ETHNOGRAPHY. THE LAND OF PUNT. NATIONAL CHARACTER. POPULATION. LANGUAGE.
FORMS OF WRITING. DECIPHERMENT OF EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS. YOUNG AND
CHAMPOLLION. HIEROGLYPHIC ALPHABET AND WRITING. WRITING MATERIALS.
The =Egyptians=.—The evidence of the monuments and the literature of
Egypt proves that the Egyptians were of African origin, and that they
were akin to the light-skinned peoples who inhabited the north-east
portion of the African Continent. Further evidence of this fact is
supplied by the “table of nations” preserved in the tenth chapter of
Genesis, where it is stated that Cush and Mizraim were the sons of Ham.
Now this Cush, or Ethiopia, is not the country which we call Abyssinia,
but the Northern Sûdân, or Nubia; therefore the Nubians (Cush) and the
Egyptians (Mizraim) were brethren, and they were Hamites, or Africans.
The relationship between the Nubians and the Egyptians is also asserted
by Diodorus, who declared that the Egyptians were descended from a colony
of Ethiopians, _i.e._, Nubians, who had settled in Egypt. And there is
no doubt that from the earliest to the latest times a very close bond
existed between the Northern Nubians and the Egyptians, which manifested
itself in the religion and religious ceremonies of both peoples. The
Cushites were dark in colour, sometimes actually black, but there is no
evidence which proves they were negroes; and the Egyptians were red, or
brown-red, or reddish yellow in colour. On the west of the Nile Valley
lived the fair-skinned Libyans; on the east the remote ancestors of the
Blemmyes and the modern Bîshârî tribes, who were of a light brownish
colour, and on the south, near the Equator, were negro tribes, which
formed part of the great belt of black peoples that extended right across
Africa, from sea to sea.
The dynastic Egyptians appear to have regarded a country, or district,
called =Pun= 𓊪𓃹𓈖𓏏𓈉 as their original home, and they certainly
preserved down to the latest times some of the peculiarities in dress
of the primitive inhabitants of that region. That Punt was situated a
considerable distance to the south of Egypt is certain, and that it could
be reached by land, and also by water by way of the Red Sea, is clear
from the inscriptions, but there is no evidence available which enables
the exact limits of the country to be defined. The despatch of several
expeditions to Punt by the Egyptians is recorded, for the purpose of
bringing back _ānti_ spice, 𓂝𓈖𓅂𓏊𓏧, or myrrh, which was used freely for
embalming purposes. They started from some point on the Red Sea near
the modern town of Ḳuṣêr, and sailed southwards until they reached the
river of the port of Punt which was situated on the east coast of Africa,
probably in Somaliland. The expedition despatched by Queen Ḥātshepset
about B.C. 1550 brought back boomerangs, a huge pile of myrrh, logs
of ebony, elephants’ tusks, sweet-smelling woods, eye-paint, various
kinds of spices, dog-headed apes, monkeys, leopard (or panther) skins,
“green” (_i.e._, pale) gold, and gold rings which are to this day used
as currency in East Africa and are known as “ring money.” Now, all these
things are products of the region which lies between the southern end
of the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Valley of the Nile, and it
is impossible not to conclude that Punt was situated somewhere in it.
The Egyptian expeditions probably sailed up a river for a considerable
distance, to a point where the products of Punt were brought by trading
caravans for export, and there the Egyptians bartered for the myrrh,
etc., which they required. The market place must have been inland, for
the huts of the natives are represented in the bas-reliefs as standing
close to the river.
The =men of Punt= wore a =pointed beard= and a =loin cloth=, which was
kept in position by a kind of belt, from which hung down behind the
=tail of an animal=. The beard of the Egyptian was also pointed, and
gods, kings, and priestly officials on solemn, ceremonial occasions,
wore tails. Thus in the Papyrus of Ani (Judgment Scene) the gods Thoth
and Anubis wear tails, and the priestly official in the same scene wears
the leopard’s skin, the tail of which is supposed to be hanging behind
him. In two statues of Ȧmen-ḥetep III (Northern Egyptian Gallery, Nos.
412, 413), the tail is supposed to be brought forward under the body of
the king, and its end is carefully sculptured on the space between his
legs. The custom of wearing tails is common in Central Africa at the
present day, even the women, in some places, wearing long tails of bast
(Schweinfurth, _Heart of Africa_, I, p. 295); and a recent traveller
reports that the Gazum people wear tails, about six inches long, for
which they dig holes in the ground when they sit down (Boyd Alexander,
_From the Niger_, I, p. 78). Many other points of comparison between the
Egyptians and the peoples of Central Africa could be mentioned in proof
of the views that the indigenous dynastic Egyptians were connected with
the people of Punt, and that Punt was situated in the South-Eastern Sûdân.
As to the =succession of peoples= in the Nile Valley, or rather of that
portion of it which is called Egypt, many theories have been formulated
in recent years. Some of the most competent authorities think that the
earliest dwellers in Egypt were black folk, who were driven out or killed
off by a race of people who possessed many of the characteristics of the
Libyans, and who came from the west, or south-west, and took possession
of Egypt. It is thought that the next invasions of the country were made
by peoples who came from the east, or south-east, and, having settled
down on the Nile, mingled with the inhabitants. After these it seems
very probable that Egypt was invaded by tribes whose home was some part
of Western Asia, probably the country now called Southern Babylonia.
Some think that they entered Egypt by the Isthmus of Suez, and others
that they crossed from Arabia to Africa by the straits of Bâb al-Mandib
at the southern end of the Red Sea. Another view is that the invaders
entered Egypt by the Wâdî Ḥammâmât, and that they arrived on the Nile at
some place near the modern town of Ḳena. Little by little the invaders
conquered the country, and introduced into it the arts of agriculture,
brick-making, writing, working in metals, etc. Wheat, barley, and the
domestic sheep seem to have been brought into Egypt about this time. The
manners and customs of the new comers were very different from those
of the men they conquered, and their civilization was of a much higher
character than that of the primitive Egyptians; but, among the great
bulk of the population, the beliefs, religion, and habits continued to
preserve unchanged their characteristic African nature.
[Illustration: 1 2 3 4 5 6]
What the physical form of the primitive, pre-dynastic Egyptian was cannot
be said, but it is probable that he resembled the dynastic Egyptians
whose pictures are seen by hundreds in the tombs. If this be so, he was
tall, slender of body, with long thin legs, small hands, and long feet.
His hair was black and curly, but must not be confounded with the “wool”
of the negro, his eyes black and slightly almond-shaped, his cheek-bones
high and often prominent, his nose straight—sometimes aquiline—and
inclined to be fleshy; his mouth wide, with somewhat full lips, his teeth
small and regular and his chin prominent, because his under jaw was
thrust slightly forward. The women were yellowish in colour, probably
because their bodies were not so much exposed to the rays of the sun as
those of the men. The general character of the physique of the Egyptian
has remained practically unchanged to the present day, and no admixture
of foreign elements has affected it permanently.
[Illustration: 7
Ivory figure of a king.
1st dynasty (?)
[No. 197, Table-case L, Third Egyptian Room.]]
[Illustration: 8
Bone figure of a dwarf.
Archaïc Period.
[No. 42, Table-case L, Third Egyptian Room.]]
[Illustration: 9
Bone figure of a woman carrying a child on her shoulder.
Archaïc Period.
[No. 41, Table-case L, Third Egyptian Room.]]
[Illustration: 10
Bone figure of a woman, with inlaid lapis-lazuli eyes.
Archaïc Period.
[No. 40, Table-case L, Third Egyptian Room.]]
The physical features and dress of the primitive dynastic Egyptians are
well illustrated by the accompanying drawings and photographs. From Nos.
1-6 (page 23) we see that their hair was short and curly, their noses
long and pointed, their eyes almond-shaped, their beards pointed, their
arms and legs long, their hands large, and their feet long and flat. They
wear in their hair feathers, probably red feathers from the tails of
parrots, such as are worn at the present day, and their loin cloths are
fastened round their bodies by belts, from which hang short, bushy tails
of jackals(?). No. 1 bears a hawk-standard, the symbol of the god of the
tribe, and is armed with a mace having a diamond-shaped head. No. 2 bears
a hawk-standard and wields a double-headed stone axe. No. 3 is armed with
a mace and a bow. No. 4 is shooting a flint-tipped arrow from a bow. No.
5 is armed with a boomerang and a spear, and No. 6 with a mace and a
boomerang. The above illustrations are drawn from the green slate shield
exhibited in Table-case L in the Third Egyptian Room.
To about the same period belongs the ivory figure of a king here
reproduced (No. 7). He wears the Crown of the South, and a garment
worked with an elaborate diamond pattern. The nose is flatter and more
fleshy than in the drawings from the slate shield, and the lips are
fuller and firmer. In figures 8-10 we have representations of the women
of the Archaïc Period, about B.C. 4200. No. 8 is a female dwarf, or
perhaps a woman who belonged to one of the pygmy tribes that lived near
the Equator. No. 9 is a most interesting figure, for it illustrates the
hair-dressing and dress of the period. The features of the child, who is
carried partly on the back and partly on the left shoulder, as at the
present day, are well preserved. No. 10 represents a woman of slim build,
with blue eyes, and wearing an elaborate head-dress, which falls over her
shoulders.
PORTRAIT FIGURES OF OFFICIALS OF THE IIIRD OR IVTH DYNASTY. ABOUT B.C.
3700.
[Illustration: Figure of Betchmes, a royal kinsman.
[Vestibule, South Wall, No. 3.]]
[Illustration: Painted limestone figure of Nefer-hi.
[No. 150, Wall-case 99, Third Egyptian Room.]]
=National Character.=—Herodotus, who was an acute observer of the manners
and customs of the Egyptians, states (ii, 64) that the Egyptians were
“beyond measure scrupulous in all matters appertaining to =religion=,”
and the monuments prove him to be absolutely correct. The Egyptian
worshipped his God, whose chief symbol to him was the sun, daily and
regularly, and prayed to him morning and evening. His attitude towards
his Maker was one of absolute =resignation=. The power of God, as
displayed by the Sun, and the River Nile, and other forces of nature
filled him with awe, and made him to realize his helplessness. His
views as to the dependence of men on the sun are well illustrated by
the following extract from a hymn to Ȧten, the god of the Solar Disk:
“When thou settest in the western horizon of heaven, the earth becometh
dark with the darkness of the dead. Men sleep in their houses, their
heads are covered up, their nostrils are closed, and no man can see his
neighbour; everything which they possess could be stolen from under their
heads without their knowing it. All the lions come forth from their dens,
every creeping thing biteth, the smithy is in blackness, and all the
earth is silent because he who made them (_i.e._, all creatures) resteth
in his horizon. When the dawn cometh, and thou risest and shinest from
the Disk, darkness flieth away, thou givest forth thy rays, and the Two
Lands (_i.e._, Egypt) are in festival. Men rise up, they stand upon their
feet—it is thou who hast raised them—they wash their bodies, and dress
themselves in their clothes, and they [stretch out] their hands to thee
in thanksgiving for thy rising.” To the god of the city, or local deity,
he also paid due reverence. He worshipped Osiris, the type and symbol
of the resurrection, most truly, for on his help and succour depended
his =hope of eternal life=. The Egyptians, who were men of means, spent
largely during their lifetime in making preparations for their death, and
they spared neither money nor pains in their endeavours to secure for
themselves life in the Other World. They observed the =Religious= and
=Civil Laws= most carefully, and any breach they might make in either
they thought could be amply atoned for by making offerings or payment.
[Illustration: The fox playing the double pipes for a flock of goats to
march to.
[From a papyrus in the British Museum, No. 10,016.]]
[Illustration: A mouse seated on a chair, with a table of food before it.
A cat is presenting to it a palm branch, and behind it is a mouse bearing
a fan, etc.
[From a papyrus in the British Museum, No. 10,016.]]
The Egyptian was easy and simple in disposition, and fond of pleasure and
of the good things of this world. He loved eating and drinking, and he
lost no opportunity of enjoying himself. The literature of all periods is
filled with passages in which the living are exhorted to be happy; and
we may note that in the famous Dialogue between a man who is weary of
life and his soul, the latter tells the man that to remember the grave
only brings sorrow to the heart and fills the eyes with tears. And after
several observations of the same import, the soul says: “Hearken unto
me, for, behold, it is good for men to hearken; follow after pleasure
and forget care.”[4] In the Song of the Harper we read: “Bodies (_i.e._,
men) have come into being in order to pass away since the time of Rā, and
young men come in their places. Rā placeth himself in the sky in the
morning, and Temu setteth in the Mountain of Sunset. Men beget children
and women bring forth, and every nostril snuffeth the wind of dawn from
the time of their birth to the day when they go to the place which is
assigned to them. Make [thy] day happy! Let there be perfumes and sweet
odours for thy nostrils, and let there be wreaths of flowers and lilies
for the neck and shoulders of thy beloved sister who shall be seated by
thy side. Let there be songs and the music of the harp before thee, and
setting behind thy back unpleasant things of every kind, remember only
pleasure, until the day cometh wherein thou must travel to the land which
loveth silence.”
[Illustration: A cat herding geese.
[From a papyrus in the British Museum, No. 10,016.]]
The advice to eat, drink, and be happy, is also given to a high-priest
of Memphis by his dead wife That-I-em-ḥetep on her sepulchral tablet
(Southern Egyptian Gallery, Bay 29, No. 1027). She says: “Hail, my
brother, husband, friend, ... let[5] not thy heart cease to drink water,
to eat bread, to drink wine, to love women, to make a happy day, and to
seek thy heart’s desire by day and by night. And set no care whatsoever
in thy heart: are the years which [we pass] upon the earth so many [that
we need do this]?”
[Illustration: The lion and the unicorn playing a game of draughts.
[From a papyrus in the British Museum, No. 10,016.]]
The =morality= of the Egyptians was of a high character, and certainly
higher than that of Oriental nations in general. Many of the Precepts
of Ptaḥ-ḥetep, Kaqemna, and Khensu-ḥetep bear comparison with the moral
maxims of the Books of Proverbs and Ecclesiasticus. The view of the
Egyptian as to his =duty towards his neighbour= is well summed up by
Pepi-Nekht, an old feudal lord of Elephantine, who flourished under
the VIth dynasty, and said: “I am one who spoke good and repeated what
was liked. Never did I say an evil word of any kind to a chief against
anyone, for I wished it to be well with me before the great god. I gave
bread to the hungry man, and clothes to the naked man. I never gave
judgment in a case between two brothers whereby a son was deprived of
his father’s goods. I was loved by my father, favoured by my mother, and
beloved by my brothers and sisters.” =Love of parents and home= was a
strong trait in the character of the Egyptian; and it was one cause of
his hatred of military service and of any occupation which would take him
away from his town or village. He prayed, too, that in the Other World
he might have his parents, wife, children, and relatives, with him on
his farm in the Fields of Peace, and that when his spirit was on the
way thither, the spirits of his kinsfolk would come to meet him, armed
with their staves and weapons, so that they might protect him from the
attack of hostile spirits. Like all African people he loved =music=,
=singing=, and =dancing=, and was attracted by ceremonials, processions,
and display of every kind; the =satirical papyri= (see the illustrations
on pages 27-30), and even the wall-paintings in the tombs, show that
he possessed a keen sense of =humour=. The peasant was then, as now,
a laborious toiler, and as he was literally the slave of Pharaoh for
thousands of years, the ideas of =freedom= and =national independence=,
as we understand them, were wholly unknown to him.
All classes were intensely =superstitious=, and they believed firmly
in the existence of =spirits=, good and bad, =witches=, and fiends and
devils, which they tried to cajole, or wheedle, or placate with gifts,
or to vanquish by means of =spells=, =magical names=, =words of power=,
=amulets= of all kinds, etc. The =magician= was the real priest, to the
lower classes at least, as he is to this day in Central Africa, for by
the use of =magical figures= he assured his clients that he could procure
for them the death, or sickness, of an enemy, riches, the love of women,
dreams wherein the future would be revealed to them, and above all,
the assistance of the gods. We find that about B.C. 312 a service was
regularly performed in the temple of Ȧmen-Rā at Thebes to make the sun
rise. In the course of it a figure of the monster Āpep, who was supposed
to be lying in wait to swallow the Sun-god, was made of wax, then wrapped
in new papyrus on which the “accursed name” of the fiend was written in
green ink, and solemnly burned in a fire fed by a special kind of herb,
whilst the priest spurned it with his left foot and poured out curses on
each of the thirty “accursed names” of the evil one. As the wax melted
and was consumed, together with the papyrus and the green ink with which
his name was written, so the body of Āpep was believed to be consumed in
the flames of the rising sun in the eastern sky.
[Illustration: The spearing of Āpep.]
From the evidence given at Thebes about B.C. 1200 against certain
officials who were implicated in a case of conspiracy against Rameses
III, it appeared that a certain man had stolen a book of magic from the
temple library. From this he obtained instructions how to make the wax
figures which caused the sickness, quakings of the limbs, and death of
those in whose forms they were made. An example of the wax figures which
were used in the Ptolemaïc period is exhibited in Table-case C in the
Third Egyptian Room, No. 198. The core is made of inscribed papyrus,
and in front, in the centre, is a piece of hair, presumably that of
the person on whom the magician who made the figure sought to exert
his influence. Every act of daily life had some magical or religious
observance associated with it, and every day, either in whole or in part,
was declared to be lucky or unlucky, in accordance with a series of
events which were represented by the =Calendar of lucky and unlucky days=.
Superstition played as prominent a part in =medicine= as in religion. The
practice of dismembering the dead in primitive times must have taught
the Egyptians some practical anatomy, and the operations connected with
mummification in the later period must have added largely to their
knowledge of the arrangement of the principal internal organs of the
body. The Egyptians were well acquainted with the importance of the
heart in the human economy, and they appear to have had some knowledge
of the functions of the arteries. A considerable number of =medical
prescriptions= have come down to us, _e.g._, those which are inscribed on
a papyrus in the British Museum (No. 10,059) and are said to be as old
as the time of Khufu (Cheops), a king of the IVth dynasty, and those of
the Ebers Papyrus, of the XVIIIth dynasty; from these it is easy to see
that they closely resemble in many particulars the prescriptions given in
English medical books printed two or three hundred years ago. Powders and
decoctions made from plants and seeds were largely used, and the piths of
certain trees, dates, sycamore-figs, and other fruits, salt, magnesia,
oil, honey, sweet beer, formed the principal ingredients of many
prescriptions. With these were often mixed substances of an unpleasant
nature, _e.g._, bone dust, rancid fat, the droppings of animals, etc. In
order that certain drugs might have the desired effect it was necessary
for the physician to recite a magical formula four times (Ebers Papyrus
CVIII). Other medicines again owed their efficacy to the belief that
they had been actually taken by one or other of the gods whilst they
reigned upon earth, and the authorship of certain prescriptions was
ascribed to Rā. Thus according to the Ebers Papyrus (XLVI) Rā suffered
from attacks of boils of a most malignant kind, and he made up a salve,
containing sixteen ingredients, which gave him instant relief, and which
was therefore certain to cure ordinary mortals. The following is a
characteristic example of a prescription which, as is evident, contains a
number of substances which are well known to be good for inflamed eyes,
and also some others the special value of which is not clear:—
𓎡𓏏𓈖𓏏𓂧𓂋𓂡𓇉𓄿𓍘𓏭𓅓𓁹𓏏𓏤
“Another [prescription] for driving inflammation from the eye.
𓂝𓈖𓅂𓈒𓏦
Myrrh 1
𓎃𓏤𓏜𓏪𓅨𓂋𓈒𓏦
‘Great Protectors’ seed 1
𓍱𓊃𓇌𓏏𓈒
Oxide of copper 1
𓍑𓄿𓂋𓏏𓈒𓏦
Citron pips 1
𓎼𓄿𓇌𓏏𓆰𓎖𓏲𓏰
Northern cypress flowers 1
𓇅𓏲𓈒𓏪
Antimony 1
𓈎𓄿𓇌𓏏𓐎𓏪𓈖𓏏𓎼𓎛𓋴𓄛
Gazelle droppings 1
𓏶𓅓𓏭𓈖𓈎𓄿𓂧𓇌𓏏𓄛
Oryx offal 1
𓌻𓂋𓎛𓏏𓏊𓏪𓌉𓆓𓏏𓇳
White oil 1
[_Directions for use._]
𓂞𓁷𓏤𓈗𓁀 𓂜𓐎𓂝 𓁷𓂋𓋴𓂋𓇳𓏽𓎡𓇌𓆓𓂧 𓎘𓎛𓏲𓂡𓐍𓂋𓎡𓋴𓏏𓅓 𓆄𓆃𓈖𓏏𓈖𓂋𓏏𓅬
“Place in water, let stand for one night, strain through a cloth,
and smear over [the eye] for four days; or, according to another
prescription, paint it on [the eye] with a goose-feather.”[6]
The Egyptian physician was called upon not only to heal his patients, but
to beautify them, and we find prescriptions for removing scurf from the
skin, for changing the colour of the skin, for making the skin smooth,
and the following for removing wrinkles from the face:—
𓎡𓏏𓈖𓏏𓂧𓂋𓂡𓈎𓂋𓆑𓏲𓏼𓏌𓏤𓁷𓏤
“Another [prescription] for driving away wrinkles of the face.”
𓅮𓇌𓏏𓈒𓏼𓈖𓏏𓊹𓌣𓏏𓂋𓈒𓏼
Ball of incense 1
𓏠𓈖𓎛𓈒𓏼
Wax 1
𓆮𓏊𓏼𓇅𓆓𓏛
Fresh oil 1
𓎼𓇋𓏲𓆰𓏥
Cypress berries 1
[_Directions for use._]
𓏌𓂡𓏟𓏜𓂋𓂞𓁷𓏤𓎛𓋴𓐠𓄿𓈗𓏊𓏼𓂋𓂞𓂋𓁷𓏤𓇳𓏤𓏿𓁹𓌴𓁹𓄿𓄿𓎡
“Crush, and rub down and put in new milk and apply it to the face for
six days. Take good heed [to this].”[7]
The =population= of Egypt was, in 1897, 9,734,405 persons, of whom
8,978,775 were Muḥammadans, 25,200 Jews, and 730,162 Christians. The last
census was taken on the 29th April, 1907, and the entire population of
the country consisted of 11,272,000 persons, or nearly 16 per cent. more
than in 1897.
=The Egyptian Language= is not Semitic, although it possesses many
characteristics which resemble those of the Semitic languages, but in
a less developed form. Of all the views on the subject which have been
held in recent years, the most plausible one is that which makes Egyptian
belong to the group of Proto-Semitic languages. The Egyptian and the
Semitic languages appear to have sprung from a common stock, from which
they separated before their grammars and vocabularies were consolidated.
The Egyptian language developed rapidly under circumstances of which
nothing is known, and then, apparently, became crystallized; the Semitic
language developed less rapidly, but continued to develope for centuries
after the growth of the Egyptian language was arrested. To the period
when Egyptian separated itself from the parent stock no date can be
assigned, but it must have taken place some thousands of years before
Christ. Later, under the XVIIIth and XIXth dynasties, B.C. 1550 to 1300,
a large number of Semitic words were introduced into the language, and in
such compositions as the “Travels of an Egyptian” (see page 70) a great
many are transcribed into Egyptian characters.
The Egyptian language as known to us appears in four divisions, viz.:—
1. The Egyptian of the Early Empire, which was studied and employed for
literary purposes from about B.C. 4400 to about A.D. 200.
2. The Egyptian used in the ordinary business of life and for
conversation, from about B.C. 2600 to 650.
3. The popular speech of the country, from about 600 or 500 B.C. to the
end of the Roman Period.
4. The ordinary language of the country, after Christianity was
introduced into it; this is called =Coptic=. It ceased to be used in
Egypt as a spoken language, probably about the twelfth century, but the
Holy Scriptures and the Services are in several places in Egypt read in
Coptic on Sundays and Festivals, although very few people understand
what is being read. Four dialects of Coptic are distinguished: (1)
That of Upper Egypt, called “Sahidic.” (2) That of Lower Egypt, called
“Boheiric.” (3) The dialect of Ṣûhâḳ and its neighbourhood. (4) The
dialect of the district of the Fayyûm. It is a noteworthy fact that,
from the beginning of the second century of our era to the twelfth, the
language of ancient Egypt was preserved, in a modified form, chiefly
through the translations of the Holy Scriptures, which were made from
Greek into Coptic.
[Illustration: A page of hieratic writing from the Great Harris Papyrus.]
=Egyptian Writing= was of three kinds, which are called “Hieroglyphic,”
“Hieratic,” and “Demotic.” The oldest form is the =hieroglyphic= (_i.e._,
sacred engraved writing), or purely pictorial, which was employed in
inscriptions upon temples, tombs, statues, sepulchral tablets, etc.,
and for monumental purposes generally. At a very early period it was
found that the hieroglyphic form of writing was cumbrous, and that in
cases where it was important to write quickly on papyrus, the pictorial
characters were inconvenient. The scribes, therefore, began first to
modify, and secondly to abbreviate the pictorial characters, and at
length the form of writing called =hieratic= (_i.e._, the priests’
writing) was developed. Hieratic was a style of cursive writing much
used by the priests in copying literary compositions on papyrus from
the IVth or Vth dynasty to the XXVIth dynasty. This form of writing is
well illustrated by the above reproduction of a page from the Great
Harris Papyrus in the British Museum (No. 9999), which was written about
B.C. 1200. The text is read from right to left, and the following is a
transcript into hieroglyphic characters of the first two lines:—
1. 𓆓𓂧𓇋𓈖𓇓𓏏𓈖𓀭𓍹𓇳𓄊𓌷𓏏𓆄𓌻𓇋𓏠𓈖𓀭𓍺𓀭𓋹𓍑𓋴
𓅮𓄿𓊹𓀭𓉻𓏛𓐍𓂋𓀙𓏲𓀀𓏪𓄂𓏏𓏲𓏭𓏴𓂻𓀀𓏪𓏌𓏤𓇾𓏤𓈇𓀎𓀀𓏪
𓈖𓏏𓎛𓏏𓂋𓇋𓆳𓄛𓏦𓆷𓄿𓏭𓂋𓂧𓏤𓄿𓈖𓄿𓌙𓀀𓏪𓌔𓏏𓏤𓀀𓏪𓆈𓏏𓏦
2. 𓋹𓈖𓐍𓏲𓀀𓏥𓎟𓏌𓏤𓇾𓏤𓈇𓈖𓇾𓏤𓈇𓌻𓇋𓆳𓊖𓊖𓄔𓅓𓏜𓏲𓈖𓏦𓂞𓏲𓀭
𓂝𓌴𓄿𓅓𓏲𓁻𓏏𓈖𓏦𓅓𓈖𓄿𓇌𓏪𓀭𓅜𓐍𓏲𓏜𓏪𓇋𓀁𓁹𓂋𓏲𓀭𓇋𓏲
𓀭𓅓𓇓𓏏𓈖𓀭𓈖𓂋𓐍𓇌𓅛𓀀𓁐𓏪𓃹𓈖𓅮𓄿𓇾𓏤𓈇𓈖
Between the end of the XXIInd and the beginning of the XXVIth dynasty the
scribes, wishing to simplify hieratic still further, constructed from it
a purely conventional system of signs from which most of the prominent
characteristics of the hieroglyphic, or pictures, that had been preserved
in the hieratic characters, disappeared. This new form of writing was
called =demotic= (_i.e._, the people’s writing), but it was known among
some of the early Egyptologists as =enchorial= (_i.e._, native writing,
or writing of the country). On the Rosetta Stone (Egyptian Gallery, No.
960) the visitor will see an example of the =hieroglyphic and demotic=
forms of writing placed one above the other, and in the text we find that
the hieroglyphic portion is called “the writing of the divine words,” or
letters, 𓏟𓈖𓊹𓌃𓏪, and the demotic “the writing of books,” _i.e._, rolls
of papyrus, 𓏟𓋔𓈚𓂝𓇌𓍽. The invention of the art of writing was assigned
to the god Thoth, who was the great scribe of the gods, and who is
frequently represented holding a writing palette and a reed pen, and the
hieroglyphics, or picture signs, were, therefore, called “divine, sacred,
or holy.” Hieroglyphics were used for monumental purposes until about the
end of the third century A.D., but it is tolerably certain that very few
people could read them or understand them.
[Illustration: Demotic Writing.]
During the Ptolemaïc Period, though =Greek= was the language of the
kings and the upper classes of the country, the temples were covered
with inscriptions in hieroglyphics, and the Ptolemies and the Romans
adopted old Egyptian titles, and had their names transcribed into
hieroglyphics and cut in cartouches like the Pharaohs. In the reigns
of Euergetes I (B.C. 267 to 222) and Epiphanes (B.C. 205 to 181) the
priests promulgated decrees in honour of their kings which were cut on
slabs of basalt in the hieroglyphic, demotic, and Greek characters, but
on the sepulchral tablets of the period the inscriptions are usually in
hieroglyphics alone, because the natives throughout the country clung
to these characters, which had, from time immemorial, been associated
with their religious beliefs and ceremonies. In the Southern Egyptian
Gallery, however, are exhibited several tablets which are inscribed in
demotic as well as in hieroglyphics, and of these may be noted the tablet
of Tut-i-em-ḥetep (No. 1028, Bay 25), who died B.C. 118; the tablet of
Khā-em-ḥrȧ (No. 997, Bay 25); and the tablet of Peṭā Bast (No. 1030,
Bay 27). In the Roman Period we find that the use of demotic sometimes
superseded that of hieroglyphics in public documents, and as an example
of this may be mentioned the fine sandstone tablet inscribed, wholly in
demotic, with a decree recording the dedication of certain properties
to the gods who were worshipped at Karnak (Thebes) in the first century
of our era (No. 993, Bay 27). This tablet was found at Karnak, in the
Hall of Columns, where, no doubt, it was set up originally, and its
inscription was cut in demotic, because, at that period, that form of
writing was better understood than hieroglyphics. In the Roman Period
hieroglyphic inscriptions were sometimes accompanied by renderings into
Greek and Latin, _e.g._, No. 257, Third Egyptian Room, Wall-case No. 109.
This is a portion of a statue of a priest bearing a shrine of Osiris. On
the back of the plinth is an inscription in hieroglyphics containing an
address to Osiris by a priest of the “fourth order,” and on one side of
the plinth are cut in Latin and Greek “priest bearing Osiris.”
=Coptic= is written with the letters of the Greek alphabet, and seven
signs (ϣ, ϥ, ϧ, ϩ, ϫ, ϭ, ϯ), derived from demotic characters, the
phonetic values of which could not be expressed by Greek letters. A fine
collection of sepulchral tablets inscribed in Coptic is exhibited in the
Southern Egyptian Gallery (Bay 32), and a long and most instructive
series of drafts of documents on potsherds and slices of limestone will
be found in Table-case M in the Fourth Egyptian Room. In the copy of the
=Lord’s Prayer= (St. Matthew vi, 9) here appended the reader will find
all the signs which are peculiar to Coptic save one (ϭ). The dialect is
that of Lower Egypt. The two words marked by asterisks are Greek, not
Egyptian.
ⲡⲉⲛⲓⲱⲧ ⲉⲧϧⲉⲛ ⲛⲓⲫⲏⲟⲩⲓ ⲙⲁⲣⲉϥⲧⲟⲩⲃⲟ ⲛ̅ϫⲉⲡⲉⲕⲣⲁⲛ.
_Peniôt_ _etkhen_ _niphêoui_ _mareftoubo_ _entche pekran._
Our Father who art in the heavens, may be hallowed thy name.
ⲙⲁⲣⲉⲥⲓ ⲛ̀ϫⲉⲧⲉⲕⲙⲉⲧⲟⲩⲣⲟ. ⲡⲉⲧⲉϩⲛⲁⲕ ⲙⲁⲣⲉϥϣⲱⲡⲓ ⲙⲫⲣⲏϯ
_Maresi_ _entche tekmetouro._ _Peteḥnak_ _marefshôpi_ _emphrêti_
May come thy kingdom. Thy will let it be as
ϧⲉⲛ ⲧⲫⲉ ⲛⲉⲙ ϩⲓϫⲉⲛ ⲡⲓⲕⲁϩⲓ. ⲡⲉⲛⲱⲓⲕ ⲛ̅ⲧⲉ
_khen_ _tphe_ _nem_ _ḥitchen_ _pikaḥi._ _Penôik_ _ente_
in the heaven so upon the earth. Our bread of
ⲣⲁⲥϯ ⲙⲏⲓϥ ⲛⲁⲛ ⲙ̅ⲫⲟⲟⲩ. ⲟⲩⲟϩ ⲭⲁ ⲛⲉⲧⲉⲣⲟⲛ
_rasti_ _mêif_ _nan_ _emphoou._ _Ouoḥ_ _kha_ _neteron_
to-morrow give it to us to-day. And forgive our debts
ⲛⲁⲛ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ ⲙ̅ⲫⲣⲏϯ ϩⲱⲛ ⲛ̀ⲧⲉⲛⲭⲱ ⲉⲃⲟⲗ ⲛ̅ⲛⲏ ⲉⲧⲉⲟⲩⲟⲛ
_nan_ _ebol_ _emphrêti_ _ḥôn_ _entenkhô ebol ennê_ _eteouon_
to us as we also forgive those who are
ⲛ̀ⲧⲁⲛ ⲉⲣⲱⲟⲩ. ⲟⲩⲟϩ ⲙ̅ⲡⲉⲣⲉⲛⲧⲉⲛ ⲉϧⲟⲩⲛ ⲉ ⲡⲓⲣⲁⲥⲙⲟⲥ.* ⲁⲗⲗⲁ*
_entan erôou._ _ouoḥ_ _emperenten_ _ekhoun_ _e_ _pirasmos,_ _alla_
our debtors. And bring us not into temptation; but
ⲛⲁϩⲙⲉⲛ ⲉⲃⲟⲗϩⲁ ⲡⲓⲡⲉⲧϩⲱⲟⲩ.
_naḥmen_ _ebolḥa_ _pipetḥôou._
deliver us from that which is evil.
[Illustration: Coptic inscription on a slice of limestone.
[No. 10, Table-case M, Third Egyptian Room.]]
=Decipherment of Egyptian Hieroglyphics.=—Before the close of the
period of Roman rule in Egypt, the hieroglyphic system of writing fell
into disuse, and its place was gradually taken by demotic, _i.e._, a
conventional form of the hieratic, or cursive writing. When the Egyptians
became converted to Christianity, they adopted the Greek alphabet,
adding to it seven signs derived from demotic, to express the sounds
peculiar to their language. The priests appear to have prosecuted some
study of hieroglyphics until the end of the fifth century A.D., but soon
after this the power to read and understand them was lost, and until
the beginning of the nineteenth century, no Oriental or European could
read or understand a hieroglyphic inscription. During the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries many attempts were made by scholars to read and
translate the Egyptian inscriptions, but no real progress was made until
after the discovery of the =Rosetta Stone=. This “Stone” is a portion of
a large black basalt stele measuring 3 feet 9 inches by 2 feet 4½ inches,
and is inscribed with fourteen lines of =hieroglyphics=, thirty-two
lines of =demotic=, and fifty-four lines of =Greek=. (See Southern
Egyptian Gallery, No. 960.) It was found in 1798 by a French officer of
artillery named Boussard, among the ruins of Fort Saint Julien, near the
Rosetta mouth of the Nile, and was removed, in 1799, to the _Institut
National_ at Cairo, to be examined by the learned; and Napoleon ordered
the inscription to be engraved and copies of it to be submitted to the
scholars and learned societies of Europe. In 1801 it passed into the
possession of the British, and it was sent to England in February,
1802. It was exhibited for a few months in the rooms of the Society of
Antiquaries, and then was finally deposited in the British Museum.
[Illustration: The “Rosetta Stone.”
[Southern Egyptian Gallery, No. 960.]]
The =first translation of the Greek text= was made by Du Theil and
Weston, in 1801-02, and they rightly declared that the stone was set
up as the result of a Decree passed at the General Council of Egyptian
priests assembled at Memphis to celebrate the first commemoration of the
coronation of =Ptolemy V, Epiphanes=, king of all Egypt. The young king
had been crowned in the eighth year of his reign, therefore the first
commemoration took place in the ninth year, in the spring of the year,
B.C. 196. The Decree sets forth that, because the king had given corn and
money from his private resources to the temples, and had remitted taxes
and released prisoners, and had abolished the press-gang and restored the
worship of the gods, etc., the priests decreed that: Additional honours
be paid to the king and his ancestors; an image of the king be set up in
every temple; a statue and shrine be set up in every temple; a monthly
festival be established on the birthday and coronation day of the king;
this Decree be engraved upon a hard stone stele in the writing of the
priests (hieroglyphic), in the writing of books (demotic), and in the
writing of the Greeks (Greek), and set up in every temple of the first,
second, and third class, by the side of the image of the king.
In 1802 =Åkerblad= succeeded in making out the general meaning of
several lines of the demotic text, and in identifying the equivalents of
the names Alexander, Alexandria, Ptolemy, etc. In 1819 =Thomas Young=
published in the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, vol. IV, the results of his
studies of the texts, and among them was a list of several alphabetic
Egyptian characters to which, in most cases, he had assigned correct
values. He was the first to grasp the idea of a =phonetic principle=
in the reading of the Egyptian hieroglyphics, and he was the first to
apply it to their decipherment. Warburton, De Guignes, Barthélemy and
Zoëga all _suspected_ the existence of alphabetic hieroglyphics, and
the three last-named scholars believed that the oval, or _cartouche_ 𓍷,
contained a royal name; but it was Young who first proved both points
and successfully deciphered the name of =Ptolemy= on the Rosetta Stone,
and that of =Berenice= on another monument, and it was Bankes who first
identified the name of =Cleopatra=. The list of alphabetic characters was
much enlarged in 1822 by the eminent scholar =Champollion=, who not only
correctly deciphered the names and titles of most of the Roman Emperors,
but drew up classified lists of the hieroglyphics, and formulated a
system of grammar and general decipherment which is the foundation upon
which all subsequent Egyptologists have worked. The discovery of the
correct alphabetic values of Egyptian signs was most useful for reading
names, but, for translating the language, a competent knowledge of
Coptic was required. Now Coptic is only another name for Egyptian.
The Egyptian Christians are called “Copts,” and the Holy Scriptures,
Liturgies, etc., which they translated from Greek soon after their
conversion to Christianity, are said to be written in “Coptic.” The
knowledge of Coptic has never been lost, and a comparatively large sacred
literature has always been available for study by scholars. Champollion,
quite early in the nineteenth century, realized the great importance of
Coptic for the purpose of Egyptian decipherment, and he made himself the
greatest Coptic scholar of his time. His knowledge of Coptic was deep and
wide, and to this important qualification much of his success is due.
Having once obtained a correct value of many alphabetic and syllabic
characters, his knowledge of Coptic helped him to deduce the values of
others, and to assign meanings to Egyptian words with marvellous accuracy.
The method by which the greater part of the Egyptian alphabet was
recovered is this: It was assumed correctly that the _cartouche_ always
contained a royal name. The only _cartouche_ on the Rosetta Stone was
assumed to contain the name Ptolemy. An obelisk brought from Philae about
that time contained a hieroglyphic inscription, and a translation of
it in Greek, which mentioned two names, Ptolemy and Cleopatra, and one
of the _cartouches_ was filled with hieroglyphic characters which were
identical with those in the cartouche on the Rosetta Stone. Thus there
was good reason to believe that the _cartouche_ on the Rosetta Stone
contained the name of Ptolemy written in hieroglyphic characters. Here is
the _cartouche_ which was assumed to represent the name =Ptolemaios=, or
=Ptolemy=, the hieroglyphics being numbered (A)—
=A= 𓍹𓊪𓏏𓍯𓃭𓐝𓇌𓋴𓍺
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
and here is the _cartouche_ which was assumed to represent the name
=Cleopatra= (B)—
=B= 𓍹𓈎𓃭𓇋𓍯𓊪𓄿𓂧𓂋𓄿𓏏𓆇𓍺
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Now in B, the first sign, 𓈎, must represent =K=; it is not found in A.
No. 2 sign, 𓃭, is identical with No. 4 sign in A. This was assumed to be
=L=. No. 3 sign, 𓇋, represents a vowel, and doubled, 𓇌, is found in A,
No. 6. No. 4 sign, 𓍯, is identical with No. 3 in A, and it must have the
value of =O= in both A and B. No. 5 sign, 𓊪, is identical with No. 1 in
A, and as A contains the name Ptolemy, the first sign, 𓊪, must be =P=.
No. 6 sign, 𓄿, is wanting in A, but its value must be =A=, because it is
the same sign as No. 9, which ends the name Kleopatra. No. 7, 𓂧, does not
occur in A, but we see it in other _cartouches_ taking the place of 𓏏 the
second letter in the name of Ptolemaios, and it must therefore be some
kind of =T=. No. 8, 𓂋, we assume is =R=, because it is the last letter
but one in the name of Kleopatra. Nos. 10 and 11 signs, 𓏏𓆇, we find
after the names of goddesses; the first of them is =T=; and the second
is a “determinative.” We now insert the alphabetic values in the two
_cartouches_ and obtain the following results:
=A= 𓍹PTOL𓐝𓇌𓋴𓍺
=B= 𓍹KL(?) OPATR(?)A𓏏𓆇𓍺
In the case of =A= it is quite clear that PTOL is the first part of the
name of Ptolemaios, therefore 𓐝𓇌𓋴 must represent the second part of the
name, or MAIOS. We may then say that 𓐝 is =M=, and the last sign 𓋴 is
=S=, and that 𓇌 represents some _i_-sound, or _e_-sound; in the case of
~B~ we are certain of the values of all the signs except 𓈎, 𓂋 and 𓆇, but
it is clear from their positions in the name that the first two must
represent ~K~ and ~R~. We have seen that the signs 𓏏𓆇 are added to the
names of goddesses, and as Kleopatra was regarded as a goddess, they are
added to her name. They do not affect the name itself. The two royal
names may now be taken out of the _cartouches_, and the values written
under the characters thus:
=A= 𓊪 𓏏 𓍯 𓃭 𓐝 𓇌 𓋴
P T O L M (I or E) S
=B= 𓈎 𓃭 𓇋 𓍯 𓊪 𓄿 𓂧 𓂋 𓄿 𓏏𓆇
K L E(?) O P A T R A ...
Taking another _cartouche_ 𓍹𓄿𓃭𓎡𓋴𓇋𓈖𓂧𓂋𓊃𓍺 we already know the signs,
𓄿𓃭𓋴𓇋𓂧𓂋, which represent ~A~, ~L~, ~S~, ~E~(?), ~T~, and ~R~. The only
Greek name which contains these letters in this order is =Alexandros=, or
Alexander, and we therefore conclude that the last sign, 𓊃, is ~S~, that
𓎡 is ~K~, that 𓇋 is ~A~, and that 𓈖 is ~N~.
A common title of the Roman Emperors was 𓎡𓇌𓋴𓂋𓊃, and as we know all the
signs but one (𓇌) with certainty we write down ~K~-𓇌-~S~-~R~-~S~, which
can only be “Kaisaros,” or “Caesar.” From this we again see that 𓇌
represents the αι in Καισαρος and Πτολεμαιος, or _ae_ in Caesar.
In this way the Egyptian alphabet was recovered.
Now if we look at the last line of the Egyptian text on the Rosetta
Stone we shall find that in the _cartouche_ 𓍹𓊪𓏏𓍯𓃭𓐝𓇌𓋴𓋹𓆓𓏏𓇾𓊪𓏏𓎛𓌻𓇌𓍺
there are several signs which have not been explained above, viz.,
𓋹𓆓𓏏𓇾𓊪𓏏𓎛𓌻𓇌. These signs, it is clear, form no part of the name of
Ptolemy, and the position in which they are found suggests that they
represent _titles_. A reference to the Greek version (line 49) shows
that Ptolemy is there called “everliving, beloved of Phtha,” and it now
remains to see if the hieroglyphics mean anything like these words.
The sound and meaning of the first sign, 𓋹, were well known from the
statements of Greek writers who said that it was pronounced _anch_,
and that it meant “living,” or “life.” Two of the three characters in
the group, 𓊪𓏏𓎛, we know to be ~P~ and ~T~, and we are justified in
assuming that 𓊪𓏏𓎛 represents the name of the god Phtha, or as it is now
read _Ptaḥ_. Now, if 𓋹 means “living” or “life,” and 𓊪𓏏𓎛 means “Ptaḥ,”
𓆓𓏏𓇾 must mean “for ever,” and 𓌻𓇌 must mean “beloved.” Of the first
group, 𓆓𓏏𓇾, we already know the value of the second sign 𓏏, ~T~,
and of the second group we know that 𓇌 has the value of ~I~. Recourse
must now be had to Coptic, so that the Coptic (_i.e._, Egyptian) words
for “for ever” and “beloved” may be compared with the hieroglyphic
originals. The common word for “for ever,” “eternity,” etc., is _eneḥ_,
but there is no _n_ in 𓆓𓏏𓇾, so this will not suit. We do, however,
find the word ϭⲉⲧ, _djet_, which means “an age,” “a long undefined period
of time,” and this agrees well with the sound of 𓆓𓏏𓇾, and shows
that the sound of 𓆓 was something like ~DJ~, and that 𓇾 must have a ~T~
sound. The common word in Coptic for “to love” is ⲙⲉⲣ, _mer_, and we may
therefore transcribe 𓌻𓇌 by _meri_, and assume that it means something
like “beloved.” As the meanings here deduced for 𓋹𓆓𓏏𓇾𓊪𓏏𓎛𓌻𓇌 make good
sense in every text in which they occur we are justified in assuming them
to be correct.
The Egyptian =alphabetic characters= are as follow:—
𓄿 A The Hebrew _aleph_ א.
𓇋 Ȧ
𓂝 Ā Pronounced like the Hebrew ע.
𓇌 or 𓏭 I The Hebrew _yodh_ י.
𓅱 or 𓏲 U or W The Hebrew וּ and ו. It had sometimes
an _o_-sound, like the Hebrew וֺ.
𓃀 B Hebrew ב.
𓊪 P ” פ.
𓆑 F
𓅓 ⎫ M ” מ.
𓐝 ⎭
𓈖 ⎫ N ” נ.
𓋔 ⎭
𓂋 ⎫ R and L ” ר and ל.
𓃭 ⎭
𓉔 H ” ה.
𓎛 Ḥ ” ח.
𓐍 χ (KH) ” כ, without the Dagesh.
𓊃 ⎫ S ” ס or שׂ.
𓋴 ⎭
𓈚 SH ” שׁ.
𓎡 K ” כּ.
𓈎 Q ” ק.
𓎼 Ḳ ” ג.
𓏏 T ” תּ.
𓍿 ⎫ TH(?) ” ת (?).
𓍘 ⎭
𓂧 Ṭ ” ט.
𓆓 TCH or Ṣ (?) ” צ.
=Hieroglyphic writing.=—The hieroglyph is a =picture= of an object,
animate or inanimate, _e.g._, 𓁹 an eye, 𓃝 a ram, 𓃹 a hare, 𓅐 a vulture,
𓅧 a duck, 𓇼 a star, 𓉶 an obelisk, 𓁷 a face, 𓂾 a leg.
Now pictures may also represent =ideas=, _e.g._, 𓊊, a wall leaning on
one side represents “falling”; 𓄤, a musical instrument, symbolizes “joy,
happiness, pleasure,” etc.; 𓋩, a seal, represents something of which
great care is taken, _i.e._, “treasure”; 𓀋, a man holding a vessel placed
on his head, symbolizes “to bear, to carry”; , the sky with a star
hanging from it, suggests “night”; and so on. Hieroglyphs used in this
way are called =ideographs=. Every object had a name, therefore each
picture, or hieroglyph, was a word-sign, and a list of these would have
made a dictionary in the earliest times. At one time all hieroglyphs were
syllabic, and the Egyptians had no alphabetic hieroglyphs; and if scribes
had needed to write down letter by letter the name of some foreign
product, or the name of a foreign king, supposing they did not possess
syllables suitable in sound, they would have been unable to do so. In
fact the Egyptians needed an =alphabet=, and the oldest inscriptions of
any length show that they already possessed one.
About the origin of =alphabetic hieroglyphs= opinions differ. They
probably arose in this way. The sounds of the first letters of the names
of certain objects were given to the pictures of such objects, and
henceforward the pictures, or hieroglyphs, bore those phonetic values,
and so became the letters of an alphabet. Each name chosen for this
purpose appears to have consisted of a syllable containing an initial
consonant, and one or more vowels. The vowel, or vowels, was dropped, and
the name of the object, or the syllable, passed into a purely alphabetic
value. Thus 𓃀 is an alphabetic hieroglyph with the phonetic value of B,
and it may well represent the consonant of some word like _Bu_ “a place,”
or _Bȧa_ “iron.” Similarly 𓂋, which has the phonetic value of R, probably
represents the consonant of some word like _Ru_ “mouth,” in Coptic _Rô_;
and 𓆑 with the phonetic value of F probably represents the consonant
of some word like _fa_ “to carry.” Thus we have a series of alphabetic
characters or letters. Signs having alphabetic values are used to form
words without any reference to their pictorial or ideographic meanings.
One of the words for “knife” is _sfnṭ_, which is thus spelt 𓋴𓆑𓈖𓂧. Now
𓋴 _s_ is a picture of a chair-back; 𓆑 _f_ is a picture of a snail(?); 𓈖
_n_ is a picture of the wavy surface of water; and 𓂧 _ṭ_ is a picture of
a human hand stretched out flat; in the word _sfnṭ_ the picture meanings
of the characters play no part, and the signs are used to express
alphabetic sounds only.
As long as the Egyptians used picture writing pure and simple its meaning
was easily understood, but, when they began to spell their words with
alphabetic signs and syllabic values of picture signs which had no
reference whatever to the original meaning of the signs, it was found
necessary to indicate in some way the meaning and even the sounds of many
of the words so written. This they did by adding to them signs which are
called =determinatives=. Thus the word _āḥa_ 𓊢𓂝 means both “to stand”
and “boat,” but when the writer wished the reader to give it the former
meaning he added to the word a pair of legs 𓂻, thus 𓊢𓂝𓂻, and when the
latter he added the picture of a boat 𓊛, thus 𓊢𓂝𓊛. Similarly _men_ 𓏠𓈖
means “to abide, be stable,” and also “to be ill,” and the meanings
are distinguished by the use of the determinatives 𓏛 and 𓅪, the former
signifying “an abstract idea,” and the latter “discomfort,” or “evil.”
The following words show the use of the determinatives; 𓀭 a god, 𓀁
actions performed with the mouth, 𓁐 a woman, 𓈉 a country, 𓄛 the skin
of an animal, 𓈗 water, 𓌪 actions performed with a knife, and 𓏊 a pot of
unguent or liquid.
The god Khnemu 𓎸𓅓𓅱𓀭
_Meṭu_ “to speak” 𓌃𓂧𓅱𓀁
_Sat_ “daughter” 𓅭𓏏𓁐
_Kesh_ “Nubia” 𓎡𓈚𓈉
_Pennu_ “mouse” 𓊪𓈖𓏌𓅱𓄛
_Mȧu_ “cat” 𓏇𓇋𓅱𓄛 or 𓏇𓇋𓅱𓃠
_Qebḥ_ “libation” 𓈎𓃀𓎛𓈗
_Sma_ “to slay” 𓋴𓌳𓌪
_Merḥet_ “oil” 𓌻𓂋𓎛𓏏𓏊
_Ḥeqt_ “beer” 𓎛𓈎𓏏𓏊
Hieroglyphs are written in perpendicular or horizontal lines as in A and
B. In these examples the words are to be read in the direction in which
the birds face, _i.e._, from left to right.
=A.=
[Illustration: 𓇋𓂋𓃹𓈖𓈖𓎡𓅓𓊃𓏤𓀀
𓇋𓈎𓂋𓏛𓁹𓎡𓅭𓀀𓈖
𓋴𓌳𓄿𓅓𓆭𓏜𓊹[8]]
=B.=
[Illustration: 𓅱𓂋𓂞𓈖𓀀𓏏𓏐𓏥𓈖𓎛𓈎𓏏𓅪𓏥𓈗𓋔𓇋𓃀𓃚𓏭𓈗𓀁𓀀𓎛𓃀
𓋴𓅱𓋳𓏥𓈖𓇉𓄿𓏭𓅱𓋳𓀀𓅖𓄚𓈖𓊛𓃛𓏲𓏭𓊛𓀀[9]]
The =writing materials= consisted of papyrus, palette, reed-pens, ink
and ink-pot. =Papyrus= was made from the stem of the papyrus plant
(_Cyperus Papyrus_), which grew in the marshes and pools near the Nile;
it is no longer cultivated in Egypt, but is found in the Sûdân, where
it grows to a height of from 20 to 25 ft., and has very thick stems.
The exact meaning and derivation of “papyrus” are unknown, but the word
is probably of Egyptian origin.[10] A sheet of papyrus was made in the
following way: The stem was cut into thin strips, which were laid side by
side perpendicularly, and upon these another series of strips was laid
horizontally; a thin solution of gum, or paste, was run in between them,
after which the sheet was pressed and dried. By joining a number of such
sheets together rolls of almost any length could be made. The longest
papyrus in the Egyptian Collection in the British Museum, No. 9999, is
135 ft. long and 1 ft. 5 in. wide; the Papyrus of Ani measures 78 ft. by
1 ft. 3 in.; the Papyrus of Nebseni, 76 ft. by 8¾ in.; the Papyrus of Nu,
65 ft. 6 in. by 1 ft. 1½ in.; the Papyrus of Nekht, 46 ft. 7 in. by 1 ft.
1½ in.
[Illustration: Wooden palette inscribed with the name of Ȧāḥmes I, B.C.
1600.
[No. 2, Table-case C, Third Egyptian Room.]
Wooden palette of Rāmeri, an official of Thothmes IV, B.C. 1470.
[No. 3, Table-case C, Third Egyptian Room.]]
The =palette=, in Egyptian _mesthȧ_ 𓐝𓊃𓍘𓇋𓆱, usually consisted of a
rectangular piece of wood, from eight to sixteen inches long, and from
two to three broad, at one end of which were sunk a number of oval or
circular hollows to hold ink or paint. Down the middle was cut a groove,
sloping at one end, in which the writing reeds were placed; these were
kept in position by a piece of wood glued across the middle of the
palette, or by a sliding cover, which also served to protect the reeds
from injury. A very good collection of palettes is exhibited in the Third
Egyptian Room, Table-case C. Of special interest are the palettes of
Ba-nefer, of the reign of Pepi II, B.C. 3200 (No. 12,782); the palette
of Ȧāḥmes I, the first king of the XVIIIth dynasty, about B.C. 1600 (No.
12,784); the palette of the scribe Pa-mer-ȧḥau, who lived in the reign of
Ȧmen-ḥetep III, about B.C. 1450 (No. 5513); and the palettes of Ȧmen-mes
(No. 12,778) and a scribe (No. 5514), who lived in the reign of Seti I
and Rameses II respectively. The hollows for the ink, or paint, generally
black and red, are usually two in number, but some palettes have a dozen.
The inscriptions on palettes usually contain prayers to the great gods
of the Other World for sepulchral offerings; but sometimes they are
dedications to the god Teḥuti, or Thoth 𓅝𓏏𓏭𓀭, to whom the invention of
the art of writing is attributed. The =writing reed=, in Egyptian _qesh_
𓈎𓈚𓌟𓆭, which served as a pen, was about 10 inches long, and from ⅟₁₆th
to ⅛th of an inch in diameter; the end used for writing was bruised and
not cut. After the XXVIth dynasty, an ordinary reed, similar to that used
in the East at the present day, was employed, and the end was cut like
a quill, or steel pen. The ordinary palette will hold about ten writing
reeds easily. The =ink= was made of mineral or vegetable substances mixed
with gum and water. The earths, or ochres, or preparations of copper,
were rubbed down on slabs with little mullers, several of which may be
seen in the Third Egyptian Room, Table-case C. The =ink-pot= was called
_pes_ 𓊪𓊃𓎺, and was usually made of faïence or porcelain. The hieroglyph
𓏟 represents the palette, an ink pot, and a reed, united by a cord; the
whole stands for “scribe” and “writing.”
[Illustration: Slab of limestone inscribed with a draft of a deed. Dated
in the reign of Ḥeru-em-ḥeb, about B.C. 1400.
[No. 22, Table-case C, Third Egyptian Room.]]
Besides papyrus, scribes frequently used =slices of white limestone= of
a fine texture, or boards plastered with lime, for writing purposes.
On these they wrote drafts of literary compositions, hymns, school
exercises, and sketches in outline of the figures of kings, gods, etc.,
made to scale. As examples may be mentioned No. 22, inscribed with the
draft of a legal document which was drawn up in connection with a robbery
of weapons from the Royal Arsenal by the Chief of the Treasury, about
B.C. 1100, and No. 41, inscribed in the hieratic character with a draft
of a part of a famous work called the “Instructions of Ȧmen-em-ḥāt I,”
king of Egypt, about B.C. 2500 (Third Egyptian Room, Table-case C). In
the Ptolemaïc Period pieces of broken earthenware vessels, or potsherds,
commonly known as =ostraka=, were much used for writing purposes. The
inscriptions on these are chiefly of a business character, receipts or
acquittances, etc.; but certain of them contain extracts from literary
works, _e.g._, a school exercise consisting of lines 105-117 and 128-139
of the _Phoenissae_ of Euripides (No. 88, Third Egyptian Room, Table-case
C). After the introduction of Christianity into Egypt, the Copts, or
Christian Egyptians, imitated their pagan ancestors, and wrote letters,
lists of objects, prayers, extracts from the Scriptures, etc., on slices
of white limestone. A fine collection of such =Coptic inscriptions= is
exhibited in the Fourth Egyptian Room, Table-case M; and of special
interest are: No. 3. Liturgical fragment. No. 5. An undertaking by
Abraham to take charge of a camel. No. 8. Religious exercise, Coptic
and Greek hymns. No. 17. Extract from Psalm xcviii, “Sing unto the Lord
a new Song,” etc. No. 19. Part of the Alexandrian Canon of the Mass,
written in corrupt Greek by Apa Eiḥannes. No. 20. Fragment containing
part of a Greek hymn and a letter in Coptic, conveying the salutations of
Dioskoros to his brother Ounaref and his mother Tnouba. No. 26. Letter
from the priest Victor and Matthaios, to Germanos and Isak (Isaac),
authorizing them to sow their share of a field, and specifying the rent.
No. 28. Document referring to the sale of a camel. It is dated on the
second of the month Pashans, and witnessed by three persons:—Dioskle
and Ouanafre[11] of Pallas, and Gergorios of Remmosh. No. 41. Part of
a letter requesting some monks to bless the writers, and to send holy
water to them that they might sprinkle their sick beasts with it. No.
53. List of measurements of land, in which Greek arithmetical signs,
etc., are employed. No. 57. Receipt for a ḥolokotinos (solidus) paid as
tax or rent by Zaêl for the “camels’ field” for the ninth year. No. 60.
School exercise in Greek and Coptic grammar; on the obverse is a portion
of a letter addressed to the authorities of a monastery. No. 61. Reading
exercise. No. 62. Fragment of a school exercise, with rough drawings
of animals. No. 65. Acquittance of Mizael Konstantinos for the first
instalment of taxes for the year, signed by Severus. No. 66. Writing
exercise for the formation of letters. The Copts sometimes covered the
outside of an unbroken jar with lists, etc., _e.g._, the amphora, No.
166F, Fourth Egyptian Room, Wall-case No. 163. On this are written six
lists of names of men, with those of their fathers and mothers, and it
is probable that the inscriptions were written not later than the eighth
century.