibft, but the goose of Anion, which was nurtured in the temple of Karnak, and was called Smonft. Facing it is the cat of Maftt, the wife of Amon. Anion, originally an earth-god, was, as we see, confouuded with Sibil, and thus naturally appropriated that deity’s form of a goose. ■ Boole of the Dead, ch. liv., Naville’s edition, vol. i. pi. lsvi. ; cf. Lepage-Kenovf, Seb the great Cackler, in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, vol. vii. pp. 152-154. On the egg of Sibil, and as to Egyptian ideas in general concerning the egg, see Lefebure (I’CEuf dans la Reli- gion Egyptienne, in the Revue de VHittoire des Religions, vol. xvi. pp. 1 G— 25). On the other hand, several Egyptologists (Brcgsch, Religion tind Mytliologie, pp. 171-173 ; Liebleix, Proceedings, 1S84-S5, pp. 99, 100) consider that the sign of the goose, currently used for writing the god’s name, itself gave birth to the myth ascribing to him a goose’s form. 3 Hence he is called the bull of Niiit in the Pyramid text of Unas (I. 452). 4 See it as represented in Lefebure, Le Tombeau de StT,i lr, in the Mdmoires de la Mission, vol. ii. pt. 4, pi. xvii. 88 HIE OODS OF EGYPT. planet itself.1 Where the sky was regarded as Horus, Ra formed the right eye I UK COW 11ATHOR, TIIE LADY OF HEAVEN'.5 of the divine face:2 3 when Horus opened his eyelids in the morning, he made the dawn and day ; when he closed them in the evening, the dusk and night were at hand. AVhere the sky was looked upon as the incarnation of a goddess, Ra was considered as her son,11 his father being the earth-god, and he was born again with every new dawn, wearing a sidelock, and with his finger to his lips as human children were con- ventionally represented. He was also that luminous egg, laid and hatched in the East by the celestial goose, from which the sun breaks forth to fill the world with its rays.4 5 Neverthe- less, by an anomaly not uncommon in religions, the egg did not always contain the same kind of bird ; a lapwing, or a heron, might come out of it,6 or perhaps, in memory of Horus, 1 The name of Ra lias been variously explained. The commonest etymology is that deriving the name from a verb ra, to give, to matte to be a person or a thing, so that Ra would thus be the great organizer (Birch, in Wilkinson, Manners anl Customs, 2nd edit., vol. iii. p. 214), the author of all things (Brcgsch, Religion und Mythologie, pp. 86,87). Lauth (Aus JEgyptens Vorzeit, pp. 46, 68) goes so far as to siy that “notwithstanding its brevity, Ra is a composite word (r-a, matter — to be).” As a matter of fact, the word is simply the name of the planet applied to the god. It means the sun, and nothing more. 2 The Edfu texts mention the face of Horus furnished with its two eyes (Naville, Texles relatifs au myttie d' Horus, pi. xxii. 1. 1). As for the identification of the right eye of the god with the sun, cf. the unimpeachable evidence collected by Chabas ( Lettre a M. te Dr. R. Lcpsius sur tes mots tr jyptiens signifiant la droite et la gauche, in the Zeitschrift, 1865, p. 10), and by Lepsius (An Herrn F. Chabas, iiber reclits und links in Hieroglyphischen, in the Zeitschrift, 1865, p. 13). 3 Several passages from the Pyramid texts prove that the two eyes were very anciently considered ns belonging to the face of N uit (Vapi I., 1. 100), and this conception persisted to the last days of Egyptian paganism. Hence, we must not be surprised if the inscriptions generally represent the god Ra as coming forth from Nuit under the form of a disc, or a scarabaeus, and born of her even as human children are born (Tapi 1., lines 10, 32, 60, etc.). 1 These are the very expressions used in the seventeenth chapter of the Booh of the Dead (Naville’s edition, vol. i. pi. xxv. lines 58-61 ; Lepsius, Todtenbuch, pi. ix. 11. 50, 51). 5 Diawn by Boudier, from a XXXth-dynasty statue of green basalt in the Gizeh Museum (Maspero, Guide du Visiteur, p. 345, No. 5243). The statue was also published by Mariette, Monu- ments divers, pi. 96 A-B, and in the Album photographique du Mus€: de Boutaq , pi. x. 6 The lapwing or the heron, the Egyptian bom 2, is generally the Osirian biid. The persistence with which it is associated with Heliopolis and the gods of that city shows that in this also we have a secondary form of Ra. Cf. the form taken by the sun during the third hour of the day, as given in the text published and explained by Brugsch, Die Kapitel der Vericandlungen (Zeitschrift, 1867, p. 23). THE SUN AS A MAN. 80 one of the beautiful golden sparrow-hawks of Southern Egypt.1 A Sun- Hawk, hovering in high heaven on outspread wings, at least presented a bold and poetic image; but what can be said for a Sun-Calf? Yet it is under the innocent aspect of a spotted calf, a “sucking calf of pure mouth,” a 1 J THE TWELVE STAGES IN THE LIFE OF THE SEN AND ITS TWELVE FORMS THROUGHOUT THE DAY'.3 that the Egyptians were pleased to describe the Sun-God when Sibu, the father, was a bull, and Hathor a heifer. But the prevalent conception was that in which the life of the sun was likened to the life of man. The two deities presiding over the East received the orb upon their hands at its birth, just as midwives receive a new-born child, and cared for it during the first hour of the day and of its life.4 It soon left them, and proceeded “under the bellv 1 Book of the Dead, ch. Ixxvii. (Naville’s edition, pi. Ixxxviii. 1. 2, ct srq.), and cli. Ixxviii. (pi. Ix.xxix.) ; cf. the forms of (he sun during the third and eighth hours of (lie day, as given in (lie (ext published and explained by Brugsch, Die KapiM der Verwandlungen ( Zeitschrift , 1S67, pp. 23, 2»). 2 The calf is represented in ch. cix. of the Book of the Dead (Naville's edition, pi. exx.)| where the text says (lines 10, 11), “ I know that this calf is Harmakhis the Sun, and that it is no other than the Morning Star, daily saluting Ra.” The expression “ sucking calf of pure mouth ” is taken word for word from a formula preserved in the Pyramid texts (17?ias, 1. 20). 3 The twelve forms of the sun during the twehm hours of the day, from the ceiling of the Hall of (he New Year at Edfft (Rochemonteix, Edfou, pi. xxxiii. c). Drawing br Faucher-Gudin. 4 The birtt of the sun was represented in detail at Erment (Champollion, Monuments, pi. cxlv • Kosellot, Monumenti del Culto, pis. lii., liii., and Texte, p. 293, et seq. ; Lepsius, Denim., iv’. 00 THE GODS OF EGYPT. of Nuit,” growing .and strengthening from minute to minute, until at noon it had become a triumphant hero whose splendour is shed abroad over all. But as night comes on his strength forsakes him and his glory is obscured ; he is bent and broken down, and heavily drags himself along like an old man leaning upon his stick.1 At length he passes away beyond the horizon, plunging westward into the mouth of Nuit, and traversing her body by night to be born anew the next morning, again to follow the paths along which he had travelled on the preceding day.2 A first bark, the salitit ,3 awaited him at his birth, and carried him from the Eastern to the Southern extremity of the world. Mdzit * the second bark, received him at noon, and bore him into the land of Manu, which is at the entrance into Hades ; other barks, with which we are less familiar, con- veyed him by night, from his setting until his rising at morn.5 Sometimes he was supposed to enter the barks alone, and then they were magical and self-directed, having neither oars, nor sails, nor helm.6 Sometimes they were equipped with a full crew, like that of an Egyptian boat — a pilot at the prow to take soundings in the channel and forecast the wind, a pilot astern to steer, a quartermaster in the midst to transmit the orders of the pilot at the prow to the pilot at the stern, and half a dozen sailors to handle poles or oars.7 Peacefully the bark glided along the celestial river amid the acclamations of the gods who dwelt upon its shores. But, occasionally, Apopi, a gigantic serpent, like that which hides within the earthly Nile and devours its banks, came forth from the depth of the waters and arose in the path of the god.8 As soon as they caught sight of it in the distance, the crew flew to pi. 00, a, c, d ), and in a more abridged form on the sarcophagus of one of the rams of Mendes, now in the Gizeh Museum (Mariette, Monuments divers, pi. lxvi.,and Texte, pp. 13, 14). 1 The growth and decadence of the forms of the sun are clearly marked in the scene first pub- lished by Brl'gsch ( Die Kapitel der Verwandlungen, in the Zeitsclirift, 1867, pp. 21-26, and plate; Thesaurus Inscriptionum ZEgyptiacarum, pp. 55-59), taken from the coffin of Khaf in the Gizeh Museum ; and from two scenes, of which the one is at Denderali ( Description de VEgypte, Ant., vol. iv. pis. 16-19), the other in the Hall of the New Year at Edffi (Ciiampollion, Monuments, pi. cxxiii., et seq.; Rochemonteix, Eilfou, in the Me' moires de la Mission du Caire, vol. ix. pi. xxxiii. c). 2 Maspero, Etudes de Mytliologie et d' Arche'ologie Egyptiennes, vol. ii. p, 218, note 2. 3 Its most ancient name was Samktit ( Teta , 1. 222; Tapi I., 11. 570, 670, etc.). Brugsch ( Diction- naive lli&roglyphique, pp. 1327, 1328) first determined the precedence of the Saktit and Mazit boats. 4 In the oldest texts it is Marnit, with an interpolated nasal (Teta, 11. 222, 223, 314, etc.). 4 In the formula) of the Boole of Knotting that which is in Hades, the dead sun remains in the bark Saktit during part of the night, and it is only to traverse the fourth and fifth hours that lie changes into another (Maspero, Etudes de Mythologie et d’ Arche'ologie Egyptiennes, vol. ii. p. 69, et seq.). 6 Such is the bark of the sun in the other world. Although carrying a complete crew of gods, yet for the most part it progresses at its own will, and without their help. The bark containing the sun alone is represented in many vignettes of the Book of the Dead (Navii.le’s edition, pi. xxx., La, Ag, pi. cxiii., Pe, cxxxiii., Pa, cxlv.), and at the head of many stela). 7 Maspero, Etudes de Mytliologie et tV Arche'ologie Egyptiennes, vol. ii. pp. 38, 39. 8 In Upper Egypt there is a widespread belief in the existence of a monstrous serpent, who dwells at the bottom of the river, and is the genius of the Nile. It is he who brings about those falls of earth ( batabit ) at the decline of the inundation which often destroy the banks and eat whole fields. At such times, offerings of dura, fowls, and dates are made to him, that his hunger may be THE VOYAGES OF THE SUN. 91 arms, and entered upon the struggle against him with prayers and spear-thrusts. Men in their cities saw the sun faint and fail, and sought to succour him in his distress; they cried aloud, they were beside themselves with excitement, beating their breasts, sounding t heir instruments of music, and striking with all their strength upon every metal vase or utensil in their possession, that their clamour might rise to heaven and terrify the monster. After a time of anguish, Ka emerged from the darkness and again went on his way, while Apopi sank back into the abyss,1 paralysed by the magic of the gods, and pierced with many a wound. Apart from these temporary eclipses, which no one could foretell, the Sun-King steadily followed his course round the world, according to laws which even his will could not change. Day after day he made his oblique ascent from east to south, thence to descend obliquely towards the west. During the summer months the obliquity of his course diminished, and he came closer to Egypt ; during the winter it increased, and he w'ent farther away. This double movement recurred with such regularity from equinox to solstice, and from solstice to equinox, that the day of the god’s departure and the day of his return could be confidently predicted. The Egyptians explained this phenomenon according to their conceptions of the nature of the world. The solar b:irk always kept close to that bank of the celestial river which was nearest to men ; and when the river overflowed at the annual inundation, the sun was carried along with it outside the regular bed of the stream, and brought yet closer to Egypt. As the inun- dation abated, the bark descended and receded, its greatest distance from earth corresponding with the lowest level of the waters. It w'as again brought back to us by the rising strength of the next flood ; and, as this phenomenon was yearly repeated, the periodicity of the sun’s oblique movements was the necessary consequence of the periodic movements of the celestial Nile.'2 appeased, and it is not only natives who give themselves up to these superstitious practices. Part of the grounds belonging to the Karnak hotel at Luxor having been carried away during the autumn of 18S4, the manager, a Greek, made the customary offerings to the serpent of the Nile (Masfero, Etudes de Mythologie et d’Arch&ologie Egyptiennes, vol. ii. pp. 412, 413). 1 The character of Apopi and of his struggle witli the sun was, from the first, excellently defined by Chamfollion as representing the conflict of darkness with light ( Lettres (ferites d’Egypte, 2nd edit., 1833, p. 231, et seq.). Occasionally, but very rarely, Apopi seems to win, and his triumph over 11a furnishes one explanation of a solar eclipse (Lefebure, Les Yeux d' Horns, p. 46, et scq. ; Lefage- Renouf, The Eclipse in Egyptian Texts , iu the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archnology, 1884-85, vol. viii. p. 163, et seq.). A similar explanation is common to many races (cf. E. Tyi.or, Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 297, et seq.). Iu one very ancient form of the Egyptian legend, the sun is represented by a wild ass running round the world along the sides of the mountains that uphold the sky, and the serpent which attacks it is called Haiti ( Unas , 11. 544, 545; Booh of the Dead, ch. xl., Navilre’s edition, vol. i. pi. liv.). * This explanation of Egyptian beliefs concerning the oblique course of the sun was proposed by Masfero, Etudes de Mythologie et cCArrlieologie Egyptiennes , vol. ii. pp. 208-210. It is no more strange nor yet more puerile than most of the explanations of the same phenomenon advanced by Greek cosmographers (Lf.tronne, Opinions populaires et scientifques des Grecs stir la route oblique du soleil, in his CEuvres ehoisies, 2nd series, vol. i. pp. 336-359). THE GODS OF EGYPT. })2 The same stream also carried a whole crowd of gods, whose existence was revealed only at night to the inhabitants of earth. At an interval of twelve hours, and in its own bark, the pale disk of the moon — Yauhu Auhu — followed the disk of the sun along the ramparts of the world.1 The moon, also, appeared in many various forms — here, as a man born of Nuit;2 there, as a cynocephalus or an ibis; 3 elsewhere, it was the left eye of Horus,4 guarded by the ibis or cynocephalus. Like Ra, it had its enemies incessantly upon the EGYPTIAN CONCEPTION OF TUE PRINCIPAL CONSTELLATIONS OF THE NORTHERN SKY.s watch for it : the crocodile, the hippopotamus, and the sow. But it was when at the full, about the 15th of each month, that the lunar eye was in greatest peril. The sow fell upon it, tore it out of the face of heaven, and cast it, streaming with blood and tears, into the celestial Nile,6 where it was gradually extinguished, 1 The lunar Tliot is represented on the heads of stelae as alone within his bark, either in the form of the lunar disk, or seated, as an ibis-headed man (Lanzone, Dizionario di Mitulogia Egizia, pis. xxxvii., xxxviii.). We also read in De Iside (eh. xxxiv., Parthey’s edition, p. 5S), "HAiov S'e Kai XeArjvj/y o!>x ap/j.a/j.a yijv Uxovtri «a! vop.i(ovcriv, oil ira(rav ct\A’ ijs 6 NefAos imfialvei oireppaxivoiv Kctl piyvvpievos' ck 5e rrjs ovvovo'ias ravrits y*vva> feminine affix to the primitive masculine names — Rait, Amonit, llorit, Sobkit.* 1 A In the same way, detached cognomens of divine fathers were embodied in divine sons. Imhotpu, “ he who comes in peace,” was merely one of the epithets of Phtah before he became incarnate as the third member of the Memphite triad.2 In other cases, alliances were contracted between divinities of ancient stock, but natives of different nomes, as in the case of Isis of Bftto and the Mendesian Osiris; of Haroeris of Edfu and Ilathor of Denderah. In the same manner Sokhit of Letopolis and Bastit of Bubastis were appropriated as wives to Phtah of Memphis, Nofirtumti being represented as his son by both unions.3 These improvised connections were generally determined by consider- ations of vicinity ; the gods of conterminous principalities were married as the children of kings of two adjoining kingdoms are married, to form or to consolidate relations, and to establish bonds of kinship between rival powers whose unremitting hos- tility would mean the swift ruin of entire peoples. The system of triads, begun in primitive times and continued unbrokenly up to the last days of Egyptian polytheism, far from in any way lowering the prestige of the feudal gods, was rather the means of enhancing it in the eyes of the multitude. Power- ful lords as the new-comers might be at home, it was only in the strength of an auxiliary title that they could enter a strange city, and then only on condition of submitting to its religious law. Hathor, supreme at Denderah, shrank into insignificance before Haroeris at Edfu, and there retained only the somewhat subordinate part of a wife in the house of her husband.5 On the other hand, Haroeris when at NOFIRTUMU.4 1 Maspeko, Etudes de Mytliologie et d’Archfologie Egyptiennes, vol. ii. pp. 7, 8, 256. 2 Imhotpu, the Imouthes of the Greeks, and by them identified with iEsculapius, was discovered by Salt ( Essay on Dr. Young’s and M. Champollion’s Phonetic System of Hieroglyphics, pp. 49, 50, pi iii. 1), and his name was first translated as he who comes with offering (Akundale-Boxomi-Bikch, Gallery of Antiquities selected from the British Museum, p. 29). The translation, he who comes in peace, proposed by E. de Rouge, is now universally adopted (Bhugsch, Beligion und Mytliologie, p. 526; I'ierget, Le Pantheon Egyptien, p. 77 ; Wiedemann, Die Beligion der alien JEgypter, p. 77). Imhotpu did not take form until the time of the New Empire; his great popularity at Memphis and throughout Egypt dates from the Sai'te and Greek periods. °3 Originally, Nofirtumu appears to have been the sou of cat or lioness-headed goddesses, Bastit and Sokhit, and from them he may have inherited the lion’s head with which he is often represented (cf. Lanzone, Dizionario di Milologia, p. 385, pi. cxlvii. 4, cxlviii. 1, 2). His name shows him to have been in the first place an incarnation of Atumu, but he was affiliated to the god Phtah of Memphis when that god became the husband of his mothers, and preceded Imhotpu as the third personage in the oldest Memphite triad. 4 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a bronze statuette incrusted with gold, in the Gizeh Museum (Maeiette, Album plioiographique du .V usee de Boulaq, pi. 5). 5 Each year, and at a certain time, the goddess came in high state to spend a few days in the TIIEIR HUMAN NATURE. 107 Denderah descended from the supreme rank, and was nothing more than the almost useless consort of the lady Hathor. His name came first in invocations of the triad because of his position therein of husband and father ; but this was simply a concession to the propriety of etiquette, and even though named in second place, Ilathor was none the less the real chief of Denderah and of its divine family.1 Thus, the principal personage in any triad was always the one who had been patron of the nome previous to the introduction of the triad : in some places the father-god, and iu others the mother-goddess. The son in a divine triad had of himself but limited authority. When Isis and Osiris were his parents, he was generally an infant Horus, naked, or simply adorned with necklaces and bracelets ; a thick lock of hair depended from his temple, and his mother squatting on her heels, or else sitting, nursed him upon her knees, offering him a full breast,2 Even in triads where the son was supposed to have attained to man’s estate, he held the lowest place, and there was enjoined upon him the same respectful attitude towards his parents as is observed by children of human race in the presence of theirs. He took the lowest place at all solemn receptions, spoke only with his parents’ permission, acted only by their command and as the agent of their will. Occasionally he was vouchsafed a character of his own, and tilled a definite position, as at Memphis, where Imhotpu was the patron of science.1 But, generally, he was not considered as having either office or marked individuality; his being was but a feeble reflection of his father’s, and possessed neither life nor power except as derived from him. Two such contiguous personalities must needs have great temple of Ed fit, with her husband Haroeris (J. de Rouge, Textes geographiques du temple d’Ed/ou, pp. 52, 53; Martette, Denderah, vol. iii. pi. vii. 73, and Tc.de, pp. 99, 107). 1 The part played by Haroeris at Denderah was so inconsiderable that the triad containing him is not to be found in the temple. “ In all our four volumes of plates, the triad is not once represented, and this is the more remarkable since at Thebes, at Memphis, at Plain, at the cataracts, at Elephan- tine, at Edfvt, among all the data which one looks to find in temples, the triad is most readily distinguished by the visitor. But we must not therefore conclude that there was no triad in this case. The triad of Edfil consists of Hor-Hut, Hathor, and Hor-Sam-ta-ui. The triad of Dendi rail contains Hathor, Hor-Hut, and Hor-Sam-ta-ui. The difference is obvious. At Edfft, the male prin- ciple, as represented by Hor-Hut, takes the first place, whereas the first person at Denderah is Hathor. who represents the female principle” (Mariette, Denderah, Texte, pp. 80, 81). 2 For representations of Harpocrates, the child Horus, sec Lanzone, THzionario di Mitologia Egizia , pis. ccxxvii., ccxxviii., and particularly pi. cccx. 2, where there is a scene iu which the young god, as a sparrow-hawk, is nevertheless sucking the breast of his mother Isis with his beak. 2 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin from a statuette in the Gizeh Museum (Mariette, Album du Muter de Boulaq, pi. 4). 4 E. de Rouge, Notice sommaire des Monuments Egyptiens, 1855, p. 106; Brugsch, Religion und Mythologie der alten JEgypler, p. 526, et seq. ; Wiedemann, Die Religion dcr alten JEgypter, p. 77. Hence he is generally represented as seated, or squatting, and attentively reading a papyrus roll, which lies open upon his knees; cf. the illustration on p. 105. 108 THE GODS OF EGYPT. been confused, and, as a matter of fact, were so confused as to become at length nothing more than two aspects of the same god, who united in bis own person degrees of relationship mutually exclusive of each other in a human family. Father, inasmuch as he was the first member of the triad ; son, by virtue of being its third member; identical with himself in both capacities, he was at once his own father, his own son, and the husband of his mother.1 Gods, like men, might be resolved into at least two elements, soul and body ; 2 but, in Egypt, the concep- tion of the soul varied in different times and in different schools. It might be an insect— butterfly, bee, or praying mantis;4 or a bird — the ordinary sparrow-hawk, the human-headed sparrow-hawk, a heron or a crane — bi, ba'i — whose wings enabled it to pass rapidly through space ; 5 or the black shadow — hhaibit — that is attached to every body,6 but which death sets free, and which thenceforward leads an independent existence, so that it can move about at will, and go out into the open sunlight. Finally, it might be a kind of light shadow, like a reflection from the surface of calm water, or from a polished mirror, the living and coloured projection of the human figure, a double — ha — reproducing in minutest detail 1 The part and the genesis of these son-deities were first clearly defined by E. de Rouge ( Expli- cation d’une inscription dgyptienne prouvant que les anciens Egyptians ont connu la generation eternelle du Fils de Dieu, p. 24, et seq. ; cf. Annates de philosophie chretiennc, May, 1851 ; Etude sur une stele < fgyplienne appurtenant a la Bibliotheque imperials, pp. G, 7). 2 In one of the Pyramid texts, Sahu-Orion, the wild hunter, captures the gods, slaughters and disembowels them, cooks their joints, their haunches, their legs, in his burning caldrons, and feeds on their souls as well as on their bodies {Unas, lines 509-514). A god was not limited to a single body and a single soul ; we know from several texts that Ra had seven souls and fourteen doubles (Dumichen, Tempel-Inschriften, I, Edfou, pi. xxix. ; E. von Bergmann, Hieroglyphische Inschriften, pi. xxxiii. 1. 3, and p. 25, note 1, of the text; Brugsch, Dictionnaire Hitfroglyphique, Supplement, pp. 997, 1230; Lepage-Renouf, On the true Sense of an important Egyptian Word, in the Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, vol. vi. pp. 504, 505). 3 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Naville’s Das Thebanische Todtenbucli, vol. i. pi. civ. Pc. 4 Mr. Lepage-Rexoxjf supposes that the soul may have been considered as being a butterfly at times, as in Greece ( A Second Note, in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, vol. xiv. p. 400) ; M. Lefebure thinks that it must sometimes have been incarnate as a wasp— I should rather say a bee or a praying mantis ( Etude sur Abydos, in the Proceedings, vol. xv. pp. 142, 143). 5 The simple sparrow-hawk is chiefly used to denote the soul of a god ; the human-headed sparrow-hawk the heron, or the crane is used indifferently for human or divine souls. It is from IIorapollo (book i. § 7, Leeman’s edition, pp. 8, 151, 152) that we learn this symbolic signifi- cance of the sparrow-hawk and the pronunciation of the name of the soul as ba'i. 6 For the black Shadow, see Birch, On the Shade or Shadow of the Dead ( Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, vol. viii. pp. 38G-397), and the illustrations of his paper. THEIR BODIES. 109 the complete image of the object or the person to whom it belonged.1 The soul, the shadow, the double of a god, was in no way essentially different from AVV' THE AUGUST SOULS OF OSIRIS AND HORUS IN ADORATION BEFORE THE SOLAR DISK.2 the soul, shadow, or double of a man ; his body, indeed, was moulded out of a more rarefied substance, and generally invisible, but endowed with the same qualities, and subject to the same imperfections as ours. The <;ods, 1 The nature of the double has long been misapprehended by Egyptologists, who had even made its name into a kind of pronominal form (E. de Rouge, Chrettomalhie Egypt ienne, 2nd part. pp. C1-C3). That nature was publicly and almost simultaneously announced in 187S, first by Maspf.ro ( Etudes de Mylliologie et d’Archeblogic Egyptiennes, vol. i. pp. 1-34; cf. ibid., pp. 35-52), and directly afterwards by Lepage-Renouf (On the true Sense of an important Egyptian Word, in the Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archeology, vol. vi. pp. 404-508). The idea which the Egyptians had formed of the double, and the influence which that idea exercised upon their conception of the life beyond, have been mainly studied by Maspero (Etudes de Mylliologie et d’Archfohgie Egyptiennes. vol. i. pp. 77-91, 38S-406). 2 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Dl jiichen (Besultate, vol. ii. pi. 1 is.), of a scene on the cornice of the front room of Osiris on the terrace of the great temple of Denderah. The soul on the left belongs to Horus, that on the right to Osiris, lord of Araentit. Each bears upon its head the group of tall feathers which is characteristic of figures of Anhflri (cf. p. 99). THE GODS OF EG YET. 1 10 therefore, on the whole, were more ethereal, stronger, more powerful, better fitted to command, to enjoy, and to suffer than ordinary men, but they were still men. They had bones,1 muscles, flesh, blood; they were hungry and ate, they were thirsty and drank; our passions, griefs, joys, infirmities, were also theirs. The sa, a mysterious fluid, circulated throughout their members, and carried with it health, vigour, and life.2 They were not all equally charged with it; some had more, others less, their energy being in proportion to the amount which they contained. The better supplied willingly gave of their superfluity to those who lacked it, and all could readily transmit it to mankind ; this transfusion being easily accomplished in the temples. The king, or any ordinary man who wished to be thus impregnated, presented himself before the statue of the god, and squatted at its feet with his back towards it. The statue then placed its right hand upon the nape of his neck, and by making passes, caused the fluid to flow from it, and to accumulate in him as in a receiver, This rite was of temporary efficacy only, and required frequent renewal in order that its benefit might be maintained. By using or transmitting it the gods themselves exhausted their sa of life ; and the less vigorous replenished themselves from the stronger, while the latter went to draw fresh fulness from a mysterious pond in the northern sky, called the “ pond of the Sa.” 3 Divine bodies, continually recruited by the influx of this magical fluid, preserved their vigour far beyond the term allotted to the bodies of men and beasts. Age, instead of quickly destroying them, hardened and transformed them into precious metals. Their bones were changed to silver, their flesh to gold ; their hair, piled up and painted blue, after the manner of great chiefs, was turned into lapis-lazuli.4 This transfor- mation of each into an animated statue did not altogether do away with 1 For example, the text of the Destruction of Men (1. 2), and other documents, teach us that the flesh of the aged sun had become gold, and his bones silver (Lefebure, Le Tombc.au de Se'ti I,r, 4th part, pi. xv. 1. 2, in vol. ii. of the Meinoires de la Mission du Gaire ). The blood of Ea is mentioned in the Boole of the Dead (chap. xvii. 1. 29, Naville’s edition, pi. xxiv.), as well as the blood of Isis (chap. clvi. ; cf. Mirinri, 1. 774) and of other divinities. 2 On the sa of life, whose action had already been partially studied by E. de Rouge ( Etude stir une stele egyptienne appurtenant a la Bibliotheque imped ale, p. 110, et seq.), see Maspero, Etudes de Mythologie et d' Arclafologie Egyptiennes, vol. i. pp. 307-309. 3 It is thus that in the Tale of the Daughter of the Prince of Bahhtan we find that one of the statues of the Theban Khonsft supplies itself with sa from another statue representing one of the most powerful forms of the god (E. de Rouge, Etude sur une stele, pp. 110, 111 ; Maspero, Lcs Contes populaires, 2nd edit., p. 221). The pond of Sa, whither the gods go to draw the magic fluid, is mentioned in the Pyramid texts. 4 Cf. the text of the Destruction of Men (11. 1, 2) referred to above, where age produces these transformations in the body of the sun. This changing of the bodies of the gods into gold, silver, and precious stones, explains why the alchemists, who were disciples of the Egyptians, often com- pared the transmutation of metals to the metamorphosis of a genius or of a divinity : they thought by their art to hasten at will that which was the slow work of nature. TIIE DEATH OF MEN AND GODS. the ravages of time. Decrepitude was no less irremediable with them than with men, although it came to them more slowly ; when the sun had grown old “ his mouth trembled, his dri- velling ran down to earth, his spittle dropped upon the ground.” 1 None of the feudal gods had escaped this destiny ; tor them as for mankind the day came when they must leave the city and go forth to the tomb.2 The ancients long refused to believe that death was na- tural and inevitable. They thought that life, once begun, might go on inde- finitely : if no accident stopped it short, why should it cease of itself? And so men did not die in Egypt; they were assassinated.4 The murderer often be- longed to this world, and was easily recognized as another man, an animal, some inanimate object such as a stone loosened from the hillside, a tree which fell upon the passer-by and crushed him. But often too the murderer was of the unseen world, and so was hidden, his presence being betrayed in his malig- nant attacks only. He was a god, an evil spirit, a disembodied soul who slily 1 Plevte-Rossi, Les Tapyrus Hieratiques de Turin , pi. cxx.xii. 11. 1, 2; cf. Lefkbi're, (In Chapitre de la chronique solaire, in the Zeitschrijt, 1883, p. 2S. 2 The idea of the inevitable death of the gods is expressed in other places as well as in a passage of the eighth chapter of the Boole of the Dead (Nayii.i.e’s edition, pi. x. 11. 6, 7), which has not to my knowledge hitherto been noticed: “I am that Osiris in the West, and Osiris knoweth his day in which he shall be no more;” that is to say, the day of his death when he will cease to exist. All the gods, At&mft, Horus, Ra, Thot, Phtah, Khnunni, are represented under the forms of mummies, and this implies that they are dead. Moreover, their tombs were pointed out in several places in Egypt {De Iside et Osiride, § 21, Leemans’ edition, p. 36). 3 Drawn by Boudier from a photograph by M. Gayet, taken in 18S9, of a scene in the hypostyle hall at Luxor. This illustration shows the relative positions of prince and god. Amon, after havin'’- placed the pschent upon the head of the Pharaoh Amenothes III., who kneels before him, proceeds to impose the sa. 4 Masfero, Etudes de Mythologie et d’ Archtologie Egyptiennes , vol. ii. p. 250. THE KING AFTER HIS CORONATION RECEIVING THE IMPOSITION OF THE SA? 112 1 HE GODS OF EGYPT. insinuated itself into the living man, or fell upon him with irresistible violence — illness being a struggle between the one possessed and the power which possessed him. As soon as the former succumbed he was carried away from his own people, and his place knew him no more. But had all ended for him with the moment in which he had ceased to breathe ? As to the body, no one was ignorant of its natural fate. It quickly fell to decay, and a few years sufficed to reduce it to a skeleton. And as for the skeleton, in the lapse of centuries that too was disintegrated and became a mere train of dust, to be blown away by the first breath of wind. The soul might have a longer career and fuller fortunes, but these were believed to be dependent upon those of the body, and commensurate with them. Every advance made in the process of decomposition robbed the soul of some part of itself; its consciousness gradually faded until nothing was left but a vague and hollow form that vanished altogether when the corpse had entirely disappeared. When the body had been buried in earth inundated by the Nile, there was soon no trace of it left, and its final dissolution condemned the soul to a second death from which there was no survival. But if, on the other hand, the body had been buried in the desert, its skin, speedily desiccated and hardened, changed into a case of blackish parchment beneath which the flesh slowly wasted away,1 and the whole frame thus remained intact, at least in appearance, while its integrity insured that of the soul. Hence the custom of carrying the dead to the hills, and entrusting them to the conservative action of the sand. Subsequently, artificial means were sought to secure at will that incorruptibility of the human larva without which the persistence of the soul was but a useless prolongation of the death- agony ; and these a god was supposed to have discovered — Anubis the jackal, lord of sepulture. He cleansed the body of the viscera, those parts which most rapidly decay, saturated it with salts and aromatic substances, protected it first of all with the hide of a beast, and over this laid a thick layer of stuffs. His art, transmitted to the embalmers, was the regular means of transforming into mummies all bodies which it was desired to preserve. If there were hills at hand, thither the mummied dead were still borne, partly from custom, partly because the dryness of the air and of the soil offered them a further chance of preservation.2 In districts of the Delta where the hills were so distant as to make it very costly to reach them, advantage was taken of the smallest sandy islet rising above the marshes, and there a cemetery was 1 Such was the appearance of the bodies of Coptic monks of the sixth, eighth, and ninth centuries which I found in the convent cemeteries of Contra-Sj ene, Taud, and Akhmim, right in the midst of the desert. 2 For the primitive mode of burial in hides, and the rites which originated in connection with it, cf. Lefebtjre, Etudes sur Abydos, ii., in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archxology, 1892-93, vol. xv. pp. 433-435. FATE AFTER DEATH. 113 founded.1 2 Where this resource failed, the mummy was fearlessly entrusted to the soil itself, but only after being placed within a sarcophagus of hard stone, whose lid and trough, hermetically fastened together witli cement, prevented t he penetration of any moisture. Reassured on this point, the soul followed the body to the tomb, and there dwelt with it as in its eternal house, upon the confines of the visible and invisible worlds. Here the soul kept the distinctive character and appearance which pertained to it “ upon the earth : ” as it had been a “ double ” before death, so it remained a double after it, able to perform all functions of animal life after its own fashion. It moved, went, came, spoke, breathed, accepted pious homage, but without pleasure, and as it were mechanically, rather from an instinctive horror of annihilation than from any rational desire for immortality. Unceasing regret for the bright world which it had left disturbed its mournful and inert existence. “ 0 my brother, withhold not thyself from drinking and from eating, from drunkenness, from love, from all enjoyment, from following thy desire by night and by day ; put not sorrow within thy heart, for what are the years of a man upon earth ? The West is a land of sleep and of heavy shadows, a place wherein its the jackal ancbis.3 inhabitants, W'hen once installed, slumber on in their mummy-forms, never more waking to see their brethren ; never more to recognize their fathers or their mothers; with hearts forgetful of their wives and children. The living water, which earth giveth to all who dwell upon it, is for me but stagnant and dead; that water floweth to all who are on earth, while for me it is but liquid putrefaction, this water that is mine. Since I came into this funereal valley I know not where nor what I am. Give me to drink of running water! . . . Let me be placed by the edge of the water with my face to the North, that the breeze may caress me and my heart be refreshed from its sorrow.”3 By day the double remained 1 As in the easy of the islets forming the cemetery of the great city of Tennis, in the midst of Lake Menzaleh (Etienke Qcatremeke, Mtf moires ge'ograpliiques et historiques sur VEgypte, vol. i. pp. 331, 332). 2 Drawing by Faucker-Gudin of a stuccoed and painted wooden figure from Thebes, now in my possession (XXVI111 dynasty). It is one of those jackals which were placed upon the lids of little naos-like sepulchral chests, and which held the so-called Canopic jars containing the viscera of the dead — heart, liver, lungs, and spleen. 3 This text is published in Prisse d’Avejjnes, Monument s, pi. xxvi. bis, ll. 15-21, and in I.r.rsirs, Ausioalil der icichtigsten Urkunden, pi. xvi. It has been translated into English by Birch, On ttco Egyptian Tablets of the Ptolemaic Period (from Archmologia, vol. xxxix.\ into German by Brcgscu, I TI1E GODS OF EG Y1‘T. 114 concealed within the tomb. If it went forth by night, it was from no capricious or sentimental desire to revisit the spots where it had led a happier life. Its organs needed nourishment as formerly did those of its body, and of itself it possessed nothing “ but hunger for food, thirst for drink.”1 Want and misery drove it from its retreat, and flung it back among the living. It prowled like a marauder about fields and villages, picking up and greedily devouring whatever it might find on the ground — broken meats which had been left or forgotten, house and stable refuse — and, should these meagre resources fail, even the most revolting dung and excrement.2 This ravenous spectre had not the dim and misty form, the long shroud or floating draperies of our modern phantoms, but a precise and definite shape, naked, or clothed in the garments which it had worn while yet upon earth, and emitting a pale light, to which it owed the name of Luminous — Khu, Khuu .3 The double did not allow its family to forget it, but used all the means at its disposal to remind them of its existence. It entered their houses and their bodies, terrified them waking and sleeping by its sudden apparitions, struck them down with disease or madness,4 and would even suck their blood like Die AEgyptische Grdberwelt, pp. 39, 40, and into French by Maspero, Etudes Egyptiennes, vol. i. pp. 187-190). As regards the persistence of this gloomy Egyptian conception of the other world, see Masfero, Etudes de Mythologie et d’ Arche'ologie Egyptiennes, vol. ii. pp. 179-181. 1 Teti, 11. 74, 75. “ Hateful unto Teti is hunger, and he eateth it not ; hateful unto Teti is thirst, nor hath he drunk it.” We see that the Egyptians made hunger and thirst into two sub- stances or beings, to be swallowed as food is swallowed, but whose effects were poisonous unless counteracted by the immediate absorption of more satisfying sustenance (Maspeuo, Etudes de Mythologie ct dd Ardnfulojie Egyptiennes, vol. i. pp. 154-156). 2 King Teti, when distinguishing his fate from that of the common dead, stated that he had abundance of food, and lienee was not reduced to so pitiful an extremity. “Abhorrent unto Teti is excrement, Teti rejecteth urine, and Teti abhorreth that which is abominable in him; abhorrent unto him is ftecal matter and he eateth it not, hateful unto Teti is liquid filth ” (Teti, II. 08, G9). The same doctrine is found in several places in the Bool: of the Dead. 3 The name of luminous was at firat so explained as to make the light wherewith souls were clothed, into a portion of the divine light (Masfero, Etudes de'motiques, in the Recueil, vol. i. p. 21, note 6, and the Revue critique , 1872, vol. ii. p. 338 ; Deveria, Lettre ii M. Raul Fierret sur le chapitre l'-r du Todlenliuch, in the Zeitschrift, 1870, pp. 62-04). In my opinion the idea is a less abstract one, and shows that, as among many other nations, so with the Egyptians the soul was supposed to appear as a kind of pale flame, or as emitting a glow analogous to the phosphorescent halo which is seen by night about a piece of rotten wood, or putrefying fish. This primitive conception may have sub- sequently faded, and Ithu the glorious one, one of the manes, may have become one of those flattering names by which it was thought necessary to propitiate the dead (Maspeuo, Etudes Egyptiennes, vol. ii. p. 12, note 1); it then came to have that significance of resplendent with light which is ordinarily attributed to it. 4 The incantations of which the Leyden Papyrus published by Pleyte is full (Etudes Egypto- logiques, vol. i.) are directed against dead men or dead teamen who entered into one of the living to give him the migraine, and violent headaches. Another Leyden Papyrus (Leemaxs, Monuments Egyptians du mwdi d’antiquMs des Pays-Bas a Leyde, 2nd part, pis. clxxxiii., clxxxiv.), briefly analyzed by Chaiias (Notices sommaires des Papyrus dgyptiem, p. 49), and translated by Maspeuo (Etudes Egyptiennes, vol. i. pp. 145-159), contains the complaint, or rather the formal act of requisition of a husband whom the luminous of his wife returned to torment in his home, without any just cause for such conduct. TIIEIR MUMMIFICATION. 115 the modem vampire.1 One effectual means there was, and one only, of escaping or preventing these visitations, and this lay in taking to the tomb all the various pro- visions of which the double stood in need, and for which it visited their dwellings. Funereal sacrifices and the regular cultus of the dead originated in the need experi- enced for making provision for the sustenance of the manes after having secured their lasting existence by the mum- mification of their bodies.2 Gazelles and oxen were brought and sacrificed at the door of the tomb chapel ; the haunches, heart, and breast of each victim being pre- sented and heaped together upon the ground, that there the dead might find them when they began to be hungry. Vessels of beer or wine, great jars of fresh sacrificing to the dead in the tomb chapel.3 water, purified with natron, or perfumed, were brought to them that they might drink their fill at pleasure, and by such voluntary tribute men bought their good will, as in daily life they bought that of some neighbour too powerful to be opposed. 1 MAsrERO, Notes sur guelques points de grammaire et d’hittoire, § 2, in the Zeitsclirift, 1ST;), p. 53, on a text of the Boole of the Dead. 2 Several chapters of the Booh of the Dead consist of directions for giving food to that part of man which survives his death, e.g. chap, cv., “ Chapter for providing food for the double ” (N avili.kV edition, pi. cxvii.), and chap. cvi.,“ Chapter for giving dailg abundance unto the deceased, in Memphis” (Naville’s edition, pi. cxviii.). 3 Stela of Anthf I., Prince of Thebes, drawn by Faucher-Gudin from a photograph taken by Emil Brugsch-Bey (cf. Mariette, Monuments divers, pi. 50 b). Below, servants and relations are briuging the victims and cutting up the ox at the door of the tomb. In the middle is the dead man, seated under his pavilion and receiving the sacrifice: an attendant offers him drink, another brings him the haunch of an ox, a third a basket and two jars ; provisions fill the whole chamber. Behind Anthf stand two servants, the one fanning his master, and the second offering him his staff and sandals. The position of the door, which is in the lowest row of the scenes, indicates that what is represented above it takes place within the tomb. THE (JOBS OF EGYPT. 116 The gods were spared none of the anguish and none of the perils which death so plentifully bestows upon men. Their bodies suffered change and gradually perished until nothing was left of them. Their souls, like human souls, were only the representatives of their bodies, and gradually became extinct if means of arresting the natural tendency to decay were not found in time. Thus, the same necessity that forced men to seek the kind of sepulture which gave the longest term of existence to their souls, compelled the gods to the same course. At first, they were buried in the hills, and one of their oldest titles describes them as those “ who are upon their sand,” 1 safe from putrefaction ; afterwards, when the art of embalming had been discovered, the gods received the benefit of the new invention and were mummified. Each nome possessed the mummy and the tomb of its dead god: at Thinis there was the mummy and the tomb of Anhuri, the mummy of Osiris at Mendes, the mummy of Tumu at Heliopolis.2 In some of the nomes the gods did not change their names in altering the mode of their existence : the deceased Osiris remained Osiris ; Nit and Hathor when dead were still Nit and Hathor, at Sais and at Denderah. But Phtah of Memphis A became Sokaris by dying;3 Uapuaitu, the jackal of Siut, was changed into Anubis ; 4 and when his disk had disappeared at evening, Anhuri, the sunlit sky of Thinis, was Khontamentit, Lord of the West, until the following day.5 That bliss which we dream of enjoying in the world to come was not granted to the gods any more than to men. Their bodies were nothing but inert larvae, “with unmoving heart,”6 weak and shrivelled limbs, unable to stand 1 In the Book of Knowing that which is in Hades, for the fourth anJ fifth hours of the night, we have the description of the sandy realm of Sokaris and of the gods Biriu Shaitu-senu, who are on their sand (Maspero, Etudes de Mythologie et d' Arch going ie Egyptiennes, vol. ii. pp. 01-73). Else- where in the same book we have a cynocephalus upon its sand (Lefebure, Tonibeau de Seri I ", 4th part, pi. xxxii.), and the gods of the eighth hour are also mysterious gods who are on their sand (ibid., pi. xlvii., et seq.). Wherever these personages are represented in the vignettes, the Egyptian artist has carefully drawn the ellipse painted in yellow and sprinkled with red, which is the con- ventional rendering of sand, and sandy districts. ■ The sepulchres of Tumu, Khopri, Ra, Osiris, and in each of them the heap of sand hiding the body, are represented in the tomb of Seti I. (Lefebure, Tombeau de Sdli I’r, 4th part, pis. xliv., xlv.), as also the four rams in which the souls of the god are incarnate (cf. Maspero, Etudes de Mythologie et d’ Archdologie Egyptiennes, vol. ii. p. 112). The tombs of the gods were known even in Roman times. Ou porov 8e tootov ( OaiptSos ) of fepeTs \eyovoiv a\Aa /cal rur Bear, otroi pn aytvvr)Toi MT/5 atydaproi, ra pen aiipara irap’ avrois KeitrSai Kapivra ncil BepanevtaBai, t as Se ipuxas ir oiipavtp \dpneiu derTpa. (De lside et Osiride, chap, xxi., Parthey’s edition, p. 36). 3 Maspero, Etudes de Mythologie et d' Arche'olugie Egyptiennes, vol. ii. pp. 21, 22. 4 To my mind, at least, this is an obvious conclusion from the monuments of Sifit, in which the jackal god is called Tapuaitu, as the living god, lord of the city, and Anupil, master of embalming or of the Oasis, lord of Ra-qririt, inasmuch as he is god of the dead. Ra-qririt, the door of the stone, was the name which the people of Siut gave to their necropolis and to the infernal domain of their god. Maspero, Etudes de Mythologie et d’ Archdologie Egyptiennes, vol. ii. pp. 23, 24. Ihis is the characteristic epithet for the dead Osiris, Urdu-hit, he whose heart is unmoviug, he v hose heart no longer beats, and who has therefore ceased to live. DEAD GODS TIIE GODS OF THE DEAD. 117 upright were it not that the bandages in which they wore swathed stiffened them into one rigid block. Their hands and heads alone were free, and were of the green or black shades of putrid flesh. Their doubles, like those of men, both dreaded and regretted the light. All sentiment was extinguished by the hunger from which they suffered, and gods who were noted for their compassionate kindness when alive, became pitiless and fero- cious tyrants in the tomb. When once men were bidden to the presence of Sokaiis, Ivhonta- mentit, or even of Osiris,1 “mortals come terri- fying their hearts with fear of the god, and none dareth to look him in the face either among gods or men ; for him the great are as the small. He spareth not those who love him ; he beareth away the child from its mother, and the old man who walketh on his way ; full of fear, all creatures make suppli- cation before him, but he turneth not his face towards them.” 2 Only by the unfailing payment of tribute, and by feeding him as though he were a simple human double, could living or dead escape the consequences of his furious temper. The living paid him his dues in pomps and solemn sacrifices, repeated from year to year at regular intervals;4 but the dead bought more dearly the protection which he deigned to extend to them. He did not allow them to receive directly the prayers, sepulchral meals, or offerings of kindred on feast-days; all that was addressed to them must first pass through his hands. When their friends wished to send them wine, water, bread, meat, vegetables, and fruits, he insisted that these should first be offered and formally presented to himself; then he was humbly prayed to transmit them to such or such a double, whose name and parentage were pointed out to him. He took possession of them, kept part for his own use, and of his PHTAH AS A MUMMY.3 1 On the baleful character of Osiris, see Maspero, /Andes de Mylhologie et d' Archdologie, rol. ii. pp. 11, 12. 2 This is a continuation of the text cited above, p. 1 13. 3 Drawing by Faucher-Gudin of a bronze statuette of Saitc period, found in the department of He'rault, at the end of a gallery in an ancient mice. 4 The most solemn of these sacrifices were celebrated during the first days of the year, at the feast Uagait, as is evident from texts in the tomb of Xofirhotpft and others (Beneditf, Le Tombeau de Noferhotpii, in the Mfmoires de la Mission frangaise, vol. v. p. 417, et scq.). 118 THE GODS OF EGYPT. bounty gave the remainder to its destined recipient.1 Thus death made no change in the relative positions of the feudal god and his worshippers. The worshipper who called himself the amaTcM of the god during life was the subject and vassal of his mummied god even in the tomb;2 and the god who, while living, reigned over the living, after his death continued to reign over the dead. He dwelt in the city near the prince and in the midst of his subjects : Ra living in Heliopolis along with the prince of Heliopolis ; Ilaroeris in Edfu together with the prince of Edfu ; Nit in Sai's with the prince of Sai's. Although none of the primitive temples have come down to us, the name given to them in the language of the time, shows what they originally were. A temple was considered as the feudal mansion3 — halt, — the house — pirn, pi, — of the god, better cared for, and more respected than the houses of men, but not otherwise differing from them. It was built on a site slightly raised above the level of the plain, so as to be safe from the inundation, and where there was no natural mound, the want was supplied by raising a rectangular platform of earth. A layer of sand spread uniformly on the sub-soil provided against settlements or infiltration, and formed a bed for the foundations of the building.4 This was first of all a single room, circum- scribed, gloomy, covered in by a slightly vaulted roof, and having no opening but the doorway, which was framed by two tall masts, whence floated streamers to attract from afar the notice of worshippers ; in front of its facade5 was a court, fenced in with palisading. Within the temple were pieces of matting, low tables of stone, wood, or metal, a few utensils for cooking the offerings, a few vessels for containing the blood, oil, wine, and 1 This function of the god of the dead was clearly defined for the first time by Maspero in 1878 ( Etudes de Mythologie et d' Arckfologie Egyptiennes, vol. i. pp. 3-6). 2 The word amalchu is applied to an individual who has freely entered the service of king or baron, and taken him for his lord : amalchu Icliir nibuf means vassal of Ms lord. In the same way, each chose for himself a god who became his patron, and to whom he owed fealty , i.e. to whom he was amalchu — vassal. To the god he owed the service of a good vassal — tribute, sacrifices, offerings; and to his vassal the god owed in return the service of a suzerain — protection, food, reception into his dominions and access to his person. A man might be absolutely nib amakhit, master of fealty, or, relatively to a god, amalchu Ichir Osiri, the vassal of Osiris, amalchu lchir Plitah-Solcari, the vassal of Phtah-Sokaris. 3 Maspero, Sur le sens dcs mots Nouit et Halt, pp. 22, 23 ; cf. Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, 1889-90, vol. xii. pp. 256, 257. The further development of this idea may be found in M. de Eochemonteix’s lecture on La Grande Salle liypostyle de Karnalc, in his OHuvres diverges, p. 49, et seq. * This custom lasted into Grceco-Itoman times, and was part of the ritual for laying the founda- lions of a temple. After the king had dug out the soil on the ground where the temple was to stand, he spread over the spot sand mixed with pebbles and precious stones, and upon this he laid the first course of stone (Duhichen, Baugeschichte des Denderatempels, pi. li. ; and Brugsch, Thesaurus Inscriptionum JEgyptiacarum, pp. 1272, 1273). 5 No Egyptian temples of the first period have come down to our time, but IIerr Erman ( JEgypten , p. 379) has very justly remarked that wc have pictures of them in several of the signs denoting the word temple in texts of the Memphite period. THEIR TEMPLES AND IMAGES. 1 19 water with which the god was every day regaled. As provisions for sacrifice increased, the number of chambers increased with them, and rooms for flowers, perfumes, stuffs, precious vessels, and food were grouped around the primitive abode ; until that which had once constituted the whole temple became no more than its sanctuary.1 There the god dwelt, not only in spirit but in body,2 3 and the fact that it was incumbent upon him to live in several cities did not prevent his being present in all of them at once. He could divide his double, imparting it to as many sepa- rate bodies as he pleased, and these bodies might be human or animal, natural objects or things manufactured — such as statues of stone, metal, or wood.4 Several of the gods were incarnate in rams : Osiris at Mendes, Harshafitu at Heraeleopolis, Khnumu at Elephantine. Living rams were kept in their temples, and allowed to gratify any fancy that came into their animal brains. Other gods entered into bulls : Ra at Heliopolis, and, subsequently, Phtah at Memphis, Minix at Thebes, and Month at Hermonthis. They indicated beforehand by certain marks such beasts as they intended to animate by their doubles, and he who had learnt to recognize these signs was at no loss to find a living god when the time came for seeking one and pre- senting it to the adoration of worshippers in the temple.5 And if the statues 1 Maspeko, Archeologie Egyptienne, pp. 65, 66, 105, 106; English edition, pp. 63, 64, 104, 105; M. de Rochejionteix, G'Juvres diverges, p. 10, et seq. 2 Thus at Denderah (Mariette, Denderah, vol. i. pi. liv.), it is said that the soul of Hathor likes to leave heaven “in the form of a liuman-headed sparrow-hawk of lapis-lazuli, accompanied by her divine cycle, to come and unite herself to the statue.” “ Other instances,” adds Mariette, “ would seem to justify us in thinking that the Egyptians accorded a certain kind of life to the statues and images which they made, and believed (especially iu connection with tombs) that the spirit haunted images of itself” (Demltfrah, Texte, p. 156). 3 A sculptor’s model from Tanis, now in the Gizeh Museum (Mariette, Notice des principaux monuments, 1876, p. 222, No. 666), drawn by Faucher-Gudin from a photograph by Emil Erugsch- Bey. The sacred marks, as given in the illustration, are copied from those of similar figures on stela* of the Serapeum. 4 Maspero, Etudes de Mythologie et d'A rchdologie Egyptiennes, vol. i. p. 77, et seq.; Archdologie Egyptienne, pp. 106, 107; English edition, pp. 105, 106. This notion of actuated statues seemed so strange and so unworthy of the wisdom of the Egyptians that Egyptologists of the rank of M. de Rouge ( Etude sur une stele dgyptienne de lit Bihliothique I m per tale, p. 109) have taken in an abstract and metaphorical sense expressions referring to the automatic movements of divine images. 5 The bnlls of Ra and of Phtah, the Mnevis and the Hapis, are known to us from classic writers (De Iside et Osiride, § 4, 33, etc.; Parthey’s edition, pp. 7,8,58; Herodotus, ii. 153, iii. 28; 120 TIIE GODS OF EGYPT. had not the same outward appearance of actual life as the animals, they none the less concealed beneath their rigid exteriors an intense energy of life which betrayed itself on occasion by gestures or by words. They thus indicated, in language which their servants could understand, the will of the gods, or their opinion on the events of the day ; they answered questions put to them in accordance with prescribed forms, and sometimes they even foretold the future. Each temple held a fairly large number of statues re- jn-esenting so many embodi- ments of the local divinity and of the members of his triad. These latter shared, albeit in a lesser degree, all the honours and all the pre- rogatives of the master ; they accepted sacrifices, answered prayers, and, if needful, they prophesied. They occupied either the sanctuary itself, or one of the halls built about the principal sanctuary, or one of the isolated chapels which belonged to them, subject to the suzerainty of the feudal god.2 The god had his divine court to help him in the administration of his dominions, just as a prince is aided by his ministers in the government of his realm. This State religion, so complex both in principle and in its outward mani- festations, was nevertheless inadequate to express the exuberant piety of the populace. There were casual divinities in every nome whom the people did not love any the less because of their inofficial character; such as an OPEN-AIR OFFERINGS TO THE SERrENT.' Diodorus, i. 84, 88; vElianus, si. 11; Ammianus Marcellixus, xxii. 14,2). The bull of Minft at Thebes may be seen in the procession of the god as represented on monuments of Eamses II. and Eamses III. (Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, 2nd edit., vol. iii. pi. lx.). Bakhfl (called Ilnkis by the Greeks), the bull of Hermouthis, is somewhat rare, and mainly represented upon a few later stelse in the Gizeh Museum (Grebauf, Le Mus&e Egyptien, pi. vi., where it is certainly the bull of Hermonthis, although differently named); it is chiefly known from the texts (cf. Brugsch, Dictionnaire gfograpliique, p. 200; cf. Macrobius, Saturnales, 1. 21). The particular signs distinguishing each of these sacred animals have been determined both od the authority of ancient writers, and from examination of the figured monuments; the arrangement and outlines of some of the black markings of the Ilapis are clearly shown in the illustration on p. 119. 1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudiu, from a photograph taken in the tomb of Khopirkerisoubu (Sciieil, moires de la Mission Fran false, vol. v. pi. iv., wall C of the tomb, 2nd row). The inscription behind the mams states that it represents Uanuit the August, lady of the double granary. 2 They are the 0<=ol avwaoi of Greek writers. For their accommodation in the temples, cf. M. de Eoohemonteix, (Euvres diverges, p. 11, et seq. TREE AND SERPENT WORSHIP. 121 exceptionally high palm tree in the midst of the desert,1 a rock of curious out- line, a spring trickling drop by drop from the mountain to which hunters came to slake their thirst in the hottest hours of the day,2 or a great serpent believed to be immortal, which haunted a field, a grove of trees, a grotto, or a mountain ravine.3 The peasants of the district brought it bread, cakes, fruits, and thought that they could call down the blessing of heaven upon their fields by gorging the snake with offerings. Everywhere on the confines of cultivated ground, and even at some distance from the valley, are fine single syca- mores, flourishing as though by miracle amid the sand. Their fresh greenness is in sharp con- trast with the surrounding fawn- coloured landscape, and their thick foliage defies the midday sun even in summer. But, on examining the ground in which they grow, we soon find that they drink from water which has infil- trated from the Nile, and whose existence is in nowise betrayed upon the surface of the soil. They stand as it were with their feet in the river, though no one about them suspects it. Egyptians of all ranks counted them divine and habitually worshipped them,5 making them offering of figs, grapes, cucumbers, vegetables, and water in porous jars daily replenished by good and 1 Such as the palm tree, which grows a hundred cubits high, and belongs to the species Hyphasna Argun, Mart., now so rare. The author of the prayer in the Sallier Papyrus I., pi. viii. 11. 4, 5, identifies it with Thot, the god of lettei'3 and eloquence. 2 Such as the Bir-el-Ain, the spring of the flady Sabiln, near Akhmim, where the hermitage of a Mussulman deli has succeeded the chapel of a Christiau saint which had supplanted the rustic shrine of a form of the god Mind (Maspero, Etudes de Mythologie et d' ArcMologie Egypt ietuies, vol. i. p. 240, et seq.). 3 It was a serpent of this kind which gave its name to the hill of Sheikh Haridi, and the adjacent nome of the Serpent Mountain (Dumichen, Gtfographie des Alten-2Egypten, pp. 178, 179 ; Maspero, Etudes de Mythologie et d’ Arclidologie Egyptiennes, \ ol. ii. p. 412); and though the serpent has now turned Mussulman, he still haunts the mountain and preserves his faculty of coming to life again every time that he is killed. 4 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin from a scene in the tomb of Khopirkerisonbd (cf. Scheil, Mdmoires de la Mission frangaise, vol. v. pi. iv., wall C, top row). The sacred sycamore here stands at the end of a field of corn, and would seem to extend its protection to the harvest. 5 Maspero, Etudes de Mythologie et d' Archdologie Egyptiennes, vol. ii. pp. 224-227. They were represented as animated by spirits concealed within them, but which could manifest themselves on occasion. At such times the head or whole body of the spirit of a tree would emerge from its trunk, and when it returned to its hiding-place the trunk reabsorbed it, or ate it again, according to the Egyptian expression (Maspero, Eludes de Mythologie et d' Archdologie Egyptiennes, vol. ii. pp. 104, 10fi, 108, etc.), which I have already had occasion to quote above; see p. 83, note 4. 122 THE GOES OF EGYPT. charitable people. Passers-by drank of the water, and requited the unexpected benefit with a short prayer. There were several such trees in the Memphite norae, and in the Letopolite nome from Daskur to Gizcb, inhabited, as every one knew, by detached doubles of Nuit and Hathor. These combined districts were known as the “ Land of the Sycamore,” a name afterwards extended to the city of Memphis; and their sacred trees are worshipped at the present day both by Mussulman and Christian fellalnn.1 The most famous among them all, the Sycamore of the South — nuhit visit — was regarded as the living body of Hathor on earth.2 Side by side with its human gods and prophetic statues, each nome proudly advanced one or more sacred animals, one or more magical trees. Each family, and almost every individual, also possessed gods and fetishes, which had been pointed out for their worship by some fortuitous meeting with an animal or an object ; by a dream, or by sudden intuition. They had a place in some corner of the house, or a niche in its walls ; lamps were continually kept burning before them, and small daily offerings were made to them, over and above what fell to their share on solemn feast-days. In return, they became the protectors of the household, its guardians and its counsellors. Appeal was made to them in every exigency of daily life, and their decisions were no less scrupulously carried out by their little circles of worshippers, than was the will of the feudal god by the inhabitants of his principality. The prince was the great high priest.8 The whole religion of the nome rested upon him, and originally he himself performed its ceremonies. Of these, the chief was sacrifice, — that is to say, a banquet which it was his duty to prepare and lay before the god with his own hands. He went out into the fields to lasso the half-wild bull; bound it, cut its throat, skinned it, burnt part of the carcase in front of his idol and distributed the rest among his assistants, together with plenty of cakes, fruits, vegetables, and wine.4 On the occasion, the god was present both in body and double, suffering himself to be clothed and 1 The tree at Matarieb. commonly called the Tree of the Virgin, seems to me to be tbe successor of a sacred tree of Heliopolis in which a goddess, perhaps Hathor, was worshipped. 2 Brugscii, Dictionnaire gtfographique, pp. 330-332, 1244, etc.; cf. Lakzone, Dizionario di Milo- login, p. 878. The Memphite Hathor was called the Lady of the Southern Sycamore. 3 See the examples of the princes of Beni-Hasan and Ashmunein, under the XII"1 dynasty (Maspero, La grande Inscription de Beni-Uassan, in the Becueil de Travaux, vol. i. pp. 179, 180), and of the princes of Elephantine under the VIth and VII"1 dynasties (Bouriant, Les Tombeaux d' Assouan, in the Becueil de Travaux, vol. x. pp. 182-193). M. Lepage-Benouf has given a very clear account of current ideas on this subject in his article On the Priestly Character of the Earliest Egyptian Civilization (Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Arclixology, 1889-90, vol. xii. p. 355, et seq.). 4 This appears from the sacrificial ritual employed in the temples up to the last days of Egyptian paganism; ef., for instance, the illustration on p. 123 (Mariette, Abydos, vol. i. pi. liii.), where the king is represented as lassoing the bull. That which in historic times was but an image, had originally been a reality (Maspero, Lectures historiques, pp. 71-73). 1 HE THEORY OF PRAYER AND SACRIFICE. 123 perfumed, eating and drinking of the best that was set on the table before him, and putting aside some of tho provisions for future use. This was the time to prefer requests to him, while he was gladdened and disposed to benevolence by good cheer. IIo was not without suspicion as to the reason why he was so feasted, but he had laid down his conditions beforehand, and if they were faithfully observed he willingly yielded to the means of seduction brought THE SACRIFICE OF THE BULL. — THE OFFICIATING PRIEST LASSOING THE VICTIM.1 to bear upon him. Moreover, he himself had arranged the ceremonial in a kind of contract formerly made with his worshippers and gradually perfected from age to age by the piety of new generations.2 Above all things, he insisted on physical cleanliness. The officiating priest must carefully wash — I'idbA — his face, mouth, hands, and body; and so necessary was this preliminary purification considered, that from it the professional priest derived his name of tHbti, the washed, the clean.3 His costume was the archaic dress, modified 1 Bas-relief from the temple of Seti I. at Abydos ; drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by M. Daniel He'ron. Seti I., second king of the XIXth dynasty, is throwing the lasso; his son, llnmscs II., who is still the crown prince, holds the bull by the tail to prevent its escaping from the slip-knot. The most striking example of the divine institution of religious services is furnished by the inscription relating the history of the destruction of men in the reign of 11a (Lefkbure, Le Tumbeau de Seti I", 4th part, pi. xvi. 1. 31, ct set]., in vol. ii. of tho Mcinoires de la Mission Franfaise du Caire), where the god, as lie is about to make his final ascension into heaven, substitutes animal for human sacrifices. 3 The idea of physical cleanliness comes out in such variants ns uibu fotui , ‘‘clean of both hands,” found on stelae instead of the simple title uibu. We also know, on the evidence of ancient writers, the scrupulous daily care which Egyptian priests took of their bodies (Herodotus, ii. 37; cf. Wiedemann, Herodot's Ziceites Buch, p. 1GG, et seq.). It was only as a secondary matter that the idea of moral purity entered into the conception of a priest. The Purification Ritual for officiating priests is contained in a papyrus of the Berlin Museum, whose analysis and table of chap- ters has been published by* Herr Oscar von Lemm, Das Ritualbuch des Ammonsdieiistes. , p. 4. ct seq. 124 TIIE GODS OF EGYPT. according to circumstances. During certain services, or at certain points in the sacrifices, it was incumbent upon him to wear sandals, the panther- skin over his shoulder, and the thick lock of hair falling over his right ear; 1 at other times he must gird himself with the loin-cloth having a jackal’s tail, and take the shoes from off his feet before proceeding with his office ; or he must attach a false beard to his chin.2 The species, hair, and age of the victim, the way in which it was to be brought and bound, the manner and details of its slaughter, the order to be followed in opening its body and cutting it up, were all minutely and unchangeably de3reed.3 And these were but the least of the divine exactions, and those most easily satisfied. The formulas accompanying each act of the sacrificial priest contained a certain number of words whose due sequence and harmonies might not suffer the slightest modification whatever, even from the god himself, under penalty of losing their efficacy. They were always recited with the same rhythm, accord- ing to a system of melody in which every tone had its virtue, combined with movements which confirmed the sense and worked with irresistible effect : one false note, a single discord between the succession of gestures and the utterance of the sacramental words, any hesitation, any awkwardness in the accomplish- ment of a rite, and the sacrifice tvas vain.4 Worship as thus conceived became a legal transaction, in the course of which the god gave up his liberty in exchange for certain compensations whose kind and value were fixed by law. By a solemn deed of transfer the wor- shipper handed over to the legal representatives of the contracting divinity such personal or real property as seemed to him fitting payment for the favour which he asked, or suitable atonement for the wrong rvhich he had done. If man scrupulously observed the innumerable conditions with which the transfer was surrounded, the god could not escape the obligation of fulfilling his peti- tion ;5 but should he omit the least of them, the offering remained with the 1 Tims it was with the Satnu and Anmautif priests, whatever the nature and signification of these two sacerdotal titles may he (Lepsius, Denlcm., ii. IS, 10, 21, 22, etc.; Mariette, Abydos, vol. i. jds. xxxi., xxxii., xxxiii., xxxiv., etc.). 2 Mariette, Abydos , vol. i. pis. xvii., xxxv., xliii., xliv., etc., where sacerdotal functions arc invari- ably exercised by Seti I., assisted by his son. 3 See the detailed representation of sacrifice in Mariette, Abydos, vol. i. pi. xlviii. For the examination of the victims and the signs by which the priests lcuew that they were good to sacrifice before the gods, cf. Herodotus, ii. 38 (Wiedemann, llerodot's Zweites Buck, p. 180, et seq.). 4 The real value of formulas and of the melopoeia in Egyptian rites was recoguizcd by Maspero, Etude de Mythologie et d’ Archeblogie Egyptiennes, vol. ii. pp. 302, 303, 373, ct seq. 5 This obligation is evident from texts where, as in the poem of Pentauirit, a king who is iu danger demands from his favourite god the equivalent in protection of the sacrifices which he has offered to that divinity, and the gifts wherewith he has enriched him. “ Have I not made unto thee many offerings?” says Ramses II. to Amon. “I have filled thy temple with my prisoners, I have built thee a mansion for millions of years. . . . Ah, if evil is the lot of them who insult thee, good are thy purposes towards those who honour thee, O Amon ! ” (E. and J. de Rouge, Le Poeme de Pentaour, in the Revue Egyptologique, vol. v. p. 15, et seq.). THE SERVANTS AND Pll ODER TY OF TEMPLES. 125 temple and went to increase the endowments in mortmain, but the god was pledged to nothing in exchange. Hence the officiating priest assumed a formidable responsibility as regarded his fellows: a slip of memory, the slightest accidental impurity, made him a bad priest, injurious to himself and injurious to those worshippers who had entrusted him with their interests before the gods. Since it was vain to expect ritualistic perfection from a prince constantly troubled with affairs of state, the custom was established of associating professional priests with him, personages who devoted all their lives to the study and practice of the thousand formalities whose sum constituted the local religion. Each temple had its service of priests, independent of those belong- ing to neighbouring temples, whose members, bound to keep their hands always clean and their voices true, were ranked according to the degrees of a learned hierarchy.1 At their head was a sovereign pontiff to direct them in the exercise of their functions. In some places he was called the first prophet, or rather the first servant of the god — hon-nutir topi ; at Thebes he was the first prophet of Amon, at Thinis he was the first prophet of Anhuri.2 But generally he bore a title appropriate to the nature of the god whose servant he was.3 The chief priest of Ra at Heliopolis, and in all the cities which adopted the Heliopolitan form of worship, was called OtrA man, the master of visions, and he alone besides the sovereign of the nome, or of Egypt, enjoyed the privilege of penetrating into the sanctuary, of “ entering into heaven and there beholding the god ” face to face.4 In the same way, the high priest of Anhuri at Sebennytos was entitled the wise and pure warrior — ahuiti saA uibu — because his god went armed with a pike, and a soldier god required for his service a pontiff who should be a soldier like himself.5 These great personages did not always strictly seclude themselves within 1 The first published attempt at reconstructing the Egyptian hierarchy from the monuments was made by M. A. Baillet, De V Election et de la durde des fonctions du grand pretre d’ Ammon a Tltebes (extract from the Revue Archdologique, 2nd series, vol. vi., 1S62). Long afterwards Herr Rheinisch endeavoured to show that the learned organization of the Egyptian priesthood is not older than the XIIth dynasty, and mainly dates from the second Theban empire ( Ursprung und Entwickelungs - geschichte des JEgyptisclien Priesterlums und Ausbildung der Lekre von der Einheit Gottes, Vienna, 1878). The most complete account of our knowledge on this subject, the catalogue of the principal priesthoods, the titles of the high priests aud priestesses in each nome, are to bo found in Brugscb, Die JEgyptologie, vol. ii. pp. 275-291. 2 This title of first prophet belongs to priests of the less important towns, and to secondary diviuities. If we find it employed in connection with the Theban worship, it is because Amon was originally a provincial god, and only rose into the first rank with the rise of Thebes and the great conquests of the XVIIIth and XIXth dynasties (Maspeuo, Etudes Egyptiennes, vol. ii. pp. 53-55). 3 For a very full list of those titles, see Buugsch, Die ASgypiologie, pp. 280-282. 1 The mystic origin of this name Oirii mad is given in chap. cxv. of the Book of the Dead (Lepsius’ edition, pi. xliv. ; see also Ed. Naville, Un Ostracon Egyptien, extract from the Annales du Musee Guimet, vol. i. p. 51, et seq.). The high office of the Oirii mau is described in the Piankhi stela (E. de Rouge’s edition in the Chrestomathie, vol. iv. pp. 59-G1), where we find it discharged by the Ethiopian king on his entry into Heliopolis. 5 Bkugsch, Dictionnaire G&ographiq ue, p. 1368. THE GODS OF EGYPT. 1 2f> the limits of the religious domain. The gods accepted, and even sometimes solicited, from their worshippers, houses, fields, vineyards, orchards, slaves, and fishponds, the produce of which assured their livelihood and the support of their temples. There was no Egyptian who did not cherish the ambition of leaving some such legacy to the patron god of his city, “ for a monument to himself,” and as an endowment for the priests to institute prayers and perpetual sacrifices on his behalf.1 In course of time these accumulated gifts at length formed real sacred fiefs — hotpu-nutir — analogous to the waJcfs of Mussulman Egypt.2 They were administered by the high priest, who, if neces- sary, defended them by force against the greed of princes or kings. Two, three, or even four classes of prophets or hieroduli under his orders assisted him in performing the offices of worship, in giving religious instruction, aud in the conduct of affairs. Women did not hold equal rank with men in the temples of male deities ; they there formed a kind of harem whence the god took his mystic spouses, his concubines, his maidservants, the female musicians and dancing women whose duty it was to divert him and to enliven his feasts.3 But in temples of goddesses they held the chief rank, and were called hierodules, ox- priestesses, hierodules of Nit, hierodules of Hathor, hierodules of Pakhit.4 The lower offices in the households of the gods, as in princely households, were held by a troop of servants and artisans: butchers to cut the throats of the victims, cooks and pastrycooks, confectioners, weavers, shoemakers, florists, cellarers, water-carriers and milk-carriers.5 In fact, it was a state within a state, 1 As regards tlie Saite period, we are beginning to accumulate many stelas recording gifts to a god of land or houses, made either by the king or by private individuals (Revilloct, Acte dc fondalion d’une chapelle a Hor-merti dans la ville de Pharbxtus, et Acte dc fondation d’line chapelle d Bast dans la ville de Bubastis, in the Revue Egyptologique, vol. ii. pp. 32-44 ; Maspero, Notes sur plusieurs points de grammaire et d’histoire, in the Zeitsclirift, 1881, p. 117, and 1885, p. 10 ; also Sur deux steles rtfcern- ment ddcouvertes, in the Eecueil de Travaux, vol. xv. pp. 84-86). 2 We know from the Great Harris Papyrus to what the fortune of Anion amounted at the end of the reign of Ramses III. ; its details may be found in Brugsch, Die ZEgyptologie , pp. 271-274. Cf. in Naville, Bubastis, Eighth Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund, p. 61, a calculation as to the quantities of precious metals belonging to one of the least of the temples of Bubastis ; its gold aud silver were counted by thousands of pounds. 3 The names of the principal priestesses of Egypt are collected in Brugsch, Die ZEgyptologie, pp. 262, 203; for their offices and functions, cf. Erman, ZEgypten, pp. 393-401, who seems to me to ascribe too modern an origin to the conception by which the priestesses of a god were considered as forming his earthly harem. Under the Old Kingdom we find prophetesses of Thot (Mariette, Les Mastabas de l’ Ancien Empire, p. 183) aud of Capuaitu (ibid., p. 162). 4 See Mariette, Denddrah, text, pp. 86, 87, on the priestess of Hathor at Denderah. Mariette remarks (ibid., pp. 83-86) that priests play but a subordinate part in the temple of Hathor. This fact, which surprised him, is adequately explained by remembering that Hathor being a goddess, women take precedence over men in a temple dedicated to her. At Sa'is, the chief priest was a man, the hharp-haitu (Brugsch, Dictionnaire Gdograpliique, p. 1368); but the persistence with which women of the highest rank, and even queens themselves, took the title of prophetess of Nit from the times of the Ancient Empire (Mariette, Les Mastabas, pp. 90, 162, 201, 202, 302, 303, 326, 377, etc.) shows that in this city the priestess of the goddess was of equal, if not superior, rank to the priest. 3 A partial list of these may be found in the Hood Papyrus (Maspero, Etudes Egyptiennes, vol. il, pp. 5G-G4), where half the second page is filled with their titles. T1IE COSMOGONIES OF THE DELTA. 127 and the prince took care to keep its government in his own hands, either by investing one of his children with the titles and functions of chief pontiff, or by arrogating them to himself.1 In that case, he provided against mistakes which would have annulled the sacrifice by associating with himself several masters of the ceremonies, who directed him in the orthodox evolutions before the god and about the victim, indicated the due order of gestures and the necessary changes of costume, and prompted him with the words of each invocation from a book or tablet which they held in their hands.2 In addition to its rites and special hierarchy, each of the sacerdotal colleges thus constituted had a theology in accordance with the nature and attributes of its god. Its fundamental dogma affirmed the unity of the liome god, his greatness, his supremacy over all the gods of Egypt aud of foreign lands3 — whose existence was nevertheless admitted, and none dreamed of denying their reality or contesting their power. These gods also boasted of their unity, their greatness, their supremacy ; but whatever they were, the god of the nome was master of them all — their prince, their ruler, their king. It was he alone who governed the world, he alone kept it in good order, he alone had created it. Not that he had evoked it out of nothing ; there was as yet no concept of nothiugness, and even to the most subtle and refined of primitive theologians creation was only a bringing of pre-existent elements into play. The latent germs of things had always existed, but they had slept for ages and ages in the bosom of the Nit, of the dark waters.6 In fulness of time the god of each nome drew them forth, classified them, marshalled them according to the bent of his particular nature, and made his universe out of them by methods peculiarly his own. Nit of Sals, who was a weaver, 1 As in the ease of the princes of Beni-Hassan and Bersheh under the XII"' dynasty (Maspeko, La Grande Inscription de Be'ni-Hassan, in the Eecueil de Travaux, vol. i. pp. 179, 180). 2 The title of such a personage was ldiri-habi, the man with the roll or tablet, because of the papyrus roll, or wooden tablet containing the ritual, which he held in his hand. 3 In the inscriptions all local gods bear the titles of Nutir tin, only god ; Sidon nutir A, SAntirA, ~2.ovBr)p, king of the gods; of Nutir da nib pit, the great god, lord of heaven, which show their preten- sions to the sovereignty and to the position of creator of the universe. 4 Drawing by Faucher-Gudin of a green enamelled statuette in my possession. It was from this image that the Greeks derived their representations, and perhaps their myth of Atlas. 5 This name is generally read Nun (cf. Bkugsch, Religion und Mythologie, p. 107). I have else- where given my reasons for the reading Nu ( Revue critique, 1872, vol. i. p. 178), which is moreover that of M. de Rouge ( Etudes sur le rituel fumfraire des anciens Egyptiens, p. 41). Nil would seem to be nothing more than a personage mentally evolved by theologians and derived from Xilit, the sky-goddess (Maspeko, Etudes de Mythologie et d’ Archdologie Egyptiennes, vol. ii. pp. 358, 359); he had never any worshippers nor ever possessed a sanctuary to himself. 128 T1IE GOBS OF EGYPT. had made the world of warp and woof, as the mother of a family weaves her children’s linen.1 Khnumu, the Nile-god of the cataracts, had gathered up the mud of his waters and therewith moulded his creatures upon a potter’s table.'2 In the eastern cities of the Delta these procedures were not so simple.3 There it was admitted that in the beginning earth and sky were two lovers lost in the Nu, fast locked in each other’s embrace, the god lying beneath the goddess. On the day of creation a new god, Shu, came forth from the primaeval waters, slipped between the two, and seizing Nuit with both hands, lifted her above his head with outstretched arms.4 Though the starry body of the goddess extended in space — her head being to the west and her loins to the east — her feet and hands hung down to earth. These were the four pillars of the firma- ment under another form, and four gods of four adjacent principalities were in charge of them. Osiris, or Horus the sparrow-hawk, presided over the southern, and Sit over the northern pillar; Thot over that of the west, and Sapdi, the author of the zodiacal light, over that of the east.5 They had divided the world among themselves into four regions, or rather into four “ houses,” bounded by those mountains which surround it, and by the diameters intersecting between the pillars. Each of these houses belonged to one, and to one only ; none of the other three, nor even the sun himself, might enter it, dwell there, or even pass through it without having obtained its master’s permission.6 Nevertheless Sibu had not been satisfied to meet the irruption of Shu by mere passive resistance. He had tried to struggle, and he is drawn in the posture of a man who has just awakened out of sleep, and is half turning on his couch before getting up.7 1 D. Mallet, Le Culte de Neith a Sals, pp. 185, 186. 2 At Pliilar he is called “ Khnumu . . . the father of the gods, who is himself, who moulds (khnumu ) men and models ( mash ) the gods” (Bkdgsch, Thesaurus Inscriptionum JEgyptiacamm, p. 752, No. 11). 3 Sibu and Nuit, as belonging to the old fundamental conceptions common to Egyptian religions, especially in the Delta, must have been known at Sebennytos as in the neighbouring cities. In the present state of our knowledge it is difficult to decide whether their separation by Shh was a con- ception of the local theologians, or an invention of the priests of Heliopolis at the time of the consti- tution of the Great Eunead (Maspeko, Etudes de Mytliologie et d’ Archeologie Egyptieunes, vol. ii. pp. 356, 357, 370). 4 This was what the Egyptians called the upliftings of Shu (Booh of the Dead , Naville’s edition, pi. xxiii., ch. xvii., parts 26, 27; cf. Maspeko, Etudes de Mytliologie et d’ Archeologie Egyptieunes, vol.i. pp. 337-340). The event first took place at Hermopolis, and certain legends added that in order to get high enough the god had been obliged to make use of a staircase or mound situate in this city, and which was famous throughout Egypt (Booh of the Dead, Naville’s edition, pi. xxiii. ch. xvii. 11. h 5). 5 Osiris and Horus are in this connection the feudal gods of Mendes and the Osirian cities in tho east of the Delta. Sit is lord of the districts about Tanis ; Thot belongs to Bakhlieh, and Sapdi to the Arabian nome, to the tlady-Tumilat (cf. Maspeko, Etudes de Mytliologie et d’ Archeologie Egyp- tiennes, vol. ii. p. 364, et seq.). 6 On the houses of the world, and the meaning to be attached to this expression, see Maspero, La Pyramide du roi Papi II., in the Becueil de Travaux, vol. xii. pp. 78, 79. 1 In Lanzone, Dizionario di Mitologia, pis. elv.-clviii., we have a considerable number of scenes OSIRIS AND ISIS. 12!) One of bis legs is stretched out, the other is bent and partly drawn up as in the act of rising. The lower part of the body is still unmoved, but he is raising himself with difficulty on his left elbow, while his head droops and his right arm is lifted towards the sky. His effort was suddenly arrested, and rendered powerless by a stroke of the creator. Sibu remained as if petrified in this position, the obvious irregularities of the earth’s surface being due to the painful attitude in which he was stricken.1 His sides have since been SHU FORCIBLY SEPARATING SIBC AND NVIT.3 clothed with verdure, generations of men and animals have succeeded each other upon his back,3 but without bringing any relief to his pain ; he suffers evermore from the violent separation of which he was the victim when Niiit was torn from him, and his complaint continues to rise to heaven night and day.4 The aspect of the inundated plains of the Delta, of the river by which they are furrowed and fertilized, and of the desert sands by which they are threatened, had suggested to the theologians of Mendes and Buto an explana- tion of the mystery of creation, in which the feudal divinities of these cities and of several others in their neighbourhood, Osiris, Sit, and Isis, played the in which Sibil and Nftit are represented, often along witli Slid separating them aud sustaining Niiit. Some place Sibfi in exceptional postures, on which it is unnecessary to dwell; generally he is shown in a similar attitude to that which I describe, and as in the illustration. 1 Brugsch, Religion und Mytliologie der alten JEgypter, p. 221. 2 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a painting on the mummy-case of Bfitehamon in the Turin Museum (Lanzone, Dizionario di Mitologia, pi. lxi. 4). “Shit, the great god, lord of heaven,” receives the adoration of two ram-headed souls placed upon his right and left. 3 In several scenes plants are seen growing on his body (Lanzone, Dizionario di Mitologia, pi. civ. 1). The expression upon the lack of Sibil is frequent in the texts, especially in those belonging to the Ptolemaic period. Attention was drawn to its importance by Dimicben, Bauurkunde des Tempe- lanlagen von Edfu, in the Zeitselirift, 1871, pp. 91-93. * The Greeks knew that Kronos lamented and wept : the sea was made of his tears (De Ride et Osiride, § 32, Parthey’s edition, p. 56) : A 5e Ka) tI tnrb tuv TTuOayopiKcby \eydjuerov, us n OaXarra K 130 THE GODS OF EGYPT. principal parts.1 Osiris first represented the wild and fickle primitive times ; afterwards, as those who dwelt upon his banks learned to regulate his course, they emphasized the kindlier side of his character and soon transformed him into a benefactor of humanity, the supremely good being, Unnofriu, Onnophris.2 He was lord of the principality of Didu, which lay along the Sebennytic branch of the river between the coast marshes and the entrance the Wady Tumilat, but his domain had Nile of been divided ; and the two nomes thus formed, namely, the ninth and sixteenth nomes of the Delta in the Pharaonic lists, remained faithful to him, and here he reigned without rival, at Busiris as at Mendes.3 Ilis most famous idol-form was the Didu, whether naked or clothed, the fetish, formed of the four superimposed columns, which had given its name to the principality.6 They ascribed life to this Didu, and represented it with a somewhat grotesque face, big cheeks, thick lips, a necklace round its throat, a long flowing dress which hid the base of the columns beneath its folds, and two arms bent across the breast, the hands grasping one a whip and THE DIDU OF OSIRIS.'1 THE DIDU DRESSED. K pbvov haKpvbv fanv cuViTrecOcu t b pg Ka.6a.pbe prjSe avphris, whip and crook in- hand. 1 The ram of Mendes is sometimes Osiris, and sometimes the soul of Osiris. The ancients took it for a he-goat, and to them we are indebted for the record of its exploits (Herodotus, ii. 4(1 ; cf. Wiedemann, Herodots Ziceites Buck, p. 216, et seq.). According to Manetho, the worship of the sacred ram is not older than the time of King Kaiekhos of the second dynasty (Unger’s editiou, p. 84). A Ptolemaic necropolis of sacred rams was discovered by Mariette at Trnai cl-Auadid, in the ruins of Thmfiis, and seme of their sarcophagi are now in the Gizeh Museum (Mariette, Monument* diver*, jils. xlii., xlvi., text, pp. 12, 13, 14). 2 The Bond, the chief among these birds, is not the pheonix, as has so often been asserted (Brugsch, NouueUes Recherche s stir la division de V a tinge, pp. 40, 50 ; Wiedemann, Die rhiinix, Sage im alten JEgypten, 1878, pp. S9-10G, and Herodots Ziceites Bach, pp. 314-316). It is a kiud of heron, either the Arden cinerea, which is common in Egypt, or else some similar species. 3 The origin of Isis, and the peculiarity of her spontaneous maternity, were pointed out by Maspero, Etudes de Mgthologie et d’ Archgologie Egyptiennes, vol. ii. pp. 254, 255, 350-362. 4 Drawn by Boudier from a statue in green basalt found at Sakkarah, and now in the Gizeh Museum (Masi ero, Guide du Visiteur, p. 345, Xo. 5245). It was published by Mariette, Monuments divers, pi. 96 d, and Album photographique du mutfe de Bidaq, pi. x.). L 32 TIIF GODS OF EGYPT. nature. For she personified the earth — not the earth in general, like Sibu, with its unequal distribution of seas and mountains, deserts and cultivated land ; but the black and luxu- — riant plain of the Delta, where races of men, plants, and animals in- crease and multiply in ever - succeeding genera- tions.1 2 To whom did she owe this inexhaustible productive energy if not to her neighbour Osiris, to the Nile? The Nile rises, overflows, lingers upon the soil ; every year it is wedded to the earth, and the earth comes forth green and fruitful from its embraces. The marriage of the two ele- ments suggested that of the two divinities; Osiris wedded Isis and adopted the young Horus. But this prolific and gentle pair were not re- presentative of all the phenomena of nature. The eastern part of the 'M ISIS, WEARING THE COW-IIORN HEAD-DRESS.2 Delta borders upon the solitudes of Arabia, and although it contains several rich and fertile provinces, yet most of these owe their existence to the arduous labour of the inhabitants, their fertility being dependent on the daily care of man, and on his regular distribution of the water. The moment he suspends the struggle or relaxes his watchfulness, the desert reclaims them and overwhelms them with 1 Cf. p. 99, note 2, for the evidence of Be Iside et Osiride as to the nature of the goddess. 2 Drawn by Boudier from a green basalt statue in the Gizeh Museum (Maspero, Guide du Visiteur, p. 919, No. 5216). The statue has been published by Mauiette, Monuments divers, pi. 96 c, and Album photograpliique, pi. x. It is here reproduced from a photograph by Emil Brug6ch-Bey. SIT ANT) NEPHTHYS. 133 sterility. Sit was the spirit of the mountain, stone and sand, the red and arid ground as distinguished from the moist black soil of the valley.1 On the body of a lion or of a dog he bore a fan- tastic head with a slender curved snout, upright and square- cut ears ; his cloven tail rose stiffly behind him, springing from his loins like a fork.2 He also assumed a human form, or retained the animal head only upon a man’s shoulders. He was felt to be cruel and treacherous, always ready to shrivel up the harvest with his burning breath, and to smother Egypt beneath a shroud of shifting sand. The contrast be- tween this evil being and the bene- ficent couple, Osiris and Isis, was striking. Nevertheless, the theologians of the Delta soon assigned a common origin to these rival divinities of Nile and desert, red land and black. Sibu had begotten them, Nuit had given birth to them one after another when the demiurge had separated her from her husband ; and the days of their birth were the days of creation.5 At first each of them had kept to his own half of the world. Moreover Sit, who had begun by living , alone, had married, in order that NEPHTHYS, AS A WEEPING WOMAN.3 4 THE GOD SIT, FIGHTING.1 1 Set-Typhon, a monograph by Ed. Meyer, may be consulted as to Sit; but it pushes mystic interpretation too far. The explanation of Sit as typifying the desert and drought lias prevailed from antiquity (cf. De Iside et Osiride, § 33, Parthey’s edition, p. 57 : . . . Tvtpava. Se irav rb avxpripbv ko.1 irvpwbe s Ka 1 ^pavriKbi/ oAcvs »cal iroAfpuov tt) (rypoTriTi). His modern transformation into a god who originally represented the slaying and devouring sun, is obtained by a mere verbal artifice (Brugsch, Religion und Mythologie, p. 702, et seq.). 2 See the illustration of the typhonian animal on p. 83. It is there shown walking, and goes under the name of Slia. 3 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin from a painted wooden statuette in my possession, from a funeral couch found at Akhmim. On her head the goddess bears the hieroglyph for her name; she is kneeling at the foot of the funerary couch of Osiris and weeps for the dead god. 4 Bronze statuette of the XXth dynasty, encrusted with gold, from the Hoffmann collection; drawn by Faucher-Gudin from a photograph taken by Legrain in 1891. About the time when the worship of Sit was proscribed, one of the Egyptian owners of this little monument had endeavoured to alter its character, and to transform it into a statuette of the god Khnilmh. He took out the upright ears, replacing them with ram’s horns, but made no other chauge. In the drawing I have had the later addition of the curved horns removed, and restored the upright ears, whose marks may still be seen upon the sides of the head-dress. 5 According to one legend which is comparatively old in origin, the four children of Xuit, and THE GODS OF EGYPT. 134 he might be inferior to Osiris in nothing. As a matter of fact, his companion, Nephthys, did not manifest any great activity, and was scarcely more than an artificial counterpart of the wife of Osiris, a second Isis who bore no children to her husband ; 1 for the sterile desert brought barrenness to her as to all that it touched. Yet she had lost neither the wish nor the power to bring forth, and sought fertilization from another source. Tradition had it that she had made Osiris drunken, drawn him to her arms without his knowledge, and borne him a son ; the child of this furtive union was the jackal Anubis.2 Thus when a higher Nile overflows lands not usually covered by the inundation, and lying unpro- ductive for lack of moisture, the soil eagerly absorbs the water, and the germs which lay concealed in the ground burst forth into life. The gradual invasion of the domain of Sit by Osiris marks the beginning of the strife.4 Sit rebels against the wrong of which he is the victim, involuntary though it was; he surprises and treacherously slays his brother, drives Isis into temporary banishment among her marshes, aud reigns over the kingdom of Osiris as well as over his own. But his triumph is short-lived. Horus, having grown up, takes arms against him, defeats him in many encounters, and banishes him in his turn. The creation of the world had brought the destroying and Horus her grandson, were born one after another, each on one of the intercalary days of the year (Chabas, Le Calendrier de jours fastes et ndfastes de l annde dgyptienne, pp. 105, 106). This legend was still current in the Greek period (De Iside et Osiride, § xii., Parthey’s edition, pp. 19-21). 1 The impersonal character of Nephthys, her artificial origin, and her derivation from Isis, have been pointed out by Maspeeo ( Etudes de Mytlwlogie et d’Archdologie Egyptiennes, vol. ii. pp. 362-364). The very name of the goddess, which means the lady ( nibit ) of the mansion (ha.it), confirms this view. 2 De Iside et Osiride, § 14, 38, Parthey’s edition, pp. 24, 25, 67. Another legend has it that Isis, and not Nephthys, was the mother of Anubis the jackal (De Iside et Osiride, § 44, Parthey’s edition, p. 77 ; cf. Wilkinson, Manners and Customs, 2nd edit., vol. iii. p. 157). 3 Plan drawn by Thuiller, from the Description de VEgypte (Atlas, Ant., vol. v. pi. 26, 1). 4 De Iside et Osiride, § 38, Parthey’s edition, p. 66 : "O rav 8e tarepfiaXwv ical r kcovdcras 6 NefA os i-rreKetva irknoiday rots iaxaredoviri, tovto pi(iv ’OolpiSos irpbs Nctpduy Kakovtriv, inra twv dra^kaUTavivToiv cpvruv e\tyxop.evr]v, Siv ko,\ to pek Ikuriv ecrriv, ov