EGYPT, 4235 B. C.
Egypt, the cradle of civilization, had its Democrats, who struck
resistless blows for equality, freedom, and fraternity for the race.
So accustomed have we become, in thinking of Egypt, to be struck so
forcibly by those evidences, the pyramids, of slave labor and the
oppressed condition of the large portion of the ancient population
of Egypt, that the existence of democrats in Egypt seems totally
inconsistent with our preconceived idea of the ancient civilization
of that country. Yet, we find, during the fourth dynasty--4235 B. C.,
the pyramids were builded, and the great Sphinx at Gizeh. The wealth
and splendor of Egypt were unapproached elsewhere; civilization, the
arts and sciences, reached a height which, in some respects, the world
has never known since that time. The civilization of to-day is unequal
to the task of rearing such structures as the pyramids, over which
more than fifty centuries have rolled without displacing a stone or
crumbling a corner of the prodigious masses of granite, hewn from
the distant quarries of Asswan, Mokattam and Tarah, and transported
by means beyond the skill and comprehension of the science of the
nineteenth century.
But with all its splendor, wealth, magnificence and culture, the
kings and rulers of the Fourth Dynasty became corrupt, oppressive and
tyrannical. The Common People, as they were called, revolted, and a
revolution of fire and blood extinguished the dynasty, 3951 B. C.
Heedless of the immutable law that only in union is there strength,
Egypt not only became corrupt and tyrannical, but divided into two
kingdoms, who warred furiously against each other. Then it was that the
nomadic hordes of Arabia and Syria saw their opportunity, and, swarming
over the borders (2114 B. C.) and overflowing the valley of the Nile
with a human flood a thousand-fold more destructive than the turbid
inundation of that great river, they crushed the struggling legions
like worms in the dust, and became the masters of the country.
They were the Hyksos, or Shepherd Kings, who stamped their rugged
individuality on that wonderful land. They ruled for four centuries,
forming the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth dynasties. Their last
king was Apepi, who reigned sixty-one years, and is believed by many
to have been the Pharaoh (“Pharaoh” was the general name for kings) in
whose reign Joseph came into Egypt and was made governor over all the
land.
The Shepherd Kings gradually succumbed to the civilization, culture,
and manners of the Egyptians, and vanished from history by absorption
among those people.