1. The Language.--2. The Writing.--3. The Literature.--4. The Monuments.
--5. The Discovery of Champollion.--6. Literary Remains; Historical;
Religious; Epistolary; Fictitious; Scientific; Epic; Satirical and
Judicial.--7. The Alexandrian Period.--8. The Literary Condition of Modern
Egypt.
1. THE LANGUAGE.--From the earliest times the language of Egypt was
divided into three dialects: the Memphitic, spoken in Memphis and Lower
Egypt; the Theban, or Sahidic, spoken in Upper Egypt; and the Bashmuric, a
provincial variety belonging to the oases of the Lybian Desert.
The Coptic tongue, which arose from a union of ancient Egyptian with the
vulgar vernacular, later became mingled with Greek and Arabic words, and
was written in the Greek alphabet. It was used in Egypt until the tenth
century A.D., when it gave way to the Arabic; but the Christians still
preserve it in their worship and in their translation of the Bible. By
rejecting its foreign elements Egyptologists have been enabled to study
this language in its purity, and to establish its grammar and
construction. It is the exclusive character of the Christian Egyptian
literature, and marks the last development and final decay of the Egyptian
language.
2. THE WRITING.--Four distinct graphic systems were in use in ancient
Egypt: the hieroglyphic, the hieratic, the demotic, and Coptic. The first
expresses words partly by representation of the object and partly by signs
indicating sounds, and was used chiefly for inscriptions. The hieratic
characters presented a flowing and abbreviated form of the hieroglyphic,
and were used more particularly in the papyri. The great body of Egyptian
literature has reached us through this character, the reading of which can
only be determined by resolving it into its prototype, hieroglyphics.
The demotic writing indicates the rise of the vulgar tongue, which took
place about the beginning of the seventh century B.C. It was used to
transcribe hieroglyphic and hieratic inscriptions and papyri into the
common idiom until the second century A.D., when the Coptic generally
superseded it.
3. THE LITERATURE.--The literary history of ancient Egypt presents a
remarkable exception to that of any other country. While the language
underwent various modifications, and the written characters changed, the
literature remained the same in all its principal features. This
literature consists solely of inscriptions painted or engraved on
monuments, or of written manuscripts on papyrus buried in the tombs or
beneath the ruins of temples. It is so deficient in style, and so
unsystematic in its construction, that it has taxed the labors of the
ablest critics for the last fifty years to construct a whole from its
disjointed materials, and these are so imperfect that many periods of
Egyptian history are complete literary blanks. In the great period of the
Rameses, novels or works of amusement predominated; under the Ptolemies,
historical records, and in the Coptic or Christian stage, homolies and
church rituals prevailed; but through every epoch the same general type
appears. Notwithstanding these deficiencies, however, Egypt offers a most
attractive field for the archaeologist, and new discoveries are constantly
adding to our knowledge of this interesting country.
4. THE MONUMENTS.--The monuments of Egypt are religious, as the temples,
sepulchral, as the necropoles, or triumphal, as the obelisks. The temples
were the principal structures of the Egyptian cities, and their splendid
ruins, covered with inscriptions, are among the most interesting remains
of antiquity. Life after death, the leading idea of the religion of Egypt,
was expressed in the construction of the tombs, so numerous in the
vicinity of all the large cities. These necropoles, excavated in the rocks
or hillsides, or built within the pyramids, consist of rows of chambers
with halls supported by columns, which, with the walls, are often covered
with paintings, historical or monumental, representing scenes from
domestic or civil life. The great pyramids were probably built for the
sepulchres of kings and their families, and the smaller ones for persons
of inferior rank.
The most magnificent of the triumphal monuments are the obelisks, gigantic
monoliths of red or white granite, some of which are more than two hundred
feet high, covered with inscriptions, and bearing the image of the
triumphant king, painted or engraved. The splendid obelisk in the Place de
la Concorde, at Paris, celebrates the glories of Rameses II.
The obelisk now in New York is one of a pair erected at Heliopolis, before
the Temple of the Sun, about 1600 B.C. In the reign of Augustus both were
removed to Alexandria, and were known in modern times as Cleopatra's
Needles. One was presented by the Khedive to the city of London in 1877,
and the other to the city of New York the same year. The shaft on the
latter bears two inscriptions, one celebrating Thothmes III., and the
other Rameses II.
One of the most characteristic monuments of Egypt is the statue of the
Sphinx, so often found in the temples and necropoles. It is a recumbent
figure, having a human head and breast and the body of a lion. Whatever
idea the Egyptians may have attached to this symbol, it represents most
truly the character of that people and the struggle of mind to free itself
from the instincts of brutal nature.
5. THE DISCOVERY OF CHAMPOLLION.--During the expedition into Egypt, in
1799, in throwing up some earthworks near Rosetta, a town on the western
arm of the Nile, an officer of the French army discovered a block or
tablet of black basalt, upon which were engraved inscriptions in Egyptian
and Greek characters. This tablet, called the Rosetta Stone, was sent to
France and submitted to the orientalists for interpretation. The
inscription was found to be a decree of the Egyptian priests in honor of
Ptolemy Epiphanes (196 B.C.), which was ordered to be engraved on stone in
sacred (hieroglyphic), common (demotic), and in Greek characters. Through
this interpretation, Champollion (1790-1832), after much study, discovered
and established the alphabetic system of Egyptian writing, and applying
his discovery more extensively, he was able to decipher the names of the
kings of Egypt from the Roman emperors back, through the Ptolemies, to the
Pharaohs of the elder dynasties. This discovery was the key to the
interpretation of all the ancient monuments of Egypt; by it the history of
the country was thrown open for a period of twenty-six centuries, the
annals of the neighboring nations were rendered more intelligible, the
religion, arts, sciences, life, and manners of the ancient Egyptians were
revealed to the modern world, and the obelisks, the innumerable papyri,
and the walls of the temples and tombs were transformed into inexhaustible
mines of historical and scientific knowledge.
6. LITERARY REMAINS; HISTORICAL; RELIGIOUS; EPISTOLARY; FICTITIOUS;
SCIENTIFIC; EPIC; SATIRICAL AND JUDICIAL.--The Egyptian priests from the
earliest times must have preserved the annals of their country, though
obscured by myths and symbols. These annals, however, were destroyed by
Cambyses (500 B.C.), who, during his invasion of the country, burned the
temples where they were preserved, although they were soon rewritten,
according to the testimony of Herodotus, who visited Egypt 450 B.C. In the
third century B.C., Manetho, a priest and librarian of Heliopolis, wrote
the succession of kings, and though the original work was lost, important
fragments of it have been preserved by other writers. There seem to have
been four periods in this history of ancient Egypt, marked by great
changes in the social and political constitution of the country. In the
first epoch, under the rule of the gods, demigods, and heroes, according
to Manetho, it was probably colonized and ruled by the priests, in the
name of the gods. The second period extends from Menes, the supposed
founder of the monarchy, to the invasion of the Shepherd Kings, about 2000
B.C. In the third period, under this title, the Phoenicians probably ruled
Egypt for three centuries, and it was one of these kings or Pharaohs of
whom Joseph was the prime minister. In the fourth period, from 1180 to 350
B.C., the invaders were expelled and native rule restored, until the
country was again conquered, first by the Persians, about 500 B.C., and
again by the Greeks under Alexander, 350 B.C. From that time to the
present no native ruler has sat on the throne of that country. After the
conquest by Alexander the Great, who left it to the sway of the Ptolemies,
it was successively conquered by the Romans, the Saracens, the Mamelukes,
and the Turks. Since 1841 it has been governed by a viceroy under nominal
allegiance to the Sultan of Turkey. In 1865 the title of khedive was
substituted for that of viceroy.
Early Egyptian chronology is in a great measure merely conjectural, and
new information from the monuments only adds to the obscurity. The
historical papyri are records of the kings or accounts of contemporary
events. These, as well as the inscriptions on the monuments, generally in
the form of panegyric, are inflated records of the successes of the heroes
they celebrate, or explanations of the historical scenes painted or
sculptured on the monuments.
The early religion of Egypt was founded on a personification of the laws
of Nature, centred in a mysterious unity. Egyptian nature, however,
supplied but few great objects of worship as symbols of divine power,
the desert, a natural enemy, the fertilizing river, and the sun, the
all-pervading presence, worshiped as the source of life, the lord of time,
and author of eternity. Three great realms composed the Egyptian cosmos; the
heavens, where the sun, moon, and stars paced their daily round, the abode
of the invisible king, typified by the sun and worshiped as Ammon Ra, the
earth and the under-world, the abode of the dead. Here, too, reigned the
universal lord under the name of Osiris, whose material manifestation, the
sun, as he passed beneath the earth, lightened up the under-world, where
the dead were judged, the just recompensed, and the guilty punished.
Innumerable minor divinities, which originally personified attributes of
the one Supreme Deity, were represented under the form of such animals as
were endowed with like qualities. Every god was symbolized by some animal,
which thus became an object of worship; but by confounding symbols with
realities this worship soon degenerated into gross materialism and
idolatry.
The most important religious work in this literature is the "Book of the
Dead," a funeral ritual. The earliest known copy is in hieratic writing of
the oldest type, and was found in the tomb of a queen, who lived probably
about 3000 B.C. The latest copy is of the second century A.D., and is
written in pure Coptic. This work, consisting of one hundred and sixty-six
chapters, is a collection of prayers of a magical character, an account of
the adventures of the soul after death, and directions for reaching the
Hall of Osiris. It is a marvel of confusion and poverty of thought. A
complete translation may be found in "Egypt's Place in Universal History,"
by Bunsen (second edition), and specimens in almost every museum of
Europe. There are other theological remains, such as the Metamorphoses of
the gods and the Lament of Isis, but their meaning is disguised in
allegory. The hymns and addresses to the sun abound in pure and lofty
sentiment.
The epistolary writings are the best known and understood branch of
Egyptian literature. From the Ramesid era, the most literary of all, we
have about eighty letters on various subjects, interesting as
illustrations of manners and specimens of style. The most important of
these is the "Anastasi Papyri" in the British Museum, written about the
time of the Exodus.
Two valuable and tolerably complete relics represent the fictitious
writing of Egyptian literature; they are "The Tale of Two Brothers," now
in the British Museum, and "The Romance of Setna," recently discovered in
the tomb of a Coptic monk. The former was evidently intended for the
amusement of a royal prince. One of its most striking features is the low
moral tone of the women introduced. "The Romance of Setna" turns upon the
danger of acquiring possession of the sacred books. The opening and date
of the story are missing.
Fresh information is being constantly acquired as to the knowledge of
science possessed by the ancient Egyptians. Geometry originated with them,
or from remote ages they were acquainted with the principles of this
science, as well as with those of hydrostatics and mechanics, as is proved
by the immense structures which remain the wonder of the modern world.
They cultivated astronomy from the earliest times, and they have
transmitted to us their observations on the movements of the sun, the
stars, the earth, and other planets. The obelisks served them as sun
dials, and the pyramids as astronomical observatories. They had great
skill in medicine and much knowledge of anatomy. The most remarkable
medical papyri are to be found in the Berlin Museum.
The epics and biographical sketches are narratives of personal adventure
in war or travel, and are distinguished by some effort at grace of style.
The epic of Pentaur, or the achievements of Rameses II., has been called
the Egyptian Iliad. It is several centuries older than the Greek Iliad,
and deserves admiration for its rapid narrative and epic unity.
The history of Mohan (by some thought to be Moses) has been called the
Egyptian Odyssey, in contrast to the preceding. Mohan was a high official,
and this narrative describes his travels in Syria and Palestine. This
papyrus is in the British Museum, and both epics have been translated.
The satirical writings and beast fables of the Egyptians caricature the
foibles of all classes, not sparing the sacred person of the king, and are
often illustrated with satirical pictures. Besides these strictly literary
remains, a large number of judicial documents, petitions, decrees, and
treaties has been recovered.
7. THE ALEXANDRIAN PERIOD.--Egypt, in its flourishing period, having
contributed to the civilization of Greece, became, in its turn, the pupil
of that country. In the century following the age of Alexander the Great,
under the rule of the Ptolemies, the philosophy and literature of Athens
were transferred to Alexandria. Ptolemy Philadelphus, in the third century
B.C., completed the celebrated Alexandrian Library, formed for the most
part of Greek books, and presided over by Greek librarians. The school of
Alexandria had its poets, its grammarians, and philosophers; but its
poetry lacked the fire of genius, and its grammatical productions were
more remarkable for sophistry and subtlety, than for soundness and depth
of research. In the philosophy of Alexandria, the Eastern and Western
systems combined, and this school had many distinguished disciples.
In the first century of the Christian era, Egypt passed from the Greek
kings to the Roman emperors, and the Alexandrian school continued to be
adorned by the first men of the age. This splendor, more Grecian than
Egyptian, was extinguished in the seventh century by the Saracens, who
conquered the country, and, it is believed, burned the great Alexandrian
Library. After the wars of the immediate successors of Mohammed, the
Arabian princes protected literature, Alexandria recovered its schools,
and other institutions of learning were established; but in the conquest
of the country by the Turks, in the thirteenth century, all literary light
was extinguished.
8. LITERARY CONDITION OF MODERN EGYPT.--For more than nine hundred years
Cairo has possessed a university of high rank, which greatly increased in
importance on the accession of Mehemet Ali, in 1805, who established many
other schools, primary, scientific, medical, and military, though they
were suffered to languish under his two successors. In 1865, when Ismail-
Pacha mounted the throne as Khedive (tributary king), he gave powerful aid
to the university and to public instruction everywhere. The number of
students at the University of Cairo advanced to eleven thousand. The wife
of the Khedive, the Princess Cachma-Afet, founded in 1873, and maintained
from her privy purse, a school for the thorough instruction of girls,
which led to the establishment of a similar institution by the Ministry of
Public Instruction. This princess is the first in the history of Islam
who, from the interior of the harem, has exerted her influence to educate
and enlighten her sex.
When the Khedive was driven into exile in 1879, the number of schools,
nearly all the result of his energetic rule, was 4,817 and of pupils
170,000. Since the European intervention and domination the number of both
has sensibly diminished, and a serious retrograde movement has taken
place.
The higher literature of Egypt at the present time is written in pure
Arabic. The popular writing in magazines, periodicals, etc., is in Arabic
mixed with Syriac and Egyptian dialects. Newspaper literature has greatly
increased during the past eight years.