and History. The Pyramid-fields of Memphis gave us a notion of the
Civilisation of Egypt in those primitive times, which is pictorially
presented to us in 400 large drawings, and will be considered in future
as the first section in that portion of the history of man, capable of
investigation, and must be regarded with the greatest interest. Those
earliest Dynasties of Egyptian dominion, now afford us more than a barren
series of empty, lost, and doubtful names. They are not only free from
every real doubt and arranged in the Order and the Epochs of time, which
have been determined by a critical examination, but by showing us the
flourishing condition of the people in those times, both in the affairs
of the State, Civil affairs, and in the Arts, they have received an
intellectual and frequently a very individual historical reality. We
have already mentioned the discovery of five different burial-places of
the 6th Dynasty in Central Egypt, and what we obtained from them. The
prosperous times of the New Monarchy, namely, the period of splendour in
the Thebaid, as well as the Dynasties which followed, were necessarily
more or less completed and verified. Even the Ptolemies, with whom
we appeared to be perfectly acquainted in the clear narratives of
Grecian history, have come forward in a new light through the Egyptian
representations and inscriptions, and their deficiencies have been filled
up by persons who were hitherto considered doubtful, and were hardly
mentioned by the Greeks. Lastly, on the Egyptian monuments we beheld the
Roman emperors in still greater and almost unbroken series, in their
capacity of Egyptian governors, and they have been carried down since
Caracalla, who had hitherto been considered as the last name written in
hieroglyphics, through two additional later emperors, as far as Decius,
by which means the whole Egyptian monumental history has been extended
for a series of years in the other direction.
Egyptian Philology has also made considerable progress by this journey.
The lexicon has been increased by our becoming acquainted with several
hundred signs, or groups, and the grammar has received a great many
corrections. Such copious materials have also been acquired for these
purposes, especially by the numerous paper impressions of the most
important inscriptions, that Egyptian Philology must be essentially
furthered by their being gradually adopted. For owing to the strict
accuracy of these impressions, they are almost as valuable, in many
investigations, as an equally large collection of original monuments.
In addition to this, the history of the Egyptian language, which by the
great age attributed to the earliest written monuments, embraces a period
of time between five or six thousand years, becomes now of much greater
importance in the universal history of the human language and writing.
Among the individual discoveries we made, the one which attracted most
attention, was that of the two decrees on the Island of Philæ, which
were bilingual, namely, written in hieroglyphics, and in the demotic
character,—one of which contains the decree belonging to the Rosetta
inscription, referring to the wife of Epiphanes.
In spite of numerous writings upon Egyptian Mythology, it has
nevertheless been hitherto deficient in a fixed monumental basis.
In the Temple at Thebes we beheld a series of representations whose
meaning had not hitherto been recognised, and which seem to me to afford
entirely new conclusions for the correct comprehension and development
of Egyptian mythology. The series of the first arrangement of the gods
mentioned by Herodotus and Manetho, which in modern investigations has
been differently arranged in its details by all scholars, is at length
placed beyond all doubt, and certainly differs in all essential points
from what has been hitherto everywhere adopted. I will briefly allude
here to another fact, important both in the history of mythology as
well as in a purely historical point of view, and which was elicited by
an attentive investigation of the monuments. The direct succession of
the reigning royal family was interrupted, towards the end of the 18th
Dynasty. Through the monuments we became acquainted with several kings of
this period, who were not afterwards admitted in the legitimate lists,
but were regarded as unauthorised cotemporary or intermediate kings.
Among these Amenophis IV. is to be particularly noted, who, during a
very active reign of twelve years, endeavoured to accomplish a complete
reformation of all secular and spiritual institutions. He built a royal
capital for himself in Central Egypt, near the present Tel-el-Amarna,
introduced new offices and usages, and aimed at no less a thing than to
abolish the whole religious system of the Egyptians, which had hitherto
subsisted, and to place in its stead the single worship of the _Sun_. In
all the inscriptions composed during his reign, there is not one Egyptian
god mentioned except the Sun; even in other words the sacred symbols
were avoided, _e. g._ the word _mut_, mother, Coptic ⲙⲁⲧ, was no longer
written as usual with the hawk 𓅐𓏏, the symbol of the goddess _Mut_, but
𓐝𓏏, MT, with the universal phonetic signs. Indeed, the former gods and
their worship were persecuted to such an extent by this king, that he
erased all the gods’ names, with the single exception of the Sun-god
_Ra_, from every monument that was accessible throughout the country,
and because his own name, Amenophis, contained the name of Ammon, he
changed it into Bech-en-aten, “Worshipper of the Sun’s disk.” Therefore
the fact, which has often been previously remarked, that at one particular
period the name of Ammon was intentionally destroyed, forms only part of
an event which had a much wider influence, and which unexpectedly reveals
to us the religious movements of those times.
The History of Art has never yet been considered in the point of view
from which Egypt, and all that concerns it, is now regarded. This
necessarily formed a particular object of our expedition, and most
directly gained by the increased chronological knowledge we obtained
concerning the monuments. For the first time we were able to pursue all
its branches during the old Egyptian Monarchy, previous to the invasion
of the Hyksos, and accordingly to extend both it and the history of Egypt
about sixteen centuries farther back, and some tens of years lower down
in time. The different epochs of Egyptian art now first appeared clear
and distinct, each marked by its peculiar character, intimately connected
with the general development of the people. They had so frequently been
misunderstood, that no one believed in their existence; they were lost
in the general uniformity. I must mention, as one of the most important
facts connected with this, that we found innumerable instances on
unfinished monuments of three different canons of proportions of the
human body; one belonging to the most ancient Pharaonic Monarchy, another
later than the 12th Dynasty, when Thebes first began to flourish; a
third, which appears at first in the time of the Psammetichi, with an
entire alteration in the Principle of the division, and which remained
unaltered till the time of the Roman emperors. The last is the same
which Diodorus expressly mentions in his first book. Among the separate
branches of Egyptian art, Architecture, which was almost unnoticed by
the French-Tuscan expedition, was with us peculiarly attended to, by
the extremely careful and circumspect labours of our architect Erbkam.
This was befitting the important position occupied by this particular
branch, in which grandeur, that element of art, peculiarly belonging to
the Egyptian beyond all other nations, was capable of being developed,
and has developed itself to the utmost. The study of the sculpture
and paintings devolved upon the other artists who accompanied us, and
the ability and fidelity with which they fulfilled their task must be
recognised by every one. The Egyptian style associated with the limited
views characteristic of the infancy of art, nevertheless possesses a
highly-cultivated ideal element, which must be acknowledged by every
one. The genius of Greece could never have bestowed on art such a marked
character, indicative of a period of prosperous liberty, if it had not
received it as a severe, chaste, and carefully nurtured child from the
Egyptians. The principal task of the history of Egyptian art is to point
out wherein consisted this cultivation of art, peculiar to the Egyptians,
above all the primitive nations of Asia.
In the next place, Egyptian archæology, in the widest sense of the word,
claimed a large portion of our time and attention: an extensive field,
already examined, both successfully and diligently, by Wilkinson and
Rosellini, which they were enabled to do by means of the inexhaustible
number of separate objects belonging to every-day life, still in
preservation, and by the representations of them, which are found in all
directions, far surpassing any other ancient remains.
On that account it was still more necessary to make a stricter
investigation, and to regard it from a higher point of view, rather than
accumulate a greater number of individual things, that notwithstanding
obtruded themselves on all sides, and which, besides, we collected in
large quantities, as material to work upon.
Lastly, Geography and Chorography, which travellers are especially
expected to promote, required to be more peculiarly prosecuted. We must
particularly mention here, that besides the peculiar investigation of
the Pyramid fields at Memphis, and in the Faiûm, which have been already
alluded to, our records of the ruins of towns, and ancient monuments
in the Nile country, as far up as Sennâr, are more perfect and exact
than any hitherto made. With regard to the modern geographical names,
which must always be viewed in comparison with the ancient, I have been
most particular in obtaining the Arabic names—at least, throughout the
district we traversed—in order to counteract, as far as lay in my power,
the insufferable confusion in the names which are marked down. During
the journey, I made special maps for the individual portions of the
eastern mountains of Egypt and the peninsula of Sinai, and I collected
geographical accounts from travellers concerning some remote districts,
which we did not enter, and which are but little known; and I had
geographical drawings made of them. Our investigations of the historical
places in the peninsula of Sinai have been already alluded to. The
discovery, mentioned above, of the most ancient Nilometer at _Semneh_,
has added, in a remarkable degree, also to the history of the physical
condition of the Nile valley; since it is quite evident, from the water
just above the second Cataract, standing at that time twenty-two feet
higher than at present, and the height of the water in the Thebaid being
contemporaneously twelve to fifteen feet lower, that the fall of the Nile
in the intermediate country was thirty-five feet greater in those times
than it is now. But this gradual levelling of the bed of the river must
have had the most decided influence on the history of the cultivation
of the valley, and of the whole population; because the soil on the
banks of the river in the district of Nubia, more especially owing to
the considerable sinking of the water, being inaccessible to the natural
overflowings, was laid dry, and could only be irrigated with great
difficulty, and imperfectly, by means of artificial water-wheels.
Considerable progress was made in the knowledge of the African languages,
by the investigation which I was principally enabled to make in the
southern part of our journey. I inquired into and noted down as much
of the grammar and vocabulary of three languages, as would enable me
to give a distinct idea of them. First, Kongára, spoken at Dar-Fûr and
the adjacent countries, a Central African-Negro language. Secondly,
the Nuba language, which is spoken in two chief dialects, in one part
of the Nubian-Nile valley and in the neighbouring countries situated
to the south-west, and also appears to be derived from the interior of
Africa. It had hitherto never been a written language, and I collected
together for the first time a piece of written Nubian literature, for
I made a Nubian Sheikh, who was perfectly familiar with the Arabic
language and writing, translate the Fables of Locman, a portion of the
Thousand and One Nights, and the Gospel of St. Mark, from the Arabian
into the Nubian tongue, and write down besides nineteen Nubian songs,
some of them in rhyme, some only rhythmical, and translate them into
Arabic. Unfortunately, these precious packets, all but the Nubian gospel,
were lost in Europe, with little hope of recovery. The third language
investigated by me was the Beg´a, which is spoken by the Bischâri
nation, who dwell between the Red Sea and the Nubian Nile. This language
occupies an important position with reference to philology, since it
seems to be a branch of the original Asiatic stock, of which the African
offsets may be comprehended under the name of the HAMITIC languages; and
is, besides, particularly interesting in our study of the monuments,
because, most probably, it was once the key to decipher the ancient
Ethiopian inscriptions, numbers of which were discovered by us upon the
Island of Meröe, and from that place, in the Nile valley, as far down as
Philæ. These inscriptions are written in simple characters, from right to
left, and derive their origin from the powerful nation of the Meröitic
Ethiopians, whose direct descendants we behold in the present Beg´a
nations. By comparing those languages with the other languages of Africa,
which are already better known, I think I shall be able to separate,
according to fixed principles, these “Hamitic languages” of north and
north-east Africa (which may still be referred to their native home in
Asia) from the numerous other languages of this enigmatical continent;
and I am now engaged in preparing these philological investigations for
special publication.
I must finally mention, among the results of our journey, two collections
of inscriptions. In the first place, all the Greek inscriptions in the
countries we travelled through were carefully sought out, and impressions
of them were taken upon paper; by which Græco-Egyptian archæology,
and more particularly the learned collections of inscriptions which
have lately excited such lively interest, will probably be completed,
confirmed, or justified in a satisfactory manner. Secondly, in the
peninsula of Sinai we made as perfect a collection as was possible of
the so-called _Sinaitic Inscriptions_, which are found engraved on the
rocks in different districts of the peninsula, but principally in the
neighbourhood of the old town of Faran, at the foot of the mountain range
of Serbâl, and at a resting-place of the caravans in Wadi Mokatteb,
situated farther north, which is named after them.
We were only able casually to turn our attention to objects of Natural
Science; nevertheless, I did not however neglect, especially during
remote mountainous journeys, to collect specimens of stone and earth
from the more remarkable localities. We not only visited the celebrated
stone quarries in the chalk mountains of Tura, in the sandstone range of
Selseleh, in the granite rocks of Assuan, and others situated in the Nile
valley, but also those alabaster quarries of El Bosra, opposite Siut,
which were discovered a few years ago by the Bedouins, in which last we
found a rock-inscription from the commencement of the 17th Dynasty. They
resemble those quarries of granite and brecciaverde at HAMMAMÂT, upon
the road leading from Qeneh to the Red Sea, which have been worked from
the earliest times, and also the porphyry and granite quarries at Gebel
Fatireh (Mons Claudianus), and at Gebel Dochân (Mons Porphyrites), in the
Arabian chain of mountains, celebrated in the Roman period. I also had
an opportunity of purchasing an interesting Ethnographical and Natural
History collection in Alexandria, obtained by H. Werne during Mohammed
Ali’s second expedition up the Nile, which penetrated as far as the 4°
N. lat., of which an account was published; and I received a valuable
collection of Egyptian fishes for the Anatomical Museum in Berlin, from
the celebrated French physician Clot Bey.
LETTERS FROM EGYPT AND ETHIOPIA.
DEDICATED, WITH THE PROFOUNDEST VENERATION AND GRATITUDE, TO ALEXANDER
VON HUMBOLDT.
LETTER I.
_On board the Oriental Steamer, the 5th of September, 1842._
All our efforts were taxed to enable us to depart on the 1st September;
the delay of one day would have cost us a whole month, so it was
necessary to be doubly active. A visit to Paris was indispensable, and I
reached it in thirty-one hours from London; but two days were all that
could be spared to procure what was requisite in the way of purchases,
letters, and notes. I returned richly laden from this city, ever rich
to me in interest, information, and various proofs of kindness. In
London, I acquired two additional excellent travelling companions—Bonomi
and Wild, who had lately determined to share in the expedition on an
independent footing. The former, already well known as a traveller in
Egypt and Ethiopia, not only has a thorough practical acquaintance with
the mode of life in those parts, but also possesses a critical knowledge
of Egyptian art, and is a master in Egyptian drawing; the latter, a young
architect, full of genius, seeks with enthusiasm in the East a new field
for the exercise of the rich and various gifts with which he is endowed.
At length, everything was purchased, provided, and packed, and we had
bid farewell to our friends. Bunsen alone, with his usual kindness, and
unwearied friendship, accompanied us as far as Southampton, the place of
our embarkation, where we spent the evening together.
As at other times, when landing from a stormy sea after days of rough
tossing, we suddenly enjoy an almost inconceivable degree of repose in
the quiet harbour, although for a long time we still feel the ground
tottering beneath us, and fancy we hear the sound of the breakers, so
on this occasion I experienced the same, though the case was reversed;
when, after the whirl of the last days and weeks, and coming from the
immense metropolis of the world, I reached the harbour, and entered the
narrow, quickly traversed and surveyed, wooden house of the monotonous
wilderness of the ocean. All at once there was nothing more to provide
and to hasten; the long row of more than thirty chests of our baggage
had vanished piece by piece into the dark hold of the ship; our cabins
required no arrangement, for they could scarcely contain more than our
own persons. The absence of disturbance for some time caused a new and
undefined kind of disturbance: anxiety, without anything to be anxious
about.
Among the passengers, I will only mention the missionary Lieder, a German
by birth, returning with his English wife to Cairo. Commissioned by the
English Missionary Society, he has founded and conducted a boys’ and
girls’ school there, which is now to be restricted exclusively to the
children of the Coptic Christians. Lieder has introduced instruction
in the Coptic language into this school, and has thus restored to an
honourable position that remarkable and most ancient language of the
country, which, for many centuries past, has been entirely supplanted
among the people by the Arabic tongue. It is true that the Holy
Scriptures still exist in the country in the Coptic tongue, and are even
used in public worship, but they are only chanted as psalms, and are no
longer understood.
We started from Southampton on the 1st September, about ten o’clock in
the morning. The wind was against us, and therefore we did not reach
Falmouth till twenty-four hours afterwards, where our ship waited for the
London mail, to take in the letters. We remained several hours at anchor
there, in a charming bay; an old castle is situated at the entrance
on either side, while in the background the town forms an extremely
picturesque group. About three o’clock we again put to sea, and as there
was a side-wind, it caused much sea-sickness among our party. I consider
myself fortunate, that even on the most stormy voyages I have never been
in this disagreeable condition, which nevertheless has something comic
in it for those who are not suffering. It is a curious circumstance that
the same motion which rocks the child into a sweet slumber, or which
invites us to a pleasure-sail in the tossing boat, on shipboard owing
to the slower time of the wide-swinging pendulum, becomes intolerable
suffering, and prostrates the strongest heroes, without, however, being
accompanied by any serious danger.
The following day we reached the Bay of Biscay, and with difficulty
cut through the long and deep waves, which rolled out from the distant
coast. On the morning of the 4th instant, Sunday, very few appeared at
breakfast. About eleven o’clock, in spite of the violent motion, we
assembled for divine service. The English flag, as the most sacred cloth
in the ship, was spread over the pulpit desk; Herr Lieder preached,
simply and well. About four o’clock we saw the Spanish coast for the
first time, in faint, misty outline. The nearer we approached it, the
waves gradually fell, for the wind blew off shore. Air, sky, and sea were
incomparably beautiful. Cape Finisterre, and the adjoining head-lands,
became more clear. We descried several small sailing-vessels along the
coast; and all kinds of sea-fowl swarmed round the ship. By degrees, the
whole company, even the ladies, collected on deck. The sea became as
smooth as the clearest mirror, and we kept the Spanish coast in sight
the whole afternoon. The sun descended magnificently into the sea; the
evening star was soon followed by the whole host of the heavenly stars,
and a glorious night wrapt around us.
But now the most splendid spectacle presented itself that I have ever
seen at sea. The ocean began to lighten up, all the crests of the
breaking waves glowed with an emerald-green fire, and a brilliant
greenish-white waterfall fell from the paddle-wheels of the vessel, which
left in its long wake a broad, light streak in the dark sea. The sides of
the vessel, and our downward gazing faces, were lighted up as bright as
moonlight, and I was able to read print without any difficulty by this
water-fire. When the illuminating matter, which, according to Ehrenberg’s
researches, proceeds from infusorial animalculæ, was most intense, we saw
flames dancing over the sea, as far as the coast, so that it seemed as
if we were sailing through a more richly-starred sky than that which was
above us. I have frequently observed this illumination of the sea on the
Mediterranean also, but never with such extraordinary brilliancy as on
this occasion. The spectacle was quite like enchantment.
Suddenly I observed between the waves new living streaks of fire, which
radiated from the vessel like two gigantic serpents, and, judging by the
proportions of the ship, were at least from sixty to eighty feet long;
they moved in a deceptive manner, in large windings beside the vessel,
crossed the waves, dipped into the foam of the paddle-wheels, reappeared,
retreated, hurried forward, and finally vanished in the distance. For
a long time I could not explain this phenomenon. I thought of the old
tales, so frequently repeated, of the huge sea-serpents which have been
seen from time to time. Nothing could more closely resemble what was
here before us. At length it occurred to me that it might however only
be fishes running a race with the vessel, and, by their rapid movements,
brushing the surface of the luminous sea, they might produce the long
streaks of light behind them. Nevertheless, the ocular demonstration
remained as deceptive as before; I could discover nothing of the dark
fishes, nor determine their size; but I at length consoled myself by my
own conjecture.
LETTER II.
_Alexandria, the 23rd of September, 1842._
I put my last letter into the post in Gibraltar, on the 7th September,
where we employed the few hours which were granted us in viewing the
citadel. The African continent lay before us, a light streak on the
horizon. Beneath me, apes were clambering on the rocks, the only ones
in Europe which live in a wild state, and on that account they are
left unmolested. In Malta, which we reached on the 11th September, we
found the painter Frey, from Basle, whom I had known at Rome. He told
me first, by word of mouth, that he desired to join in the expedition,
and had arrived some days before from Naples. We were compelled to wait
nearly three days for the post from Marseilles. This gave us at least
an opportunity to visit the wonders of the island; namely, the gigantic
buildings discovered, a few years back, near La Valetta, and to make
some purchases. Through Lieder, I became acquainted with Gobat, who has
hitherto managed the Maltese station of the English Missionary Society,
but is now waiting for a new destination, as pecuniary circumstances
compel the society to give up this station entirely. It gave me great
pleasure to make the acquaintance of this distinguished person.[2]