ANCIENT EGYPT.
We have been moving among the oldest monuments reared by man, and
they make the rest of the world seem young. In Japan a Buddhist
temple, built twelve hundred years ago, impressed us with the
youthfulness of American institutions; in China we were shown
temples that had stood for twenty centuries and were told of customs
and laws even older; in India we found a pagoda some twenty-five
hundred years old, and visited the site of a city whose foundations
were probably laid more than three thousand years ago; but here we
see the mummied forms of human beings who lived two thousand years
before Christ was born, inspect the handiwork of men who laid down
the chisel before Abraham appeared upon the earth, look upon colors
that have withstood the changes and defied the elements of forty
centuries, and handle wheat that grew upon the banks of the Nile
long before Joseph built granaries for Pharaoh. The guides count
centuries as trippingly on the tongue as a treasury expert or an
insurance magnate handles millions. They discuss dynasties that rose
and fell when Europe was shrouded in darkness, before the light
of history dawned upon the Ganges and the Yangtse; they decipher
hieroglyphics that kept their secrets for ages and lead one among
ruins that astonish by their immensity as well as by the artistic
skill which they reveal.
Back in the misty past--in the prehistoric period--there were two
Egyptian kingdoms, one occupying upper, and the other lower Egypt.
This was prior to 2,500 B. C., and from the stirring scenes engraved
upon stone, one can imagine the conflicts which took place along the
fertile valley of the Nile before Menes, the earliest known ruler,
united the two kingdoms, assumed the title, Lord of Both Lands,
fashioned a double crown for himself, and adopted the lily, or
lotus, and the papyrus as symbols of his consolidated empire. We are
probably indebted to certain natural peculiarities of Egypt for the
preservation of the unique evidences of ancient civilization found
here. First, there is but a small area of tillable land stretched
along the most wonderful of rivers and guarded on either side by
a barren waste that offers greater protection than a wall. Second,
the climate of Egypt is dry, and there are no drenching rains to
deface and no violent changes of temperature to disintegrate. Third,
the temples and tombs are so massively built as to discourage the
vandal; and fourth, the sands of the desert have drifted in and
concealed for a hundred generations many of the most valuable of
these relics of a bygone age.
There is such a wealth of archæological treasures here that one
scarcely knows where to begin or how to condense the most important
things into the space allotted to a newspaper article. I shall not
attempt to describe things chronologically, because some of the
temples have been added to by different kings and dynasties, until
they represent the art and life of many hundred years. The temple
at Karnak, for instance, bears the impress of Egypt's rulers from
Thutmosis to the Rameses, and from the Rameses to the Ptolemies,
a period of some twelve hundred years, and the building of the
numerous pyramids covered even a longer time.
[Illustration: KARNAK TEMPLE.]
As the tourist usually begins a trip through Egypt with a visit to
Cairo, he is likely to find the great Egyptian museum, the Museum of
Gizeh, a fitting introduction to his subsequent investigations. Here
one finds samples of all the antiquities of the country, excepting
the pyramids and the temples, and there are mummies, sarcophagi,
statues, carvings and hieroglyphics from these. A considerable
space is devoted to mummies, some from the tombs of kings, but
many of more humble rank. The early Egyptians believed that man
was composed of several different entities. First, there was the
body, and second, the double--a sort of invisible form reproducing
the features of the body. Next came the soul, represented as a
human-headed bird and then a spark of the divine fire called Khu,
which has been translated as "the Luminous." It was to prevent the
departure of these attending forms that embalming was resorted to.
By suspending the decomposition of the body, they thought that they
could preserve the connection between it and the Double, the Soul
and the Luminous, and by prayers and offerings these could be saved
from the second death. This is the explanation of the mummy given
by archæologists. The Double, it was supposed, never left the place
where the mummy rested, and the Soul, while it went away to commune
with the gods, returned from time to time, and for this reason rooms
were made for the reception of the Soul and for the habitation of
the Double. One can hardly believe as he looks upon the shriveled
forms that they were interred so long ago. I will enclose with this
article a photograph of the mummy of Egypt's great builder, and
known as "the Pharaoh of the Oppression," who died more than three
thousand years ago. The hand no longer sways the scepter; the eyes
look no more upon the gigantic statues which he scattered along
the Nile, and the voice does not now demand the making of "bricks
without straw," but the mortal remains of this famous ruler vividly
recall the days of Israel's bondage.
[Illustration: MUMMY. WOODEN STATUE.]
With the mummies are many mummy cases, some covered with
hieroglyphics, some ornamented with pictures in colors, and most of
them covered with a lid upon which are a face mask and an outline
of the form of the occupant. The process by which these bodies
have been preserved is still a mystery, but the fact that they
have outlived dynasties and survived the countless changes of so
many centuries gives to them a lasting interest. The collection of
statues and images of gods, human beings, beasts and birds runs up
into the thousands. Some of these are heroic in size, others are not
more than an inch in height; some are strong, some beautiful and
some grotesque. Granite, both red and black, alabaster, stone, iron,
bronze and clay--all have been brought into requisition for this
work. Some of the bronze has, upon analysis, been found to contain
practically the same combination of metals as the bronze now used.
There are even statues in wood, and one of these--a photograph of
which I secured--attracted my attention because the head and face
bear a resemblance to the late Senator Hanna. It is called "Sheikh
el Beled" or Village Chief; that it should have resisted decay for
more than forty centuries is little less than marvelous.
While the excavators have been searching for historical records,
they have occasionally found treasures of great pecuniary value.
A considerable quantity of gold and silver in the form of jewelry
has been unearthed, and the museum contains specimens of exquisite
workmanship which not only display the skill of the artificers but
portray the habits and customs of the early Egyptians.
The museum also contains enough of cloth, found with the mummies,
and of pictures of looms, to show that weaving was an industry with
which the people of those days were familiar.
But we must leave the museum and proceed to those masterpieces
which are too large for any roof, save that formed by the vaulted
skies. I am, however, constrained to offer one criticism of the
museum in passing. It is under the control of a French society, and
the only catalogue obtainable is printed in French. While most of
the exhibits bear a brief description in both French and English,
some are labeled in French only and a few not at all. As there are
no guides to show a visitor through the numerous rooms and point
out the principal objects of interest, those who are unable to
read French are at a great disadvantage. Considering the number of
English and American tourists it seems strange that more attention
should not be paid to their accommodation.
But to the temples. We reached Egypt after the regular tourist
season was over and could not visit all the ruins. We selected the
most famous, those of the two ancient cities, Thebes and Memphis,
and they alone would repay a visit to Egypt. The present city of
Luxor, four hundred and twenty miles from Cairo, covers a small part
of the vast area once occupied by "Hundred-gated Thebes." In the
very heart of the city a mammoth temple has been found where kings
worshiped through many reigns. It was built during the eighteenth
dynasty (B. C. 1500) on the site of a still older sanctuary and
dedicated to Ammon, his wife, Mut, and their son, Khons, the
Moon-god. Some of the columns are twelve feet in diameter, more
than forty feet in height, and support great blocks of red granite
twenty feet long and four feet in width and thickness. Some of the
columns represent clustered papyrus and have capitals shaped like
the lotus bud. In the temple are a number of statues of Rameses II,
some sitting, some standing. One of these statues is forty-five
feet in height, and another of less dimensions was unearthed only
about a year ago. When excavations were begun houses were serenely
resting on the top of the temple, and it is believed that further
excavations will disclose an avenue leading to other temples two
miles away.
In front of the Luxor temple is an obelisk of pink granite, a part
of which is still under ground. Obelisks were always erected in
pairs, and the companion of this one was removed some years ago to
Paris. These great monoliths come down to us from the period when
the Egyptians worshiped the sun, and they were intended to represent
his rays. The oldest Egyptian obelisk is at Heliopolis, not far
from Cairo, and is sixty-six feet in height. It is supposed to have
been erected 2000 to 2200 B. C., but it is in an excellent state of
preservation and bids fair to bear testimony for ages yet to the
reverence felt by the ancients for the sun. At one time Heliopolis
was a thriving city and is referred to in the Bible as "On," but
to-day the obelisk stands alone in the midst of cultivated fields,
all the buildings having disappeared.
While the obelisk at Heliopolis outranks all others in age, the
one at Karnak, in the suburbs of Luxor, has the distinction of
being the tallest one yet remaining. It is eight and a half feet
in diameter at the base and ninety-seven and a half feet in height
(eight and a half feet less than the obelisk at Rome). The obelisks
were cut in a single shaft, most of them from granite quarries near
Assuan. These quarries are more than five hundred miles south of
Cairo, and it is supposed that the obelisks were transported on the
Nile to the places where they have since been found, but how they
were handled or placed in position no one knows.
The temple of Ammon, at Karnak, is generally regarded as the most
interesting of temple-ruins in Egypt. It is the work of many kings,
one adding a sanctuary, another a pylon, another a court, etc.--each
placing his cartouche, or seal, upon his work. This temple, which
was officially styled the Throne of the World, covers an immense
area. One pylon, or gateway, is more than three hundred feet wide,
nearly a hundred and fifty feet high, and has walls sixteen feet
thick. One court covers almost a thousand square yards, and one
aisle leads between pillars sixty-nine feet in height, about twelve
feet in diameter and supporting capitals of eleven feet. The stones
used in this temple are of enormous size, and they were probably
raised to their positions on scaffolding of earth--this being also
the method employed where attempts have recently been made to
restore fallen columns.
The hieroglyphics upon the walls, the columns, the obelisks and the
statues, after remaining a puzzle for ages, have been deciphered
and woven into a consecutive history. This was made possible by the
discovery, in 1799, of what is known as the "Rosetta stone" (now in
the British Museum) at the mouth of the Rosetta arm of the Nile by a
French engineer named Bouchard. This stone bears a decree inscribed
in three languages--ancient Egyptian, modern Egyptian and Greek, and
furnishes the key to unlock the secrets of ancient history.
The pictures represent sacrificial ceremonies, domestic and
industrial scenes, battles, triumphal processions--all phases of
life, in fact. One wall contains, in hieroglyphics, the treaty of
peace which Rameses II concluded with the Hittites, while another
wall represents Rameses III holding a group of prisoners by the
hair and raising a club as if to strike. Close by, the god Ammon is
delivering to him chained representatives of different vanquished
nations, the faces being so true to life that the Israelities
brought from Palestine can be easily distinguished from the
Ethiopians and Nubians of the south. One of the heads seen often in
the drawings resembles "the yellow kid," and the donkeys are exactly
like those seen to-day.
Luxor and Karnak are on the east bank of the Nile, but Thebes
required both sides of the river for her great population, and
the west bank is also rich in evidences of ancient civilization.
The Rameseum is here and would attract more attention if it were
not overshadowed by larger temples; here also are the "Colossi of
Memmon," one of them known to literature as the singing statue. This
is described by Strabo and Juvenal and bears many inscriptions in
Latin and Greek made by those who visited it under the Roman rule.
Hadrian looked upon it 150 A. D., and a poetess of his day declares
that the statue greeted the emperor. It is supposed that the sound
which for many years issued from the head of the statue just after
sunrise was caused by the change in temperature, the granite having
been cracked; at any rate, the sound ceased when the statue was
repaired. It now sits silent, and with its companion gazes upon the
barley field that reaches out in every direction from their feet.
But more interesting than the Rameseum or the Colossi are the tombs
of the kings, some forty-two of which have already been discovered.
At this point the west side of the valley of the Nile is walled
in by a range of limestone hills, one of which bears a striking
resemblance to a pyramid. (Could it have suggested the idea of a
pyramid for a tomb?) Leaving the valley of the Nile about two miles
north of this pyramidal hill, there is a small dry valley which
wends its way back through the hills and terminates at the foot of
steep walls just west of the hill mentioned. Here are the tombs,
hewn in the solid rock, the most elaborate of which is the tomb of
Sethos, or Seti, the father of Rameses II. This tomb burrows into
the hill to the depth of three hundred and thirty feet, a flight of
steps leading down through different levels and different chambers
to the final vault. The walls are covered with figures in colors
representing the king in the act of making offerings to the various
gods. There are also drawings illustrating scenes in this world
and life as it is supposed to be in the next world. Some of these
pictures portray a hell where the wicked are punished with fire, and
there are also drawings which have been interpreted to represent the
resurrection and judgment.
Not far away is the tomb of "the Pharaoh of the Exodus" which
contains a granite image of the king, and close by this tomb is
another in which the mummied form of a Pharaoh still reposes. Grave
robbing, however, was so popular an amusement in those days that
the bodies of nearly all the kings had been removed for safety to a
secret vault, which was so carefully concealed that they were not
found until the nineteenth century.
At Memphis, which is only about eighteen miles from Cairo, there are
tombs of less importance, colossal statues of Rameses II and the
sarcophagi of the sacred bulls. In one of the tombs or Mastabas, as
tombs of this style are called, are some of the drawings that have
been most widely reproduced. In one place a boy is fattening geese
by the stuffing process; in another, cranes are being fed; here,
rams are treading in the seed, and the cattle, horned and hornless,
are being driven through a river. Agriculture, ship-building,
carpentering and other industries are minutely pictured. While the
human figures are stiff and angular, the birds and beasts are so
exactly like what we see to-day that one could easily believe them
to have been drawn by a modern artist.
[Illustration: THE PYRAMID AND THE SPHINX.]
The sarcophagi of the sacred bulls, twenty-four in number, are
hollowed out from single pieces of granite and are covered with
immense slabs of the same kind of stone. Each is large enough to
contain a good sized animal, and some of them are covered with
hieroglyphics giving the pedigrees of the blue-blooded occupants.
These caskets of the royal line rest in subterranean vaults hewn out
of rock and connected by spacious halls.
Still nearer to Cairo, only six miles away, in fact, are the great
pyramids of Gizeh--Cheops and Khephren. These have been described
so often that any elaborate comment upon them might weary the
reader. We climbed to the summit of the largest, and by doing so not
only gained an idea of the immensity of this three million cubic
feet of stone, but obtained an excellent view of the green valley on
the one side and the yellow plain of shifting sand upon the other,
for these pyramids stand upon the dividing line between Egypt's far
famed fertile lands and one of the most barren of earth's deserts.
We also followed the narrow passage which leads to the center of
the pyramid and peered into the empty granite sarcophagus which,
for more than four thousand years, kept the body of the builder
concealed from the sight of man, and when we came out, half crawling
and half climbing, each assisted by two Arabs, our muscles as well
as our memories testified that we had seen all of this stupendous
pile.
At the foot of these two pyramids stands the silent Sphinx, and near
it a granite temple almost as old. The Sphinx itself is a little
disappointing because photographs often show it in the foreground
and the pyramids behind it, and it thus appears relatively larger
than it really is. It represents the body of an animal with a human
head and is cut from a huge stone that juts out into the valley. It
was a grand conception of the brain of one long ago forgotten and is
the oldest product of the chisel of man. It has outlived unnumbered
generations and seems to mock at time. Its position by the pyramids
is a fitting one, and looking upon it and them one is awed by the
sense of their antiquity and recognizes the appropriateness of the
lines of the lecturer, Stoddard:
Eternal Sphinx;
The pyramids are thine;
Their giant summits guard thee night and day;
On thee they look when stars in splendor shine,
Or while around their crests the sunbeams play;
Thine own coevals, who with thee remain
Colossal genii of the boundless plain.
Eternal Sphinx!
[Illustration: A SPHYNX]