A. _Exploration and Research._--Owing to its early development of a high
civilization with written records, its wealth, and its preservative
climate, Egypt is the country which most amply repays archaeological
research. It is especially those long ages during which Egypt was an
independent centre of culture and government, before its absorption in
the Persian empire in the 6th century B.C., that make the most powerful
appeal to the imagination and can often justify this appeal by the
splendour of the monuments representing them. Later, however, the
history of Hellenism, the provincial history of the Roman empire, the
rise of Christianity and the triumph of Islam successively receive
brilliant illustration in Egypt.
As early as the 17th century travellers began to bring home specimens of
ancient Egyptian handiwork: a valuable stele from Sakkara of the
beginning of the Old Kingdom was presented to the Ashmolean Museum at
Oxford in 1683. In the following century the Englishman R. Pococke
(1704-1765), the Dane F. L. Norden (1708-1742), both travelling in 1737,
and others later, planned, described or figured Egyptian ruins in a
primitive way and identified many of the sites with cities named in
classical authors. Napoleon's great military expedition in 1798 was
accompanied by a scientific commission including artists and
archaeologists, the results of whose labours fill several of the
magnificent volumes of the _Description de l'Egypte_. The antiquities
collected by the expedition, including the famous Rosetta stone, were
ceded to the British government at the capitulation of Alexandria, in
1801. Thereafter Mehemet Ali threw Egypt freely open to Europeans, and a
busy traffic in antiquities began, chiefly through the agency of the
consuls of different powers. From the year 1820 onwards the growth of
the European collections was rapid, and Champollion's decipherments (see
below, S "Language and Writing") of the hieroglyphic inscriptions,
dating from 1821, added fresh impetus to the fashion of collecting, in
spite of doubts as to their trustworthiness. In 1827 a combined
expedition led by Champollion and Rosellini was despatched by the
governments of France and Tuscany, and accomplished a great deal of
valuable work in copying scenes and inscriptions. But the greatest of
such expeditions was that of Lepsius, under the auspices of the
Prussian government, in 1842-1845. Its labours embraced not only Egypt
and Nubia (as far as Khartum) but also the Egyptian monuments in Sinai
and Syria; its immense harvest of material is of the highest value, the
new device of taking paper impressions or "squeezes" giving Lepsius a
great advantage over his predecessors, similar to that which was later
conferred by the photographic camera.
A new period was opened in Egyptian exploration in 1858 when Mariette
was appointed director of archaeological works in Egypt, his duties
being to safeguard the monuments and prevent their exploitation by
dealers. As early as 1835 Mehemet Ali had given orders for a museum to
be formed; little however, was accomplished before the whole of the
resulting collection was given away to the Archduke Maximilian of
Austria in 1855. Mariette, who was appointed by the viceroy Said Pasha
at the instance of the French government, succeeded in making his office
effective and permanent, in spite of political intrigues and the whims
of an Oriental ruler; he also secured a building on the island of Bulak
(Bulaq) for a viceregal museum in which the results of his explorations
could be permanently housed. Supported by the French interest, the
established character of this work as a department of the Egyptian
government (which also claims the ancient sites) has been fully
recognized since the British occupation. The "Service of Antiquities"
now boasts a large annual budget and employs a number of European and
native officials--a director, curators of the museum, European
inspectors and native sub-inspectors of provinces (at Luxor for Upper
Egypt and Nubia, at Assiut for Middle Egypt and the Fayum, at Mansura
for Lower Egypt, besides a European official in charge of the government
excavations at Memphis). The museum, no longer the property of an
individual, was removed in 1889 from the small building at Bulak to a
disused palace at Giza, and since 1902 has been established at
Kasr-en-Nil, Cairo, in a special building, of ample size and safe from
fire and flood. In the year 1881 the directorship of the museum was
temporarily undertaken by Prof. Maspero, who resumed it in 1899. The
admirably conducted Archaeological Survey of the portion of Nubia
threatened by the raising of the Assuan dam is in the charge of another
department--the Survey department, directed for many years up to 1909 by
Captain H. G. Lyons. Non-official agencies (supported by voluntary
contributions) for exploration in Egypt comprise the Egypt Exploration
Fund, started in London in 1881, with its two branches, viz. the
Archaeological Survey (1890) for copying and publishing the monuments
above ground, and the Graeco-Roman Branch (1897), well known through the
brilliant work in Greek papyri of B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt; and the
separate Research Account founded by Professor W. M. Flinders Petrie in
London (University College) in 1896, and since 1905 called the British
School of Archaeology in Egypt (see especially MEMPHIS). The _Mission
archeologique francaise au Caire_, established as a school by the French
government in 1881, was re-organized in 1901 on a lavish scale under the
title _Institut francais d'archeologie orientale du Caire_, and
domiciled with printing-press and library in a fine building near the
museum. As the result of an excellent bargain, it was afterwards removed
to the Munira palace in the south-east part of the city. An
archaeologist is attached to the German general consulate to look after
the interests of German museums, and is director of the German Institute
of Archaeology. The Orient-Gesellschaft (German Orient-Society) has
worked in Egypt since 1901 with brilliant results. Excavations and
explorations are also conducted annually by the agents of universities
and museums in England, America and Germany, and by private explorers,
concessions being granted generally on the terms that the Egyptian
government shall retain half of the antiquities discovered, while the
other half remains for the finders.
The era of scientific excavation began with Flinders Petrie's work at
Tanis in 1883. Previous explorers kept scientific aims in view, but the
idea of scientific archaeology was not realized by them. The procedure
in scientific excavation is directed to collecting and interpreting all
the information that can be obtained from the excavation as to the
history and nature of the site explored, be it town, temple, house,
cemetery or individual grave, wasting no evidence that results from it
touching the endless problems which scientific archaeology
affords--whether in regard to arts and crafts, manners and customs,
language, history or beliefs. This is a totally different thing from
mere hunting for inscriptions, statues or other portable objects which
will present a greater or less value in themselves even when torn from
their context. Such may, of course, form the greater part of the harvest
and working material of a scientific excavator; their presence is most
welcome to him, but their complete absence need be no bar to his
attainment of important historical results. The absence of scientific
excavation in Egypt was deplored by the Scottish archaeologist Alexander
Henry Rhind (1833-1863), as early as 1862. Since Flinders Petrie began,
the general level of research has gradually risen, and, while much is
shamefully bad and destructive, there is a certain proportion that fully
realizes the requirements of scientific archaeology.
_Antiquities, Sites, &c._--The remains for archaeological investigation
in Egypt may be roughly classified as material and literary: to the
latter belong the texts on papyri and the inscriptions, to the former
the sites of ancient towns with the temples, fortifications and houses;
remains of roads, canals, quarries and other matters falling within the
domain of ancient topography; the larger monuments, as obelisks,
statues, stelae, &c.; and finally the small antiquities--utensils,
clothes, weapons, amulets, &c. Where moisture can reach the antiquities
their preservation is no better in Egypt than it would have been in
other countries; for this reason all the papyri in the Delta have
perished unless they happen to have been charred by fire. A terrible
pest is a kind of termite which is locally abundant and has probably
visited most parts of Egypt at one time or another, destroying all dead
vegetable or animal material in the soil that was not specially
protected.
In Lower Egypt the cities built of crude brick were very numerous,
especially after the 7th century B.C., but owing to the value of stone
very few of their monuments have escaped destruction: even the mounds of
rubbish which marked their sites furnish a valuable manure for the
fields and in consequence are rapidly disappearing. Granite and other
hard stones, having but a limited use (for millstones and the like),
have the best chance of survival. At Bubastis, Tanis, Behbeit (Iseum)
and Heliopolis considerable stone remains have been discovered. In the
north of the Delta wherever salt marshes have prevented cultivation in
modern times, the mounds, such as those of Pelusium, still stand to
their full height, and the more important are covered with ruins of
brick structures of Byzantine and Arab date.
Middle and Upper Egypt were less busy and prosperous in the later ages
than Lower Egypt. There was consequently somewhat less consumption of
the old stone-work. Moreover, in many places equally good material could
be obtained without much difficulty from the cliffs on both sides of the
Nile. Yet even the buried portions of limestone buildings have seldom
been permitted to survive on the cultivated land; the Nubian sandstone
of Upper Egypt was of comparatively little value, and, generally
speaking, buildings in that material have fallen into decay rather than
been destroyed by quarrying.
Starting from Cairo and going southward we have first the great
pyramid-field, with the necropolis of Memphis as its centre; stretching
from Abu Roash on the north to Lisht on the south, it is followed by the
pyramid group of Dahshur, the more isolated pyramids of Medum and
Illahun, and that of Hawara in the Fayum. On the east bank are the
limestone quarries of Turra and Masara opposite Memphis. South of the
Fayum on the western border of the desert are the tombs of Deshasha,
Meir and Assiut, and on the east bank those of Beni Hasan, the rock-cut
temple of Speos Artemidos, the tombs of El Bersha and Sheikh Said, the
tombs and stelae of El Amarna with the alabaster quarries of Hanub in
the desert behind them, and the tombs of Deir el Gebrawi. Beyond Assiut
are the tombs of Dronka and Rifa, the temples of Abydos and Dendera, and
the tombs, &c., at Akhmim and Kasr es Saiyad. Farther south are the
stupendous ruins of Thebes on both sides of the river, the temple of
Esna, the ruins and tombs of El Kab, the temple of Edfu, the quarries of
Silsila and the temple of Ombos, followed by the inscribed rocks of the
First Cataract, the tombs and quarries of Assuan and the temples of
Philae.
[Illustration: EGYPT Scale, 1:8,400,000]
In Nubia, owing to the poverty of the country and its scanty population,
the proportion of monuments surviving is infinitely greater than in
Egypt. Here are the temples of Debod, the temple and quarries of
Kertassi, the temples of Kalabsha, Bet el Wali, Dendur, Gerf Husen,
Dakka, Maharaka, Es-Sebu'a, 'Amada and Derr, the grottos of Elles ya,
the tombs of Aniba, the temple of Ibrim, the great rock-temples of
Abu-Simbel, the temples at Jebel Adda and Wadi Halfa, the forts and
temples of Semna, the temples of Amara (Meroitic) and Soleb. Beyond are
the Ethiopian temples and pyramids of Jebel Barkal and the other
pyramids of Napata at Tangassi, &c., the still later pyramids of Meroe
at Begerawia, and the temples of Mesauwarat and Naga reaching to within
50 m. of Khartum.
Outside the Nile valley on the west are temples in the Great and Little
Oases and the Oasis of Ammon: on the east quarries and stelae on the
Hammamat road to the Red Sea, and mines and other remains at Wadi
Maghara and Serabit el Khadim in the Sinai peninsula. In Syria there are
tablets of conquest on the rocks at the mouth of the Nahr el Kelb.
Of the collections of Egyptian antiquities in public museums, those of
the British Museum, Leiden, Berlin, the Louvre, Turin were already very
important in the first half of the 19th century, also in a less degree
those of Florence, Bologna and the Vatican. Most of these have since
been greatly increased and many others have been created. By far the
largest collection in the world is that at Cairo. In America the museums
and universities of Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and New
York have collections of greater or less interest. Besides these the
museums of Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester and Oxford are noteworthy in
Great Britain for their Egyptian antiquities, as are those of St
Petersburg, Vienna, Marseilles, Munich, Copenhagen, Palermo and Athens;
there are also collections in most of the British colonies. Private
collections are numerous.
_Literary Records._--In estimating the sources of information regarding
pre-Christian Egypt, the native sources, first opened to us by
Champollion, are infinitely the most important. With very few exceptions
they are contemporary with the events which they record. Of the
composition of history and the description of their own manners and
customs by the Egyptians for posterity, few traces have reached our day.
Consequently the information derived from their monuments, in spite of
their great abundance, is of a fortuitous character. For one early
papyrus that survives, many millions must have perished. If the journals
of accounts, the letters and business documents, had come down to us _en
masse_, they would no doubt have yielded to research the history and
life of Egypt day by day; but those that now represent a thousand years
of the Old Kingdom and Middle Kingdom together would not half fill an
ordinary muniment chest. A larger proportion of the records on stone
have survived, but that an event should be inscribed on stone depends on
a variety of circumstances and not necessarily on its importance. There
may seem to be a great abundance of Egyptian monuments, but they have to
cover an enormous space of time, and even in the periods which are best
represented, gravestones recording the names of private persons with a
prayer or two are scarcely material for history. A scrap of annals has
been found extending from the earliest times to the Vth Dynasty, as well
as a very fragmentary list of kings reaching nearly to the end of the
Middle Kingdom, to help out the scattered data of the other monuments.
As to manners and customs, although we possess no systematic
descriptions of them from a native source, the native artists and
scribes have presented us with exceptionally rich materials in the
painted and sculptured scenes of the tombs from the Old and Middle
Kingdoms and the New Empire. For the Deltaic dynasties these sources
fail absolutely, the scenes being then either purely religious or
conventional imitations of the earlier ones.
Fortunately the native records are largely supplemented by others:
valuable information comes from cuneiform literature, belonging to two
widely separated periods. The first group is contemporary with the
XVIIIth and XIXth Dynasties and consists in the first place of the Tell
el Amarna tablets with others related to them, containing the reports of
governors of the Syrian possessions of Egypt, and the correspondence of
the kings of Babylon, Assur, Mitanni and Khatti (the Hittites) with the
Pharaohs. The sequel to this is furnished by Winckler's discovery of
documents relating to Rameses II. of the XIXth Dynasty in the Hittite
capital at Boghaz Keui (see also HITTITES and PTERIA). The other group
comprises the annals and inscriptions of the Assyrian kings Esarhaddon
and Assur-bani-pal, recording their invasions of Egypt under the XXVth
Dynasty. There are also a few references to Egypt of later date down to
the reign of Darius. In Hebrew literature the Pentateuch, the historical
books and the prophets alike contain scanty but precious information
regarding Egypt. Aramaic papyri written principally by Jews of the
Persian period (5th century B.C.) have been found at Syene and Memphis.
Of all the external sources the literary accounts written in Greek are
the most valuable. They comprise fragments of the native historian
Manetho, the descriptions of Egypt in Herodotus and Diodorus, the
geographical accounts of Strabo and Ptolemy, the treatise of Plutarch on
Isis and Osiris and other monographs or scattered notices of less
importance. Our knowledge of the history of Alexander's conquest, of the
Ptolemies and of the Roman occupation is almost entirely derived from
Greek sources, and in fact almost the same might be said of the history
of Egypt as far back as the beginning of the XXVIth Dynasty. The
non-literary Greek remains in papyri and inscriptions which are being
found in great abundance throw a flood of light on life in Egypt and the
administration of the country from the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus to
the Arab conquest. On the other hand, papyri and inscriptions in Latin
are of the greatest rarity, and the literary remains in that language
are of small importance for Egypt.
Arabic literature appears to be entirely barren of authentic information
regarding the earlier condition of the country. Two centuries of
unchallenged Christianity had broken almost completely the traditions of
paganism, even if the Moslems had been willing to consider them, either
in their fanciful accounts of the origins of cities, &c., or elsewhere.
B. _The Country in Ancient Times._--The native name of Egypt was Kemi
(KM.T), clearly meaning "the black land," Egypt being so called from the
blackness of its alluvial soil (cf. Plut. _De Is. et Os._ cap. 33): in
poetical inscriptions _Kemi_ is often opposed to _Toshri_, "the red
land," referring to the sandy deserts around, which however, would
probably be included in the term Kemi in its widest sense. Egypt is
called in Hebrew Mizraim, [Hebrew: Mizraim], possibly a dual form
describing the country in reference to its two great natural and
historical divisions of Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt: but Mizraim
(poetically sometimes Mazor) often means Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt being
named Pathros, "the south land." In Assyrian the name was Musri, Misri:
in Arabic it is Misr, [Arabic: Misr], pronounced Masr in the vulgar
dialect of Egypt. These names are certainly of Semitic origin and
perhaps derive from the Assyrian with the meaning "frontier-land" (see
MIZRAIM). Winckler's theory of a separate Musri immediately south of
Palestine is now generally rejected (see, for instance, Ed. Meyer, _Die
Israeliten und ihre Nachbarstamme_, 455). The Greek [Greek: Aigyptos]
(Aegyptus) occurs as early as Homer; in the _Odyssey_ it is the name of
the Nile (masc.) as well as of the country (fem.): later it was confined
to the country. Its origin is very obscure (see Pietschmann in
Pauly-Wissowa, _Realencyclopadie_, s.v. "Aigyptos"). Brugsch's
derivation from Hakeptah, a name of the northern capital, Memphis,
though attractive, is unconfirmed.
Egypt normally included the whole of the Nile valley from the First
Cataract to the sea; pure Egyptians, however, formed the population of
Lower Nubia above the Cataract in prehistoric times; at some periods
also the land was divided into separate kingdoms, while at others Egypt
stretched southward into Nubia, and it generally claimed the
neighbouring Libyan deserts and oases on the west and the Arabian
deserts on the east to the shore of the Red Sea, with Sinai and the
Mediterranean coast as far as Rhinocorura (El Arish). The physical
features in ancient times were essentially the same as at the present
day. The bed of the Nile was lower: it appears to have risen by its own
deposits at a rate of about 4 in. in a century. In the north of the
Delta, however, there was a sinking of the land, in consequence of which
the accumulations on some of the ancient sites there extend below the
present sea-level. On the other hand at the south end of the Suez canal
the land may have risen bodily, since the head of the Gulf of Suez has
been cut off by a bank of rock from the Bitter lakes, which were
probably joined to it in former days. The banks of the Nile and the
islands in it are subject to gradual but constant alteration--indeed,
several ancient sites have been much eroded or destroyed--and the main
volume of the stream may in course of time be diverted into what has
previously been a secondary channel. According to the classical writers,
the mouths or branches of the Nile in the Delta were five in number
(seven including two that were artificial): now there are only two. In
Upper Egypt the main stream tended as now to flow along the eastern edge
of the valley, while to the west was a parallel stream corresponding to
the Bahr Yusuf. From the latter a canal or branch led to the Lake of
Moeris, which, until the 3rd century B.C., filled the deep depression of
the Fayum, but is now represented only by the strongly brackish waters
of the Birket el Kerun, left in the deepest part. The area of alluvial
land has probably not changed greatly in historic times. The principal
changes that have occurred are due to the grip which civilization has
taken upon the land in the course of thousands of years, often weakening
but now firmer than ever. In early days no doubt the soil was cultivated
in patches, but gradually a great system of canals was organized under
the control of the central government, both for irrigation and for
transport. The wild flora of the alluvial valley was probably always
restricted and eventually was reduced almost to the "weeds of
cultivation," when every acre of soil, at one period of the year under
water, and at another roasted under the burning heat of a semi-tropical
sun, was carefully tilled. The acacia abounded on the borders of the
valley, but the groves were gradually cut down for the use of the
carpenter and the charcoal-burner. The desert was full of wild life, the
balance of nature being preserved by the carnivorous animals preying on
the herbivorous; trees watered by soakage from the Nile protected the
undergrowth and encouraged occasional rainfall. But this balance was
upset by the early introduction of the goat and later of the camel,
which destroyed the sapling trees, while the grown ones fell to the axe
of the woodcutter. Thus in all probability the Egyptian deserts have
become far poorer in animals and trees than they were in primitive
times. Much of Lower Egypt was left in a wilder state than Upper Egypt.
The marshy lands in the north were the resort of fishermen and fowlers,
and the papyrus, the cultivation of which was a regular industry,
protected an abundance of wild life. The abandonment of papyrus culture
in the 8th century A.D., the neglect of the canals, and the inroads of
the sea, have converted much of that country into barren salt marsh,
which only years of draining and washing can restore to fertility.
The rich alluvial deposits of the Nile which respond so readily to the
efforts of the cultivator ensured the wealth of the country. Moulded
into brick, without burning, this black clay also supplied the common
wants of the builder, and even the palaces of the greatest kings were
constructed of crude brick. For more lasting and ambitious work in
temples and tombs the materials could be obtained from the rocks and
deserts of the Nile valley. The chief of these was limestone of varying
degrees of fineness, composing the cliffs which lined the valley from
the apex of the Delta to the neighbourhood of El Kab; the best quality
was obtained on the east side opposite Memphis from the quarries of
Turra and Masara. From El Kab southward its place was taken by Libyan
sandstone, soft and easily worked, but unsuitable for fine sculpture.
These two were the ordinary building stones. In the limestone was found
the flint or chert used for weapons and instruments in early times. For
alabaster the principal quarry was that of Hanub in the desert 10 m.
behind El Amarna, but it was obtained elsewhere in the limestone region,
including a spot near Alexandria. A hard and fine-grained quartzite
sandstone was quarried at Jebel Ahmar behind Heliopolis, and basalt was
found thence along the eastern edge of the Delta to near the Wadi
Tumilat. Red granite was obtained from the First Cataract, breccia and
diorite were quarried from very early times in the Wadi Hammamat, on the
road from Coptos to the Red Sea, and porphyry was brought, chiefly in
Roman times but also in the prehistoric age, from the same region at
Jebel Dokhan.
Egypt was poor in metals. Gold was obtained chiefly from Nubia: iron was
found in small quantities in the country and at one time was worked in
the neighbourhood of Assuan. Some copper was obtained in Sinai. Of
stones that were accounted precious Sinai produced turquoise and the
Egyptian deserts garnet, carnelian and jasper.
The native supply of wood for industrial purposes was exceedingly bad:
there was no native wood long enough and straight enough to be used in
joiners' work or sculpture without fitting and patching: palm trees were
abundant, and if the trees could be spared, their split stems could be
used for roofing. For boatbuilding papyrus stems and acacia wood were
employed, and for the best work cedar-wood was imported from Lebanon.
Egypt was isolated by the deserts and the sea. The Nile valley afforded
a passage by ship or on foot into Nubia, where, however, little wealth
was to be sought, though gold and rarities from the Sudan, such as ivory
and ebony, came that way and an armed raid could yield a good spoil in
slaves and cattle. The poverty-stricken and barbarous Nubians were
strong and courageous, and gladly served in Egypt as mercenary soldiers
and police. Through the oases also ran paths to the Sudan by which the
raw merchandise of the southern countries could be brought to Egypt.
Eastward, roads led through the Arabian mountains to the Red Sea, whence
ships made voyages to the incense-bearing land of Puoni (Punt) on the
Somali coast of Africa, rich also in gold and ivory. The mines of Sinai
could be reached either by sea or by land along the route of the Exodus.
The roads to Syria skirted the east border of the Delta and then
followed the coast from near Pelusium through El Arish and Gaza. A
secondary road branched off through the Wadi Tumilat, whence the ways
ran northwards to Syria and southwards to Sinai. On the Libyan side the
oasis of Siwa could be reached from the Lake of Moeris or from Terrana
(Terenuthis), or by the coast route which also led to the Cyrenaica. The
Egyptians had some traffic on the Mediterranean from very remote times,
especially with Byblus in Phoenicia, the port for cedar-wood.
Of the populations surrounding Egypt the negroes (Nehsi) in the south
(Cush) were the lowest in the scale of civilization: the people of Puoni
and of Libya (the Tehen, &c.) were pale in colour and superior to the
negroes, but still show no sign of a high culture. The Syrians and the
Keftiu, the latter now identified with the Cretans and other
representatives of the Aegean civilization, are the only peoples who by
their elaborate clothing and artistic products reveal themselves upon
the ancient Egyptian monuments as the equals in culture of the Egyptian
nation.
The Egyptians seem to have applied no distinctive name to themselves in
early times: they called themselves proudly _romi_ (RMTW), i.e. simply
"men," "people," while the despised races around them, collectively
H'SWT, "desert-peoples," were distinguished by special appellations.
The races of mankind, including the Egyptians, were often called the
Nine Archers. Ultimately the Egyptians, when their insularity
disappeared under the successive dominations of Ethiopia, Assyria and
Persia, described themselves as _rem-n-Kemi_, "men of Egypt." Whence the
population of Egypt as we trace it in prehistoric and historic times
came, is not certain. The early civilization of Egypt shows remarkable
coincidences with that of Babylonia, the language is of a Semitic type,
the religion may well be a compound of a lower African and a higher
Asiatic order of ideas. According to the evidence of the mummies, the
Egyptians were of slender build, with dark hair and of Caucasian type.
Dr Elliott Smith, who has examined thousands of skeletons and mummies of
all periods, finds that the prehistoric population of Upper Egypt, a
branch of the North African-Mediterranean-Arabian race, changed with the
advent of the dynasties to a stronger type, better developed than before
in skull and muscle. This was apparently due to admixture with the Lower
Egyptians, who themselves had been affected by Syrian immigration.
Thereafter little further change is observable, although the rich lands
of Egypt must have attracted foreigners from all parts. The Egyptian
artists of the New Empire assigned distinctive types of feature as well
as of dress to the different races with which they came into contact,
Hittites, Syrians, Libyans, Bedouins, negroes, &c.
The people of Egypt were not naturally fierce or cruel. Intellectually,
too, they were somewhat sluggish, careless and unbusinesslike. In the
mass they were a body of patient labourers, tilling a rich soil, and
hating all foreign lands and ways. The wealth of their country gave
scope for ability within the population and also attracted it from
outside: it enabled the kings to organize great monumental enterprises
as well as to arm irresistible raids upon the inferior tribes around.
Urged on by necessity and opportunity, the Egyptians possessed
sufficient enterprise and originating power to keep ahead of their
neighbours in most departments of civilization, until the more warlike
empires of Assyria and Persia overwhelmed them and the keener intellects
of the Greeks outshone them in almost every department. The debt of
civilization to Egypt as a pioneer must be considerable, above all
perhaps in religious thought. The moral ideals of its nameless teachers
were high from an early date: their conception of an after-life was
exceedingly vivid: the piety of the Egyptians in the later days was a
matter of wonder and scoffing to their contemporaries; it is generally
agreed that certain features in the development of Christianity are to
be traced to Egypt as their birthplace and nidus.
For researches into the ethnography of Egypt and the neighbouring
countries, see W. Max Muller, _Asien und Europa nach den altag.
Inschriften_ (Leipzig, 1893), _Egyptological Researches_ (Washington,
1906); for measurements of Egyptian skulls, Miss Fawcett in
_Biometrika_ (1902); A. Thomson and D. Randall-MacIver, _The Ancient
Races of the Thebaid_ (Oxford, 1905) (cf. criticisms in _Man_, 1905;
and for comparisons with modern measurements, C. S. Myers, _Journ.
Anthropological Institute_, 1905, 80). W. Flinders Petrie has
collected and discussed a series of facial types shown in prehistoric
and early Egyptian sculpture, _Journal Anthropological Institute_,
1901, 248. For Elliott Smith's results see _The Cairo Scientific
Journal_, No. 30, vol. iii., March 1909.
_Divisions._--In ancient times Egypt was divided into two regions,
representing the kingdoms that existed before Menes. Lower Egypt,
comprising the Delta and its borders, formed the "North Land," _To-meh_,
and reached up the valley to include Memphis and its province or "nome,"
while the remainder of the Egyptian Nile valley was "the South," _Shema_
(SM'W [HRGs: sw-w-a]). The south, if only as the abode of the sun,
always had the precedence over the north in Egypt, and the west over the
east. Later the two regions were known respectively as P-to-res
(Pathros), "the south land," and P-to-meh, "the north land." In
practical administration this historic distinction was sometimes
observed, at others ignored, but in religious tradition it had a firm
hold. In Roman times a different system marked off a third region,
namely Middle Egypt, from the point of the Delta southward.
Theoretically, as its name Heptanomis implies, this division contained
seven nomes, actually from the Hermopolite on the south to the Memphite
on the north (excluding the Arsinoite according to the papyri). Some
tendency to this existed earlier. Egypt to the south of the Heptanomis
was the Thebais, called P-tesh-en-Ne, "the province of Thebes," as early
as the XXVIth Dynasty. The Thebais was much under the influence of the
Ethiopian kingdom, and was separated politically in the troubled times
of the XXIIIrd Dynasty, though the old division into Upper and Lower
Egypt was resumed in the XXVIth Dynasty.
If Upper and Lower Egypt represented ancient kingdoms, the nomes have
been thought to carry on the traditions of tribal settlements. They are
found in inscriptions as early as the end of the IIIrd Dynasty, and the
very name of Thoth, and that of another very ancient god, are derived
from those of two contiguous nomes in Lower Egypt. The names are written
by special emblems placed on standards, such as an ibis, [HRG: G26], a
jackal [HRG: E15:R12], a hare [HRG: wn:R12], a feathered crown [HRG:
Swty:R12], a sistrum [HRG: zSSt:R12], a blade [HRG: T30:R12], &c.,
suggesting tribal badges. Some nomes having a common badge but
distinguished as "nearer" or "further," i.e. "northern" or "southern,"
have simply been split, as they are contiguous: in one case, however,
corresponding "eastern" and "western" Harpoon nomes are widely separated
on opposite sides of the Delta. In a few cases, such as "the West," "the
Beginning of the East," it is obvious that the names are derived solely
from their geographical situation. It is quite possible that the
divisions are geographical in the main, but it seems likely that there
were also religious, tribal and other historical reasons for them. How
their boundaries were determined is not certain: in Upper Egypt in many
cases a single nome embraced both sides of the river. The number and
nomenclature of the nomes were never absolutely fixed. In temples of
Ptolemaic and Roman age the full series is figured presenting their
tribute to the god, and this series approximately agrees with the
scattered data of early monuments. The normal number of the nomes in the
sacred lists appears to be 42, of which 22 belonged to Upper Egypt and
20 to Lower Egypt. In reality again these nome-divisions were treated
with considerable freedom, being split or reunited and their boundaries
readjusted. Each nome had its metropolis, normally the seat of a
governor or nomarch and the centre of its religious observances. During
the New Empire, except at the beginning, the nomes seem to have been
almost entirely ignored: under the Deltaic dynasties (except of course
in the traditions of the sacred writing) they were named after the
metropolis, as "the province (_tosh_) of Busiris," "the province of
Sais," &c.: hence the Greek names [Greek: Bousirites nomos], &c. The
Arsinoite nome was added by the Ptolemies after the draining of the Lake
of Moeris (q.v.), and in the later Ptolemaic and the Roman times many
changes and additions to the list must have been made. In Christian
texts the "provinces" appear to have been very numerous.
See H. Brugsch, _Geographische Inschriften altagyptischer Denkmaler_
(3 vols., Leipzig, 1857-1860), and for the nomes on monuments of the
Old Kingdom, N. de G. Davies, _Mastaba of Ptahhetep and Akhethetep_
(London, 1901), p. 24 et sqq.
_King and Government._--The government of Egypt was monarchical. The
king (for titles see PHARAOH) was the head of the hierarchy: he was
himself divine and is often styled "the good god," and was the proper
mediator between gods and men. He was also the dispenser of office,
confirmer of hereditary titles and estates and the fountain of justice.
Oaths were generally sworn by the "life" of the king. The king wore
special headdresses and costumes, including the crowns of Upper [HRG:
HDt] and Lower Egypt [HRG: N] (often united [HRG: S5]), and the cobra
upon his forehead. Females were admitted to the succession, but very few
instances occur before the Cleopatras. The most notable Pharaonic queen
in her own right was Hatshepsut in the XVIIIth Dynasty, but her reign
was ignored by the later rulers even of her own family. A certain
Nitocris of about the VIIIth Dynasty and Scemiophris of the XIIth
Dynasty are in the lists, but are quite obscure. Yet inheritance through
the female line was fully recognized, and marriage with the heiress
princess was sought by usurpers to legitimate the claims of their
offspring. Often, especially in the XIIth Dynasty, the king associated
his heir on the throne with him to ensure the succession.
From time to time feudal conditions prevailed: the great landowners and
local princes had establishments of their own on the model of the royal
court, and were with difficulty kept in order by the monarch. In rare
cases during the Middle Kingdom (inscriptions in the tomb of Ameni at
Beni Hasan, graffiti in the quarries of Hanub) documents were dated in
the years of reign of these feudatory nobles. Under the Empire all power
was again centralized in the hands of the Pharaoh. The apportionment of
duties amongst the swarm of officials varied from age to age, as did
their titles. Members of the royal family generally held high office.
Under the Empire Egypt was administered by a vast bureaucracy, at the
head of which, responsible to the king, was the vizier, or sometimes two
viziers, one for Upper Egypt, the other for Lower Egypt (in which case
the former, stationed at Thebes, had the precedence). The duties of the
vizier and the procedure in his court are detailed in a long inscription
which is repeated in three tombs of the XVIIIth Dynasty at Thebes
(Breasted, _Records_, ii. S 663 et seqq.). The strictest impartiality
was enjoined upon him, and he was advised to hold aloof from the people
in order to preserve his authority. The office of vizier was by no means
a sinecure. All the business of the country was overlooked by
him--treasury, taxation, army, law-courts, expeditions of every kind.
Egypt was the vast estate of Pharaoh, and the vizier was the steward of
it.
_Army._--The youth of Egypt was liable to be called upon for service in
the field under the local chiefs. Their training consisted of gymnastic
and warlike exercises which developed strength and discipline that would
be as useful in executing public works and in dragging large monuments
as in strictly military service. They were armed in separate companies
with bows and arrows, spears, daggers and shields, and the officers
carried battle-axes and maces. The army, commanded in chief by Una under
the VIth Dynasty for raids in Sinai or Palestine, comprised levies from
every part of Egypt and from Nubia, each under its own leader. Under the
New Empire, when Egypt was almost a military state, the army was a more
specialized institution, the art of war in siege and strategy had
developed, divisions were formed with special standards, there were
regiments armed with battle-axes and scimitars, and chariots formed an
essential part of the host. Egyptian cavalry are not represented upon
the monuments, and we hear little of such at any time. Herodotus divides
the army into two classes, the Calasiries and the Hermotybies; these
names, although he was not aware of it, mean respectively horse- and
foot-soldiers, but it is possible that the former name was only
traditional and had characterized those who fought from chariots, a mode
of warfare that was obsolete in Herodotus's own day: as a matter of fact
both classes are said to have served on the warships of Xerxes' fleet.
_Arms and Armour._--From the contents of graves and other remains, and
the sculptured and painted scenes, an approximate idea can be obtained
of the weapons of the Egyptians at all periods from the prehistoric age
onwards. Only a few points are here noted. Stone mace-heads are found in
the earliest cemeteries, together with flint implements that may be the
heads of lances, &c., and thin leaf-shaped daggers of bronze. Stone
arrow-heads are common on the surface of the desert. Thin bronze
arrow-heads appear at an early date; under the Empire they are stouter
and furnished with a tang, and later still, towards the Greek period,
they are socketed (often three-sided), or, if of iron, still tanged. The
wooden club, a somewhat primitive weapon, seems to have been considered
characteristic of foreigners from very early times, and, in scenes
dating from the Middle Kingdom, belong principally to the levies from
the surrounding barbarians. The dagger grew longer and stouter, but the
sword made its appearance late, probably first in the hands of the
_Sherdana_ (Sardinian?), mercenaries of the time of Rameses II. A
peculiar scimitar, _khopsh_ [HRG], is characteristic of the Empire.
Slings are first heard of in Egyptian warfare in the 8th century B.C.
The chariot was doubtless introduced with the horse in the Hyksos
period; several examples have been discovered in the tombs of the New
Kingdom. Shields were covered with ox-hide and furnished with round
sighting-holes above the middle. Cuirasses of bronze scales were worn by
the kings and other leaders. The linen corslets of the Egyptian soldiery
at a later time were famous, and were adopted by the Persian army.
According to the paintings of the Middle Kingdom in the tombs of Beni
Hasan, the battlements of brick fortresses were attacked and wrenched
away with long and massive spears. No siege engines are depicted, even
in the time of the Empire, and the absence of original representations
after the XXth Dynasty renders it difficult to judge the advances made
in the art of war during the first half of the last millennium B.C. The
inscription of Pankhi, however, proves that in the 8th century
approaches and towers were raised against the walls of besieged cities.
_Priesthood._--The priesthood was in a great degree hereditary, though
perhaps not essentially so. In each temple the priests were divided into
four orders (until Ptolemy Euergetes added a fifth), each of which
served in turn for a lunar month under the chief priest or prophet. They
received shares of the annual revenues of the temple in kind, consisting
of linen, oil, flesh, bread, vegetables, wine, beer, &c. The "divine
servants" or "prophets" had residences assigned them in the temple area.
In late times the priests were always shaven, and paid the greatest
attention to cleanliness and ceremonial purity already implied in their
ancient name. Fish and beans then were abhorred by them. Among the
priests were the most learned men of Egypt, but probably many were
illiterate. For the Hellenistic period see W. Otto, _Priester und Tempel
im hellenistichen Agypten_ (Leipzig, 1905 foll.).
For ancient Egyptian life and civilization in all departments, the
principal work is Ad. Erman, _Life in Ancient Egypt_, translated by H.
M. Tirard (London, 1894), (the original _Agypten und agyptisches Leben
im Altertum_, 2 vols., was published in 1885 at Tubingen); G. Maspero,
_Life in Ancient Egypt and Assyria_, translated by A. P. Morton
(London, 1892), (_Lectures historiques_, Paris, 1890); also J. G.
Wilkinson, _Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians_, new ed. by
S. Birch (3 vols., London, 1878). The annual _Archaeological Reports_
of the Egypt Exploration Fund contain summaries of the work done each
year in the several departments of research.
Of the innumerable publications of Egyptian monuments, scenes and
inscriptions, C. R. Lepsius, _Denkmaler aus Agypten und Athiopien_
(Berlin, 1849-1859), and Memoirs of the _Archaeological Survey_ of the
Egypt Exploration Fund, may be specified. For antiquities in museums
there is the sumptuous _Catalogue general des antiquites egyptiennes
du musee de Caire_; for excavations the Memoirs of the Egypt
Exploration Fund, of the Research Account, of the British School of
Archaeology, of the Liverpool School of Archaeology, of the Deutsche
Orient-Gesellschaft, of the Hearst Egyptian Expedition, of the
Theodore M. Davis excavations (Tombs of the Kings).
_Trade and Money._--There is little evidence to show how buying and
selling were carried on in ancient Egypt. A unique scene in a tomb of
the IVth Dynasty, however, shows men and women exchanging commodities
against each other--fish, fish-hooks, fans, necklaces, &c. Probably this
was a market in the open air such as is held weekly at the present time
in every considerable village. Rings of metal, gold, silver and bronze
played some part in exchange, and from the Hyksos period onwards formed
the usual standards by which articles of all kinds might be valued. In
the XVIIIth Dynasty the value of meat, &c., was reckoned in gold;
somewhat later copper seems the commonest standard, and under the
Deltaic dynasties silver. But barter must have prevailed much longer.
The precious metals were kept in the temples under the tutelage of the
deities. During the XXVth and XXVIth Dynasties silver of the treasury of
Harshafe (at Heracleopolis Magna) was commonly prescribed in contracts,
and in the reign of Darius we hear of silver of the treasury of Ptah (at
Memphis). Aryandes, satrap of Egypt, is said by Herodotus to have been
punished by Darius for coining money of equal fineness with that of the
king in Persia: thus coinage had then begun in Egypt. But the early
coins that have been found there are mainly Greek, and especially
Athenian, and it was not until the introduction of a regular currency in
the three metals under the Ptolemies that much use was made of coined
money.
Corn was the staple produce of Egypt and may have been exported
regularly, and especially when there was famine in other countries. In
the Tell el-Amarna letters the friendly kings ask Pharaoh for "much
gold." Papyrus rolls and fine linen were good merchandise in Phoenicia
in the 10th century B.C. From the earliest times Egypt was dependent on
foreign countries to supply its wants in some degree. Vessels were
fashioned in foreign stone as early as the Ist Dynasty. All silver must
have been imported, and all copper except a little that the Pharaohs
obtained from the mines of Sinai. Cedar wood was brought from the
forests of Lebanon, ivory, leopard skins and gold from the south, all
kinds of spices and ingredients of incense from Somaliland and Arabia,
fine linen and beautifully worked vessels from Syria and the islands.
Such supplies might be obtained by forcible raiding or as tribute of
conquered countries, or perhaps as the free offerings of simple savages
awed by the arrival of ships and civilized well-armed crews, or again by
royal missions in which rich gifts on both sides were exchanged, or
lastly by private trading. For deciding how large a share was due to
trade, there is almost no evidence. But there are records of expeditions
sent out by the king to obtain the rarities of different countries, and
the hero of the Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor was upon this quest.
Egyptian objects of the age of the XVIIIth Dynasty are found in the
Greek islands and on the mainland among remains of the Mycenaean epoch,
and on the other hand the products of the workshops of Crete and other
centres of that culture are found in Egypt and are figured as "tribute
of the Keftiu" in the tomb-paintings, though we have no information of
any war with or conquest of that people. It must be a case of trade
rather than tribute here and in like instances. According to the papyrus
of Unamun at the end of the weak XXth Dynasty payment for cedar was
insisted on by the king of Byblus from the Egyptian commissioner, and
proofs were shown to him of payment having been made even in the more
glorious times of Egypt. Trade both internal and external must have been
largely in the hands of foreigners. It is impossible to say at what
period Phoenician traffic by sea with Egypt began, but it existed as
early as the IIIrd Dynasty. In the time of Herodotus much wine was
imported from Syria and Greece. Amasis II. (c. 570 B.C.) established
Naucratis as the centre of Greek trade in Egypt. Financial transactions
by Jews settled at the southern extremity of Egypt, at Assuan, are found
as early as the reign of Artaxerxes.
_Hunting, Fishing, &c._--In the desert hunting was carried on by hunters
with bows and arrows, dogs and nets to check the game. Here in ancient
times were found the oryx, addax, ibex, gazelle, bubale, ostrich, hyena
and porcupine, more rarely the wild ox and wild sheep (_O.
tragelaphus_). All of these were considered fit for the table. The lion,
leopard and jackal were not eaten. Pigeons and other birds were caught
in traps, and quails were netted in the fields and on the sea-shore. In
the papyrus marshes the hippopotamus was slain with harpoons, the wild
boar, too, was probably hunted, and the sportsman brought down wild-fowl
with the boomerang, or speared or angled for fish. Enormous quantities
of wild-fowl of many sorts were taken in clap-nets, to be preserved in
jars with salt. Fish were taken sometimes in hand-nets, but the
professional fishermen with their draw-nets caught them in shoals. The
fishing industry was of great importance: the annual catch in the Lake
of Moeris and its canal formed an important part of the Egyptian
revenue. The fish of the Nile, which were of many kinds (including
mullets, &c., which came up from the sea), were split and dried in the
sun: others were salted and so preserved. A supply of sea fish would be
obtained off the coast of the Delta and at the mouth of the Lake
Serbonis.
_Farming, Horticulture, &c._--The wealth of Egypt lay in its
agriculture. The regular inundations, the ease of irrigating the rich
alluvial flats, and the great heat of the sun in a cloudless sky, while
limiting the natural flora, gave immense opportunities to the
industrious farmer. The normal rise of the Nile was sixteen cubits at
the island of Roda, and two cubits more or less caused a failure of the
harvest. In the paintings we see gardens irrigated by handbuckets and
_shadufs_; the latter (buckets hung on a lever-pole) were probably the
usual means of raising water for the fields in ancient times, and still
are common in Egypt and Nubia, although water-wheels have been known
since the Ptolemaic age, if not earlier. Probably a certain amount of
cultivation was possible all the year round, and there was perhaps a
succession of harvests; but there was a pause after the main harvests
were gathered in by the end of April, and from then till June was the
period in which taxes were collected and loans were repaid. Under the
Ptolemaic regime the records show a great variety of crops, wheat and
barley being probably the largest (see B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt,
_Tebtunis Papyri_, i. 560; J. P. Mahaffy and J. G. Smyly, _Petrie
Papyri_, iii. p. 205). Earlier the _boti_, in Greek [Greek: olyra]
(spelt? or durra?) was the main crop, and earlier again inferior
varieties of wheat and barley took the lead, with _boti_ apparently in
the second place. The bread was mainly made of _boti_, the beer of
barley. There were green crops such as clover, and lentils, peas, beans,
radishes, onions, lettuces (as a vegetable and for oil), castor oil and
flax were grown. The principal fruit trees were the date palm, useful
also for its wood and fibre, the pomegranate, fig and fig-sycamore. The
vine was much cultivated in early times, and the vintage is a subject
frequently depicted. Later the wine of the Mareotic region near
Alexandria was celebrated even amongst Roman epicures. Papyrus, which
grew wild in the marshes, was also cultivated, at least in the later
ages: its stems were used for boat-building, and according to the
classical authors for rope-making, as well as for the famous writing
material. About the 8th century A.D. paper drove the latter out of use,
and the papyrus plant quickly became extinct. The Indian lotus described
by Herodotus is found in deposits of the Roman age. Native lotuses, blue
and white, were much used for decoration in garlands, &c., also the
chrysanthemum and the corn-flower.
See chapters on plant remains by Newberry in W. M. F. Petrie, _Hawara,
Biahmu, and Arsinoe_ (London, 1889); _Kahun, Gurob and Hawara_ (1890);
V. Loret, _La Flore pharaonique_ (2nd ed., Paris, 1892), and the
authorities there cited.
_Domestic Animals and Birds._--The farmer kept up a large stock of
animals: in the houses there were pets and in the temples sacred
creatures of many kinds. Goats browsed on the trees and herbage at the
edge of the desert. Sheep of a peculiar breed with horizontal twisted
horns and hairy coat are figured on the earliest monuments: a more
valuable variety, woolly with curved horns, made its appearance in the
Middle Kingdom and pushed out the older form: sheep were driven into the
ploughed fields to break the clods and trample in the seed. The oxen
were long-horned, short-horned and polled. They drew the plough,
trampled the corn sheaves round the circular threshing floor, and were
sometimes employed to drag heavy weights. The pig is rarely figured and
was less and less tolerated as the Egyptians grew in ceremonial purity.
A variety of wild animals caught in the chase were kept alive and fed
for slaughter. Geese and ducks of different sorts were bred in countless
numbers by the farmers, also pigeons and quails, and in the early ages
cranes. The domestic fowl was unknown in Egypt before the Deltaic
dynasties, but Diodorus in the first century B.C. describes how its eggs
were hatched artificially, as they are at the present day. Bee-keeping,
too, must have been a considerable industry, though dates furnished a
supply of sweetening material.
The farm lands were generally held at a rent from an overlord, who might
according to times and circumstances be the king, a feudal prince, or a
temple-corporation. The stock also might be similarly held, or might
belong to the farmers. The ordinary beast of burden, even in the desert,
was the ass. The horse seems to have been introduced with the chariot
during the Hyksos period. It is thought that the camel is shown in rude
figures of the earliest age, but it is scarcely traceable again before
the XXVIth Dynasty. In the Ptolemaic period it was used for desert
transport and gradually became common. Strange to say, it is only very
rarely that men are depicted riding on animals, and never before the New
Kingdom.
The dog was of many varieties as early as the XIIth Dynasty, when the
greyhound and turnspit and other well-marked forms are seen. The cat was
sometimes trained by the sportsman to catch birds. Monkeys were commonly
kept as pets. The sacred beasts in the various temples, tame as far as
possible, were of almost every conceivable variety, from the vulture to
the swallow or the goose, from the lion to the shrew-mouse, from the
hippopotamus to the sheep and the monkey, from the crocodile to the
tortoise and the cobra, from the carp to the eel; the scorpion and the
scarab beetle were perhaps the strangest in this strange company of
deities.
For agriculture see J. J. Tylor and F. Ll. Griffith, _The Tomb of
Paheri_ at El Kab, in the XIth Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund.
Together with hunting and fishing it is illustrated in many of the
Memoirs of the _Archaeological Survey_ of the same society. See also
Lortet and M. C. Gaillard, _La Faune momifiee de l'ancienne Egypte_
(Lyons, 1905).
_Law._--No code of Egyptian laws has come down to us. Diodorus names a
series of Egyptian kings who were law-givers, ending with Amasis (Ahmosi
II.) and Darius. Frequent reference is made in inscriptions to customs
and laws which were traditional, and perhaps had been codified in the
sacred books. From time to time regulations on special points were
issued by royal decree: a fragment of such a decree, directed by
Horemheb of the XVIIIth Dynasty against oppression of the peasantry by
officials and prescribing penalties, is preserved on a stela in the
temple of Karnak, and enactments of Ptolemy Philadelphus and Euergetes
II. are known from papyri. In the Ptolemaic age matters arising out of
native contracts were decided according to native law by [Greek:
laokritai], while travelling courts of [Greek: chrematistai]
representing the king settled litigation on Greek contracts and most
other disputes. Affairs were decided in accordance with the code of the
country, [Greek: tes choras nomoi], the Greek code, [Greek: politikoi
nomoi], modelled, it would seem, on Athenian law or royal decrees,
[Greek: prostagmata]. "Native" law was still quoted in Roman times, but
the significance of the expression remains to be ascertained. In ancient
Egypt petitions were sent to the king or the great feudal landowners in
whose territory the petitioner or his adversary dwelt or the injury was
committed: courts were composed of royal or feudal officials, or in the
New Kingdom of officials or responsible citizens. The right of appeal to
the king probably existed at all times. The statement of the case and
the evidence were frequently ordered to be put in writing. The evidence
was supported by oath: in criminal cases, such as the harem conspiracy
against Rameses III., torture of the accused was resorted to to extract
evidence, the bastinado being applied on the hands and the feet.
Penalties in the New Kingdom were death (by starvation or
self-inflicted), fines, beating with a certain number of blows so as to
open a specified number of wounds on as many different parts of the body
(e.g. five wounds, i.e. on hands, feet and back?), also cutting off the
nose with banishment to Nubia or the Syrian frontier. In the times of
the Old Kingdom decapitation was in use, and a decree exists of the
Middle Kingdom degrading a nomarch of Coptos and his family for ever
from his office and from the priesthood on account of services to a
rival pretender.
As to legal instruments: contracts agreed to in public or before
witnesses and written on papyrus are found as early as the Middle
Kingdom and perhaps belong to all historic times, but are very scarce
until the XXVth Dynasty. Two wills exist on papyrus of the XIIth
Dynasty, but they are isolated, and such are not again found among
native documents, though they occur in Greek in the Ptolemaic age. The
virtual will of a high priest of Ammon under the XXIInd Dynasty is put
in the form of a decree of the god himself.
From the time of the XXVth Dynasty there is a great increase in written
documents of a legal character, sales, loans, &c., apparently due to a
change in law and custom; but after the reign of Darius I. there is
again almost a complete cessation until the reign of Alexander, probably
only because of the disturbed condition of the country. Under Ptolemy
Philadelphus Greek documents begin to be numerous: under Euergetes II.
(Physcon) demotic contracts are particularly abundant, but they cease
entirely after the first century of Roman rule.
Marriage contracts are not found earlier than the XXVIth Dynasty. Women
had full powers of inheritance (though not of dealing with their
property), and succession through the mother was of importance. In the
royal line there are almost certain instances of the marriage of a
brother with an heiress-sister in Pharaonic times: this was perhaps
helped by the analogy of Osiris and Isis: in the Ptolemaic dynasty it
was an established custom, and one of the stories of Khamois, written in
the Ptolemaic age, assumes its frequency at a very remote date. It would
be no surprise to find examples of the practice in other ranks also at
an early period, as it certainly was prevalent in the Hellenistic age,
but as yet it is very difficult to prove its occurrence. The native
contracts with the wife gave to her child all the husband's property,
and divorce or separation was provided for, entailing forfeiture of the
dowry. The "native law" of Roman times allowed a man to take his
daughter away from her husband if the last quarrelled with him.
Slavery is traceable from an early date. Private ownership of slaves,
captured in war and given by the king to their captor or otherwise, is
certainly seen at the beginning of the XVIIIth Dynasty. Sales of slaves
occur in the XXVth Dynasty, and contracts of servitude are found in the
XXVIth Dynasty and in the reign of Darius, appearing as if the consent
of the slave was then required. Presumably at this late period there
were eunuchs in Egypt, though adequate evidence of their existence there
is not yet forthcoming. They must have originated among a more cruel
people. That circumcision (though perhaps not till puberty) was
regularly practised is proved by the mummies (agreeing with the
testimony of Herodotus and the indications of the early tomb sculptures)
until an edict of Hadrian forbade it: after that, only priests were
circumcised.
See A. H. Gardiner, _The Inscription of Mes_ (from Sethe's
_Untersuchungen zur Geschichte und Altertumskunde Agyptens_, iv.); J.
H. Breasted, _Ancient Records_, Egypt, passim, esp. i. S 190, 535 et
seqq., 773, ii. 54, 671, iii. 45, 367, iv. 416, 499, 795; F. Ll.
Griffith, _Catalogue of the John Rylands Demotic Papyri_; B. P.
Grenfell and J. P. Mahaffy, _Revenue Laws of Philadelphus_ (Oxford,
1896); B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt, _Tebtunis Papyri_, part i.
(London, 1902); Bouche-Leclercq, _Histoire des Lagides_, tome iv.
(Paris, 1907).
_Science._--The Egyptians sought little after knowledge for its own
sake: they might indulge in religious speculation, but their science was
no more than the knowledge of practical methods. Undoubtedly the
Egyptians acquired great skill in the application of simple means to the
fulfilment of the most difficult tasks. But the books that have come
down to us prove how greatly their written theoretical knowledge fell
short of their practical accomplishment. The explanation of the fact may
partly be that the mechanical and other discoveries of the most
ingenious minds among them, when not in constant requisition by later
generations, were misunderstood or forgotten, and even in other cases
were preserved only as rules of thumb by the craftsmen and experts, who
would jealously hide them as secrets of trade. Men of genius were not
wanting in the long history of Egypt; two doctors, Imhotp (Imuthes), the
architect of Zoser, in the IIIrd Dynasty, and Amenophis (Amenhotp), son
of Hap, the wise scribe under Amenophis III. in the XVIIIth, eventually
received the honours of deification; and Hardadf under Cheops of the
IVth Dynasty was little behind these two in the estimation of posterity.
Such men, who, capable in every field, designed the Great Pyramids and
bestowed the highest monumental fame on their masters, must surely have
had an insight into scientific principles that would hardly be credited
to the Egyptians from the written documents alone.
_Mathematics._--The Egyptian notation for whole numbers was decimal,
each power of 10 up to 100,000 being represented by a different figure,
on much the same principle as the Roman numerals. Fractions except 2/3
were all primary, i.e. with the numerator unity: in order to express
such an idea as 9/13 the Egyptians were obliged to reduce it to a series
of primary fractions through double fractions 2/13 + 2/13 + 2/13 + 2/13
+ 1/13 = 4(1/8 + 1/52 + 1/104) + 1/13 = 1/2 + 2/13 + 1/26 = 1/2 + 1/8 +
1/26 + 1/52 + 1/104; this operation was performed in the head, only the
result being written down, and to facilitate it tables were drawn up of
the division of 2 by odd numbers. With integers, besides adding and
subtracting, it was easy to double and to multiply by 10: multiplying
and dividing by 5 and finding the 1-1/2 value were also among the
fundamental instruments of calculation, and all multiplication proceeded
by repetitions of these processes with addition, e.g. 9 x 7 = (9 x 2 x
2) + (9 x 2) + 9. Division was accomplished by multiplying the divisor
until the dividend was reached; the answer being the number of times the
divisor was so multiplied. Weights and measures proceeded generally on
either a decimal or a doubling system or a combination of the two. Apart
from a few calculations and accounts, practically all the materials for
our knowledge of Egyptian mathematics before the Hellenistic period date
from the Middle Kingdom.
The principal text is the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus in the British
Museum, written under a Hyksos king c. 1600 B.C.; unfortunately it is
full of gross errors. Its contents fall roughly into the following
scheme, but the main headings are not shown in the original:--
I. _Arithmetic._--A. Tables and rule to facilitate the employment of
fractions.
(a) Table of the divisions of 2 by odd numbers from 3 to 99 (e.g. 2
: 11 = 1/6 + 1/66), see above.
(b) Conversions of compound fractions (e.g. 2/3 x 1/3 = 1/6 + 1/18),
with rule for finding 2/3 of a fraction.
B. The "bread" calculation--a division by 10 of the units 1 to 9.