scale. The prehistoric houses and tomb chambers were by no means
slight. The town at Naqada has house-walls about two feet thick,
and a town wall nearly eight feet thick. The brick-lined tombs are
sometimes as large as 8 ft. by 12 ft. The kings’ tombs of Dynasty O
are about 10 ft. by 20 ft. Those of Narmer, Sma, and Mena are about
17 ft. by 26 ft., with walls 5 ft. to 7 ft. thick. Under Zer there is
a great extension; the brick pit is 39 ft. by 43 ft.; it contained a
wooden chamber 28 ft. by 34 ft., and it was surrounded by many rows
of graves--318 in all. The later tombs of the first dynasty are less
imposing. At the end of the second dynasty the tomb of Khasekhemui
consisted of fifty-eight chambers covering a ground 223 ft. long and
40 ft. wide. The sizes of bricks were between 9 in. and 10 in. long,
half as wide, and under 3 in. thick, in the prehistoric and through the
first and second dynasties. Wood was used on a large scale. The royal
tombs show beams for framing of about 10 in. wide and 7 in. deep, and
18 ft. or 20 ft. long, and these beams supported chamber sides and
floors formed of planks 2 in. or 3 in. thick. The roof was made of
similar beams, covered with boards and mats, which sustained 3 ft. or
4 ft. of sand laid over the tomb. Such was an extension of the roofs
of poles and brushwood which were laid over the prehistoric tombs, and
over the lesser tombs of the officials of the early kings. The sign for
royal architect in the earliest inscriptions is that of a carpenter,
the “two-axe man.”
The stone steles were of limestone in the first dynasty, and in the end
of the first dynasty the steles of Oa are of black quartzose stone.
Those of Perabsen in the second dynasty are of very tough syenite.
The carving of all these is in high relief, finely and boldly cut in
a simple, clear style. At the end of the second dynasty a stone-built
chamber appears for the first time; the blocks have naturally cloven
surfaces so far as possible, and the rest of the faces are dressed
with a flint adze. Of the same reign of Khasekhemui there is a granite
door-jamb with signs in high relief. Granite had already been wrought
flat for pavements in the previous dynasty, at the tomb of Den.
[Sidenote: Egypt’s Annual Record]
[Sidenote: The Honour that Kings Died for]
TABLETS OF ANNALS. The greater part of the inscriptions of this age
are on small square tablets of ebony and of ivory, which were found
in the royal tombs. These each have a hole in the top corner, and the
sign of a year--the palm stick--down the side, as there is by the side
of the entries of the events of each year on the early annals. They
thus appear to be each the record of a year, and to have been strung
together by the corner holes. There has not yet been any authoritative
study of the meaning of these earliest inscriptions, which are
very difficult to understand, owing to the transitory condition of
ideographs having not yet yielded to syllabic usage. We can, however,
glean many points about the civilisation from them. The towns were
fortified with battlemented walls. The shrines were small sanctuaries,
with a large court in front, like the temple courts of later times. At
the entrance to the court were two tall poles, apparently with flags,
which later developed into the row of masts with streamers in front of
the pylon. The great festival at the close of each thirty years was one
of the most important, already noticed here under Narmer. The sanctuary
for it had two shrines back to back, each with a flight of steps,
apparently for Upper and Lower Egypt. The dancing of the new king, or
the crown prince as king, before the old Osirified king in the shrine,
was one of the main events of the feast. The types of temple furniture
were already fixed in the forms which lasted for several thousand
years; the barks of Harakhti are shown with the same hangings at the
prow, and are double--for the E. and W.--as in the temple of Sety I.
Large bowls of electrum were offered in the temples by the king. Wild
cattle were hunted by trap nets, as was done much later in Greece. And
there is shown a long road, with resthouses and palm-trees, leading up
to the great temple in the reign of King Zer.
[Illustration: A RECORD OF A YEAR’S EVENTS: EBONY TABLET OF KING MENA,
5500 B.C.
The greater part of the inscriptions of the first dynasty are on
small square tablets of ebony and of ivory. These each have a hole
in the top corner, and the sign of a year--the palm stick--down the
side. They thus appear to be each the record of a year, and to have
been strung together by the corner holes. They were found scattered
in the tombs.
]
[Sidenote: Officers of the Empire]
SEALINGS. The clay sealings of officials show much of the organisation
of the country. The oldest titles, under Zer, are the “Commander of the
Inundation” and “Commander of the Cattle.” In the reign of Zet we find
a “Commander of the Elders” and “Archon,” or chief of the city; also
the temple property, or “Inheritance of the Chief God,” is named. Under
Merneit and Den there is a prince (_ha_). The vizier was “Commander of
the Centre,” probably the major domo of the Court, and also “Over-head
of the Commanders.” There are further named a “Royal Sealer of the Vat
of Neit,” the “winepress of the north,” and a “Deputy of the Treasury.”
In later reigns there is an “Over-head” of a city. And under the second
dynasty the titles are “Royal Sealer of all Deeds,” “Scribe of Accounts
of Provisions,” “Sealer of Northern Tribute,” “Collector of Lotus
Seed,” and “Chief Man Under the King.” These titles are from but a very
small part of the bureaucracy, only those whose seals were affixed to
the royal provision which was placed in the tomb; but they suffice to
show the regular organisation of the government at that age.
[Illustration: THE SEAL OF AN EGYPTIAN OFFICIAL
Much exact knowledge of the life of ancient Egypt is derived from
the clay seals of high officials. The oldest known titles are those
of “Commander of the Inundation.” The seal here is that of the
“Southern Sealer of all Documents of King Sekhem-ab,” 5100 B.C.
]
STONE VASES. The stone vases for the royal palaces were cut in many
kinds of hard rock. The rarer kinds are rock crystal, serpentine, and
basalt; limestones, porphyry and syenite were more usual; and the
commonest materials were metamorphic rocks formed from volcanic ash
verging into slate, dolomite, marble, and alabaster. These materials
were mostly selected for their beauty. The red porphyry is the rarest,
being only known in a bowl of the time of Mena, and two prehistoric
pieces. Black porphyry with very large detached white crystals belongs
only to the age of Mena. Pink granite, blue-grey volcanic ash, the
quartz crystal, and the pink limestones are all very beautiful
materials. The hardness does not seem to have been aught but an
attraction, as the finest work is always put on the best materials;
whereas the soft alabaster and slate did not seem to challenge any
great amount of care. The working of the inside was always done by
grinding with blocks, sometimes having first removed the axis by a tube
drill hole. The outside was dressed by chipping, hammer-dressing, and
hand polishing; sometimes done by circular motion on a block, but often
by crossing work by hand. The readiness with which oval forms were made
shows how little depended on circular motion.
[Illustration: TOMBS OF KING ZER OF THE FIRST DYNASTY, 5400 B.C.
Brickwork was common in the houses and tomb-chambers of the
prehistoric period, and in the time of the kings of Abydos the
building of the tombs was greatly extended. Here are seen the
brick partitions to contain offerings, around a wooden chamber
now destroyed. Beyond this all round were 318 graves of the royal
servants.
]
[Sidenote: Two-Colour Glazing]
The use of glazing had been already invented early in the prehistoric
age, as far back as S.D. 31; but it was only applied to beads and small
amulets. The earliest glazed pottery vase known is of Mena, and this
has his name in violet glaze inlaid in the green glazed body. Glazed
vases continued to be made throughout the first and second dynasties,
but became rarer, and they have not been found revived till much
later times. But ivory and wood were largely used for carved objects,
sometimes of elaborate design. One of the most distinguishing points
of the age of the early kings was the minute carving in imitation of
leafage and basket-work, which was mainly done in slate, but also in
wood. The fragments which remain show most elaborate patterns worked
out with minute attention to detail. Nothing of the same kind is known
in any other age.
[Sidenote: Remains of the Oldest Sculpture]
MONUMENTS. There are but few monumental remains from these early
dynasties. The great rock-cut scene of Semerkhet conquering a Bedawy
chief in Sinai is the main example. The figures are only summarily cut
in the natural face of the sandstone; but the truth of the outline is
better than in any of the more pretentious work of later times in that
region. The scene of Sanekht--early third dynasty--is much poorer, and
that of his successor, Zeser, is scarcely legible, the work is so rude
and slight. The private tablets which were put over the graves around
the royal tombs show that the fine work was limited to a small number
of royal artists in the first dynasty, and that there was no general
school of able men such as arose in later times. The figures and
hieroglyphics are rudely hammered out, and the drawing is but clumsy.
There is seldom more than just the name of the deceased. By the time of
Den many are distinguished as the _Akhu-ka_, the “glorious soul”; while
there is also a class apparently named “people of King Setui, daughter
of the captive”--_i.e._, slaves born of captives taken in his wars.
[Illustration: THE EARLIEST SCULPTURE
There are but few monumental remains from the early dynasties. The
great rock-cut scene of Semerkhet, of which this shows a part, is
the main example. The figures are only summarily cut in the natural
face of the sandstone; but the truth of the outline is better than
in any of the more pretentious work of later times in the same
region.
]
It appears that the use of fine materials was at its height under
Mena and Zer. Zer has the largest and best-built tomb, Zet shows the
greatest delicacy in work, and Den seems to have had the most showy
objects. The changes in about five generations here were much like
those in an equal time from Amenhotep I. to III. in the eighteenth
dynasty. Then decay markedly set in, and there was no revival until the
Pyramid kings. But some development in the use of materials went on;
and Zeser, of the third dynasty, is said to have built a stone palace;
while Khasekhemui, a generation earlier, had a limestone chamber for
his tomb, and carved granite for the door-jambs of his temple, at
about 4950 B.C. These instances are the earliest use of stone for
construction that are yet known; though as early as the middle of the
first dynasty King Den had a pavement of red granite in part of his
tomb.
[Sidenote: Age of the Pyramid Builders]
PYRAMID BUILDING. We now approach to the well-known age of the pyramid
builders, when the civilisation appears at its highest development in
most respects. We shall not deal with this in detail, as it falls into
the ordinary historical period which appears elsewhere in this work
[see Egypt]. But it may be useful to give the most essential facts of
the material civilisation, which may otherwise be lost sight of in the
mass of the history.
In stonework the accuracy reached its highest point in the fourth
dynasty, when the Pyramid of Khufu was constructed with an average
error of less than 1 in 15,000 of length, and even less in angle. The
later work fell off from this accuracy; but in the twelfth dynasty
the granite sarcophagus of Senusret II. was wrought with an average
error in straightness and parallelism of under seven-thousandths of
an inch, and an error of proportions between different parts of less
than three-hundredths of an inch. There was no attempt to reach this
high degree of accuracy in the later work. In sculpture the main
character of the work of the Pyramid kings is its dignity and grandeur,
representing individualism on the highest plane of abstraction.
[Illustration: THE BUILDING OF THE PYRAMIDS IN THE ZENITH OF EGYPTIAN
CIVILISATION
The age of the Pyramid builders may be regarded as the height of
Egyptian civilisation. The greatest accuracy in stonework was
reached during the fourth dynasty, when the Pyramid of Cheops, or
Khufu, was constructed with an average error of less than 1 in
15,000 of length, and of even less in angle. In the twelfth dynasty
the granite sarcophagus of Senusret II. was wrought with an average
error in straightness and parallelism of under seven-thousandths of
an inch.
]
[Sidenote: The Great Navy of Egypt]
Under the twelfth dynasty the personality is weaker and the style that
of a formal school, highly trained but dependent upon training. In the
eighteenth dynasty the vivacity of expression is directed to a purely
personal appeal, more of emotion than of character. After that there
is nothing but copying, good or bad. The growth of shipping at the
early date of Sneferu, the end of the third dynasty, is surprising;
and the record that we happen to have shows how much probably went on
at other times, there being built, in one year sixty ships of 100 ft.
long, in the next year two of 170 ft. long.
METALS. The use of copper is as remote as the beginning of the
continuous civilisation in the prehistoric age, about 8000 B.C. It
increased in quantity down to the eighteenth dynasty, and it was
hardened by using arsenical copper ores, and leaving oxide in it; this,
with hammering made it equal to soft steel for working purposes. Rare
instances of tin, probably derived from natural mixture in the ore, are
known from the third dynasty; but there was no regular use of it until
we find pure tin, also known about 1500 B.C. Thence bronze was the main
material until Roman times. Iron had been sporadically found in the
fourth, sixth, twelfth, and other dynasties, and was known for about
4,000 years before it came into general use in Greek times. This agrees
with its having been obtained from native masses rarely discovered, as
has been the case in North and South America. Such native iron is the
result of volcanic action on iron ore in contact with carboniferous
strata. All these conditions exist in Sinai, and hence native iron
might be found there. By about 800 B.C. iron was used for knives, but
with a handle of bronze cast upon it to save the rarer metal. The iron
tools in Egypt from the seventh to fifth century B.C. are all Assyrian
or Greek, and it is not till Ptolemaic or Roman times that bronze tools
disappear.
[Illustration: TOOLS OF ANCIENT EGYPTIANS
The plain strip of copper used for an adze in the early prehistoric
age became in historic times widened at the edge, and had a slight
contraction at the top; but the straight strip was kept up for
7,000 years without any attempt at a haft, simply lashed on to a
bent handle. It is not till about 800 B.C. that any use of a haft
occurs in Egypt, and then only for a hoe. The different dynasties
are indicated in the examples here given.
]
[Sidenote: Oldest Rock Drills]
The forms of tools varied very little. The plain strip of copper, which
was used for an adze in the early prehistoric age, became in historic
times widened at the edge, and had a slight contraction at the top to
assist in binding it on; but the straight strip was kept up for 7,000
years without any attempt at a haft, simply lashed on to a bent handle.
It is not till about 800 B.C., or later, that any use of a haft occurs
in Egypt, and then only for a hoe; while in Babylonia axes cast with
a strong haft were used before 3000 B.C. Nor was a haft used for a
hammer--a smooth stone in the hand was the only beating tool; while for
striking tools a wooden mallet was used, cut out of a block. The axe
began as a plain rectangle of copper, sharp on one edge; projections
at the back were added, until they were half as long as the breadth
of the axe, but no haft was attempted. The saw was used before the
pyramid period; and also the saw and tube drill set with hard stones
for cutting granite. Drills for boring vases were usually blocks of
stone fed with sand and water, or probably emery for cutting the harder
stones. Socketted chisels were an Italian invention in the later Bronze
Age, about 900 B.C., and were copied by the Greeks, in iron, about 500
B.C.; but they were never used except under Greek influence in Egypt.
Shears are also Western, and were unknown till Greek times in Egypt.
[Illustration: ONE OF THE WORLD’S OLDEST MONUMENTS: THE GREAT STEP
PYRAMID AT SAKKARA
This pyramid was built by King Neterkhet of the third dynasty,
about 4900 B.C.
]
[Illustration: THE BEGINNING OF THE ALPHABET
The signary which was used in various early ages is here shown,
as it has been gathered from examples of over 100 signs found in
Egypt. Closely related to these are the early alphabets of Karia
and Spain, the latter alphabet containing over 30 signs. It is from
this prehistoric signary that the present Roman alphabet has been
gradually selected during past ages.
]
GLAZING AND GLASS. The very ancient art of glazing, already used
in two colours under Mena, did not take any new form till the
eighteenth dynasty, when it was greatly varied by new colours and
new applications. Large objects, five feet high, were covered with a
single fusing of glaze; minute ornaments, for stitching on garments,
blazed with the brightest red, green, blue, or yellow; while whole
inscriptions were executed in coloured glaze hieroglyphs, inlaid in the
white stone walls. Glass, however, was not made separately until about
the time of Tahutmes III., 1500 B.C. There is no earlier example of
true glass, nor any representation of working glass. All the truly
Egyptian glass was wrought pasty, and never blown.
Blown vases belong entirely to the Roman age and later times. The large
blown glass lamps of Arab age, covered with fusible enamel designs, are
highly skilled pieces of work. The uses of glass to the Egyptian were
mainly for beads, for coloured inlays in wood of shrines or coffins,
and for variegated glass vases. The beads were made by winding a thread
of glass on a wire; the vases, likewise, were made by modelling on an
infusible core, held on a mandrel, and winding coloured glass threads
on the body. The inlays were often of one colour, generally deep blue
imitating lazuli; but often mosaics were used, made of a bundle of
glass threads fused together, drawn out, and then cut off in slices.
Such are all of Greek or Roman age. An important use of glass in Roman
and Arab times was for weights, and for stamps impressed on glass
bottle measures, inscribed with the names of the ruler and the maker.
[Sidenote: Taste of the Times]
Lastly we may note the variations in the nature of the Egyptian
literature, as reflecting the civilisation. The earliest tales are
those of magical powers, belonging to the pyramid age. Next, in the
Middle Kingdom, comes the contrast between town and country, and the
tales of adventure in foreign lands. In the New Kingdom the contrasts
of character are the main interest, and, in the late tales, the
pseudo-historical romance of the great tournament of the Delta, or the
antiquarian interests of a priest. These subjects of romance varied as
much or more than the actual grammar and language.
[Illustration: THE WANDERERS OF THE DESERT, AMONG WHOM EGYPTIAN
CIVILISATION GREW UP]
[Illustration: PYRAMID OF MEIDUM: BUILT BY SENEFERU, LAST KING OF THE
THIRD DYNASTY
This tomb was begun as a square block of masonry, and was enlarged
by successive coats, which are here seen. Then one smooth coating
of sloping blocks was put over all from bottom to top, and so the
first real pyramid appeared in 4700 B.C. The pyramid coating has
been destroyed and only the base remains under the rubbish mounds.
]
ALPHABET. One subject of great European interest should be noted here,
as Egypt has thrown much light upon it. The origin of the alphabets of
the Mediterranean has been disputed, without historical knowledge of
the examples of such signs in early ages. The Egyptian hieratic and
the archaic Babylonian signs may have, perhaps, added a few to the
Mediterranean signary, but neither source can at all account for it.
The alphabet is by no means a clean cut series of 22 signs; it is a
very complex tangle of parallel groups of signs in different lands,
more or less alike. Of these groups two of the largest are those of
Karia and Spain, comprising over 30 signs, and these have many points
of peculiarity in common. This is sufficient to show that the fuller
alphabet is the original form, from which the shorter lists have been
selected. Now, in Egypt there are found scratched on pottery and
woodwork over 100 signs, and these comprise the forms of the fuller
alphabet. Moreover, these Egyptian examples are found at about 1200
B.C., or only a few centuries before the Karian and Spanish alphabets,
again in 3000 B.C., in 5500 B.C., and before 7000 B.C. Of 41 alphabetic
signs, 19 occur in 1200-1400 B.C., 32 in 3000 B.C., 27 in 5500 B.C.,
and 31 in 7000 B.C. As we have not a very large amount of material,
the occurrence of from 19 to 32 out of 41 signs is as much as we
could expect, as all the 41 occur in one period or another. The early
date of these puts all derivation from the subsequent hieroglyphics
entirely out of the question. We can as yet only say that a large
signary of 40 or more linear forms was in continuous use from before
7000 B.C. downwards, and that these furnish all the forms of the fuller
alphabets, those of the short Phœnician and Greek list of later time.
We have now outlined the rise of civilisation in Egypt, apart from the
history of the country, which is dealt with separately; and we turn
to the other great valley of early civilisation, in Mesopotamia, to
compare the resemblances and the differences between the two lands.
W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE
NOTABLE DATES OF ANCIENT CIVILISATION
EGYPT
B.C.
8000 Continuous civilisation of prehistoric age began S.D. 30
7000 Asiatic invasion S.D. 40
5800 Invasion of dynastic race
5500 Mena rules all Egypt S.D. 80
4700 Khufu builds Great Pyramid
4000 Invasion from north
3400 Middle Kingdom, twelfth dynasty
2500 Hyksos invasion, fifteenth dynasty
2250 Second Hyksos movement
1580 New Kingdom, eighteenth dynasty
1380 Tell el Amarna letters
701 Taharqa (Tirhakah)
570-26 Aahmes (Amasis)
BABYLONIA
B.C.
Before
6000 Susa founded
5000 Ea founds Eridu and civilises the land
4700 Earliest monuments of Kings
4500 Urnina
3800 Sargon and Naramsin, Semitic rule
3300 Gudea
2280 Elamites conquer Babylonia
2129 Hammurabi
1572 Kassite dynasty
1380 Burnaburiash
690 Sennacherib
556-38 Nabonaid, fall of Babylon
THE RISE OF CIVILISATION
IN MESOPOTAMIA
BY PROFESSOR FLINDERS PETRIE
The first impression that strikes the reader in passing from the
Egyptian to the Mesopotamian civilisation is the lack of that unity and
conciseness which makes history in the Nile valley so intelligible, and
its problems so well defined.
[Sidenote: Disunion of Early Babylonia]
In place of the well ordered history of Manetho, with its numbered
dynasties, and totals stated throughout, there is practically nothing
stated before Nabunasir in 747 B.C. The mythological extracts from
Berosus, and the list of Ktesias, which cannot be identified with any
known facts, give no help in arranging the outlines of the history. In
place of the uniform language and writing, which develops without a
break during the whole history of Egypt, there is the entire break from
Sumerian to Semitic. In place of the continuous importance of Egyptian
capitals, there is the change from the principalities to Babylon, and
thence to Nineveh. In place of the unified kingdom of the Nile valley,
through the whole written history, the greater part of the documentary
period is filled with rival principalities, within thirty or forty
miles of each other, the tops of whose temples must have been visible
over the entire territory of their respective states.
As the general scale of Egypt is so familiar to the modern reader and
traveller, it will be well to compare Mesopotamia with that. Babylon
was twice as far from the sea as Cairo; and from Babylon to Nineveh
was the distance from Cairo to Sohag. Or in other terms, starting from
the sea, Babylon was as distant as Oxyrhynchos, Nineveh in place of
Thebes, and the highlands of Carchemish, Commagene, and Lake Van were
the equivalent of Nubia. The old land of Shumer was just the size of
the Delta, and Akkad as large as Middle Egypt. The principalities of
Eridu, Lagash, Ur, Erech, and others, were as far apart as those of the
Delta--Bubastis, Benha, Sais, or Sebennytos. Indeed, it seems as if
this were a natural unit-size of early dominions in a fertile plain.
[Sidenote: The Nile and the Euphrates]