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In many respects Egypt is one of the most interesting countries on
the face of the earth. It was the cradle of infant science—and the
first seat of regular government; and if we go back into the darkness
of bye-gone ages, we shall find in Egypt the first dawn of social
intelligence. The land of the Pharoahs was an old country in the infant
age of Greece. The earliest writers of Europe describe its grandeur
as having already reached its consummation, and even as beginning to
pass away. In the days of Homer, the capital of the Thebaid, with
its hundred gates, and its vast population, was a subject of wonder,
and what that poet relates of it, as illustrated by the recondite
criticism of a Mitford, would scarcely be believed, were it not that
the remains which, even after a lapse of three thousand years, continue
to resist the injuries of the atmosphere and of barbarism, bear
evidence to a still greater magnificence than is recorded in the pages
of the Odyssey. Keet, the antiquarian and traveller, whose Asiatic
researches do him so much honor, spent a considerable time in Egypt
under the patronage of Ali Pacha, and made it his business to search
into the past and present state of that wonderful people. Rich in the
intelligence of modern science, he bears testimony to the improving
capabilities of the modern Egyptians. In examining the monuments of
that ancient people, he formed conclusions as to their former manners
and customs, by no means uninteresting. He discourses to us of the
“Dead, and of their Burial.” “In ancient times,” he tells us that, “a
talent of silver, four-hundred-and-fifty pounds, was often employed
in a funeral. The relations of the deceased” says he, “announced to
the judges that a ‘dead’ is about to pass the canal, and of the place
to which he belonged. Two-and-forty judges are then collected and
arranged on a semicircular bench, which is situated on the bank of
the canal, the boat is prepared, and the pilot, who is called by the
Egyptians, ‘Charon,’ is ready at his post. But before the body is put
into the boat, the authorities assemble, and one, who is called the
_accuser_, or _sateen_, brings forward against the deceased all his
crimes. The judges deliberate—an advocate replies to the accuser—if the
accuser makes out his case against the advocate, the deceased is denied
honourable interment, and may be cast into Tophet to be consumed; but
if his conduct has been good, he is ferried over the lake, and his soul
is supposed to enter the realms of eternal bliss, prepared for the
righteous from all eternity.”
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The Egyptians had many curious manners and customs. Unlike the other
Oriental nations, the Egyptians, like the English, since the times of
Shakspeare, Sir Philip Sydney, Raleigh, and other beard-wearers, did
not wear beards. They were the only people that practised shaving from
remote antiquity, and they held it as the _sign of civilization_, as
it was also considered by the Normans. We invariably find the captives
from barbarous tribes depicted with rough beards and shaggy locks,
as if no more striking marks could be given of their inferiority
to the highly cultivated nation which was subjected to the sway of
the Pharoahs. In the engraving, we behold two captive Jews, with an
Egyptian warrior before and an Egyptian attendant behind. The Jews have
their beards, the Egyptians have not; and in the engraving following,
we have two warriors, each leading two captives: the warriors have the
bow-and-arrow—the bow being not a stick bent in a rounded form, but a
piece of wood bent at a very wide angle. The captives are bound and
bearded, and their costume consists of a long cloak, which falls nearly
to the ancles, leaving their front dresses exposed, while that of the
Egyptians are like petticoats.
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Leaving beards for awhile, we may remark upon the law processes of
the Egyptians. In civil suits, the number of judges—or, rather, the
jury—was thirty; and it is worthy of notice, that their president
wore a breast-plate adorned with jewels, upon which the word _Truth_
appeared strongly emblazoned. The eight books of the laws were spread
open in court; the pleadings of the advocates were in writing, in order
that the feelings of the judges might not be improperly biased by the
eloquence of the orator. The president delivered the sentence of his
colleagues by touching the successful party with the mysterious symbol
of truth and justice, which adorned his person.
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In their battles, the Egyptians were very ferocious, and after they
were over, exercised many barbarities, by the immolation of their
prisoners. An admirable representation of a battle-field is found on
the walls of the great Temple of Medinet Habou. The South, and part
of the East wall is covered with a battle scene, where the cruel
punishment of the vanquished, by cutting off their hands and maiming
their bodies, is performed in the presence of the Chief, who has seated
himself in repose, on the back part of his chariot, to witness the
execution of this horrid sentence. Heaps of amputated hands are counted
over before him, and an equal number of scribes, with scrolls in their
hands, are writing down the account: as many rows of prisoners stand
behind, to undergo a similar mutilation in their turns. Their hands
are bound behind their backs, or lashed over their heads, or thrust
into eye-shaped manacles. Some of their heads are twisted completely
round; and some of them are turned back to back, and their arms lashed
together round the elbows, and thus they are marched up to punishment.
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In ancient times, the Egyptian system, as now, was one of the most
cruel tyranny. Large masses of men were ordered, at the will of a
despot, to “labour, in the sweat of their brow,” to their death. The
slavery of the lower orders gave birth to the Pyramids. What masses
were employed, and how human life was wasted, is evinced by the manner
in which Necho made his canal, connecting the Nile with the Red Sea.
Things are now much the same in that country. Mehemet Ali, the Pacha
of Egypt, obliged 150,000 men—chiefly Arabs from Upper Egypt—to
work on his canal, connecting the Nile with the Sea at Alexandria;
20,000 of that number perished during the execution of the work. The
construction of the railroad from Cairo to Alexandria is not, however,
conducted on this wicked principle; and things are beginning to wear
the appearance of humanity.
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One of the great labours of the ancient Egyptians was brick-making.
The bricks were made of the clay of the district, or mud of the Nile;
and in the Egyptian monuments, we have many representations, not
only of the manner in which brick-making was carried on, but also of
the application of bricks in the construction of houses. When Moses
commenced his mission, the Hebrews were chiefly occupied in making
these large bricks, dried in the sun, and compacted with straw, such
as may be seen in the Nimroud ruins. These bricks were often made use
of in the upper parts of houses, and in process of time, the weather,
and the heat of the sun, destroyed the more fragile part of a building,
and buried the strong foundations of it beneath their ruins. In the
engraving I have here introduced, the mode of making the brick is
delineated; some of the brick-makers are cutting the clay—others are
moulding it into parallelepipedom forms, and placing the bricks in
a row for drying. In the drawing, the bricks appear to be one above
another, but this appearance is given in consequence of the Egyptians
using no perspective in their drawings. The mode of arranging them was
in rows, flat upon the ground; they were then baked by the heat of the
sun, and the long dry weather, which lasts for months in this part of
the world.
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In building their houses, the Egyptians arranged the bricks much after
the same manner as we do at present, and had a kind bitumenous cement
for mortar. In the engraving, copied from one of the Egyptian tombs, we
have, first the taskmaster, sitting in the usual Egyptian custom, with
a long rod or stick in his hand; below him is a slave, who has just
brought some bricks to be used on the building; before him is another
slave, with masses of cement or bitumen, and below this figure are
others, building up a wall, or side of a house.
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The Pyramids, of which I have so often spoken, are, above all things,
the most wonderful of the Egyptian antiquities, and exhibit the science
of early times graphically. Nor were their temples less majestic. That
erected at Sais had in it a sanctuary, which consisted of a single
stone. The carriage of this employed two thousand men for the whole
period of three years. The length of this hallowed stone was twenty-one
cubits, the width fourteen, and the height eight—and allowing the cubit
to be one foot seven inches, you will have an idea of its diminsions.
The practice of erecting monolithic (single stone) temples was very
general in Egypt, some striking specimens having been preserved in
various parts of the country. Pilgrimages and sacrifices were a part of
the system of religion. The latter were employed for the expiation of
sins. The worshipper placed his hand on the head of the victim, loaded
it with imprecations, and its last gasp was the seal of his pardon.
Till the reign of Amasis, even human victims were offered. Besides the
heavenly bodies, some kinds of animals, also, were worshipped. These
were not regarded as mere symbols, but adored as actual gods, like
the Apis and Mnevis; this worship arose from the hieroglyphics of the
Egyptians. In one of their places of worship, the painting below was
found, which represents offerings, attended by priestesses, coming to
the temple. And with this, I shall conclude my notes upon Egypt.
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