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[Illustration: GREAT HALL OF COLUMNS AT KARNAK (RESTORED.)]
ANCIENT EGYPT
BY
GEORGE RAWLINSON, M.A.
CAMDEN PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD AND
CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF TURIN; AUTHOR OF "THE FIVE
GREAT MONARCHIES OF THE ANCIENT EASTERN WORLD." ETC., ETC.
_WITH THE COLLABORATION OF_
ARTHUR GILMAN, M.A. AUTHOR OF "THE STORY OF ROME," ETC.
_TENTH EDITION_
LONDON T. FISHER UNWIN
PATERNOSTER SQUARE, E.C.
COPYRIGHT BY T. FISHER UNWIN, 1886 (For Great Britain)
TO REGINALD STUART POOLE, KEEPER OF COINS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM,
AND CORRESPONDENT OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE, IN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF
MUCH HELP AND MUCH PLEASURE DERIVED FROM HIS EGYPTIAN LABOURS.
CONTENTS.
I.
THE LAND OF EGYPT 1-22
General shape of Egypt, 1--Chief divisions: twofold division, 2;
threefold division, 3--The Egypt of the maps unreal, 4--Egypt, "the gift
of the river," in what sense, 5, 6--The Fayoum, 7--- Egyptian
speculations concerning the Nile, 7, 8--The Nile not beautiful, 8--Size
of Egypt, 9--Fertility, 10--Geographical situation, 11, 12--The Nile, as
a means of communication, 12, 13, Phenomena of the inundation, 13,
14--Climate of Egypt. 14--Geology, 15--Flora and Fauna, 16, 17--General
monotony, 19--Exceptions, 20-22.
II.
THE PEOPLE OF EGYPT 23-45
Origin of the Egyptians, 23--Phenomena of their language and type,
24--Two marked varieties of physique. 25--Two types of character: the
melancholic, 25, 27: the gay, 27-29--Character of the Egyptian religion:
polytheism, 30, 31--Animal worship, 31-33--Worship of the monarch,
33--Osirid saga, 34, 35--Evil gods, 36--Local cults, 37--Esoteric
religion, 38; how reconciled with the popular belief, 39--Conviction of
a life after death, 40, 41--Moral code, 41-43--Actual state of morals,
43--Ranks of society, 44, 45.
III.
THE DAWN OF HISTORY 45-64
Early Egyptian myths: the Seb and Thoth legends, 46, 47--The destruction
of mankind by Ra, 48--Traditions concerning M'na, or Menes, 48--Site of
Memphis, 49--Great Temple of Phthah at Memphis, 50, 51--Names of
Memphis, 51--Question of the existence of M'na, 52, 53--Supposed
successors of M'na, 54--First historical Egyptian, Sneferu, 55--The
Egypt of his time, 56--Hieroglyphics, 57--Tombs, 58--Incipient pyramids,
59, 60--Social condition of the people, 60--Manners, 61--Position of
women, 62-64.
IV.
THE PYRAMID BUILDERS 65-94
Difficult to realize the conception of a great pyramid, 65--Egyptian
idea of one, 66--Number of pyramids in Egypt: the Principal Three,
67--Description of the "Third Pyramid," 67-71; of the "Second Pyramid,"
72; of the "First" or "Great Pyramid," 75-81--The traditional builders,
Khufu, Shafra, and Menkaura, 82; the pyramids their tombs, 82--Grandeur
of Khufu's conception, 83--Cruelty involved in it, 84, 85--The builders'
hopes not realized, 85, 86--Skill displayed in the construction,
86--Magnificence of the architectural effect, 89--Inferiority of the
"Third Pyramid," 90--Continuance of the pyramid period, 91-94.
V.
THE RISE OF THEBES TO POWER, AND THE EARLY THEBAN KINGS 95-119
Shift of the seat of power--site of Thebes, 95--Origin of the name of
Thebes, 96--Earliest known Theban king, Antef I., 97--His successors,
Mentu-hotep I. and "Antef the Great," 98--Other Antefs and Mentu-hoteps,
98, 99--Sankh-ka-ra and his fleet, 99, 100--Dynasty of Usurtasens and
Amenemhats: spirit of their civilization, 100, 101--Reign of Amenemhat
I., 102--His wars and hunting expeditions, 103, 104--Usurtasen I.: his
wars, 105--His sculptures and architectural works, 106--His obelisk,
107, 109--Reign of Amenemhat II.: tablet belonging to his time, 109,
110--Usurtasen II. and his conquests, 111, 112.
VI.
THE GOOD AMENEMHAT AND HIS WORKS 113-123
Dangers connected with the inundation of the Nile, twofold, 113--An
excessive inundation, 114; a defective one, 115--Sufferings from these
causes under Amenemhat III., 115, 116--Possible storage of water,
117--Amenemhat's reservoir, the "Lake Mœris," 118--Doubts as to its
dimensions, 119, 120--Amenemhat's "Labyrinth," 121--His pyramid, and
name of Ra-n-mat, 122, 123.
VII.
ABRAHAM IN EGYPT 124-131
Wanderings of the Patriarch, 124--Necessity which drove him into Egypt,
125--Passage of the Desert, 126--A dread anxiety unfaithfully met,
127--Reception on the frontier, and removal of Sarah to the court,
128--Abraham's material well-being, 129--The Pharaoh restores Sarah,
130--Probable date of the visit, 130--Other immigrants, 131.
VIII.
THE GREAT INVASION--THE HYKSOS OR SHEPHERD KINGS--JOSEPH AND APEPI
132-146
Exemption of Egypt hitherto from foreign attack, 132--Threatening
movements among the populations of Asia, 133--Manetho's tale of the
"Shepherd" invasion, 134--The probable reality, 135, 136--Upper Egypt
not overrun, 137--The first Hyksos king, Set, or Saites, 138--Duration
of the rule, doubtful, 139--Character of the rule improves with time,
140--Apepi's great works at Tanis, 144--Apepi and Ra-sekenen, 145--Apepi
and Joseph, 146.
IX.
HOW THE HYKSOS WERE EXPELLED FROM EGYPT 147-169
Rapid deterioration of conquering races generally, 147, 148--Recovery of
the Egyptians from the ill effects of the invasion, 149--Second rise of
Thebes to greatness, 150--War of Apepi with Ra-sekenen III.,
151--Succession of Aahmes; war continues, 152--The Hyksos quit Egypt,
153--Aahmes perhaps assisted by the Ethiopians, 153-157.
X.
THE FIRST GREAT WARRIOR KING, THOTHMES I. 158-169
Early wars of Thothmes in Ethiopia and Nubia, 158-160--His desire to
avenge the Hyksos invasion, 161--Condition of Western Asia at this
period, 162, 163--Geographical sketch of the countries to be attacked,
164, 165--Probable information of Thothmes on these matters, 167--His
great expedition into Syria and Mesopotamia, 167--His buildings,
168--His greatness insufficiently appreciated, 169.
XI.
QUEEN HATASU AND HER MERCHANT FLEET 170-188
High estimation of women in Egypt, 170--Early position of Hatasu as
joint ruler with Thothmes II., 173--Her buildings at this period,
173--Her assumption of male attire and titles, 174-177--Her nominal
regency for Thothmes III., and real sovereignty, 177, 178--Construction
and voyage of her fleet, 178, 183--Return of the expedition to Thebes,
184--Construction of a temple to commemorate it, 185--Joint reign of
Hatasu with Thothmes III.--Her obelisks, 186--Her name obliterated by
Thothmes, 187.
XII.
THOTHMES THE THIRD AND AMENHOTEP THE SECOND 189-207
First expedition of Thothmes III. into Asia, 189-191--His second and
subsequent campaigns, 191, 192--Great expedition of his thirty-third
year, 192, 193--Adventure with an elephant, 194--Further expeditions:
amount of plunder and tribute, 195--Interest in natural history,
196--Employment of a navy, 197--Song of victory on the walls of the
Temple of Karnak, 198-199--Architectural works, 199-201--Their present
wide diffusion, 202--Thothmes compared with Alexander, 203--Description
of his person, 204--Position of the Israelites under Thothmes III.,
205--Short reign of Amenhotep II., 206.
XIII.
AMEN-HOTEP III. AND HIS GREAT WORKS--THE VOCAL MEMNON 208-222
The "Twin Colossi" of Thebes: their impressiveness, 208-211--The account
given of them by their sculptor, 212--The Eastern Colossus, why called
"The Vocal Memnon," 213, 214--Earliest testimony to its being "vocal,"
214--Rational account of the phenomenon, 215-217--Amenhotep's temple at
Luxor, 217, 218--His other buildings, 219--His wars and expeditions,
219, 220--His lion hunts; his physiognomy and character, 221, 222.
XIV.
KHUENATEN AND THE DISK-WORSHIPPERS 223-230
Obscure nature of the heresy of the Disk-worshippers, 223-225--Possible
connection of Disk-worship with the Israelites, 226--Hostility of the
Disk-worshippers to the old Egyptian religion, 227--The introduction of
the "heresy" traced to Queen Taia, 228--Great development of the
"heresy" under her son, Amenhotep IV., or Khuenaten, 229--Other changes
introduced by him, 230.
XV.
BEGINNING OF THE DECLINE OF EGYPT 231-252
Advance of the Hittite power in Syria, 231--War of Saplal with Ramesses
I., 231--War of Seti I. with Maut-enar, 232--Great Syrian campaign of
Seti, followed by a treaty, 233, 235--Seti's other wars, 236--His great
wall, 237--Hittite war of Ramesses II., 238, 240--Poem of Pentaour,
241--Results of the battle of Kadesh, a new treaty and an
inter-marriage, 242, 243--Military decline of Egypt, 244--Egyptian art
reaches its highest point: Great Hall of Columns at Karnak, 245--Tomb of
Seti, 246, 247--Colossi of Ramesses II., 248--Ramesses II. the great
oppressor of the Israelites, 249--- Physiognomies of Seti I. and
Ramesses II, 250-252.
XVI.
MENEPHTHAH I., THE PHARAOH OF THE EXODUS 253-268
Good prospect of peace on Menephthah's accession, 253--General sketch of
his reign, 254--Invasion of the Maxyes, 255--Their Mediterranean allies,
256, 257--Repulse of the invasion, 258-261--Israelite troubles,
262-264--Loss of the Egyptian chariot force in the Red Sea,
265--Internal revolts and difficulties, 265--General review of the
civilization of the period, 266-268.
XVII.
THE DECLINE OF EGYPT UNDER THE LATER RAMESSIDES 269-287
Temporary disintegration of Egypt, 269--Reign of Setnekht, 270--Reign of
Ramesses III., 271--General restlessness of the nations in his time
272,--Libyan invasion of Egypt, 273, 274--Great invasion of the Tekaru,
Tanauna, and others, 275, 276--First naval battle on record, 277,
278--Part taken by Ramesses in the fight, 278-281--Campaign of revenge,
282--Later years of Ramesses peaceful, 283--General decline of Egypt,
284--Insignificance of the later Ramessides, 284, 285--Deterioration in
art, literature, and morals, 285, 287.
XVIII.
THE PRIEST-KINGS--PINETEM AND SOLOMON 288-297
Influence of the priests in Egypt, 288--Ordinary relations between them
and the kings, 289--High-priesthood of Ammon becomes hereditary; Herhor,
290--Reign of Pinetem I., 293--Reign of Men-khepr-ra, 294--Rise of the
kingdom of the Israelites, 295--Friendly relations established between
Pinetem II. and Solomon, 296--Effect on Hebrew art and architecture,
297.
XIX.
SHISHAK AND HIS DYNASTY 298-313
Shishak's family Semitic, but not Assyrian or Babylonian, 298--Connected
by marriage with the priest-kings, 299, 300--Reception of Jeroboam by
Shishak, 301--Shishak's expedition against Rehoboam, 302--Aid lent to
Jeroboam in his own kingdom, 303--Arab conquests, 304--Karnak
inscription, 305--Shishak's successors, 306--War of Zerah (Osorkon II.?)
with Asa, 307--Effect of Zerah's defeat, 309--Decline of the dynasty,
310--Disintegration of Egypt, 310, 311--Further deterioration in
literature and art, 311-313.
XX.
THE LAND SHADOWING WITH WINGS--EGYPT UNDER THE ETHIOPIANS 314-330
Vague use of the term Ethiopia, 314--Ethiopian kingdom of Napata,
315--Wealth of Napata, 316--Piankhi's rise to power, 317--His
protectorate of Egypt, 318--Revolt of Tafnekht and others,
318--Suppression of the revolt, 319-323--Death of Piankhi, and revolt of
Bek-en-ranf, 323--Power of Shabak established over Egypt, 324--General
character of the Ethiopian rule, 325--Advance of Assyria towards the
Egyptian border, 325--Collision between Sargon and Shabak, 326--Reign of
Shabatok--Sennacherib threatens Egypt, 327--Reign of Tehrak, 328-330.
XXI.
THE FIGHT OVER THE CARCASE--ETHIOPIA _v_. ASSYRIA 331-341
Egypt attacked by Esarhaddon, 331, 332--Great battle near Memphis,
333--Memphis taken, and flight of Tehrak to Napata, 334--Egypt split up
into small states by Esarhaddon, 334, 335--Tehrak renews the struggle,
336--Tehrak driven out by Asshur-bani-pal, 337--His last effort,
337--Attempt made by Rut-Ammon fails, 338--Temporary success of
Mi-Ammon-nut, 339--Egypt becomes once more an Assyrian dependency,
340--Her wretched condition, 341.
XXII.
THE CORPSE COMES TO LIFE AGAIN--PSAMATIK I. AND HIS SON, NECO 342-359
Foreign help needed to save a sinking state, 342--Libyan origin of
Psamatik I., 344--His revolt connected with the decline of Assyria,
345--Assistance rendered him by Gyges, 345--His struggle with the petty
princes, 346--Reign of Psamatik: place assigned by him to the
mercenaries, 347--His measures for restoring Egypt to her former
prosperity, 348, 349--He encourages intercourse between Egypt and
Greece, 350-352--Egypt restored to life: character of the new life,
353--Later years of Psamatik: conquest of Ashdod, 354--Reign of Neco:
his two fleets, 355--His circumnavigation of Africa, 356--His conquest
of Syria, 357--Jeremiah on the battle of Carchemish, 358--Neco's dream
of empire terminates, 359.
XXIII
THE LATER SAÏTE KINGS--PSAMATIK II., APRIES, AND AMASIS 360-367
The Saïtic revival in art and architecture,360--Some recovery of
military strength, 361--Expedition of Psamatik II. into Ethiopia,
362--Part taken by Apries in the war between Nebuchadnezzar and
Zedekiah, 363--His Phœnician conquests, 364--His expedition against
Cyrene, 364--Invasion of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, 365--Quiet reign of
Amasis, 366--The Saïtic revival not the recovery of true national life,
367.
XXIV.
THE PERSIAN CONQUEST 368-380
Patient acquiescence of Amasis in his position of tributary to Babylon,
368--Rise of the Persian power under Cyrus, and appeal made by Crœsus to
Amasis, League of Egypt, Lydia, and Babylon, 369, 370--Precipitancy of
Crœsus, 371--Fall of Babylon, 371--Later wars of Cyrus,
372--Preparations made against Egypt by Cambyses, 373, 374--Great battle
of Pelusium, 375--Psamatik III, besieged in Memphis, 376--Fall of
Memphis, and cruel treatment of the Egyptians by Cambyses, 377, 378--His
iconoclasm checked by some considerations of policy, 379--Conciliatory
measures of Darius Hystaspis, 379, 380.
XXV.
THREE DESPERATE REVOLTS 380-386
First revolt, under Khabash, easily suppressed by Xerxes, 381,
382--Second revolt under Inarus and Amyrtæus, assisted by Athens, 382,
383--Suppressed by Megabyzus, 384--Herodotus in Egypt, 385--Third
revolt, under Nefaa-rut, attains a certain success; a native monarchy
re-established, 386.
XXVI.
NECTANEBO I.--A LAST GLEAM OF SUNSHINE 387-392
Unquiet time under the earlier successors of Nefaa-rut,
387--Preparations of Nectanebo (Nekht Hor-heb) for the better protection
of Egypt against the Persians, 388--Invasion of Egypt by Pharnabazus and
Iphicrates, 389--Failure of the expedition, 390--A faint revival of art
and architecture, 391.
XXVII.
THE LIGHT GOES OUT IN DARKNESS 393-402
Reign of Te-her (Tacho), 393--Reign of Nectanebo II. (Nekht-nebf),
394--Revolt of Sidon, and great expedition of Ochus, 394, 395--Sidon
betrayed by Tennes and Memnon of Rhodes, 396--March upon Egypt:
disposition of the Persian forces, 397--Skirmish at Pelusium, and
retreat of Nekht-nebf to Memphis, 398, 399--Capture of Pelusium,
399--Surrender of Bubastis, 400--Nehkt-nebf flies to Ethiopia,
401--General reflections, 402.
INDEX 403
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PILLARED HALL OF SETI I _Frontispiece_
DOM AND DATE PALM TREES 17
FIGURES OF TAOURT 36
FIGURE OF BES 37
TABLET OF SNEFERU AT WADY-MAGHARAH 55
PYRAMID OF MEYDOUM 59
GREAT PYRAMID OF SACCARAH 61
SECTION OF THE SAME 61
GROUP OF STATUARY--HUSBAND AND WIFE 63
SECTION OF THE THIRD PYRAMID 69
TOMB CHAMBER IN THE SAME 69
SARCOPHAGUS OF MYCERINUS 73
SECTION OF THE SECOND PYRAMID 73
SECTION OF THE GREAT PYRAMID 76
KING'S CHAMBER AND CHAMBERS OF CONSTRUCTION IN THE GREAT PYRAMID 77
THE GREAT GALLERY IN THE SAME 79
VIEW OF THE FIRST AND SECOND PYRAMID 87
SPEARING THE CROCODILE 103
OBELISK OF USURTASEN I. ON THE SITE OF HELIOPOLIS 107
BUST OF A SHEPHERD KING 141
HEAD OF NEFERTARI-AAHMES 155
BUST OF THOTHMES I 159
HEAD OF THOTHMES II 171
HEAD OF QUEEN HATASU 171
GROUND-PLAN OF TEMPLE AT MEDINET-ABOU 175
EGYPTIAN SHIP IN THE TIME OF HATASU 183
HOUSE BUILT ON PILES IN THE LAND OF PUNT 181
THE QUEEN OF PUNT AT THE COURT OF HATASU 183
SECTION OF THE PILLARED HALL OF THOTHMES III. AT KARNAC 201
BUST OF THOTHMES III 205
TWIN COLOSSI OF AMENHOTEP III. AT THEBES 209
BUST OF AMENHOTEP III 221
KHUENATEN WORSHIPPING THE SOLAR DISK 225
HEAD OF AMENHOTEP IV. OR KHUENATEN 229
HEAD OF SETI I. 250
BUST OF RAMESSES II. 251
HEAD OF MENEPHTHAH 255
SEA-FIGHT IN THE TIME OF RAMESSES III. 279
CARICATURE OF THE TIME OF THE SAME 286
HEAD OF HER-HOR 291
FIGURE RECORDING THE CONQUEST OF JUDÆA BY SHISHAK 305
HEAD OF SHISHAK 307
PIANKHI RECEIVING THE SUBMISSION OF TAFNEKHT AND OTHERS 320
HEAD OF SHABAK 325
SEAL OF SHABAK 327
HEAD OF TIRHAKAH 329
FIGURE OF ESAR-HADDON AT THE NAHR-EL-KELB 335
HEAD OF PSAMATIK I 344
BAS-RELIEFS OF THE TIME OF PSAMATIK 351
HEAD OF NECO 355
THE STORY OF ANCIENT EGYPT.
I.
THE LAND OF EGYPT.
In shape Egypt is like a lily with a crooked stem. A broad blossom
terminates it at its upper end; a button of a bud projects from the
stalk a little below the blossom, on the left-hand side. The broad
blossom is the Delta, extending from Aboosir to Tineh, a direct distance
of a hundred and eighty miles, which the projection of the coast--the
graceful swell of the petals--enlarges to two hundred and thirty. The
bud is the Fayoum, a natural depression in the hills that shut in the
Nile valley on the west, which has been rendered cultivable for many
thousands of years by the introduction into it of the Nile water,
through a canal known as the "Bahr Yousouf." The long stalk of the lily
is the Nile valley itself, which is a ravine scooped in the rocky soil
for seven hundred miles from the First Cataract to the apex of the
Delta, sometimes not more than a mile broad, never more than eight or
ten miles. No other country in the world is so strangely shaped, so
long compared to its width, so straggling, so hard to govern from a
single centre.
At the first glance, the country seems to divide itself into two
strongly contrasted regions; and this was the original impression which
it made upon its inhabitants. The natives from a very early time
designated their land as "the two lands," and represented it by a
hieroglyph in which the form used to express "land" was doubled. The
kings were called "chiefs of the Two Lands," and wore two crowns, as
being kings of two countries. The Hebrews caught up the idea, and though
they sometimes called Egypt "Mazor" in the singular number, preferred
commonly to designate it by the dual form "Mizraim," which means "the
two Mazors." These "two Mazors," "two Egypts," or "two lands," were, of
course, the blossom and the stalk, the broad tract upon the
Mediterranean known as "Lower Egypt," or "the Delta," and the long
narrow valley that lies, like a green snake, to the south, which bears
the name of "Upper Egypt," or "the Said." Nothing is more striking than
the contrast between these two regions. Entering Egypt from the
Mediterranean, or from Asia by the caravan route, the traveller sees
stretching before him an apparently boundless plain, wholly unbroken by
natural elevations, generally green with crops or with marshy plants,
and canopied by a cloudless sky, which rests everywhere on a distant
flat horizon. An absolute monotony surrounds him. No alternation of
plain and highland, meadow and forest, no slopes of hills, or hanging
woods, or dells, or gorges, or cascades, or rushing streams, or babbling
rills, meet his gaze on any side; look which way he will, all is
sameness, one vast smooth expanse of rich alluvial soil, varying only in
being cultivated or else allowed to lie waste. Turning his back with
something of weariness on the dull uniformity of this featureless plain,
the wayfarer proceeds southwards, and enters, at the distance of a
hundred miles from the coast, on an entirely new scene. Instead of an
illimitable prospect meeting him on every side, he finds himself in a
comparatively narrow vale, up and down which the eye still commands an
extensive view, but where the prospect on either side is blocked at the
distance of a few miles by rocky ranges of hills, white or yellow or
tawny, sometimes drawing so near as to threaten an obstruction of the
river course, sometimes receding so far as to leave some miles of
cultivable soil on either side of the stream. The rocky ranges, as he
approaches them, have a stern and forbidding aspect. They rise for the
most part, abruptly in bare grandeur; on their craggy sides grows
neither moss nor heather; no trees clothe their steep heights. They seem
intended, like the mountains that enclosed the abode of Rasselas, to
keep in the inhabitants of the vale within their narrow limits, and bar
them out from any commerce or acquaintance with the regions beyond.
Such is the twofold division of the country which impresses the observer
strongly at the first. On a longer sojourn and a more intimate
familiarity, the twofold division gives place to one which is threefold.
The lower differs from the upper valley, it is a sort of debatable
region, half plain, half vale; the cultivable surface spreads itself out
more widely, the enclosing hills recede into the distance; above all,
to the middle tract belongs the open space of the Fayoum nearly fifty
miles across in its greatest diameter, and containing an area of four
hundred square miles. Hence, with some of the occupants of Egypt a
triple division has been preferred to a twofold one, the Greeks
interposing the "Heptanomis" between the Thebais and the Delta, and the
Arabs the "Vostani" between the Said and the Bahari, or "country of the
sea."
It may be objected to this description, that the Egypt which it presents
to the reader is not the Egypt of the maps. Undoubtedly it is not. The
maps give the name of Egypt to a broad rectangular space which they mark
out in the north-eastern corner of Africa, bounded on two sides by the
Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and on the two others by two imaginary
lines which the map-makers kindly draw for us across the sands of the
desert. But "this Egypt," as has been well observed, "is a fiction of
the geographers, as untrue to fact as the island Atlantis of Greek
legend, or the Lyonnesse of mediæval romance, both sunk beneath the
ocean to explain their disappearance. The true Egypt of the old
monuments, of the Hebrews, of the Greeks and Romans, of the Arabs, and
of its own people in this day, is a mere fraction of this vast area of
the maps, nothing more than the valley and plain watered by the Nile,
for nearly seven hundred miles by the river's course from the
Mediterranean southwards."[1] The great wastes on either side of the
Nile valley are in no sense Egypt, neither the undulating sandy desert
to the west, nor the rocky and gravelly highland to the east, which
rises in terrace after terrace to a height, in some places, of six
thousand feet. Both are sparsely inhabited, and by tribes of a different
race from the Egyptian--tribes whose allegiance to the rulers of Egypt
is in the best times nominal, and who for the most part spurn the very
idea of submission to authority.
If, then, the true Egypt be the tract that we have described--the Nile
valley, with the Fayoum and the Delta--the lily stalk, the bud, and the
blossom--we can well understand how it came to be said of old, that
"Egypt was the gift of the river." Not that the lively Greek, who first
used the expression, divined exactly the scientific truth of the matter.
The fancy of Herodotus saw Africa, originally, _doubly_ severed from
Asia by two parallel _fjords_, one running inland northwards from the
Indian Ocean, as the Red Sea does to this day, and the other penetrating
inland southwards from the Mediterranean to an equal or greater
distance! The Nile, he said, pouring itself into this latter _fjord_,
had by degrees filled it up, and had then gone on and by further
deposits turned into land a large piece of the "sea of the Greeks," as
was evident from the projection of the shore of the Delta beyond the
general coast-line of Africa eastward and westward; and, he added, "I am
convinced, for my own part, that if the Nile should please to divert his
waters from their present bed into the Red Sea, he would fill it up and
turn it into dry land in the space of twenty thousand years, or maybe in
half that time--for he is a mighty river and a most energetic one."
Here, in this last expression, he is thoroughly right, though the method
of the Nile's energy has been other than he supposed. The Nile, working
from its immense reservoirs in the equatorial regions, has gradually
scooped itself out a deep bed in the sand and rock of the desert, which
must have originally extended across the whole of northern Africa from
the Atlantic to the Red Sea. Having scooped itself out this bed to a
depth, in places, of three hundred feet from the desert level, it has
then proceeded partially to fill it up with its own deposits. Occupying,
when it is at its height, the entire bed, and presenting at that time
the appearance of a vast lake, or succession of lakes, it deposes every
day a portion of sediment over the whole space which it covers: then,
contracting gradually, it leaves at the base of the hills, on both
sides, or at any rate on one, a strip of land fresh dressed with mud,
which gets wider daily as the waters still recede, until yards grow into
furlongs, and furlongs into miles, and at last the shrunk stream is
content with a narrow channel a few hundred yards in width, and leaves
the rest of its bed to the embraces of sun and air, and, if he so wills,
to the industry of man. The land thus left exposed is Egypt--Egypt is
the temporarily uncovered bed of the Nile, which it reclaims and
recovers during a portion of each year, when Egypt disappears from view,
save where human labour has by mounds and embankments formed artificial
islands that raise their heads above the waste of waters, for the most
part crowned with buildings.
There is one exception to this broad and sweeping statement. The Fayoum
is no part of the natural bed of the Nile, and has not been scooped out
by its energy. It is a natural depression in the western desert,
separated off from the Nile valley by a range of limestone hills from
two hundred to five hundred feet in height, and, apart from the activity
of man, would have been arid, treeless, and waterless. Still, it derives
from the Nile all its value, all its richness, all its fertility. Human
energy at some remote period introduced into the depressed tract through
an artificial channel from the Nile, cut in some places through the
rock, the life-giving fluid; and this fluid, bearing the precious Nile
sediment, has sufficed to spread fertility over the entire region, and
to make the desert blossom like a garden.
The Egyptians were not unaware of the source of their blessings. From a
remote date they speculated on their mysterious river. They deified it
under the name of Hapi, "the Hidden," they declared that "his abode was
not known;" that he was an inscrutable god, that none could tell his
origin: they acknowledged him as the giver of all good things, and
especially of the fruits of the earth. They said--
"Hail to thee, O Nile!
Thou showest thyself in this land,
Coming in peace, giving life to Egypt;
O Ammon, thou leadest night unto day,
A leading that rejoices the heart!
Overflowing the gardens created by Ra;
Giving life to all animals;
Watering the land without ceasing:
The way of heaven descending:
Lover of food, bestower of corn,
Giving life to every home, O Phthah!...
O inundation of Nile, offerings are made to thee;
Oxen are slain to thee;
Great festivals are kept for thee;
Fowls are sacrificed to thee;
Beasts of the field are caught for thee;
Pure flames are offered to thee;
Offerings are made to every god,
As they are made unto Nile.
Incense ascends unto heaven,
Oxen, bulls, fowls are burnt!
Nile makes for himself chasms in the Thebaid;
Unknown is his name in heaven,
He doth not manifest his forms!
Vain are all representations!
Mortals extol him, and the cycle of gods!
Awe is felt by the terrible ones;
His son is made Lord of all,
To enlighten all Egypt.
Shine forth, shine forth, O Nile! shine forth!
Giving life to men by his omen:
Giving life to his oxen by the pastures!
Shine forth in glory, O Nile!"[2]
Though thus useful, beneficent, and indeed essential to the existence of
Egypt, the Nile can scarcely be said to add much to the variety of the
landscape or to the beauty of the scenery. It is something, no doubt, to
have the sight of water in a land where the sun beats down all day long
with unremitting force till the earth is like a furnace of iron beneath
a sky of molten brass. But the Nile is never clear. During the
inundation it is deeply stained with the red argillaceous soil brought
down from the Abyssinian highlands. At other seasons it is always more
or less tinged with the vegetable matter which it absorbs on its passage
from Lake Victoria to Khartoum; and this vegetable matter, combined
with Its depth and volume, gives it a dull deep hue, which prevents it
from having the attractiveness of purer and more translucent streams.
The Greek name, Neilos, and the Hebrew, Sichor, are thought to embody
this attribute of the mighty river, and to mean "dark blue" or
"blue-black," terms sufficiently expressive of the stream's ordinary
colour. Moreover, the Nile is too wide to be picturesque. It is seldom
less than a mile broad from the point where it enters Egypt, and running
generally between flat shores it scarcely reflects anything, unless it
be the grey-blue sky overhead, or the sails of a passing pleasure boat.
The size of Egypt, within the limits which have been here assigned to
it, is about eleven thousand four hundred square miles, or less than
that of any European State, except Belgium, Saxony, and Servia.
Magnitude is, however, but an insignificant element in the greatness of
States--witness Athens, Sparta, Rhodes, Genoa, Florence, Venice. Egypt
is the richest and most productive land in the whole world. In its most
flourishing age we are told that it contained twenty thousand cities. It
deserved to be called, more (probably) than even Belgium, "one great
town." But its area was undoubtedly small. Still, as little men have
often taken the highest rank among warriors, so little States have
filled a most important place in the world's history. Palestine was
about the size of Wales; the entire Peloponnese was no larger than New
Hampshire; Attica had nearly the same area as Cornwall. Thus the case of
Egypt does not stand by itself, but is merely one out of many exceptions
to what may perhaps be called the general rule.
If stinted for space, Egypt was happy in her soil and in her situation.
The rich alluvium, continually growing deeper and deeper, and
top-dressed each year by nature's bountiful hand, was of an
inexhaustible fertility, and bore readily year after year a threefold
harvest--first a grain crop, and then two crops of grasses or esculent
vegetables. The wheat sown returned a hundredfold to the husbandman, and
was gathered at harvest-time in prodigal abundance--"as the sand of the
sea, very much,"--till men "left numbering" (Gen. xli. 49). Flax and
doora were largely cultivated, and enormous quantities were produced of
the most nutritive vegetables, such as lentils, garlic, leeks, onions,
endive, radishes, melons, cucumbers, lettuces, and the like, which
formed a most important element in the food of the people. The vine was
also grown in many places, as along the flanks of the hills between
Thebes and Memphis, in the basin of the Fayoum, at Anthylla in the
Mareotis at Sebennytus (now Semnood), and at Plisthiné, on the shore of
the Mediterranean. The date-palm, springing naturally from the soil in
clumps, or groves, or planted in avenues, everywhere offered its golden
clusters to the wayfarer, dropping its fruit into his lap. Wheat,
however, was throughout antiquity the chief product of Egypt, which was
reckoned the granary of the world, the refuge and resource of all the
neighbouring nations in time of dearth, and on which in the later
republican, and in the imperial times, Rome almost wholly depended for
her sustenance.
If the soil was thus all that could be wished, still more advantageous
was the situation. Egypt was the only nation of the ancient world which
had ready access to two seas, the Northern Sea, or "Sea of the Greeks,"
and the Eastern Sea, or "Sea of the Arabians and the Indians." Phœnicia
might carry her traffic by the painful travel of caravans across fifteen
degrees of desert from her cities on the Levantine coast to the inner
recess of the Persian Gulf, and thus get a share in the trade of the
East at a vast expenditure of time and trouble. Assyria and Babylonia
might for a time, when at the height of their dominion, obtain a
temporary hold on lands which were not their own, and boast that they
stretched from the "sea of the rising" to "that of the setting
sun"--from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean; but Egypt, at all
times and under all circumstances, commands by her geographic position
an access both to the Mediterranean and to the Indian Ocean by way of
the Red Sea, whereof nothing can deprive her. Suez must always be hers,
for the Isthmus is her natural boundary, and her water-system has been
connected with the head of the Arabian Gulf for more than three thousand
years; and, in the absence of any strong State in Arabia or Abyssinia,
the entire western coast of the Red Sea falls naturally under her
influence with its important roadsteads and harbours. Thus Egypt had two
great outlets for her productions, and two great inlets by which she
received the productions of other countries. Her ships could issue from
the Nilotic ports and trade with Phœnicia, or Carthage, or Italy, or
Greece, exchanging her corn and wine and glass and furniture and works
in metallurgy for Etruscan vases, or Grecian statues, or purple Tynan
robes, or tin brought by Carthaginian merchantmen from the Scilly
islands and from Cornwall; or they could start from Heroopolis, or Myos
Hormus, or some port further to the southward, and pass by way of the
Red Sea to the spice-region of "Araby the Blest," or to the Abyssinian
timber-region, or to the shores of Zanzibar and Mozambique, or round
Arabia to Teredon on the Persian Gulf, or possibly to Ceylon or India.
The products of the distant east, even of "far Cathay," certainly flowed
into the land, for they have been dug out of the ancient tombs; but
whether they were obtained by direct or by indirect commerce must be
admitted to be doubtful.
The possession of the Nile was of extraordinary advantage to Egypt, not
merely as the source of fertility, but as a means of rapid
communication. One of the greatest impediments to progress and
civilization which Nature offers to man in regions which he has not yet
subdued to his will, is the difficulty of locomotion and of transport.
Mountains, forests, torrents, marshes, jungles, are the curses of "new
countries," forming, until they have been cut through, bridged over, or
tunnelled under, insurmountable barriers, hindering commerce and causing
hatreds through isolation. Egypt had from the first a broad road driven
through it from end to end--a road seven hundred miles long, and seldom
much less than a mile wide--which allowed of ready and rapid
communication between the remotest parts of the kingdom. Rivers, indeed,
are of no use as arteries of commerce or vehicles for locomotion until
men have invented ships or boats, or at least rafts, to descend and
ascend them; but the Egyptians were acquainted with the use of boats and
rafts from a very remote period, and took to the water like a brood of
ducks or a parcel of South Sea Islanders. Thirty-two centuries ago an
Egyptian king built a temple on the confines of the Mediterranean
entirely of stone which he floated down the Nile for six hundred and
fifty miles from the quarries of Assouan (Syêné); and the passage up the
river is for a considerable portion of the year as easy as the passage
down. Northerly winds--the famous "Etesian gales"--prevail in Egypt
during the whole of the summer and autumn, and by hoisting a sail it is
almost always possible to ascend the stream at a good pace. If the sail
be dropped, the current will at all times take a vessel down-stream; and
thus boats, and even vessels of a large size, pass up and down the
water-way with equal facility.
Egypt is at all seasons a strange country, but presents the most
astonishing appearance at the period of the inundation. At that time not
only is the lengthy valley from Assouan to Cairo laid under water, but
the Delta itself becomes one vast lake, interspersed with islands, which
stud its surface here and there at intervals, and which reminded
Herodotus of "the islands of the Ægean." The elevations, which are the
work of man, are crowned for the most part with the white walls of towns
and villages sparkling in the sunlight, and sometimes glassed in the
flood beneath them. The palms and sycamores stand up out of the expanse
of waters shortened by some five or six feet of their height.
Everywhere, when the inundation begins, the inhabitants are seen
hurrying their cattle to the shelter provided in the villages, and, if
the rise of the water is more rapid than usual, numbers rescue their
beasts with difficulty, causing them to wade or swim, or even saving
them by means of boats. An excessive inundation brings not only animal,
but human life into peril, endangering the villages themselves, which
may be submerged and swept away if the water rises above a certain
height. A deficient inundation, on the other hand, brings no immediate
danger, but by limiting production may create a dearth that causes
incalculable suffering.
Nature's operations are, however, so uniform that these calamities
rarely arise. Egypt rejoices, more than almost any other country, in an
equable climate, an equable temperature, and an equable productiveness.
The summers, no doubt, are hot, especially in the south, and an
occasional sirocco produces intense discomfort while it lasts. But the
cool Etesian wind, blowing from the north through nearly all the
summer-time, tempers the ardour of the sun's rays even in the hottest
season of the year; and during the remaining months, from October to
April, the climate is simply delightful. Egypt has been said to have but
two seasons, spring and summer. Spring reigns from October into
May--crops spring up, flowers bloom, soft zephyrs fan the cheek, when it
is mid-winter in Europe; by February the fruit-trees are in full
blossom; the crops begin to ripen in March, and are reaped by the end of
April; snow and frost are wholly unknown at any time; storm, fog, and
even rain are rare. A bright, lucid atmosphere rests upon the entire
scene. There is no moisture in the air, no cloud in the sky; no mist
veils the distance. One day follows another, each the counterpart of the
preceding; until at length spring retires to make room for summer, and a
fiercer light, a hotter sun, a longer day, show that the most enjoyable
part of the year is gone by.
The geology of Egypt is simple. The entire flat country is alluvial. The
hills on either side are, in the north, limestone, in the central region
sandstone, and in the south granite and syenite. The granitic formation
begins between the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth parallels, but
occasional masses of primitive rock are intruded into the secondary
regions, and these extend northward as far as lat. 27°10'. Above the
rocks are, in many places, deposits of gravel and sand, the former hard,
the latter loose and shifting. A portion of the eastern desert is
metalliferous. Gold is found even at the present day in small
quantities, and seems anciently to have been more abundant. Copper,
iron, and lead have been also met with in modern times, and one iron
mine shows signs of having been anciently worked. Emeralds abound in the
region about Mount Zabara, and the eastern desert further yields
jaspers, carnelians, breccia verde, agates, chalcedonies, and
rock-crystal.
The flora of the country is not particularly interesting. Dom and date
palms are the principal trees, the latter having a single tapering stem,
the former dividing into branches. The sycamore (_Ficus sycamorus_) is
also tolerably common, as are several species of acacia. The acacia
seyal, which furnishes the gum arable of commerce, is "a gnarled and
thorny tree, somewhat like a solitary hawthorn in its habit and manner
of growth, but much larger." Its height, when full grown, is from
fifteen to twenty feet. The _persea_, a sacred plant among the ancient
Egyptians, is a bushy tree or shrub, which attains the height of
eighteen or twenty feet under favourable circumstances, and bears a
fruit resembling a date, with a subacid flavour. The bark is whitish,
the branches gracefully curved, the foliage of an ashy grey, more
especially on its under surface. Specially characteristic of Egypt,
though not altogether peculiar to it, were the papyrus and the
lotus--the _Cyperus papyrus_ and _Nymphæa lotus_ of botanists. The
papyrus was a tall smooth reed, with a large triangular stalk containing
a delicate pith, out of which the Egyptians manufactured their paper.
The fabric was excellent, as is shown by its continuance to the present
day, and by the fact that the Greeks and Romans, after long trial,
preferred it to parchment. The lotus was a large white water-lily of
exquisite beauty. Kings offered it to the gods; guests wore it at
banquets; architectural forms were modelled upon it; it was employed in
the ornamentation of thrones. Whether its root had the effect on men
ascribed to it by Homer may be doubted; but no one ever saw it without
recognizing it instantly as "a thing of beauty," and therefore as "a joy
for ever."
[Illustration: DOM AND DATE PALMS.]
Nor can Egypt have afforded in ancient times any very exciting amusement
to sportsmen. At the present day gazelles are chased with hawk and hound
during the dry season on the broad expanse of the Delta; but anciently
the thick population scared off the whole antelope tribe, which was
only to be found in the desert region beyond the limits of the alluvium.
Nor can Egypt, in the proper sense of the word, have ever been the home
of red-deer, roes, or fallow-deer, of lions, bears, hyænas, lynxes, or
rabbits. Animals of these classes may occasionally have appeared in the
alluvial plain, but they would only be rare visitants driven by hunger
from their true habitat in the Libyan or the Arabian uplands. The
crocodile, however, and the hippopotamus were actually hunted by the
ancient Egyptians; and they further indulged their love of sport in the
pursuits of fowling and fishing. All kinds of waterfowl are at all
seasons abundant in the Nile waters, and especially frequent the pools
left by the retiring river--pelicans, geese, ducks, ibises, cranes,
storks, herons, dotterels, kingfishers, and sea-swallows. Quails also
arrive in great numbers in the month of March, though there are no
pheasants, snipe, wood-cocks, nor partridges. Fish are very plentiful in
the Nile and the canals derived from it; but there are not many kinds
which afford much sport to the fisherman.
Altogether, Egypt is a land of tranquil monotony. The eye commonly
travels either over a waste of waters, or over a green plain unbroken by
elevations. The hills which inclose the Nile valley have level tops, and
sides that are bare of trees, or shrubs, or flowers, or even mosses. The
sky is generally cloudless. No fog or mist enwraps the distance in
mystery; no rainstorm sweeps across the scene; no rainbow spans the
empyrean; no shadows chase each other over the landscape. There is an
entire absence of picturesque scenery. A single broad river, unbroken
within the limits of Egypt even by a rapid, two flat strips of green
plain at its side, two low lines of straight-topped hills beyond them,
and a boundless open space where the river divides itself into half a
dozen sluggish branches before reaching the sea, constitute Egypt, which
is by nature a southern Holland---"weary, stale, flat and unprofitable."
The monotony is relieved, however, in two ways, and by two causes.
Nature herself does something to relieve it Twice a day, in the morning
and in the evening, the sky and the landscape are lit up by hues so
bright yet so delicate, that the homely features of the prospect are at
once transformed as by magic, and wear an aspect of exquisite beauty. At
dawn long streaks of rosy light stretch themselves across the eastern
sky, the haze above the western horizon blushes a deep red; a ruddy
light diffuses itself around, and makes walls and towers and minarets
and cupolas to glow like fire; the long shadows thrown by each tree and
building are purple or violet. A glamour is over the scene, which seems
transfigured by an enchanter's wand; but the enchanter is Nature, and
the wand she wields is composed of sun-rays. Again, at eve, nearly the
same effects are produced as in the morning, only with a heightened
effect; "the redness of flames" passes into "the redness of roses"--the
wavy cloud that fled in the morning comes into sight once more--comes
blushing, yet still comes on--comes burning with blushes, and clings to
the Sun-god's side.[3]
Night brings a fresh transfiguration. The olive after-glow gives place
to a deep blue-grey. The yellow moon rises into the vast expanse. A
softened light diffuses itself over earth and sky. The orb of night
walks in brightness through a firmament of sapphire; or, if the moon is
below the horizon, then the purple vault is lit up with many-coloured
stars. Silence profound reigns around. A phase of beauty wholly
different from that of the day-time smites the sense; and the monotony
of feature is forgiven to the changefulness of expression, and to the
experience of a new delight.
Man has also done his part to overcome the dulness and sameness that
brood over the "land of Mizraim." Where nature is most tame and
commonplace, man is tempted to his highest flights of audacity. As in
the level Babylonia he aspired to build a tower that should "reach to
heaven" (Gen. xi. 4), so in Egypt he strove to startle and surprise by
gigantic works, enormous undertakings, enterprises that might have
seemed wholly beyond his powers. And these have constituted in all ages,
except the very earliest, the great attractiveness of Egypt. Men are
drawn there, not by the mysteriousness of the Nile, or the mild beauties
of orchards and palm-groves, of well-cultivated fields and gardens--no,
nor by the loveliness of sunrises and sunsets, of moonlit skies and
stars shining with many hues, but by the huge masses of the pyramids, by
the colossal statues, the tall obelisks, the enormous temples, the
deeply-excavated tombs, the mosques, the castles, and the palaces. The
architecture of Egypt is its great glory. It began early, and it has
continued late. But for the great works, strewn thickly over the whole
valley of the Nile, the land of Egypt would have obtained but a small
share of the world's attention; and it is at least doubtful whether its
"story" would ever have been thought necessary to complete "the Story of
the Nations."
FOOTNOTES:
[1] R. Stuart Poole, "Cities of Egypt," p. 4.
[2] Translation by F.C. Cook.
[3] Adapted from Mr. Kinglake's "Eothen," p. 188.
II.
THE PEOPLE OF EGYPT.